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Home My WebLink About2021-12-29 ad Hoc - Reading Center for Active Living Community Minutes� OFNrao r Town of Reading RECEIVED Meeting Minutes I's TOWN CLERK READING, MA. z 'JI�IIYCOPFOP T-I[Board - committee - commission - council: 2022 JAN 27 AM 8:46 ad Hoc - Reading Center for Active Living Co>amittee Date: 2021-12-29 Time: 4:00 PM Building: Location: Address: Session: Open Session Purpose: Reading Center for active Living Version: Final Committee Attendees: Members - Present: ReCalc Members: Mark Dockser; John ONeill; Michael Coltman; Ron Assini; John Parsons; John Sasso Members - Not Present: Elizabeth Walsh Others Present: , Staff: Kevin Bohmiller; Jean Delios;Community: Bob Holmes Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Ron Assani Topics of Discussion: Meeting called to order at 4:01 pm Roll Call: Mark Dockser; John ONeill; Michael Coltman; Ron Assini; John Parsons; John Sasso; Roll Call for Meeting Approval from 12/13/21 Mark Dockser; John ONeill; Michael Coltman; Ron Assini; John Parsons; John Sasso; End of January Consultant services for Community outreach. ReCalc would like to reach out to the Community to gain feedback Invitation of Biz to bid for Outside consultants Jean did reach out to the state for recommendations Uncertain times, so recommendation is just put out there for bid Reach out to some consultants that we worked with in the past. Betty Walsh resigning: Mark provided reasons why Betty resigned: Betty believed we were focusing on more surveys and not addressing some of the current immediate needs like affordable senior housing. John O'Neill: — reiterating the charge of the committee for searching for consultant and research the need for a new Center based on the 2017 study. Not to address the immediate needs (housing etc). John Sasso: - Also reiterated the purview of the committee based on the 2017 study. Page I 1 Provide a list of current services that are available and as part of the process share input to others of the current services. Do we need another committee to Mark Dockser: Understand the needs, Activities etc, but also address the facility needs, access needs. There could be some short term needs that can be addressed. Mike Coltman: Re -reading the ReCalc Charter. Really think the purpose of the committee is to address the physical facility and look at potentially other facilities in the town to review. John Parson: Get out of that building as soon as possible. This needs to be the main focus of the group. John O'Neill: - We need to demonstrate to have facts and figures to identify the needs. Asked Amy and Kevin, what would be some of things that they would like to have as part of the current senior center. Dissemination of information is current need. And gain agreement from everyone in community. John Sasso: To address Betty Walsh's interest is to reconsider since the committee will always consider the current needs as potential recommendations. John Sasso — Went through Summary of the 2017 study in Six key areas: • Accessibility of the current Center • Communication of current services • Partnerships • Property Tax • Space (including the staffing piece) • Programming (includes transportation) • No conclusion to the housing needs. John Sasso highlighted the Programming Recommendations. Table the transportation piece for now, believes it belongs on its research. • Took two things as common themes o Resource sharing (schools, other communities, 3rd party) o Reduce Isolation (Mental Health), Adult Day Care, Caregivers John Sasso reviewed a spreadsheet, what are programs or services that need or wanted. Flush out where, staff, cost to the community, cost to seniors, are they offered somewhere else. Are there programs/services in a neighboring community that we could review or visit. Mark Dockser — We need to do some benchmarking. What is being offered in other communities. Is there an opportunity to share. What is it that we should have? Example: Physical activities that could take place if we had the space. How many more would want to participate in Zumba if we had the space? John Parsons: - Zumba and Bridge are great, but he work that is being done by the case workers should be highlighted more. Page 1 2 Mike Coltman —Think of programs that are going to get people to come to the Community Center and remove the stigma of Senior Center. Are there other facilities in town that accommodate those needs. Kevin Bohmiller—Share some pictures A place to get together to just socialize, talk, have a cup of coffee, sit and chat. A real exercise room How do we get the 50+ to come in? Like a Gym with exercise equipment. Office space How do we get young people ? Have a real kitchen to provide quality meals. Shared a spreadsheet — My Senior Center. How do we collect the data of what we're offering Reviewed the current data collected which lists types of activities/events The big takeaway are the drastic numbers 2019 (pre-Covid) are much higher. And the significant drop off 2020 -2021. No meals in 2021. Limited by the size of building for Covid social distancing. One way in one way out of the building. Can't have multiple activities going on the same time. Snapshot of the attendance avg. 250/day (2019) 22/day (2021). Current SF is about 6500sf . Building is about 140 years old. 90 years as Fire / Police station and 30 years as a Senior Center. Board of health instituted a mask mandate as of this week. It may scare people away, but may encourage more to come with the mandate. Nurse Advocate and Case worker Worked with the School dept, mental health issue. Every day is an adventure. They're not only dealing with seniors in community. This is an example of how these workers serve the overall community. Work closely with Police, Fire, and library. Co -advertise each other's programs. Work closely with clergy as well. Mark Dockser: Do we know if other communities are using similar tracking program? Kevin Bohmiller: Very popular used program, actually it's a National program. What if List provide by Kevin? • Area for Socialization, drop in • Quality Lunch • Multiple area to use simultaneously • Supportive Day Care • Game Room • Dedicated Exercise equipment • Private Meeting Space • Craft Area, fix it shop Page 1 3 • Ping Pong area • Dedicated area for hairdressing/manicures and other self-care • Dedicated and private office for staff What about outdoor activities? Like Pickleball is becoming very popular. Current Pick Wakefield has Pickeball in the morning. Dance lessons Musicians that come Center is very popular and fills up very quickly (Max 60). How do we take what we talked about here to provide some input Jean Delios: Focus groups and multiple forums will be available to hear what the communities wants. Once a consultant is selected they will be attending multiple ReCalc meeting to understand what the council is working on. Council on Aging — can we ask help from the council to work with the ReCalc council. It would be good for us to meet with them. John O'Neill could invite for a joint meeting with Council on Agin. Roll Call: To have a Joint Meeting with Council as Aging. Mark Dockser- Y John ONeill -Y Michael Coltman -Y Ron Assini -Y John Parsons -Y John Sasso - Y Next meeting Council on Aging February 14", 2022-6:30 PM From a budgeting for the Consultant there are limited number of meetings. Determine dates for proposed joint meeting with the Council on Aging. What feedback are we looking for from them? What are we going to talk about? Agenda of topics to talk about with a joint meeting What are needs today and the future 2030 with the projected demographics? If we have Center that is a public building open it up to all ages. Agenda topic for next meeting Page 14 Open up the discussion for non -elders. It's important open it up to a center in their 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's Would it be good to hear from others communities who are going through similar activities. Are there communities that have developed a multi -generation center? Newton recently went through this planning and have decided to go with Multi -Generation center. John Sasso: We need to careful of broaden our scope too much. However. Multi-purpose Center allows more hours to utilize for all ages. Added another column to the spreadsheet to categorize as Dual Use. Mark Dockser: Should we consider the school based ages for their input? Agenda for next meeting: January 12, 2022. Set another the following meeting Wednesday January 26, 2022 7:00-9:00 pm Target it as a possible joint meeting Role Call: to adjourn Mark Dockser - Y John ONeill - Y Michael Coltman -Y Ron Assini -Y John Parsons -Y John Sasso - Y Page 15