Council on Aging

COUNCIL ON AGING BOARD OF DIRECTORS Monthly Meeting March 4th 2021 at 1pm in the Fireplace Room. MASK ARE REQUIRED Called Meeting to Order at 1:00pm. Present: Joe Byrne, Bonnie Hautula, Josie Wood, George Bourque II, Michelle Morin, Jim Craigen, Peggy Padavano, Not present: Bill Walsh, George Rodriguez, Annie DeMartino, Would like to let the Board know that Nancy Fors a Board Member has passed away. Treasurer’s Report: Sunshine Fund: Currently have $111 in the sunshine fund. Motion passed to send a get well soon gift to Bill Walsh. Financial Report: Handed out Monthly Report, Current Account Balances and the requested budget for 2022. Nothing of note except that the Formula Grant account needs to be spent by the end of June. President’s Report: A. Board Members/ Bill Walsh Looking to fill 2 empty seats on the board. If anyone knows of a good canidate please let the board know. B. Office Space New State Senator John Cronin is renting the office space up stairs (2 rooms). The Mayor asked to rent the suite to Sen Cronin for $150/mo. The Board usually rents the offices for $300 a month. The Board has issue with the inconsistency with the rent amount as it could be seen as “playing favorites”. Board would like clarification from the Mayor’s office in regards to who can rent out the space and who is in charge of the rental amount. C. Status of building to the public The Board does not approve of the coalition scheduled for this Saturday (75 people) without the written approval of the Fitchburg Board of Health. The Board and Joan has reached out to Steve Curry regarding the event. Joan will notify the Mayor’s office of the COA Boards decision immediately after meeting. Director’s Report: A. Staff and operations The Senior Center remains closed due to continued high Covid-19 numbers in Fitchburg during the winter. In February we had 2 staff members test positive in the building. We  continue to have many successful Grab & Go events, and will continue until we can safely open. B. EarMark Awards Rep. Hay secured $25,000 for building windows in 2020. Sen. Tran secured $50,000 for the building in 2021. There is $75,000 earmarked, Joan is working with Joan David on releasing the funds to Fitchburg. Russell Kalstad is the Building Facilitator he recommends that the funds be spent on filters for the building for better ventilation and air quality. Joan is meeting with the new Chief of Staff Patrick tomorrow regarding getting him up to date with issues at the senior center. C. Budget 2021-22 Handed out the new budget for next fiscal year, Joan will make a big push for reinstating the Program Coordinator postion. D. Building Updates Annual/ Bi Annual inspections: boiler, kitchen hood, fire extinguishers, fire alarm inspections are all done. We currently are having a heating problem in O’Neill Hall MPC has detected that one of the motors has burnt out and needs replacing. E. COVID Update The Fitchburg Board of Health will be having a Covid-19 Vaccination Clinic here this Thursday. Hopefully they will hold many more here in the near future. New Business: Old Business: Meeting adjourned at 2:27pm. Next meeting is April 8th at 1pm.