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
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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
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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
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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