Council on Aging Board

Council on Aging (COA) Advisory Board Meeting Agenda Monday, September 14, 2020 at 9:00am via Phone Conference I. Sign-In: A bare quorum was reached. Present: Mary Donnelly, Beverly Gonsalves (recorder), Lillian Hartman (Director), Andy Hostetler (Chair), Amy Pessia, Anne-Marie Porter Absent: Joyce Dastous, Eric Lamarche, John Lawlor, Vincent Millinazzo II. Pledge of Allegiance III. Approval of Minutes of the June 8 meeting: The minutes were unanimously approved without amendment. IV. Chairperson’s Report: The Age Friendly Project for Lowell received a grant from the Tufts Health Plan Found, and the Advisory Board will be recruiting an Older Adult Action Group comprised of diverse seniors, including those who aren’t already actively involved in the community. Feel free to forward any nominations. The Advisory Board will meet soon, though the project timeline is somewhat unclear due to COVID. The UMass Lowell Music Department will be moving ahead with a proposed virtual/video music project—details to follow soon. V. Director’s Report: See attached. Items of interest include the following: a. The Health Department has been relocated to downtown Lowell now. b. Within Health and Human Services, Veterans and Health staff have supported senior center Accounts Payable and Payroll since March 2019, Lil has put together all supply orders. Approved city budget FY21 includes enough salary and wages to cover a new Operations Manager which may handle these and more, position not yet approved. c. There will be a Costume Contest for Halloween, where people in costume will come to the window and get their picture taken. VI. Committee Reports: Health Aging & Outreach Committees a. There is currently nothing to report from either committee, but the Healthy Aging Committee will meet next week. b. Focus for 2021: Lil ask that the committees help her brainstorm how we can improve our outreach efforts. Technology is more necessary than ever in the time of COVID, but many seniors lack access to and/or comfort with technology. What ideas might we have for increasing access and comfort? What other forms of outreach could we pursue? We will brainstorm about this at the HAC meeting, Andy will also check in with his colleague in the UML Economics department, Carol McDonough, who completed a grant project several years ago on expanding broadband access to seniors. VII. Items for Discussion  a. Old Business: There was no old business b. New Business i. Andy inquired as to when the Board normally holds officer elections, makes committee assignments, and outlines goals for the year. He believed it was scheduled to happen during the October meeting, but Lil checked and discovered that this normally happens at the September meeting. We agreed to delay this till the October meeting. VIII. Other a. Mary Donnelly reported that CTI is trying to get tablets for the Foster Grant Program, so that their placements can continue now that seniors aren’t able to into schools because of COIVD. Some training and remote assistance will be required, particularly for seniors volunteers. IX. Adjournment: Amy Pessia made the motion to adjourn and Mary Donnelly seconded it. X. Next Meeting will be held on Monday, October 19 (a week later than usual due to the Columbus Day holiday)