Colchester Commission on Aging
Regular Meeting Minutes
Monday, February 25, 2008 – Colchester Senior Center
MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairman Bernie Erickson, Vice Chairman Ann Smyk, Clara Erickson, Sally Carbone, Jean Stawicki, Barbara Warden
MEMBERS ABSENT: James Cunningham, Bill Wagner
OTHERS PRESENT: Cathy Russi, Rosemary Coyle, Betty Ann Oppelt, Christina from Amston Village
1. Call Meeting to Order: The meeting was called to order at 1:02 p.m.
2. Election of new Chairperson: Postponed until June meeting per bylaws.
3. Minutes: Clara Erickson motioned to approve the regular meeting minutes of 11/13/07. Ann Smyk seconded. All other members present voted in favor. MOTION CARRIED. Clara motioned to approve the informational meeting minutes of 12/10/07. Jean Stawicki seconded. All other members present voted in favor. MOTION CARRIED.
4. Treasurer’s Report: Jean Stawicki reported that $123.00 was collected in November, $101.25 in December and $251.50 in January. She had no indication of any expenditures. Ann Smyk motioned to accept the Treasurer’s report. Sally Carbone seconded. All other members present voted in favor. MOTIONED CARRIED.
5. Chairman’s Report: Bernie Erickson reported that as of June 2008, he is resigning as Chairman of the Commission on Aging. Bernie then introduced Barbara Warden as the new alternate on the Commission on Aging. He reported that Regina Saparo-Hunt submitted a letter of resignation from the Commission dated 2/21/08 because she is moving out of Colchester. Barbara Warden agreed to fill the newly opened permanent position. Betty Ann Oppelt submitted a letter to the First Selectman requesting an interview for the alternate position.
6. Friends of the Senior Center Report: The next meeting of the Friends of the Senior Center will be at the Town Hall on Thursday, February 28th at 6 pm.
7. Senior Center Director’s Report: Cathy Russi met with 3 candidates for Irene’s position. Rosemary Coyle, Clara Erickson and First Selectman Linda Reilly-Hodge also sat in on the interviews. There were some changes in the job description, including working occasional nights and weekends. The position has been offered to one candidate that had similar experience in working with seniors. She has verbally accepted the position, but following procedure, a letter has to be sent from the First Selectman’s office.
The CBA will be meeting at the Senior Center on March 4, 2008. Cathy asked if any Commission members want to attend to just let her know.
TVCCA, the Thames Valley Council for Community Action, is a house agency that receives a lot of Federal funding. Cathy said that many people just associate them with the meals program, however, they are also a help agency for energy assistance, foster grandparents, WIC and a number of other different agencies. In the past, Colchester has gotten requests from them for funding. This amount has been around $1,200, which has been moved from the Senior Center budget to the First Selectman’s budget. There recently have been issues regarding the type of service they are receiving from TVCCA. The First Selectman has asked that Janet Taylor, the Social Service Worker for the Town of Colchester, Cathy, and Fay Sherman who is the representative for Colchester, schedule a
meeting to open the lines of communication to improve services. The TVCCA has not been returning phone calls, they’ve stopped coming to Colchester to take fuel assistance applications and the staff at the Senior Center is doing all of that, as well as using their own supplies. Cathy welcomed anyone from the Commission to sit in on the meeting. Please let her know if you’re interested and she will keep you updated on the meeting time and place.
The TVCCA is changing the meal program that they offer. The new program does not use a warmer. There will be different, hopefully more palatable meals, continued soups and the reintroduction of salads. Cathy would like to get a grant for a new warmer. She feels that is useful for the big meals that the Senior Center offers because the kitchen is so small. She will research the cost.
The TVCCA has invited town officials to join the Meals on Wheels program to be drivers for a day on March 27th. In the past Jenny Contois and Linda Orange have participated. Cathy extended the invitation to any members of the Commission on Aging so they can see what the program is all about.
Cathy has been invited to attend the Clergy Association meeting on March 11th which will be held at the synagogue. They want to talk about the services that the Senior Center offers.
Cathy reviewed the budget and found that it will be just about the same as last year. Some items have gone out to bid like the copier, oil and fire extinguishers.
The Senior Center ran out of oil one Friday. The delivery didn’t come until 1 p.m. There was a stop order on the oil account which had never been lifted. There was a delivery charge of over $100.00 because they needed an emergency delivery and furnace startup. The stop order has since been lifted so it should not happen again. Cathy had to cancel programs that were scheduled for the day, but she did not close the doors. There was still transportation and they used a space heater for Donna in the office. Linda Reilly-Hodge has told her that if it happens again, she should close the facility for the day.
The fire extinguishers did not get the annual inspection. Cathy brought this to Greg Plunkett’s attention and it has since been taken care of.
Cathy had a meeting with Greg this morning. There were a number of things she wanted to talk with him about as he is the Facility Manager for the town. She questioned the status of the rear ramp that Bacon Academy has offered to rebuild. He felt that Karen Loiselle should be the contact person for it. A building application package needs to be completed which Norm Dupris has volunteered to do. Rosemary Coyle thought the teacher from Bacon might be responsible for this since they are building it, or possibly the Bacon Academy Board of Trustees, as owners of the building. Also, a letter of intent should be sent to the Bacon Academy Board of Trustees and cc’d to the First Selectman’s office. Clara Erickson made a motion for the Chair to send a letter
to them describing the project and the intention to move forward with it. Sally Carbone seconded. All other members present voted in favor. MOTION CARRIED.
Cathy also talked with Greg regarding the trouble alarm in the building. It went off in the middle of the night one Sunday, and by Tuesday afternoon it still had not been reset. Cathy emailed Greg and copied Linda about it. Finally, an old town employee had come in and reset it for her. Greg explained the chain of command that Cathy should follow and Cathy requested that he let her know when one of his staff comes in to fix problems because often they’ve done work and Cathy isn’t aware that it’s been completed.
Cathy also spoke with Greg regarding the front door. She was hoping that some of the unused monies from the vacant staff position could be utilized to fix the door and possibly making use of Tim York’s offer to try to get some builders to help. However, Greg reminded her that she had been told at a meeting that no new work would go into the building. From this point forward, Cathy will only document any problems that occur with the door and what has been done about it. Already there has been an accident report filed when the door flew shut and pushed someone into the building. Cathy feels that someone on the Commission could communicate about the upkeep and other issues affecting the Senior Center. Rosemary Coyle reiterated that the Board of Finance has
unanimously voted that the door would not be replaced and until their position changes, nothing can happen. Sally feels that the Commission should listen to Cathy and support her in documenting the issues. Cathy will bring up the issues at the meetings with the windows, floor in the back hall and both doors.
The new vehicle is running well. Cathy is writing a grant for an extension of the state matching funding for transportation outside of town. This is a very beneficial program that allows trips that would otherwise not happen. They are mostly doctors’ appointments, but there was recently a social program trip to the Coast Guard Academy funded through this program. Cathy and Bernie have tried to interview drivers but the weather has prevented it. They have been lucky to have Karen here this winter to help out with driving.
There will be a volunteer dinner in April or May. Cathy advertises this in the paper but doesn’t send out individual invitations so she doesn’t overlook anyone.
Cathy was asked to join two collaborative programs with the school system. They are reading readiness programs.
The seniors are very busy making items for Backus hospital. They have made surgical caps for children, newborn hats and lap robes for cancer patients. The volunteer coordinator for the hospital has asked the seniors to go down to the hospital to visit.
The staff is attending an all-day training through the CT Association of Senior Center Personnel on March 13th. Cathy emailed Linda asking for support so the whole staff can go. Youth Services will come in and cover for them for the day. They will also be doing training on blood borne pathogens and fire extinguishers.
The St. Patrick’s Day dinner will be on March 17th.
TRIAD wants to do the Senior Appreciation Day again on June 5th at St. Andrew’s Church. Cathy asked any Commission members to let her know if they want to help out with this.
Clara Erickson motioned to accept the Senior Center Director’s Report. Ann Smyk seconded. All other members voted in favor. MOTION CARRIED.
8. Old Business: Rosemary Coyle related that the Elderly Tax Relief Task Force has met 3 times already and is meeting again on Feb. 27th. They are working very hard to come up with options. Their short term goal is to educate the community on tax advantages that already exist within Colchester and at the state level. They are preparing a flier outlining these options so that people can talk to the assessor if they need more information. Cathy added that the people in Westchester Village and Colchester Common have the option of going on the Renter’s Rebate or Circuit Breaker program. The
other thing is that Colchester has an ordinance that passed in 1993 that they would like to modify. It looks at income levels, percentage of interest, etc. This is a tax deferred program that exists right now. If you choose to do this, taxes are deferred until property changes hands or someone passes then the taxes are paid back to the town. The long term goal is looking at a tax credit/abatement program which is much more complicated. This would not be implemented this year. They need to hold public sessions regarding this because the rest of the town would need to make up the difference with this option.
The task force is also looking at raising the income level limits for Colchester for the Circuit Breaker program so it could be offered to a greater number of people.
9. New Business: Jean Stawicki asked about soliciting area businesses for donations. Cathy said they did get a $500 donation from Dunkin Donuts and also a microwave from the Car Club on the green. The schools also donated holiday boxes for seniors. Cathy does use the community as a resource but more on an as-needed basis. She also said that they just received a large donation of yarn which she will use for the seniors to make afghans and scarves for the holiday sale in December.
Clara Erickson suggested that everyone on the committee come to lunch at the senior center. The cost is $2.50. She said it is nice to come and get to know some of the people and see how it’s run. Cathy said that the First Selectman has committed to attending the St. Patrick’s Day lunch with Rosemary. It would be a good time for people to come and talk with her.
10. Items of Interest: No items were reported.
11. Adjournment: Clara motioned to adjourn the meeting at 2:15 p.m. Ann Smyk seconded. All other members present voted in favor. MOTION CARRIED.
Respectfully submitted,
Michelle Komoroski
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