Aging and Disability Commission - Minutes
AGING AND DISABILITY COMMISSION – REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
FEBRUARY 18, 2020
SUBJECT TO APPROVAL
The regular meeting of the Aging and Disability Commission was held at 7:00 pm on February 18, 2020, in the Youth Room, Eno Memorial Hall, Simsbury.
PRESENT
Jan Beatty, Victor Bible, Cheryl Cook, Anne Erickson, Mike Jennings, Edward LaMontagne, Mark Orenstein, Kate Robbins, Susan Ray (Library), Kathleen Marschall (Senior Center Coordinator), and Wendy Mackstutis (Board of Selectmen Liaison)
EXCUSED
Lorraine Doonan, Sandee Fleet, Shannon Knall, Marvin Koff, Susan Krinski, Diana Yeisley, and Arlene Zappile
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by Edward LaMontagne, Chairman, at 7:00 pm.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
The Pledge was recited.
PUBLIC AUDIENCE
ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES - Regular Meeting of January 21, 2020
The minutes were approved with the correction to Mr. Jennings’ comment that he “voiced concern that the town is addressing the Age-Friendly Community initiative but not working on pursuing other visible senior needs including the renovation of the Senior Center.” [Corrected addition underlined.] Ms. Cook also noted a typo in her title.
GUESTS
Jean Miles
BOARD OF SELECTMAN LIAISON REPORT
Wendy Mackstutis noted that the Board of Selectmen is moving forward with the Small Cities grant in order to make repairs and improvements to the Owen J. Murphy apartments. She also relayed that First Selectman Weller said that a special proclamation regarding the national census will be forthcoming. The Board of Selectmen has also applied for a Distracted Driving grant from the state. Finally, she noted that the Board of Selectman had a discussion about the waste and recycling plant renovations in Hartford and whether the town will sign on to use their services. Mr. LaMontagne noted that some seniors have been getting fraudulent calls from people claiming to represent the census and asking for either Social Security numbers or money; he asked Ms. Mackstutis to relay that information to the Board of Selectmen.
SENIOR CENTER REPORT
Senior Center Director Ms. Marschall reported that the 3rd annual tailgate party for the UConn women’s basketball game will start at 12:30 Saturday, February 22, at the library ‘s Program Room. On February 27, the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame will be presenting a program celebrating Connecticut African-American women of note at 6:00 pm in the Tariffville Room of the library. Dial-a-Ride is available that night. A program honoring the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment will be held March 22, “From Seneca Falls to the 19th Amendment: Songs of the American Woman Suffrage Movement”, 2-3:30 pm at Eno.March 16th will be annual St. Patrick’s Day party at 11 am with corned beef and cabbage and entertainment ($9). Several commissioners are available to serve. Finally, she noted that the VNA is doing blood sugar screening in addition to blood pressure screening every Wednesday at the Senior Center.
OLD BUSINESS
- Age-Friendly Community Update – Mr. LaMontagne noted that the Friends of Newtown Seniors held a full-day seminar on a Saturday in April 2018 with a panel of speakers who spoke about each of the livability domains in the AARP initiative. Mr. LaMontagne noted that neither Greenwich nor Newtown used the full 14-page survey suggested by AARP. Newtown had 600 responses to their 15-minute survey, which informed the full-day seminar they hosted subsequently. He also reported that AARP Community Challenge 2020 has an available grant, which needs to be submitted by April 1. He suggested it could be used to pave the parking lot for the Performing Arts Center, which would support two of the areas the grant covers. Ms. Beatty asked if paving the town’s baseball field path might also be included in the grant. He will send to the Town Manager for consideration. Finally, he proposes to have a draft of the AARP survey available for commissioners’ review at the next meeting. Ms. Miles wondered if an Amazon gift card might induce more people to complete the survey.
- Loan Locker Update – Mr. LaMontagne asked Jean Miles to provide an update. Ms. Miles said the Loan Locker is doing very well with terrific donations, equipment being well-used, and eager volunteers. The only current needs for equipment are for light-weight transport wheelchairs. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held in the spring. Mr. LaMontagne thanked Ms. Miles, as well as Alan Needham, for their hard work in organizing and managing the facility.
- Baseball Field Accessibility – Mr. LaMontagne noted that he wrote a letter to the Town Manager about the needs, which also included comments about the Senior Center renovation. Ms. Mackstutis noted that there will be an Education Board meeting at the end of the month where she might also note the Aging and Disability Commission’s concern about the Senior Center renovation.
- Spring Seminar – Mr. Bible sent an email to the commission inviting interested parties to a meeting on February 27 at 4:30 at Eno to discuss a program that will be presented to the commission at its next meeting.
NEW BUSINESS
- Sensory Friendly Spring Fling Program – Ms. Marschall distributed flyers for the program to be held on April 6 from 4-6:30 at Eno. There will be some therapy dogs there and mailings will go out to SEPTO shortly.
- Major Issues – 2020 Legislative Session – Mr. LaMontagne distributed information about the major issues at the 2020 legislative session; major issues are primarily economic.
- : Kristen Formanek will be meeting with the Town Manager about the Hidden Heroes campaign, with the hope of getting it on the Board of Selectmen agenda in March.
- Mr. LaMontagne noted there will be a panel “Transition for Students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities” on February 25 at 6 pm at the library in the Tarriffville Room.
- The Chairman of the Planning Commission contacted Mr. LaMontagne about resurrecting the affordable housing plan that the commission presented 4 years ago. The Planning Commission will bring up the idea of creating an affordable housing plan at their next meeting.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business, a request to adjourn the meeting was made by Ms. Cook and seconded by Ms. Robbins. The meeting was adjourned at 7:55 pm.
NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, March 17, 2020, at 7 pm in Youth Room at Eno Memorial Hall.
Submitted by,
Jan Beatty
Jan Beatty
Secretary