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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSenior Advisory Board - Minutes - 08/13/2008CITY OF FORT COLLINS SENIOR ADVISORY BOARD MINUTES Meeting held August 13, 2008 Fort Collins Senior Center 1200 Raintree Dr. Fort Collins, CO 80526 Chair — Marcia Richards — 970-223-8581 Staff Liaison — Barbara Schoenberger — 970-224-6026 City Council Liaison — Doug Hutchinson, Mayor — 970-221-6506 Attendance: Marcia Richards Anita Basham Stan Ulrich Kathy Schuster Joan Deines Excused Absence: Bud Herin Bob Phillips Valerie DiBenedetto Cathy Martin Peggy McGough Guests: Shellie Leach, Fort Collins Women's Commission Sue Baccari, Fort Collins Women's Commission Liaison: Douglas Hutchinson, Mayor Staff: Barbara Schoenberger Karen Bryner I. Call Meeting to Order The meeting was called to order by Chairperson, Marcia Richards, at 1:37 p.m. Marcia introduced the new member, Joan Deines, who spoke about herself and her interest in the SAB. Short introductions of Board members followed. II. Attendance An attendance sheet was passed. III. Public Participation — Shellie Leach and Sue Baccari from the Women's Commission attended the meeting. They were seeking the Board's input on issues /challenges facing senior women. The discussion included: • Because women often live longer than a spouse, they may suffer - a sense of loneliness and isolation; - financial insecurity (inexperience as well as limited resources); - overwhelming array of life changing decisions to be made on her own. • Older women usually have less money than men due to decreased benefits. • With the increase of single parents, children and grandchildren become a lifelong parenting responsibility for seniors —especially for the nurturing senior female. • Young seniors, the Baby Boomers, have become a "sandwich generation", caring for own children as well as aging parents. It was agreed that additional discussions with the Women's Commission regarding these issues is important in order to heighten public awareness, educate the younger population, and seek solutions. IV. Approval of Minutes The minutes of July 9, 2008 were not approved because a quorum was not present. V. Correspondence A. An invitation to the Strategic Transit Planning session on July 31 was received. Anita Basham will follow up on the nature of this information. B. A change of address notice was received regarding Human Service programs (see Liaison Report for OOA). C. The City Clerk's Office notified the SAB that the remaining vacancy on the Board will be filled in 2009. D. Valerie DiBenedetto, Bob Phillips, Cathy Martin, and Peggy McGough informed the SAB that they were unable to attend the August meeting; their absences were excused. VI. Old Business A. Gretchen Gaede, Director of A -Train, will prepare a press release for the Senior Center Expansion project, following the Aug. 2151 meeting of the Expansion Committee to finalize the campaign name/logo. Kathy Schuster is to submit an article to "50+ Marketplace" following the Sept. 26"' Bridging the Gap event. B. Liaison Reports Kathy Schuster VOA — no report UniverCity - 2 members of the Transit task force, along with other representatives from UniverCity and the City, attended a workshop presented by NAI (the goal being to vision long range development of the downtown area: way finding, etc.) At the last Transit Task Force meeting, the group viewed a power point tour of FC, highlighting the variations in signage, lighting etc. It was an eye-opening presentation, which demonstrated the importance of consistency and an overarching plan or design. Anita Basham • Meeting with the Mayor: Anita hosted the bi-annual meeting of SAB officers and the Mayor in her home on Aug. 4, 2008. In Chairperson Marcia Richards' absence, Kathy Schuster, SAB secretary, attended the meeting. The Mayor was provided a copy of the Action Plan along with some additional materials, which included a copy of the "50 + Marketplace" containing the article about the SAB, and information about the approaching Senior Law Day and Bridging the Gap event They reviewed the SAB Action Plan for 2008. Mayor Hutchinson was interested in and highly complimentary of the work of the Board. He emphasized that the broad goals of our Action Plan (i.e. Outreach, Advocacy, Communication, and Coordination/Education/Facilitation) provide an appropriate and comprehensive vision for the SAB. The challenge for the SAB is to find new and innovative ways to implement these long term goals. Anita and Kathy voiced an ongoing concern about transportation issues facing seniors in the community. The Mayor is well aware of these concerns and encouraged the SAB to utilize various avenues to keep the issue before public officials. A candid discussion was held about the frustrations of disseminating correct information to the public, as well as soliciting community input. The Mayor affirmed the use of the quarterly Outreach meetings in a public forum setting, and encouraged SAB to look for new and creative ways to provide education and receive public input. He suggested additional use of the media, i.e. "Cross Currents" on channel 14. He shares many of our same frustrations in his work as Mayor. Following the meeting, it was agreed that SAB is fortunate to have a Mayor with whom the Board has such a good working relationship and one who makes himself so accessible. Following her report, Anita Basham asked if it is appropriate for an SAB member to address a City Council member as to why he/she voted as he/she did on a transportation issue. Barbara Schoenberger cautioned that the SAB member must make sure that he/she is empowered by the Board to speak for the Board. As a private citizen, one is always free to question City Council members. Stan Ulrich • AARP will not meet until September, but the Conference Committee is working hard on the fraud and scams conference that will be held on Thursday, October 16a' in the Senior Center. A continental breakfast will be served at 8:OOa.m. and the conference will start at 8:30a.m. Attorney General John Suthers and his assistant, Jan Zavislan, will be the featured speakers. District Attorney Abramson and representatives of the Sheriff's Department and the Fort Collins Police Department will also be on the program. A lunch will be served at 12:30. Admission is free, but reservations must be made. TRIAD — Several members of the TRIAD Board are no longer able to serve. Many of the activities and programs of TRIAD have been taken over by other agencies, so the importance of the TRIAD Board has been greatly diminished, and they are planning to disband. Office on Aging Advisory Council — In an Office on Aging Partner presentation, Katy Mason told about the Latimer County Alliance for grand families (LCAG). The organization was started over a year ago as a support group and receives funding from the Older American Act, which had been amended to include a family caregiver support program. Part of the money can be used to help grandparents raising grandchildren. The LCAG has increased greatly in Latimer County because grandparent custodial care has increased 73 percent in the last decade. The Older American Act was amended because it has been proven that there are many benefits to having children raised by family members. Benefits include having a more stable environment and more familiar living arrangements. Margaret Long reported that OOA gave $1800 to the Mission of Mercy Dental Clinic which provided free dental service to hundreds of people in July. She stated that the new impetus of the reauthorization of the Older Americans' Act seems to be with evidenced -based programs. As a result: VOA is working on a "Healthy Living" project; the OOA is considering a program called "Powerful Tools for Caregivers"; the State is looking at "Chronic Disease Management", and "A Matter of Balance". The Office on Aging has moved in with Adult Protective Services and Options for Long Term Care at 2601 Midpoint Drive. The Office on Aging Advisory Council will continue to meet at 1501 Blue Spruce. Valerie DiBenedetto (written report submitted in absence) • Low Income Housing - Oakbrook II has about two dozen people on their waiting list. Have not talked to other senior low-income units recently. • Meals on Wheels — Fort Collins does NOT have a waiting list. Everything is going just fine. The organization hopes to have another "community newsletter" created by November 0 to be mailed to past donors, other senior agencies, businesses that serve seniors and folks with disabilities, and other interested folks in the community. They continue to want to make sure everyone knows about Meals on Wheels. C. Communication Plan — Stan Ulrich stated that an article about the Chili Cook -Off should be submitted to the50+ Marketplace by Sept. 8a'. D. Bridging the Gap Networking Event - Kathy Schuster reported that the mailing has been sent. Applications were distributed to Board members. The City will pay for SAB members who attend; however, if a Board member registers and fails to attend the event, he/she must reimburse the City for the registration fee. E. SAB member attendance at City Council meeting — Marcia Richards encouraged every Board member to attend at least one City Council meeting. F. Presentation for September SAB meeting —the September meeting is to be an Outreach Meeting at the Senior Center. Kathy Schuster suggested giving a quiz similar in format to the one Jean Helburg used in her presentation to the SAB. Everyone agreed that it would be an excellent idea. The Executive Committee will write a quiz. VII. New Business A. Quarterly Outreach meeting at Senior Center - Anita Basham reported that the Outreach meeting will include a luncheon with the Senior Center Council at 12:30 noon prior to the 1:30p.m. meeting. B. Chili Cook -Off 1. Team organization - Marcia Richards, Kathy Schuster, and Stan Ulrich volunteered to help with the preparations and the event. 2. Collections for cooks' bags - Senior Advisory Board members are asked to bring in 30 of one item for the chili bags. These items are solicited from businesses one frequents, organizations to which one belongs, or groups with which one volunteers. Items will be needed by the September meeting. VIII. Other Business Follow-up on applications for SAB (see correspondence) Kathy Schuster suggested that Yvonne Myers be invited to give a presentation on Medicare issues at the October SAB meeting. Board members agreed with the suggestion, and asked that the invitation be extended to Yvonne Myers. Barbara Schoenberger reminded Board members about "Summer Fest Picnic in the Park". IX. Adjourn — The meeting was adjourned. Submitted by: Karen Bryner, Recording Secretary Mc>vc ,tip �Z,-Jl Marcia Richards, Chair Kathy Schuster, Secretary