Montpelier Senior Activity Center Advisory Council

Montpelier Senior Activity Center 58 Barre Street, Montpelier, VT 05602 A Place for Healthy Aging and Lifelong Learning 802-223-2518 • msac@montpelier-vt.org • montpelier-vt.org/msac EDITED DRAFT 8.22.2016 Advisory Council Meeting Monday, July 18, 2016 at Montpelier City Hall Memorial Room 12:00 – 1:00 Attending: Chair Bob Barrett, Director Janna Clar, Liz Dodd, Wendy Freundlich, Dan Groberg, John Hopkins, Ron Merkin, Jessica Sanderson, Susan Torchia Meeting convened at 12:04 John Hopkins was welcomed to the Council by Bob Barrett. 10:00 am and 2:30 pm minutes of June 21, 2016 were approved. Director’s Notes Janna Clar’s Director’s Update/Notes are available upon request at MSAC front office or online. Topics and conversation included:  Janna recommended the Advisory Council members familiarize themselves to the general orientation of MSAC and expectations of their service terms.  The proposed FY17 Budget is available for review and includes the budget highlights, proposed FY17 priorities, continuing FY16 goals, priorities and performance measures.  Class and workshop surveys are now worded to extract results-based data now needed for city and state reporting and fund raising  Good conversations make Janna optimistic that National Life will match dollar amounts in the MSAC Fall 2016 Appeal.   FY17 fundraising is expected to increase 68.7% because of Dan’s grant writing and appeals management.  A proposal was resubmitted for the Art Room partition to E.F. Wall, and if approved by City Council, will be approximately 100K. Work will begin in Sept. (tentative start and end Friday, Sept 9 - Monday, Sept 26th.) Fall art classes will be postponed while the work is going on. Refinishing the Art and Community room floors and adding Audio Video equipment will be done after the construction.  New Audio Visual equipment, including a wireless microphone will be installed in the Activity Room, July 19th, 2016.  The front office has moved registration to the front lobby to lessen congestion. Norma, the Recreation Admin Assistant, will be cross trained to assist MSAC customers. This and online credit card payment for registrations, etc. will ease overflow at peak times.  MSAC will have a peer review this fall before applying for accreditation with the National Institute for Senior Centers.  Materials are available upon request. There is a three month contract through September 30, 2016 between JBI and GTC. Janna is hoping they will sign an annual contract October 1, 2016. This information should be known by the August AC meeting. Committee Assignments  Finance Committee : Liz Dodd, Bill Doelger, Whit Dall, Tina Muncy, Scott Hess  Membership/Hospitality Committee : Chair Jessica Sanderson, Linda Workman, Bill Doelger, Susan Torchia, Carole Baker  Fundraising Committee : John Hopkins, Sue Stukey, Jane Osgatharp, Janet Ressler, David Carris, Liz Dodge, Dan Groberg   Program Committee : Bob Barrett, Chair, Ron Merkin, Wendy Freundlich, Fran Krushenick, Chris Terry, Sylvia Kingsbury  Still needs committee assignment: Paul Irons Community Services Planning and MSAC/Recreation Collaboration  Janna responded to inquiries about the City Council’s directive for the department mergers, by indicating something will happen but what that ends up being is a decision the City Council will make after all the data from the Steering Committee and public forums, including supporting townships, have been evaluated.  Several Council and MSAC members had concerns about the Montpelier public not getting enough media information with the planning and being out of the loop or misinformed. It was suggested that using more public forums, more often, like the MSAC newsletter, Front Porch Forum, Facebook, The Bridge, Montpelier website, and other media outlets for speedy and accurate information will help alleviate those concerns. Overall, better outgoing communication is an AC goal.  A newsletter from the four department heads of MSAC, Rec, Parks and Cemeteries, will be released in August. Update: This newsletter has been canceled.  MSAC members have strongly indicated they do not want the Senior Activity Center to have children’s programming in the building. Janna assured them there were no plans to have children unless they were accompanied by an adult and were registering for Rec programs or attending FEAST Together.  Wendy said she had experience with intergenerational programming and would be interested in making that happen off site of MSAC. Visions for the Advisory Council and Committees  Janna suggested the Committee Chairs review this year’s Advisory Council’s goals and incorporate them into the committees. Correction: Reviewing the MSAC Mission Statement it was agreed that the Advisory Council and Subcommittees members will support the MSAC staff to accomplish that mission.  Liz asked that there be better communication and ownership by the committees. She suggested they give consistent feedback by minutes or reports to the Chair and have it included it at the top of the Advisory Council’s monthly agendas. Correction: All Subcommittees Chairs will email their minutes as soon as possible to the Director and Advisory Council Chair for distribution to the Advisory Council.  John suggested the Subcommittee reports show their progress on the goals or milestones set by the Advisory Committees and are peer reviewed.  John requested data about MSAC that would help him approach community partners, specifically UVMC (formerly CVMC) for outreach. Janna and Dan will come up with an elevator speech for all the Council Members to use. Update: Postponed – members will be asked to draft their own elevator speeches and share at next meeting. Meeting adjourned at 12:59 pm Next Meeting: Monday August 15th, 12:00 – 1:00 pm Memorial Room, City Hall Respectfully submitted, Jessica Sanderson, Scribe