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2004-11-15 TOWN OF BERLIN COMMISSION FOR THE AGING M~nutes of Monday, November 15, 2004 Berhn Senior Center 7 00 P M I Call to Order Chairwoman Gombotz called the meeting to order at 7 00 P M 2 Roll Call Members in Attendance Barbara Gombotz Chairwoman Bette Baldyga Juhet Benjamin Secretary Staff Community Services Dlr Antoinette Pajor Senior Center Dlr JoAnn Budzlnskl Lorraine Clark Connie Marshall Absent Rev Hugh Penney 3 Approval of Minutes - September 20 2004 meeting Commissioner Baldyga MOVED to accept the Minutes of Monday September 20 2004 as written SECONDED by Commissioner Marshall & UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED 4 Audience of Citizens None 5 Community Services Director s Report - Antoinette Pajor Community Services Director Antoinette Pajor discussed the proposal being sent to the Revenue Committee regarding inclusion of out of town residents to participate in programs for a fee of $24 per year This amount would be prorated at $2 per month and the year would begin on July 1 t and end on June 31 t This would allow out of town residents to sign up for classes ~ $3 per class Ms Pajor also discussed the upcoming referendum on bonding for the $1 265 000 Senior Center expansion that was approved unanimously by the Town Council The referendum is scheduled for Wednesday December 1 2004 and the single polling place for all districts will be at the American Legion Headquarters 154 Porters Pass Berlin from 6 00 AM tlll800PM Mn tes of tl e Co n mss on Fo TleAgng-No enbe 1> 2004 Page2 6 Senior Center Director s Report Semor Center D~rector JoAnn Budmnsk~ stated that the Semor Center has been extremely busy w~th programs over the last two months Her review of these activities can be found ~n the Semor Center D~rector s Report at the end of these m~nutes 7 Disability Update - Lorraine Clark Commissioner Clark reported on the m~nutes of the last Commission For Persons W~th D~sabfl~t~es meeting that was held on Thursday September 9 2004 ~n Caucus Room A of the Berhn Town Hall Commissioner Clark s review of the m~nutes from that meeting ~ncluded the following Mr Len Z~ehnsk~ of the Park & Recreation Commission had attended a recent meeting of the Commission for the d~sabled where he was asked to note ~n Park & Recreation Brochures which Town facilities are hand~capped accessible Mr Steve Kelly was asked by the P&R Commission to ~nclude th~s ~nformat~on ~n future brochures Ms Antmnette Pajor who ~s Staff L~mson to the Commission for Persons W~th D~sabfl~t~es reported that the door openers have been ~nstalled at the Semor Center Pohce Dept Commumty Center and Town Hall Ms Pajor agreed to check on other Grant Projects for their next meeting Commissioner Clark noted that under new bus~ness the Commission For Persons W~th D~sabfl~t~es d~scussed new legislation pending regarding accessible Voting reqmrements Th~s legislation Pubhc Act 04 237 ~s smd to ~nclude a Voter s Bill of R~ghts w~th revisions to bmld~ng code standards and parking space enlargement Kathleen Anderson a member of the Commission for Persons W~th D~sabfl~t~es will be sending Rep Abrams and Sen DeFronzo a letter expressing the Commission s support of the Pubhc Act and asking how ~t will be enforced The Commission For Persons W~th D~sabfl~t~es also will be reviewing Pubhc Act 04 135 concermng hate crimes 8 Discussion of Advance Fees for Programs Chmrwoman Gombotz stated that she has had some semors say that ~t will be a hardship to have to pay ~n advance for classes at the Semor Center Both Ms Pajor and Ms Budmnsk~ stated that they have not been approached by anyone who felt that ~t was unreasonable to ask semors to pay ~n advance for classes The fee for each class has been set 653 and an e~ght week cycle would cost $24 Semor Center D~r Budmnsk~ noted that the Instructor has to be prod regardless of whether participants dec~de to come or not When participants only have to s~gn up and not pay ~n advance they are less apt to attend ~f something else comes up Some classes have wmt~ng hsts and ~t ~s not fmr to those people that others dec~de not to show up for a class and leave an empty Mn tes of tl e Co n mss on Fo TleAgng-No enbe 1> 2004 Page space By charging in advance the instructor can tell how many people will be attending each class and people on the waiting list would be considered Commissioners discussed prepaying at the rate of four weeks instead of eight or $12 per cycle of classes This amount might be more manageable for the seniors The policy is now that classes are on a pay as you go basis Commissioners decided to table this item for further discussion until the May 2005 meeting and see how many non residents will be interested in attending classes The situation will be re assessed at that time 9 Update on Senior Center Addition Referendum Chairwoman Gombotz stated that she has sent a letter to the Berlin Citizen which will appear in the paper this week The Citizen told her that the deadline for letters regarding the Referendum was this past week Chairwoman Gombotz noted that she was not pleased with the articles in the Citizen that lumped the golf course work and the bonding referendum on the Senior Center Expansion together The Town Council unanimously approved the Senior Center Expansion and the Referendum is to allow town residents to vote on bonding for the project All the Commissioners were in agreement that they hoped the citizens would exercise their right to vote on this very important matter Chairwoman Gombotz will also be sending letters to the Herald and the Hartford Courant regarding the referendum for the expansion 10 Discussion of Addition to Senior Center Community Services Dlr Pajor noted that the project is on hold and the Public Building Commission will act if the project is approved by referendum 11 Social of October 28 2004 - Wrap up All Commissioners were in agreement that the Fall Social was a great success and everyone had a wonderful time Community Services Dlr Pajor reviewed the final expense figures Entertainment $75 Cheese Tray $49 99 Cake $14 95 (1/2 price because of a mix up in dates and the cake was not ready when Ms Budzlnskl went to pick it up) for a total of $139 94 The cost of this social was kept low due to the generous support of all Commission Members and especially to Commissioner Penney and his wife who made and donated all the sandwiches for the event Because of the Commissioner s generosity there will be $360 06 left in the budget for use on a Spring Social 12 Old Business None 13 New Business Mn tes of tl e Co n mss on Fo TleAgng-No enbe 1> 2004 Page4 Commissioners agreed to set the date for the Spring Social at the January meeting Community Services Dlr Pajor suggested having the social on the Thursday during Senior Week in May She noted that May is Older Americans Month and it would be a good time to have the social Commissioners reviewed the Schedule of Meetings for 2005 After review Commissioner Baldyga MOVED to approve the Schedule of Meetings and forward it to the Town Clerk SECONDED by Commissioner Clark & UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED 14 Motion to AdJourn Commissioner Baldyga MOVED to adjourn the meeting at 7 55 P M SECONDED by Commissioner Clark & UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED Respectfully submitted Juhet K Benjamin Secretary November 15, 2004 Community Services Director s Report for Commission for the Aging Non Resident Fees--I wall be sending a proposal to the Revenue Committee to approve a yearly fee of $24 for out of town residents to pay for membership to the Berhn Semor Center Th~s amount wall be prorated ~ $2/month and non residents wall enjoy all the benefits of residents of the Semor Center excluding use of the Semor Bus Th~s wall be prod yearly (July to June) and non residents wall then pay the same rate for classes and can s~gn up for special programs and events once they are a prod untd the end of the current fiscal year ! have nonfied Assistant Town Manager Herman M~ddlebrooks that ! wall be bnng~ng th~s proposal to the next meenng of the Revenue Committee and ~t wall then be forwarded to the Town Councd for their approval Th~s proposal wall move forward for their cons~deranon regardless of the outcome of the Semor Center Expansion Referendum Senior Center Expansion--The Referendum ~s scheduled for Wednesday December 1 2004 from 6 00 AM to 8 00 PM at the American Legion 154 Porter s Pass Absentee ballots are also avadable stamng November 12 2004 Senior Center Director s Report Monday, November 15, 2004 The Berhn VNA ~n conjuncbon w~th the health d~stnct ~s holding a health guidance chn~c here every Tuesday mormng from 10 00 AM to 11 00 AM The chmc ~s staffed by a nurse from the Berhn VNA The chmc s services are free to Berhn sen~ors and ~nclude a health guidance assessment cholesterol screemng and blood sugar tesbng We wdl try offenng th~s chmc for three months - October November and December The rubber stamping drop group met on Tuesday October 5th and made cards for our Service men and women ~n Iraq Mn tes of tl e Co n mss on Fo TleAgng-No enbe 1> 2004 Page> Our monthly craft class met on Thursday October 14th They made a dehghtful project A small screen door that they decorated w~th fall flowers We held a musical program on Monday morning October 18th Entertainment prowded by.~ohn Banker ~ncluded an Oktobfest theme w~th oompah music We had 65 sen~ors attend After the program everyone enjoyed apple p~e and ~ce cream On Tuesday October 26th we orgamzed a third Red Hat chapter here at the semor center 15 lad~es met and dec~ded to call themselves the Ladybug Red Hatters The Sen~or Harvest Social held on Thursday October 28th was another success 95 sen~ors attending and they all enjoyed p~ano entertainment and the dehc~ous sandwiches and the fruit and cheese platters and the desserts We had In November on Elect~on Day the 2 d we held our annual hohday boutique and center cafe lunch We had youngsters from the Berhn H~gh School Upbeat Semor House come and help us all day Our ceramic group sold their ~tems and our crafters group also held a sale of their homemade ~tems We served soup and sandwiches for lunch We had a baked goods table that was staffed by some of the youngsters from Upbeat It was a busy day On Monday November 8th we had a financial planner from Methfe come and speak to our sen~ors about estate planmng We had s~x sen~ors attend th~s program Later th~s month we wdl have author Steve Burt come and read some of h~s heart warming hohday stones Should be something d~fferent and qu~te ~nterest~ng to start off the hohday season And we ve starting taking energy assistance apphcat~ons here at the semor center We had two sessions ~n October and two sessions ~n November scheduled