ARLINGTON COUNCIL ON AGING
27 Maple Street
Arlington, MA 02476-4909
781-316-3400
Mara Klein, Chair
Dorothy Nicholas Vice-Chair
Town of Arlington
Shirley Chapski, Secretary
Regular Meeting of the Council on Aging
October 21, 2003
MINUTES
Place and Time of Meeting: Arlington Senior Center, 27 Maple St., Arlington,
7:30 p.m.
Members Present: Mary Dodge, Harry McCabe, Sheri Baron, Mara Klein, Dorothy
Nicholas, Lynne Larkin and Shirley Chapski.
Absent: Mildred Hurd and Elizabeth McGaffigan
Others Present: John Jope, COA Executive Director; Terri Susi, COA nurse;
Charles Schwab, ASA President, and Attorney Noreen Murphy.
Quorum Identification/Call to Order: Mary Dodge Vice Chair, presided and
called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. Shirley Chapski kept the minutes. A
quorum of 7 was present.
Minutes of the September 11, 2003 Meeting: Harry moved to receive the
minutes of the September 11, 2003 meeting; Shirley seconded; all in favor. Terri
Susi asked for clarification on the vote on page 2 “Unfinished Business”, 2nd
item, “Senior Health Fair.” Regarding the vote to subsidize the Health Fair in
the amount of $4000, four voted in favor, three opposed and one abstained,
motion denied. Shirley said the vote was lost because there was not a majority
vote in favor.
Page 1 “Minutes of the June 26, 2003 Meeting”, line 3 “. . . Harry
abstained.” Harry asked that the words, ”because he was not present at the meeting,”
be added after the word, “abstained.”
Page 2 under “Unfinished Business.” Item 3, “Job Description for COA
Board Members,” Harry requested that the words, “Harry requested that the” be
inserted before the word, “Item” and the word “be” be inserted before the words “
tabled until the October meeting.” There being no further changes to the
minutes, Harry moved to approve the minutes, as corrected, Mara seconded, all in
favor.
REPORTS
Executive Director’s Report
•MCOA Annual Conference: The conference was held on October 15-17, 2003 at
Sea Crest Resort in Falmouth. Shirley attended the one day course, Legal
Issues . John and several members of the COA staff also attended. John reported
that Joan Pippin, ASA Coordinator, received a Certification Award by the MCOA
as a Program Manager. Next year the MCOA meeting will be held at the
Burlington Marriott.
•Additional Funding from The Executive Office of Elder Affairs: As a result
of the increased formula grant funding, the social worker’s hours have been
increased from 23 to 28 hours per week and the clerk/secretary’s hours from 18
to 25. Mary requested that the application form, “Attachment “A”. COA Formula
Grant application--Revised” which was signed by her, John Jope and Nancy
Galkowski on 9/15/03 be made available to the board members.
•Student Programs: The COA will be acquiring a Harvard Divinity Student to
serve two days a week as a pastoral counselor. John is also investigating the
possibility of a social worker intern, to work under Lourie August’s
supervision, for the academic year. Terri Susi, who supervises the student nursing
program, has seven students this fall. She said the students are finishing their
BSN (some are already RNs) and are completing their Community Experience program
at the COA.
•EOEA Board Training Program: This program, conducted by Emmett Schmarsow,
Program Mgr for the EOEA, is being offered for area COAs on Nov 19, 2003 at
the Woburn Senior Center.
•COA Annual Report: The annual report is due the first half of January for
the previous calendar year. Mara offered to work with John on producing the
report and have it ready for the Board’s review at the December 18 board meeting.
ASA Representative to the COA: Charles Schwab, President ASA, spoke on the
importance of the two agencies working together. At the recent MCOA conference
he attended a self-assessment and accreditation seminar and felt that some of
the exercises the the Needham Senior Center worked through to become
accredited could work well for Arlington’s Senior Center. Harry asked how Charles felt
about occasional joint meetings (ASA and COA). Charles will present the
suggestion to the ASA board.
Finance Committee: No report; The committee has not met.
Sevoyan Bequest Committee: No report.
COA Representative/Liaison to the ASA: Mildred absent — no report.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
•COA Representative to Minutemen Senior Services: Harry reported that the
individual he had in mind for the position has not made a decision.
•Sevoyan Dental Subsidy Pilot Program: Terri Susi gave an update of the
pilot program which ran from 9/1/02 to 9/1/03 and distributed a year-end report.
She feels program has been very successful and recommends its continuation. Out
of the $10,000 approved for the pilot program, $8,858 was spent. Dr. Toyias,
who provided dental screenings free-of-charge, will no longer be associated
with the program and Terri will work towards getting another dentist to do free
screenings if the board decides to continue the program. Terri would like the
program to run from Jan to Jan in the future. John and Terri will present a
proposal at next month’s meeting. Harry moved that Terri continue the program
with the remaining funds until such time as the board votes to extend the
dental subsidy program, Mara seconded, all in favor. Terri then departed the
meeting.
•Election of Officers: After discussion, Mara Klein agreed to serve as
Chairman, Dottie Nicholas as Vice-Chairman and Shirley Chapski as Secretary to
serve until the next annual meeting in May 2004. Sheri moved to elect the above
officers, Harry seconded, all in favor.
•Job Description for COA Board Members: John referred to the draft of a job
description distributed earlier, and explained why a volunteer job description
for a COA board member should be adopted. Lynne agreed, saying most boards do
have a job description and they can serve as guidelines. Sheri, Lynne and
Harry will get their changes to the document to John and it will be put on the
agenda for next month.
NEW BUSINESS
•Proposal for a Joint ASA/COA Fund Raising Committee: Mara spoke about
establishing a fund raising subcommittee and John suggested getting people from
each board to come up with suggestions. Both Harry and Sheri would be willing to
work with Mara on such a committee and Charles Schwab will present the joint
fund raising proposal to the ASA board members. Both Harry and Sheri said there
must be specific goal for a joint fund raiser and also look at the
possibility of grant money. As a start, Terri Susi will put out a donation box at the
upcoming flu clinic on Oct 30 and the contributions would be earmarked for
future flu clinics.
•TRIAD Program: Dottie has been doing research on the TRIAD program and said
it is usually a collaborative effort between local police and COAs. She
suggests that we use the resources in Arlington first. Dottie will discuss the
TRIAD program with Lt. John Serson, Arlington Police Department, and give the
board a report next month.
•MCOA Annual Dues and Medical Escort Mileage Reimbursement: After
discussion, Sheri moved to withdraw the $888 MCOA annual dues from the Gift Fund and the
$1000-$12000 Medical Escort Mileage reimbursement expenses from the
Transportation Enterprise Fund; Mara seconded; six in favor; Harry opposed.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the board extended its thanks and
appreciation to Mary Dodge who is resigning from the Council.
There being no further business to come before the meeting, Lynne moved
to adjourn, Dottie seconded; all in favor.
Adjourned at 9:45 p.m.
Shirley Chapski,
Secretary
Date of next Regular Meeting, November 20, 2003 at 7:30 p.m.
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