Texas Independent Living Council Reviews the Plan Behind $18 Million in Disability Money

The governor-appointed council that writes the state’s plan for independent living services meets Sept. 25 and 26 in Georgetown to hear findings on what is and is not working in the current plan — and to vote on accepting the report the same afternoon it is presented.

The plan matters because it routes the money. The current three-year plan moves about $18 million to the network of centers that help people with disabilities live outside institutions — 27 centers by the council’s own count — made up of $7.5 million in federal independent living money, $8.3 million in rehabilitation reimbursements and $2.2 million in state general revenue. Federal law bars the council itself from providing any of those services or managing them.

The council has been building the next plan since the spring. It says 694 people took a statewide survey and 70 joined focus groups, and its website promises a preliminary report that “will include additional opportunities for public comment.” The posted notice lists none: no public comment item, no call-in number, no video link. The council’s own description of how it works says it hosts open meetings combining virtual and in-person attendance and values “public comment from different locations.”

The two-day session doubles as a governance retreat. It is being held at ROCK, an equine therapy nonprofit on more than 60 acres in Georgetown where one council member, Hunter Adkins of Lakeway, volunteers; a San Antonio consultant is scheduled to spend an hour and a half on Robert’s Rules of Order, and Sept. 26 is given over to strategic planning and goals for the next plan. The roster shows some strain: two members are listed as treasurer, four seats — two of them voting — come up for reappointment Oct. 24, and the page was last updated in February.

The council has posted no minutes of any meeting since August 2023, though federal law directs it to meet openly and give advance notice. Its federal nonprofit filings show three executive directors since 2022, with a stretch of roughly 14 months and no director of record in between; Janet Sharkis has held the job since May 2024. The findings on what is not working are the thing to watch, and with no stream posted, the only place to hear them is a room in Georgetown.

Meeting at a glance

Council members

• Patrick Sturdivant — chair; San Antonio; accessibility consultant, Deque Systems.
• Tiffany Walker — vice chair; San Antonio; chief mission officer, Vibrant Works.
• Erin “Amanda” Bowdoin — secretary; Forney; teacher of the visually impaired.
• PiPa McCollister — treasurer; Cleburne; Arc of Dallas-Fort Worth.
• Rebecca “Hunter” Adkins — Lakeway; volunteer at the meeting’s host facility.
• Cindy Burkett — Seagoville; former state representative.
• Erik Dally — Poolville; president, Into the Right Hands.
• Michael Garrett — Missouri City; board president, Houston Center for Independent Living.
• Melva Henderson — Dallas; founder, Living Beyond Limits.
• Lisa Thompson — Atlanta, Texas; external affairs, Southwestern Electric Power.
• Seth Wells — Beaumont; executive director, RISE Center for Independent Living.
• Mollie Witt — Cypress; multiple sclerosis advocate.

Roster from the council’s members page, checked September 17 and cross-checked against the governor’s appointment releases; the page itself carries a February 9 modification date and is out of step with appointments made in November. Two entries claim the treasurer’s post: McCollister carries the title and Garrett’s biography says he holds it. David Lunt of Haslet, reappointed in December 2024 to a term running to 2027, appears on no current roster and no notice of his departure was found. Three nonvoting members sit ex officio for the Health and Human Services Commission, the Texas Workforce Commission and the Texas Department of Transportation; HHSC, not the workforce commission, is the designated state entity for independent living. Federal law requires a majority of voting members to be people with significant disabilities who do not work for a state agency or a center; the council does not publish which members meet that test. Meeting contact: Janet Sharkis, executive director, janet@txsilc.org.