I've heard more people say they can't believe >> Good afternoon. Good afternoon everybody to our council meeting board and a meeting of December the 1st uh at 2:00 in the afternoon >> and I'd like to call the meeting.
So now we're going to have Michael's going to give us the announcement at the beginning. Any person may make a video auto recording of any open session of any meeting or may transmit meeting through any medium subject to reasonable requirements of the chair as to the number, placement, and operation of
equipment used so as not to interfere with the conduct of the meeting. Any person intending to make such recording shall notify the chair forth. All documents referenced to use during this meeting are subject to the open meeting law as to be submitted in duplicate to the chair pursuant to the open meeting
and public records laws. All documents shall become part of the official record of this meeting. Anybody recording other than us? >> No. >> Beautiful. Good. >> All right. Thank you very much, Michael. Uh, next item uh is going to be the minutes. I hope everybody got a chance to read their minutes at home or over
here. Anybody have any questions on the minutes? All right. Next on our list. Can I entertain a motion to accept the minutes?
>> I'll I'll do the motion to >> I'm sorry, you can't the minutes. >> I'll make a motion. >> I didn't know that. >> Okay. Who Who did it? >> I did it. >> Okay. Bren, you made the motion. Second. >> Okay. Robert seconded. Okay. Thank you.
Uh let's see. All in favor? >> Any oppose? >> Just a quick comment. Kathy has used uh AI tech to help put the the things together. Was pretty cool going through that process with you. Nice job, Kathy. >> Okay. Next thing on our on our list is
the Treasury report. So, Okay, >> I'm going to have you pull that mic right up to your We're going to tilt it a little bit. >> There you go. Perfect. >> Okay, page one with the treasures report
is in your packet. Page one, everything that looks to be in good order. On the first page is your general fund. As we all know, that's the money that comes from the city. Everything seems to be in good order. There are some
purchase in the blue, dark blue are the purchase or possible purchase orders coming up. So, uh Mike has accounted for them. Uh I just uh I just had one question. Is
the fire escape fixed now out here? >> It's not. Nope. It has been um contracted so they we're on their schedule soon I imagine. >> Yeah. Okay. Uh so uh and we we're almost
halfway through our year fiscal year already. Can you believe it? Uh we're in the last month December now, but this of course is November. But hey, we're doing okay. Everything seems to be in order. Any questions on the general fund?
months. >> All right, a little bit of bad news. Um, >> so if you look at our balance on repairs and maintenance of $9,600, we've spent $3,600 to date of the 13250 budget. So we have a balance of 9648.
However, we have contracts for Kitridge FM Generator, American Alarm, and Breedo Sheet Metal for the uh for the fire escape. That's going to that's about 105107 in POS. So right there we're about
$1,200 in deficit on repairs and maintenance. Um the bad news is we came in the other day uh to find water leaking from one of the circulating pumps for the building. After
investigating that entire junction, which is a main line that feeds four circulator, five circulators, that main line is rusted. Um, we're really just kind of limping along right now. If we lose that line, we lose all our circulator pumps. We lose all heat in
the building. So, we've asked Royal Steam to come in and get that fixed. That's going to be probably another close to $5,000. Um, that's for all the new pumps uh that go to the circulators and for the junction that puts them all
together. I'm sending a correspondence to the mayor to let him know that we're going to have this extraordinary expense. I did have a conversation with him. Just gave him the heads up, but we'll put it in a formal request to the council for an amendment to or supplement the budget
for uh the gardener senior center for repairs and maintenance. Otherwise, everything seems to be relatively on track. I think we're going to see a huge spike in energy and utility costs again this year. Last year, we're about 175 if you remember. We're probably going to be
close to that again this year. Just looking at this last month, October to November bills. Um they're higher than previous years, which we know 40% increases in the gas utility was pretty much expected. So those are our um our concerns. Just
so you know, you know, >> do Excuse me, Mike. Do we uh uh can we uh pay any of those expenses out of our state grant? No, you got to go to to the mayor and the city council for extra money.
>> This is a general operating fund issue. We're going it it comes through the general fund. Yeah. Okay. We can't use anything to >> uh We're going to be going through the city to get that. >> Okay. >> Any any other questions?
>> I have a question. >> Um I wasn't listening. Could somebody just uh confirm for me the grand total there? Yeah, it we'll probably be closer to um we'll be about
6,6500 over budget in the repair and maintenance. >> Okay. >> Estimated. >> Y >> estimated. So I should I should minus that from the total. >> You should not cuz it's not yet a contract. We don't we just got a ballpark on what this would cost. It
could cost less. It could cost more. They're waiting for confirmation on the cost of the pumps. >> Okay. So when I come to doing the minutes, I just leave it at $132,000. >> 16746. >> Yes. >> Yes.
>> The rest will come next month. The hammer will fall. >> Well, any other question on the general fund only? General fund. Okay. Then moving on down to the gift fund which is right underneath there. The ending balance the ending balance in October
was 95,86280. Uh in November we received a gift of $41610 making the new balance that $96,278.90. So that's >> and we have not transferred the 2500 that was approved last month from revol
from gift fund. >> Yeah. So we and we authorized the transfer of 2500 last month. But anyway, that's that will be accounted for when the big transfer comes, right? Okay.
Page uh page two is the FY 24 grant. Um It It goes on to page three. Page two to page three. >> Yep. So that's page three. That's a Nope. Go back one page. Yeah.
Oh. Oh, it's this is the the revolving fun. I'm sorry. I I knew one page that when we get to the state grant, it will say I was looking for the words closed out because I've done but yeah, here's we
are at the revolving fund. Okay. Uh we have a again we have purchase orders that are encumbered. That's the purple, dark blue. And that amounts to $24,780.88 cuz the total is on page three. And uh
the income for November was $4,074.95 and the expenditures were only $615.84, which was not too bad. And so at the moment we have a balance in the revolving fund of 38,12463. Are there any questions at all about the
uh revolving fund? Revolving fund. >> Just to do your math, the 91,000 is our cash available balance minus the 38,000. I'm sorry, minus the 28,000 11103 of expenses year to date minus the 24,000.
So that's 52,000 from the 21 from the 91 leaves us with 38,000. >> 38,12463. >> Any question at all about the expenditures? No. No. Okay. Then quickly and here's the here's the one I was
looking for the at the bottom of that page. It said closed out. That's what I thought it was. Okay. This was our 24 grant. And um are we finally closed? Really closed out, Mike? >> We're closed out. That's what the report says. It's closed out.
>> Closed out. Yeah. Okay. So that I don't think we got any questions on that. Finally, it's closed out. Okay. On to FY25. Oo. Well, there is there is a report on that. So, in November of 2025, we had $281
of regular expenses plus the 224724 of the salary expenses. Um, and that was a reclass from the FY25 salary account to close out the FY24. So, those areas that occur that now
leaves us with zero. >> So, any question my Paul? No. Okay. Now, on to FY25 grant. We started with a balance of 82,19081. And you can see that there are a lot of
purchase orders lined up there. That's your very first column. And those purchase orders add up to 34,73307. And that's at in November we had expenses of 1,79271.
And uh we have a a salary expense here of 1,65515. And the balance in that grant after the salaries and the purchase orders are accounted for uh is 32,34101.
And I think it's nice, you know, that he keeps track of the purchase orders because it shows that, you know, we don't have all that much money left because a lot of it is sort of accounted, you know. >> Yeah. >> It's committed. >> It's committed. Are there any any
questions at all on this grant? Anything at all? >> Just if you're not following the the uh narrative, we started with 82190. We had $10,000 of expenses, $34,733 of purchase orders, and $5,83
of salary expenses, leaving us with 3234. >> Any questions at all on that? Paul, >> do we have an outreach coordinator? We have a couple. >> You want to ask that question using the mic? >> Yeah.
>> Do we have a do we we do have an outreach coordinator? I'm trying to recall. >> So the the title of the position is outreach coordinator. >> Right. >> Outreach coordinator is is one of our administrative assistants. Actually lumped together. There are multiple people that fall under the outreach
coordinator position title because there are contracted union positions in admin services administrative coordinator administrative executive. We can't give them administrative titles. I would the idea of the outreach coordinator initially 5 years ago was to develop a
social service position. Somebody who had a social service degree and could help us with the case management. But the city posted that uh position at $15 an hour. we weren't able to get social workers for 15 bucks an hour. So that person now does outreach and the
outreach is um the friendly calls, the well checks via the phone, some of the administrative stuff. The total of those people, we have five people that fill that role and those five people do about 37 hours a week, which is equivalent to
one full-time employee. One employee does six, one employee does eight, one employee does 12, and another does 15. Just a little over 37 hours. >> So would people like um I was thinking
people that advise our community such like the shine person and uh EBT people. Um are those considered outreach coordinators? >> They're volunteers, Paul. >> Oh, they are. Yep. I didn't know that. >> Okay, good.
Any other any other question on on that? >> Okay. And the FY 26 state grant is good. Oops. And we haven't uh had we haven't spent
any money on that so far. The beginning balance on that was is $89,136 and that's what is in the balance in that account held in reserve. So, uh it's all all good. Any and you can see
there no ins or outs on that on that page. It's page six. Page six. Any questions on that? Great. and the first half of the actual cash landed in our account last month. So half of that was
actually on hand. Uh just a comment I want to make sure you all follow and understand going back to the revolving funds if you can. U look at page three. So, if you follow and are tracking, we
have the 91,000 starting. We have 24,000 in purchase orders. We have 2810. I lied. Is that the one I want to do? It's not um >> the TW we we want to go to the um
the state plan, I think. Yeah. Page four. State. There's actually 224424 left in that account, but it's spoken for. We made the purchase. We used the credit card. So, the credit card
commerce payment didn't happen before November 30th. It probably happened December 1st. Um, so that is accounted for. That's going to technically close out that grant that 2247. Just so that you all know, it's not really it's
closed out. All the money has been spent. It just hasn't been paid. >> So, um you'll you'll see that again next month, >> but it's closed or all there's no money left. All gone. >> Great. Are there any other questions at
all on the financials? Any question at all? Okay. Then, uh Mr. Chairman, I submit the treasures report for the month of November. >> Okay. Do we have a motion to accept the
report? >> I'll make a motion to support the report. >> I'll second. >> Thank you very much. Any discussion? >> All in favor? >> I Any opposed? >> All right. So voted.
>> Now, I don't want to challenge the uh the chair, but I want to remind you that when the chair calls for a motion, you can make a motion to not accept. I know you say, "Can I have a motion to accept?" >> Yeah. and we'll chat a little bit about that terminology, but you don't have to
to accept. So, you're free to make a motion to to table to put it off to next month or to reject any of the reports that are done. So, we just entertain a motion, but then you can make motion as you see fit. >> Also, you don't if you don't like it,
you don't have to vote for it. You can vote no or you can abstain from voting. Correct. Then we'll get you outside. >> Okay. Next thing on our meeting uh listing is uh number four old business updates and new business from prior meeting.
I have I have no >> there are no updates on >> updates. Okay. Can I say something that we said at the city council meeting then? >> Sure. >> Uh when I watched the meeting the other day, Mr. Plet mentioned that it was taking some time to get the sliding doors to come in and he said we're
looking at a late spring early summer date. So that's all I know. That was a city council meeting. I think to the top. >> Yes. >> And that's the timeline we've been telling folks like we couldn't move in the winter anyways and then we start tax
season on February 1st or April 15th. So we are kind of committed to being in this place at least through midappril late April. >> We're the sliding doors. >> You know when you go to a grocery store you get when you walk in the door electronic the door opens up quiet. We're getting a set of those in the
front. >> So at least we get the extra wide wheelchairs. We had a couple people, but we had one of the bears a few years ago. They couldn't get into the doors. >> Yeah, they check they checked the pair. >> Well, so now we get new doors putting in size. So, >> okay. >> That's what we're waiting for. He said it would take about another six weeks to get them in. >> Sure. >> That was a couple weeks ago at the
meeting. >> Now, you could ask something small here. Um, you know, if they say late spring, early summer, um, we have to be ready obviously. So, we have to what, a month,
2 months, 3 months before expected we start to transition this this place, packing things up. >> We'll close for two weeks. Okay? >> So, the first week we're closed is to pack things up, get it ready to ship. It'll take a day to move things from
here, according to movers, from here to Washington, which is just right around the corner. Um, and then we have plan a week to disassemble. >> Yeah. >> So, we really only need a relatively short amount of notice to let the moving company know, make sure that they're
available. >> So, the services we offer right now won't diminish as we get closer to the moving day or will they? >> We'll be closed for two weeks. So we won't be offering any service. >> No, but I mean prior to that
business as usual. >> Business as usual. >> That's good to know cuz people have asked me that. >> We'll let them know the notice is going up. Whatever. Probably the robocall will be >> and that's what we expect. Could that change? Yeah. And if it does, then we'll
let folks know. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. All right. Anything else? All right. Then the next thing on our list of new business and we'll have Michael give us the director's report. >> I want to make sure that uh the members
of the board know and understand that the city has a regular 2025 holiday closing closing schedule. um which includes November 26 closing I'm sorry November 24th
closing early November 26th which is um already passed sorry December 24th closing at 12:00 on the 25th Christmas closed Friday the
26th closed the following week uh the cities announced closing early on New Year's and uh closing New Year's Day and January 2nd being open. However, that may change. The city may announce uh any day now that the January 2nd is closed.
Why am I telling you this? Because for our staff that work Thanksgiving and the day after Thanksgiving, they get paid regular time for that day, but they also earned another day or they earned equal time for working that day. Most of them worked Nancy worked a little over eight
hours, probably worked 7 and 1/2 hours. they get 7 and 1/2 hours off. Um so our proposal then is to close all day on the 24th. So we they'll eat 4 hours of um that comp time that they earned for Thanksgiving. And we'll close all day on
Friday, January 2nd, which is 5 1/2 hours. That if the mayor closes city hall on the second, that 5 and 1/2 hours will roll over to the 31st. So, New Year's Eve, but we'll let people know that, you know, certainly ahead of time.
It's not going to kind of just drop the that on us at the last minute. So, that's that's just from the closing. And Thanksgiving, the months of November and December are really tough with Thanksgiving and Veterans Day and the other holidays. It gets a little wonky and I know it's hard for people to
follow. So, we post all of our closings on our on our public calendars that are on the boards. All of our electronic message boards has our closing schedule. We also put it in our newsletter specifically as an announcement of when we're close and in the calendars that
are put out individually. So, there are many avenues. Uh, as we get closer to the holidays, we'll also post on social social media, but I imagine most people know that. And last but not least, when people check in for their programs, if they check in, they're going to get a
reminder of every day we're closed. They're going to get that schedule before they can hit the program that they're coming in to participate in. They get that flash reminder. Um, we had to do every year, this is the time,
end of October, we have to turn in our executive office of aging independence report. So here are some of the striking stat statistics from this year. You heard last year's stats. So here this year we had seven staff. Our seven staff do about 152 hours a week paid staff of
which 112 hours are permanent. So the difference I just told you was about 40 hours, 37 hours. 112.5 hours of the three permanent folks. We have four interns that worked at the same center in FY25. They did about 180 hours of
work. We have six VIPS workers that earned credit on their taxes. It was a lottery system this year. The VIPS workers did over 400 hours of service in the Gardener Senior Center. We had 751 volunteers log in and do some degree of
volunteer work. Now, some of them may have only been here an hour all year. Just one person did an hour. Some come every week regularly and they're doing four or six or eight hours. Scott uh Paul Mary is a great example. Scott is a fixture here. He's here all the time. We
count his time. Um between all of those volunteers, 751 volunteers. If you remember last year's stat, we had like 900 just under 960 957 volunteers did uh 16,000 hours. This year we had 751 volunteers that did
23,000 hours of volunteer work, which is pretty cool. We had 17 paid contractors. So, 17 paid contractors did 915 hours of service. And just to put some uh some perspective on it, we had uh just over
3,290 events or program activities that included about 16,000 program hours scheduled in the center, which is kind of crazy. Our total
revenue in 2025 was $334,378 including city appropriation fund the grant and program fees. We raise revenue with donations for participation. Although that is not a requirement to participate
folks who are just not able to it's it's kind of an anonymous just drop you know what you can. We don't stand at the door and collect that. We had donated goods and services in FY2025 that totaled almost $31,000.
Um, pretty significant. Other special accomplishments in FY25 included our tech grant, the food drives, which were monumentally successful, our recycling event, which again um we exceeded previous year's records tremendously. We
have uh shuttle services by woods which have been a great help to us as we look to increase participation in this footprint. It's really hard for us to do that because we have no parking to park people. We parked them at at um satellite lots and Woods shuttles them
back and forth. That was particularly helpful during the craft and vendor fair that we had um in conjunction and in partnership with alliance book. All of the vendors parked their cars at city hall and then we shuttled them back and forth. Pretty cool. We've done a lot
more out outreach events including our national nights out. Our national night out in Gardener and in Ashra him served about 1,800 people. Um, by the way, that in is is part of the numbers of unique individuals we serve. We can count that.
We've done a whole bunch more of special trips and excursions. Our holiday meals have tripled. Uh we started in uh 5 years ago and we had about 125 people for dinner. Our worst or best year then
was about 150. This past Thanksgiving we served over 350 meals. So it's growing. Um there's a need. I think it's also because there's a lot more people that are willing to help and participate. We've got to change the model a little for those of you who are wondering why
we don't deliver holiday meals Thanksgiving or Christmas to people's homes. And we get asked this all the time. It's really an issue about food safety and serve safe. Um, and God bless the many volunteers. We were lucky enough to have been able to participate
in the Senior Center Elks Club Thanksgiving meal delivery for many years. Um, I I get that it's a lift, but sometimes folks say, "Well, you know, 10:00 was a little early to be delivered and launch. I'll wait till 1." And the food waits until 1. And we've never had
a problem, but I don't want that problem to happen on our watch. And technically, we can't do that. So, we now do it as a drive-thru or eating option. We serve the meal immediately. If people want to leave in their car for 4 hours, it then is incumbent upon them of any health or
safety risk. We had a ton of new activities and programs and we continue to add programs. A couple examples of those are our Tai Chi and our walking program, expanded basket programs, our tech program, our media program. Um, pretty significant Thanksgiving meal. I
just want to let you know, I mentioned it. We served over 350. You say, "Well, Mike, what's the real number?" Well, the real number is over 350 because we sent out care packages to police and ambulance. Um, the volunteers took their abundance. We don't count any of those
meals in our in our actual counts. We do it like a per person in those cases, not a per meal. And some folks were, you know, taking meals home from the family. So, that's exceptional. Um, we had just a crazy ton of volunteers. Thank God for
those of you who've been paying attention and I know most of you haven't. Um Thanksgiving Day for the last five years, last four years prior to this year were horrific, raining and cold and miserable. And Thanksgiving Day
in 2025, albeit cold was not raining. Um little windy, a little brisk, but uh it was great. We were able to set up without tents, not needing shelter. And um last year we floated the idea before the public safety personnel in the city
about closing the street. And this year they set us right. So we closed Park Street from central to cottage only allowed cars to come in if they were going for the drive-through meal. We were able to queue them up in the veteran service skating rink and then when it was time to serve bring them
down Park Street with no oncoming traffic. We had full rain in the street and you know we closed it for 4 and 1/2 hours and then reopened it licketity split. Um it worked tremendously well. It worked so well. We would love to be able to do it every year. But the
problem is we can't. And the reason we can't is when it's raining and when it's so we need tents and we can't secure tents on the asphalt. We have to secure them in the grass at Monument Park. So, I'll have to go across the street, but it will still be better and easier
closing the street down even on the monument parked side of the street now that we've done it and works extremely well. And the very last, I don't want to say last minute, but the people who came to help us, tremendous Lieutenant Chenowski and West came from the Garden Police Department, helped close down the
street, get that done. uh Doug Monroe, DPW, Lines and Signs, and their folks helped us with the signage, the detour signage, and the special signage, directing senior center meal people where to go, it was uh tremendous. The
the Elks Club folks, um I just can't say enough about the work they do and they have it really down pat. When I went to him last year and said, "We have to increase the number of turkeys." Well, every year for the last 5 years, we've increased the amount of meat that they had to prepare, amount of food. They do
all the preparation for Thanksgiving. People said, "We'll get it done. We'll figure out a way." And they did. And they cooked 30, 25 lb birds this year. Um the food was fabulous. They just do a great job. And you know, they do a great job
without ever a complaint. just this kind of endless happy service. And for that I am so grateful because I imagine it would be easy to find things to grab about. They never been they never do. There's never been a problem that was
ever brought forth as a problem. It's always about let's find a solution. This is happening. Can we do this? Yeah. It's just it they're a great group of people to work with for Thanksgiving and the tons of volunteers that came out. Um absolutely fabulous, just kind of out of
the woodwork. The folks that set up the inside did a remarkable job. It looked great. It looked beautiful. It was very festive and inviting. Um and I again just so appreciative of the work they did. And for the folks that that stayed out in the cold and the in the wind with
us, which wasn't terrible. I'm not complaining this year at all. it was uh far cry better than it's ever been. Um, thank you. Thank you to all those folks. And last but not least, I have to thank, you know, a couple organizations that really u made this happen, including all
our sponsors. And the sponsors are listed in the newsletter. And there are too many to name. And some of them, you know, are major contributors either monetarily or resources. And some seemingly are small, but they but they
matter. They all have impact. and without them we couldn't do the program. It just would cause chaos. So whether you know people give a little or a lot of their time, resources or money, it makes a huge difference and made this year's program fabulous. I have to shout
out to Hannifers um again this year because we did a real heavy heavy uh ask on them for the quantities of food and they again without blinking or any
hesitation said yeah we're going to get it done and they did um not only I think for the garden senior center but the council on aging they really uh do a remarkable job that's not to say that folks at Price Chopper for Walmart. Um our our relationship has always been
with Hanniffords for the holiday meal, but we're so appreciative of the work that they do and the continued support that all of our supermarkets and local uh organizations provide. All right, here's some upcoming programs. Snowman contest. We have three uh
contestants already. They are wicked good. Um board members, if you haven't done your snowman yet, let's get in. Um, you don't have a snowballs chance at the Morning, but just do it. No, it's it's pretty cool. Um, this Wednesday we have Kelly's School of Music. Next Monday, we
have the um we have the singalong. December 5th, we're going to the Pops. I'll let you all know, we still have some tickets. What ended up happening is some folks wanted to go, they got tickets, and then for circumstances beyond their control
were not able to. So, that left us with some tickets. So, if you're interested, it's going to be a great event. We're going from Gardener 4:00 to uh Okconor's restaurant where 80 of us will be enjoying a a wonderful Irish meal. And nothing says Merry Christmas like a
wonderful Irish meal. And then we'll go into the Pops performance at the handover thereafter. Our seats are awesome. We just went to the Nutcracker. The Nutcracker seats were just off the charts good. Um the the presentation the
event was was terrific. Um so just want to make sure that you all know that's coming up. On December 10th we have the Hoverston Singers at Golden Age Club. December 15th we have the holiday party here at the Gardener Senior Center. We are probably maxed out. On December
17th, we're doing the gift of life smoke detectors and CO detector program with the American Red Cross and the Gardener Fire Department, reminding people, especially during this holiday season when they have trees that may be a little bit dry, um the fire risk goes up
and some things they can do to minimize or mitigate that. On December 22nd, we have our drive-thru meal. We will be closed in the afternoon for programs. more than likely will be closed in the morning for programs on the 22nd as we stage and set up for that drive-thru
meal. Um December 24th, 25th, 26th, remember, we're closed. December 31st, closing at 11:30. January 1st, we're closed. And January 2nd, uh I'm sorry, December 31st, we're closing at 11:30. January 1st and 2nd for us, we're closed. If the city announces they're
closing on the 2nd, will be closed on the 31st. Our AP tax 8 deployments started on January 5th. We are getting I mean they'll start on January 5th. We're going to be bombarded with those. We're already getting a plethora of calls about that um program. So really excited
about the things that are happening here. We've maxed out on all our programs which I think is a great indication that people are pretty happy or satisfied with some things that are going on here. Some cool things coming up that aren't in your newsletter. Um, we have Don Landren coming in this
month. Don is going to be joining us to do caricatures. If you'd like to get a caricature for a family member, have something done maybe of you and your spouse or, you know, you and the grandkids, come on in and see Don. Um,
we're hoping it'll be either free or at a very, very, very small cost. Um, and when I say small, you know, I'm talking like five bucks. So, uh, nothing that's going to, I think, impact decision. Come join us with Don Landren. I believe
Santa may also be making appearance at the Garden Senior Center, and we're doing that because some seniors have asked if there's a place they can go and have their picture taken with their grandchildren. So, um, we may have an impromptu we we've sent a request
through the ELFs, the ELF scheduling department to see if Santa's available, and we should be hearing something shortly. Um, here's a litany of venues. Uh, Woody Ambulance, Williams Restaurant, Wus Nana, the Elks, the
Elps, the Elks, DA Early, who is a huge sponsor and supporter of our program, Chair City Church that continues to do kind of monumental uh, lifting for us, the Leo's Club, Chairtown Lumber, John Richard Excavating, Gamma Mack Funeral Home,
Bush Funeral Home, The Lions Club, Rotary Club, Act Fastening Solutions, AERP Chapter 3237, Anony's Lickor Red Apple Farm, Dr. Border Strauss, Mock Nutrition, Haywood Commons, The Highlands, The 99, Alliance
Health, Gardener Rehab, American Legion, Garden C, Hannah Birds, Chair City Oil, Lelanc Mai, Dr. Matthew Shamra, Bush Funeral Home, Garden House, Quin Valley Healthcare, and all of the city
departments that continue to do huge lifts and heavy lifts for us. We're so grateful not only for the work that you know you do, but the manner in which you do it and how um attentive and proactive you are to the Gardener Senior Center
specifically. So, we're very appreciative of all that. Uh as we kind of end this year, this is our last board meeting of 2025. I want to also say thank you to the members of the board, not only for your time here once a month, but we see you so often. I feel
almost obligated to put door signs with your names on them. So, thank you for how you participate and support and do things here at the center. Um, it matters and it's meaningful. So, thank you very much. I appreciate >> Would you like to say something about
the uh Doug at the Do I have this on Doug from the highway department? Does he make you some turkeys? I understand. I did and I I did mention Doug, but you know, he's he's just like a really nice person and he's he's obsessive
compulsive. Like if he has a project, he gets it done. Um, which I really like. So, we had a pilgrim out front. I think you've noticed that we changed seasons today for the pilgrim. He's no longer a pilgrim. If you want to know what he is, you have to come to the senior center and come see it for yourself. Um, but
the pilgrim looked very lonely and so we said, "We need some some turkeys." So, we made a turkey for us. And I'm like, "Well, turkeys don't come in once. They always So, the next day there were seven turkeys." Um, all printed by him, hand
cut, um, created, crafted by him in his design work. You know, I mention Doug all the time because I think he's just a great example of the spirit of cooperation and collaboration that our departments have, whether it's DPW,
police, fire, um, you know, we we sometimes ask, I don't want to say silly questions, but for them, non-critical um, you know, kind of questions, non-critical mission for them. uh and they do it. They very uh grateful to
them for doing this stuff and they're very generous with their time. And one great example of that is December 17th, the gift of life program we're doing on smoke detectors. Gardener Fire Department has once again subscribed to the senior safe program and trying to
provide education um and information to seniors in particular about the need for fire safety. So I I really appreciate them. It makes my job easier and a heck of a lot more fun to know that I have a whole
bunch of people who have my back in the work of municipal government. >> Okay. Thank you very much, Michael. Uh, now on our list, next thing is open discussion. Does anybody have anything to bring up?
>> Go ahead. Why of the turkey day that we just did and you had what like 300 over 300 meals. How much of that was uh through the drive-thru and how much was >> the vast majority is through the
drive-thru and actually you know when we left that day we we did we had about 45 almost 50 people in the dining room. >> Okay. But the dining room is big. When you have 50 people in there, and I hand I mean, I literally counted the number of folks that were from the outside
there. >> It seems like it's very um you know, unoccupied. It looks It looks >> empty. Yeah, empty. I tried to avoid that word, but it looks empty. We count
on the volunteers eating as well, like we count on our staffs and eating. We make the play settings for all those folks, but many of them don't. Many of them are going home to eat, so they don't um or they take the meals with them. So, we're we're looking probably
at a couple things. Either trying to incentivize people to come do the eating. And we started this year for those that ate at the Garber Alps, non staff people, we did uh raffles for Priscilla's candies. We gave away two boxes of
candy. Um, and we'll probably continue that next year and you the only way you'd be eligible for some of these bigger gifts and we'll probably sweeten the bottom of it next year. See if it works. Um, to just get people together. The idea of the of the meals was to
originally just to provide people a meal for the holidays where they might be alone. So, we provided that service to shutins. As we started to evolve that program, we really understood the importance of connection and reducing isolation and loneliness, especially on
the holidays. And so for Thanksgiving, Christmas is a little wonky trying to do this, but for Thanksgiving, our hope and desire is really to get a community to come together and share a meal. Um, and I think that that better addresses those
issues of of loneliness and isolation as opposed to maybe sending a meal home for somebody to be all by themselves watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. We're very grateful at the um at the amount of appreciation people
showed. It was pretty cool hearing the comments, but we'd still really like to get in the dining room. So, as we go over the next couple months, we'll be talking to you about how can we incent people Is I just >> Is parking an issue?
>> Parking is an issue everywhere. Um, no, it really is an issue. And so, um, yeah, I I think parking is is probably uh part of the reason folks don't come and eat there, although there's plenty of parking now with the elimination of the
old utility substation that was there. There's a enormous amount of parking. There's actually two parking lots adjacent to the Elks. There's the on street parking, there's cottage street parking, there's a pretty good amount of parking now. Um, and then last but not
least, in close proximity to the Elks, which includes a kind of backyard pathway, we have the beds rink, which could easily accommodate any numbers we're considering bringing to um the Elen Club. So yeah, I mean, will people
have to walk a little bit? It's it's closer than any of our satellite locks here at 294 Pleasant Street. And then for future consideration, you know, will we look at possibly doing this at the new location? H maybe not Thanksgiving.
Um because the elks do all the cooking and transporting that food and keeping it hot is a problem. But, you know, maybe well certainly for Christmas next year if we're in a new location, we'll do the drive-thru. Y
um I hear that we have an eyeglass drop here that use eyeglass. I've got a couple people in my in the park that I live in. Um, I mean, I see too, the police station is where I used to drop out my used
medications, but they're waiting for a new machine that's in compliance with the state law, and I'm just wondering what are the alternatives at this time. We've been waiting waiting for this >> medication or eyeglasses. >> Medication. I don't I know we don't have a medication drop here.
>> Let me mention first the eyeglass because you brought that up first. the eyeglass drop here. We really encourage folks if they have, you know, maybe their parents or they've outgrown their prescription, they have readers that don't work anymore just to bring them here and drop them. We recycle all of
those through the Lions Club and Club. Very grateful for that partnership and that's their that's their vision is to really support um you know, folks site. Um so really happy to do that. Medication drop boxes are more
precarious. We were able to several years ago we were able to get a medication dropbox at Family Pharmacy located in Hwood Hospital. Now Haywood Hospital was a 24/7 location. Um the pharmacy was within the hospital confines. So 24/7
with security cameras u locked in and secure. Uh and we were able to do that. And then the the ATF specifically um started to tighten the rules for medication disposal. For those of you
who don't know the process, what happens is you drop it off in that box. We don't bring it to the landfill. The police department turn it over to the ATF that brings it to places like incinerators and things like that to get uh destroyed. And they have to log it once they take it out. it has to be either
continuously contained and locked or have that multiple eyes on it to transport it. Um, and that was part of the new restrictions that prohibited places like CHC, Haywood Hospital, and Family Pharmacy from doing medication dropboxes. The idea at the police
station is under 24-hour constant in-person surveillance. Um, and that adds a much deeper, higher level of security for the drop boxes. Now, the department has taken that out recently, not because they're not going to
continue the program, but because there are some changes in the delivery method for the disposal method of that medication. Um, however, I understand CVS is still taking it or has started taking it. So, you can bring your medications to CVS. But the the police
station, I would love I would love to see one at the senior center. However, I don't want one at the senior center because the level of liability and um exposure is pretty high. So, but we do we do medication
takeback programs at the senior center through the gardener police department. They'll come in during the breakfast with the badge and take medications. >> So, right now CVS is a viable alternative. >> Yep. Reason I ask is, you know, except our park, there's so many people that
live there now that knowly about gardener, what's available to them. And, you know, I'm trying to be a good advocate by, you know, we have Facebook group. I try to get the word out about services that we offer, things. But that was a big thing because everybody's going, you know, go to the police
station, drop off your your medication, and there's no machine now. And uh so they were you know >> I think they're referring people to CVS if folks show. Yeah. It's it's always easier. Like I get frustrated if I go to >> Well, yeah. But there's nobody in there. Yeah.
>> You know, unless you unless you go to the window, >> right? >> You know, but a lot of people see the machine, they don't see a machine, they go, "Oh, the hell. They just go back in the car." And um that's good to know, but I'm trying to, you know, let people know what services available. So
>> price checker pharmacy. Oh, Price Driver has one as well. >> Thanks, Brad. I know. I promise. >> Um, the other interesting thing is if you have medications, the best way to dispose of them and dispose of them for the seniors watching this, dispose of
them. Don't hang on to medications that are five or six years old. That really isn't going to do you any good. Um, painkillers, things like that are a hazard. Um, and they're a hazard not only to you if you take the wrong medication, but somebody who may have
more nefarious reasons for obtaining that medication. And those kinds of medications are plentiful in senior's houses. So, get rid of those. Let's not give people the um, yeah, let's not tempt them with that kind of stuff. If you really need to get rid of
medication, you can't bring it to a dropbox. They suggest getting a box of kitty litter, putting the medication over the kitty litter, pouring it over with water, saturating it with water, and the medication will um will dissipate in the the kitty litter. Don't throw it in the landfill. Don't throw it
in your trash. Please don't flush it down the toilet. um because our wastewater treatment plants are really not set to handle all of these kind of chemicals um that you know used to be dropped down
the drain. So the best way to do it is medication dropboxes. One at Price Chopper I understand one at CVS and there'll be one back at the police department in another time. >> Thank you. Now >> I have a couple things I want to bring up.
Go ahead. >> I'm actually going to put my CAC hat on for a minute and just thank the senior center, the AP, and the city council for the citywide food drive that they held just a few weeks ago. I cannot tell you what it was like walking into the office on that Monday
>> or not with thousands of like >> it's unbelievable. >> Absolutely unbelievable. So, thank you to everybody who volunteered for that to make the tables and spread the word. It is hugely our shelves are still full. We wear helmets now and the food pantry is
amazing. So, thank you. Watch those. >> Julie, if I can, members of the board, I I encourage you. I think Ron's going to do so as well. Um, come out and be with us that day. It's such a cool day. It's really a lot of fun. It's not a heavy lift. For those
folks that were a little bit worried about what people might say to you, 99% of people are just so good. Even if they don't donate, they're just kind and they're happy that that we're there. the amount of food, Ron. Holy Toledo. >> We had bags that Michael provided for us
from these suicide prevention group and we gave them to everybody going to the store. We said, "This is a bag for you to take, take it home, whatever else." Well, some took home, but many of them filled the bag up and left them up for us. So, which was nice and we could still reuse the bags for ourselves, for here for the senior center and for
upstairs at CAC. >> So, next year, pay attention. We we call them popup. We don't really schedule them ahead of time. We probably should, but we don't really schedule them ahead of time. Um, usually the week before Thanksgiving, so you can kind of count on that the week or two before
Thanksgiving, week the 15th or 22nd. >> And in Bane with talking about the food drive, uh, we could use a few extra volunteers when we got here. There was only Mike and myself, Lisa and Brenda was with us and somebody else and that was it. putting on the Ubot and then bring them
upstairs and unloading the boats and then bring them back down and refill them again with the trailer in the back because you had a good size trailer filled. So all of a sudden posted on Facebook everybody look at it pictures of the trailer filled and we did it again on Sunday. >> Sunday and Sunday.
>> Yeah. Saturday was really full. Sunday was my cap, but I'm still >> um next thing I want to bring up is I've been going up to the museum for the festival of trees. I worked there the other day and I was looking around where they have a lot of trees, but um I notic we didn't have anything this year, but
that's okay. Uh but I was think something came to my mind. I'm going to bring it up now and maybe people think about it for next fall. How about a food basket? because they get all kind of things with baskets of goodies, candy, uh baked goods, you know, magazines, whatever you want. So, I'm going to go
back up there again this week working and I'm going to take a list and see what kind of stuff is in the baskets and uh maybe we can do one of those and have it sponsored by the garden senior center and I'm going to mention it also to ARP when I have a meeting next week doing
this month next month. I'll mention it for that one too bring up next week uh next year. And just speaking on that just for a minute, the the Festival of Trees is a great example of an event that has really turned into a community
celebration and I applaud the original founders for their vision on getting that uh off the ground and that it has been so successful and continuing and I think they have record numbers of trees this year, basket 25 I think they
>> if you haven't been there. So again, board members haven't had a chance to go over to the garden museum and just scurry through and look at the amazing work that people do. I I didn't do a tree this year because I got to tell you, I'm I'm just blown away by the talent and uh
>> it's they're just really cool and I don't have that kind of um creative talent for >> but that's why I try to print a food basket. There's always baskets downstairs and some upstairs or something like that. >> And and if you don't have time to go to the museum and if you can get channel 8,
they they do a nice job of showing everything talk about it on channel 8. I don't times are varied, but it's a they do a good note. So I watched it on channel 8. >> Yeah, they were up there taking photographs and doing a video of it the day before we opened.
>> Tim Josie and his crew, we talk about support. Tim Josian's crew at GE, Shane and Andy have really raised the bar on public access TV and gardener. Um, the amount of time they're here doing programs is exceptional. They give us a
few moments. They do a slideshow, by the way. Little braggadocious here, but I'm quite certain the Gardener Senior Center has the single most slides um that are being shown on GE, but we do that because they allow us to and they they make it work again. I'm so grateful for
them and I'm glad they're doing the festival of trade band because >> they're showing it quite a few times and you'd have to check the schedule but yeah they show the whole thing right from 1 to 120 and they talk and say and they announce who presented it. It's
very nice. I I'm not able to go because of my walking though I was glad to sit there and watch it from home. Oh, it's beautiful. >> When is it over? uh this coming Saturday the 6th. I think it's the last day and then they're going to draw the prices on
Sunday. >> Uh next thing I got in the list, I don't have anything else. Snow policy. Uh I announced it this morning in yoga class. Michael was very busy this morning when I was up here running around. So I said I'll do it for yoga class. So just to remind everybody that we follow the same
schedule as the schools. If the schools closed for that day, senior center will be closed. If the schools close early, will we close it early also? Correct. >> And that's the policy. So just keep an eye. I told people to watch Facebook because people keep saying, "Well, I don't see it anywhere else." Facebook
has it. Uh TV stations also have it. You know, four, five, seven all of them. So just watch the scrolling the bottom of the screen if you want to see what's going on. But uh we follow the school schedule. So it's an easy way of doing it. So I let everybody know this morning at the senior center. >> It's generally an easy way to do it. And
then people say, "Well, what about school vacation? School's already closed. Do we close?" Um, we will also close if the mayor closes city buildings. So, typically, if the school is already closed, we're closed for programs, but our staff must report to
work. That's a really important thing for folks out there to know and that if the school is closed, we don't get a day off. We still have to report here. Um, we are tasked with cleaning up the facility, doing the snow blowing, snow removal, and our administrative staff
still does the ad administrative staff stuff. They can't stay home unless they take a personal day or some of their other accumulated time. If the mayor closes city hall, we then get the day off, >> which is rare.
>> And I also reminded people to make sure that their names are on the list in the office. So if if there's something does come up there program is closed early uh Michael will send out a bolo so we'll know that there's no yoga class or dancing class anymore the zumba class something like that so
>> a bolo >> be on the lookout for raeta >> yes >> calling all cars >> what do you call robo >> robo okay sorry about that >> I like the bolo I think that's a better idea >> got everybody's attention
so okay that's all I wanted to bring up the the sto library we had extra in case I forgot something. So >> I think right at the bottom of that stem there's a gray button. >> I'd like to make a comment. Um I've done
the drivethru for Thanksgiving and Christmas the past couple of years. And despite being freezing cold and taking forever to warm up, it is the most heartwarming experience. People drive through. you get to wish them happy Thanksgiving, happy holidays, and
they're all friendly and um it really warms your heart even though your body is absolutely crazy. I I just love it's one of the highlights of what doing volunteering at the senior center is doing those strings. So, keep
them keep driving through. >> Okay. Anybody else? All right. Uh, I'm going to just say wish everybody a happy holiday season. Enjoy your Christmas. We'll see you all back again. And our next meeting will be on January the 5th after New Year's.
We'll get reporting how your holidays work. >> So now, anybody want to make a motion to adjourn? >> I'll make I'll make a motion to adjourn the meeting. >> Second. >> Second by Barbara. Okay. Thank you. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed?
Thank you everyone. Have a good holiday.