HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-01-23-COA-min (Age Friendly Working Group)Meeting Minutes: Lexington Age-Friendly Working Group Jan 23 Zoom meeting
Date: January 23, 2024
Time: 2:30 pm
Attendees: Michelle, John, Sudhir, Sandra, Ellen, Julie and Dana
The roll call was conducted, and all listed members were present.
Minutes for last working group meeting was approved
Handyman List
- Julie reported that she had sent out a list of eight handymen.
- Michelle mentioned that some seniors had requested the names. Not everyone
on the current list was comfortable disclosing whether they would be doing the
snow blowing.
- Julie clarified the distinction between snow blowing and snow shoveling, noting
that blowing might require a commercial license, while shoveling could involve high
school students.
- Dana mentioned a volunteer coordinator in Belmont responsible for snow
shoveling, but after her retirement, finding students became difficult.
- Ellen suggested reaching out to schools for student assistance, but Michelle
indicated that previous attempts with LHS hadn't progressed, maybe due to liability
concerns.
- Julie suggested seeking advice from the town counsel regarding liability issues.
- Ellen emphasized the need for consistency, as the student population turned over
every year, mentioning contacting Richard, who provided three names for snow
clearing. One person was wonderful at doing snow cleaning and he has a
company.
Age-Friendly Initiative
- Dana asked whether Lexington wanted to pursue certification as an age-friendly
community, mentioning initiatives in Belmont related to walkability and home
modification, and it was certified as age friendly community
- Ellen said that we had worked on home modification and discussed previous
efforts with the CAPABLE program, but the cost was prohibitive.
- Dana said that Lexington had done a lot with aged friendly initiative even without
the age friendly community certification.
- Michelle highlighted the benefits of certification, including recognition and potential
grants. Julie agreed that it is worth it to apply and need to understand the
application paperwork.
- Dana suggested that she and Michelle can reach out to the age-friendly network
representatives and called out the need to get stakeholder support and engage
town officials.
- Michelle suggested conducting another assessment due to population changes.
Action Items:
- Julie to email Garry at Lexington at Home to arrange meet & greet with seniors.
- John to contact Sophia at Brookhaven.
- Dana to share information about Belmont's age-friendly community efforts.
Next Meeting:
Date: January 29th
Time: 3:00 PM