We're getting >> right next to our neighbor. Take good. >> Good afternoon everybody. Thank you for coming to the November 3rd Council on Nation board meeting. Uh just first before we start uh just one announcement
to make. Any person who may make a video or audio recording to open all open sessions of a meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium subject to the reasonable requirements of the chair as as uh to the number uh
placement and operation of equipment used is not to interfere with the conduct of the meeting. Any person intending to make such recordings shall notify the chair forth with all documents referenced are used during the meeting are to be submitted in duplicate to the chair for soon of the open
meeting and public records blog. All documents shall become part of the official recording of the meeting. Anybody recording? I guess not. So we're all set with that one. Okay. So again, welcome everybody to the meeting and u we will start with
the uh uh uh minutes. I know I read mine at home, but uh playing for us. Um, can I have a motion to uh Yeah, may have >> make motion on the minutes.
>> Yeah, make a motion on the minutes. >> I make a motion we accept the minutes. >> Okay. Uh, any any discussion? Second. >> No. Second. I >> Okay. All in favor? >> Any opposed?
So, okay. Thank you. Uh, next thing on our list is the treasury report. Okay, we turn to the first page of the report which is done in color. The general fund is pretty much all in
order. The top part is salary. Um the only um the bottom part is pretty much uh regular bills. Uh is there any question on any of them? uh repair repairs energy
and utilities just basic things and then that's the second column. First column is your is your opening balance. Second is your uh monthly expenditures. Third column is year to date and the last column is your balance and Mike is
nicely provided in the final column the percentage. We're in good shape so far. If anyone has any questions at all on the general fund salaries on the items that are expenses, this is the money of course I
always say it money the city gives us. So >> one one quick comment for the general fund. Uh repairs and maintenance every year in energy and utilities tends to be wonky depending on the price of the
commodity. For energy, we could see lower than usual or higher than usual. This year, we're probably going to be higher than usual. Our repairs and maintenance, we usually do about $17,000. So, we're always we spend way more than we have budgeted, but the city's been
good at uh replacing that. We have about a $3,000 repair uh for one of the fire escapes that's pending. Um that's going to bite into our repairs and maintenance pretty significantly. I'll keep you informed. We've been putting this repair off for some time. It wasn't really
necessary, but we're kind of at critical mass. I don't think we can put it off anymore um before it becomes unsafe. So, that's uh going to be a pretty substantial chunk of our repairs and maintenance next month. >> So, the remain for the remaining balance
in the general fund, which is the money from the city, is $149,5428. and we're pretty much on target except for possibly repairs. Any any question at all on general? Okay, down to the gift fund. Um, at the moment we have a
balance of 95,86280. Uh, there was some money put into the fund in October 1,275 which that makes that 9586280. Any questions on that?
Okay. And then to page two, which is our fund that >> revolving fund. Okay. On page two starts the revolving fund and as again uh the first column in blue
there are some purchase orders which are outstanding. Mike puts those in so we know that we uh sometime are going to get hit with those purchase orders. They are outstanding and u he doesn't we don't want to overspend. The second
column is what was spent in the month of October. We took in some income 5,79616 and we spent of 3,93987. It goes over onto page three there. And
so uh excuse me uh the balance in that account is very good. To date, we have spent 27,49439 and we have a balance of 30,5544. Remember that's cash balance, not available balance. I mean available balance, not cash balance. Our cash
balance is going to be the 86,940 less the 27494. That's our cash balance. But our available balance is that 86940 minus the 27494 expenses. and less the 2889176
and purchase order say 70,544 which is available not income. >> There Paul has a question. Yes, Paul. Um I know this answer but maybe some people in this room don't know but you can come
in the mic please. >> There we are. >> I know the answer to this. There may be something >> just hold it. >> Yeah, just hold it. >> Okay. Um about the income for the revolving fund. Where is that coming
from? Is that from the city government? What exactly? Nope. >> So um the city any city government funds is going to come through the general fund. That's that's city tax appropriation. The revolving fund is strictly from programs and services. Anything program and service related. So
that's the price of trips. Somebody pays for a trip. We then spend that that money to pay to reimburse the trip company. Um it comes from yeah any of those big programs. So over the summer I'm just starting to think the vast majority of
those are going to be like our holiday program uh prepaid income the yeah 55,000. >> So it comes from services >> it comes from services >> services and programs more context. So,
somebody takes uh yoga, there's no real we don't we don't really charge. We ask for a donation. So, $3 per person. If there are 25 people, that's $75. That's income. But then we push that out on the other end for the instructor fees. So, you'll see like
large income, but you also should see corresponding large expenses. >> Thank you. And for those that might not come to like a yoga or dance program, we have a bucket at the table and they can put their $3 in. Then the bucket is
taken into the office and two two people count the income and sign for it. So we that's how all that income comes in too. >> On an armor in a car. >> Is there any other question on the revolving fund? No. Okay, that's page
two and three are done. Okay, we are on to page four. Page four, which is the FY24 state grant and we are doing our best to get rid of that one. Right. Anyway, we did have some expenditures in
October. Uh the uh the expenditures were um 9 $97.35 right and year to date $4,57413
and uh left a balance before salary of 8,66512 and after salary 4,62879. 9 and we're looking to get that moved so we can close off this grant. Right.
>> That would have been closed out at the end of last fiscal year on June 30th, but because we hadn't gotten the approval to increase the amount of expenditures from the revolving fund, we couldn't move those expenses over. Um that'll that'll easily be gone just from
the salary expenses alone this year. >> But now we have until June 30th. and rush the folk up, but we got to try to get out of there. >> And by the way, did you notice >> what >> I got it all on one page. >> Yes. Yes, that's right. That's right. I keep trying to get them to get all
everything on one page. So, at least the FY24 state grant is on page on one page. Page four. Any questions on that grant, which we're hopefully soon will be closed out. Any no questions? Okay. on to uh oh, and
you got FY uh 25 on one page. Good work. Good work. Okay, so page five is the FY 25 state grant and this is the one there's a lot of purchase orders in that first column
amounting to 35,92578, but that's a good way to keep track of them all. And then the expenditures in October were not too much 3,88309. And we have a balance before salary of
38,024. That would be as Mike said earlier our available cash in that grant. 38,02405. But of course uh you know the so he's already accounted for the all the purchase orders. So when they're paid
Oh, and then um Oh, any question at all on the state grant that column October 25, you can see what was paid out this month. And you can see there all the instructors that were paid and and their the salaries they got for the month of
October. And the next column is their year-to- date salaries. And there any questions? Paul, what do you want to say? Say it. Say it. Come on. Why do I do this to myself? >> Um, on the state grant, okay, we we're
still got 2024, right? We still have the 20 2025 and 2026. When does the state look at how much we've used that grant from the previous
years to determine? >> No. >> Do you know what I'm saying? >> Nope. because they're probably saying, "Wow, you know, we're maybe giving them too much money." I mean, I mean, I don't know. I was just No,
>> they they used to >> They used to have to But now that you co, we have nice new rules. Much easier. >> Good. >> Yeah. I mean, if there was a problem, we would have >> No, I know. I know. I I know. I'm just
saying. >> Good to ask questions. Anyone else got a question? >> Paul is the question delegate. >> I'm sorry. >> Okay. is that page five and we're at page six is our FY26 state grant and to
date we haven't touched it at all we have $89,136 in there so we're good to go and that is unless there are questions any questions at all one question on that
different when I'm looking at that number that means that that will just come six months that >> no we can carry over. >> So we're not we are not constricted by the administr
the 25 budget. So with the 26 budget we haven't touched it. So that means we have to use the other one first. >> We can use any pool of money we want. There's no requirement. We like to use the oldest grants and close those out as quick as we can so that we're not
carrying over grant money for 10 years. Try and put all the expenses and classify them all in the in the oldest um or most appropriate account. >> This is just this is going to be what we work on after we spend all of this. >> Correct. >> Oh, okay. That's what I'm trying to say.
Thank you. So the 26 >> No, you should be on. Did you hit the button? >> Oh, >> yeah. Bring the volume up. >> Um, I have a question. Um, why why don't you use up the uh like the 2024
grant before you start using up >> That's what we said we were doing. Yeah. Yeah. We'll go to the We'll go to the oldest, the one that's been out the longest. >> Um, expend out of that before we touch any of the newest ones. >> That's our That's our No, that's exact.
That's a good question. >> We thought we had the FY24 closed out, but because of traffic didn't quite get everything transferred at the last minute. We still had to keep it going, but we are we're
it's only down to $5,000 in the FY24. So, we're working on the 25 >> I have a question. Is the government shutdown affecting us any? >> Yeah. So, this is this will be
interesting to answer. The answer is not directly. We don't receive any federal funds to support um and run the senior center or any of the senior programs in garden. And I say that with that caveat because we're not just about our senior center.
However, we receive state funding and the city receives state funding and the state receives federal funding for other things. And so I just have you imagine, for example, when the Commonwealth of Massachusetts faced with the prospect of having to pay for SNAP or HIP benefits,
right? They're going to maybe somehow um try to support the folks that had that federally funded program. That money's going to come from somewhere. And so they're going to look at, you know, whether it's city or state aid. And I'm not suggesting in a million years that the legislature is considering cutting
state aid. I'm not saying that. Just practically speaking, as a matter of function, they're going to look at, okay, we have x amount of dollars, we have x amount of expenses. If expenses exceed the income or revenue, they're going to cut someplace. So, could the senior center be affected? Sure. Could
veteran programs? Sure. Could the road repair be affected? Sure. with what's happening at the federal level, federal shutdown or the elimination of funding for particular programs. Faced with the prospect of hundreds of million dollars of money being cut from education, which
includes supporting the Commonwealth of Massachusetts new building school fund, right? Some of that money comes from the feds. It's a really good program and it encourages local communities, cities, and towns to build new infrastructure
for schools. Um I am certain that it is a that the legislature has an appetite to keep that program going for example even after the cuts from the federal government that money's got to come from somewhere. So are we are we imminently
at risk? No. Could we be at risk? Sure. Absolutely. Um and so we work really hard. The money we have now though we have this is not going anywhere. This is going to be cut. The money's already been awarded. It's in our bank. We own this. Um, but what could happen next
year is anyone's guess or gamble. I don't know the answer to that. But, but I would suggest any government program is at risk. >> That Mr. Chairman is my treasur report and no further questions. So, that is
the treasure. >> Okay. I have a motion to uh >> make a motion to accept the treasures report. >> I'll certainly very good. Any discussion? All in favor? >> Any opposed?
So voted. Okay. Thank you everyone. Thank you Harry for that good report. >> You're most awesome. And again I appreciate all the time, effort, and energy you put in to making sure that the numbers we present are comprehensive and correct.
They're not always correct. That's why I say that because um I use a lot of formulas and things like that. The beautiful thing about this is at times out and Terry takes the time to look at that and make sure that that what we get is the best information. I also just want to say once again as a board we
receive probably the most complex and detailed financial reports of any board in the city. Maybe with the exception of the school committee, the city council, everybody else. Um they're just generating from units. We give a lot of detail, probably more than we need to,
but I think it's always better to be able to make decisions from an informed uh position than others. That being said, I just want to let you know as it relates to the financial report, there's some correspondence in your file. You should just um forget about that second page on the agenda. I am not going to
put forth that request today. Um however I am going to under new business there there is a transactional um discussion we need to have with regard to the treasures report. That's it for the finances though. Uh you ready for an
update Mr. Chair? >> Yes. >> Not much to update. So there um the doors were ordered. The the contractor wanted the doors were ordered for the the twotory senior center side of uh the Waterford Community Center.
New concrete was starting to be poured and formed and poured last week. So, it'll be interesting to see where they are in that process. Um, embarrassingly, I haven't been by to check on it and see, but I know that they were out there. I saw the first day they were out
there working forming and framing it, and I can't believe they're going to wait until January for it. So, >> oh my god. >> Um, that's that's pretty much done. Um, I think that's that's all the updates. There was a ribbon cutting for one of
the tenants a week or two ago. So, you know, clearly there is momentum going to ensure that this facility is opened and opened kind of in a timely manner. My best guess, and I'm letting you all know this,
um, you know, if by the end of the year the work was done, we we probably wouldn't be loving the idea of a mid- winter move. Um, it would not seem feasible. Plus, I always talk about November, December, and January being our busiest months. So, January kicks
off tax season for us as well. So, January, February, March through the first week of April, we're doing tax returns. We do 125 returns of value about $19,000 for area seniors. That would be very hard to transition during that and be able to keep those services
open and available. So, we're probably looking at sometime in midappril. Um, we can begin staging the move in mid-March, late March, early April, and then like a mid April, late April move day. Uh for
the board, my my really understanding feeling on this is we will probably have to be closed two full weeks just to get everything packed, have it move. The move isn't going to take much. Literally, we could put on a dollar and move it ourselves in
a day. Um yeah. >> Uh there'll be a there'll be a fleet of trucks in and out of this building. I'm certain between us and our neighbors upstairs. Um, and then we'll need some time to
unpack it and get organized. I don't think we'll be 100% ready to go on opening day, but we should be in pretty good uh shape. Like I've said before, I'm really excited about it. Hoping that uh that April does indeed fulfill its promise for us to be in a new location.
I'll share this also with you and I have to I have to say this time and time again because it bels um it blazes sometimes intelligence to first of all you know we are burgeoning here we we are we are overwhelmingly
crowded um and I never thought I'd be at a point of saying that uh but we are we we need the space we need to move badly for those that have trepidation or are concern concerned about the move. I want to just put this perspective and I think it's an important perspective for you to
consider. There's been some speculation that there may be environmental hazards on our water firm and I'm going to say emphatically there are not. I've seen the reports. I've seen the environmental reports. I've walked through the building. I've been downstairs in the basement and I've climbed through the classrooms on the second story. There
are not these amazing environmental and other hazards that people like to claim there are. But I would also say this. After looking at these environmental reviews, I want you to put some perspective in that most seniors, there are 11,000 senior centers being operated across this great and glorious country
of ours that serve about 1.5 million seniors a day. Um, here at the Gardener Senior Center, we serve about 4,000 seniors a year, 650 seniors a week. And most of those seniors, not only here at the Gardener Senior Center, but
throughout this great and glorious country of ours, spend about three hours a week at the senior center. That's a lot of hours. I tell you that pales in comparison to the number of hours our staff and the staff and CDC spend here. We spend way
more than three hours. And I just think that if if people are listening and have a concern, I want you to know this. There's no way in heck I would agree after reading the reports and seeing any kind of of red flag where I agree to go
in a building where I'm going to spend 60 hours a week in there. It's safe. I'm not stupid. Um some people may disagree. I I would do that to myself knowing the time I spend there and I will probably be at the epicenter of of where you know
access to this supposedly bad place is and I'm not concerned. So, for you members of the board, when you hear constituents talk about that, I want you to know and have the the faith and confidence
um that these concerns have been looked at and looked at and what you're hearing is a lot of political rhetoric um and grandstanding. And quite honestly, it's embarrassing and it's shameful that folks would try to instill that fear in
our population knowing full well that it's not predicated on anything um but a bias and a position for political gain. So that's my Waterford update. Um >> yeah, I was going to ask a question on
that. Um, I went by about two weeks ago and I saw the new platform whatever for the uh >> uh the ramp and then I saw the rebars on the side of it. So that must be what you were talking about. The rebars are all landing going over to the right left side of the building going towards the
blade. So that's all set there, but they haven't put concrete there. They only part where the front door is going to be. Uh the other thing you mentioned was the uh uh hopefully they'll be done by the end of the year whatever with three prayers. Does that include our painting or do we are they going to paint before
we go there? >> You know that >> we need money for that. >> Yeah, I I certainly believe we we will have the issue of painting resolved before we get in there in April. Um my hope is that'll be done in December. One of the one of the things one of the
conversations we have is all right, you know, we're trying to phase this in and really reduce the impact financially on the city on the senior center and the parks in that building. So, how can we get in there today, make it a safe and attractive and comfortable and efficient
building, but not spend um the the widow's fortune, right? So, the idea here is to maybe phase it in. One of the things I spoke with the city council about in there is does it make sense for us for
example to go in and paint the hallways leaving the lockers there when at some point in time the lockers are going to come out and then we're going to have to repaint it. Wouldn't it make sense for us from a pragmatic perspective to take the lockers out um and then paint it and
so you know I think in their eagerness to get us in there that really wasn't on their radar. It's not because they weren't thinking of it. They were really trying to figure out ways to move this forward. Um, but honestly, the response was was very receptive. I think they're in agreement. And so now we're looking
at, okay, what does that look like? What's it going to take to get, for example, the lockers out of there? Um, what do we do with them? What's the process? Do we declare them as surplus? Do we scrap metal them? What do we do with them? Because they're in mint condition. I mean, they are in mint
condition for being as old as they are. Um there's really no reason to trash them unless we can't, you know, take them out without trashing them. But so I think people are in agreement with that. Doesn't make sense for it for us to redo the floors and then have the lockers
taken out and have all that area under the floors not done. So, you know, they see that they know that yeah, it may take a little bit at the front end to do those things now, but it will save us money and time later. Um, and you know,
that's absolutely been their mantra and their philosophy is, you know, how do we make this all work today and not be stuck with the big bill later on? Michael, Michael, I I keep thinking, you know, if
this time table works and that's great. Um, the bulk of volunteers that we're going to need, what is your estimation on that? what there is can you volunteer serve >> about 17,000 >> no I I mean I for one want to help
obviously you know but I'm thinking well what is this entailing and how many people would be beneficial for us to have as long >> so that we are way we are way premature for that conversation but I will say this that over the course of the last two years in anticipation of moving to
Waterford Street we have deliberately started to create systems where things are very transportable. Everything's been kind of bucketized now and you know boxed. So, it's really just a matter of moving boxes. There will be some unique
situations where we want to move things and not have the movers move them. Technology, we're going to move that stuff. TVs, we're moving that stuff. Our our production car, we're moving that stuff. The hydroponic gardens, we're move that stuff. Um, it's not a lot.
There's not a ton of stuff that we really feel um after speaking with the staff that we really feel obligated or the need to move ourselves, but it's going to take some staff. It's going to take some volunteers, some coordination. We're going to start looking at that
when the timeline becomes more apparent. What does it um you know really entail? But we have talked about the staging like what does that look like? How do we get things ready to for the movers? So, we'll stage things in this room. that's why we have to close down downstairs. That's why we have to close down. Get it
ready and then they'll just haul it away. Um, you know, with labels and identifiers on where things are going. So then we can when we get down there use the same cadre of volunteers to dismember that moving um, you know, event and start to put things away and
start making it, you know, a usable space and not boxes in the middle. Kind of like you do when you move your house and boxes sit there for 14 years. I really hope that doesn't happen when we move to Waterford. Hope we're able to. Um, but we've been really good at organizing volunteers. When we declared
the Waterford uh cleanup days, we had three days of 25 volunteers. I mean, it didn't take us anything. We said, "Hey, come on down, sweep floors, wash windows, scrape paint, and they just showed up and did it for three and a half hours, which is really cool." So, I I don't think we're going to have a huge
uh issue in that regard. People are very generous in this community and we're we've been one of the recipients of that generosity. >> Okay. Anybody have any other questions?
>> What's on your mind? Anything? >> The largest room on that first floor space will be my office. >> It's like 40 by 40. >> Different desk. That's what I I was thinking and I was going to ask my book on. >> Yes, it is.
>> Okay. Um, >> where are the main offices going to be like yours and NY's? Will they be in on the first floor like right near the door? >> Yeah. Yep. So, uh the administrative staff primary administrative staff office will be the second well it would
be the primary um the the first classroom as you come in from the main entrance or from the gymnasium or from the side coming in from the I'm sorry from the cafeteria in the gymnasium. That'll be the main office. My office is on the second floor
way in the back. Um, actually everything is proposed right now. So, um, my office would be in that same kind of space complex. If you've been into Gardener City Hall, been to the city clerk's office, they
have a very large um, space, open space that they put a countertop in. That's our vision for the administrative office. We had talked about putting the service window in. We don't need a service window if we can do the service counter. Um, and just use that wall to put all of our brochures and things like
that. It'll be really cool. So, I'm excited about that. The bullpen. I'm going to call it the bullpen. >> Hey, baseball terminology. >> Okay. I guess now we're going to go to new business. Have Mr. Al's director's
report. >> All right. I'll try to just kind of give you the 10,000 mile uh summary. First of all, I want to thank all of our holiday program sponsors, the businesses that help support our uh holiday event. It's a big event. For those of you who don't
know, on Thanksgiving, we serve on Thanksgiving Day. We'll do about 225 drive-thru meals. Last year, we did about 225 drive-thru meals. 120 people ate in the the um the Elks Lodge. We did about 40 volunteers, and then we brought
trays of food to police, fire, and Woods Ambulance. It's a It's a big day. It's a very volunteer intensive day. One set of volunteers in particular for Thanksgiving I want to make sure that you know and hear about and that's the
Gardener Elks. They have been enormously um generous to the Gardener Senior Center community for years and have co-sponsored um have been our partners in the holiday meal. Since I first moved to Garden 38 years ago, we were delivering meals to
the Garden Senior Center at the Elks. They're just such great people. And all of the members of the Elks are fabulous. They have volunteers probably all week, about 20 volunteers that start on Monday before Thanksgiving, peeling potatoes, cutting squash, doing all of the
preparation. They cook 28 25 lb turkeys, over 750 lbs of meat. Um it's just an enormous undertaking with a lot of volunteers and when you go in there's music playing, people are happy. You don't see grouchy people. They're really
caught up in this atmosphere of service. And so to the Garden Alex club, I want to give a huge shout out. But similarly, there are I don't know probably three or four dozen other organizations and businesses from the Lions Club, AARP,
Rotary Club, District Attorney Joe Early's office, ACT Fasting Solutions that provide us the financial support to help offset the cost of the meals. Now, we always had a very large deficit for this program and now we're running a
very small deficit because I mean very small. Um that also allows us, by the way, not only to buy the food and we'll do about $3500 to $4,000 worth of food and paper products for Christmas and Thanksgiving. Um we just uh ordered a
ton of takeout containers, so those are ready to go. And there are other costs that people don't know and understand besides turkey and squash. The cutlery, for example, and bags and and salad dressing, all of those kind of things
going to make this meal, you know, I think pretty impactful, especially for a community who may not have family or friends to visit during the holidays. So on Thanksgiving, the message I want to give out to anybody who's watching this is please join us. Join us at the Elks.
I mean, picking up a meal is still nice to have a hot meal, freshly prepared, homemade, delicious. Um, certainly filling, but what's more filling is that nourishment of spirit we get from our friends and neighbors and associates
that that we're able to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal with. And it was it's been pretty cool. For those of you who didn't know, a couple years ago, we also hosted um migrant families for their first Thanksgiving, which was kind of cool. It was neat. Um, I thought one of the funniest things somebody asked me
though was, "Mike, are we going to serve a culturally competent meal for the Haitian community?" And I said, "Culturally confident? Well, understand it's American Thanksgiving. They don't celebrate Thanksgiving everywhere in the world." So, uh, they went, "Yeah, that makes sense." Um, but it really was neat
to see that that that community come together and to the experience that you really don't know. So, if you have the time and inclination as a volunteer, come and join us. we'll put you to work and we have a ton of volunteers. So, it won't be hard work. I promise that you'll enjoy it. If you're looking for a meal, come and eat with us on
Thanksgiving Day. Similarly, on Christmas, we do a drive-thru meal on December 22nd. I believe it's Monday. Um the drive-through meal will be at 12:00. And that meal, we do 28 25 lb turkeys. Anybody want to guess who makes them? Yep, you're right. The Elvis Club cooks those for us as well. They cook the
entire Thanksgiving meal, but for for Christmas, they only do the turkeys. And the rest of the stuff is prepared by our neighbors and friends. People like, "Hey, we're going to the single best stuffing we've ever had in my life." Uh Williams with squash. Garn House with
salads. Wallenville nursing home with cranberry sauce and rolls. Uh >> Pub 99 with their mashed potatoes. >> Pub 99 with a garlic mashed potatoes, the 99 restaurant. So, just some really cool uh ways to minimize the financial
impact on any particular organization and really make this what it was embodied to be and that's a community event uh for our our greater gardener area. Um how do you get in on those meals? If you want to have a meal on
either Christmas or Thanksgiving, call us. You have to reserve. You have to be registered. You have to be on the list. And it's disheartening sometimes to have to turn people away because you don't know if we have enough food. And at the end of the day, maybe realizing, oh, good thing we turned them away or realizing, yeah, we have enough food.
You can say absolutely save us that heartache and yourself that heartache by just simply calling the Gardener Senior Center and registering for those meals. We have a a whole bunch of concerts coming up. Dennis Cormier is coming up on November 5th. We have uh the Kelly
School of Music on December 3rd. on on December 8th, we have the singalong, the Christmas singalong. Those programs and more coming up this Thursday, November 6. Mark Kistler. Mark is an Emmy award-winning artist. He had a program
on PBS. He's worldrenowned. Came to Gardener a few months ago. Um, graced us with his skill uh and gave a little class. He's coming again this coming Thursday. He called us, said, "I'll be in the area. We'd love to stop by again and do another follow-up class." So, um,
We're really excited about that. A little bit late notice on our part to our community, but none of that would be possible, by the way, without the support of the Mass Cultural Council, who we are indebted to immensely for their continued support of the Gardener
Senior Center and the many cultural programs we do from art to music, um, crafts. We had the Boston Tea Party Museum, Harvey Leonard in part, they were able to support those programs. with a Harvey Leonard. We had over 150 people in this room. You look around,
you say, "How is it possible?" We realized we can probably easily sit 200 people comfortably, which blew me away, which was really nice. Um, and then a week later, we had about 140 people for Boston Tea Party Museum interpreters who
did an exceptional job, uh, back to back. I don't know how, by the way, we're going to talk to them. Those were pretty good. So, so far Mark Garren, General Smith, um just some really cool things. By the way, when we do get to the new space, the Secretary of
Executive Office of Aging Independence has asked to be invited um to the grand opening, which of course we will make sure they are coming up on. We have 16 people going to Moheaggan Sun for the Christmas celebration, 18 going to the Nutcracker. We have 80 people going to
the Boston Pops. Um, we'll be taking uh eight passenger vans, but we're going to do 10 trips. We're leaving Saturday starting at 8:00 in the morning. Um, we have Medicare programs. This is open enrollment. For those of you who don't know, we do
between 1,000 and,200 Medicare appointments all year. This is the biggest time of the year. We have Medicare um advisors here on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, four days a week. And all of those appointments are filled through the
middle of December. 100% filled. We have no uh opportunity to Well, that's not true cuz sometimes our advisors will say, "Yeah, in the late afternoon, as long as I'm willing to say, they're willing to say um for the real problem children." We save those for those that are really in, you know, a pickle. We
have a Medicare program tonight. We have a Medicare program tomorrow. Special walk-in communitywide programs. um just about information. We have a a Medicare program next Monday night just again to provide people access to information and
resources as they approach age 65 or are 65 and need some additional information because they are now eligible for Medicare. We are closing on Veterans Day. For those of you who don't know, we're closing on November 26 at 11:30. That's the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Our staff will still be
working that day. We'll work all day on Thanksgiving. will work uh the Friday after. I tell you that because it's important for you as a board to know and understand why then did we close at different times. We'll be taking some additional days off during the Christmas holiday to pay our staff for the time
they spend at a holiday. And of course, we're government so holiday time is booked at that time. Every hour they work, they have to work a minimum free. You pay them twice the rate. The day after Friday is a holiday on the books in Gardener. We pay them twice the rate. we make that time up uh during Christmas
break. Um frauds and scams GFA November 17th pretty important as we continue to see seniors getting slammed with big dollar uh hits from frauds and scams. So we're not talking trivial amounts 10020 we're
talking tens of thousands even in the hundreds of thousand dollar range. Um so continuing to to press information out in the hands of our seniors is super important. Golden Age Club in November. The speaker is Senator Durant. The
speaker for AP in November is Don Landing. He's a caricature artist. Um, and he'll be doing some caricatures and talking about his experience with that. For those of you who don't have the book, everybody take out your pen right now. I want to see pens in your hands. Write this date down. November 15th. It
is a super important date. Probably the most important date all year. >> Yeah. >> Isn't that the CAC food pantry at food raffle? >> No. The 21st. >> Darn. Never mind. So, well, the 15th is still the most important date. I thought it was the 15th. No, 21st. I don't know
if I'm available on the 24th. Oh, come on. >> Um, the 21st. Write that down. >> And please let your friends know. November 21. >> What time? >> It wasn't. It's the I thought it was the 15th. She changed the date on me. >> 700 p.m. you
>> Yes. That's the CAC meet raffle. And we we really try to have a big presence there to show the support that the CAC gives to our seniors and similarly that our seniors are able to give to the CAC. So please be there November.
>> You'll have to speak here or >> November 21st. Paul >> November I'm confused. Is it November 20th or the 21st? >> 21st Paul. November 21, 7:00 p.m. at the
gating club. Anybody out there want to say it again? CAC meet round. November 21st, 7 p.m. at the gating club. >> Thank you all. >> And it's a Friday night. >> Um December 8th, we have the holiday sing along. December 15th, we have our
holiday party. We will we will cap out on that party. We usually do about 130 people at the holiday party. The Terry Derpicks are coming back. They're our four piece fan. They just do a great job. Um, and the seniors love them and we're excited to have one. December
17th, another really important date. We have the Red Cross um, Save a Life for Christmas program all about smoke detectors and CO2 detectors. So, please, ladies and gentlemen, promote the heck out of that. And if you're watching and listening and you don't have active
working smoke detectors in your house, come to that program. We can schedule you for an install for our seniors. And there's some really cool stats coming out in our report which talks about the impact of our uh partnership with the American Red Cross and the guard fire
department in their senior fire safety program. I immense impact. And so to our friends at Red Cross um and to my peers and beloved comrades at the Garden Fire Department, thank you for all you do to support this program. Um that's kind of
the the nitty-gritty of programs. But now I want to share some information with you. I'd like to tell you some tidbits of information. Kind of be a little braggadocious about where we are. Last year I told you we had about 4,000 in FY24. Not about. We had over 4,000 unique
individuals we served with about an average 650 people per week. Now 24 was a really unique year. We were still doing co clinics. We were working with migrant families. There were a lot of like really interesting and big programs. And that year we logged 960
volunteers and did 16,000 hours of work. And you think, holy cow, that's a lot. Um, this year we had we had less volunteers. And right now, um, and we're just finalizing the numbers now, but we look like to be about 750 volunteers
down from the 950, so 200 less. That makes sense when you think of the literacy volunteers that helped with the English as a second language courses and the meal volunteers we had and the co volunteers. Makes sense that 750
volunteers less than 750 right now have done about 20,537 hours of volunteer work. At minimum wage 15 bucks that has a value of about 305,000 bucks. Um that report is not finalized. the staff is sitting down. Just hold over the last of the numbers.
Um, last year we had 17 contractors. Those are the vendor contractors like instructors for our exercise programs, our craft programs. Um, we had um I'm sorry, 18 instructors, 17 contractors.
Contractors are those other folks we pay to come in and do things like restaurants and things like that. They have a contract with us. Um we had 16 support group facilitators last year. Holy scholy between our mindful
meditation grief um dementia men's group, women's group, LGBTQI support group, our veterans group, and our weight management group. That that has that's a pretty significant number of people. We have seven volunteers who
work in our office. Currently today, we have seven. They've stayed on. Nobody's left us. Um, we have two people who have consistently volunteered to do facilities and I think you've seen them kind of hop around. At least one of them is just is remarkable. Um, we had over
$250,000 of inind or actual donations. U, so that was including things like the grand piano that's sitting at Waterford right now. Um, trying to think of Sterilite in 24 was a great example. They gave us
thousands of dollars of plastic containers that helped prepare us for the move. Um, so we're very thankful to stay alive and their continued generosity. By the way, every couple years we reach out to them and say, "Hey, we need some new baskets for bread to pick up our food items and they send
us and we say, I think we're always conservative. Can we get 10 or 15?" And they send us 40. um they're just very kind people who understand the impact that they can have on a small community center like ours.
So very very um appreciative and we had almost 50 company reps here, company reps that do like information stuff, set up a table, Blue Cross Blue Shield. We had heart to home meals here last week
during one of our programs. um we had person who does foot products just any of those vendors that come in and give information. So you know we're doing we're doing a lot and now what we're trying to do is figure out ways for people to ride on the coattails of programs that exist rather than doing
standalone so they get more bang for the buck and I think they're pretty appreciative of that. So, um I guess my final message is this, just to say thank you to all of the remarkably kind and generous organizations and agencies that help support um and drive the programs
here at the center to the enormous numbers of volunteers who come in selflessly and self um you know serving ways our community here at the gardens are going to do like anything you ask them to do. It's it's pretty cool. If you haven't seen it, by the way, our
pilgrim is set up out in the hallway done by volunteers. It looks and you know, people say, "What's the significance?" You know, every person that walks into the center and sees the new um the new costumeuming makes a comment. Every one of them, oh, look at who it is today. And that has an impact,
right? It's inviting, it's welcoming, and it's it's fun, and it's frivolous. Um, with that, Mr. Chair, there are no questions. Any questions on my report? I do have an item of business. Um, so what what we we get some funds from
organizations to help support the programs and the overall uh you know services we provide. And right now we have a little bit of of funding that allows us to be a little bit more um
conservative on how we use and where we put that money. And so we've been trying to drive a lot of that into the gift account. It was about $2,300 of money though that was given for programs that I'd like to take back out of the gift account and put in the program account. It'll support things like our holiday
party. Um, and I just want to make sure you know technically um we could do that with just a paper trail with the city auditor saying this is program money put into the gift account. Either way, it's fine and appropriate, but I'd like to get, if I could, your
your input on moving that $2,300 back. That includes about $525 from Semark. Semark is the company that does our uh bin, our clothing bin. That money instead of going into programs, we're putting it into the gift count
when I take that back out. We had $150 donation from Topps for the holiday party that was put in the gift count inappropriately. um the Nolton Foundation donation um GFA for sign 150 bucks went in and then some AP reimbursement money. So that came out to
234277 and with your consideration I'd just like to get um a position from you as a board as to whether or not it's okay for me to make that transfer out of the gift account back into the revolving fund for that money. I would like to make a
motion that we u allow the uh director to transfer $2,500 from the gift account to the revolving fund. Uh so it can be used uh because all all our
motions have to be v from the see from the gift fund need to be voted on. So that's why we just need one. Do you think 25 or do you think we should we take a little more out so you don't have to come back again? >> No, I think that's that's fine. If we need to come back, we'll just do another vote back then.
>> So, I make that motion that we allow the director to transfer $2,500 from the gift account to the revolving account so that he can use it as uh needed. >> So, motion is made by Terry Terry Milman to have the money
transferred from one account to the revolving and we had a uh vote >> seconded by Paul >> and seconded by Paul and we're all set with that. >> Okay. >> So vote. >> Yes. Uh but we still got to do the vote.
Does anybody in favor of the transaction? Any >> opposed to it? >> Okay, we're all done. It's all been voted. Beautiful. open discussion. >> And now we're going to have time for open discussion.
>> I have just a couple quick things. Uh oh, that um couple things that happened. The Lions collected the crack there earlier last month. >> They did. >> Um they did, from what I saw, they did a
remarkable job. That turn was very good. Um I have no complaints at all. I cleaned house. I walked away a happy vendor. Uh, and thanks to some people here. Thank you for purchasing some of my baskets. I appreciate that. >> They're beautiful.
>> Well, my challenge. >> Anyways, they did a great job. And what I got from that craft there was I met so many people that came to the craft and I mean a lot that was their first time here.
>> So, work it out somehow. And I don't know what you did on your end to promote it, but it was like, "Oh, I didn't know you had a senior center." You know, it was like, "This is great." You know, it was a very favorable. And so that was we
was good to see for us. >> Just to kind of comment on that, what did we do? Um, so, so we like to support those organizations that support us and give back. And how did we do that? We opened the facility for them. That was on a Saturday. Um staff had to be here
all day. Um any other staff member would have to pay overtime. So I think they was here. We put in huge advertises for 3 months in our newsletters not only as a you know an exerpt or story but as a
um attachment on an electronic. And then I talk about him all the time. I am I I benefit immensely from the relationships and the work commitment and dedication by so many um city employees >> and I could really literally
I can't name any that when asked don't do not only what I've asked but much more. Doug Monroe from Minds and Science is that guy. So, you know, a month before the craft fair, he created I gave him the art and the graphics and he
printed the boards and then distributed them all across the city. So we had six poster boards on sandwich board signs for 6 weeks before that craft fair because of the the commitment by the city and I I think by the way I talk about Doug all the time but he wouldn't
have that availability and DPW wouldn't have that luxury but for the vision of the mayor and the city council to continue to give them that and they see the benefit. So um that it trickles down from the top and I'm so appreciative.
So, >> um, and they give back to us in a big way. >> The only complaint I heard from the new the new people show up is like, "Boy, you could use parking around here." >> Yeah. >> So, you know what we did, Paul? I mean, we weren't vendors, so you know, >> but the board doesn't. There were 40
vendors here that day, >> and uh, at 7:30, we opened the doors for them to come in. The craft fair started at 9:00. At 8:30, Woods rolled up with a van and they drove their cars from our parking lot to city hall and parked their cars all day and were driven back
by Woods. Woods came back at 1:30, 2:00, picked them all up, brought them to their cars at City Hall parking lot because if we didn't have that remote parking, there would have not been a single space for anybody coming to the vendor fair. Not only that, but the volunteers that you had in my particular
case helped me because 3 days prior to the craft here, I cracked a red. So, I couldn't get heavy and uh they brought all my stuff in to help me set up. I was like, great Lions Club. >> They were terrific. So, kudos to you guys in the Lions Club. You did a great job. The other thing was the recent um
thing that we did with the Haywood with the harvest festival and we handed out a lot of egg sandwiches. I was the official English muffin slicer. I wasn't the Aer. I was the slicer. But
what was remarkable again was the turnout for that for the race and so forth. Um and people again were either knew about us or didn't know about us. And so I was I felt good about pro
promoting this center. So I started getting the air fresheners, the car fresheners and I didn't know >> they were we popular. >> They are. >> Yeah, >> they're very very popular. They smell good. I have one in my car. >> And that, you know, again, um it's an interesting dynamic.
There's really no other city department that has to advertise, right? So people pay their tax bill. They their advertisement is the bill they get coming in and see us. Um the board of health, right? they don't have to advertise. But our whole concept, the
whole model is based on utilization. How do you get people in? You have to spread the word. So being at being at the healthy harvest 5K was important for us to have a presence and just allow people to know. And similarly, we're at National Night Out. We're at National Night Out in Gardener and in Ashton. You
probably didn't know that, but the Garden Senior Center sets up a table in Ashton. All ships flow in a rising tide. So, if I can get information about the Gardener Senior Center into somebody's hand in Ashland, they're going to go to the Asham Senior Center. That makes sense. >> Look, I was
immediately I'm always impressed by you, but I was very impressed by you and Lisa and Ron and Ryan, myself, and we worked together. And I want to thank you for letting me have that opportunity to help you out that day. >> You see what you missed. You see what you >> That was great.
>> It was It's a lot of fun. >> Thankfully, it wasn't raining. >> Yeah. It's not so much fun. >> No, >> but it was a beautiful day. >> Did you do that last Thanksgiving? >> Yes. Yeah. Thank you for that, Paul. Thank you for bringing those two things. >> I'm sure you and Lucy slept very well that night. >> We Yeah, we we rolled from one event to
the next. That was our whole day. Um, but I think it's working and what I would say to you all is I think you have a job and a role to play in that as well in getting the word out. So, please, you know, be an ambassador when you can and uh always you're always invited to help
do sandwiches or hamburgers and hot dogs when we do those at the National Night. We did,00 pieces at National Night Out Garden. 1100 hot dogs and hamburgers about 700 in Ash. Um that's a huge lift by a lot of great people.
>> What else you got? >> I just want to go on with more what Paul said. when the lines club and a lot of people came in and they didn't know what we we were here and what we do and um >> you started >> well yeah but the thing was that after Michael mentioned we're going to have the alliance club it was after Labor Day
sometime and I got a hold of them in the office says would you mind if we set up a table for promoting AP Golden and the program we had a table set up and we had quite a few people uh get about 15 people that applications for AP so I
told them to come back next two weeks I told them what it was. So they got back with their applications which hopefully will work out well. And we did the same to Golden Beach Club. So they got people got those applications also. >> We've seen them. Yeah. Your presence >> and we promoting with with our right
>> our newsletter. I had the newsletters out there. Nancy came up and helped me. I was going to uh ask somebody else. Brenda was going to help me with she had an appointment so she couldn't I went to the other activity that was going on. >> So am I going to >> No. I so I got a hold of Nancy and I asked her would you mind helping me and
Nancy said yes. He said I'm only going to come home for about an hour or so. She stayed till the end. She had so much fun she stayed to the end. >> I'm sat with Ron but he was the one that was like the sales. >> He was a pretty face. >> Of course I know.
>> But he did a great job and it was a wonderful >> but it was I thought it was I didn't know how it would work. I didn't want to be infringing on somebody else's activity which is the Lions Club. That's why I asked why what he thought. go right ahead and do it. So, >> you were handing out newsletters, >> newsletters, >> these people who had never been here
before going, "Oh my god, all of you do all this in this building." >> They couldn't believe because of the size of the building. >> And then the other thing is we didn't only use this floor. We had to go downstairs. >> I know both places. They ran out of room up here. >> Great. Okay.
>> Yes. >> I was wondering if you would speak a little bit about the staff. We hear all the TV and everything how it's going to impact us or so it's still really tough to >> I don't think they're on
>> just slipping sorry um so the last thing we heard is that they did approve partial payment for SNAP benefits in November but there still will be a delay upstairs we are seeing record numbers we did our October numbers and it was 1300
people that we served in October Um, so it's there will be a delay in SNAP benefits from what I've understand and when they do come through it is a reduced amount. Okay, go ahead. >> I have an IRB card and for the last few weeks it says nothing. You can go to the
website it says your next payment is going to be such such dollar amount on such such a day. Nothing. Nothing until I came here before the meeting. it came on. Then I went to get my monthly payment and it's a full payment than a day.
>> Nice. >> That's fantastic. Everything that we've heard is that it's a reduced amount. So that's >> Yeah. My day is the 14th >> that was approved this morning was on the news this morning early this morning. >> So that's hopefully they're doing it only for no that
>> I think I think the issue with SNAP though is real for the senior center. It's real. Um, you know, we enrolled 54 seniors in SNAP hit um to the tune of $134,000 last year. That you think you think what
$134,000 does in our local economy. Those are just seniors. It's a vital program. Again, to me, it's obscene that we've been talking about eliminating snap and head. And to go to Julie's point, we can see the utilization upstairs. This morning, the line went
into the big room. I mean, it went down the hall. Um, and that is indicative of, you know, maybe a bigger issue for us all to be thinking about is how do we better support organizations like the CAC to support seniors at the CLOA um in
better and bigger ways. And one of the ways we do that is to be together. And I I've said this countless times. I'm so glad you're at the table with us um because we conspire so often. Um, and it works. and and I I hope you hear as much
as I like to thank you, do how very appreciative I am of you and your staff and the programs you provide. >> Thank you. We're happy to be there. And one of the things too that I think people forget about SNAP, a broader picture is that so many seniors and children are on staff. We had a 78-year-old individual call us to see if
we were hiring maybe somebody because they weren't sure how they were going to provide food for themselves. >> Y this morning, that's what we saw this morning. thing is that people don't have places to go, you know, it's like what do we do? >> Yeah, it's it's bad. And just to go back
to Ken's point about like the federal cuts. So Medicaid is being cut. So Medicaid provides the senior buying and low-inccome subsidy for seniors to the tune of over 1.1 million in the garden area. 1.1,430
seniors in 2025 received the senior buying benefit which eliminated their part D premium of $187 plus plus plus plus the lowinccome subsidy um the impact $227 eliminated for the medics
plans the high cost uh drug premium that they were required copay they required to pay wave that had a value of about $86,000 I mean that's real When you think about just gardener, we're talking 1.3 million
bucks. Um, I'm sorry, when we're talking just the Gardener Senior Center, how many folks enrolled in senior buying, say, at places like Haywood Wakefield or Gardener Housing Authority that never came through our door? So, that number we know is substantially higher than 430. Ladies and gentlemen, the reality
is that these cuts are going to impact our community. Um, and when they do, I I think it's going to be pretty substantial. I won't go on too much about it, but I just want to say thank you for your question about SNAP because it's so unbelievably appropriate for the constituents we serve and more. And by
the way, if if grandmas or even worse, if if their son or daughter's benefits are being reduced, who's taking the hit on the chin for that? Their parents, their, you know, grandparents. So everybody's belt is being tightened in
this um kind of crazy half-hazard approach to to government spending. >> Any any other discussions? >> Okay. Uh our next scheduled meeting will be on Monday, December the 1st at 2 p.m.
So all there can have a motion to adjurnn. >> I'll make a motion to adjurnn. Second. >> Second. Okay. All in favor? >> I >> Any oppose? >> Okay. What's your name? Thank you for coming.
Oh my god.