ARLINGTON COUNCIL ON AGING
27 Maple Street
Arlington, MA 02476-4909
781-316-3400
Richard Murray, Chair
Mary Dodge, Vice-Chair
Town of Arlington
Shirley Chapski, Secretary
Regular Meeting of the Council on Aging
April 24, 2003
MINUTES
Place of Meeting: Winslow Towers, Mystic Street, Arlington.
Members Present: Richard Murray, Mary Dodge, Mildred Hurd, Mara Klein and
Shirley Chapski.
Absent: Harry McCabe and Dorothy Nicholas
Others Present: John Jope, COA Executive Director; Paul West, President of
the Tenants Assoc., and residents of the Winslow Towers facility.
Quorum Identification/Call to Order: Richard Murray Chair, presided and
called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. Shirley Chapski kept the minutes. A
quorum of 5 was present.
Finance Committee Member -Mary Margaret Franclemont: Richard introduced Ms.
Franclemont who gave an overview of the Finance Committee, explaining its
composition and duties. She, along with John Deyst, Jr. oversees the Library and
Human Resources budgets and confers with Patsy Kraemer and John Jope on the
COA budget but the council if it wished could make its own presentation to the
Finance Cte. She stressed that the goal of the finance committee is to make
recommendations only. Mary Margaret departed the meeting at 8:05 pm.
Minutes of the March 20, 2003 Meeting: Mary moved to receive the Minutes of
the March 20, 2003 meeting; Shirley seconded; all in favor. Mary moved to
approve the minutes; Mara seconded; all in favor.
Minutes of the April 2, 2003 Special Meeting: Shirley moved to receive the
Minutes of the April 2, 2003 meeting; Mildred seconded; all in favor. Mara
moved to approve the minutes; Shirley seconded; all in favor.
Distribution of Minutes: For the past two months the agenda and minutes have
been given out at the beginning of the meeting. The members feel that this
practice does not allow enough time for a thorough review. After discussion it
was agreed that the minutes and agenda be emailed to the members or mailed if
a member does not have email.
Citizens’ Open Forum: Paul West, President of the Tenants Association, spoke
on having COA committee meetings on local access TV and discussion ensued
concerning this possibility.
REPORTS
Executive Director’s Report
•The nurse and social worker have been working hard due to an increase in
demand for service since the winter. Requests for transportation have also
increased.
•Secretary of Elder Affairs, Jennifer Davis Carey, visited the Senior Center
April 14. Ms. Carey spoke on the state budget and fielded a lot of questions
from the audience. Prior to the public forum, she participated in a meeting
which was attended by several area COA directors, Joan Butler, Director of
Minuteman Services, and Rep. Jay Kaufman.
•COA Transportation and Volunteer Coordinator, Bill Murphy, is doing very
well. He and John meet several times a week. He is good at carrying the ball
and has some good ideas.
•A Harvard divinity student will be placed with the COA on June 9 and will be
here for 10 weeks. In addition to pastoral care, her particular interest is
in developing a theological program and social policy. John plans to
introduce her to the Arl. Interfaith Assoc. where she can perform a liaison role that
we can maintain.
Finance Committee: John reported that we are in OK shape at the moment and
that we have received a check for $20,000 from the Sanborn Foundation to
buttress our funds for cancer related transportation.
COA representative to ASA: Mildred reported that she has not been receiving
notices of ASA monthly meetings and consequently has not attended.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
•COA Representative to Minutemen Senior Services: Joan Butler suggested to
John that either of our two appointees to the Minuteman Board could fill the
role of liaison if they agreed. Richard asked if we could appoint a non-sitting
COA member as liaison; John said yes. It was suggested that to help in such
a search we could ask Sue Culhane of the Housing Authority to put a notice in
the Tenants Newsletter. A couple of members of the audience expressed their
disappointment with Minuteman Services because their requests for assistance
had been denied. Richard suggested that John make Sue Culhane aware of this
type of complaint and a call to Minuteman could be made voicing these grievances.
In addition, a brainstorming session could be held to come up with
alternative ways of obtaining these services. It was also agreed that John invite Dr.
Forbes and Lois Carderelli, our appointees to the Minuteman Board, to our next
meeting.
•Budget Update/Planning: Richard introduced the idea of charging fees for
certain services, such as the Podiatry Clinic. John will check with Town
Counsel on the legality of such a move. Mara suggested bringing in an outside home
care agency to pick up some of the slack that in the event we lose our nurse.
A meeting will be set up to discuss these and related budget issues.
•Recruitment of New Members to the COA Board: Mara has had some contact with
a social worker, Ann Bruhn, who might be interested. Mildred and Mary spoke
of Sean Garbally, member of the town Democratic Committee, who also might be
interested. Mildred will invite him to the May meeting.
NEW BUSINESS
•TRIAD Program for Arlington: Mara talked to John Bailey who heads the
Waltham TRIAD program who feels it would be more advantageous if he and Ruth
Gately, Waltham COA, were to visit together. Mara will invite them to the May
meeting. A representative from the Arlington Police Dept. will also be invited to
attend.
•Board Vacancies: In response to the board’s request, John has put the two
COA board openings on the Town Hall web site along with our Mission Statement.
Richard suggested that Sue Culhane might incorporate an item in the housing
newsletter concerning the vacancies on the COA board.
•Job Description for COA Board Members: John distributed copies of the Elder
Affairs Exec. Summary COA Boards and a Job Description for COA Board members
developed by the town of West Bridgewater which could serve as a model for
the Arlington COA board members. He suggests we think about a job description
for and discuss it at a later meeting.
•Town Day, September 13: John distributed a sign up list for Town Day.
Discussion followed concerning the purchase of a canopy. Such purchase was
unanimously voted on at the Oct. 24, 2002 COA meeting. Richard said we would
discuss the purchase at our next meeting.
There being no further business to come before the meeting, Mary moved
to adjourn, Shirley seconded; all in favor.
Adjourned at 8:55 p.m.
Shirley Chapski,
Secretary
Date of next Regular Meeting, May 15, 2003 at 1:00 p.m.
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