2002-12-09 Council on Aging Minutes

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Council on Aging December 9, 2002 r Senior Center L-• Reading, MA 01867 P SS. Present: Dottye Foxon, Barbara Powers, Edwina Kasper, John O'Ne ; b i6 rin' ~ Gay Williams, Dick Anderson, Ruth Goldberg, Pamela Brown (Administrator). Absent: Ray Cabot • Dottye Foxon called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. • The minutes of November's meeting were approved (motion by John O'Neil, second by Betty Cronin). • Pamela reviewed the Financial Report. The report was moved for acceptance by Betty Cronin and seconded by Gay Williams, and passed. • Highlights of the Administrator's Report for September and October was reviewed and the report was accepted; the report for November was not yet available. . • Regarding the Needs Assessment, Pamela reported that she had spoken to her contact at Salem State about hiring a graduate student. The good news is that this contact person is very interested in helping us out. He suggested we sample a population of about 500 seniors for the survey; he would offer free technical services and suggested hiring a student at $15 per hour. Neal DeChillo, who is the Acting Dean of the School of Human Services at Salem State, would be willing to meet with the needs assessment sub-committee of the Board. Members of the COA were delighted with this report. • On the topic of the Property Tax Program, following up on the discussion from our previous meeting, Pamela reported that she had contacted four local COAs: Andover, Chelmsford, North Reading and Swampscott, none of which withhold taxes. Andover acknowledged that it is taxable income, but that they chose not to do the withholding. Aside from this issue, the program is progressing well; two more workers will work at the Police Station related to the community access sticker program. • Pamela, Edwina and Ruth attended a recent COA training session. They learned that Reading is "unique" in its combining of Elder and Human Services. • The holiday meals went well for Thanksgiving, and plans are underway for a repeat on Christmas Eve day.