HOLDEN COUNCIL ON AGING
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Conference Room – Senior Center
Present: Rev. Dr. Jerry Heslinga; Susan Sullivan; Barbara Anger; Albert Ferron;
Richard Mansfield; Faye Ellis; Jacquie Kelly; Louise Charbonneau;
Jim Robinson; Cheryl Owoc; Maureen Buffone.
The minutes from the April 1, 2010 meeting were approved and accepted.
F.H.C.O.A. REPORT ~ Barbara Anger
Barbara reported that the account balances are as follows:
Commerce Bank $16,960.05
Leominster Credit Union $4,602.20
C.D. $23,068.11
The May meeting of the Friends of HCOA was cancelled. Their next meeting will be on June 7, 2010.
The Friends were given $2,700.00 from this year’s formula grant towards the cost of mailing the newsletters.
There is a balance of $408.00 due to WRHS for the Senior Prom dinner dance, which represents one-half of the balance due.
HELP AT HOME REPORT ~ Jim Robinson
Jim reported that April was a quiet month with three (3) disbursements; one (1) for Cape Bags in the amount of $1,184.00, and two (2) for assistance in the amount of $1,287.41. The current combined balance is $33,517.23. Receipts to date total $43,262.19 and disbursements to date total $28,014.34.
There are 4 requests pending.
BOARD OF ELDER SERVICES REPORT ~ Rick Mansfield
Rick has not yet received a full report. The Board of Elder Services is trying to do a signature event to try and build awareness and raise funds. Elder Services is doing fine from a financial standpoint. Rick suggested having someone from Elder Services come in to speak to the board members. Jerry recommended inviting someone to the September meeting. It could be one of the directors of the committee that serves Holden.
DIRECTOR’S REPORT ~ Louise Charbonneau
Bob and Cindy Beck were here yesterday to talk about their recent trip to LaRomana. The Pen Pal Farewell will be held this afternoon at the Mayo School at 2:00. The Town Manager will be in on June 9th to meet the seniors and give them an opportunity to hear her ideas for Holden’s future. Portrayed by Ann Marie Shea, Madame Secretary Frances Perkins will be here on June 14. The Strawberry Festival will take place on June 22 at 2:00. The monthly Veteran’s Meeting will be held on June 24 at 10:30. The movies for the month of June include “The Birdcage” on Thursday, June 10th, “Freedom Writers” on Thursday, June 17th, and “Regarding Henry” on
Thursday, June 24th.
Louise gave a breakdown of May’s program numbers: Greendale Men’s Chorus – 52; Ruth Harcovitz – 88; Spaghetti Supper (given by Freedom Church) – 33; Memorial Day Observance – 26; Talk on Victorian Life – 52. The Celebration of Rodgers and Hammerstein with Ruth Harcovicz and our Memorial Day Program with Dick Partridge were both partially funded through a grant from the Holden Arts Council.
Louise also made the board aware of a couple of changes that have been made over the last couple of months. The van riders have been asked not to bring any denomination of cash more than a $5.00 bill. The van drivers do not carry large amounts of cash, so bringing a $20.00 bill doesn’t work. Secondly, in the office, we no longer will change any bill larger than a $10.00. This change was motivated by four (4) people coming to the window asking for change for $20’s in one (1) morning.
Now that spring is here, teenagers have come in droves to “hang out” on our porches, front lawn and parking lot. They have already burned a hole in the picnic table out on the front porch. Louise has been working with Chief Sherrill who has placed an officer here either on foot or on bicycle from 4:00 to about 8:00 each afternoon/evening in hopes of deterring the issues we endured last year. Louise spoke with George Sherrill recently and told him that this police presence has made some difference. We have also posted new signs that read “No Bicycling No Skateboarding and No Loitering.”
Louise and Maureen attended a Formula Grant Training on May 20th at the beautiful new Northborough Senior Center. There are very few changes. Unless the HCOA Board has other ideas, we will more than likely use the grant moneys for the things we have typically used it for in the past.
Jacquie Kelly will be working on getting rid of the old van either through selling it or having it declared surplus equipment and then scrapping it.
Louise made the board aware of the summer dates for programs: Friday, July 16 ~ Victorian Tea; Friday, August 20 ~ Trout Brook Picnic. Holden Days will be held on Saturday, August 28. Louise went to the April meeting of the Holden Professional Fire Fighters Association to try and recruit them to help serve at the Trout Brook picnic.
OLD BUSINESS
None.
NEW BUSINESS
Jim Robinson gave an overview of what is in the works with the Holden Senior Center Solar Energy Project. At the Annual Town Meeting in May 2008, $100,000.00 was appropriated “to fund the construction and equipping of a solar energy generation project within the Town of Holden.” (The funds were left over bond proceeds from the Bullard Street substation project borrowing.) The original plan was to construct a single 10 KW photovoltaic (PV) project at the Light Department. When the town joined the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) in 2009, rebates became available and a second site (Senior Center) was also proposed. After the MTC rebate program oversubscribed and was abruptly halted in October 2009, an application was filed under the Energy
Efficiency Community Block Grant program. Each of the two projects will cost about $84,000.00 to plan and construct ($168,000.00 total). Our grant application (for both projects) was for $82,000.00 and it was awarded in February, effectively covering ½ the cost of the projects. Over the past 12 months, the Senior Center used 79,000 KWH at an average cost of 17¢ per KWH. Once installed, the solar panels are expected to produce about 10,500 KWH (13%) over the course of the year at a cost of about 20¢ per KWH.
CITIZENS’ ADDRESS
None.
ADJOURNMENT
It was unanimously voted to adjourn the meeting at 9:06 a.m.
The next meeting will be held on Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010 at 8:00 a.m. at the Holden Senior Center.
Respectfully submitted,
Maureen Buffone
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