Active Adult Advisory Board Meeting

Regular Meeting Active Adult Center Advisory Board January 21, 2025 A Regular Meeting of the Madison Heights Active Adult Center Advisory Board was called to order by Chair Salley, January 21, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. at the Madison Heights City Hall Building at 300 W. 13 Mile Rd., Madison Heights, MI 48071. Present: Bessler, Juska-Svoba, Patton, Ratliff, Salley, Smith, Topping and Quigley. Also Present: Center Supervisor Cowan. Excused: Mowry, DPS Director Ballantine, Councilor Wright. 19-01. Minutes. Motion by Ms. Patton seconded by Ms. Juska-Svoba to adopt the minutes from the Regular Meeting of November 19, 2024 and the Special Meeting of December 17, 2024. Yeas: Bessler, Juska-Svoba, Patton, Ratliff, Salley, Smith, Topping and Quigley. Nays: None. Excused: Mowry. 19-02. Meeting Open to the Public. None. 19-03. Staff Report. Ms. Cowan updated the Board on programs that are coming up including lunch and learns, trips, classes, parties, and a building closure. 19-04. Maintenance Requests Ms. Cowan updated the Board on punch list items that have been completed such as the fans in the exercise rooms, and that we are still working on getting light in the fireside lounge and a light in the dining room repaired. Mr. Salley also asked if the requested handicap buttons for the two individual bathrooms passed in this year’s budget. Mr. Salley also asked if something like shades could be added to the windows in the dining room due to the sun coming into the dining room in the afternoon. Several Board members agreed and stated it was difficult to see with the glare. Ms. Patton also asked if something could be done with the heating and cooling, stating that it gets very cold in the dining room when there are a lot of people in it. At last week’s bingo the temp was 67 with cold air blowing on them a lot of the time. Ms. Cowan stated she will email Mr. Ballantine and let him know about those three items, and she will add them onto the agenda for next month. 1 1-21-25 AACAB Regular Meeting Active Adult Center Advisory Board January 21, 2025 19-05. Budget Requests Ms. Cowan reported she emailed the contact person at SMART about the Mobility and Service Expansion Grant and he stated that we should know in the fall. Ms. Cowan also reported that City owned van 469 will be replaced in this year’s budget, SMART van 480 should be replaced in the fall and she is currently working on a request to replace SMART bus 530, which will take a few years. 19-06. Unfinished Business. Ms. Cowan reported that the holiday gift cards for seniors in need went very well. Several people donated monies and the AAC was able to help six seniors, who were all very appreciative. One senior wrote a thank you note stating that the gift card made a huge difference in them getting through the month. Ms. Cowan read an email from the Finance Department thanking the Board for their donation of $1,000.00 to help seniors in need of help with their water bills. Two seniors were helped, one with around $300 and the other with around $700. Several Board members stated if we were to donate again, they would prefer that each senior receive a portion of their back water bill, maybe $100, so we could help more seniors in need. Ms. Topping stated she would like to suggest making another donation to the Madison Heights Emergency Pantry, and she felt this time of year there is an even greater need. There was some discussion and all Board members agreed they would like to make another donation from the escrow account. Motion by Ms. Juska-Svoba seconded by Ms. Ratliff to donate $250.00 from the escrow account to the Madison Heights Emergency Pantry. Yeas: Bessler, Juska-Svoba, Patton, Ratliff, Salley, Smith, Topping and Quigley. Nays: None. Excused: Mowry. Ms. Cowan stated that Mr. Ballantine said the holiday lights award ceremony went well, the recipients were in attendance and were thankful. Ms. Cowan also stated that everyone should save the date for the upcoming summer beautification drive around and lunch. We will meet at the AAC on Tuesday, July 22 at 9:30 am, drive around and look at residents’ landscaping that have been nominated and then go out to lunch after. Ms. Cowan handed out copies of the advisory board group picture that the Communications Department took and had printed. 2 1-21-25 AACAB Regular Meeting Active Adult Center Advisory Board January 21, 2025 19-07. New Business. Ms. Quigley stated that she wanted to let the Board members know about in incident that happened to her last Friday in the City complex parking lot. Ms. Quigley and her husband were at the scam talk at the AAC last Friday and were leaving around 12:45 pm. They were parked outside the city hall north entrance. Ms. & Mr. Quigley both went outside to get in their car and leave when Mr. Quigley said he wanted to go back in and use the restroom. Ms. Quigley got in the car to wait for Mr. Quigley and a minute later a woman walked up to her window and started talking. Ms. Quigley rolled down the window a little to hear and the woman stated she needed to get to her Dad’s house, but she didn’t have money and needed a ride. Ms. Quigley told her she couldn’t help her and suggested she either go to the police station or the AAC to see if they could help, but the woman stated “they won’t help” and she needed Ms. Quigley to take her. Ms. Quigley again told her no that she couldn’t help. The woman wouldn’t leave and kept pressuring her and in the meantime Mr. Quigley came back out, used his remote to open the car doors to get in the car. When he unlocked the doors the woman opened a back car door and got in the car. Ms. Quigley told her that she needed to get out but the woman would not listen. Ms. Quigley eventually had to get out of the car, open the door where the woman was sitting and yell at her several times to get her to get out of the car. Ms. Cowan asked Ms. Quigley if she went to the police station after and when she stated she hadn’t Ms. Cowan told her that she should. Ms. Quigley agreed to file a report after the meeting. Ms. Quigley stated the woman was young, around mid 20s, white, looked very unkept and like she had cigarette burns on her face and hands. Ms. Cowan thanked Ms. Quigley for letting them know and said she was grateful that she was okay. Ms. Cowan reminded the group that this happened mid-day, in the parking lot, with a lot of people around so she wanted to remind everyone to make sure they are aware of their surroundings and to lock their car doors once they get into their vehicles. 19-08. Treasurer’s Report. Ms. Cowan went over some items on the report including monies taken in from the purse and jewelry sale and the holiday bazaar. Ms. Cowan also stated that she wanted to give the Board a heads up, that when the exercise equipment was inspected during its annual maintenance both treadmills were found to need their belts replaced. Besides the around $200.00 fee for regular maintenance, there will be a fee of around $800.00 coming out soon for the treadmill belts. Motion by Ms. Juska-Svoba seconded by Ms. Bessler to approve the November Treasurer’s report. Yeas: Bessler, Juska-Svoba, Patton, Ratliff, Salley, Smith, Topping and Quigley. Nays: None. Excused: Mowry. 3 1-21-25 AACAB Regular Meeting Active Adult Center Advisory Board January 21, 2025 19-09. Council & Administration Updates. None. 19-10. Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 1:45 pm. Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, February 18, 2025 at 1:00 pm. Jennifer Cowan Active Adult Supervisor 4 1-21-25 AACAB