Council on Aging

City of Chicopee Council on Aging December 10,2024 Members Present: S.Tawrel, C. Gemme, S. Gelinas, K. LaBreck, M. Rider, S. Michalik, E. Laflamme, A. Monroe, L. Houle Staff: Sherry Manyak Excused: K. Rousseau, D. Naumchick I. Call to order *The meeting was called to order at 4:45. There was not a request to record the meeting. II. Public Input  There was no public input III Review of Minutes  Minutes from November 12,2024 were reviewed and accepted unanimously without changed. IV Business Report Director’s Report  Sherry has been meeting with the friends group to plan new events in the future.  Thanksgiving lunch and dinner went well.  Starting in Jan event tickets will go on sale at 2:00 in the afternoon instead of first thing in the morning. Sherry is hoping this will elevate congestion in the lobby.  The meeting with the receptionists to go over the handbook went well. A handbook for the drivers is being worked on. Then they also will meet together to go through the handbook.   Bright Nights was a big success. Both nights were sold out. Sherry is hopeful that next year there will three busses each night. The spaghetti super before Bright Nights was well received. The students on the high school track team volunteered serving the dinner.  The Holiday lunch and dinner are not sold out.  NewYear’s Party will take place on Jan 2nd at lunch with a count down to noon.  Sherry and staff are planning a Lunar Dinner. Plans are not finalized yet.  There will be a comedy Dinner in February.  Sherry wants to start doing some different types of activities. There is a group the puts on game night interactive activities. Sherry is looking into them as a possibility. V. Café Report Café is doing well. When construction on the property next door starts, Sherry is thinking that the workers there will make use of the café in Rivermills and the café profit will increase as it did when the assisted living building was under construction. VI. Fiscal Report The formulas grant will be about $200,000, $100,000 goes to supplement salaries. Catering is a high because of the many activities taking place. The Fiscal report was unanimously accepted. VII Building Updates  It will take about 6 months for the changes in the HVAC system to be completed.  Sherry wrote a grant that will pay for the doors in the upstairs bathrooms to be push button entry.  Cabinets for the café are ordered. VIII Friends  The Christmas Tree raffle made $3800.  Money is still coming in from the buck slips with the electric light dept.  Raffle from Bright Nights made $900. IX New Business  The new 14 passenger van has arrived. The other new van should be here be June 30th.  The new shed is installed and will be used for event storage. The DPW shed will be used by maintenance.  The center needs a new grill. The one we have is broken and cannot be repaired. Sherry will use money from the formula grant to replace it.  Trees in the hall outside the lunch room were decorated by staff. People can vote on which tree they like and the group of staff who decorated that tree be acknowledged at the staff holiday gathering.  A question was asked about volunteer opportunities. Sherry said volunteers would be welcome. Let her know when we want to volunteer. The meeting was adjourned at 5:30, Next meeting is January 14,2025