Council on Aging Board

Council on Aging (COA) Advisory Board Meeting Agenda Monday, October 19, 2020 at 9:00am via Phone Conference I. Sign-In: A quorum was not reached. We provided informal updates and concluded early. Present: Mary Donnelly, Lillian Hartman (Director), Andy Hostetler (Chair), John Lawlor; John King (guest) Absent: Joyce Dastou, Beverly Gonsalves (excused – poll worker), Eric Lamarche, Amy Pessia, Anne-Marie Porter, Vincent Milinazzo (excused – ill) II. Pledge of Allegiance III. Approval of Minutes. Postponed to Nov. 9 meeting for quorum. IV. Chairperson’s Report: The Age Friendly Project will be recruiting an Older Adult Action Group comprised of 25 diverse seniors, including those who aren’t already actively involved in the community. They will do advisory work, choosing topics of interest, reaching out to gather data, decide what to do with data. OAAG planning starts soon. Age- Friendly also has selected a logo with a bridge and people of different ages and abilities. V. Director’s Report: See attached. Items of interest include the following: a. CTI has hired a Senior Outreach Specialist to begin working with us supporting phone outreach, senior homeless services, and Age-Friendly Older Adult Action Group. Board members will have an opportunity to meet Eunice by zoom on Friday, Oct. 23. b. Phone Pals is our most important new program to promote, connecting seniors with each other for weekly or more frequent check-ins. We’ll be promoting on WCAP, LTC soon. c. Our 16-passenger bus participated in the “National Night Out” parade on Oct. 6. There were about 15 vehicles overall and it lasted 45 minutes, Andy would recommend weekend time in future. d. Due to the RoadRunner driver strike we have had more shopping and CareRide requests. We are not going into the RoadRunner garage to access our 14-passenger bus. e. Coalition for a Better Acre has confirmed interest in lending tech equipment for our de- cluttering class in November. The Friends are submitting a grant application to Saab Foundation for 20 lending devices and contract tech support. f. After meeting with COA staff re: conference call bingo which might cost $350/month, we opted to use our funds to provide all seniors with Thanksgiving and holiday party favors instead. These will be distributed at the meal takeout door. g. Approved city budget FY21 includes enough salary and wages to cover a new Operations Manager, position under review by City Manager. h. UMass Lowell will recommend fitness equipment purchases for us, but cannot provide student orientation video this semester as they limit student/community interactions due to COVID-19. VI. Committee Reports: Healthy Aging & Outreach Committees  a. Healthy Aging Committee met in September, all board members are encouraged to review those meeting minutes. The group discussed technology access and funding. b. Outreach meeting invitation will go out to all board members for Friday Oct. 23, 8am. VII. Items for Discussion a. Old Business: There was no old business. b. New Business i. Voting on board officers postponed to Nov. 9 for quorum. ii. Lil will send a greeting card to Vincenzo on behalf of the Board. iii. November/December Heritage newsletter will announce Board vacancies. VIII. Other. No other items were discussed. IX. Adjournment. Meeting concluded informally at 9:33am X. Next Meeting will be held on Monday, November 9 at 9am via teleconference.