HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-11-01-COA-minCOA Meeting Minutes – November 1, 2023
Attendees:
- In person: Julie Ann Shapiro, Susan Rockwell, Sandra Shaw, Laurie Fiola, John Zhao, Ellen
Cameron, Sudhir Jain, Michelle Kelleher, and Kelsey Rollins
- On Zoom: Joyotsna Kakullavarapu, Julie Barker
Julie Shapiro called the meeting to order at 2:35 pm.
There were no public comments.
1. New Business/Announcements:
- Julie Shapiro interviewed the Human Services Director candidates.
- Julie Barker joined the Age-Friendly Working Group team.
- Julie Shapiro raised the question of the COA meeting format and asked whether we could
decide the format on a monthly basis. Michelle will check whether a quorum in person is
required for a hybrid committee meeting.
2. Review/Approve October 4 Minutes:
- The minutes from the previous meeting were unanimously approved.
3. Updates on Age-Friendly Working Group:
- John Zhao provided updates on the three areas: age-friendly, housing, and social
engagement.
- Julie Shapiro proposed ways to engage with seniors where they live, e.g., going to Greeley
Village. We can go on the road and update the resource guide that Human Service already has,
adding home modification service vendors.
- Ellen Cameron said she can take a lead and work with Julie Barker to compile a resource list,
i.e., home safety and snow blow/leaf clean-up.
- Ellen Cameraon: We can also join senior lunches and have a meet & greet. And Julie
Shapiro commented that before Covid, we had people join Meet & Greet events.
- John Zhao: We can discuss further in the working group’s Nov meeting.
4. Revision of COA Charge:
- Julie Shapiro and Board members conveyed thanks to Sue Rockwell and Laurie Fiola for
drafting the revision. They informed the board that Town Manager Jim Malloy asked for an
opportunity to allow the new Human Services director to review the revision of COA charge.
- Sue Rockwell: We looked at the current charge, reviewed the COA's missions, and charges
from other towns. We updated the current charge on meeting time, removed the mention of
senior center and social daycare. We added collaboration with Minteum and services. We
added the mission statement and age-friendly-related initiatives at the end.
- John Zhao: With the population aging, we need to add age-friendly initiatives.
- Julie Shapiro asked for the reason to separate mission from charge. Laurie Fiola updated that
other towns have the charge description on the top, then they go into the mission statement.
- Joyotsna Kakullavarapu: We should incorporate DEI initiatives; I will give more thoughts and
send an email.
- COA board members discussed terminology preferences for older adults, seniors, and elders.
- Laurie Fiola: We looked at neighboring towns like Newton, Concord, and the Lexington Age-
Friendly report, as John reminded us. We also looked at the terminology as well. We got "elder"
out and ended up with "senior."
- Kelsey Rollins: I don't like the term "elder."
- Julie Shapiro: I think "old adults" is better, and "seniors" are out of fashion.
- Julie Barker: Laurie/Sue did a great job. For me, the term of a charge is aimed at the
organization. Regarding the senior definition, people should be 60+.
- John Zhao: My only concern about the older adults, the term has not been clearly associated
with the 60+ population.
- Sandra Shaw: I liked the term seniors, and I don't like "older adults."
- Laurie Fiola: I will take the initiative to check university studies and see what is the trend.
- Julie Barker: We cannot change the term elder (it is a part of the state dept name); I don't like
either elder and seniors.
- Laurie Fiola: The age-friendly report is 5 yrs old and could be outdated. Newton joined AARP
age-friendly community in 2015.
- Ellen Cameron: Maybe we can have Umass come back and look at the age-friendly domains
and incorporate recommendations.
7. Staff Reports, Program Updates, and Liaison Reports:
Michelle Kelleher:
- Holiday programs are out. Human Services will team up for holiday meals for seniors, gift
cards for kids.
- We will have an intern working on a new Lexington mental health webpage for different
topics under the Human Service website.
- We are planning 3 flu clinics and will have a covid clinic at the community center.
- There will be harvest and haunted house events.
- We will host a table at a LexHab event.
- There will be a new contract for the homeless.
- We will invite the health board and human service to cover beyond the State’s coverage.
Currently, we have about 20 people from 5 families.
- There will be senior lunches on Nov 16 and Dec 14. The seats were filled immediately, and
we had about 35 new people join recently.
Kelsey Rollins:
- Reported on Matter of Balance, holiday schedule for the community center.
- Human Services had a new Veterans Director, and there will be a veteran meet & greet
event.
Sudhir Jain:
- Minuteman Services have a new Burlington office and a new aging podcast for positive
aging.
- It needs volunteers for group lunches.
- There will be a Living Well and Beyond on Nov. 4.
- The Transportation Dept updated that there were 500 LexExpress passes sold and about
101 rides per day, the ridership went up.
- The new taxi contract has a higher rate, facing driver availability challenges.
- FCOA sent a new fundraising letter, and it has a new FCOA logo.
- FCOA funded new table tennis at the Community Center, and it has a new video conference
system.
Laurie Fiola:
- There was an extensive discussion about renovation plans at 1729 Massachusetts Avenue (
the former Starbucks). Initial plans indicated work for a coffee bar and sitting area in the back
area, next to the parking lot. The back door to the property was not ADA accessible. The
architect and business partner for the restaurant, Revival, were present for the discussion and
indicated that the back entrance expansion was scrapped because they did not have the funds
for the accessible ramp ($ 60,000). Anticipated opening of the restaurant/coffee shop is March
2024
- Continued conversations regarding the bus stop at 1666 Mass Ave. The Commission on
Disability voted 4-1 to keep the original bus stop design, with the recommendation that 3 parking
spaces (vs. earlier 2 parking spaces) would be lost on Mass Ave. Other work around presented
other safety issues, especially with the bike lanes and merging traffic.
Sue Rockwell:
- Vyebrook village renovation project is going but still within contract cost.
- New alarms for Greeley Villages.
- The federal and state increased funding.
- LexHab had an affordable housing forum and presented good information about housing.
John Zhao:
- The HPB board voted and approved a letter to the Select Board supporting RETF
- The HPB board discussed the draft property policy recommendation for the Select
board, and it voted to approve the recommendation.
Ellen Cameron: No update on mental health.
Sandra Shaw: Center Community is working on the two-day event on 11/17 to discuss how to
make the center more vibrant, parking lot redesign, and make the center more livable.
Ellen Cameron: No DEI meeting held.
Submitted by John Zhao