HomeMy WebLinkAbout1993-02-09-COA-min.pdf TOWN OF LEXINGTON
Lexington, Massachusetts
� ,
LEXINGTON COUNCIL ON AGING BOARD MEETING -- FEBRUARY 9, 1993
Attending Ed Grant (Chair), Kevin Grimes (Co-Chair), Frank Chen, Clark
Cowen, Bob Cushman, Jim Fenske, Donna Hooper, Harriet Onello,
Barbara Rubin, Muriel Taylor Linda Vine (Director), and Karen
Santucci (staff).
Absent: Monica Chang
Meeting was called to order at 4:35 by Ed Grant with a quorum present.
Remarks from the Chair Clark Cowen, newly appointed board member, was
introduced and welcomed. Clark has been a regular volunteer with
the Meals on Wheels program.
Announcements:
Town Manager Rick White informed us that the Board of Selectmen
restored to the COA budget the approximately $7,500 requested for
the Senior Health Monitor program.
The annual Volunteer Appreciation party was scheduled to take
place at the Center Friday February 12 at 2:00 p.m. Betty Eddison
was coming to receive a gift in memory of Jack Eddison.
At a cost of $150.00 the COA planned to purchase a sugar maple
tree to be planted near the Town Hall in memory of Jack Eddison,
the late president of Friends of COA.
A town-wide Candidates Forum will be present at the Center
Wednesday February 24 at 1 :30 p.m. to discuss each candidate's
views and to answer questions.
The Rotary Club annual dinner for seniors drew an attendance of
300 persons on January 23. This annual event will be repeated in
1994 A way will be worked out to give ample advance notice and to
take care of the waiting-list problem.
A flyer is provided on the April 2, 1993 Auction. Each board member
is asked to sell 10 tickets and should review the list of things to do or
make donations.
Minutes of the January meeting were presented by Harriet Onello. A word cor
rection from "and" to "an" on page 3, paragraph 5, line 1 was noted
by Jim Fenske. The minutes were moved, seconded and accepted
as amended.
L
1
Treasurer's Report -- Jim Fenske
The Meals on Wheels prices were raised from $5.00 to $5.50 per
meal as of January 1, 1993. This enabled the program to break
even and show a small balance of $6.00 at the moment. There has
not been any decrease in MOW clients.
Some cost changes reported were A $1,500 increase in expenses
by opening the Center one extra night per week. This was partially
offset by three minor reductions amounting to $700 An increase of
$7,551 in Home Care Services. A $600 increase in printing costs.
The total increase of $8,151 was in effect less than 5 per cent of the
budget total.
Jim suggested that the board might consider capping the Home
Care Services at the current level of 40 clients. The discussion was
deferred to a later point of the meeting pending Karen Santucci's
Senior Health Monitor report.
Senior Health Monitor -- Karen Santucci
Karen distributed two reports: a one-page analysis of the Senior
Health Monitor activities as of February 1993,
The ensuing discussion revolved around the apparent need to de-
fine a future guideline or policy for this increasingly costly program,
while balancing it with the community's needs here The program
provides visiting nurse services to about 40 clients. The average
number of visits per month rose from 72 in FY90 to 108 in FY91, 103
in FY92, and nil in FY93. In spite of certain cuts in some visits, the
total cost has been on the rise.
The board convened a subcommittee to study this issue and report
back to the full board at the April meeting. Joining the subcommittee
were Kevin Grimes, Bob Cushman, Frank Chen, and Karen
Santucci. Debbie Littleton, LPN, may be invited to the subcommittee
meeting so that she may contribute her knowledge of the program.
The subcommittee planned to meet on February 23 at 4:30 p.m.
Referral Lists Kevin Grimes
Kevin led a discussion of the COA service referrals. He pointed out
the need for some kind of a "protocol" for referrals. When seniors in
town call in to ask for referrals, the calls are directed to Linda Vine.
She answers some of the inquiries and directs the reminder to
Karen Santucci for following-through. The Center currently has a
number of documents (in a large 3-ring binder and in file folders)
displaying a wide range of services provided by professionals and
businesses for service to seniors.
C
2
Harriet Onello expressed a point of concern as to the liabilities that
might arise as a result of the Center's giving out service referrals.
The concern was whether we might be viewed as endorsing the
work of those whom we refer to prospective clients. If the service
was not satisfactory to a subscriber, would we be held as being
misleading, or worse?
Kevin Grimes, following some open discussion, agreed to review
the resource lists in the 3" thick 3-ring binder and report back at a
subsequent board meeting
Committee Reports:
Donna Hooper, Human Services Liaison, brought in a report on the
Emergency Services Fund.
Kevin Grimes of the Linkage Committee stated a need for board
members to help in conducting the Linkage interviews.
Linda Vine distributed a draft of the Community Care Partnership
statement involving linkage with Symmes Hospital.
Linda Vine presented a work plan for the 1993 Satisfaction Survey
It calls for results of the survey to be presented to the board at our
April 13 meeting.
Linda Vine distributed a Senior Center Library activity report for the
month of January 1993.
Linda Vine reported that calls were being received from seniors with
concerns over the property tax increases. Some senior citizens
were having problems with paying the higher taxes. The board
asked Linda to invite the town assessor to attend a board meeting
and discuss this issue with us.
The next board meeting will be held at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday March 9.
Motion to adjourn was made and seconded. Meeting adjourned at 6:30 p.m.
Recording secretary pro tem, Frank Chen
L
3
L
(
L