Colchester Commission on Aging
Regular Meeting Minutes
Monday, March 9, 2009 – Colchester Senior Center
Members Present: Chairman Jean Stawicki, Vice-Chair Clara Erickson, Bernie Erickson, Sue Maikshilo
Members Absent: Barbara Warden, Betty Ann Oppelt, Bill Wagner
Others Present: Patti White, Greg Cordova, First Selectman Linda Hodge
1. Call Meeting to Order: The meeting was called to order at 1:03 p.m.
2. Minutes: Sue Maikshilo motioned to approve the regular meeting minutes of 2/9/09. Bernie Erickson seconded. All other members present voted in favor. MOTION CARRIED.
3. Financial Report: Bernie Erickson reported that the senior center collected $231.50 in February from bus transportation and of that $72.00 was from out of town trips. Clara Erickson motioned to accept the Financial Report. Sue Maikshilo seconded. All other members present voted in favor. MOTION CARRIED.
4. Chairman’s Report: Jean Stawicki said she’d like to add the budget onto the agenda for the April and May meetings. Patti stated that a budget has been submitted and revised and that she goes before the Board of Finance tonight at 7 pm to answer questions. Linda Hodge suggested giving copies of the budget to commission members because it’s not too late to make changes.
5. Senior Center Director’s Report: Patti White said the budget she submitted is $10,770 less than last year because of non-union concessions and projected reduction in utility costs. This amount will probably be further reduced. The non-union staff has agreed to either take an unpaid furlough or a freeze on wages to help meet needed reductions. Linda Hodge added that there have been town wide savings on things like cell phones, copiers, electricity, gas and oil. They have also begun purchasing items in bulk that each department
uses. Money was added back into the budget for a voicemail system for the senior center.
Patti went before the Board of Finance for approval to apply for a grant to purchase a new bus. They approved the appropriated amount because the Federal government pays for 80% of the vehicle. She also asked for a preliminary application for a part time therapeutic recreational position and aide through the Title III Older American Act. This will need Board of Selectmen approval. The Senior Center will have to submit a renewal application for out-of-town transportation. They have put in an application for a $1,500 grant from KEB to use for outside of the center, and will also apply to the Lion’s Club for a privacy screen.
There are 2 bus trips coming up, one to the casino and another to a play in Mystic. They did go to Groton for the Gong Show.
AARP is currently preparing taxes at the center and will come in April to hold a safe driver program.
Patti reported that Linda Hodge attended the last Friends of the Senior Center meeting and has assigned Adam, the Town Planner to meet with Patti and Norm Dupris to devise a plan to begin the process of dealing with the senior center issue. She stated that before anything can happen, there need to be community conversations. There are several steps before getting to that point and Adam can help guide them in the right direction.
There will be an open house at the Lebanon Senior Center on Sunday, March 15th.
Patti said there is not a regular cleaning schedule at the senior center and the garbage is not emptied every day. Linda said it should be happening every day and will set a meeting with Patti, Greg Plunkett and Wendy Mis.
Sue Maikshilo motioned to accept the Senior Center Director’s Report. Clara Erickson seconded. All other members present voted in favor. MOTION CARRIED.
6. Old Business:
A. Accreditation: There was discussion regarding the accreditation process. It was stated that accreditation is not possible now because of the building, but that it was a good idea to do what is possible to be ready for when that changes. The advantages of accreditation would be funding and community awareness/involvement. There are currently several programs that include the community, such as the collaborative garden between the youth and seniors centers, the mentoring program between high school students and seniors and
intergenerational programs with schools. Linda added that beginning to work on accreditation will draw other people in and get them informed so that when it is time to begin planning, the community will understand what is needed and why. There was question as to whether to begin with the programming or the facility. There were many suggestions to break the process up and pick one thing to start with. Clara stated that the manual says there should be a committee of 20 to 25 people which may be hard to find. Jean said that is so that they can break up into smaller groups and each can tackle a portion of the process. Linda added that when they are ready, she will fill the committee. She also said that it looks like the programming sections are 6.1 - 6.4 and 7.1 - 7.3 in the manual. Norm Dupris will speak at the April meeting on where the Friends of the Senior Center stand in regard to the issue of the new senior center. They would
like a stand-alone center to be used only by seniors.
7. New Business: Clara Erickson brought up a problem in the kitchen. She said they are doing everything they can to keep offering the Community TVCCA lunches but it’s a small kitchen that’s being used by other groups at the same time. The people preparing lunch for the seniors don’t have enough space to work. Patti said that she has not gotten good feedback on the quality of the lunches offered. One option would be to continue Meals-on-Wheels, but give up the community lunches offered at the senior center.
Clara agreed that Meals-on-Wheels is a valuable program and shouldn’t be cut. She questioned whether they could restrict programming scheduled between 12 and 12:30 that would conflict in the lunchroom. Sue Maikshilo suggested only offering TVCCA lunches for the special lunches like St. Patrick’s Day and Valentine’s Day so there isn’t competition for space. Linda Hodge added that Meals-on-Wheels might be cut from the state budget and Clara added what a shame that would be because it not only provides meals, but some human contact to seniors as well.
8. Adjournment: Clara and Bernie Erickson exited the meeting at 2:15, which adjourned the meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Michelle Komoroski |
