LYMES’ SENIOR CENTER BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
May 16, 2016
PRESENT: Sue Campbell, Nancy Campbell, Ruth Young, Gary Weed, Diana Seckla, Mary Miles, Ann Griffith, Doris Johnson, Doris Rand, Jeri Baker, Diane Blackwell, Stephanie Lyon-Gould
ABSENT: Dot McAndrew
GUEST: 1st Selectwoman of Old Lyme, Bonnie Reemsnyder
The meeting was called to order at 1:00pm by Chairperson Sue Campbell.
Secretary’s Report: (Judy Dutton) Motion made & seconded to accept the secretary’s report as presented.
Treasurer’s Report: (Nancy Campbell, Jeri Baker) Correction made on April’s report: (Money didn’t go to the Humble Bee’s for their performance. They request that we make a donation to the Scholarship Program.) (The Historical Society of CT is putting on a program in July on the Life & Legend of Katherine Hepburn at the Senior Center, not at the Kate in Old Saybrook.) A motion was made & seconded to accept the treasurer’s report with the following corrections.
COMMUNICATIONS: Stephanie read a letter from the Lyme-Old Lyme Educational Foundation thanking the Board of Director’s for their donation to the Trivia-Bee.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Special Events: (Doris Johnson, Stephanie Lyon-Gould) None
Directors Report: (Stephanie Lyon-Gould)
- June 24th & June 27th, Diane Blackwell & Stephanie will be furniture shopping. They have room for 3 people if anyone would like to go with them.
Update on summer concerts: Everyone confirmed except for the Navy Band.
Republican Town Committee sponsoring two ice cream socials
Democratic Town Committee sponsoring one ice cream social
We will be providing dinner for the Navy Band & the Coast Guard Band
Looking into a couple of local pizza places that might donate the pizza or do it at a reduced price
- July 23rd – all day – Medical Wellness – You can get a free physical if you have not had one if you have Medicare
- There will be other screening that you can pay to have done
- Stephanie has packages if anyone is interested or someone else that you might know that would be interested
- Volunteer Luncheon changed to May 27th
- Mid-summer Festival – July 30th – We were invited to take part
- Town Hall will be taking part in this also
- Stephanie is in charge of this
- ‘Friends’ will have a table in front of Town Hall
- We can have all the space we need
- There will be programs/demonstrations
- The Art group from the Senior Center will be taking part
- Video Camera Update: Grant from the Cable Advisory Group for $1,000.00
- We have the camera. We need a tri-pod
- Anyone interested in learning how to the use the camera during activities at the senior center is more than welcome to try it out.
Property: (Gary Weed, Jeri Baker) (Lou Mildrum, Soupy Campbell)
- We have $5,000+ for A/C Maintenance
- June 8th – A/C tune-up
- Fire alarms have all be checked out
- April 27th the kitchen stove was cleaned
- June 2nd: Chairs & tables will be removed from the dining room
- Gary, Lou & Soupy with do this
- June 3rd – the carpet will be put down in the dining room
- June 6th – the tables & chairs will be put back in the dining room
- June 10th – painters will come in & patch and paint in the front room
Use of Building: (Mary Miles, Diane Blackwell)
- 788 signed the book in April
- 364 for lunch, 94 for income tax, 19 for AARP Driving Course, 11 for Computer Class, 15 for Dinner Dance
- All the other regular program remained the same
Policy: (Diane Blackwell, Sue Campbell) – None
Finance: (Doris Rand, Nancy Campbell, Jeri Baker) – None
Publicity:(Stephanie Lyon-Gould, Sue Campbell, Diane Blackwell) - None
OLD BUSINESS:
- The Vegetable Garden: Sue & Diane received a letter from Ethan Fenton
- He has started to rake and apply natural fertilizer
- He would like suggestions as to what we would like to plant this year
- Everyone suggested that he use his own judgement & plant what he feels is best
- Up-date on the Technology Programs:
- Working on the computers
- 14 is the cut-off
- Will run again in September
- Up-date on monies: See report from 1st Selectwoman to follow
- Up-date on Memorial Garden: Coming along good with Gary, Lou & Soupy’s help.
NEW BUSINESS: Senior Center Website with 9 other towns. Already been in Norwich Bulletin. Will also be in the Day. Jeri Baker talked with them and had her photo taken. Our Website is: (www.seniorcenterct.org)
We need to get some advertisers our we may lose our Newsletter. One of the persons who do the newsletter has dropped out. Now Essex Printing can afford to print it for nothing. We need a couple of advertisers. It has to be at least $75.00. Stephanie said she can type the newsletter and run it off but it won’t be near as nice as the one we have become accustom to. SO PLEASE…HELP!!!!!
Guest Speaker, 1st Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder
This is in regard to the $125,000 that was left to the Lyme-Old Lyme Senior Center. The Senior Center requested that a check for $100,000 to be put into the ‘Friends’ Group. This wasn’t what the town of Lyme wanted to do. She decided to contact an attorney to see what should be done. She could not use the town attorney because he was the one representing the person who left this money to the Senior Center. She felt she should contact someone who was familiar with municipal law and what towns have to abide by. She contacted Attorney Mike Cronan who is the attorney for Old Saybrook and has been for quite some time. In his legal opinion, the Town of Old Lyme should not be writing a check to a private organization. He did understand what the ‘Friends’ Group was set up for but still felt that
writing a check to them was not a good idea. But he did feel that the funds should be under control of the Board of Directors of the Senior Center. She did say that she was aware that different comments were made saying the Town would use the money for a new air conditioner system and other expensive items. She stated that she never intended to use the monies for any capital expense. She spoke with Nicole at Town Hall before coming here to be sure they are on the same page regarding paying for programs put on at or by the Senior Center. Lymes’ 1st Selectman, Ralph Eno agreed that the monies coming in should go the pay for the Senior Center programs. She gets copies of all the checks that are written and checks them against the register to be sure they are all done properly. She sees the requests that come through for a check to make out for different programs. She said she would recognize something that did not look right. She did ask that if we are planning
something that would require a large sum of money, it would be a good idea to let her know in writing, e-mail, phone call, etc. just to cover our bases so that all the Selectman are aware of what we are doing. It is like a check and balance situation. She is planning on talking with Ralph Eno regarding this. She said Ralph is in agreement that our programs should be covered. She also suggested it might be a good idea regarding the Memorial Garden, that even though she is aware of it, it would be still be a good idea to let all the selectman know what is going on. The Memorial Garden should be under $6,000.00+/-. Diane Blackwell gave an update on the Memorial Garden. We still have two phases to go through. Bonnie said she never planned on tying the hands of the Board. She just wants be sure we are meeting all our obligations on spending monies properly and to be sure that the auditors won’t call us on anything.
A motion was made and seconded to adjourn at 2:00pm
Respectfully submitted,
Judy Dutton, Recording Secretary
CC: Old Lyme 1st Selectwoman, Lyme 1st Selectman, Lyme & Old Lyme Town Clerks, Board of Directors, Senior Center Director, Leslie Massa, ‘Friends’, Ruth Roach
The next meeting is June 20, 2016 at 1:00pm
NOTICE: Messages to or from the Town of Old Lyme domain are subject to the Freedom of Information statutes and regulations.
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