ARLINGTON COUNCIL ON AGING
27 Maple Street
Arlington, MA 02476-4909
Robert Tosi, Jr., Chair
Karen Nichols, Vice Chair
Shirley Chapski, Secretary
Regular Meeting of the Council on Aging
March 27, 2008
MINUTES
Place and Time of Meeting: ~Arlington Senior Center, 27 Maple St., Arlington, 7:00 p.m.
Members Present: ~Robert Tosi, Jr., Ann MacGowan, Karen Nichols and Shirley Chapski
Members Absent: ~Mildred Hurd, William Carey and Harry McCabe ~
Others Present: ~John Jope, COA Executive Director; Joan Caterino, ASA; ~Stephen Harrington; Paolo Marinelli, Winter Access Initiative.
Quorum Identification/Call to Order: ~Bob Tosi, Jr. presided and Shirley Chapski kept the minutes. A quorum of 4 was present.
Minutes of the February 11, 2008 Regular Meeting: Ann moved to accept the minutes of the Feb. 11, 2008 meeting. Karen seconded. ~All voted in favor. ~Motion carried.
Citizens Open Forum: Stephen Harrington and Paolo Marinelli spoke on Warrant Article 26 asking the Town to include in their snow removal program the clearing of heavily used sidewalks, curb cuts and school approaches to increase pedestrian safety and accessibility. ~ Stephen distributed a handout and talked about the safety issues depicted therein. The warrant article to appear before Town Meeting would allow up to 5% of the snow removal budget to be geared towards addressing these public safety issues. ~Their purpose in coming to the COA
meeting tonight was to seek the COA board’s support. Messrs. Harrington and Marinelli departed the meeting at 7:40 p.m. ~
REPORT OF THE CHAIR: ~Bob reported that (a) Minuteman Senior Services designated the month of March as “March for Meals” and Arlington Selectman, Clarissa Rowe, accompanied a volunteer meals driver and visited some homes. It offered an opportunity to see first hand what this program is all about. (b) John and he attended and spoke at the Board of Selectmen’s meeting when the CDBG requests for funding were presented. ~(c) One of the action items last month was to invite elected officials to ~attend tonight’s COA board meeting but, as it turned out, tonight is League of Women’s Voters’ Candidates Night at the Town Hall and town officials needed to be there. ~
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT: ~In addition to the Director’s Report, attached hereto, John added the following:
•Item 1 — ~ Golden Opportunities cable TV program is being restarted and John and crew members did an initial run through and taping Tuesday afternoon at the studio. Guests have been lined up for the next three months and John asked Joan Caterino if she would be interested in discussing Senior Center current events as she has done in the past. Another consideration is to have someone do interviews at Town Hall ~or outside of a supermarket and include these episodes in the program.
•Item 2 — April 10th Health Fair: ~This will be a “hands on” Health Fair where actual health screenings will be conducted. The Board of Health and the nurses at the COA are putting a lot of effort into the event and he would encourage board members to be involved as well. It provides an opportunity to acquaint people with the COA and its programs.
OTHER ~REPORTS:
•COA Representative/Liaison to Minuteman Senior Services: No report.
•COA Representative/Liaison to the Seniors Association: No report.
•Arlington Seniors Association Representative to COA: ~Joan Caterino, ASA, reported that the ASA hosted two successful parties recently--Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick's; the pool tables have been recovered; Richard Townsend, Operation Able employee, is leaving; a walkaround of the Senior Center was conducted to learn what needs to be done and identified problems will be taken care of; a break in at the center occurred and items were stolen; the ASA currently has 730 paid members; Italian classes have started; as of March 7, 72 people from the ASA will be attending the Volunteer Luncheon on April 18 — Ann added that there are 140 total; a tap dancing demonstration has been scheduled and a Yard Sale will be held in May.
•Budget Committee: The Budget Committee met with John recently and reviewed the February numbers. John included a February financial report in the board packet for this evening’s meeting and reviewed the figures with the members. He pointed out that there are six participants in the Harry Barber Community Service Program out of the ten slots available. John doesn’t feel we will get the full ten participants by the end of this fiscal year. He next reviewed Transportation figures noting that expenses have vastly outstripped revenues.
•Joint ASA/COA Committee: ~Bob reported that the Survey is almost finalized and will be mailed this spring. ~He expressed thanks to Ann MacGowan and John for their work on this project. At its last meeting, the Committee discussed the logistics of the mailout. ~
UNFINISHED BUSINESS:
•Transportation Enterprise Program Funding: ~After many discussions, John and the COA staff have come up with a Stabilization Plan. Copies of Stabilization Plan, dated March 27, 2008, were distributed to the board along with copies of the Projected Figures for the Transportation Enterprise Fund for FY08 and FY09. ~The documents are informational and require no immediate action. However, they need to studied and discussed at future meetings. John gave a brief overview of the figures which show a projected balance of $1600 to $1700 for FY08
and a deficit of $19,000 for FY09. Different scenarios for increasing funding were put forth but much depends on what the COA receives under the FY09 CDBG request for funding for the Transportation Enterprise Fund.
•Targeted Advocacy — Contacting Elected Town and State Officials: ~Bob asked if the members had anything to report on the calls to town and state officials, an action that was proposed at February’s meeting. ~Members ~left messages but had nothing concrete to report. John said that State Senator, Jim Marzilli, will continue his first Friday of the month visits to the COA and State Representative, Sean Garbelly, has offered to come in on the second Friday of the month.
•Benefit Walk Update: ~Karen met with a person who is knowledgeable on how to organize a Walk. She then distributed copies of her findings which explain how to set up the program and how it works. ~Karen will speak to the ASA Board about co-sponsoring this proposed fundraising effort. ~
~
NEW BUSINESS:
•Subsidy Funding Requests: ~John reported on the Lifeline Subsidy Program and the Sevoyan Personal Needs Program. The Lifeline Subsidy Program is almost out of money. We have put in a Block Grant Request for additional funding but there is an immediate need because the program has only $428 remaining at this time. John requests the Board approve a request for $2000 from the Charles Sevoyan Charitable Trust to bridge the gap between now and when Town Meeting sees fit to either approve or deny the request. There has been no influx of money into the Lifeline Subsidy Program since FY04. The Sevoyan Personal Needs Program
has $657 remaining at this time and John asks the Board to approve a transfer of $5000 from the Charles Sevoyan Charitable Trust Fund to the Sevoyan Personal Needs Program. This program has had no additional funding since September ‘05.
*Karen moved that $2000 be transferred from the Sevoyan Charitable Trust to the Lifeline Subsidy Program; Ann seconded; all in favor. ~Motion carried.~ ~ *Shirley moved to transfer $5000 from the Charles Sevoyan Charitable Trust Fund to the Sevoyan Personal Needs Program; Ann seconded; all in favor. ~Motion carried.
•Consideration of Board Visits to Other Senior Centers: ~Bob felt this would be a good opportunity to to learn what other centers had to offer and it would serve as a team building exercise as well. Discussion followed and John offered to look into arranging an agenda for such visits us and report to the board.
•Recognition: ~John received a call from Elder Services in Washington DC informing him, as President of MCOA, that Mass. is getting the State Association of the Year award at the joint national meeting of the National Institute of Senior Centers and the American Society on Aging.
•Resignations: ~Ann MacGowan will not be renewing her term of membership on the COA Board as of April 25, and Bob Tosi added that he will not remain on the board when his term expires at the end of June.
There being no further business to come before the meeting, Bob moved to adjourn; Shirley seconded; all in favor. Motion carried. ~ Adjourned at 9:25 p.m.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Shirley Chapski, Secretary
Next Regular COA Meeting ~April 17, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.
| 
