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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-05-12 Council on Aging MinutesCouncil on Aging May 12, 2003 Senior Center Reading, MA 01867 Present: Barbara Powers, Edwina Kasper, John O'Neill, Betty Cronin, Dick Anderson, Dottye Foxon, Ruth Goldberg, Pamela Brown (Administrator) Absent: Gay Williams Dottye Foxon called the meeting to order at 6:35 • The minutes for the April meeting were approved (motion by John O'Neill, second by Ruth Goldberg and carried) • Pamela reviewed the Financial Report. Motion to accept the report was made by Dick Anderson and seconded by Barbara Powers; motion carried. (We missed Gay's input!) • We have received an additional $33,000 from the Burbank Trust and designated by vote that it will go into the principal. We discussed the rounding up the principal figure to $250,000 from the Burbank which will remain untouched. Some monies will be taken from the interest to accommodate this figure. Moved to approve by John O'Neill and seconded by Barbara Powers - carried by unanimous vote. • Highlights of the Administrator's Report were discussed and moved for acceptance by John O'Neill, seconded by Barbara Powers. • There was a discussion on the role of "friends" of the Council on Aging. Dottye has a Patron member researching the wording in the Patron of Older Adults' charter to see if they were started as "friends" of seniors. The role of "friends" was discussed. Pamela and Dottye will attend a training meeting regarding initiating a "friends" group. • We talked about the wish for the Administrator and/or staff to be housed at the Senior Center. • The Property Tax Program is going well and will probably meet the $10,500 allocated for this program. New property tax positions involve a Friday afternoon receptionist, and Star input. Pamela offered that occasionally there is a question about applicant's skill levels and that they aren't always meeting the requirements from the town departments. She hopes to have 21 participants for FY04 and we agreed to keep it at $500 - 74 hours per worker in order to study the program for another year to see what the needs of the departments are. The Council agreed that some arrangement should be made so workers can clear $500. There was discussion regarding changing eligibility criteria, i.e., real estate trust eliminated. It was moved waive the eligibility (trust) for one year by Betty Cronin and seconded by Dick Anderson - carried by unanimous vote. The Council considered eliminating income guidelines and use the wording "moderate income". It was agreed to table this and come back next month to discuss. • Pamela submitted a proposal to Reading Response to continue implementing the Medical Taxi service, which takes 5 hrs/month for the social worker and 6 hrs/month for the Principle Clerk. No decision yet. • Pamela completed the Needs Assessment questionnaire and it was mailed out with the April Pleasantries. To date, about 10.7% responses have been logged. They are now in the hands of Salem State College whose students will analyze them. The comments included in the returned responses were typed by the principle clerk and handed out to the Council. They were extremely positive. • We discussed the safety features in the van and the concern about the wheelchair and the storing of the grocery bags for the shoppers. The wheelchair lift doesn't work well in the winter due to frost heaves in the road. There is no way to seatbelt the person in the wheelchair. The DPW will try to remove two seats to accommodate passengers. Staff will attend a training session regarding assistive devices at Wingate. Pamela will also attend a meeting with suggestions to search for state programs for van acquisitions. • The Volunteer Reception dinner, sponsored by the Reading Junior Women's Club, was a success with a lot of hard work from Sue Reardon and staff. There were 85 attendees • Other Business - a new program will start in June with Congressman's Tierney's aide - Cheryl Gresek who will discuss Prescription Advantage and its status. • Sue Kosior, Director of Vision Rehabilitation, MVES is interested in working with us in offering computer classes to low vision participants. • The Bill Payer program, which our volunteers help with, is also offered by MVES. They have protective features and it was agreed to transfer the program to MVES. Reading Elder/Human Services will now make referrals for this program to MVES. Motion to accept was made by Dick Anderson and seconded by Barbara Powers - motion carried. • The Congregational Church, Reading is considering taking over The Adopt a Family Program. We are waiting for confirmation. • The June meeting will be Annual meeting and election of officers will be held. Pamela left the meeting and the Council worked on her Performance Appraisal. The meeting was adjourned at 8:55. Respectfully submitted, Betty Cronin, Temporary Secretary ~M0 a