HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-11-18 Council on Aging Minutes�� Town of Reading
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Meeting Minutes
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(P Board - Committee - Commission - Council:
Council on Aging
Date: 2015 -11 -18
Building: Pleasant Street Senior Center
Address: 49 Pleasant Street
Purpose:
Attendees: Members - Present:
Time: 6:32 PM
RECEIVED
TOWN CLERK
READING. MASS.
2016 MAR 15 P It 231
Location: Arts and Crafts Room
Session:
Thomas Procopio, Sandy Shaffer, Jolyn Ek, Steve Oston, Margaret Havey,
Marilyn Shapleigh, Brian Snell, John Parsons, Jane Burns (Admin)
Members - Not Present:
Kevin Walsh, Sally Hoyt, Pooja Parsons (Associate Member), Cara
Leonard(Associate Member)
Others Present:
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Marilyn Shapleigh
Topics of Discussion:
Call to Order: 6:34 by Thomas Procopio
Acceptance of Minutes from 10/19/15 - A typographical error was noted on page 2. CAD
should be COA. Approved with this change.
Elder Services October Report (Admin): Presented and accepted
Financial October Report (Admin): Presented and accepted
MVES Update (Brian Snell): Last month's meeting was 1" to welcome Chelsea, Revere and
Winthrop. Board added 9 -11 seats. A couple of fund raising events are coming up ... Belly
Full of Laughs in January, Stoneham Theater event... Sweet Charity in May, and they are
looking into doing a road race fundraiser.
Old business:
RCTV - possible videotaping opportunities - postponed in Kevin Walsh's absence.
Nurse Advocate Update: Hired an RN, Alyse Warren. Lots of experience working with the
elderly. Starts 11/30, Mon -Fri, 37.5 hrs per week. She will be located at the senior center.
Q A welcome reception is scheduled for 12/10/2015 at 10: 15 ... breakfast reception at Senior
Center.
Thanksgiving Meal Delivery: Tom Procoplo, Kevin Walsh, Sandy Shaffer, Margaret Havey,
and Jolyn Ek are on the list of meal deliverers. The plan is to meet at Christopher's at
11:00 a.m. 11/24. Jane Burns is mailing routes. 6 meals for each of the 5 drivers.
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Future Center Space Planning: lane attended a Mass. Council on Aging meeting and heard
John Catlin (who did the award winning conversion design for the Pleasant Street Center)
give a presentation on feasibility studies for new senior center construction. If Reading
wants to explore options for future space expansion, a feasibility study would be next step.
It would probably cost In neighborhood of $100,000... perhaps the senior center could pay
part of this from Burbank and see if town would match. The topic Is on the COA
11118/2015 agenda so that the COA can begin to think about this. A feasibility study would
include a site survey looking at available sites in Reading, identifying possibilities and design
options. If the project were to go forward, the next phase would include hiring an architect.
Jane Burns has a copy of the presentation and offered to present a condensed version at an
upcoming COA meeting.
Boston North Regional Coordinating Council: Hosted by MVES. Trying to determine
available transportation services, but neither Tom Procopio nor Jane Burns could attend the
last meeting.
New Business:
New Year's Eve - Funding Request: For the last 2 years, the senior center has held lunch
time celebrations with sparkling cider, hats, etc. which were very well attended and
enjoyed. The staff wants to make the celebration bigger and better this year by having the
meal catered instead of offering an MVES lunch. Jane Burns estimates $500 will be needed
out of Patrons to fund this. A motion to allocate up to $500 from Patrons for the New Year's
Eve party made by Steve Oston. Seconded by Sandy Shaffer and John Parsons. All were in
favor.
Birthday gift cards - funding request: A motion for $100 from the Burbank fund for
• birthday gift cards made by John Parsons. Seconded by Jolyn Ek. All in favor.
MassDOT Compliance Review - Defibrillator for van: A MassDot compliance review was
conducted and identified things out of compliance (e.g., Title 6, Americans with disabilities- -
we do not have a documented title 6 program ... Jane Burns is working on this; Van safety- -
the new van now goes out of town, traveling along highways where access to a defibrillator
in case of emergency is not as readily accessible as it is for van trips in the Reading
community where all police and fire vehicles are equipped with defibrillators (and likely to
be able to respond to an emergency call more quickly than in the highway scenario). Jane
Burns did research and learned that the cost of a defibrillator is $1271.00. Tom Procopio
moved to allocate $1300 from Burbank for a defibrillator for the new van. Margaret Havey
seconded. 7 voted in favor, 1 abstained.
A question was raised as to whether the van driver should call 911 or 942 -1212 in an
emergency because response time may be faster with one than the other.
Adjourned at 8:03.
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