HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-03-11 Council on Aging MinutesCouncil on Aging
March 11, 2002
Senior Center
Miss. Reading, MA 01867
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Present: Dick Anderson, Barbara Powers, John O'Neill, Betty Cronin, Edwina Kasper,
Ray Cabot, Gay Williams, Pamela Brown (Director). Absent: Ed Merullo, Joanne
O'Brien, Dottye Foxon
• Betty Cronin called the meeting to order at 6:37 p.m.
• The minutes of February's meeting were approved (motion by John O'Neill, second
by Dick Anderson).
• Pamela reviewed the Financial Report. Everyone was very pleased with the
explanations offered by her. The report was accepted, motion by Gay Williams,
second by Barbara Powers.
• Highlights of the Administrator's Report for February were reviewed.
• Pamela commented that she had met with a representative at Longwood place,
to talk about programming. She will see that flyers and the newsletter are
distributed there. The town's senior citizen van will not be available to Longwood
residents as they have their own. The Senior Center does have support
activities that Longwood does not offer, so there appears to be some opportunity
for us to serve those residents. Pamela will look into opportunities for income
eligible residents at Longwood relative to taxi services and the like. A motion to
accept the report was made by Gay Williams, and seconded by Barbara Powers;
approved.
• No return call has been received from the Carroll Center (reference low vision
clientele and the computers).
• Pamela reported that she will contact TASC again regarding potential trainers for
the computer room.
• Our shopping assistance coordinator had planned to retire soon - this makes the
up-coming budget cut in the new fiscal year less distasteful on a personal level.
However, the duties here will need to be merged into the Coordinator of
Volunteers' position.
• Regarding the Computer Room, Pamela reported that a new class with Steve Oston
(a second excel class) will start on Wednesday. Five people have signed up and a
sixth is interested as well.
• We discussed the monthly newsletter, the Ramblings. Pamela has researched
information about a bulk mailing permit - standard rate for not non-profits would be
$.233 each, if sorted by route $.149; for a non-profit (we aren't one) it would be
$.146 unsorted and $.089 sorted. There has been a suggestion that the Woburn
post office might be able to sort our mailing data on diskette, by route; Pamela will
look into this. There was also a suggestion that Mystic Valley (a non-profit) might let
us use their bulk mail permit - Pamela will follow up with Dan O'Leary on this. Gay
Williams put forth a suggestion that we mail the newsletter in June, September,
December and March. Work is underway on reformatting the newsletter on a more
familiar software base, and to make it easier to read.
• On the topic of Needs Assessment, Pamela and Dick reported that they had met
with the person who would be helping to set this up at Salem State. We will need to
make a presentation at the school in the Fall, and might expect to get as many as
four students. The COA will need to develop what goes into this presentation
(target for April/May agenda).
• Dick Anderson reported various statistics out of MVES (2000 census). It was
interesting to see the mix of numbers of seniors 85 and over, as well as the own
home vs. rent mix. Pamela noted that she is now on the Advisory Board for MVES.
• Final points included discussion about keeping the back door at the Center locked
(all in agreement), the Ham `N Bean dinner on March 21 st sponsored by the Police
Department, and recent personnel changes in Elder/Human Services.
• The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
(gay W a;(, oc
Gay Williams, Sec'y