Town of Hampden
Regular Meeting of Council on Aging Board
9:00AM at the Hampden Senior Center
Dec. 14, 2004
Approved: Jan. 11, 2005
In Attendance: Brian Macleod, Becky Moriarty, John Shay, Al Ouimet, Shirley Gouvan, Arlene Fisher, Ruth Haley, Virginia Schneider, Rita Vail, Pat Clark
Brian called the meeting to order at 8:35 am
The Secretary’s report was reviewed and accepted
The Treasurer’s report was reviewed and accepted
The Director’s report was reviewed and accepted,
Automatic doors are installed, they are only awaiting an electrician to set up the wiring. Hopefully this will be completed in the next few weeks.
Becky and Noel Pixley, principal at TWB, have written a grant request to the WHAT(Wilbraham, Hampden Academic Trust) organization requesting funding of $1,800 for BRIDGES, an intergenerational program . This is a school curriculum involving seniors, its purpose is to explore aging .
Becky has requested a meeting with the advisory board to evaluate how the budget cuts have impacted our role within the community.
We are now in need of a generator, as ours was redesignated to the Police Department. Theirs broke and it was fitting that their need would be more beneficial to the town as a whole should any emergencies arise.
One Final Flu clinic will be held December 16th from 3-4 pm.
The Selectmen’s office has been approached to set up a policy regarding the use of the Senior Center when its utilization is requested by other groups.
Madrigal Singers from Minnechaug will be entertaining at the Scantic Senior Citizens Meeting December 15th.
The Special Luncheon on December 16th will include the raffle of Christmas Trees and homemade cookies.
We interviewed the fourth applicant for the under 65 opening on the council. 3 interviewed with us previously.
John Flynn- John is involved in the town in many capacities. Currently he sits on the Planning Board. His history with the Senior Center includes working with the SCRIBE 10-12 years ago and assisting with the computers. He has also worked with Becky on various functions. He identified the need for us to develop intergenerational interactions with other factions within the community e.g. businesses. He feels that he can work to build help us build that relationship. He also expressed concern that the over the next changing years we need to exhibit a positive community spirit while continuing to protect the integrity of our building and keeping as its primary focus the goal of providing for the needs of our town’s senior citizens.
After discussion involving the four candidates it was felt that John has been very actively involved with many town boards, and definitely has the potential in helping us interact in a positive way with other factions within the town. It was voted that John would be offered the position.
The sign design has been changed. There will be an outline in yellow around the sign and street number. The primary color will be hunter green with gold leaf lettering and numbering. It was noted that CompUsign, who did the Recreational Park and Highway Department signs, charged $1150 for the aforementioned signs. With the size and design differences it was felt that ours would probably still cost approximately the same as was quoted us by Moren Signs. It was agreed to move forward with the Moren’s design. Brian will contact them to begin.
Becky attended a meeting December 2nd. We are asked to level fund the budget this year. Employees did receive either a 2.5%cost of living increase, or a step raise. Rita, Shirley and Pat will assist Becky with the budget due January 10th. Bill Olmstead volunteered his assistance as well if it should be needed.
There continues to be concern about the lack of communication in the office staff, there was also voiced concern about how some of the volunteer front window staff presents themselves. Becky will address this and work with them on correct policies.
Becky spoke with Christine, the director of the Brown Bag Program in Hatfield. They are not able to expand into Hampden at this time. We can utilize an already established site, e.g. Ludlow or Indian Orchard. We could pick up the bags there once a month and the packaging would already be done. As we would not be a site there is no number requirement to start. Tedi-Ann has 10 people already interested in the program. John and Ruth will be able to do some driving for this.
Shirley worked with Joan Day and spoke with the Monson Senior Travel group. They have agreed to send us notices of their trips, we need to fill out their forms and take the checks to send them, the flow for this will be worked out internally.
The Circuit Breaker tax credit brought $12,000 into our town last year. Rita will place another article in The Scribe regarding this.
Arlene will solidify her thoughts and prices on the picture hanging rails and bookcase then present them to The Friends through Becky.
More arm chairs are needed in the dining area. The arms are beneficial in helping many of our seniors in rising. There was discussion about asking people to donate $$ to purchase more of these. Arlene will check on the cost.
The meeting was ended at 9:40 am. Our next meeting will be Tuesday, January 11, 2005.
Respectfully submitted,
Ruth Haley, Secretary