Senior Affairs Commission

ROSE CITY SENIOR CENTER 8 Mahan Drive, Norwich, Connecticut 06360 (860) 889-5960  fax: (860) 885-1160 SENIOR AFFAIRS COMMISSION Meeting of May 16, 2011 Members in Attendance: Chairperson Gen Bergendahl, Vice Chairperson Olive Buddington, Secretary Margaret Aldrich, Regular Members Michael Lahan, Jacquelyn Randall, and Alternate Members Antoinette Gwiazdowski, Frank Jacaruso and Jan Stewart. Attending staff members were Beverly Goulet, Mike Wolak and Anne Barriere. Chairperson Gen Bergendahl welcomed Councilman H. Tucker Braddock to the meeting, determined that a quorum was present and called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. Minutes: Accepted. Communications: We received a thank-you and a donation for $100 from the Women’s City Club for the use of the Senior Center for their meetings during the year. Human Services Report: We’re still waiting and hoping the budget will pass with funding restored to the departments. The outcomes of the federal and state budgets will have a major impact on our city. Bev reported that the Sunrise Rotary Club has a very successful Duck Race fundraiser for the Yantic Volunteer Fire Department. They have previously donated money for the fitness center and Bev suggested to Mike to put in an application for the Senior Center. Senior Center Report: Our recent Thrift Sale did very well raising over $800. As above, the Women’s City Club donated $100. The Lion’s Club had a breakfast here recently and donated $125 to the Senior Center. We are trying to speed up the new bus process. Money has already been appropriated for the bus and we have submitted the grant application for the conversion to natural gas. We were hoping to pursue the purchase of the bus sooner and when the grant approval comes through to then send the bus in for conversion and if it didn’t get approved we would still have the new bus with the original gas system ready to go. Otherwise the projected date would be January of 2012. Chairperson’s Report/Legislative Report: As it is the last meeting for this cycle, Chairperson Gen Bergendahl proposed choosing a new chairman as she wished to resign as Chairperson. There was a question as to the time frame between the choosing and appointing of Commission members (effective Sept 1st) and the voting of officers within the group (the following March or the first meeting of the new calendar year. Spirited discussed followed with questions about how the By-Laws were worded and pursue changes in wording if needed. Other Business: Regular Member Michael Lahan wanted to share that every year the New London County Bar Association gives out its Liberty Bell Award to non-lawyers in Southeastern  2 Connecticut who have been really active and of great benefit to their community and this year it was awarded to Beverly Goulet. Old Business: Alternate Member Jan Stewart wanted to say that she had missed stating at the last meeting how much it was appreciated everything that Mike did at the Senior Center to help the Docent Program going from providing meeting rooms, coffee and general promotion. The program is going very well and all the volunteers are greatly enjoying their time spent at City Hall with many visitors stopping by just to chat even when they don’t have specific questions. There is still a need for more volunteers to cover one empty shift as well as serve as backup when someone else may be unavailable. Regular Member Jacquelyn Randall commented that the wind turbines seems to not make as much noise as the original concern suggested but also wondered if the turbines were hooked up completely and is the monitoring system active yet. It has been noticed that there is a new weather system on the roof but it is unknown if the information is accessible on-line yet. Possibly is it active at Kelly School but we’re not sure. New Business: Alternate Member Frank Jacaruso had noticed while out with his family in New London that he noticed a Senior Center bus from another town in the parking lot and wondered why we don’t take our seniors to events like the opera series and the Coast Guard Band free concerts. Mike explained that we actually do have a Coast Guard Band concert trip planned for June but for evening or weekend trips we would have to compensate the drivers with make up time which turns into days off which means no drivers to cover regular days because we have no part-time budget line item anymore. Next Meeting: Monday, Sept. 12, 2011, at 9:00 a.m., at the Rose City Senior Center. Respectfully submitted, Margaret Aldrich Margaret Aldrich, Secretary MA/acb REGULAR MEETINGS OF THE COMMISSION ARE SCHEDULED ON THE RD 3 M O N D A Y O F M A R / A P R / M A Y A N D S E P T /O C T / N O V