 Okay, so I call this meeting to order and pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law, this meeting of the Council on Aging is being conducted via remote participation. And as Angela said, it's also being recorded. So therefore, I suggest that you all mute your backgrounds, your sounds so that there are no background noises, dogs barking, phones ringing and that sort of thing. And we'll proceed. This is a time for public comment. If anyone in the public would like to make a comment up to three minutes to express their views, please do so at this time. You can do so by raising the hand icon on the lower part of your screen, or if you are on the phone by dialing star nine. Are there any public comments at this time? I see one attendee with a hand up. And if you want to go ahead and speak, go ahead. Talking is permitted. Did you wish to make a comment, please? Angela, are you still there? I don't see any. And I have another listener with a hand up. Please go ahead with your comment. This is Jacqueline. I was listening to you and somehow the call was dropped a few minutes ago. Okay. Well, you are on now. So I have no comment. I just want you to know that I'm with you in more than spirit. Okay. Well, we appreciate that and we're with you too. So thanks for coming on. And let's proceed. Any other comments from the public? Okay. Let's move ahead with the agenda then. We are very pleased to have with us today a guest. She's not a guest, maybe to many of you know her, but perhaps not everyone. Michelle Shimora is a social worker at the senior center. She is also the outreach worker at the Amherst Senior Center. In addition to being a well regarded and highly admired social worker, Michelle also has 20 years of experience as a certified shine counselor. Shine stands for serving health insurance needs of elders. And I don't think I need to tell you what a complex situation shine counseling can be with the myriad health insurance plans out there. So welcome, Michelle. And thank you for being with us and please tell us about your work. Okay. Can you hear me okay? Yes, we can. All right. So with shine, we get extensive training. It's about an 80 hour training course. And then monthly, we have additional training once a month for about two, two and a half hours for each meeting to keep us up to date on Medicare changes. Since the pandemic, there's been a number of changes. They've made more services available online. And you now can fact certain things. So there's more options because the offices are closed. So in the past people, you know, if they were deciding to sign up, they would simply go to the social security office, spend better part of the day there, and then hopefully leave enrolled. But now things have really moved to online, exclusively, and sometimes mail and fax. So what we're seeing right now because of the pandemic is a lot of people who had intended on working till they're 70, you know, postponing their retirement have reconsidered. And what they're doing is making the switch to retirement. And this is unplanned retirements almost exclusively are the people who I'm getting calls from. Some are just turning 65, and some are well past 65. What we need to do is get them the correct forms. So they if they've been working and put off Medicare enrollment, we have to get them the correct forms so they can avoid the late enrollment penalties for Medicare Part D and B. Those late enrollment costs can really be expensive, and they pile up very quickly for every month you delay enrollment, you can get a penalty. But if you were working and had credible coverage, you avoid the penalty, the late enrollment penalty. Getting proof that you've had credible coverage can be a challenge. So far, in the past few months, everyone I've had hasn't had too much trouble getting verification from their employer that they've been working. But in the past, I've had people who their company has gone out of business. And they were not ever able to prove they had credible coverage, even though they did, because the HR departments were gone. So there's a lot of problems that can come up. So when someone calls and they've decided they're going to retire, we help them get enrolled in Part B as the first step. And then they have to choose between getting a Medicare supplement or a Medicare Advantage plan. And there's a big difference in cost between those two options. And there's quite a difference in what your the flexibility I guess I would say. With the Medicare Advantage plans, you can only go to certain hospitals, certain doctors, you're more limited in what your your choices are. And for some people who are, you know, newly retired on the younger side, free of any health problems, they're looking to save money. When you have people who have significant problems, I just had someone who was looking at the Part D drug plans. And what a lot of people will do is say, Well, my neighbor said, this plan is really good. And you should get this one. It doesn't work like that. Every person's situation is completely individual. And I need to find the best plan for them through a computer program that Medicare has. One good example was one person I had her medications would have been 1700 for the year with one with the least expensive plan, had she taken her neighbor's advice and used her neighbor's plan, they would have been 30,000. That's for somebody who's on a number of medications for diabetes. So, you know, there's no doubt that Shine isn't a valuable service when you can save somebody potentially $28,000, you feel like you're doing something really important. So, you know, the first hurdle, like I said, we get them on Part B, then we figure out whether they want a Medicare Advantage or Medicare Supplement. If they're going to get a Medicare Supplement, then we have to look at the Part D options and see what we can do from there. And then we have the enrollment. And in part because I've been doing this so long, I know a lot of the pitfalls. Like for example, one insurance company, when you call to enroll, you know, a lot of times you get that recording says, this call may be recorded. They're not always recorded. And I found this out because someone I was with, this was before the pandemic in my office, we enrolled her in a Medicare Supplement right before her planned cancer surgery. So it was very important to get this in and done in timely. We did it all. We got confirmation numbers, which is extremely important. And we thought we were all set. Comes a day of her surgery, there's no coverage listed for her. Because I had that confirmation number, I was able to make sure she got the coverage reinstated. It was the fault of the insurance company. They had not properly enrolled her. And I was lucky enough to be able to advocate for her because when somebody's facing a surgery for cancer, I'm not going to tell them to call the insurance company. That's where I come in. I'm going to do that for them. That's what being an advocate is about. So the best part of that was is I'd also written down the name of the person we had done the enrollment with. And he called her and apologized. So that was sort of that situation that kind of turned around and worked out okay. So right now, like I said, I'm doing the shine work and two of our volunteers, Till and Marion, are also taking some clients. I tend to take the Amherst people and the people from the outside towns I tend to give to Till and to Marion. Also, when people are hard of hearing, Till has a big booming voice. And so I will give those folks over to Till because he's a little louder than me. So that's what our service is. It's much harder to do it over the phone and by email. I am constantly emailing and calling people. And what would take me maybe an hour in the office is taking close to three hours over several days. So just the amount of time and effort. When you have somebody in the office, you hand them the sheet that shows their options. You point out physically the pros and cons of each option. It's a lot harder to do that over the phone. So that's kind of what that's what's been really keeping me busy since all this started back in March. And if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them. That sounds to me, Michelle, like you have an incredibly vitally important job. And I'm sure that people are deeply indebted to you for all that work. So I would like to see if anyone has any further questions for Michelle. I think it's really remarkable. You can raise your hand physically if you have a question. And then unmute yourself, of course. People come into the office anymore, but people make that initial call to us and they're so anxious. They're so scared and worried about making the wrong choice, getting the enrollment late. It's great to see the response where I'm generally a pretty calm person anyways. And I can kind of just easily gently get them into what they need to do and take all that fear and anxiety away. It's really good to see. It's really rewarding work. Yeah, Sue. I just want to say Michelle does a great job. She's really helped me through complex situations because my pension comes from Canada. And that's another whole scenario that she she's really been a fantastic help. Well, thank you. Thanks, Sue. I've heard that from other people as well. You're critically important work. I think I'm stunned at the length of time it takes you to work with people as compared to seeing them directly in the office over these health insurance issues. The system is overwhelming anyway. I'm one of these single payer advocates. Go ahead, please. I've been lucky in that most people I've been working with have email access. When they don't, this is a whole different walking. And what I'm also seeing is it's not the lower wage earners that are choosing this early retirement or not even early retirement. It's the people who can really afford to stop working. So they tend to have better technology at their hands. So, yeah. And Michelle, would you mind sharing, because this is being recorded and will be shared, your direct, your phone number, and also slowly get out your email or how best you'd like people to contact you. And then also if there's any particular documents that you would suggest that when someone is seeking a consultation with you that they make sure that they have have readily at hand. I know that when we used to do the in office appointments, you would discuss bringing a list of prescriptions and why that might be important. So I don't know any information that would help you in that initial conversation to kind of prepare people for what they might need to know. Sure. My phone number in the office is 413 259 3038. Again, 413 259 3038. And my email is season cat h emison Mary you are a emison Mary at Amherst m a dot gov. So it's my last name ch m u r a m for my first initial at Amherst m a dot gov. When people are calling or emailing, it's very helpful for me to have a list of their prescription medications. And on top of the names of the medications, I need the dosage and the frequency. And with that, I'm able to enter that into the medicare dot gov plan finder. And the plan finder will sort out the, I don't know how many we have over, I think it's maybe 25 or so Medicare Part D plans. So the computer, fortunately, will sort out what your best option is instead of having to do those manually. Hi, Pat. I'm mute. I'm mute, Pat. I'm mute. Pat, we can't hear you. Okay. Can you hear me now? Perfect. Okay, great. Okay, good. Are you, Michelle, are you able to, are, do you have a backlog? Are you able to keep pace you and your volunteers able to keep pace with the flow of people who are seeking your services? Right now, yes. You know, if I take a week off and come back on a Monday, it'll be a little overwhelming. Okay. But Till and Marion are really very helpful and can also pick up cases as many be. Okay. Thanks. Any other questions? Thank you so much, Michelle, for, oh, go ahead. I just want to say if you have friends or relatives or acquaintances who are thinking of retiring, the sooner they start the planning, the better. I mostly get people who are maybe a month or two out from the date they want to stop working. But honestly, the sooner, the better. The other thing we don't know yet is usually in the fall is Medicare Part D Open Enrollment where you can change your drug plan if you don't like it. And right now, we don't know for sure if that's happening or not. So stay tuned. Okay. Okay. What's going on with me? That's good advice. And we definitely will keep that in mind because I remember taking calls at the desk when people would say, I need an appointment for the shine because the deadline is coming up and they would call a few days before they needed it. So yeah, I hate that. Thank you so much for taking the time. Okay. Great. Good to see everyone. Thanks. Bye-bye. Just see you too. Bye now. Okay. Moving on, Michelle. Comments were very helpful. Mary Beth, you probably speak with Michelle more frequently and we do it so you're familiar with all of this. But I wonder if you can tell us if there are any updates on what's going on at the Senior Center right now. So since we last spoke, I think we're pretty much the same status quo. You know, I keep trying to disabuse people of the notion that we're closed. I get calls all the time. I think people are shocked when we answer the phone. And they say like, oh, I didn't think anyone would be there. I've heard you're closed. So I keep trying to frame it that we are open. We're just not allowing the public to enter at this point in time. So to the extent that we can broadcast that we are open, we have always remained open because we do get calls about things like shine counseling and questions about Medicare or, you know, how do I access lunch? You know, are my mother needs additional assistance at home? You know, where would you recommend we go? So all of those kinds of questions were still here and ready and available to answer. And I just, to the extent that anyone watches this in the public, I think that that's a really important message. I spoke with an individual who was writing an article statewide about Senior Centers yesterday and we talked about that. And some some Senior Centers are saying, the Senior Center is closed, but the Council on Aging is open. So however, however someone wants to receive that word, just make sure please you know that we are open and we are still functioning. We continue to serve lunch every day. And that includes our home delivered meals as well as our grab and go lunches. And anybody who is any a senior, which would be age 60 or above, who lives in Amherst, they can get a free lunch. All you have to do is call us at 259-3060. And we just take your name, your address, your date of birth, and we enroll you and you can get a great grab and go lunch. I keep telling people, you know, sign up as you will, because even if you don't want it for lunch, you could have it maybe later for dinner or even on a Saturday night if you don't want to cook. So we're still providing that meal service. As I mentioned in our last meeting, the really unique piece of that grab and go is that we are serving far more people. There are a lot of folks who enjoy coming by. And then there's also the socialization aspect of, you know, coming and stopping by. We chat with you for a few minutes. You might see other people. We keep social distance. So we have painted, if you come to the bank center, we have footprints painted on the sidewalk that tell you where to stand. And we have different colors for our drivers who are picking up our meals versus our folks who walk up or drive up in their car to do the grab and go. But so we make sure that we're all safe in that adventure. We still have available free masks. So we have folks coming even as recently as yesterday continuing to come and pick up masks. So if an individual needs masks, please contact us. Some people were thinking that they were only eligible to get one mask. And when we initially handed out masks, we were pretty much following that pattern of one mask. But now people are coming back, obviously, and we're going to be using masks long term. So it's helpful to have more than one mask. As you wash one, you might be able to wear the other. So even if you've gotten one mask, if you'd like a second, please give us a call. Deborah Bridges and her daughter have been helping us and sewing them as well as a number of community members who have donated and continue to donate. And the town of Amherst also has them. So if folks find it more convenient to contact and call the town manager's office, you can also secure a free mask. So we want to make sure that we're still keeping everybody safe and messaging around social distancing and wearing masks. That's a really critical piece of our work is making sure folks know how to stay safe and how to best support themselves. As we pivot and enter this virtual world, I think of this in sports parlance as we're in a phase of settling the ball. So we had the initial sort of adrenaline rush and surge of responding to an immediate crisis. And now we know that we're going to be in this state for a longer duration, both just within the town and people looking at what's happening with the pandemic internationally and nationally. And so this has been an opportunity to kind of reconfigure, pause and decide how it is that we're going forward. And I know we're going to talk about that a little bit more in terms of whether we need to do a survey or not. But looking at how do we function as senior services without a center that may be able to open for the near future? So how can we provide? Oh, there goes our lights here. Hold on. It's motion activated. There you go. How we can provide services in a way that's virtual and or outdoors and in person. So one of the pieces I think when we talked about programming is, I don't know if everybody understood that the vast majority of our programming was run and operated by volunteers. So if we were to look at classes, Yvette taught a class. Pat taught a class. You know, we had a number of volunteers. We have 179 volunteers at the senior center. That is what made us a rich and robust community. Folks who came and because they had rich backgrounds would share that with with people who had like interests. And so just to beginning to be able to recruit those individuals to return in some way to start teaching some of those classes. So I think that it's a it's a slower process of building back up classes that would be available both online and other formats. And so as you can well imagine, some folks are inclined to and they're ready and eager and they're busting out and they're doing their classes online. Others are in that middle ground of I need you to support me. So we're trying to talk to them about Zoom and how to work it and and giving them some support. And then others are saying like that's not for me. You know, let somebody else deal with that. I'm I'm an in person person. So I think we're slowly beginning to to have an opportunity to build up our classes. And each week I've been adding one. So for instance this past week, I have many of you know that our Shakespeare class is a beautiful community of individuals who have been meeting long term for a very, very long time and their leader and instructor didn't feel like it was something that they were able to pick up and didn't have an interest in participating in that way. So then I spoke to a number of the members and a number of the members got together they met and they're going to continue on and and they have a date now selected and we're working with the technology. So I guess it is to say that it's a slower process but we're we're doing the best we can with what we've got and looking at adding in some new things. So we're doing some conversations that will be around health both physical health and mental health. And then we're also looking at doing some more socializing and putting together some opportunities for people to just try to get together in this virtual way. And lastly with regard to the virtual way we had discussed the last meeting about the digital divide and I am hopeful that I will have a funding source identified in within the next week or two that will be able to help us to close out that divide and purchase some lending library technology. So that's been a major priority because it I can put on programming but if folks don't have the opportunity to get hooked up online it makes no difference. And so we want to make sure that that everybody might have that opportunity. So we're running both of those tracks parallel of getting some technology and ramping up that. So I think that that that's um yeah that's it for the update. You know we are still we are on site so that both of the social workers are here. Helen McMillan is here as well as Michelle we're here every day. Our dining site manager Donna Hancock is here and you know warmly greeting anybody. So if you need something you can always come to the kitchen door and we'll see you. So thank you so much. I do have a question about when you if you do get funding for new computer and technology assistance how will you connect people with that? I mean people who need that probably need a lot of training to use it and I'm not sure how that would happen. Well this is when this is when the MCOA is extremely helpful for me so there are other COAs that have piloted this already who have had and created some small lending libraries of technology so there are policies and practices already in place for people who have tried this. So for instance there's a small town north of Boston and they found a funder they purchased 20 tablets and then the town IT department loaded on Zoom and set up those tablets so that literally it was just simply a handoff and you know here's hot here's the password to log on here's the the application hit the zoom and you're you're hooked up. So you do have our volunteers for technology still are with us so and they have continued to help and support people. It is amazing what what they've been talking to people. I will call them I'll receive the call from a resident to say I don't know how to do X, Y or Z. I'll call one of those individuals and you know he'll give me a call back and he's like I already know about this Mary Beth I can think of four things this could be and I can talk them through it and literally within a half hour to 45 minutes he's been able to resolve technology over the phone so that's certainly something that we want to be able to build up. Ideally right everyone if you're wonderful we could do this all in person because that's how technology I learned best that way but we don't have that that that ability yet but so we're we're seeing what we can do to get some more technological support but hopefully we're learning from what other people are trying and doing and and coming together with best practices. Okay thank you any other questions Pat unmute. Hi can you hear me okay yes okay um yeah just a quick question on masks um I'm noticing um that uh well uh most seniors are pretty good at wearing masks uh a lot of people over time don't don't cover only their mouths and so they don't actually realize that you know it's really the optimal protection is the full nine yards you know mouth and nose and so um I don't know if um I think it would be worth it to explore I don't know in the newsletter or in in the handing out process just little reminders about the proper way of wearing it because sometimes they slip down even something so simple as adjusting the ear loops makes a difference and I think that supports good public health and especially as the students return um it's going to be important to be well protected. Yeah thanks Pat I especially like the idea of having a graphic uh in the newsletter I had not thought about that we are going to have a gerontologist do a piece about it so we'll be able to do a video with about how to wear a mask and we'll say even walking around downtown I often see um some of our seniors walking about yesterday I had one where the mask I've got my mask here and uh they had the mask up here and so so when I see people I do correct them so as like it does no good here as a bandana you have to bring it down over the mouth even if you're walking about so um yeah I think it's a we're all in training around that and I think that that that's very wise about we can't um say it often enough we can't just assume that that's gonna hunting it's gonna be good enough we have to keep following up and following through so I appreciate that so hopefully we'll have two ways to communicate that but I I love the um I've seen some great graphics um about wearing a mask I like don't wear it here don't wear it here you know yeah so I'll see if I can grab that and put it on thanks. Any other questions? I do see some hands up and I wonder if we have some comments from people yeah so are you interested in speaking oh is this hello no I guess not okay um all right move on then and I'm wondering if you have anything to say about the budget process very bad yes so last week we did have the senior center had the opportunity to present our proposed budget to the town finance committee and um I guess a couple of highlights that I would share with you and and I hope you all do know and as well as the public who might be watching this that the town budget is available online at the town of Amherst, Massachusetts website and our particular relevant pages are located on pages 95, 96 and 97 of the town budget the piece I think that probably would be most helpful for for your learning is you know the proposed budget a personnel absorbs 99 percent of the budget so our proposed budget is 222,364 dollars and that is a decrease in 1.9 percent um if the um and the um the budget amount with regard to personnel covers the the salaries for the director the program director the administrator and with a portion of the social worker the social worker um is also supported in terms of funding by the state formula grant so 40 000 of the state formula grant helps to shore that salary um and then with regard to the personnel costs for the senior health services nurse that's covered through a private grant a gift that is given to the senior center annually um and then the lunch site director is funded through title three funding we get a small amount per meal that we serve and we use that to support the salary of that individual so um of the um of the budget now you want me to pardon me I think someone just accidentally spoke in there um the uh with regard to the budget so there's the the 222 000 that covers personnel costs and then the other fund amount is 2775 which goes towards our operating expenses so that's you know it's not a particularly complicated um funding prospect the operating expenses so if particularly those who are new members um it's divided between dues and subscriptions and then also training and supplies so the break breakdown of that approximate 2700 dollars is it costs us 1300 dollars a year to have my senior center which is our information data management system and then it's another approximate thousand dollars to be a member of the massachusetts council on aging so that's the statewide mcoa organization um which is extremely beneficial and has been critical really to our operations during the pandemic so that leaves us about 400 for training and supplies the training that that we've formally done is um we fund one or two of us to go just for the day or two for the mcoa annual conference that will be online this year so there won't be um my lights went out again there won't be any costs unless we attend it virtually and i'm not sure that we would this year and then supplies it's it's paper and ink that we typically purchase so it's a lean budget um what i wanted to highlight was i shared with the finance committee the challenges that we face the first challenge i think that that um i would bring to your attention as well is um securing a revenue stream to support transportation we do not have the ability to provide any transportation the only transportation we formerly provided to older adults was a volunteer medical appointment ride and i know pat and others have been looking at this so i won't i won't go into that into too much more detail but those volunteers and that program has been have been suspended um both out of safety on both on both parts and occasions because to be providing rides within a personal vehicle i think is a is a challenge in this current health crisis so um you know the only trading opera you know i guess transportation option that we have at this point is a pvta van the senior van both the ad a van and then the senior van so that's um to me a priority so we do have the bus so we have the two vans that we use delivering food on a daily basis but we do have that 22 passenger van with very low mileage um and the the unique feature about that if we were to secure some funding for a driver would be that it it's large enough that it would provide for that distance that's going to be critical to any transportation so when i participated in the state um reopening guidelines we came up with separate guidelines for transportation services for senior centers and it was really particularized to the use of those large vehicles that are 18 to 22 passengers so you can maybe fit two to three people on there um because you have to have the six feet apart six feet from the driver then six feet between each passenger so so it is it is quite limited but at least the the large size would facilitate that capacity to be able to provide those um most senior centers i would just share with you based on my meetings with regional directors as well as statewide directors are providing those van transportation rides just for medical appointments at this point in time because transportation is so limited by virtue of the need for social distancing in those van transports so i you you will see that some um coas are starting to implement their vans um others have have been wanted to but their drivers have left so that was also another thing that was experienced statewide is many drivers were volunteers and some were paid and because those individuals are in high-risk categories and some of that i think the the earlier stories about bus drivers and in urban settings um coming down with covid many uh senior centers and coas do have not been able to replace drivers so even if they had the capacity and they had the revenue stream securing a driver in this environment is also another huge barrier going forward um because of the types of folks who typically take those positions so just just to share that with you i also shared that um another challenge that we faced was our footprint and our lack of space so presently you know we have the senior center which has been remodeled but um in terms of the use of the building going forward the bank center and and how that that may be impacted we're you know we're uncertain but i the research around the importance of exercise and providing a facility for exercise in a gym would be ideal and so that i just that was one of the things that i posited is that it really was the two things i wanted to do was to have a social cafe um and then to have an exercise space and a facility with some equipment because those two things are probably the best preventative measures for dementia from and that and that's across the board from the alzheimer's association to gerontologists to say that there's one thing that you should do it is exercise so and then the last challenge was maintaining services um given the climate of reduced donations so the friends again have been an incredible partner they have shored the senior center as i mentioned in the the last um meeting they typically have contributed last year i believe it was around $35,000 so everything that we do basically beyond just paying for the salaries and and some paper is supported by the friends so a coffee stirrer a donut a program paying for entertainment paying teachers to do some programs or even outside guests and speakers replacement of equipment so that source of relying on the friends through donations if you were to look at it over the course of time is has that the donation base has reduced anywhere between $6 to $8,000 annually and so the trend um is is not favorable for for that and also um just trying to find some more secure sustainable funding i think is is a challenge and one of my challenges for for me to secure and then objectives going forward the two uh the dot i would just note is one was going to be for this past year was the census participating in that and trying to get um a fuller count the census really matters for the formula grant so the formula grant is the $48,000 that we get in addition to the contribution by the town and the formula grant is the basic basically the legislature determines an amount so presently it's $12 and then they times it times the the census so right now our census count from 10 years ago was approximately 4,001 individuals within the town of Amherst we know from our town census that's done that right now we have just over 5,000 so that federal census will determine our funding for the next 10 years not only the count you know so so that becomes a really relevant figure if we're going to be you know hope at least a thousand more i don't know where we'll stand on that we have been calling people we went through our my senior center database and each of my stacks a list of about 600 people we've been calling people and participating in the whole townwide effort but ours particularly targeted on older adults within the community so um you know looking forward as to the formula grant we don't know what the the level of funding will be so it's $12 now it perhaps could go down um there are uh different formulas or guesses by mcoa going down as low as $8 per person so we could see a reduction in that 48,000 we won't know for a period of time i certainly would report out to you both you know what what we learn but um so i think that that's that's our full um i guess the way in which i presented are yeah tim has a question yeah very good um how remind me how the uh friends receive the funds today uh because we actually i made a donation about a month or two ago and our check the check has not been cashed mm-hmm so oh i just want to know what the lag and delay is and how that works yeah so so i would share that so the friends are a group of individuals they are not professional or paid fundraisers and they formally were working here and they would be here on a weekly basis and on sometimes often a daily basis to help us uh they would pick up the checks they would deposit it but with the um banning of entry of the public we have been working to develop new ways to get the information so formally if you mailed the check it came here to the senior center and so we have been making up packages and delivering them at intervals to the friends or for deposit and to go through and i will and i will just you know i would like to suggest also that it's been challenging can anybody hear me yeah hi oh hi this is barbara sloven yeah barbara i don't i don't know can you hear me tim oh yes barbara yes we can hear okay oh good uh i have to check it all our checks have been deposited so i have to figure out why i don't have yours deposited um i well i can all my letters have not been sent out though a whole grouping had been but in the recent months uh month i don't think i've sent out any letters uh thanks um but everything has been i did take pictures of all the checks that i deposited so i'll um i'll see i can check my uh uh records and and i've got your let's see i've on the list i've got your email i can let you know the check number or the date and so on um my recollection is i put it in the envelope uh the mailer envelope and send it off yeah well one thing that that i would just also let you know is that they've just in the last two weeks so um the uh the person who assists them as a the treasurer mary elmer uh was able to purchase a p o box and also filed a mail forwarding so i know that there is some delay so sometimes i am still getting some of the mail here at the senior center and other times i think it is landing in the p o box so okay i think i already yeah that's one of our things that we do have a p o box um that i picked up just a couple of days ago and um there wasn't a check from you tim i mean there wasn't an envelope any census envelope i'll check i will check i frankly i don't recall exactly how i sent it i think i sent it in the envelope but i can check it like it's whatever you know usually every every check that i as of this week okay that i've received and i think one of the things is we have to start letting people know that we have a post office box um and it's post office box 933 but 933 yeah and it's in town it's the town one and right now i cannot uh i do know i do know it's uh zero one zero zero four yes dash zero nine three three that's the uh set code okay yeah okay very good uh did uh jacklyn did you have a question no i did it okay i have one question mary beth um on the formula grand how is that money distributed how much of that goes to salary or all of it all of it goes to so it supports the supports the nurse and also the social worker so the funds from the town as well as the funds that are secured for um my lights went off there we go uh for the formula grant go towards salaries okay thank you okay any other questions all right okay um one of the things on the agenda we wondered about is how the board can best support you during this pandemic and um since we're not on site or near the senior center what can we do behind the scenes and at one point you mentioned something about a survey and um wonder if you could elaborate more on what you meant by that so um i think that this opportunity and time is a great opportunity to to reimagine and reinvent what we do in terms of services and and how we deliver services what type of services we deliver programs how we clutch people's lives and i think that we can i can make a guess based on calls based on interactions but i was very curious i think that the um when i looked at the budget and and what i had written back in january about objectives and where we were going and all of my plans but it's like that the slate got cleared um with covid and and i feel like there are there are different and more pressing concerns and i don't uh anticipate that those were quickly resolved that that we this is not a race to be opening a senior center i think each senior center is looking at a variety of factors from footprint to to um you know how risk averse they are and making decisions about opening so given the fact that we are not opening till at least looking at january and again who knows what that might bring um i know that we had discussed probably about six months ago the question of the survey and that was also on um the budget report because the annual survey the 10-year survey was due and we had decided to defer it till we kind of had a focus for it and i didn't know whether there might be some form of survey um it it doesn't have to be the the huge undertaking that occurred about 10 years ago was a very expensive endeavor it cost about ten thousand dollars i think that the information that was gleaned um was was limited um and what i mean by that is it was only done through mailing and so they mailed 1800 cards out they got back it was an n of i think 735 so 735 responses and i think that that the the individuals who participated if we were to look at the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the responders it was a a very slim slice of individuals so for instance i think it was like 67 percent said they had postgraduate education so we know that that may not necessarily be um the most uh transparent um slice of of what is needed and and what we should be doing so um i just wanted to offer if there was some i know pat and her group had talked about doing some listening groups or trying to get a sense of really what the future direction should be and can be and also the types of programming that people are looking for um but where we tend to to i think um best surf people um is around i i think of it as maslow's hierarchy of need um and maybe that's just been because of this particular crisis but making sure first of all people had food they had groceries they have health insurance so we have i think um sort of operated in that lane and then volunteers filled in the other pieces around culture and socializing and exercise and things of that nature but i didn't know um you know i i i if the guesses that sort of we're making and the people we land on are are meeting the needs so so i you know i always think it should be a conversation around developing programming and um that's harder it's just made harder because i can't other than speaking to you all in this format and people calling me on the phone um it's been a bit of a challenge so i think that that i would like to partner more with the community to find out what can i do for you you know um beyond the critical need of support and safety and security within the community you know we're pretty stable there but what more i know you ask that question of people all the time when you encounter them which is vitally important what kinds of answers do you get um yeah what what kinds of answers i get i don't often get a lot of answers what what i would say is that it's sometimes challenging for people to speak need um and i think what i look for more are patterns so i would share with you that um Barbara called me last Friday night it's like do you ever go home and i said no i stay late on Friday nights you know why because i notice a pattern that around three thirty four o'clock people will start phoning me um and they might start with an innocuous question or they might just call and say mary beth i'm just wondering how you're doing and and what it speaks to is loneliness and isolation and you know i need you know we we need to provide more platforms and opportunities for just that you know just connection in some way and i know that that zoom will be able to offer a piece of that um you know in the next round of programming we're going to be you know facilitating some just dial in like a you know people some people call it a happy hour some people call it a chat you know hour or something um i had to been reading um ross gay's book of delights and so i i had been thinking that i was going to call it a delight hour and come and share something delightful what delighted you today um so that's one piece of it but i love that idea but you know that more and i don't want to just navigate it so i am looking for some way um and when i put it we put it in the newsletter you know call us and let us know what you want very few people do and and i just know that my own reflexive response when i have been in need i rarely voice it i there's a whole lot of cultural issues around that or maybe it's my family of origin i don't know but i just saying i you know i'm trying to think of ways to to elicit what's happening at that that level i have a good sense of our immediate area with with clark house and the housing authority because i am there every day and i'm in and out of the building and i see people but that's just one swath um so mary beth yeah go ahead jacklyn i i i i wasn't sure whether i was still tuned in here i'm still getting familiar with technology and the intricacies i think it's a very good idea um one of the things i found just uh doing informally contacting some of the elderly african-american people that i know and it has personally it has been such a delight for them so the the the name you're thinking of i think is is a great one um it says if when i call it's is this i've i've given them a piece of a goldmine just a few moments of conversation which end up being much longer i think it's much needed i think that that um the survey and the calling go together so beautifully because that's the other part of it what else would you like to see what would you like to have in the community where you live move and have your being and i think people will be i think they'll be open yeah thank you yes and i don't think they're going like like you're saying i don't think they're going to come and ask for it like but if they are invited to share input there's a greater likelihood of getting the input from them that's why i need all of you yeah well that that's my that's right down my alley as they would say thank you jacklyn pat unmute please i should unmute okay okay um i want to support uh um both mary baff and jackal its comments about loneliness um and um you know it's not anything that it's not a word we used in our draft of our mission statement but my experience of volunteering at the senior center over the past year and a half or so uh had told me that that that really is one of the major functions that that we uh had undertaken and it made an enormous difference and it crossed um uh class and race and economic economic barriers because anyone can be lonely and um and so that was i think part of our strength um so um you know i think that there are probably a variety of ways that i can think of one thing that struck me when i was sitting at the front desk was that we have all these emails and a large portion of our um of our uh the population who participates uh doesn't pick up everyone of course and that's a problem but um that there are ways of connecting perhaps even um i would like to think of if some kind of a um whether we could make make a more robust use of email um just even almost i perhaps it's too ambitious to think of of daily emails but it's a connection like a thought of the day or a resource uh note or something like that that builds builds that relationship and connection during this time um it um and increases this the visibility of the center so that's one thing the other thing i was thinking of is we should all probably all of us on the council should uh should feel deputized to be be asking our friends in the context that we have at a safe distance but in you know as we connect um that part of our our conversation can be what what's what's up for you right now in terms of of how are you managing and uh you know what have you learned from this experience and so i think that so that's that's kind of that sense of empowering us to be doing what uh both Marybeth and and Jacqueline are doing just you know asking the question uh is is i think in a you know that's we should go forward with that zestfully um and i guess the other thing is that it occurs to me with respect to programming which Marybeth touched upon earlier um you know i'm i am wondering it the zooming is um you know we all have a bit mixed feelings it's there's nothing like the real thing of direct connection but there are some i see i think some opportunities to do some to think about creating some programming um via zoom that perhaps could fill some holes and um i guess one of the things that has stopped me and perhaps others just around economic lines is that is there whether is the what is it it's something like a fourteen dollar monthly fee for an individual to become to host a zoom session i looked into it briefly but um no okay so maybe that's the kind of thing i mean there you know that we could we could think about some zoom programming and i think that's already going on but what are the what are the holes in in information and um i just want to add one more thing around that programming thing is that and and this is a different kind of survey maybe even like a zoom survey but the canadiens have developed this what they call focused conversations and what that is is maybe they would take a topic uh and maybe the topic is resilience or how are you getting uh what are your ideas what what has helped you get through this time and so we do a zoom meeting we we email as many people as we can or connect um and and then and and then we we zoom away we so that we're we're providing we um you know an opportunity for people to um say you know uh what they you know that what and how they're doing but it's it's focused conversation is that it is lightly moderated so that you know people speak briefly and pointedly to what they're doing but it's still offer some connection and ideas and um so i um i think that there are some opportunities in that there's a good ideas and let me remind everyone that mary beth has set up a program with humas and um brun brun bruna mm-hmm yep bruna martin's point that involves a lot of just what you said talking about what it's what is it like for individuals to be going through what they're going through right now their feelings their thoughts their emotions and she's extremely supportive and anyone can join that program so look for that yes tim yeah mary beth you might do this already the other thought i had was either speak with or or survey town employees see what they observe whether it's the person in taking an elderly individual who comes in to pay their bill or the fireman or the police officer who might observe something and develop potential holes in our programs or additional needs and so forth so as i said you might do that already but that would be the other thought yeah no that's very helpful that i used to get a bit of that when we did our salt meetings which is the the seniors and law enforcement together so we would be with fire and police once a month and sort of talking about you know what's happening but of course that that closed down in march and we haven't met since then so that is a gap of information tim yeah yeah and the other thought is uh uh contacting uh trades people in town uh when plumbers go into people's homes or electricians and they might spot things that uh they've never mentioned anyone and if they mention something to you or the senior senator that's another possibility to come up with some ideas great anything else on that topic okay thank you okay and um i had asked you next on the agenda is the mission statement i had asked you all to review it and and provide your comments how the readability is if we cover everything the ad hoc committee got together several times and we mulled over quite a bit of information and tried to put together something that covered um a lot so what are your thoughts and where do we go from here any comments or um things that you felt needed changing how did it read was it understandable was it clear um did we miss something let me just read read it over the amherst massachusetts council on aging serve supports and partners with older residents from populations that are diverse in many ways including ace race color national origin religion sex gender identity ability and economic circumstances we seek to assist older adults in remaining as independent as possible and maintaining their total well-being and dignity we further seek to advocate for and offer access to programs and resources that assist them and those who support them in optimizing their quality of life socially mentally physically culturally spiritually and economically we explore ways to co-create new programming or adapt existing programming in ways that better serve seniors evolving needs and foster self-fulfillment and community engagement we seek to create activities and practices in all our gatherings that enable and embolden older adults individually and community-wide to take part in decision-making program development service and advocacy that meets their needs we endeavor to educate advocate educate collaborate and build coalitions within the larger community on the behalf of older adults sue i just want to comment that i appreciated that last paragraph that was new and i'm glad you put that in about uh going into the community so the whole community somehow takes a little more ownership of being part of the senior center okay thank you okay anything else i know at one time um last time tim you mentioned that we didn't include naming the senior center itself as a site i think that this pretty much encompasses or it doesn't matter where we do our programming be it at a specific place or what have you so are you okay with that tim if okay when i'm mute okay go ahead are you calling on tim okay tim unmute can unmute okay okay is it working etema can you speak now no i guess it's uh anything else i think tim may have lost signal pat yes i i just want to just share with everyone that jack olyn and um rosemary and i worked on this and i just wanted to just lift up that you know part of what we were what the original mission was was very service oriented and those services of course are critically important um but we also wanted to kind of inject into our mission statement both um more actively co-creating programs that seniors ourselves uh can be involved in uh you know identifying needs and co-creating with mary beth and the rest of the staff um those things that uh that we we um that that meet the needs that we have um so that was part of it and i think also the just the notion of community engagement um and building skills um i want to say skills um and it's i want to just name creating uh a spirit of beloved community with this center we are we are we have all each of us have abundance in years um but we are still learning and we're learning to be with each other with more um every day and so that if that can be supported in the way in in the way we learn and as we build relationships with other other folks um and um with and do that with greater intention and kindness and all those things um particularly important as we connect with uh and learn uh from uh those of other language communities other racial experiences other um you know walks of life um it all as we hang out together no matter whether we're playing cribbage or we're exercising and sweating together whatever it is we're doing um that was i guess that was the intention of of the of our mission statement and so that's what we tried to weave into it and uh it's a living document and it will change over time as our needs change but that's that's the background and i would welcome either you or jack one the two or both of you to add to that but that i think that kind of that's what we were blending trying to blend yeah welcome back tim thank you well technology my computer decided to provide updates and restart just during me i mean i couldn't figure that one out anyway i'm back um the only small change i might suggest is right at the beginning and rather than the amherst council of massachusetts say the town of amherst a small little point but there being an amherst college person sometimes when i see the word amherst i think at the college i'm necessarily the town so just a minor uh as a possibility yeah for that or put it in the title the town of amherst council of aging and then start the the body saying the council of age and blah blah blah just so it defines it the tad better yeah that that's interesting i think the title the town of amherst council on aging might be a wise that might be the more appropriate way because otherwise it's a it's a long word full of introductory words just to start the mission statement yeah yeah i think that's probably how do you feel about that pat and jack jacklyn yeah pat unmute it's good i like it okay all right any other comments um i'm wondering if we should adopt this um take a vote on uh what happened i have one sorry i have one other small comment when this is finalized would there be a date put on the document right now there is no date in the draft but once finalized it's always good to have a date not necessarily a specific day like you could put september 2021 or something like that somewhere in the document either at the bottom just so when one reviews the statement you understand when it was last done yeah i think putting that at the bottom would be a good thing okay that's a good idea do people feel ready to um vote on this or gregg you had a comment more of a question than a comment um when the council was created and i know that this council is all over the state you know different communities but is there a act or some sort of uh some sort of document creating the council okay uh yes there is that has the mission statement or authorizes the council to do certain things like advocate as opposed to other activities uh that should be in the manual that i gave you um right um when the council on aging was established and uh i would just want those older but i guess my question is does the two fit together well because i think the authority of the council comes from the original document uh so i'm assuming we have the authority to make changes i just want to make sure uh well that's a good legal question yeah that's a great question and um and i appreciate that question because when i was thinking about this i looked up the bylaws which uh were created a while ago and i wanted to make sure that um the spirit of that original um the creation of the bylaws which is has legal underpinning i guess um is something that we paid attention to um so um and and i one of the things i especially appreciated uh is that the council was um formed largely i mean a core mission right on the top of the list is advocacy advocacy for uh seniors and um so um that's i think uh i think what the way i thought about this was to that what this statement does this mission statement does is put a little bit of more meat on those bones uh just really for to guide us in in the way we work together and uh you know um um define it really to show some a little more about what our values are um and our intention is um i think that's that's the uh that's that's what we were thinking as we were rewriting yeah uh mirabeth do you have anything to say about the legal aspect of making such a change how come you're muted i because i was shuffling paper so i'm muted but Greg and i do think alike because i did i without interfering i had the same question on my mind in the back of my mind around mission statements fitting there's there is enabling legislation Greg um and i believe i you know i was looking at it was like chapter 40 i think section 8b so that's uh basically what what authorizes the establishment of accounts on aging there have been um two different drafts of bylaws so there was an initials group of bylaws that were created in 1967 and then the bylaws by which you now guide yourselves so i think that if you should if you were interested to see how those dovetail that you know certainly would be uh you know worth your worth your inspection or review um what um because i i i was intrigued by the fact that there had been no mission statement so there is an articulation in the bylaws of purpose and that's what i think what pat was referring to and it does there there are like four enumerated purposes within the present bylaws and i think that the the drafting of the the present mission and how um how pat describes it as as sort of giving more color and um i think more definition to it says like to to advocate but i think the the way in which this body sees themselves advocating and the priorities i think um are are further i i i enhanced through the mission statement but if you wanted to look at it i also i can you know i can scan and email you all these documents if you want to just look at where you stand historically um and how this would fit in within your authority there's nothing in there that i saw that that prevented a mission statement or that um in any way indicated that that what you're looking to do which is set out the values by which you are carrying out the mission and also the purpose um i i didn't see anything at odds or you know in contravention of it or anything that said particularly that you couldn't do that so um that's that's what i saw and i'm and i'm happy to share the documents that i had located about it in the the sort of statutory references but as rosemary indicated it is in the i think most of them are in the binder but i went through the old um files of the coa um around the governing documents double check if there was anything else yeah well it's interesting because i don't remember you know the only it isn't labeled as a mission statement but the only thing that we've had so far is just um the main purpose of the um console on aging which isn't really a mission statement to per se so why could we not just simply adopt such a new thing we're not changing anything yeah yeah so just for the uh it's in article two of your bylaws it says the purpose is it says the coa is primarily advisory its basic purposes are one a to identify and advocate for the needs of the aging population which is further enhanced with the mission statement b to educate and enlist the support and participation of all emmer citizens to meet the needs of elders c to recommend and evaluate programs and services to meet these needs and d to cooperate with the massachusetts executive office of elder affairs and highland valley elder services our area agency on aging and to be cognizant of state and federal legislation in programs regarding elders so that's the the only purpose that's listed yep yep my only other thing that the only other thing that we had was the first page of the manual the principal goal of the emmer's council on aging um to run a multi-purpose senior center i think you know that's and which serves as community focal point for the provision of services for the elderly the council works to initiate facilitate coordinate and provide these services which in the broadest sense enhance dignity support independence maintain health and promote the involvement of the emmer's elderly and the general community so that is a principal goal it's not really a mission statement so i as i see it we never had a mission statement so we'd like to adopt one should we um i i don't have any problem yes for now go ahead great i don't have any problem with the mission statement there's just i i did see the binder but there's a little pieces in different places yeah for instance uh i think my best just read something that said i think the bylaws that the primary purposes to advocate advocacy or something like that uh since that's the primary what is the other purposes that's not considered being an advocate i mean the functional purposes they're talking about because it said primary didn't say the only purpose it's just not clear to me what what some of the stuff is and i i think that may be the same for other people that's why we're doing the mission statement because we haven't made it clear uh and i just was wondering if anybody looked at the other stuff there's more of a question than anything yeah i have no problem with the mission statement i just want to make sure everything fits together because i i think what i'm doing is looking down the road to a point where we know what we're going to be doing goals purposes you know there should be goals activities that we're working towards uh you know if one of the purposes or if the primary purpose as opposed to the other things is to have a what is what is the statement was a multi-service mountain yeah so what do we do each year to try to reach that goal okay do we have a plan has that existed i'm just trying to get information to figure out you know uh where to turn my attention to and what we're doing uh in the upcoming year you know there's always activities that you have to maintain because they're very important and we know what some of those are and some of the programs are but there may be other things that we should look at doing because of uh our primary purpose or our goal if our primary purpose is the center do we do with evaluation of the center every so many years to make sure we're meeting the need in terms of is that a facility type thing or they talk to me about something else when they say uh you know multi-purpose center yeah so that's just questions that i have i don't have i don't think uh the discussion today i agree with most of that most of it um i just had that question well i think we yeah i think we want the scope to be much broader than just the senior center we want it to be more inclusive of any services within the community really that we can provide for older adults and with older adults so um i don't like to focus only on the senior center itself but all of the services that can provide be provided for older adults in the community yeah i understand okay we can table this for now and um did you have something to say jacklyn okay jacklyn's phone keeps lighting up so i don't know if she wants to make yeah uh i i i appreciate all of the comments and i want to i guess begin just a response um that was building up inside of me that the senior center is more than a building in my opinion um it is a center of community or for community um i think and looking and recalling the the earlier statement that was uh citing the mission there there were some things that were not taken into consideration necessarily or were taken for granted and the senior center and our mission statement is just as reflective of a changing society and our needing to meet the needs of a of the present age and the way in which you're right in terms of the future looking at the future i think it's important to to to lay the foundation for what will be forthcoming while maintaining our allegiance to the letter of the law or the statute and and so i think we entered into this with that in mind um sometimes when things are not cited or stated they are assumed to be non-existent and citing them makes them more real more part of this organic and dynamic organization that we all feel very very um close to thank you okay well and at this point i think we'll make the minor changes that were suggested and bring it back for a a vote at the next meeting i think that's the best thing to do continue to uh think about it changes that we pardon me yeah i just said yes okay and um really the only changes i see are um changing the town of amherst council on aging and um and then adding a date and the date cannot be added until it's voted and adopted so okay then moving on um the next item on the agenda is let me get my notes here uh if the last is the nomination and election of officers at the last meeting we talked about board positions for the council on aging and um since that time greg bascom and tim timothy neal have been reappointed by the town manager and their new terms will expire in june 30th 2023 town manager has not yet scheduled interviews for the position vacated by ritrick cuffler so we are still one member short i know the town manager has a few things on his agenda right now and i think it'll be maybe at least another month before we can uh look at filling that position so at the meeting today the positions for officers for f y 21 need to be determined um as we mentioned last week su dirks said that she would continue in the office of secretary so now nominations are in order for the office of chair of the council on aging are there any nominations from the floor soon yeah i'd like to nominate pat rector for the chair if she would be willing to accept it i think she has shown us a real heart with for the council and a vision and certainly digging into work there second a nomination so pat rector has been nominated um are there any further nominations okay the nominations are closed and have you accept that i do accept it um um and um i do want to say this um though and i had a conversation uh with greg a little bit about this that that i think um my hunger for our council is that we open up our processes a little bit um um in this and in terms of how um in the how we define our leadership that we have some honest conversations i'm really humbled by the example rosemary's wonderful example and her diligence and and her her um and and her values and her ethics that shine so brightly for us so she's been a really responsible and committed leader and um and i i just i i think we need to ask ourselves what you know how we can sort of um we um transit and meet meet the really critical needs of our fellow seniors in our town um at this time and um i think we can raise our game and so and that's it has to do with processes uh i go back to mary beth the one of the reasons that i decided being with this council was important to me was mary best question which was who's at the table and who's missing in in uh policy making and power in our town among seniors and i'll just say stated as bluntly as that power privilege and who's missing and so that's going to stretch us and um i think that will mean that you know that that'll mean some um us digging deep in and making and deepening our commitment to the work of this council so thank you okay thank you um and then uh nominations are also in order for the office of vice chair um and are there any nominations from the floor yeah i would like to nominate tim second and uh tim um you accept that nomination sure i'd be happy to help out and yeah any other further nominations when nominations for both positions are closed and according to robert's rule of order we don't really need to vote if there's only one candidate for each position but i think it'd be very nice to do so anyway so all in favor of pat rector as chair of the council in aging tim neal as vice chair and sue dirks as secretary please raise your hands in the affirmative well welcome to um your new positions and the new leadership and i'm very very much looking forward to working um with you pat in this new way and i think you bring a lot of good ideas and good quantities to the council thank you okay and um next in order is the um approval of the minutes from our last meeting it was wonderful to be able to see the minutes um and the recording of the last meeting and i think sue somehow appreciated having it recorded in that way so um do i have a motion to accept the minutes i move that we accept the minutes as presented thank you and any second i second okay all in favor please raise your hands in the affirmative looks like the minutes are approved as stand thank you very much sue for all of your good work thank you um now there are uh topics not reasonably anticipated by the chair 48 hours in advance of the meeting so did you have a question you know what about the friends oh yeah thank you oh thank you very much yes um barbara are you online do you want to talk about the friends or show okay no i thank you hi if you can hear me i'll talk about the friends we're uh continuously continually getting um donations both by the census and by people just sending in money um this is certainly um delightful to know that people are wanting to help seniors in this way um so i think uh we're doing quite well considering the circumstances that was going on right what's happening in our country right now um i mentioned before we have a new post office box and hopefully soon very few things will be coming to you mary beth um um it's been interesting for me to know that we have gotten a donation a lovely donation from a family who member had passed away and it's uh i don't know whether it was in their will or not but it was certainly well really appreciated i uh we have not had a our annual meeting it's in our bylaws if this is a possibility when things are are um when it's difficult to have a meeting we have had a lot of health issues within our board and right now um we are just contacting each other every once in a while see if people are all right but our um i think one of the things that i would like is somehow to have a virtual tour of the new senior center at some point um it's i know there have been changes and i think it would be lovely maybe to have it uh some media program maybe on our station public station um and to see what it's what has happened so that when the time comes to walk in if that day comes we have an idea about what's going on and i i personally would like it i know we're going to have a newsletter coming out so that might be something to be putting into the newsletter i think i would like in the newsletter the post office the friend's post office box change to make things easier um and i that is about what's happening here thank you very much Barbara and i'd like to add one thing um edda was not able she let me know that she wasn't able to attend this meeting although she wanted to she has some health issues and um she wanted me to be sure and convey her love to all of her friends so we miss her thanks him um i would uh suggest here's a suggestion for the council and that is uh that we have one of our board members be a liaison to the friends and i would like to suggest that for the moment i become my whole background and career was in fundraising i was a fundraiser at Amherst college i'm quite familiar with all that and i would be happy to uh help with the friend's organization and just be more participative and understand and whether there's a formality there might be i think it's helpful to have one of the board members be a more active liaison if you will uh at the moment the two seem to coincide with my background but not necessarily but that's one suggestion and that's a wonderful suggestion tim and um yeah we appreciate that very much we historically have tried to have two council members the liaison but um that that's perfect sue is also a member of the friends oh she is okay great so go set up beautifully that would be very nice thank you yep um when we do have a virtual meeting or uh when we can get it together we will let you know tim oh perfect that's great that's great thank you okay good to know yep okay um um and then we can move on to any topics not anticipated for previously pat you had something to say i did um i wanted to just bring this to the attention of the the council um i had a conversation yesterday with a long time um uh 50 year a person who has lived in town for 50 years and um there's the topic was what's going to happen to seniors when the when the students come back and um i think i know i mean i'm aware as you may the rest of you may be that um paul bachelman has the art town manager has raised some questions and issues to um the university on that subject but i think it would might well be appropriate for us as a council to uh to draft our own comments uh to you know i i guess part of me wants to almost i don't almost want to uh offer that uh in the form of a a letter from the council in the student publication from us to them the students directly basically just underscoring um our first of all our welcome back to our fairer town and um and you know um so as a positive message but also to just underscore uh that many of us who are also uh you know uh have underlying health conditions we are the grandmas and the grandpas in in uh our town and and that uh there the decisions that they may make to wear masks and to socially distance and um and be respectful of the of uh everyone else uh make a an enormous a critically enormous difference to us in in preventing um our an untimely death or severe uh illness so um that i'm thinking that that's on the minds of a lot of uh a lot of us and um that we are uniquely positioned to craft something like that a statement like that which i'm willing to do with with any input from any of you who have some ideas about that um that um you know so we don't have to have another meeting but i could certainly circulate the draft around to everyone by by email and if it sounds good we'll figure out how we can um get it to students what what do you think yeah uh suit yes um it's been a great concerning topic uh green leaves where heaps of seniors live uh a real worry and so i think that would be an excellent thing to do thank you for thinking of it yes i agree i i think um i'd be happy to work with you on a letter but you go ahead and do and devise a draft and and we'll go from there um there was a petition going around uh a couple weeks ago that i'll see if i can dig up about um students coming back and i did so appreciate um paul barcoman's uh proposal to the chancellor and he had four major issues i'll scan that and send that around to people as well because it was really very meaningful and concerning so tim the only other suggestion i would make is don't forget the other two colleges in town yeah yeah when we send that out and the other thought is perhaps to uh the superintendent of schools so high school students and and others i mean they're not quote coming back but in terms of responsibility of young people for uh responsible action is possibly uh help it also gets frankly the uh a little marketing for the council agent that's true so that's in the face of the public yeah i mean what the heck that would be helpful very good okay and i not just i just would echo uh much like susie remarks uh we receive a number of phone calls and it is a frequent topic of conversation at lunchtime pickup grab and go the number of individuals who have expressed concern around this so i just wanted to add to the echo of the voices to that just to share what we've heard yeah and it could also be a letter to the editor which once again from the council on aging puts us in the face of the public like it that sounds good so uh and are there any announcements to be made no well you know the one thing i um that i would share is uh about voting so i know um there's i actually have a column uh for in the next in this newsletter that's getting printed from the town clerk shabina martin about the um accommodations and hopeful ways in which seniors can safely cast their votes and that that with the new legislation every person who was already a registered voter will have the opportunity you will be receiving uh the request for a ballot to be sent in that you can mail to the town clerk ahead of time and you can engage in in early voting um and i just i think that that will be a topic that that would be helpful for the coa to partner and make sure folks are made aware and continue to be aware they'll be setting up outside of the bank center for a week in august um so we and they will be here even over the weekend so i think it's seven days that they will be present here on site and hopefully that will ensure um a safe participation particularly for our older adults uh more to come excellent okay great okay and i would suggest that the next council on aging meeting uh since we generally have not met in august unless people feel the need to do so would be september third or september 10th labor day is december september 7th if that makes any difference to people any comments about when i i'm not i'm not a member but i there's a possibility will not be here september third given that i have three children who are going to be uh relocating at that time the 10th i'll be back it does matter thank you so the next meeting should be september 10th greg graves greg did you have something to say you did okay uh yeah i have a question i mean things are so different this summer uh i remember that you know uh for the last few years i've been in town for like 40 years now and every summer people go away that's not happening this summer and there's gonna be a lot happening in september in terms of the chains of the demographics in town that sort of thing and if everybody's of most people are going to be here anyways uh next month and since i'm new just getting catching up to speed uh i would suggest having a meeting in august uh that way if somebody is not going to be here in it's not available in september because it's going to be really busy uh we still you know catch up with all the changes that are happening and i think most of it's going to start in august in terms of getting ready for september it's a very good point and actually i had to consider that myself because you're right there is a lot going on and with the change in leadership that also is a a way to ease in before things really get very much busier so yeah um what is the um date and let me get my calendar in august that might be best so the first thursday is august 6 uh how does that sound to people uh let's go with that august 6 9 o'clock sounds good and we'll let um i'll check it out with angela and um she can reserve that date for us so okay sounds good thank you all so much for a good meeting and um i ask if someone wants to make a motion to adjourn i moved up we adjourn okay thank and um meeting is adjourned at five minutes to 11 all right good thank you real soon thanks everybody bye be well everyone congratulations wow thank you thanks