 Okay, so the recording is going. Okay, welcome everyone. Welcome to the meeting of the Amherst Council on Aging. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law. So I'm going to do a roll call check here of members. And so Rosemary Koff. And this will be as a chance, by the way, if you're currently muted to unmute yourself and say your name. So Rosemary Koffler. Present. Sue Dirks. Present. Evette Pallison. Here. Jack Willen Smith Crooks. Here. Greg Baskham. Timothy Neal. Here. Present. All right. All right. Now I need to ask some guests. I'm very excited to introduce a couple of guests. Including Chad Fuller. Chad, are you there? Hi. Okay. That looks like a yes. And. And Mila Montemay or. Here. All right. Okay. Okay. Sue. Chad. I saw him visually. He waved his hand as indicating his, his present. That he's present. So just to note that. Okay. So that's, that's terrific. And thanks to everyone. I'm going to call the meeting to order. I just would also want to remind you that if you're, that if you're dialing in by phone. You press star nine to raise your phone. And if you're using. If you're using a computer or tablet, you can click on the raise hand button. Usually we're pretty informal and small. So we just use the old fashioned method of raising our hand. And. That, that's. Well, that works. Quite well. And I'll be watching the screen for all of your shining faces. Finally, as a housekeeping rule. I encourage everyone to, to mute when you're not speaking. And, and because it cuts down on background noise. That really helps us. Stay focused on our agenda. And you can always unmute. When, when you, you know, when, when you need to speak. Let's see. All right. I think that's it for now. And I wanted to make sure everybody received. The documents. Oh, I wanted to also ask just. I wanted to ask Chad. Have, have you been able to sign to get sworn in Chad? No, I've already done the conflict of interest for another board. Okay. Okay. But not for this position. Okay. So now seems to be a good chance to announce that. We're going to have a meeting. We're going to have a meeting. We're going to have a meeting. But we have, we're going to soon be able at our January. January meeting. To welcome with open arms. To individual to individuals. To officially join us as council members. So that will, will bring, we'll we're bringing our council up to this. Okay. So we're going to have, by the way, on the Supreme court. So what do you know? All right. Okay. So, um, Mary Beth has, uh, first of all, I guess I also want to ask if there's anyone on the call, uh, who need, uh, member of the public. Who's here. I don't think we have that. But if you are, um, if there's anyone on the call, you can address your viewpoints. Anyone. Okay. I think not. Public comment just for, for those who are here for the first time, public comment is, is welcome. And this meeting is open to the public. And is being recorded as well. So what we share here. What is accessible. To the public. Um, I think we have heard that Mary Beth has some conflicting, uh, meeting commitments, uh, this morning. So we're going to have, we're going to invite her to do her presentation and her update. Later on in this meeting. Um, so now seems to be a good time for, um, Me to do, um, um, Uh, I, um, I, um, I have not yet shared that, that. That report, um, although there are sections of it that, uh, you have received, um, Um, Because we've been the good news is that, uh, we've been so busy this month. We can't keep up with ourselves. Um, Um, Uh, Sometimes, uh, within the next week or so. But one thing that I can mention, uh, that you did receive that is a component of that report. Um, That is a vet. Uh, and my, um, summary of attending the, um, Council, The Massachusetts council. Um, that report in your hands. And Yvette, did you want to say, would you be willing to say just a few words about your experience of that? Sure. I was really grateful, as I said, to be able to attend. Thank you. And I attended workshops or presentations that were of interest to me. I enjoyed the programs related to low income individuals, seniors, alternatives to traditional burials. And I was, as I said, just struck with how councils on aging across the state were absolutely interested in working together and sharing the information that they already worked out. And I was just so honored to be part of that community who care so much. And like I noted, I did feel a little slight disconnect, because a lot of those programs were in the Northeast. There was reference to Greenfield, Franklin County, and they said that we were the entire state was well represented. Transportation was of interest to me. And that, I believe, included even walking. So it was really fascinating to me. So thank you very much, Pat, and everybody else. Yes, and a special thank you to the friends for supporting our participation financially. I would add, and you'll see my comments on the workshops that I attended. And I think one of the things that it did for me is really stimulate some specific policy questions that I had about services to seniors, which I posed in the meetings and also just to say to observe that what was missing from the conference. I've been to probably a more over 100 conferences in my lifetime. And I know that, you know, this was a conference by and large of professionals. And I think what I would have welcomed is more leadership with respect to council members themselves, at least sort of in the vein of self advocacy and seniors themselves articulating what our needs are. And so I included that in my report. And I do. I think it's a value that that is is is really is consistent with our mission of advocacy. And I also I also wanted to mention that there wasn't a lot of identifying gaps in services to seniors. And I would have welcomed that because you we can't change what we don't face. And and welcome to Greg. It's good to see you. He's just joined us. Hi, Greg. Oh, good. You're on and with us. That's wonderful. Greg, I'm talking about observations, sharing some observations on the Massachusetts Council on a aging conference that I attended. So what what I was also missing was I'm missing strategies of certainly I mentioned for senior empowerment. But also I didn't hear I real I heard very little about strategies of outreach to people of color and underserved non English language communities. And I think that that is that was a huge gap. And as a newbie to that group, I have to say that I feel called to urge urge some vitality in that area some some speaking up and speaking out. Because I know, and you know, that Massachusetts is a very diverse state along ethnic and racial lines. And we miss the contributions and energy and critique important critiques of various communities. So I missed, and I just want to say one thing. And, you know, overall, I mean, I learned a lot. But I think we have there's some growth areas that are necessary. You know, I hear that from seniors a lot. And I think the research supports this that seniors are also looking for gender intergenerational activities and why this may be be very limited right now in this period of time. I think we as a council can can still plan for the future and look ahead and honor that. And finally, what I didn't see and I'm becoming personally interested in this is more support for caregivers. We know that there are a lot of seniors who are caregivers. And I'm soon to become one in my own family because my husband is facing some serious surgery in the next in very soon. And two serious surgeries. And I'm very called and moved upon the personal commitment of some of you who have been providing caregiving. And and wow, on the front lines of that, that's going to that I think that that I know that we do have some support for caregivers, certainly in the council. But I think it might be we might be able to consider how we might enrich programming in that area. Because I know that people sitting here are some, you know, have direct experience and I'm powerful stories, I'm sure, about the things that have worked and and not work so well with respect to care caregiving. So any any comments or questions around that that report. So yeah, feel free to call or or if you have questions. And this this I believe there's a spring conference Rosemary. I think is that correct that usually there's up one in the fall and the spring. We can't hear you. Not knowledge. There's only a fall conference. All right. Okay. So it's a yearly conference then I believe. And so my hope is that next year, not only will will we send a delegation of people to that conference, whether it's by Zoom or in person, but that we also we may have the capacity to share some of our own experience about what we've done as a council or around certain issues that that we we would like to share with other councils in the Commonwealth. So okay. I would like to then move on to our the next item, which is bylaws article eight standing committees. And this is this is a discussion. And I want to say thank you. Hold on. Let me just pull this up on my own screen. Hold on here. Okay. Okay. Yes. Okay. So I want to say that at a preceding meeting, we talked a little bit about our committee structure and what the bylaws. And again, for newcomers just by way of background to this meeting. The original bylaws call for five committees and three members on each committee and that process for a group of nine people seemed rather burdensome and too many committees. And so we also so so I've been in deep conversation with Rosemary who was formally chaired on her shoulders. I sit and and I have learned so much. And so we've been looking at the committee structure to try to streamline it. I think as one possibility and make it and I've also had been had some deep conversations as well with with Mary Beth. And so it's it's what the proposal that you see here is definitely a working document. And it and should be considered absolutely a draft. It needs your work and input. And so if you have that document in front of you, you will see that what we're proposing is eliminating the replacing the five committee structure with three committees. We would and those committees would be and we're still playing with the language here but one one committee would be so social determinants of senior well-being. So and I've tried to define those a bit. Rosemary has suggested and I'm totally with her on this that we give some practical example examples of specific kinds of committees. But we know as Mary Beth has pointed out frequently that their social and physical and health and our indicators are metrics of determining whether senior members of the community are well-served. And so we wanted to be able to to have that as one focus a significant focus of our committee. Program resources look looks at our existing. Hi Mary Beth, you just joined us. Program resources looks at existing program programs and also helps identify where there are gaps in our programming and helps us to figure out how we might enrich enrich programming in the future. And then finally I'm proposing that we have a committee. It's called Aspiring to Beloved Community. And that looks at that would be a brand new committee which looks at how to enrich and support our community's elder subcultures. And there are multiple subcultures. And it's but and I've identified some of them some of them there and provides an opportunity for us to work and collaborate better in everything we do to honor the diversity in our community to embrace it and also to build our own skills and cultural competence of interacting and to monitor that you know to be mindful of it so that we as a council would be showing leadership and our attention to a delivering in our programs and our service and our advocacy the kind of warm welcome that we aspire to. So that's sort of that's the kind of that's I'm just kind of taking you through sort of the overview of what's on the proposal. As we think about committee structures as well and Mary Beth and I've discussed this a bit we're also looking at thinking of the committee structures as something that associate members of the council could participate in as well and and particularly around specific task forces or working groups and that and the idea behind that is that that leadership comes in a variety of ways and from and not everyone has the same interest in policy that all of you have but would really be excited about working on a specific project. So and we don't want to lose that talent and every day you and I and Mary Beth and we see talent in our community among seniors and rich talent and we want to be able to harness that talent around projects that fit folks interest and their passion. So I'm proposing in order to stay connected with you know the committees that every council member participate in some way in one of those committees in addition to your service on this council. And and then finally you'll see we've eliminated I suggest I'm proposing that we eliminate the Hives committee but certainly we're not eliminating it as a committee. We're not in in any way eliminating interest in Hives and that's the Highland Valley elder services our funding we from home we receive substantial funding but rather that reports on hives either come in writing or orally but we don't need a specific committee about that. It's usually usually our content encounters with hives require may may have required in the past reports and so we don't want to take up our precious time and think you know listening to those reports unless and until there are things in those reports that are relevant that require some decision on our from us or about which we have some feedback. So um with that said I would I just would like to open things up to any of you who have some feedback on this. Sue. About Highland Valley my understanding is it's a two-way street when somebody goes to their meetings as Norma so faithfully has Highland Valley is also seeking feedback from all the councils around their area and they've been disappointed but not many have but please that Amherst has has been faithful and in a sense they rely on our comments as much as we rely on theirs so just to receive a report from them cuts off our communication with them. That's a great point and I think I yeah I think that's a great point and I appreciate that and I guess speaking for me that that would be we I think we would want to capture that perhaps in the way we shake that committee by creating that two-way expectation. I would consider that that would be that that we would want to integrate that into the into the um expectation of of those reports that uh or the the point person uh who um which currently is me would invite uh regularly uh when when they're asking for our feedback it would be our representatives duty and responsibility to seek that comeback that feedback from all of you so I appreciate your your your experience on that sue and I think that's a great great observation anybody else want to comment on that Tim? First I I would agree with that I I do think even symbolically having that as a more formal recognition in terms of a committee you could even have a one person committee if you want but so that would be first initial comment the the comments I did want to make on the committee structure I I think that's a good idea I have uh I'm one who likes more brevity in terms of the titles of these committees if you yeah I just in reading over I had no clue what any of the committees were based on the proposed names yeah so uh how how you how you do that is a tough one for example uh the social determinants of social of senior well-being I don't know what that is and you read through it you maybe can figure it out uh the program resources that's a little closer aspiring to beloved community the same thing so just as as a thought as I was jotting these down I would say in the first one maybe just services in the second one programs in the third one inclusion I mean those are three just names as a proposal now people might have different ideas but that's one thought that just don't throw that one out there okay I like it we're struggling with that we've been struggling with that so and I hear Rosemary yes I'm I'm totally with you on that Tim I have felt the same way I didn't like the the more simplicity of knowing exactly what the goal is of the committee and um I find that some of these statements are quite vague and um it isn't clear what one's role would be in serving on this commit on these committees mm-hmm so I think I like something a little more clear and simply stated um so okay that's good anybody else I may be old school I may be you you may be way ahead of me in terms of of thinking this way maybe maybe this is old-fashioned but go ahead I'd like to hear what other people have to say sure okay can I say something sure okay so I'm hearing about I thought it was there was a lot within each uh group um cumbersome almost but then I got excited because you know I imagined that these groups would have a charge you know like an active agenda a committee that's addressing all these things together maybe more than three people you know I don't know it just a working group uh would generate ideas rather than I mean feeling like we just meet once a month but that we actually participate in our brainstorming so those groups they're very large but what if committees worked on those that rubric you know um and as an aside I wanted to comment um that that I was struck I guess at the conference and with this document that you've generated and it's considerable and positive that um um we're not uh we're not uh including uh what seniors um think you know we're the ones not not me but in general we're the ones who come up with what's great for others and I think it's so important like in that first part the social determinants I think it's important to acknowledge um that we're interested in what people think and also those cultural groups when you mentioned L um what is it the um well there's uh actually I think tq yeah lbtq so if you mentioned that you know um then uh you did it in the well and also um the people with diseases and what they have learned and how they can share that I I just wondered whether it was important to for me to see cultural groups in that rubric and as you know you know as people what what would what do they need to participate and if it's not in a then it's in b or c I just feel that if we're committed to that beloved community uh we have to um go to people and ask for their input not just like I was struck with the healthy initiatives program at the conference that uh I really love the uh inter professional idea work working with other people other agencies and professionals and also the academic community that was fantastic um but it's always like what we're thinking people need not asking them exactly what does it take and what do you want thank you thanks for that I see rosemary has comment some of those questions that you raise are very good about um I think a lot of that information would only be attainable by conducting some sort of a survey yes um of what people in the community are looking for unfortunately you don't always get a broad spectrum from a survey another thing I picked up in that conference I believe the healthy initiatives was that academic component that seniors it seemed to me that they really love young people like students and so mary beth for example has a whole cohort of students that do meals on wheels I believe and uh that's exactly the type of people they're sort of like our grandchildren that they would be maybe the ones that go canvassing and find out more about seniors you know sort of like a census what you know so it's personalized and with somebody lovely a student you know I see jams did I see jams hand I see the you did um well I my own personal feeling is uh that charge if you will to seek input from the general community uh could I think uh be part of the uh each of the three committees without necessarily having at the focus of one particular commitment everybody at every committee I think should be seeking outside input rather than us just trying to sort of the inside out as opposed to the outside in kind of philosophy um getting back to the just the general structure I think three committees makes more sense than five like because we're only a small nine person board and then trying to assess which are the three committees or what are the three major areas that we need to focus on then you can get to what's the title of each one but to me that that makes uh some sense and maybe we could have a little discussion about that is there like is there an area that's not covered by any of these committees that we've forgotten about or are these three committees the ones that are broad enough that could encompass the efforts of of our board members as we move ahead so that's one comment right there I appreciate that um I and I um I guess I I also welcome the the streamlining of the titles that sounds good to me um as a point of clarification I guess I would say that what um and I don't want to speak for Mary Beth so I'm looking I'll be looking to hear her comments on this but I think part of what um we uh we're trying what we're what we um are imagining is that it's just for the in the these committees are not populated just by members of the council but that that that this is kind of a recruiting tool for other people who are passionate about it uh you know a particular issue um let's say it's senior transportation um that that so that's an issue uh I would describe that as kind of a a a a a you know a specific work project that um needs attention and some dedicated thinking about so and I'm I'm not imagining I mean they're under the topic of services uh let's just use that for as an example there are you know there are we have so many um and I think seniors have expressed informally um so many um uh identified so many needs for um let's say disease prevention or a need for some groups um uh let's say uh let's just say intergenerational contact and how that would be designed and so that there's there's there are many subcategories more than a single committee could work on but if we had uh from the sort of overarching committee each overarching committee structure we could have separate work groups that would invite people to pull you know pull together uh I don't know if that's manageable whether just we just need to have three committees only that have multiple assignments uh but we we're we are ourselves a small group and we need to we need to recruit others into our thinking and planning and advocacy um so I the other thing I want to just this is I'm not speaking as chair here but it's just a fellow member um is that um if I um I guess part of what I'm hoping for along the lines of our being faithful to our mission is that we're not seen only as a service organization that provides services to seniors but also an advocacy organization with and on behalf of seniors I don't want to lose the advocacy component of that because I think that helps us carry into the future new ideas and new ways of you know new forms of problem solving so that's that's that's my only refinement I suppose to would be service services and advocacy could could be the title of the we could replace that that uh overly wordy social determinants of senior well-being so um I don't know um I want to I would like to personally would like to preserve that advocacy um function um hello hello yes who's speaking can you hear me yes yeah wonderful I've been pressing all these buttons one of the things that uh I think I need to add is uh coming to a session to learn how to use this zoom but uh I I'm excited I'm excited about uh the proposed changes the streamlining and being able to incorporate um all all all areas of the community and looking at the individual needs as well as as the collective needs here in the community I think that um I I think that the three group concept is a very good one and as has been said I I think it's a matter of just delving it more deeply into what we would want to come out of or what we would want to have happen in each group and that that I think that we can't really concretize that so well until we get some more uh input from the quote outside those who are not functioning formally on the committee and as we do that um as has been said in a number of other ways then we can be more effective at doing what it is accomplishing what we intend to accomplish yes um let me I'll go ahead Mila yeah oh can you hear me yes yes uh regardless of the name of the committee or how many we will end up with I just want to follow up that a year or two ago I had a proposal to do a survey of the community to determine more specifically the needs and of our seniors and because of a survey that was done by the city we decided not to because it was an extra expense that we didn't need to we already had the information that may have changed now that was uh over a year ago and I also want to uh express my my continuing interest in being part or more active with the part of the community that are not members or are not taking advantage of what the seniors can offer namely uh the international group Amherst is such an international community that for example it's not unusual to even offer uh non-English speakers a small group for seniors they can learn they don't have to be fluent in it but good enough for them to feel included or feel part of the seniors and not only are we giving let's ask them to give us something about what they can contribute about their culture and to the to the community and I don't know what part of the eventually what what is the name of that committee but I just want to express that part of it that I'm interested in I appreciate that go ahead uh uh Jacqueline I think I heard your voice yes I I I hear it I'm not sure your name and I I agree with you I see that aspiration the inspiring to the beloved community can be can embrace so much and so many and I once we start to talk about it more we can begin to see some of the places where the sitting takes place but I agree with you I agree with you and I do think another survey because people were at different places socially we were at different places uh nationally when it comes to the national the health on a national level and people are going to be saying things I suspect that they might not have said and and depending on who who conducts the survey if it is done in person um I I think a lot more time has been spent over the past nine months where people will have more to say and they can say that they're having their say just wanted to say that was Mila and you are I don't see your name on the board I'm Jacqueline I'm Jacqueline yes I thank you I don't have a better command of this thank you thank you you thank you Mila so this is um an amazing conversation I I would like to add one more thing to this with respect to inclusion um and and this is I'm going to this is going to be kind of a risky and hard statement but I'm going to say it anyway folks um that so oftentimes it's been what this is an observation um that sometimes people I I've noticed that um that I go to a lot of meetings and and there are very few people of color in the room or people of uh you know uh other ethnicities besides majority white committees um and that is something that has evolved over a very long period of time and that there's a lot of pain involved uh around that uh that has been experienced over the decades by I believe by um many members of disenfranchised populations and so one one thing that is um I think it's I've been thinking about a lot with respect to our little council is that um very much like our congress uh the functional part of our congress which our united states congress which is there which is um there's not a lot that has been functioning very well but um that there are caucuses that sometimes people can come together um as caucuses um among uh their um people that they've identified with that that um so that there's a black caucus there's a women's caucus there's a disability caucus and that that sometimes the conversation and the healing and the possibility for frank discussion about what our needs are can be strengthened and built there and then um that we as public officials as we have a duty as a council to serve all members of the Amherst community but that we're hearing those voices from a position of strength and let me just say that I mean it does get very complicated doesn't it because the transportation issues that people of color just people of color may have might be different their experiences may be different their treatment uh let's say in hospitals might be different and we I think we know that that you know we're no no different from nationally that there have been experiences that have made that that have disenfranchised people so uh and and that's happened in this community as well so I guess I want to say that um in a sort so at this and this conversation is a messy one because you know there's all you know people have all different cross identities you might you may feel strongly about women's issues and uh issues of uh of uh that of um Latinos you know and and so both issues are important so which committee would you choose on or which you know how would you connect with that but we can sort of I think that we can figure that out as we move forward but I I want to say that I don't think it's uh I think that this hard thinking um about um how to open things up in a way that that people feel they can bring the strength of their experience the honesty of their experience um into the conversation and into um advocacy um um I would love to hear and I and I love Miela's point and and um Yvette's point about hearing the from directly from the voices of those you know yeah and and and and added to that um another thing I've learned from Mary Beth is that we we cannot assume that um the council will serve or tends to serve everyone in our clubhouse that is the bank center um that there that we may be able to develop over time strategies of engagement that are and support for seniors in venues where those seniors feel more comfortable and let me let me just uh suggest for example Chinese Americans um a seniors have a I think but I don't know have a robust community sub community subculture in Amherst and so um and I know that you know we're we're all trying to kind of like reach out aren't we in some ways and figure out so how how in a respectful and culturally competent way can we uh you know think about to offer some invitations and also to say well we have these resources just would that be helpful for you or would it be would would you be we you know we notice in our nutrition program and our meal program that um we're offering dishes that may be of no interest to people in your community that's a bold question right but but you know we we want to hear that voice in any case like what tell tell us um um you know we want to listen we want to sort of think about that and you know what should we be advocating for as a community um you know so that's it's not just around ethnicity though but it's also there are people who have kidney disease who cannot eat the salty salty diet this offered by uh that you know uh or people Muslims who who uh have dietary restrictions or whatever you know let's try to create a culture that allows those differences to be respected and um affirmed and Tim there I just unmuted myself all good thoughts um I'd like to just bring us back to originally the committee structure rather than the discussion that we've been having on what what might be included I think what you're talking about would be a perfect uh charge if you will to the folks or the committee that is in your list here is number C which is great um I you'll probably learn as we move ahead as a board I like to just focus on exactly what we're talking about during the time and make some discussions and spend a little bit more time on that kind of structure so let me move back to a do we think a smaller number of committees is reasonable three versus five we have to talk about our own involvement sure I hundred percent support having the associate members but we also if we are going to be involved on a committee structure we need to come up to some decisions whether we have a smaller rather more larger number of committees so that's point one and then number point two is what are the if it's three versus five what are the components of the various three and then we can then sort of talk about what the titles are as I indicated from the beginning I'm one who likes to have a short brevity and in a title so one can both ourselves and externally everyone knows right right from the get go well that's what that committee is talking about yes so I'd like to maybe we could focus there and if today's purpose is to discuss that I would spend actually frankly want to spend less time philosophizing about what actually each committee does and more specifically talking about numbers of committees what's the general charge of each committee and then once we get that then we can move ahead or the committees themselves could then talk a little bit more about what is their particular structure and focus that all sounds good and actually I mean I think that that echoes what I've heard from Rose Berry uh and uh and I appreciate that so I guess I guess the question I have for you is I I want my hope is that we do this collectively so that uh and which is exactly what we've done today so I need I need help I need help from each of you to um uh around this I guess like one question I have is like we could we could uh I could hear a motion uh if that that's one way to do it uh about the um I see I see Chad's hand uh let me just finish Chad and and then uh uh an emotion a motion uh about that um and I started I think I heard something like that beginning to be formed uh from Tim um and then um probably uh with respect to what each of these what the committee on service and advocacy what what would be its charge what the program resources committee uh would be its charge and and finally the inclusion committee what would be its charge and I'm wondering if each member of the of this group uh would be up for working on you know picking one of them and helping us delineate what kind of things you know what kinds of activities should what kind of charge should be developed does that make sense and then Chad I okay uh I saw Chad's hand first and then Tim yeah I wasn't really sure if I should even enter because I am not appointed yet um and maybe with these comments um you can vote me out before I get appointed in January but I have right right now I have on my organization development hat that was my uh training for training and you know work experience for 20 years and I hear you guys struggling with um some issues that remind me of that hat which is a systemic hat it's uh viewing things systemically uh you guys have a new uh executive director you guys have a new president um you guys are you know going in a new direction and the discussion you're having is very important it's not out in the weeds it's it needs to be done um but my thought is you're putting the cart before the horse with shall we go from three from five committees to three committees etc my belief in terms of organization development is with the history I just mentioned that you would go to a strategic planning process that you would do just what you've been doing get down there in the weeds and discuss what's important and develop a strategic plan for the next three to five years they change every three to five years or whatever time time you pick so you know I hear after 40 years of the same director um that things went in a certain direction and that the folks may be looking for a new direction I see the age it in three populations uh you know uh the antiques like my dad 90 years old and there's a section in the middle and you know there's the young old people who have just recently retired so you know each one of those populations has different strengths and weaknesses and so on so I don't know um I'm sort of throwing a wrench in your process and saying you may want to do the strategic plan for us that will generate all this other stuff that you're talking about it sounds like you want to open it up much more than the board was before you want to have an executive committee that does policy and then you want to open the door because it is a volunteer organization to lots of participation by the community by pack by park outreach uh lgbt outreach uh you know the folks who are a little less of income and so on so I hope that doesn't skew things too much but as I look at it that's that's what I see really helpful thank you so much for that chat that's a really helpful comment Tim do you want to um I say your hand yeah uh no I think those are good comments uh which caused me to think of maybe a fourth and that and that was one that was broader like uh mission planning a planning committee or something like that that would address all these things rather than each committee meeting all of us have to discuss that I mean that's the whole purpose of subcommittees so that would be another one that is totally different than each of these three it's a broader sort of where are we now where we go to the future sort of a long-range as I said more sort of a long-range planning committee which could address those things and bring things back reassessment of the bylaws reassessment of all that stuff having a subcommittee that does all that um as a as a thought uh as I sort of changed from my initial comment about three but that's that's one idea but having said that the question I actually had was in terms of the structure and the process you mentioned making a motion I frankly I haven't been close enough to understand what our current bylaws say about bylaws changes if there are five committees how do we actually change that um to we as a board vote and a majority then changes the bylaws or is there any other structure to that because that would be one question perhaps you you folks who have gotten the pass rosemary I see your hand yeah I did look into that and according to the elder part our department of elder affairs there is no problem with changing our bylaws to our needs or changing our mission to our needs it's totally up to our group as to what we want and there's no restriction there yeah and I guess um and thanks for that rosemary um so I've got two things in my mind right now um one is um one is like a frustration I'm sure you all feel around COVID because I'm so hungry for us to you know to really wrestle with all this stuff face to face and that's not going to happen um because I think strategic I noticed by the way that there is going to I don't know how they're going to do it Mary Beth maybe knows that there's going to be a retreat for the uh for the town uh I don't know whether it's town government uh or something the the town managers have it there's going to be a retreat of some kind and I'm thinking what how is that going to work so zoom retreat I don't know um straight you know because I think so there's that I love Chad's idea about strategic planning and I do sense that and um I'm also you know looking at um the other thing that's going on and I'm trying to figure out well how can we do that and how can I best get your thoughts your input on some of these things because I don't I think we're developing a consensus about streamlining at that far and uh I'll be reading Sue's minutes to sort of as you will uh to figure out okay what can we distill from this as as to what would be next steps and then you know and then how do we make that work um and I I'm also looking at the our agenda too that I want to the the the the homework of our agenda or the practical work of our agenda which is uh to approve the minutes um and um to um and and and to hear Mayor Best report so in the time we've got 20 minutes left I'd like to uh what do you think we should what do you want to tackle next? Tim? Yeah I would propose then we uh move on to the other agenda items I agree with that uh and maybe for the next committee at the next meeting we can address the question and and fine tune a bit more committees we really think are necessary and having heard Chad I think having a strategic planning committee is a good idea that's totally different than the other committees and then um move ahead and our focus or discussion in January might be more specifically okay do we what are those four functional areas that would constitute the subcommittee or the the committees of this uh of this board so that's what I would probably start thinking about it more okay that sounds good and then I'm gonna I appreciate that I think that's a great suggestion and um I guess what I'm I'm asking I'm gonna repeat my um request for help from each of you I want I need you to think about this in terms of committee like what is it that we want to do uh and then you know where do we how can we fit it into any of these uh committee structures and how and how can how would it work um that the practical matter of how those things will work so that people you know are clear about what a committee it what they're working on and what they're signing up for and so um and rosemary we all have short memories could you put that into writing in an email to each of us as to what you would like yes absolutely I will yes and yeah and I I really I want I want you all to call me all the time you know with I'd like in terms of feedback and say hey I'd like to take on I'm really called to uh I'd like to help you pat on figuring out uh the committee on services and what that you know and I or I really want to work on the beloved community like um and and helping you know like let's uh let's help I I'm signing up for that I want to help figure that out because we've got some great experience and great brain power in this group and and real commitment to our fellow seniors and so let's mobilize that exact effectively uh so next uh okay so next um let's uh do I hear a motion uh let's look at the secretary's report approval of minutes would I would need to hear a motion of approval of minutes of um of six minutes from the past uh month so I assume everybody has read over the minutes and look for the accuracy and I make a move that we accept the minutes as written okay and who and uh is that and that was seconded by Jacqueline is that right okay good okay all right all those in favor signify by holding your hands up uh or saying aye aye okay all right I think that's unanimous um all right and then um all right and then Mary Beth hi so I've been trying to locate the actual bylaws as you've been speaking so that's why you've seen me getting up and down I've consulted several sources because as I recall looking at them I just wanted to add this to your conversation that I believe you have the authority to propose without um you that you can appoint ad hoc committees as deemed necessary so that if you wanted to create some new committees you don't necessarily have to go through the cumbersome process of amending bylaws so certainly you may want to amend your bylaws just for neatness sake and and revising and whatnot but in case that is getting you bogged down in the process of just simply moving forward um in your bylaws section two special committees the chair may appoint such ad hoc committees as deemed necessary by the council so I just wanted you to be aware of that and I finally located it after two weeks of files that I keep them located in so um just further information and I think that what I hear in listening to this discussion is that um you know I guess a couple of things is that are your are your structures supporting your goals and the work that you want to do and I think that that's essentially the inquiry you're engaged in and good luck with that and let me know how I can support you or you know in any way around facilitating any changes or information you may need and if you need to get that exact quote or whatever from the bylaw I can scan and email it to Pat and you can look at that section just so you feel affirmed but I believe you all have copies of the bylaws in your member notebooks and if not I can always help you locate them okay so uh thank you so much for your um for your diligent and perseverant attitudes of looking at these issues I think that both the council and and certainly I and my staff are engaged in a in in two phases of transition so certainly there is a process of taking over as a new director and looking at what new ways could we build on the success that we've had so far so I think that there's that transition that we're all going through and then secondly and it's also the transition of COVID which I think really complicates any decisions um any resources so I think that they're they're almost two different questions and and it's hard for me often and that's why I consulted with Pat and you all because if I was to do a survey right now of needs it would be um a snapshot in time of what it is to be a senior in COVID which is relevant and important but when you then bring up things like long-range planning some of the issues I think would be skewed by COVID and some of the needs identified would be skewed by COVID so so we were recently Pat and I had the opportunity to speak at the Amherst Women's Club and there was a conversation around the number one priority for us should be um technology and connection which that is true to this moment in time I was I when I had my response to that question when I was asked was transportation because when I look at my long-range efforts and what we do when it's not COVID if we don't have transportation nothing else really matters I could put on all of the programs anywhere in town that we like but people can't access them and and transportation I think plays such a critical role for seniors who who suffer the burden of losing their license and access to transportation and disproportionate measure so so and I just share that with you because I think that that's also part of the parsing of our work is figuring out the responses and the need that we're hearing about now do they or will they hold true so things like beloved community and how we we approach that that is that is a truism regardless of COVID or not some other issues that we might be diving into they might be skewed by this particular moment in time over all having to do having to navigate in a different way so so I just want to share that with you because I'm often toggling between both of those responses with where do we where do we where do staff spend their time and what how much long-range planning can I engage in right now and how much is just meeting immediate need because there is a crisis going on so that's that's not really in my report but I think it's important that I just wanted to share that that's my response and if it's relevant to you or not and now on to exciting news for you so I'm really thrilled to let you know that the Amherst Senior Center was nominated for a COVID Hero Award by the Amherst Area Chamber for their A plus awards so yeah so the awards are going to be this evening and there is a special category of A plus COVID Hero and there's live voting during the event and we stand with a very esteemed crowd of other individuals in the Amherst Area who have supported people so my fellow nominees are the Amherst Survival Center, Rebecca Demling, Wheelhouse Catering, Bistro 63, you know and the Amherst Senior Center so I don't know certainly the thrill for all of us here is that somebody and I don't even know who nominated us and saw us as doing some great work in the community and I just wanted to share that celebration with you all so I think I'm deeply appreciative to my staff and how they've managed and met people's concerns during this and then I just wanted in case anyone hadn't read the Gazette yesterday we had a really amazing Veterans Day event yesterday it was building last year as you recall we did the first ever Veterans event in the town of Amherst we had a breakfast which was just phenomenal we put it out there we really had no idea we thought maybe six people would come and we ended up setting up four more tables because people were coming you know just from all walks of life and there was a tremendous response and I think it had to do with the timing a lot of Veterans had been Vietnam Veterans and they said that they had not been ready before that point in time even to acknowledge and represent that they had been to Vietnam so it was deeply moving we weren't able to do that so the only thing I could design in the interim was to do a visit to each of the Veterans that I could identify so it was an interesting task the fact that we didn't have a central repository of Veterans in the town of Amherst I thought was was interesting in and of itself I worked with a lot of partners so the Veterans Office Steve Connor I contacted Applewood because I knew there had to be Veterans there our own database of course and with our work through various programs we do identify Veterans so we had a group and then some other partners where you also worked with Craig's Doors because there are a number of Veterans who are in the shelter system so we I put out a call to the town and there were about 12 town staff including our town manager which I was really thrilled to have him along and you know our treasurer our finance director people brought along their children their dogs Karen Reynon from our senior health services nurse came with her husband and her therapy dog and we visited over 65 seniors in the community and just wished them well and we we made up a gift bag so Jennifer Reynolds led that effort and she was fantastic we got donations from the town from Angela and the community participation officers gave us sort of swag bags and we filled them with some great items both from the Veterans Office the senior center donated about 120 dollars worth of items we bought candy and some other provisions they might find enjoyable partners and things like that so it really was a tremendous effort for outreach and each person I sent out I sent them out with a notepad to also use that as an opportunity to check in with people find out what they needed and I have to tell you the information we gleaned from that was extremely helpful we found a number of individuals who were in frankly in some great need of some support and assistance particularly some older and more vulnerable seniors who really needed the support it also was great because it generated a host of phone calls when people read the article in the Gazette it called me and left messages and said hey my husband is a veteran and we would love to have a visit from the town so in the afternoon we were doing a second round of meeting with people so I just wanted you to be aware that that was a great opportunity for us to be known and really again how important it is during COVID to be present outside of the bank center as Pat reflected because we are closed and it's the best way that I can think of that I can grasp find out what needs are I'm sorry I opened your meeting but I had to just turn my attention for about 10 minutes to another zoom meeting so I've had dueling computers because for the holidays I'm really thrilled to announce this that group that I work with all the western mass regional directors of senior centers we've been speaking about holidays and moving into them and and what are we all doing and and we've all kind of been stymied because the things that one would normally do you can't have groups together and my neighbor is Rich Tatimer from channel 22 so we came up with the idea we approached them and and the mass appeal program on channel 22 at 11 o'clock they do some community programming with two local broadcasters they are going to do a senior center sort of holiday seasonal show for us so we've got that scheduled it's going to be hot off the presses December 8th at 11 am and they're just they're it's going to be marvelous we have the opportunity five different senior centers are going to send performers or recorded performances from their community to the program so we've already selected what those five are we're trying to come across a broad spectrum there are all kinds of issues with copyright and what kinds of songs can be sung we wanted to make sure also that it was uh they were songs that reflected a diverse community and also not always just holiday themed so there's some there's one that's dedicated to veterans and there are a couple that will be original songs from groups that are within some community so I think there's a community from white there's a singing group from where from Springfield from I believe Southwick and a few other communities so it's going to be fabulous and then in between the songs we are having presenters about information that would be helpful to older adults of navigating the holidays they are reaching out to our Dr. Bruno Martin's Klein who we work with here at the Amherst senior center as a proposed guest speaker to talk about isolation and coping and things of that so hopefully we'll have some representation through her but it's the best way and I think it's going to you know television is a great way to reach a broad audience and it tends to be quite accessible and I wanted you to know for Thanksgiving and again you know we we are dealing with COVID so what we will be doing is um I my staff and the town staff will be visiting we've identified 172 homes we're going to be going out to Thanksgiving morning and visiting them and just dropping a small token and just checking in on people knocking on the doors how are you doing wishing you a happy Thanksgiving because I am very concerned with the advisory that older adults should not join a community or family functions I think we're going to have a far greater number of individuals will be home alone and even if it's just that you know five or ten minutes that we're at the door I wanted people to know that we were out there we were available and then we're going to be doing a um a zoom sing-along with Sarah Joy of Song at 11 o'clock she's going to be doing a free concert and we're going to be publicizing that so people can join in on zoom you know she does a monthly concert for us here through zoom and I have to tell you it's absolutely phenomenal everybody always feels better I go to it um just because it's just fantastic so she's going to do some singing that's uplifting uh and hopefully get people through the day which might be quite lonely for individuals and um the last two things uh tax work off I have some fabulous fabulous news we have made our participants very happy um the statue allows enabling legislation allows for a proxy donation of ours and luckily we were open from January to March so we have a fund of proxy donations that from which we can draw from that we will be able to donate volunteer hours which would have been worked by our tax work off volunteers but they have been prevented from doing any work in the past and they will be getting their full tax abatement through the proxy donation so I was able to inform all the participants about a week or so ago and people have been really grateful and it was in part first of all it is it's allowed by statute town manager absolutely supported that because those individuals I you know I keep the statistics on the number of hours they have worked historically going back several years and these are individuals who work the maximum you know hours typically 117.25 this year and because COVID prevented them from doing so really was a situation of a detrimental reliance it is not a loss of of sort of like income in that way in that it is it comes from a fund that was already designated and planned for and full so it's not an additional expense it's a one in which had been budgeted and planned for so we will again offer the tax work off program in January but this coming year we will not be in all likelihood we will not have that fund of proxy hours so people coming in we'll just have to know that whatever they're able to work virtually will probably be the limit that they will be able to access I've reached out to UMass several times I know Yvette mentioned earlier in the meeting about students what I have found and I would want you to understand is that the UMass and also other college students that that has not been a source of connection at all during this this COVID and I think that part of that is the messaging we've said you know stay away from seniors stay away from downtown and so when I've gone then and said could could you break leaves not so much there isn't you know and I think also what we know from research is that younger people are actually having a harder time with COVID and and experiencing greater numbers of anxiety and depression with it because they have less track record with challenge so I know that they all of the students are challenged in that way as well and I want to just recognize that but so that that resource for us has really dried up and I've done a number of emails to deans you know those who are in charge of fraternity and service organizations and I think that everyone is just managing to get through so I just wanted you to be aware of that shift because I think that that resource is offline for us essentially in at least in a meaningful way and then lastly with regard to fundraising so far I have $2,300 for my move and groove and I'll be closing that out in another week and getting some more iPads online and the friends I have been working with them because this is the time at which the next newsletter will include their flyer insert where there will be a request for donations the next newsletter is December January so I've prepared that for them to get the approval and then also reminding people that the Florence Florence bank started their community like it's like a customer survey if you will where you go online so so I bank there and you get an email that says what organization would you like them to to donate to would you like Florence bank we have traditionally received funds because we've earned enough votes last year we didn't earn enough votes because the friends were unable to to publicize the information but Dick Yorke went to the to the party anyways and they did one raffle and luckily they pulled the friends of the ever senior center so we did get a donation so you know it's a bit challenging to try to get that that piece up and motivated because we used to print out ballots and have them here and people would would have them and they could have the information as far as I know and you know I just did it was an online link I got as an email from Florence bank so if you know anybody at Florence bank or if you have an account with Florence bank please enter the friends of the Amherst senior center as your preferred nonprofit to receive a donation that would be wonderful we're going to include it in the newsletter but I don't know if they have any ballots distributed in the community or not this year I don't know what that status is and Amazon Smile if you're shopping on Amazon use Amazon Smile which is a version of Amazon that allows us to get a small percentage but every little bit helps so and I think that's it if you have any questions for me yeah and I noticed that that Jacqueline's hand is up too so okay thank you I just want to make sure she knows yeah okay Jacqueline Jacqueline go ahead it was uh earlier and I will put it on hold for the next time it was the other conversation that we were having and okay yeah it can it can wait it can wait okay and Rosemary it eventually came out yeah my question had to do with the friends do you know if the envelope that goes out with the town counting of residents or they call it the town census is going along this year because there was always a small envelope for donations to the friends yeah with the town census I do not know that I know that I know that Jennifer and I reached out because we realized the flyer insert so we took uh responsibility for that for lack of a better word I do not know about the that census piece or whether anyone has done any work around that I haven't been involved in that process so I don't I can't respond knowingly to that okay I'll check with Barbara and Jennifer may know also because it was it would require a donation of we have to purchase the friends has to purchase the yeah yeah yeah I know that someone who's going to have to reach out to the town clerk to make that request okay would be my guess because and since we have a new town clerk my concern is that they wouldn't know that right that that that process and what not would not be yeah not be known so um okay um so um announcements um if you haven't figured that out by now the town manager and the town council have supported the uh recommendations for our newest members to be Mila Montemayor and Chad Fuller and they'll be once they're sworn in we will have a full component and that's exciting um I also want to say uh and acknowledge and recognize the um the enormous work um that um Jack Walensack has done uh uh Chad will be fulfilling the remainder of uh the term uh of Jack's term and and I will we want to thank Chad for that uh willingness to to do that and step forward for that uh Tim go ahead in that vein and with the spirit welcome Mila and uh Chad uh what do you think um here's my suggestion that we each send a short paragraph to you Pat that maybe then can be aggregated to for the whole committee of each of the nine of us about our background uh I love it just so we get to know each other uh really hard with Zoom they didn't know who's who and I was going to suggest we have a short discussion at the meeting but if we take five minutes times I'm that that's almost an hour so I'm sure I'm actually maybe a short paragraph that then we each get a copy of that and then while I have like zero understanding of who you are blah blah blah you and me uh and that's one suggestion if that's possible what do you think that sounds great um yeah and um that that's wonderful and I I don't I see a lot of positive head nodding for that and so I'm gonna assume that's gonna work out uh do you want to I'll take Tim do you want to sort of uh why don't we send that stuff to you though that would be are you willing to receive that sure that would help me a lot okay and then I'll just then if you will quote yes and then we can have that available sure and you on the master list for those of you who don't have it yet like Mila and Chad my email is if you have a pencil ta neal just like you see in my name on the screen there ta neal at comcast.net and we'll be updating our membership list uh imminently so that and all members will get that perfect okay so yeah that'll be helpful everyone we'll get it all together and we'll go from there perfect thank you um we will not have um a December meeting uh of the council our next meeting will be Thursday January 14th 2021 at nine o'clock uh so that'll give us plenty of time to think and noodle around uh our committee structure uh in between time so um uh I just uh and I just wanted to say and the reason for that the canceling of the meeting is that my husband's surgery will is is imminent uh he's having joint replacement surgery the first of two and uh so on my duty said it as a caregiver for him will be significant I have already are significant at the present time so um that's gonna uh that's that's essentially the reason um I'm I'm like to ask for a um a motion for adjournment anyone anyone all right all right and second and um show show by hand or voice um if you're in favor all right thanks everyone so much thank you thank you you're all right okay terrific yeah bye bye good bye