HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-04-14 Council on Aging MinutesCouncil on Aging
April 14, 2003
Senior Center
Reading, MA 01867
Present: Barbara Powers, Edwina Kasper, John O'Neill, Betty Cronin, C- ay Willj~m , gFI4 3.
Anderson, Dottye Foxon, Ruth Goldberg, Pamela Brown (Administrato`r): L
Absent: no one!
Betty Cronin called the meeting to order at 6:32 p.m.
• The minutes for the February meeting were approved - there was no meeting in March
(motion by John O'Neill, second by Barbara Powers, and carried).
• Pamela reviewed the Financial Re orrt. The Formula Grant money arrived in March - most
of it goes to the salary line for the Coordinator of Volunteers. Approximately $20K of this
salary comes from the Grant money, and $4K - in the past - from the town. This year the
$4K will come from the Shopping Assistant Donation account (fund 25/548). Pamela
indicated that Peter said this $4K portion next year would come from COA Donations (fund
25/547) since the Shopping account would be virtually gone. The Board was not pleased
with this piece of information as its members felt that the COA donations should be used to
further the programs from which they were derived. We have asked Pamela to talk further
with Peter about this. She also mentioned that we need to get the money for the final
quarter of the Social Worker's salary, transferred from the Burbank Trust. Motion to accept
the report was made by Gay Williams, seconded by Dick Anderson; motion carried.
• Highlights of the Administrator's Repo were reviewed and moved for acceptance by John
O'Neill, seconded by Dick Anderson; motion carried.
• We then heard from our guest, Beth Klepeis, the Town Treasurer, who spoke to.us about
the Property Tax Program. She indicated that the people who work are supervised, hence
- not independent contractors, therefore are town employees, therefore subject to worker's
comp and to taxation. She did point out that a form W4 could be filled out to claim a higher
number of exemptions in an effort to reduce tax withholdings. She also gave us some
information about rates for Medicare - 1.45% and social security - 7.65%. We have asked
Pam to talk with Beth given that our intentions have always been that the tax worker GET
$500 worth of tax relief - perhaps Beth can assist in calculating what payment needs to be
made to bring that about (i.e. pay more so $500 is received).
• We discussed the Reading Response Program - and gave thought to submitting a proposal
for the Transportation element of this program.
• Relative to the Needs Assessment, the survey was mailed with the April newsletter, a total
of 2761 surveys; 282 had been received back as of ou'r meeting.
• In other business Ruth Goldberg reported that she has started a scrapbook of the Center
and it's activities - THANK YOU RUTH! She also proposed several ideas.- a Red Hat
meeting for a Friday afternoon - lunch or tea, and a program dedicated to planning a
memorial/funeral service. Pamela reported that she is going to approach Walmart to fund a
railing for the walkway into the Center, and told us that the Lions Club has been asked if
they might fund adaptive equipment for the computer room. Dottye proposed that a new
Chair be elected in September.
• The meeting was adjourned at 8:10 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Gay WaUatnk
Gay Williams, Sec'y