Meetings

Members Present: Deb Brinkman, Richard Moeller, Kendra Gottsleben, Eric Weiss, Gaye Mattke, Lyle Cook

Members Absent:  , Mary Sjerven, Sarah Rush,  Ted Carrell, Gaye Mattke

Staff Present: Page Hudson, Andrea Steele, Brett Burden, Brett Crosby

Guests Present: Jordan Trumbo, Jessica Sehnert, Kayla Kane

Meeting Start

At 9:32 am MT, 10:32 am CST Page started a conversation off in memory of Steve Stewart. Some council members shared memories of Steve Stewart. Page will send out application packets to anyone interested in the position and the council will vote on a new chairperson at the June 2023 meeting. Richard called the meeting to order at 9:35 am MT, 10:35 am CST. Kayla Kane was a guest. Kayla works at the Brookings Vocational Rehabilitation Center. Beth Schiltz is new member. She has taken Melissa Bothun’s place since she has taken a new position. She is a Special Education Program Specialist for the Department of Education. One of her main tasks is working with accessibility and accommodation both for instruction and for assessments. She also works with high school transition.

Agenda

Page edited the draft agenda to reflect Richard’s name instead of Steve and he fixed the spelling of the Glean software. These agenda edits were done before the meeting but in this case, there was not enough time to send out the revised version. The changes were presented and approved during the meeting. Eric motioned to approve the agenda. Richard seconded.

Meeting Notes

There were no corrections to the December 7^th meeting notes. Kendra motioned to approve the meeting notes. Eric seconded.

Passing of the 21st Century Assistive Technology Act

This act has not been changed since 2004. Page has spent a lot of time talking to legislators about increasing the money we get from it each year to account for inflation. This year the act was reauthorized for 5 years. DakotaLink was also granted an additional amount of money in federal funding. This will allow them to start going back to in-person Assistive Technology training for their staff and increase their outreach.  DakotaLink will also get a variable increase in funding each year for the next five years.

Annual Progress Report

The DakotaLink annual progress report is all done and now has been approved by the state and federal government. Page briefly went through each page of the report. This is also posted on the website. Richard suggested using Instagram as part of our social media.

New Technology Glean Presentation

Brett Crosby is a technician at the Sioux Falls DakotaLink office. He did a presentation on Glean software. Glean is an audio note taking tool. DakotaLink has been offering this to consumers for about 2 months. Brett presented on 3 audio tool options. The three options are a digital recorder, a LiveScribe pen, and Glean. Eric asked how much Glean costs. Brett Crosby explained that LiveScribe is the most expensive because there is the expense of the pen, ink cartridges, and notebooks. Glean is fully digital. DakotaLink charges $120 for Glean for a one-year subscription. Jessica asked if the subscription expires, will the information still be available whenever a person renews. Brett Crosby and Brett Burden explained yes. Richard asked what Glean costs privately without going through DakotaLink. Brett Burden replied that it is $10 more than if he/she would buy it through DakotaLink. Richard asked if Glean interacts with Google. Brett Crosby said no. Glean works with your cell phone photos to post pictures into your notes. Richard asked if there is a trial version. Brett Crosby replied yes, a 30-day trial.

Outreach

DakotaLink is still active on FaceBook. The Department of Social Services has four different advertisements running on FaceBook and Twitter for the SD MERR program. DakotaLink is sharing those advertisements to their own page.

Page looked into advertising on the Sioux Falls and Rapid City Transit systems. The only options are advertising on the transit system benches or buying bus wrap around ads. Since both these options are spendy, DakotaLink will probably not do them.

DakotaLink will soon have a new website. A BHSSC employee from TIE is working on the new website. It is 95 percent done. The new website should be less wordy.

DakotaLink will be attending some transition events. Let’s Talk Work and Catch the Wave to name a few. This is where DakotaLink technicians talk to high school students about either college or jobs and discuss things that could help them in those environments.

DakotaLink and SD Medical Equipment Recycle and Reuse both have a commercial running on KELO.

DakotaLink will be at the Special Ed Conference March 14 & 15, 2023 in Deadwood, SD.

DakotaLink is scheduled to attend the South Dakota Conference on Developmental Disabilities held in Sioux Falls at the Convention Center September 6 & 7, 2023.

The Technology Innovation & Education (TIE) office owes DakotaLink a video. Brett Burden met with them in January. Even though the video progress is slow, they have a game plan and Ryan is working on a script and some other things.  Brett is hoping to film it in the next couple months.

DakotaLink has most of their technicians attending out of state conferences to enhance their training.

2023 Leadership Symposium

Page will attend this virtually on March 28, 29, & 30. Next year it will more than likely be held in person in Washington D.C. This is where Page speaks to the State and Federal representatives of the House and the Senate to present them with information about DakotaLink. Page hopes to get more funding for DakotaLink at this meeting.

DakotaLink Review

Page and Brett meet with Jordan Trumbo and Jessica Sehnert in Mid-March. The state will evaluate DakotaLink to make sure DakotaLink is meeting its grant expectations.

SD Medical Equipment Recycle & Reuse Update

Ron Lien is the site coordinator for the SD MERR program. He will do a presentation at the next meeting. He will go through the AT4ALL website to show everyone how people request equipment. The AT4ALL website is how DakotaLink and the SD MERR program keep track of their activities that are required by the AT Grant.

DakotaLink Low-Interest Loan Program

DakotaLink has offered the loan program to several individuals since the last meeting but has not had an application officially turned in yet. DakotaLink can be more flexible with this loan program than most banks. Page double checked and found out that the interest rate can be adjusted. It does not have to be five percent.

Next Meeting

The next virtual meeting is set for Tuesday June 27, 9:30 am MT, 10:30 am CST.

Meeting End

Eric motioned to adjourn the meeting. Lyle seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 10:44 am MT, 11:44 am CST.

Notes taken by Andrea Steele