LYNN — The Lynn Disability Commission is considering ways to allocate $213,517 that is under its jurisdiction.
The commission has currently made no expenditures for fiscal year 2025.
Chair Joseph Thornton said he would like to see a subcommittee established that focuses on taking in and approving funding requests, similar to how the cultural council processes requests. However no motion to approve the subcommittee was made at the meeting.
He added he wants the spending to be “mindful” and “impactful.”
“What is our purview? What is our focus?” Thornton said.
Member Richelle Waterman-Williams said she would like to see the commission put together an application for organizations to request funds.
Thornton said he would like to see the funds be used toward American Disability Acts (ADA) projects that the city is unable to act as quickly on, due to budget constraints.
“It’s a large sum for a commission to have,” Clerk Patricia Capano said. “It would take a lot of consulting within City Hall to go about spending it.”
City Solicitor James Lamanna said the guidelines by which the commission could distribute funds is stringent. It must follow guidelines laid out by the Massachusetts Commission on Disability.
Holly Simione, a Somerville resident who is also on the Somerville Commission for Persons with Disabilities, shared her experience and provided suggestions to Lynn. She said the commission had a similar amount of funds to distribute and in past years it had used it to give five $10,0000 scholarships to students, as well as take residents to the Red Sox Disability Pride Game.
“We don’t seek inquiries,” she said, explaining that Somerville’s process is not open to applications from the public.
Simione said the commission also held 11 events during the month of June, one of them being a pride flag-raising ceremony. She added the commission has a treasurer to manage the budget.
She said Somerville’s commission is also in the process of buying more accessible swings for its parks, adding that the funds allocated to the disability commission should not be allocated to municipal ADA projects that the city is “required to do.”
During the commission’s meeting, City Personnel Director Drew Russo said the city has processed one complaint in the last six months and it was about the lack of accessibility on the city’s website. He said the complaint is still being remediated and the city is currently working with a contractor to update the website.
