HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-01-26-COA-min (Age Friendly Working Group)Age-Friendly Working Group – January 26, 2023 - Minutes
Present: John Zhao, Julie-Ann Shapiro, Ellen Cameron, Sudhir Jain, Sandra Shaw, Betty Borghesani,
Michelle Kelleher
John Zhao called the meeting to order at 3:00 pm
November, 2022 minutes approved.
Parking Program:
• Town parking enforcement begins February 1, 2023. This has served as a reminder to
people and sparked interest in the Senior Parking Program. Michelle has seen an uptick in
inquiries.
• Renewals and new applications will take place in the spring.
• After town meeting, we will request time on the Select Board Agenda to update the SB on
the Parking Program and to request that the program continue.
• We will reach out to Mark Sandeen and the Police Chief, who has been very supportive in
the past. There does not appear to be a need or desire to go to the Center Committee and
Parking Committee again.
• We will ask the full COA vote to approve the COA requesting time on the SB agenda to
update them and make the request for the program to continue.
Senior Resource Guide:
• Betty, Ellen and John met with Town Counsel who was very supportive and gave a “thumbs
up” to the initiative. He gave insight into ways to avoid exposing the town to legal liability.
• To go to the next stage, we need to update full COA and get full board approval to allow the
working group to work toward preparing the guide.
• The scope of the project will include – Handyman for home modification and safety,
Shoveling and Lawn care. Start small and add categories later.
• Need a process to determine how to select the vendor list, best way to compile list and
keep the list updated, and best way to distribute. Labor, funding and staffing (i.e.,
volunteers to make calls to confirm business is open, etc.) also need to be considered.
• Consider FCOA’s Bright Ideas to assist with costs and paying someone to do necessary work.
• Lexington At Home has a vendor list on their extensive website.
Transportation:
• LexPress funding is not being cut, however costs are getting higher so Susan was asked to
limit/reduce bus service, potentially going from three busses to two.
• COA needs a voice in this decision, though we do not know what the numbers say about
senior ridership. How many seniors will be impacted? Seniors tend to ride mostly in the
morning.
• There is also a question of whether there are accurate numbers, because there has been
little enforcement of fares.
• Our role is to work with Transportation to understand the impact. We need to analyze the
impact to seniors. It would be helpful to understand ridership in age categories i.e. under
18, 18-60 and 60+.
• Budget goes to Town Meeting in the next two weeks.
• We will ask Susan to come to discuss how to mitigate the cost and impact and to retain
services for seniors.
Meeting adjourned.