HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-12-10 Council on Aging Minutes3 'x J
Council on Aging C L
December 10, 2001
Senior Center
Reading, MA 01867 - p 2- 4 q
Present: Dick Anderson, Barbara Powers, Ray Cabot, John O'Neill, Dottye Foxon, Ed Merullo,
Betty Cronin, Edwina Kasper, Gay Williams, Pamela Brown (Director). Absent: Joanne
O'Brien
• Dottye Foxon called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
• Mike Scarpitts, Assistant Principal of RMHS addressed the Council as a part of an effort to
interview about 1500 people throughout the town. He and others hope to identify strengths
of the High School, focus on areas to be preserved, and highlight issues and areas that should
be addressed and improved.
• The minutes of November's meeting were approved (motion by John O'Neill, second by
Barbara Powers).
• Pamela reviewed the Financial Report. The extra $2851 in the Burbank Trust is still a
mystery. Pamela will ask Peter if he recalls how this came to be applied to the Burbank
monies. Dick Anderson moved to accept the report, seconded by John O'Neill; approved.
• The Administrator Reports for both October and November were distributed. Pamela
highlighted the computer program and commented that we had an excellent partnership with
the RMLD. The Reading Chronicle was working on an article about the computer room and
its history. Marie Ammer has written several articles for the local papers addressing various
topics of interest to seniors. A motion to accept the reports was made by Gay Williams,
seconded by Dick Anderson; approved.
• Offering more detail on the Computer Room Traininu, Ed Merullo said that there were five
happy people in the class. He related that the materials were nice, and the explanations of
terminology very helpful. Pamela is hoping that RMLD will continue its relationship with
the classes, and that Theresa will do the teaching (benefit from continuity and familiarity).
The High School student mentors she said, are wonderful; she will look into having the
newspapers do an article this Spring about the students (H.S.) and the senior citizens. Ed
commented that a two-hour class - rather than the current one-hour class - would be helpful.
• The Thanksgiving delivery of hot meals to seniors went well - there were 27 meals delivered.
Dottye, Dick and Gay volunteered to deliver meals from Boston Market on the afternoon of
Christmas Eve.
• In Other Business...
• We spoke again about possible uses of the Burbank Trust fund monies. One suggestion
was underwriting the cost of some of the programs currently offered at the center (e.g.
line dancing, aerobics) in an effort to draw new participants. A suggestion from John was
a "needs assessment"; he indicated that we might enlist a social work graduate student to
assist - or Mystic Valley might have such a questionnaire from which we could work.
Dick commented that North Reading had just done one. Another possibility is an annual
dinner for town seniors, something that was done years ago. It was a Saturday daytime
event, and town staff, Selectmen et al participated as cooks. One final suggestion related
to the mailing to town seniors - which might go hand in hand with the needs assessment
questionnaire.
• Dick Anderson spoke representing Mystic Valley Elder Services. An annual report will
be made available to Council members in next month's package. He also relayed that the
Circuit Breaker (tax rebate) formula had not yet been finalized, but will be shortly.
• Ray Cabot followed up on the subject of art at the Center. He had spoken to several
artists in the Reading Art Assoc. and folks are concerned about security of their work at
the center, as well as relatively low traffic volume. Alternate suggestions offered were to
appropriate funds to purchase art work from the R.A.A. sale, and to solicit art works from
the schools in town, from EMARC, from the Tannerville art classes, and/or from CAK
(Creative Arts).
• There was a quick discussion about moving the meeting start time to 6:30. Pamela will
check with Joanne about her ability to meet at that hour.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
(~a y W aucwnk
Gay Williams, Sec'y