HOLDEN COUNCIL ON AGING
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Conference Room – Senior Center
Present: Richard Mansfield; Rev. Dr. Paul Kennedy; Rev. Jerry Heslinga; Jacquie Kelly; Cheryl Owoc; Barbara Anger; Sue Sullivan; Albert Ferron; Louise Charbonneau; Maureen Buffone.
The Holden Council on Aging meeting for March was called to order at 8:03 a.m. by Chairman Mansfield. Albert Ferron moved to accept the minutes from the February 7, 2008 meeting, which was seconded by Cheryl Owoc.
Rick welcomed our new member Rev. Dr. Paul Kennedy and thanked him for accepting the vacant position on the board.
F.H.C.O.A. REPORT
Barbara Anger reported that the Friends met on Monday, March 3rd, and the Treasurer's Report from the meeting is as follows:
Commerce Bank |
$8,911.96 |
Leominster Credit Union |
$18,038.88 |
C.D. |
$20,000.00 (about to roll over) |
The Friends' annual cookie sale took in $1,199.50.
The Friends agreed to purchase a Wii video game system for the senior center. Barbara and Paula hope to visit the Clinton Senior Center to take a look at theirs.
Mike Sullivan from the post office came in on February 13th to meet with some of the Friends' members, along with Louise and Maureen, to discuss the changes that need to be made to the newsletter to keep the mailing costs down. We will need to update our mailing labels to include an eleven digit bar code. We should also be using two stickers to seal the newsletters. Last month's newsletters were delivered the day after they arrived at the post office.
The Friends decided to return the folding machine that was purchased from Printer to Printer Offset Equipment and will ask for a refund of the $2,500 purchase price. The machine was delivered in November and has not worked according to their needs.
COORDINATOR'S REPORT
The events for March are as follows:
Monday, March 3....Ron Rosenstock-Photography in Ireland
Thursday, March 6...Dr. Dolak-Staying Healthy
Friday, March 7.......Quinsigamond Community College Dental Students
Monday, March 10...Eisenberg Assisted Living Presents: Information on Hospice
Tuesday, March 11..Lunch and Tour of Tanuck Park
Thursday, March 13...Movie "August Rush"
Monday, March 17....Special Town Election, No Programs
Tuesday, March 18...St. Patrick's Day Party with Music by John Rota
Thursday, March 20..Easter Egg Hunt
Thursday, March 20..Movie "Enchanted"
Monday, March 24...Reminisce with Cindy
Thursday, March 27..Movie "No Reservations"
Monday, March 31...International Day - Mexico
SERVICE INCENTIVE GRANT - Louise reported that we are in receipt of a letter from the Executive Office of Elder Affairs announcing our receipt of a Service Incentive Grant in the amount of $1,500.00. The moneys will be used to upgrade our RUOK Software. The $1,500 will pay for the upgrade itself. The town will donate an appropriate computer and printer.
GOOD NEIGHBOR AWARD - This year, the Senior Center Staff was invited to nominate a candidate for the Democratic Town Committee's Good Neighbor Award. We nominated a very special candidate, and the committee has agreed with us that our nominee deserves to be recognized. Our nominee is Al Ferron. The award ceremony honoring Mr. Ferron will be held on Thursday, March 27th at the Senior Center at 7:00 PM. Unfortunately, Louise will be away, but hopes that members of this Board will go to support him and wish him well.
BUDGET HEARING - Our budget hearing with the Finance Committee will be held on Wednesday, March 26th at the Senior Center at 7:00 PM. As Louise will still be away, Jacquie Kelly will be handling the hearing on our behalf. Louise encouraged members of this Board to attend the hearing in support of our budget and of Jacquie. Other budgets being heard that evening are Growth Management; Recreation/After School Revolving Fund; Cable Revolving Fund; and the Culture budget.
Wii - A big thanks to the Friends of the Holden Council on Aging. Due to their generosity, the Holden Senior Center will be purchasing a Wii video game system. This has proven to be very popular in other senior centers in the area. It benefits seniors' hand/eye coordination, as well as provides exercise while having fun. We will be purchasing the system, some extra controllers and some appropriate games. We are enlisting the help of Bob Beck to get it set up for us. We are looking forward to beginning this new program.
OUTREACH WORKER - Unfortunately, our new outreach worker, Dale Hayden, has had to resign her position here. Dale was with us for only a short time, but in that time had endeared herself to many of our seniors and to our staff, as well. She will be sorely missed. We have posted the position, which closes on March 21st. When Louise returns, Paula and Louise will review the applications and set up interviews as soon as possible.
VACATION - Louise will be leaving for vacation shortly after the conclusion of this meeting. Also, Louise will be attending the NCOA conference from March 26-30. She will return to the office on either March 31st or April 1st. In her absence, Maureen will oversee the day to day operations of the Senior Center. If Maureen is called away, Paula will take on those duties.
OLD BUSINESS
An overview of the senior van was given for our new member, Rev. Dr. Paul Kennedy. We have a contract with the WRTA for the new van, which they own and we operate. They give us a budget every year for approximately $35,000. If we go over budget, it is the town's responsibility to pick up the difference. We get a new van every 100,000 miles. When our new van was delivered last June, the WRTA donated the old van to the senior center which is used 4 hours per day, 5 days a week, in town only. Brian Bullock allocated $18,000 to run this additional van.
A senior van sub-committee was formed after the van was received, which is being chaired by Sue Sullivan. The sub-committee started off talking about soliciting donations from the community to put advertising on the side of the van. They tried to draft letters, but the more they talked, the more uncomfortable they felt about asking for donations. The sub-committee is now discussing soliciting donations to purchase a new van, so that we always have two (2) vans going. They would like to approach Town Manager Bullock to ask if the town will pay for the operating costs, if the sub-committee buys the van. We will ask Mr. Bullock to come in to meet with us to see if he feels the support will be there and get an idea of what kind of money we are talking about and go from there.
NEW BUSINESS
Sue suggested that Louise, as director, should put a small column in the newsletter.
An updated HCOA member and staff list was handed out to all board members.
ADJOURNMENT
It was unanimously voted to adjourn the meeting of March 6, 2008 at 8:55 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Maureen Buffone
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