Montpelier Senior Activity Center Advisory Council

Montpelier Senior Activity Center Minutes for Advisory Board Meeting, Wednesday, August 21, 2013 Members Present: Chair, Tina Muncy, Sue Stukey, Fran Krushenick, Janet Ressler, Liz Dodge, Peter Harris, Sylvia Kingsbury. MSAC Director: Janna Clar; Guest: Mary Alice Bisbee Members absent: Jane Osgatharp, Frank Woods. Meeting called to order by Chair, Tina Muncy at 1:35 pm (note: board meeting had to move from City Hall to MSAC as there was no back-up staff at MSAC that afternoon). Business: 1. Minutes of June 25, 2013 meeting accepted as written. 2. Old Business: a. Members Comments: Re: New Kitchen and “Feast” programs Generally pleased, some comments that “small” size café meals are too small to be considered a “meal”; also sometimes not warm enough. Cost of preparing food must be considered in price and amount of food; need to consider gluten free, vegetarian and lactose intolerance. Janna reports strong attendance at Tuesday and Friday lunches. Thursday “café” is less popular, hoping to improve with more publicity. Home Delivery is going well. Possibly frozen meals will be available in the future. Meals on Tuesday and Friday are federally subsidized and therefore there is no official “charge” for those meals. We pay a fixed fee in a contract with Just Basics who provide the food and staff. People did not like the plastic table cloths - we noted new ones had arrived The band seems to be working as it is - at least no complaint heard c. Personnel Update: Office staff, James and Lisa doing well. Office supply will be tight into September as many staff members are away during next month; Janna will solicit volunteer help in office. Board members commented that often there seem to be too many people helping in the office, which is confusing and sometimes calls don’t get returned in a timely manner, causing loss of possible rentals and events. Jesse Baker is assistant manager and is a good help. Fall programming will include music classes sponsored by Summit School of Traditional Music and Monteverdi Music School, open to the public. d. Home Tour, October 5: Sponsored by Montpelier Chamber Orchestra. MSAC is one of the non-profit groups participating in selling tickets and will receive $15.00 for every ticket we sell before the date of the Tour. We will also supply docents, morning and afternoon shifts, for one house (on the corner of Center and County Road). Sue Stukey is in charge of soliciting ticket sellers and keeping track of tickets sold. Tina Muncy will solicit and organize docents. Tickets are $20 each (before the day of the event) and may be purchased on-line as well. Peter and Tina offered to staff a table sponsored by the Montpelier Chamber Orchestra at the Farmers Market sometime in September. 3. New Business: a. Financial Report: Members reviewed last year’s budget with the caveat that an Audit is still in process and figures are not final. Exact budgeting is difficult due to City Procedures which require a budget be put together 9 months before the fiscal year begins. Many items must be adjusted as the year progresses, some items coming in over budget and some under budget. We have borrowed from the endowment at times, then paid it back through pledges. Overall, we have done better than might have been expected due to the major building renovations and program changes which have occurred since the fire two years ago. We have an operating loss which is quite reasonable. Some highlights of the discussion: 1.) Most classes at MSAC are subsidized to some extent by the Center. Fees do not cover expenses. 2.) We have no organized major Fund Raiser planned at the moment. Some few Memorial Gifts continue to come in. One in particular was given to finance automatic doors . We are awaiting a contractor’s installation of that project. 3.) The Kitchen Fund is doing well! Special requests are also coming in well. 4.) We are looking into possible grant opportunities for items like more chairs, soundproofing, etc. 5.) The new Budget Season for FY 2015 will start in the fall. b. Open House for the Kitchen: Planned for October 18, 2013. A Gala fundraiser, with a Premium Dinner from At 6 pm, (tickets $50-$60?) preceded by a free a Open House for all who want to see the space. Dinner will have a Harvest Theme, with music. There will be a silent Auction of food related gift certificates, some items for sale. We need help soliciting items for the Auction (Sylvia, Fran and Sue) and we will encourage Board members to host tables and sell tickets. The office will create an information sheet. c. Use of MSAC Space; Comments: Not enough “quiet” space. Either need more partitions or restructure how we use the space we have. One possibility would be to relocate the Pool Table, perhaps to the Recreation Center across the street, leaving that “prime real estate” space to be used for other things. The topic is open for consideration. d. Policy for Use of MSAC Space: City entities are free. No charge for any non-profit, non- political group benefiting seniors – ie giving free presentations during regular hours. Up to staff to determine and use their judgment. It’s possible we could also raise our fees, (currently for community room: $50 up to 2.5 hrs; $150 all day; $30 cleaning fee if indicated.) e. Trip Planning: Difficult to get enough participants for longer trips on our own. One possibility would be to join with other Senior Centers in the area. f. Use of the Van: City groups, OK; need a trained driver and insurance. Rentals take an enormous amount of administrative time and energy. g. FY 2015 Budget Work begins now. All are invited to participate, date to be determined. Meeting adjourned at 4:15 PM. Respectfully submitted, Sue Stukey, Secretary