 Hi, Hayley. How are you doing? I'm good. How are you? Not too bad. Are you home? Yeah. That's kind of nice. Yeah, we got a good time. It wasn't clear to me that. I don't know if I should have sent that to Angela, but now it looks like you and David do that all without having. Okay. We're self-sufficient now. Yeah, that's pretty good. Yeah. What's the word on when people can start having meetings? I think it's mid-July that it expires. And then Paul will have to reassess, you know, if they want to continue doing virtual or. Shift in person. Yeah. Have you had any further thoughts about. Skipping the July meeting. I'm not sure. I think I'm going to, you know, bring it up today and kind of see where people, how they're feeling. It might become a nice to regroup. I think we can do some homework. For July, even if we don't meet. Yeah. I'm good. Meal is on. Early. Yeah. Just so everybody knows we are recording now. Oh, okay. You started it already. It actually did that automatically. Usually it gives me the option. I don't know. I don't know what the setting is different, but. I will announce that again at five. Hi, Mila. Good afternoon. Can you hear us? I can hear you. How are you? Good. How are you? Okay. Good. You think. That's nice to see you on early. Yeah. It's, it's five o'clock meeting, right? Yes, exactly. Well, it's five minutes to now. At least I have about four minutes to. Okay. Yeah. So are you an Amherst now? No, not yet. That was just there. I'm back and forth back and forth still. I don't know. That's a long trip, isn't it? Yeah. Four to six hours. I did it one time. For four and a half. And guess what? I got a ticket. Get a ticket for going 95. I will never do that again. Wasn't worth it. And then it ended up taking you longer anyway, because you had to stop for a ticket. Yeah, that's right. I, I, it was in Mawa, New Jersey. And every time my friends go through Mawa and said, Mila, you're wanted here. Hi, Dennis. Hi there. How are you? I'm good. How about you? Very well. Thank you. Nice to see you. In your Irish shirt. One might say that. How things going. Pretty good. Yeah. Good. Glad to hear it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's for sure. Gorgeous day. Sure is. Didn't start out that way. No, but we needed that rain. Oh yes. I see they had a water restriction in. In North Hampton. Yeah, I was really surprised about that. Why is that? Yeah, lack of water. Oh my. The mill river was running low. Wow. So the rain was very welcome. That's good. I did get an email from Karen who said that she, her husband had an appointment in Springfield, but she expected to be to the meeting. She might be a little bit late. I wonder if I should have called Greg. He needs a reminder. Okay. I will be there. Perfect. Okay. Look forward to seeing you then. Right. Jacqueline's running a little bit like. Hi, Greg. This is Rosemary. Rosemary, he's on. We were calling you Greg. So if you get a voicemail from Rosemary, that's why. Yeah, there's Greg. Okay. That was my voice message. Sorry. Hi, Terry. And I hope you are in good shape this time with this. With the internet. Hello, hello, hello. I'll be fine. And just to remind everyone, the camera is rolling. We are all being recorded. Hi, Linda. Hi. Yeah, that's great. Thank you. Jacqueline's going to be a bit late. Christina sometimes comes late because of her work schedule. And Karen might be a little bit late. So. We will go ahead and get started. Looks like we have a quorum anyway. So that's good. Okay. We have a meeting law. This meeting of the council on aging is being conducted. By remote participation. Meeting is also being recorded. Please unmute your. Yourselves. While I do the roll call. Greg Baskin. Unmute Greg. Greg Baskin. Oh, okay. We see he's here. Terry Carr. Here. Chad Fuller. Karen Helfer. Mila Montemayor. Here. Christina Sharbi. Jacqueline sniff crooks. And Dennis Vandal. Here. Okay. Okay, now you can mute yourselves. Greg, we did, you had your mute on, but we see you are present. I had more than my mute on. I just disappeared and I didn't see any of you. So it took me a few seconds to get back, but I did hear you. Okay. Great. Okay. This is a time for public comment. Hi, Karen. Hi. See you. Nice to see you, ma'am. Okay. Okay. If there's anyone in the public, do you see any participants in the public? No. So there will be no public comment at this time. So let's go ahead and get started with the. Agenda them. Haley, would you give us an update on. Senior services activities. Yes, of course. So for the month of June, we averaged about 519 visits, which is 23 people a day. That's up slightly from April, which is a really great sign means people are enjoying the new offerings. Really pleased to see that attendance is up and that we have some new activities for people to partake in. It seems kind of like our peak days right now are Fridays. And I think that's partially because we've been doing a computer workshop with some professors at UMass. So we've got about 10 or 11 people enrolled in that. And it's a six week course. Coming up, we have next Tuesday, June 14th at six o'clock. We will be joined at the bank center by chief living stone and Earl Miller. They are going to talk about how each department is different. So how the, the Crest department is different from the police department, but how they're both working together for public safety. And then on Thursday, the 16th, we'll be welcoming in some of the fire department for a coffee and human chat. And then that Friday afternoon, Mindy Dom will be at the senior center at 1230 for pizza and music bingo. So that should be really fun. And we'll also be joined by our district two counselors on June 20th at 10 a.m. And then APD will be coming in on June 23rd at 10 30. They're bringing the comfort dog. And we're going to host them for coffee and donuts. So that's a couple of things that are coming up throughout the month of May. Hey, how can we know when these things are happening? Are they, because they won't, the senior spirit won't be going out with that information. It has. So this is all contained in the May and June edition of the senior spirit, which is up on the town website. Or you can request a copy to be mailed to you from the senior center. So definitely if you, if anybody needs a copy, I'm happy to send it out. We definitely want people to come in and enjoy what we have. And then looking ahead to the summer, we have musical performances coming back. We've got lots of arts and crafts. We'll have presentations on black holes and dinosaurs and be inviting in a live butterfly demonstration for seniors and their grandchildren. So lots more to look forward to. And then we continue to work on the agent dementia friendly project. We just had our first listening session on housing a couple weeks back. I thought that was really well attended. I think we had maybe 40 people. That sounds about right. I mean, it's a really good conversation. We heard lots of folks concerned about how are they going to make home modifications? How can we afford to age in place? How can we make home modifications? High taxes. And just needing more housing options for older adults in town. So that was really good. And then on the flip side, you don't, we heard that people enjoy having access to transportation. There's a rich arts and cultural scene here in Amherst. You know, it's again, very big college. So not all negative. We'll be doing our next session. By remote participation. So we'll be talking about social participation, but we'll be talking about public safety. And we'll do a Spanish speaking session. You know, respectively. Does anyone have any. Comments or questions about the agent dementia friendly project? Will you be at the farmer's market? No, I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm just asking. Well, you'd be at the farmer's market this Saturday. I will be with flyers or do you just fund, I go with flyers. We have flyers in English and Spanish, and I'm they're from usually about nine to noon. Um, right. Um, and sometimes joined by the fire department. more things are growing, there should be more harvested that people can sell at the farmer's market and then the turnout should be much higher. Going fairly early in May is not always a good call. There's an update on the CDBG application. So I have spoken with Paul, this is his last name. It's Paul Berman over at the PDTA. We will be getting one of our retired vans. It has the capacity to seat eight or six people in two wheelchairs. So that was a huge boom to us because we don't have the wheelchair accessible vans right now. We will have to pay for a new sticker that's gonna expire in July, but that was well worth the cost of getting the van donated to us. And then after that, we'll be able to do more of the medical rights that we have been doing, start planning some trips places. The RFP for the CDBG application itself has not yet been published. So again, I'm still not sure what the actual application requirements are going to be, but I'll likely pivot to applying for funds for programming instead of the transportation. Now we won't need to spend money on that because we'll have gotten the PDTA. Any questions on CDBG? Did anyone go to engage Amherst and enter anything for the CDBG grant request? I did actually, I did enter something and I said that it would be good to have better sound in our rooms. That's a good thought too. If I could be. That could actually tie into programming. We could maybe do like a combination there. I haven't seen the report. So the CDBG advisory committee should be putting out a report on what was asked for by the public, but I haven't seen that posted online either. Well, it could be if one or two other people put that in, it would get a little bit more attention by the committee. And so one of the program areas that I really want to focus on is the memory cafe. I think I've mentioned this a couple of times. I've actually spoken with a number of people in the community who are really struggling with having a parent who has Alzheimer's. In fact, I spoke to one couple who not only does the father have Alzheimer's, but the son has his own long-term. He has a brain injury essentially. So he has his own limitations now. And so the daughter-in-law is caregiver times two and it's incredibly stressful for them. They weren't sure really where to go or how to function. You go from two incomes down to one and then you're a caregiver for another person. So I think that we really need to start creating some programs that are gonna be suited to people who have memory challenges and they're caregivers and see what we can do to increase the supportive programs that we offer. Helen has a wonderful caregiver group once a month, but I know that before the pandemic, we had grants for massages, and different ways that caregivers can take respite. So we'll definitely need to look at reinstating those. So when you get the next edition of the Senior Spirit newsletter for, so for July and August, there's going to be a call for our readers to join a committee on planning a memory cafe. A lot of the research shows that you should really involve people who have dementia or Alzheimer's and their caregivers in the planning process. So I'm gonna put a push out to get people to join that committee. I would really love for someone on the Council on Aging to be a part of that as well. I think it'd be great to have a presentation from the COA as we're talking about how to better meet the needs of this segment of the population. Is there anyone who would be interested in serving on a committee like that? These would be probably a monthly meeting. Zoomer in person will kind of have to see what the participants want because really this should be a participant driven group. But generally a small time commitment and it would really help have an impact on the state of programming at the Senior Center. I don't see any takers. Yeah, I'd like to. It's not bad, I swear. It'll be a great group. A lot of memory cafes, if you're not really familiar with the concept, typically they feature some kind of activity, sometimes music or therapeutic painting, something in a group setting. A lot of times there's a meal, a light meal prepared afterwards or even just people can sit around and talk and just say, hey, I'm experiencing this and having this challenge at home. What are you, how do you recommend I handle that? We can invite in speakers from UMass, from the Alzheimer's Association. And Linda, you have your hands up. No. Oh, no, a terry, sorry. Oh, I saw the terries. Right, but thank you. I can help as long as I don't have any conflicts. Okay, I would be great. Once I find out the time. Perfect, I'll put your name down. Because it'll be a great effort. And like I said, this is the one thing I've been hearing pretty much since I started that people are wanting and needing. Thank you, Teri. It's excellent. I think representation from the council is very important. And so you can keep the council informed and that's my progress as well, which is important. That's what we're here for. Exactly, you know, the day to day kind of stuff. I know not everybody has the time commitment for that, but it definitely, I think a good council on aging works more harmoniously for the senior center. When you kind of have a feel for who are the people coming in and attending programs? You know, instead of just having this abstract idea of what a senior is or what a senior center should be, who are the people who are actually going and having a cup of coffee in the afterings. I've talked to a couple of people now who walk over from Clark House and they might sit by themselves and play solitaire or they might join a puzzle. There's a lot going on and I think it's hard to really anticipate what their needs are if you're not seeing it for yourself. So anytime someone is able to come help even if it's just for a one-off program, you know, like we'll need help. Coming up in July and August, we'll do ice cream social hours. Every Friday, if somebody has an afternoon where they can donate an hour of their time, help us scoop ice cream, that is a great way to get to know your seniors because they are gonna, my first time having an ice cream social, I was told I didn't scoop enough ice cream and let me tell you, you better make sure you give people enough ice cream. Do not skimp out on that. So yeah, it is really important to get a little bit more volunteerism. Yeah, I think it would be very important for everyone to take a little time and hang out at the senior center and see what's going on, sit and talk with people and get a feel for what the needs are and what people are doing and wanting and enjoying. That's right. And actually today, I had a great conversation with someone I'd never heard this term before, solo aging, people who have, who are either not married or divorced or do not have children or maybe their children are estranged from them or have moved away. And how do they prepare for, not just end of life, but if my circumstances change in five years, how do I help myself in that situation because I don't have a circle of caregivers at home? And I have a good gut feeling that she is not alone in feeling those pressures. That could be a very good program to establish, have someone come in and talk about that topic. Okay. Well, thanks, Haley. And do you want to say anything about the role of the conswani? Yes, I did. So I don't want to take up too much time because I know that we really need to focus on our leadership and on our team building. What's important to me that we have ample time to discuss that, but I do want to just give you a little bit of a frame of reference for the history of councils on aging. These boards were established in the 60s as a way to help senior centers kind of coordinate their operations. I think the mass general law describes it as coordinating programs. Senior center is meant to coordinate programs designed to meet the needs of the aging. And how do you do that? So you COAs are usually involved in setting policy. Now whether that's kind of your day-to-day operations, helping formulate what are the golden rules of your senior center, behavioral expectations, but it can also just mean programming, evaluating programs, doing studies on what are the types of programs needed at your senior center and then establishing guidelines for how to implement those programs. A lot of senior councils on aging focus on education, making sure that the board is up to date on mass state law, that the board is able to educate the public on senior center operations and senior needs. Those are some of the key hallmarks of what a board should be doing. And I think sometimes there's so much to tackle that it can kind of seem like, where do we start? But I think it's really important for this board and the here and now you have a new director and we have a new avenue, you can start new visions, create new programs and initiatives, but we really need to take a critical look at what are the services that we're offering? What are we offering? I hope my hope is that everyone on this council would be able to tell me what are the programs that we do in a given day, that you could without looking at it, without looking at the newsletter, that if I said, oh, it's a Monday, what type of programs do we have, that you would be able to say, okay, well, we do arthritis exercise and we do mind dancing or on Tuesdays we do healthy bones and balance. And that's one of our best programs. People really seem to like that because it's at a low level and it doesn't require a lot of physical activity. You can do it at any age. And I'm not sure if everyone can, and that's okay, because I think we can work on it, but I think it's really important for this council and as we onboard new members, because I'm sorry that Rosemary's leaving, that will happen after this meeting, that we make sure that we all know what it is that we offer so that we can promote it accurately, right? If we don't know what are the programs and services, we can't say, well, we need this because we don't have that deep understanding. So I would really like to see this board, again, take some time, come by the senior center, I'll give you a tour, I'll go over all the programs, and we really have an opportunity here to do a lot of good, but we have to get that baseline down first. And that's what I want people to be thinking about as we talk about leadership and as we talk about team building. Yes, yes, Chad. It actually, did you have a question, Chad? Yes. I would offer that right back to Haley and say, during your presentation, or maybe halfway between the monthly meetings, the board would get a report. So many people attended such and such program. Blank is a new program. Blank is a program that we dropped because we really do work together. You're our staff and we're your board. And so it's about how we do things together. It's not about one or the other, but I think that would be helpful. So you're saying to do that outside of the director support because at the beginning of my presentation, I did talk about what were our service statistics, what new programs we had coming out and what was, yeah. So that is definitely a part of what I aimed to cover at every director's update, but if there are specific things that you wanna know, like how many people came to an exercise class, let me know that ahead of time and then I can prepare those numbers for each council meeting. Now I'm happy to give as much information on senior center operations as you wanna ask. If it's how many meals, if it's how many people exercised, if it's how many people came and enjoyed music, I can be more than happy to provide that. Just let me know what it is that you are looking for in that report. Would you see that that would be valuable information? Oh, absolutely. I mean, the senior center does a yearly annual report to the EOEA where we do outline activities like that. So this would just be kind of taking that report apart and doing it as a month, an ongoing feature. And we can even do comparisons if you want to know how this month versus that month last year, those are all things that we can look at as we're kind of talking about the future of programming because it's important to understand what's worked well and what hasn't really worked well. Excellent. Because that gives us trends. And then we know that we need to support one thing or drop another thing. Join in, please, and say something when it comes. Yeah, is there a sense from other people? Like what are the areas of interest? Do you care about how many meals we're doing or exercise is a popular one, right? Because those are popular programs that just put every senior center in Hadley. They have a tremendous showing for their exercise programs. So do people have any other areas of interest that maybe you might want me to talk about at each meeting? So I think if getting, going around circling back to what you said, Hadley, about wanting us to know more about what's going on at the senior center, I think what Chad just said is one way of us filling in the blanks. I can, for example, come and visit one day, but it's not gonna let me know how many people are going to this kind of... So I think it's what you think, the information we think. So I think if there are certain types of programming that we're considering adding or dropping or something like that, saying, here's the metrics, here's how many people attended this type of programming. And this is why I don't think we should be doing this anymore, we're doing less of this, we should be doing more of that. I think that's the type of information that I would find helpful. Because I could perhaps visit and come and visit, but it's not gonna let me know how many people are going to, how many people are attending each time. No, that's definitely good feedback. So again, I can definitely put together a more comprehensive support. It didn't seem like that was something that you had in place before. I've worked with councils where they wanted very detailed statistics on which programs that were in operation and what was the attendance for those. But I would still encourage, and it doesn't have to be like on random day, but if people came to a program like that had a specific purpose, you know, again, like ice cream social, that's a great way to get that direct connection without feeling like, oh, I hope I come on a day when there's a lot of people here. I might, oh yeah, you're good. I might mention that at Chad, Haley did mention how many people have used the senior center this month. And I thought that was significant in the beginning of the meeting. I think it was 518, did you say? And that was up. Yep, 519, but that was still up from April. We had a little bit less than that. So not specifically encouraged by, but not that it's a good trend. But in addition to Haley suggesting that maybe this program is not working so well and we should consider eliminating it. I think we need to be out in the community and talking to other people and other elders or at the senior center and seeing what people might like besides such as the memory cafe is such an excellent idea. And that's the kind of thing that we can also suggest if we see a program that we think others would benefit from. So it doesn't have to come just from Haley, but from us as well, because we're out in the community. And I think what Haley said is very important, really the purpose of the council is to advocate for the needs of older adults. And part of that is looking at programs that are working and not working or that we see are needed. And also educating the public and getting them to support what we're doing. So it's a combination of things. It's not just sitting at a meeting once a month. Jacqueline is here on the phone because she couldn't connect on the internet. So that was her voice that you just heard. Yes, I think you make a very, very good point on both accounts or all accounts. And especially the cafe getting input from the people that we seek to serve. And getting ideas, input such as ideas as to what they feel they need and they would desire. Because one of the things I see the council as being is a conduit. And we communicate only to the town officials but we have that open communication with them, with the people. Linda, did you have a question? I didn't know if it's appropriate for me to make a comment or not. I mean, I'll hold and reserve if it's not appropriate time. I think it's fine. Okay. I want to go back to I think Chad's suggestion which I think is really a good one. And just expand even the virtues of values of what he's proposing is, first of all, I tend to look at the world not just both from what I hope is the interpersonal but I have a data head also. And I think anything that begins to document what you've accomplished as it not only becomes something it's for fundraising, it's for grant writing, it's for all that. So it's both for the immediate and for informational purposes in the immediate but it also has long-term benefit. So I really think that it's good. I don't know what your capacity, the capacity is in terms of staffing, Haley, that I mean, obviously this kind of data gathering is you need help with. It's, you know, I mean, you may have it all set up in computerized, maybe it's already there but I could also imagine that you would need help in terms of producing that. And I wanted to add the other thing, which is, I hope that, okay, you were talking about both the sort of the making sure you're engaged with each other at the senior center and the COA. And this is a really nice way to do it in terms of concretely people having like on the COA saying, oh, look what I got and I've got new information and here it is, you know, is shared with me. And it keeps your attention on, you know, what's happening. And I think it would facilitate that what you were looking for also, which is a greater sense of what's going on, period. And so, you know, I thought it was a great suggestion, Chad. And, you know, we struggle with it all the time organizationally, you know, but I just wanted to say it has multiple value, I think. Oh, definitely. And, you know, just to your point, we utilize a system called my senior center and it actually makes data tracking fairly easy. You know, it's never gonna be a hundred percent accurate, but it's pretty close. So, and if people are interested, I'd be happy to share some of the annual EOEA reports with you all, because those are where again, you have to submit numbers to the state every year. So we have to show the state, you know, how many people did we help through our supporters social work services? How many meals did we distribute? How many people attended an arts program? Something like that. So I'd be happy to share maybe the last three years because, you know, obviously with COVID, the number is gonna be a little weird, but 2019, 2020, 2021 would give you a fairly accurate sense of what is the most in need right now. And that would actually be pretty easy for me to pull together. I can send that out tomorrow. That's an excellent idea, Hailey. I think everyone should have those reports. We used to get them off every year. And I think it's very beneficial to see what programs and how many people are using the programs and the amount of people that come into the senior center. Definitely a lot. It's amazing, yeah. So that's a great idea. So anything else? Any other comments on that? Earlier, I sent you a list of all the members of the council going forward for FY23. And I also sent you a document on the committee structure that had been drawn up by our chair, Kat Rector, and with the help of some members. And it became part of the bylaws and was approved in May, 2021. There are three committees and I think you all probably had a chance to look at it and see what the role of the committees would be and what the role of the council is with regard to those committees. So have a good look at it. We never really implemented that. It will not be put up partly because we had the council in such a state of flux, major flux. There were four vacancies on the board in June of 2021. Pat resigned as chair, Mary Beth Ogilay, but resigned as director of senior services. And so the start of fiscal 2022 was also met with a lot of challenges. We didn't have a leader. So we developed a leadership team of two co-chairs and a vice chair. And then we finally filled some positions. We brought Karen Helfand and Christina Sharbi onto the board, which was wonderful. We had then Pat Rector left again. So the leadership changed again. We've just had a lot of ups and downs. And finally in April of this year, we completed our council with nine members when we brought on Dennis Bandel and Terry Conor. So it's now a fully nine member board for the first time in a couple of years. So there have been numerous reasons why we didn't implement any committee structure. And of course, during all this time, we were without even the director of senior services, Helen McMillan was trying to be interim director and social worker, and then there was COVID. So it's been a tumultuous two years. A lot of missing pieces, a lot of missing people and difficult to be organized. Thank goodness we have Haley now. She came to us and she's been doing an amazing job. And even for the first few months, she had to work without an administrative assistant. So it's been nonstop really. A year of instability, member vacancies and so on. So maybe now the council can become a fully functioning body for the first time. And as for the first time in several years, I've put it that way. And as you learned at the last May meeting, I will be leaving so that does leave leadership position in Limbaugh once again. Jacqueline will remain on the board but not in a leadership position. So we have to think about what to do going forward. There are some applicants for my position so you should have a new member soon after my departure, which will be good. So have a good look at the committee structure when you get a chance. And for those of you, as I mentioned in the email who are new to the board since last December, that information is all in your new member notebook. But some of you still have that great big thick member notebook with a lot of outdated material in it. And Pat and I worked very hard to revise and update that notebook. And it's in better shape now and much smaller. So we will have copies for every member in the senior center office. So bring your old big fat notebook and pick up a new member notebook. And it has recommendations for how a council operates. Is that available now, Rosemary? I have, there is one in the office now and I will take in four more. Mila needs one and Reg needs one. And I guess that's it. Jacqueline, I think, Jacqueline, do you have one? I found mine, but I don't have the updated content. Oh, okay. I have about the binder and the old content. Okay, well, you can bring the old one back because nobody wants that big fat thing sitting around. And the new one is much more concise. In fact, it was in a box for protection and I had forgotten that I put it in the box. Okay, well, I will take them up to the senior center and you can pick those up anytime. Or Jacqueline, would you prefer I drop it off at your office or at your house? Okay, well, we can talk about that another time. The answer is they will be available next week. Oh, sure. Okay, obviously, we can boldly claim that this is a reorganization. Are you familiar with that term? I know, I know. Okay, we are reorganizing the council on aging. We have a new director. It's our staff member. We have new board members. We need to reelect, you call it leadership. I kind of got confused when they changed to what we're euphemistically calling the Triumvirate, the three instead of a chairman, a vice president and the secretary, we now have a three tripartite leadership. This is what you call reorganization, which means that the board is changing. It's redeveloping. I would like to include the manual as part of what we review in our reorganization effort. I don't know what you folks have done, but the old one was really unhelpful. It was a lot of fluff. And I have some things in terms of organization development that I'd like to add. I think we should review it at some point. If we're gonna really be a cooking board or working board, we might form a subcommittee to do that. We might assign a specific individual to do that and report back to us. But I think the manual is pretty important. So I'm not making a motion or anything. We can talk about it further, but I think that's something that we should address as well. I think that's a great idea. Sorry to take the time, but this is how we operate and what's important to us. And it guides us in what we do and how we do it. And if we're having a reorganization right now, we should look at that too. Sorry to butt in, but that's just my strong feeling. It's not butting in, Chad. We're all in for his section of how to do things going forward. And Haley, you might have something to add to the manual as well. I don't. You know, I think I can take a look. So yeah, let me take a look at that because the Mass General, the Mass Councils on Aging sends out a new director manual to every senior center director. And they include a lot of information on councils on aging from a historical perspective to what are the different roles in your town government and how do you function within that? So I'd be happy to take a look at that and see if we can mesh the two a little bit more. For the newest members, I know that you did get some documents from the town itself about open meeting law and a various other conflict of interest. And so that is not part of our manual anymore because I think the town gives that out to new members. But I did put in the manual, the charter, a copy of the town charter because I think that could be a nice reference for some people. At any rate, yeah, we will look through the manual, Chad, and see what you think. I'd like to add something. I like the suggestion. I think it is very timely and very much in order. I would suggest maybe a team of at least a couple of people putting it together. I think we can show that maybe two sets of eyes exhausted and can give, yeah, saying, you know, I think this and give suggestions. Yeah, because I could definitely form a subcommittee. Anything, not in rewriting, but in editing. Now, other people's eyes might be perfect, but I say that because if I were part of the reorganization recording, I would certainly appreciate getting input from somebody. Karen? Is there a thought about perhaps making it an online copy rather than a hard copy? Because it would be easier to update and distribute if it wasn't, if it was in digital form rather than... Yeah, everything is online. The documents are all online. So I can sort of look at that and get that out. Good idea. Yeah, that's really good idea. Even just because that should probably go at some point on our COA website, I'm a little bit more of an outline of what our roles and roles are. Actually, yeah, there are some papers that are in that manual that come from executive office of elder affairs. And that is not online. So that's a little bit problem. So it could all be scanned. So it's a possibility of making the manual actually online so that when new members come on board, they can just have access to it. They could download it if they want to or they could just access it online rather than having a hard copy and doing that way. I don't know. Again, I think some people are more comfortable with the idea of working with things online versus paper and vice versa. Well, as for who's Gmail was recently hacked, I'm in that other little couch of yesterday, which is having a hard copy. And I don't think that is asking a lot to have both because I lost everything, but through Subatkin nations, I seem to be reclaiming some of the information. And why somebody has to have my account is beyond me. I'm a paper person myself. So I like having hard copies as well, but I understand that I'm from a dinosaur generation. Thanks to all of us. Okay, well, so how do you propose going forward with this? Chad, do you want to work with a few other people and getting this going? All right, I stepped away for a second. Okay, let's see. I move that we appoint by volunteers two people to review the COA board member manual. I additionally move that they complete their work by September 30th. Do you want to be part of that group? Sure. Two people. Someone want to work with Chad. How about you, Amila? Are you asking me? Yeah. Are you interested in working with Chad on updating the manual? I'll be happy to accept. My schedule right now is, I don't know when I'm in and out of Amherst. If I can do it long distance or wherever I am, I can do my part of it online. I just send materials that way. Would that be acceptable? It depends on how much is online right now. Oh, yeah. And probably not most of it. Yeah, I think that's the one thing that we're doing is we're volunteering for the process. You mean what, what they would be volunteering for would be to revise the manual. Yeah. Not enough of it is online. I think we'd have to put some energy into standing. The documents. Yeah. I would because one. In addition to the hacking, I would be willing to work with you today. Okay. Okay. Christina, you had your hand up and Linda also. Christina, go ahead. Yeah, I want to know what is the length of the manual? What are we talking about? In terms of its length and it's. Well, I think it's a good idea. I think we're talking about in terms of its length and it's. Well, Christina, I gave, I brought a copy to your home. Do you remember when you became a member? And then how many pages? Let's see. I have it. I have it. I can grab it. So what is your question? If you're asking the length, you already know. I didn't honestly, I don't know. I didn't know that that was a manual. I know it includes the mission statement, the bylaws, the committee structure. I've guide for COA board members, expectations of the board and director. Responsibilities and practices. An executive summary, a list of definitions. And the town organization chart. That's all. That's all online, of course. So it's just the things that come from. The executive. Officer elder affairs that are not online. I think it's about 170 pages. People can use the senior center of scanner. You know, I, I, my staff and myself don't have time to scan that length of a document, but we can certainly offer out the scanner if someone can come and make the copies. And that's definitely moving their own possibility. I can probably come in and do that one day. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Well, to be, go ahead, Chad. I was just going to say she had a two part question. What was the other party? A question. Who, who, who's question. Christina. Christina. No, I, I, I got my question answered. And I do have my manual available and it's accessible. I can just grab it and look at it. Okay. And then you had a question. I'm mute. I'm mute. Thank you. I'm sorry. I was wondering what the foundation is sort of the authority source for when people are reviewing. How do you know you got it right? In other words, if you make it, if you're reviewing, is it based on, well, we don't do it this way anymore. We got to edit it because we are practices changed. So I'm, I'm, you know, I'm looking for when the subcommittee gets together. What is the foundation for quote authority in terms of what is the accurate material. Then embedded in that, I think what I hear you saying is. You're for me. It's a governance committee. I mean, you're probably comprised of it's policies. It's city policies. It's senior center policies. Somebody's got to be as a forum in which policies are proposed and then decided upon, and then they become part of the manual. And so I'm wondering how that process has worked in the past. And again, it goes back to, you know, what's the source, the authority by which the committee operates. So that they know that they're editing. In relation to what the policies are. Yeah, my, my, my, um, Motion was review, not edit or change. Right. But even review, you needed a standard by which to be. Well, to answer your question, the way it was done was things were just added. Added, added, added continually added. And that's how we got 170 pages. 25 of them are the only relevant ones. And even with that, there's some things left out. Like what are the values and morals that we bring with us. And apply to being a board member. And so on. And actually, then the, the, um, Yeah. The, there are not really policies in the manual per se. Um, it, they're really guidelines. They're, they're recommendations for how a council runs. It's not, they're not really policies per se. I mean, they're the bylaws and you know, that kind of thing, but. I'm not sure what you mean by policies. They have a decision making that influences the way people behave and what they do. And so at some time to say, well, you know, it can even be around programs or the programs. I mean, you're assessing programs in relation to the mission statement. You know, usually that kind of thing is in a, in a manual, how do you make judgments about whether you're, your programs and so forth? Or are you aligning with your mission? But, um, and then protocols for how do you handle certain conflicts or communications or public, you know, all, all facets of the operation. I mean, I'm not looking for it to get into tedium, but I am saying when somebody reviews whoever reviews it. It's, it's, it's based on what, you know, is it somebody made a decision individually a while ago that this is the way we should do it. And is that the way it's going to proceed? Um, how do you, how do you evaluate. Whether the manual is accurate. Yeah. Go ahead, Chad. Yeah. I want to say something that's standard operating procedure in, in organization development. Let's take something like a human resource department. When they look at a business. They look at it from two aspects. One is called the principles of practice. And the other is, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, that's standard operating procedure. And it's got two aspects. One is called the principles of practice. And the other is called the personnel policies. Um, in our organization, we have our bylaws. It may say something to the effect. The president shall arrange the agenda. Period. The other tells you how to do it. Our document just says what needs to be done. So the president can say, I arranged the agenda. I have a certain program I wanna run and I'm not gonna let anyone get on the agenda that doesn't follow that program. So let me arrange the agenda for a business of what we're gonna discuss all about those items I want. And to me, that's not great. That's not what democracy is. So if I was going to review our document, I would put just what I've said. Do we want to do it this way? Do we wanna go into more detail and say through polling each and every board member and asking them if they have anything for the agenda and so on. So that's the kind of thing I'm trying to get at. I mean, it's really, I can't speak to anything that happened before I got here but I can say as someone who has worked with other boards, accounts on aging member can suggest a topic to be discussed at any meeting. That's the standard operating procedure that I'm familiar with. And in fact, on today's agenda, Greg had some really great topics that he wanted to discuss and those are on the agenda today. You know, I think as we're thinking about manuals and policies, the policies are driven by the senior center needs. The policies need to be driven by what do the seniors need in the community and what kind of programs are gonna help them thrive. So that's really where the focus should be because that's gotta be what drives the end unit. If we don't know what seniors need, we don't know how to help them. We don't know how to advocate for them. We don't know what to do at the senior center that's gonna best serve them. So that's really gotta be the main drive, I think. And definitely I would love to be on the review panel. I think as director, that's definitely something that I should be involved in. Because again, I'm doing the day to day. I'm seeing people who are saying, we need a memory cafe or I don't have supportive services at home or I'm getting to a point where I'm not gonna be able to drive anymore and I can't handle that. You know, how do we support that program and give them options so that they can stay in place? I don't know if that totally answers your question but, you know, when I hear about where does policy come from? To me, it comes from the center and it comes from the seniors who go to the center. They're the ones that we're working for. So we've got to be always thinking about them and how do we best meet their needs? That's helpful, good points. Yeah, Christina, unmute. Yeah, I think we have to keep in mind because I just grabbed my notebook is that some of these, and I don't know if this is part of the manual but I certainly agree with you that everything should be fashioned around the needs of the community that we're serving. This is a guide for COA board members and it comes from the governor. And essentially this one, Office of Elders Affairs, June of 2019. So there are things in this notebook that we don't have to revise. We just have to get a new one from the Office of Elders Affairs. If there is such a guide that was sent to us by the governor, Governor Baker and Elizabeth Chen, the secretary, then we need to ask for the new ones. And so apparently there are standards of practice because the council on aging is an offshoot of our government. So we do have a standard to practice. And we just need to organize ourselves as a board, board organization. And if that involves rewriting our personal handbook or manual, whatever you wanna call it, then that's okay. But we have to keep in mind that we do have a standard of practice because we are under the state government and those were written in this notebook. Thank you. Excellent point. Yep, excellent. Okay, well, that's all. I will get the notebooks in, I guess this can be brought up at the next meeting after everyone has a chance to review the documents and see what's in the manual and then perhaps a better discussion can take place. And several people can, it sounds like Haley certainly should be part of any kind of reviewing committee. And Chad wants, of course, to be part of that. So we can do it virtually, Mila, if you want, I'm happy to set up Zooms, you know, whenever the books show. Okay. Chad also on the second page of your agenda, Chad had talked about a Mass Council on Aging and Training, which I thought sounded like an excellent program, which is taking place on Wednesday, June 15th in Aguam. And I would encourage a couple of members to attend that meeting. If you look at the second page of your agenda, it shows it's comprised of three elements. And I think serving, identifying underserved populations and an action plan to reach out to them could be very valuable to any council member. So look at that. If anybody needs money to attend that meeting, I expect we can approach the friends in the Emmer senior center because they oftentimes will subsidize or help people with conference fees and anything to improve their education. There's also a listing of a little book of boards, which is available, I know, on Amazon. So if anyone is so inspired, I would encourage you to read that as well. Do we have any takers for the meeting in Aguam? You can register. I gave you the link for registration, so keep that with you. And sometime last month, Chad, you suggested changing the leadership structure of the council. And I wonder if you wanted to say anything more about that, how each member could be more actively engaged. Oh, well, I thought you meant my suggestion that the three positions be elected in a rotating way so they're not all on and off at the same time, a whole new group, that they have some continuity by at least one or two members. People serve, serve. I don't know what it would be, three months apiece. January, February, March for one, the other one March, April, May and the third one June, July and August or whatever you would, however you would do it. Is that what you meant? Yeah, that is, I wasn't sure that's what you meant. And when I hear that, I find that it might make it difficult for Haley to have people changing off all the time and working on the agenda or whatever items need attention rather than- Well, think of it the way I think of it is the exact opposite that all the sudden people are brand new to it all three of them at once and everybody takes a little while to get caught up. Whereas if, I think the select board before the charter changed it had select persons in that kind of mode so that the old ones could mentor the new ones on and in turn they would mentor the next. Well, it's true mentorship has a problem on the console partly because of having so many new members at the same time. How long do we serve? How long is your, how long am I on? Once the town manager appoints me, how long am I on? Three year term. All right, so if they took one year during that time you know, they would be in one year they would have a whole year where they would be a brand new guy who doesn't know what's going on. The second year they'd be expected to pick up a piece and they could help a new person coming but they'd still have one of those three people that's been there three years. And then in the last year, you know it would be up to them to really carry the ball and nurture the two new ones. I didn't mean month by month like I just gave I just couldn't come up with a three, three what do you call it, a binomial of three but if it's three years, a whole year it's just a suggestion. My real reason for putting up that that Massachusetts Council on Aging Training is because it talks about helping boards develop team make sense of team, how to work together and they also have another module on leadership development. To me, it's not about the individuals it's that everybody on the team picks up a piece. The team is the leader. You know, my parents' generation we had to have somebody stand up in front and be a leader and a motivator and all that. I don't think a hierarchy works today. Most of us came through a social revolution 40, 50 years ago that sort of got rid of the hierarchy and created teams. Anyway, that's why I forwarded that to the board members that I have emails for. I mean, I think a training makes a lot of sense. I also think it could be helpful to, as a COA go and meet with other councils on aging or listen to their meetings kind of see how other people are doing it or again, if we want to sponsor an activity at the senior center we could certainly do it in the evening we could do like a ice cream or pizza we could as a group, as a COA board volunteer all at one event and that's a really great way to get to know people. It's also a great way to get to know the community. I think it would be good to have more voices on the leadership team. I think a year sounds like a more reasonable number. It really takes a while to get the hang of what you're doing and then be good and then kind of know the direction that you want to go in. So a year makes sense to me, but I'm not sure. I sense a lot of trepidation on the board right now to step up into leadership and I don't know if forcing people to all take part of that is always the way to go. Some people just are not comfortable being in that type of role. So just to play devil's advocate. Any other comments from other members? Well that puts you in a difficult position Haley without having someone. It does and actually I kind of will have to go back and circle in with the town manager because I'm not sure how meetings will function if we don't have a facilitator. So that is something to keep in mind that if we don't have a leader we could potentially not have someone to run the meeting and then that might not be a monthly occurrence. But I will definitely double check with them once I get into the office tomorrow. Okay, and Greg you had a comment. Yeah, into even as we dealt into the manual coincides with that. What coincides with that? Tenure and into looking at why we exist policies as well as our mission. What is our mission? Is our mission, is it remaining the same? These are things, this is a good time for all of this to come up. But Rosemary said, well it's in a conversation. It's feeling like a critical time because it's calling for leadership that won't be there just to operate the organization. And the question becomes that whether we will have some temporary way following through on leadership. How are we going to operate? Yeah. And Greg, I know that you have your hand up. Greg. Yes, my question is how are we going to choose leadership? Is that gonna be by vote or is that by consensus or just somebody volunteering? I'm not sure how, what the process is. Are we looking for somebody to volunteer or are we looking to vote on the two individuals? I believe it's gonna be at least two, right? The co-chairs or are we gonna do it by consensus? I'm not sure what to expect in terms of deciding, you know, whether somebody's going to volunteer or whether they're gonna vote on them or what they have to do if they're interested in or willing to take on this role for these roles. Well, that's a good question, Greg. And it used to be that we would have a nominating committee to put forth new policies for the organization. People and leadership roles. Because the council had been short of members for so long and we have four new members since the beginning of the year, it's very difficult to have a nominating committee and find one of the older members to be approached for leadership role. And so we did approach a few people, asked them about one has to be willing to be a leader. We can't just appoint them. And so we did ask a few people if they were willing to step into that position and did not get any positive responses. So that's where we're at. It's generally a volunteer. Volunteer with a follow-up vote. Yeah. And then of course voted by the board. So that's where we're at now. Is that on this month's agenda? Yeah. To just look into what we do about leadership going forward was on the agenda. No, is the vote on this month or when is that? There is no vote. There's no person that is willing to step forward and be a leader. What month does the leadership position? In June. June, thank you. I'm sorry. Okay. Which is this month, correct? Yes. That's correct. Well, I think it might be a really good idea if we took, we came to a consensus that it might to pause our July meeting. I think that the existing board needs to kind of think about, am I a good fit for leadership? Is that something that I would be willing to try without having memorized the bylaws? And maybe we could do a six month leadership position and then we could reevaluate, again, we're gonna be onboarding a new person. And that person might be a very good leader, who knows? But I think at the very least we kind of need to gather ourselves together and just think about, what is the direction we want to go in? And I would be in favor of just giving that month. And then, again, maybe that'd be a good time for board members to reach out to other councils and just see what are other people doing in other towns that are nearby. Terry. Are there any of the applicants who have applied for the COA interested in the leadership positions? If that wouldn't be clear on the application form, it could certainly be a question that is asked in the interview process, though. Okay. Just curious. I think that a discussion, either a discussion or some conversation in between, it was suggested that new people might get a sense of what's going on before they step into a leadership position. Maybe what we need is to get an interim leader for X number of months. It is quite its expectation to have somebody who doesn't know the organization and they're thrust into a position where they are asked to help lead it. That's a great idea. I mean, I would definitely be supportive of that. I think, you know, if you're kind of on the fence and you're not sure that you want to do it, interim is really great. You know, you can try it out potentially. If this new person wanted that position, you could work with them as a mentor. Yeah, I think that's great, Jacqueline. As the people John Terry and that I am, I was going to say the opposite and say, let's stick with the schedule. Let's stick with June as we have for so many years. And I'd step up for one of the spots. I don't do it automatically. I do it with a caveat or two that other people begin to put in actual hours each week between meetings on work of the council, that other people step up as I am doing right now and take a piece of the action that other people commit themselves to the organization and do some work. Reorganization means that we have to do everything at once. It means we have to, you know, turn inward and do a lot of board development and work on the organization itself. But we also have the survey that's come out and that can develop a strategic plan that we can put our shoulders together to that wheel. That's what everybody's been saying. What does the people, what do the elders of Amherst need? What do they want? What are their likes? What are their dislikes? We can do internal development of our organization by focusing on trying to meet those needs and, you know, developing a strategic plan. But at any rate, I'll sweep my head up. Usually leaders have their heads cut off when they stick them up, but I'll give it a shot. We promise not to cut it for ourselves. Yeah. So I'm saying you're gonna take a leadership role for an injury. I'll give it a try. I would really like to see that rotating thing though because, you know, next June, it's gonna be the same thing all over again. And less people from the committee say that they want to be in one of those three positions, whatever they're called. I don't even know. You know, it's like brand new all over again. We have to have some kind of continuity. Yeah. Well, I will say that I did approach Dennis Vando a time back, and he said that he would be willing to be vice chair. And Dennis, are you still in that mindset? Yes, I am. However, I really would like to make it very, very clear that I'm willing to assist someone because to be perfectly honest about it, and as everyone knows, I'm a brand new member. And I have to become acquainted with the issues and also everyone that I see in the thumbnail on the right side of my screen. So to assist would be one thing, to lead specifically is entirely premature for me. So yes, I'd be willing to assist. Okay. Thank you. And Christina, you had something to say and Greg. Go ahead, Christina. Yeah. What I want to say is that I did meet with, I met with someone from a remote town to find out how they structure their council on aging. And that person explained to me that they, because they're so small, they really don't have a structure as we do with a Haley director of the center. And that the council is the one really running everything. The council really runs the senior programs. The whole board runs them. And so that us going to different places to see how they're structured, that's okay if we're going to pick the right type of, you know, like I would say perhaps Northampton, a visit to them because we have similarities. So we really have to go with people who have similarities and not spread ourselves thin when it comes to seeing how the board has developed themselves. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. And Greg. Yeah, I'm going to have to leave shortly. Sorry about that. I do want to make sure that we move my agenda items on opening meeting to next month if we could. But if that suggestion that we can do a six months, I would, you know, volunteer to co-chair with Chad for that six months, but I can't go into next year if that's helpful. So I just throw that out there. That's great. That's great. Excellent. I think then before, I'm sorry about your agenda item because I think it is an important one but I think the message in the second page of the document of the minutes or the agenda explains pretty well. We don't need a special meeting. Yeah, not for that. But we need to vote if Chad is willing to step forward for a period of several months to lead the council. We need to vote. And I would say all in favor, raise your hand. Okay. All right. And no, any opposed. Okay. And all in favor of Dana Svando being vice chair and working with Chad. Three months to that. And then at three months, they can make some decision and then return to the board or the council. Probably. How do people feel about that? Do you agree with that? Three months, that might be a good idea. Christina, did you have something to say? Yes. I wanted to say that I, well, Chad is saying that we are supposed to be putting in hours and working on behalf of our board that I would be willing to contact and find out about the structure of the Northampton senior center who I see as our equal in terms of size and scope. And I would do that. I would find out and contact them and meet and speak to them and find out to help our board with its development. Excellent. I would appreciate it. And then just so I'm clear, so are we doing a leadership team of Greg and Chad with Dennis as vice chair? It sounds that way. So I think we need to make one more vote in that case. Yeah, so unless you want to send your offer, Greg. Greg, did you intend to be working with Chad or pick up after Chad is finished? I thought it was Cole, so I would be with him. Okay, okay. So all in favor of Greg as a co-chair to work with Chad as a co-chair. Say I or raise your hand. I. Okay. Anybody opposed? And Dennis, once again, we never voted on Dennis. All in favor of Dennis as a vice chair. Any opposed? So it would be a trio. Yes. Any opposition? No opposition. Well, the new leadership team for the next three months will be Chad and Greg as co-chair and Dennis as vice chair. And you will work closely with Haley. And I will get the, as much of the man, I will get the manuals to the senior center and try and scan the documents for those who do not have, or who prefer that method. First time all men in the history. Oh wow, impressed. You know that popped up in my head. I didn't know it was the first time in the history, but I said, but then two hours was all female. Yes, that's right. Well, that's not unusual. No, that's true. And Terry, did you have a question? Yes. I just want to reiterate that Haley does the agenda and the council helps her or adds to it or. Generally the chair had been doing the agenda and Haley would add to it. But that can be worked out between the two co-chairs and Haley. Okay. Yeah, it was saying that the co-chairs would do it and share and add anything that the director has to add because it's giving her another major responsibility. Yeah, yeah. It's better. Yes, I agree. Okay, actually time is really getting away from us and we do have to, did everyone get a chance to read the minutes? And if there are any, no corrections, I ask for a vote of approval. Yeah, I'm sorry, I had some corrections. Could I ask that it be delayed? I forget what the correction is. I don't have it in front. I don't have the minutes in front of me. Somebody misstated something that I said. That's all. Okay. Well, they can be approved at the next meeting. So we will table that. Thank you. And Brie, can I add something? Now Chad, I emailed into you a month ago. If you had a change, you should have emailed me right away. No, I would bring it to this meeting. I do things quite differently than what some think about. What some think about, for instance, the agenda is formed by all the members of the board and not just the president. For instance, any changes to the minutes would be approved at the meeting when we vote to approve the minutes. Anyway, that's just a little different. No, and Chad's right. That really should happen in a public forum where everyone has the opportunity to discuss that. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I think Chad is our parliamentarian. Okay, we have to, theoretically, we should end at six o'clock. So Linda, can you very briefly give us a brief announcement? I will be sparse, but I just wanted to say in a colleague's ship, I have great sympathy, empathy, understanding of the leadership and all the transition issues you're going through. We're going through similar things. So we share that. And I thought you did a great job in your creativity and coming up with a way to move forward. And I applaud you. Okay, what I wanted to just share is an invitation, first of all. Amherst Neighbors is doing its first outdoor, in-person picnic, an event, post-COVID, not post-COVID, wherever we are in COVID, on July 18, from three to six at the Mill River Park, a conservation area. And I hope you'll come. We're going to make it a festive community event and games and icebreakers and food and everything. And you'll get a more formal invitation on flyers and stuff in a couple of weeks, but I wanted to personally invite you. And the second is a question which I have, let's see, it's 627 on my computer. We're actually looking to apply the mid-proposals for a couple of grants that are focused on transportation. And I don't know if you saw them Haley, you know, the DOT one and then there's the healthy aging. And we thought we're gonna go for it. But what I wanted to ask from you, I mean, we have our thoughts about what we're gonna focus on. But, you know, between your and the VOA, do you see areas that we can be supportive to you and supplement or compliment the transportation that you're where you are now in terms of providing that we could somehow present this as a team that we're supporting, you know, we're supporting our community, we're supporting the senior center at the same time expanding transportation possibilities. Dennis. I definitely think that I would love to talk with you a little bit more about that. Maybe we can set up another meeting. And, you know, certainly, I don't know the deadlines on the top of my head, but, you know, we could put that forward to write a support letter for your application. That, you know, those are all very possible. Okay, I'll call you tomorrow. Okay, thank you. And I'm gonna bring on the VOA, have some thoughts about that. Anything that you see from the meeting? Yes. And I think one of the things that I need in the back of your mind as you prepare to come together to do that, the places where there is a conspicuous absence of transportation as it currently operates, which would be evenings and weekends. Yes, yes, we, yeah. And that's exactly, thank you. That's really helpful because that's what we're thinking is how do we expand that too? Yeah. Yes, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. And Dick Yorga, if you're still hanging in there, did you have any announcements to make from the friend? Dick Yorga? He took it off mute for a second. You're muted, Dick. Yeah. I guess maybe he's not there. Oh. Yeah, I'm here. Oh, okay. In my immutability, the, as you, as you well know, the friends have started the beginning of the long process of advocating and culminating in the creation of a new modern senior center to meet the growing needs and the growing senior population in Amherst. And one of the many things we're doing is we have invited the town council as individuals to come to the senior center and get a personalized tour, not just a walk by or a quick soldier through the lobby, but to get a personalized tour so they can see which of the rooms are available for senior use and more important, which ones are not. And I had difficulty signing in to this meeting, even though I started 10 minutes early, Zoom tried to reinvent the wheel on me. So forgive me if you've already answered this question amongst yourselves, but I think simultaneously and ideally before all the members of the town council come accomplish that personalized walkthrough and learning and understanding just what the seniors and Haley have to work with. I think it's incumbent upon each and every one of you to do the same. Yeah. You're the ones that are advocating for us, representing the seniors in town government and throughout the community. And you can't do that if you haven't walked a walk. So I'm here today to ask those of you that have not taken advantage of that opportunity to please do so. Haley can make arrangements for you because it's critical that you understand what you're working. Thank you. And let me just say one thing really quick, which is that I think it's really important that this has a very healthy relationship with the friends group. As much as we advocate here and it's very important, the friends are, they pay for a lot. They support a wide number of our programs, of our office supplies. So I think it's really important for us to have this dialogue. And I certainly wanna see updates at each meeting from the friends. And by virtue of being new, I can ask this without any judgment. I don't know who here has taken a tour of the senior center? Cause I honestly, I'm not sure. I know a lot of folks are new. So I just wanna get like maybe a thumbs up if you have seen the senior center before. Thumbs down if you haven't. There may be a couple of people who need a little bit of a tour. I gave two tours during the open house, one directed by one of the select women. I mean, shallow Lynn, the town counselor, and through a couple and one by an individual. And all I wanted to add to Dick's comment is it's how you say what you say as well as showing them around. I'd like to second what he has to say and recommend that anyone who's gonna give it to her do a walkthrough with another person and get critiqued, something like that is very valuable. I agree and talking points are good and we should all be on the same page in terms of what we're advocating for. We don't want one person saying one thing and somebody else saying another. It's really important to be consistent. And importantly, you don't wanna be asked the question that you should be able to answer and can't. So all of us need to do our homework. And Chad is right. It's not just what you say, but how you say it. That's one of my principle values. Well, we all have each other's emails and anyone that would like a tour, I'm happy to do that with them and Haley would be and who else is really familiar with the senior center? Terry knows the senior center well. So give any one of us an email and make an arrangement if you're not familiar. And of course, at some point, we may be able to meet in person at the Bain Center and then that would also really help. This is a really good format but it's not totally conducive to what we're talking about. Exactly, yeah. Okay, we should adjourn. When would we propose the next meeting, the next Council on Aging Meeting, if it were the second Thursday of the month, that would put us in the calendar. They put it Thursday, July 14th. July 14th. Does anybody, French? Isn't that French independence day or something of that sort? Thursday, July 14th at five o'clock. Is everyone able to make that meeting? I won't be here. Oh, you'll miss it, Terry. Yeah, I'm going to take our minutes. Do people want to move it to the next week? Would that work better? Yeah, the 21st works for me. How about everyone else? Either of them, I'm going to show up late. What's that, Chad? Either one, I'll show up late. What did we decide? We decided. First of July. I'm sorry? July 21st. Yeah, I'm okay. Okay. Good. And Greg will put you on the agenda for July 21st. Or you will put yourself on the agenda. I do have one other comment if I could before we. Yes. I would like to thank you and Haley for that presentation. I did watch the recording of your presentation and the other folks at the Outreach Committee meeting in May and I think that anyone, especially the new members who haven't seen that, that presentation should take a look at it. I think it gives a good foundation of what we're facing right now. And it was an excellent job and was, I think good participation. And I think there was also a lot of support from that committee when you were done. Yes, thank you, Greg. Okay, thank you. Yes, thank you. Excellent. Thank you very much. Okay. I would like to thank everybody even as we go from transition, not just leaving us in limbo. And I also would like to thank Christina for being quite candid in her observations as a new member and sort of putting a little fire under us to look at ourselves, take an inward look and come back with something that's more solid. And we have engaged in that, I think quite a bit today. The discussion and people making commitments or at least volunteering. So it's not to leave it on anyone to work, but for it to be an us and not them. Excellent. Thank you, Rosemary. Yes. Yes, thank you very much, Rosemary. Okay, well, I thank you all. And just stepping in and doing what needs to be done. And this was a good meeting, a good discussion. Yes. Yeah. Thank you so much. Okay. Enjoy the summer. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you, Rosemary, for everything. Yeah, thank you very much.