 Good. I'd like to introduce myself. I am Whitney Dell and I had this idea for a town meeting because I was very concerned that we're in this time of change and That the city really needed to hear from all the seniors in the senior center So that's why we're having this meeting secondly Make sure you shut off your cell phones and also welcome to the zoom audience That's Matt over there who's doing that so the purpose of this meeting is to hear what you want from MSAC and We'd like you to keep the four questions in mind that we came up with what you're right up here What services should the senior center offer its members? What benefits should MSAC be offering its members and supporting towns? What needs to be changed at MSAC and what should be the top two priorities at MSAC? So as you formulate your thoughts and if you're going to speak if you could aim for some of those questions That will help our two scribes over here Mary and Gail who've done a really excellent job. So that would be great Also, there has been some discussion about what is services and what are benefits? So services I was thinking about this. I woke up this morning thinking about it. Believe it or not It's like activities in the senior center a foot clinic You know tax preparation a meal things like that and benefits is whatever makes you happy and satisfied So I thought that's pretty good answer We're not here to answer questions, but we have Diane who's the head of the advisory council We have her email up here. Oh, she's right here, and I mean you can email with her You should also have you have a sheet with a lot of questions So you can jot down your comments if you don't want to stand up and speak and we'll collect those at the end This is not a time for complaints We the members of the senior center want to tell the city what we need to formulate a way forward for a vibrant future for MSAC So the zoom people They can post their questions in the chat Which will get recorded and if you want to speak on zoom you'll have to let Matt know We didn't have anybody this morning, but maybe somebody tonight and definitely Send us your comments. We would like to hear them Secondly, so you'll have two minutes to speak to express your views. I'll call the name of the speaker And the waiting speaker Tina which is right here. She's the microphone lady, and she will hold the microphone All you have to do is speak into it The other thing is we found from the flood meeting a lot of people were going like this so you can't hear them So it would be very nice to just keep your head forward and we have orca here. Thanks to orca for being here They're taping this so you're going to face the camera And so it's a little weird if you're in the middle because some of your backs going to beat you. Yes. Oh Yes, I Am I am Whitney Dell. That's who I am. Okay So and we have a really excellent Timekeeper and that's Laura Morse right here and she has these beautiful cards Which will tell you that you have to stop talking in two minutes, you know good and My time is up, right? And it's it's really okay to repeat even if some people have said it. It's always good to hear hear it again Secondly, let's see who else I've got on my list here. Oh I'd like to introduce Kelly who's the assistant city manager for the city of Montpelier And this is Arnie and he is the director of the senior center at the present moment and he enters Diane She's the advisory council and we have some other advisory council members here We have Gail and we have Mary and I saw Heather over there and I don't know if there's anybody else here. Oh Yeah, thank you. Right good. Oh good and Laura I Forgot her twice today. Oh man, that's really bad. Oh In my lovely partner in marriage Barbara. Yes. Yay good Good the other thing I want to do is I would like to give Norma a round of applause because she is terrific So at this time in the program Kelly would like to say a few words to you. So here she is Thank you. Can everybody hear me? Okay? Great. So Kelly Murphy assistant city manager. I saw some of you earlier I know some of you and some of you I don't so I'm looking forward to that On the way in I've prepared some talking points for the purposes of this discussion I'm just so you've got sort of a briefing a little bit of Background and what we're going to be looking at as we do our assessment And so just to kind of get into it. I'm going to make this pretty quick But then we'll get into some of the comments which I'm really interested to hear So for starters really what we're interested in taking a look at is Enhancing the quality of life for older adults per the mission as well as creating opportunities But in order to do that we've got some work to do first So with the transition that we're in with the director's position And the transitions at the senior center as well as just looking at declining membership Programming and then the budgetary issues that we face We're going to be doing a performance program audit of the senior center To take a look at everything So in this packet that was out front at the front table all of those items are outlined for you So there are some really key data points if you have questions, please let me know And we can talk through them But I also wanted to make sure that you had some materials that your fingertips to really kind of see You know what we're looking at as we sort of get into this first initial Phase so this is sort of the first opportunity for input there will be more So if you have any comments or questions, please let me know otherwise. I'm going to turn it back to it Thanks Kelly good. So we're ready to begin. So I'll hand the microphone to Tina and Jean Olson is up first. I Believe msac is a gem I've been a member for many years and have been physically and intellectually challenged by numerous excellent instructors The msac mission is to enhance the quality of life for older adults in the Montpelier area Through opportunities that develop physical mental cultural social and economic well-being in a welcoming flexible environment While every piece of the mission statement is important. I'd like to focus on the welcoming environment Msac is not just a place. It's a culture a philosophy an Intentional awareness of the values and needs of our aging citizens Citizens over 50 who represent 42 percent of Montpelier's population We were thriving until COVID hit We were then overwhelmed by the attention diverted to the feast program and now the flood has caused yet another disruption Now is the time to reclaim msac's mission and space to rebuild an even stronger center with these two top priorities One hire an experienced director immediately. This is key Someone whose sole job is to champion msac Someone with a history of working as a director who has demonstrated talent skills and successes Along with a proven skill set the new director must demonstrate commitment and passion for seniors and their needs to City staff should move out before the start of the fall session The evacuation plan devised a number of years ago is outdated The city now owns a golf course, which is empty and can serve it well among other options This would enable msac to rightly claim its full space as it rebuilds its affordable membership and programming Any plan that includes sending seniors here and there around town is missing the intent of the mission Thank you. I don't have anything as wonderful Prepared just some bullet points and the services. I think are important are the classes and I think we should have as many in person as Possible and also hybrid because I know so many people like zoom classes I know the existing programs like the foot clinic are Important to some people as well I Think the benefits are times for social interaction that could be meals could be clubs, etc And the staff changes at my msac is that I think needs to happen as a staff needs to be present in the center There should not be a closed office door often so that when people come in there's somebody to greet them I also think the director should be in the building and also interacting with people that come through I Think we need dedicated director one who is hands-on and present in the center We've got the whole family There's nobody else left. I can't touch it. I won't touch it Joan made a lot of good points and everybody made a lot of good points But I want to talk about how it was and my impression of how it used to be before coven and before at all This was a very social place people would come in you would always see people you would talk to people I should be looking at the camera so that you should so that it was much more of a community than We get today with zoom and the classes that are not real not on what not here So at some point by the way a side comment is I'm not sure people will ever come back the way they used to come back here We've gotten so used to zoom that that we have to deal with that as well But we have to get people together to create a community here in in Montpelier That's about it Okay, thank you I'm Ann Charles. I live upstairs. I've been lived here many years and I've seen the trajectory of the senior center I'd like to I applaud the last few speakers because I'd like to echo their call that we have an Individual director for the senior center that the position not be merged even though the current Person who's supposed to be in charge is very popular He has a demanding job himself. And so I think seniors deserve an autonomous Institution with the director who is on site as you say My second unpopular comment Concerns the rental of the building to a group of religious people who hold services here every Sunday morning I know they're high they pay a good rent and that's probably the motivation for having them here but I really like to preserve the separation between the government and Church Thank you. That's it. Hi. I Think I should have been Maybe second because now everyone has pretty much said things that I wanted to say But I would like to say that we know what the demographics are for this area and 42 percent is huge So it really is important to have a really good place for people to congregate Get to know each other form friendships and that's what keeps people Healthy and happy Zoom is great, but you don't really get to see people sometimes you see their head Sometimes you see here so But the other thing I'd like to say is I worked with a number of agencies when I had my job in Connecticut and every time agencies were put together under one director both of those programs suffered and even the one that the person was really good at because they had to take time away To do the other one and the other one they had to keep trying to learn and in the process They both suffered so I think it's really important that we try to figure out a way to hire Somebody who's a dedicated director right away and let Arnie do what he does best and have someone here for the senior center Thank you I'm gonna start out by agreeing completely with what Bob had to say about the importance of the sense of community I missed that I missed that when COVID came along and I was particularly engaged in the Yoga classes and literally stopped because I just can't do that stuff on zoom So I really like to see us get back to Doing more things inside within the center itself Also, I want to thank Tina and the folks who've been involved in the trips Because I'd like to take more trips and I haven't been able to do that for personal reasons but I'd like to see us expand beyond the state and Maybe organize some trips outside of Vermont somewhere else in the US or possibly outside the US I know sometimes we have trouble getting enough people and one of the thoughts I had about that is Perhaps we could connect up a little bit more with some of the other senior centers For example the Berry area senior center the Plainfield senior center and we might get a larger group and meet some more people One additional thing I'd like to talk about is I'd like to see us expand To a population that really has a hard time getting involved here And that's folks who have brain injuries or have dementia This is something that I'm living with right now as a caregiver and I know that my mom Would do really well coming here for a couple of hours one or two days a week and Engaging in some activities, and I know that's a funding issue or that's something that's farther down the road But I'd like to see us include that population and not always have a caregiver Have to be here because we need breaks too, and we want to participate in center programs and activities Okay, hi, I really love the senior center and particularly when we used to all meet and play bridge We had like 16 people upstairs. I used to play bridge and do a lot of activities here, and it was really great And the idea of expanding into what you were talking about and all of that. I just the one thing I wanted to Talk about again was what Anne said was about like The religious people being here all day Sundays They take up a lot of space, but also just from a personal point of view. I was um You know I was crossed so I you know they were they were talking to me about God and religion as I was just going in and out of the building Because I live upstairs. So, you know, I'm not sure that That's something that people would necessarily want to have happen. And so anyway, that was just my My opinion. Thank you. I'm Erica Garfin I want to thank whoever is responsible for organizing this for doing this and also I want to Thank the advisory council for your commitment to the senior center like Jean I also went to look at the census data before I came and I would just like to add that in addition to the 42 percent of Montpeliers population who are 50 and older The people who are 60 and older make up 30 percent of Montpeliers population and I think those two numbers alone Demonstrate why the senior center merits having as others have said a dedicated director On-site who can really focus all of their energy and creativity To this very significant part of Montpeliers population I would actually like to talk about one specific program Some of you will remember several years ago that the senior center started program called msac at home Which was based on a national model called the village model that used uses volunteers and screened trades people To provide services and support so that people can remain in their homes As they age this would essentially have Taken msac beyond its walls So there was a group out in the community. I was part of it. We did a lot of work and then Finally with Janna's enthusiastic support and involvement The senior center took it on as a program There we had a fabulous Oh my goodness. Okay. Anyway Things changed. We had a different director. We had a different AmeriCorps member Um attention got focused more on feast The village has pretty much gone away And I would just hope that as we my time is up as we look towards the future That the village gets but put back on msac's radar screen Thank you. Thank you. Hi Tina um Necessity is a mother of invention And true invention requires thinking outside the box The pandemic the flood the exit of long time director Uh janna claire and then the resignation of a replacement have left msac in a situation he calls for some serious thinking outside the box And I propose that we begin by trying mightily not to cling to the past To all those cherished memories many of which have been I've heard tonight Uh congregate meals trips scrabble games bridge games rick Winston's film series and the myriad yoga pilates and bone builders classes But rather that we focus our attention on what the wide range Of montpellier seniors need most I've heard a lot of talk about from all the white faces here But I think we need to realize that there are people who are disabled There are people who are of other races There are people who don't feel comfortable here and have never felt comfortable here And we do need to move outside of this building To this end I hope that we'll reach out To and do a thorough needs assessment of the very wide range of seniors in montpellier who may be marginalized Due to various factors And that we look to partnering with other organizations and components of city and state government That have the capacity and funding to do some of what is needed We don't need to do everything ourselves. For example, yoga, et cetera, et cetera That is something that the rec center and arney can can handle We don't need to handle that the tremendous amount of effort and money put into the feast program Really has to be looked at in the context of food And there are a lot of organizations in the region who deal with food We don't have to do it all And if we if we can give up some of what we loved in order to get Everyone all the seniors what they need Will be going a long way. Thank you I'll make this short because i'm going to come back to you at the end of the meeting for an advertisement I'm cindy bogart. Um when I first moved here after uh retiring I took a writing class from maggie thompson. I now have a career as a novelist as a result That's what i'll advertise later in the in the meeting But um, I so I just want to say I got so much out of um msac and I would I I disagree with peter only in part Some of the core programs are very important to this group loyal members Maybe they should continue, but I also agree that we need to do a needs assessment A wider reach and a realistic idea of what we can and we can't do But I will say we must hire a dedicated director and that person's first job has to be outreach to get new members Because if we don't we will be in a death spiral I've looked at organizations and studied them. I'm a sociologist all my life And that's what happens to organizations who don't get new members. They die. So uh again An a dedicated director with outreach As her mission would be a wonderful thing and again, I thank msac for the wonderful uh new career that These classes have given me thanks I'm laura brown and I um am here because I was here this morning and didn't have a chance to say anything then My fault, but um, I just I actually taught a bone builders class here for 16 or 17 years And um, I was here through the fire Cindy mcclouds and jenna cars clars Directorships the beginning of coven and now it's the flood So I think those things have really affected the senior centers drop in membership and ability to survive Well to survive like we used to There are a few things I'd like to mention That there were great conversations this morning and I think a couple of things were Talked about one the value of exercise for persons our age Bone builders is great. It helps strengthen. I've heard many people say how it has helped them Do things there's also yoga and pilates and I think these are really valuable To have in person you have more contact with the instructor more visibility And um, you also have we also have the opportunity to lead hybrid classes Which have worked well For people who would rather be in person and people who would like or can't get here so well um Another thing that I just want to mention that I find very helpful And very informative is tina's class. She Sets aside 15 minutes at the beginning of each of her bone builders classes for people to talk ask questions Socialized because it's on zoom and that's important Um, second. I want to mention the community improvement work because someone asked about that this morning And nancy schultz and and fergusson regularly What think faster out of time You're kidding Okay, just when I'm at the good part, but there is community service trash tramps and grit and That is walk-in. So, um, I also want to make a voice for the for not having everything on technology some of us just aren't up for that and Other things paper things phone things are in I'm going away. Okay, wait a minute. Um, anyway, I think, um I think I have mentioned most of the things I really wanted to and also there is nail cutting now Um, it's new I think and back and it's wonderful Hold on Ron. Did you want to say something here in charge? I wonder what arnie thinks about it Nobody thought to ask him what what your reaction is what your feeling is about all this Also, we have um, we also have we have somebody on zoom so matt's gonna Take care of that now. I think they're gonna come through the speakers if all works Okay We didn't have anybody zoom so we weren't sure I was all going to um to work Anyway, it's seven o'clock and does anybody else have anything they would like to say since we have a little bit of time Or forever hold your peace I haven't forgotten you cindy. Don't worry Okay, okay, so first we're gonna have an ad from uh, cindy bogard one of the one of the ideas that um that we had was to do a vermont focused book talk two times uh season so two in winter two and two in fall two in spring and um Because I published an award winning novel I decided I would host and be the first book talk person So here's my book. It's called the history of silence I thought to do one novel and one um and one non fiction book or memoir For the other one during the semester So I'm just telling you about this you need to read the book in advance before you come I have some here to sell because of bear pond being Temporarily out of commission. Otherwise, I would suggest that you buy it there I'll sell it to you for 15 bucks if you want to pay 20. I'll give the five to bear pond books So when is it? It's september 21st. That's a thursday at 130 right after the lunch So come for lunch stay for the book talk This book is really a book talk book So we'll have lots to talk about and it also takes place in the 80s. So many of you will be familiar with the time frame Secondly, I uh rick winston Who most of you know, I think has also written a book called save me a seat a life with movies about the savoy And the sad savoy, but it's going to reopen But anyway, he's going to be doing his book took on that book on thursday november 2nd at 130 also So I ask you to join us for both of them We'll see how it goes and also if you have any ideas for future authors for this spring I'm I would love to hear them. I have some too, but I'd rather open it up for people who use the center That's my announcement and I'll be around after we're done to sell you a book if you should like And I also have postcards if you're not ready to buy yet. Thanks Sarah franklin always wants to say something I watched online this In the morning the first session and I heard an awful lot of the things that I feel too And all of the offerings that we have here at msac But a lot of us are in migrants from other places And we have had experiences of other kinds of senior centers And so I'm glad we heard from some of those folks too And as an in migrant one lack that I have Is a knowledge of vermont history I would love to have a course in vermont history And I would love to have a course in reading vermont novels So i'm so glad to hear that you've started us off on that I love going to school And I did it for 44 years For other folks and now I get to have another turn And I'm so grateful that it's possible. Thank you So thanks everybody if you have written comments if you could hand them in over there that would help our note takers A lot And I wanted to thank all people. Thank. Thank you all for coming And it was really thanks for all the people who helped out It really made this whole thing a great success, which is good. Yes. Did you want to say something? I'm rachel desolates and I was glad to hear you talk about the villages erica because 42 is a very high percentage of You know elderly people and I don't know about anyone else, but I worry about what's going to happen to me in You know another five ten twenty years And unless you have a fair amount of money your options are limited And so I don't know what that means or for the senior center, but I think in some ways we need to take it on You know, there's certainly a lack of housing everywhere But when I went to city hall, I can't remember who I spoke with But I mentioned about the possibility of having Additional senior housing and they said they would not take that project on So I was very disappointed to hear that given the number of seniors that we have here Not everyone has family that they can live with not everyone wants to live with family even if they have family So I think that you know If we want to maintain The respect that is you know that we should have then we need to find a way for people to do that you know throughout their lives and You know, we all want to live in place or what is it age in place, right? But that may not I mean I'm not sure what what that looks like and I if nothing else if we can explore what that might look like because Assisted living facilities is not necessarily an option unless you have a lot of money Thanks. Good one more person over here. Yes Just turn around so you're facing those Well, thank you. I didn't realize it was going to end this quickly also um And I'd like to expand your discussion of the art some of you must not know that poetry readings have been occurring here regularly and um That's a great way to bring the community together And if you have a diverse group of readers, that's another way to expand our constituency. So um And also painting. I mean we can expand our discussion of the arts and I think that would be very fruitful Good. Thank you. Great. Okay. I'm trying again. Anybody else got something they want to say Oh god, maybe we got a zoom person. Hold on one second I didn't get the full message, but lindis berger says, um, we need a director who can go after grants for us Can you say that again? We need a director who can go after grants for us Go after Oh grants grants not france. I thought oh, we're going to france. Yay Yes, would you like to say something? Yeah, not much. Not much. It's okay. Any words are accepted So um, so we've talked about poetry readings and art and and so on and um, we have some dance. Oh, I have to stand up. Sorry I'll stand up very well for a whole year. I've missed a lot. I've missed a lot. But anyway, um In terms of arts and so on we have a lot of music here. We have a lot of musicians the jazz band used to play um before lunches and it was a lot of fun And um, we haven't done that this year We have played outside in front of the building before When there were special occasions and that's been a lot of fun too. So I'd like to Encourage us to get all the musicians involved Especially if we're going to be studying Um vermont history. There's a lot of of music that's been written Folk songs about vermont history that could really spark some interest Okay, thanks Good. Thank you Say about grants. I was just thinking like Why don't we have a director and someone else who writes grants? You can always write in your own salaries I worked in the grants department, you know at mass general in harvard in boston And you know, they raised all their own money besides raising their own salaries So it might be a good idea to have a director and then have someone Who just writes grants and raises their own salary. So that's what I was thinking Thanks Okay, and you up laura. It's got another thing to say I just want to add to um the music thought Someone this morning mentioned the uh over swinging over 60s band which also had dancing with it and I know Um a good friend who came all every week to dance with her husband here and um, it wasn't a Professional band. It was just people who like to play So I that's just another thought Thank you Okay Okay, we're trying mad again. Hold on So linda burger would like to continue her Comment by saying the budgets of parks Are way over budget and they do not address the needs that we do She continues as a caregiver Zoom class exercise classes have been a god's sent to me Tina reagan and shannon are expert at making the class feel in person Also We have christie minzen who says I appreciate the opportunity to participate in classes on zoom and not have to travel to the center Makes it accessible for me. I do have a concern about rising class of classes and membership and minimum numbers of folks in classes That seems counterproductive for a fully functional accessibility center And Susan walters says We need consistent annual mailings about renewing our memberships. Thank you And linda burger says one other comment that zoom has expanded the number of participants who can participate Thanks. I'll use zoom folks Great, okay anybody else before I we close this out. Okay Yeah, I haven't forgotten him. Don't worry again. Okay again. So thank you to every thank you to everybody Make sure if you have written comments you hand him in and arnie would like to speak and he'll close out the meeting here He is Earlier today. I forgot to introduce myself. Somebody said I didn't say who I was before I started talking So my name is arnie mcmallon. I've been with the city now for over 30 years Um a lot of experience with programming And I actually started out if you want to talk about a little history as a day camp assistant director I had my master's degree in education and athletic administration, and I've been here now like I said for 30 years I worked with for those you might remember don la renevich He was a senior center director as well as the recreation director For a number of years and that worked very well while we're under the school system This is a little different now than what you're used to because after The city after the senior center went to the city prior to the rec department going to the city That's when they hired a separate senior center director Prior to that it used to be under the recreation department. So just to give you a little history Part of being a director is not Trying to convince people that you know everything It's about getting good people in the right places to help carry it along. It's no different than coaching You're as good as your weakest player on your team And if if we don't have the staff that helps support what we want to do Then a director who no matter how great they are is not carrying us forward into the future We got to have a team of people that are willing to work together And carry things on because as my great late great football coach used to say from norwich. He said if I die tomorrow They'll probably hang a hat, you know have a moment of silence, but kickoff will still be at one o'clock The game is not going to stop and that's what we got to think going forward We always got to think of ways about the future of the senior center But also the future of the community you know I look forward to one of the things I started since I've gotten involved is I've gotten a little bit more active with the Activities committee they had their first meeting the other day But also the the council the senior council Which is There's a lot of people with a lot of information out here that have ideas on what we can do to make things great For the senior center And the ideas come from within you know, I've been doing this for 30 years I might have a ton of ideas my assistant who I've made pull in once in a while to help me have a ton of ideas Between the two of us we have over 50 years of experience and recreation And actually setting up programs and trips and all that other stuff But there used to be a slogan That went around the recreation many years ago that the benefits are endless And it's up to us to going forward to say how can we work together as a team? And get the most for the people of this community because we are we are a community That's agent, you know adult the older population is increasing when I first came here There was over 500 students just in union school I'm pretty sure there's not that many students there anymore And Our younger numbers are decreasing while our older numbers are increasing and part of a vibrant community is balance And we got to find ways to also bring younger families to this community Or as somebody I heard say earlier, we will become extinct Got to bring the young families in get people here create opportunities And I think we can go a long way, but I'm not I'm not going to lie to you. I can't do it myself So we're going to have to have people involved that care about what they want to see And see what we can develop So I want to thank everybody for coming tonight because without your thoughts and opinions. It's hard to to move forward I didn't say anything like no, I didn't say anything like that. That's why that's why there's going to be an assessment So that's the whole purpose of that so yep and one of my best friends Who's also been in recreation for Way longer than me. He's in august of maine Is what is a position called a community services director And he not only sees all over all of those positions, but he also has Child care under his belt. So you can imagine he has a busy day I'm going to turn this back over to Thank you everybody great Oh good. Okay. You're free to go. Take care