Seeing it's 4:34 on Tuesday, September 30th, I will call the uh public welfare committee meeting to order. The clerk will please call the role. Councelor Mac present. Councelor Tmos present. Councelor Heath.
Seeing councelor Heath is absent, we still have a quorum. So we we will proceed with the meeting. Um is anybody recording this meeting? I will not read the announcement. Then um reading of the minutes of prior meetings August 4th, 2025.
Make motion to wave the reading of the minutes and accept them as presented. Second. All those in favor say I. I. Motion carries. We're going to take the agenda out of order. Um we have Mayor Nicholson on the phone, so we're going to skip to item uh items four. First
item uh 11683, a measure authorizing the mayor to enter into an intermunicipal agreement for veteran services with the town of Hston from the per period beginning on January 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2028. Mayor Nicholson,
thank you very much, Madame Chair, uh and council Munoz. Uh the town administrator for the town of Hbertson reached out to my office uh around the middle of the summer to explore the possibility of regionalizing our veteran services district uh with the town of
Hoverston. They are experiencing a change in their uh veteran service agent position themselves. Uh their current VSO is being deployed soon. Uh and in speaking with the uh existing VSO who's there who gets deployed on January 1st,
uh that veteran service agent told their town administrator Nathan Budro uh that she did not feel that when she came back that Hson had the adequate services to actually care for the needs of their veterans based off of their current staffing levels and suggested that they look into joining us uh in the gardener
district. This uh is something that in speaking with both director, former director Hasselman and current director Davis, uh they believe it fits into the uh current capacity that we have. Uh we do have an assistant director who is in the process of being onboarded as we speak. So we will be uh back to fully
staffed within the next two or so weeks. Uh the way that our minimum staffing levels by statute work for the veteran service department is based off of the full population of the municipalities that join the district. Hoverston per the 2020 census has a population of the
town of 4,328 people. This puts us at a total district population of all of our communities and again that's Gardner, Westminster, Ashtonham, Princeton, Ashby, Winon, and Hbertson added into that would put us at 57,195
individuals in the population for the district. Uh we are currently within the minimum staffing levels for that population. we would have to hit 61,000 to hit a uh new threshold for additional staff that would be needed under the minimum staffing grid that is in state
law. And if we were ever to hit that hit that uh we would have to add an additional part-time clerical staff member to the department. So that would be the hit if we ever did hit that 61,000. But we are still uh under that right now even with Hoverston being added. Um, we have been doing
Hoverston's uh VA claims. Uh, mainly because where they had a uh their current veteran service agent was only working uh four hours a week. Uh, we the availability wasn't there to do larger claims, anything other than really the chapter 115 claims. Uh, so we had
already been doing the uh VA claims for the customers of the town of Hoverson. Uh, so there's really too too much there. And just like we do with all of our other towns in our veterans districts, uh they set their own budgets. We just manage their budgets for them through the uh staff in the
department uh and then provide the services for them too. And then they pay us a uh intermunicipal agreement fee that is equivalent to $2 per population of the town. Uh which is what you see associated in this uh proposed agreement
if it does pass. Um, and you'll notice also too that for the first year since they don't start until January 1st because they have the coverage in that office until January 1st, uh, that it is prorated for only six months of that fiscal year rather than the full fiscal year. So that's why there's such a big gap between uh, the first year's
assessment and the second year's assessment is because that first year is only a six-month rate rather than a full 12-month rate. Uh, happy to answer any questions that you may have uh, aside from those and uh, any other ones that you have uh, moving forward. This is something that the Hbertson board of selectment has already voted to approve
uh and has been signed by the uh county administrator and the town of Hoverston on their behalf following that vote. Councor, thank you, mayor. Um do have we replaced both the both of the positions that were vacated in our veterans department here.
They have Yes, yes, that's what I was saying earlier. So, our new director, Chris Davis, has already uh been in the role and we are currently onboarding our new assistant director. Uh so uh she he should be starting within the next two or so weeks. Uh so we will be fully staffing the department as I said.
Perfect. Thank you. And so as you were saying here so this will give the new people three months to get acclimated before they take on another community. Correct. Correct. Yes. Okay. Uh no I I I'm fine as long as it's with within our staffing levels. Uh but
I would be very hesitant to take on any other municipalities after this. Yeah, I can understand that. Like I said, the 51,000 mark is where we have to look at adding an additional part-timer if we ever hit that. So, I I would agree with you on that one, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Um, seeing no discussion, I'll entertain a motion. A motion to send the measure to the full council for approval. Second. All those in favor say I. I.
I. Motion carries. The next item is uh item 11688, an ordinance to amend chapter 67 675 of the city code of the city of gardener there for entitled zoning to allow for operation and use of
cottage kitchen and residential districts within the city of gardener. Um, and I think it's important for you to as you um, your signature was on this letter as well as the council president uh, mayor that you give us some input as to this ordinance change.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Uh, I do want to uh for the ways that the general laws operate, I just to clarify, the uh sponsor of this item is Council President Tyrell, who asked if I would co-sponsor and I'm happily uh able to co-sponsor that because this does have to be submitted by a city councelor
under the provisions of the general law. Uh but this is something that actually was brought to us from a business that was looking at opening in gardener the right way and following the right legal processes for businesses to open in gardener and saw that uh our current zoning does not have any reference to
cottage kitchens in our zoning ordinance. But we also have an item uh a line item in our zoning ordinance that says if a definition or a use is not listed in our zoning code that it is explicitly prohibited from operating in
the city under those regulations. So if it doesn't say that it's allowed then it's expressly prohibited uh in that matter. Uh so since a cottage kitchen is something that we're seeing a lot of in fact it was uh recently highlighted in an article in various newspapers that cottage kitchens are basically home
bakers uh that are looking to be able to sell to the public. They are still subject to all board of health regulations. They are still subject to all state sanitary code and building code requirements. It's really just rather than having a brickandmortar storefront, a lot of the work is prepared in the house rather than um in
a uh an off-site location. Uh so this is something that we are looking at allowing right now. Um when I mentioned the business that brought this to our attention uh to the council president of mine's attention earlier, I mentioned I specifically starting a business the right way because during this review we
also find found that there are about seven cottage kitchens that are currently operating in the city of Gardner because they just decided to open to begin their operation. Uh and this person you know came to city hall first and said what do I need in order to start this business and then was told that they uh were unable to open that business. So, this is uh really us as
part of our review of our ordinances that we're looking at doing to really cut back on a lot of the needless red tape that we've had out there and really, you know, uh we we've said often that gardener is a place that's open for business and showing that we actually are willing to be open for business uh
and getting, you know, these regulations come back. So, if you look at the section two of the proposed ordinance, it does list the table of uses that are there. Uh this right now would have the uh permitted use in single family 1, rural residential 2 and general residential 3 which are three
residential districts in the city. Uh while not permitted in the commercial or industrial district uh mainly because we try to focus on people having more of a storefront off-site location in the commercial and industrial areas of the city. Uh so that's why it's written that way and uh happy to answer any questions
that the committee may have above and beyond that. Councelor Tunes. Sure. Um well it definitely sounds like something we need to support. Um if there are currently if if I heard that right seven operating
under the radar um potentially not following code. Um so I don't really have any questions except that um I feel like it's needed given that um you know this type of business um is needed.
Um I no I think yeah cottage uh kitchens are becoming increasingly more popular and um I thank the council president and the mayor for bringing this um to us to have more um guidelines of um of the
process and that everyone's doing it the same um that it it shouldn't be you know if we try to fly under the radar you know we're not responsible. I I will just say that I did um with myself call and confirm with the board of health. I did want to again make sure that they
were um had to meet all um city board of health in state um sanitary uh requirements which they do. Um so I I think this is great to have um the process formalized and to make sure that people um you know just not make it
complicated for them, but they're all meeting the same guidelines. And again, as as you said, mayor, that we want to be more business friendly, but we don't want them chasing their tail, not knowing, you know, what department they have to get what permission from. So, I I appreciate this process being
streamlined. Thank you. Yeah, that was the exact goal that we were trying to do. Councelor Tunes, I just I I assume that um uh President Tyrros is co-sponsoring because you said that he co He is the sponsor. He is the sponsor. Yeah. the mayor cannot sponsor an
ordinance or Yeah. He so the sponsor is is the council president. Um and you know and as I said I think it was just from the fact that um you know the building department being involved, the board of health being involved, you know, people being sent you know in
different directions. Um and sometimes the left hand doesn't know what the right hand's doing. So, um I I do I think this is going to be great especially as if there's anybody flying under the radar now holding them to make sure they go through the proper channels as well. Um anything else mayor you want
to add? No, that was all I had madam chair. Thank you. Um so that with that I will entertain a uh a motion. Make a motion to u send the ordinance to the full council for approval. Um the motion is to send the ordinance
to the full council for approval. Is there any discussion? I just want to mention that we the full city council has already um sk plan to schedule a joint um public hearing on this with the planning board because it is a zoning ordinance. Um so that will be occurring.
Um so with that being said, all those in favor say I. I oppose. The motion carries. Thank you, mayor, for calling in today. I appreciate it. Thank you, Madam Chair. Take care now. Yeah. Bye. And we will proceed to section three of
our agenda to department updates and we will start with the library. Marita, thank you. [Applause] Um, and before you get I'll let you get settled for a second, um, just for the public, anybody watching this, that the
welfare committee meeting will be meeting once a month for the next three months at least, more if necessary. Um but every department under our our um subcommittee will be doing updates. Um and uh just because it's it's important for us to know all the good work that's
going on in the city and um and it's a great time before we head back into budget season again so people can have a minute to brag about all the good things going on. So thank you Marita. We'll start with the library. All right. Thank you for having me counselors. My name is Marita Clemens.
I'm the director of the Levi Haywood Memorial Library. Um, so I will start with our state requirements. Uh, the library is under the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and we're
required to fulfill certain requirements in order to get our annual funding and to keep the city certified. In 20 in fiscal year 25, thanks to the generous support of the city council, the Levi Hwood Memorial Library met all financial
requirements for state aid and met 90% of the required open hours. The mayor's budget this year passed by the city council allowed for the hiring of three new part-time staff. And with some very creative scheduling, uh starting this week, we will be able to extend our open
hours to 50 a week. And this does meet the state's requirements and will increase our state aid award by 12.5% and allow us to provide the citizens of gardener with the library services that they deserve. Uh we'll be celebrating
the completion of this goal with an open house this Thursday, October 2nd, from 5 to 7:00 p.m. That's the first Thursday. We'll be open until 7:00 p.m. And I hope that you all will be able to attend. Uh our goal is to maintain these certification standards while providing
the highest level of professional library services to the city of Gardner. Uh updates regarding the building and infrastructure at the library. Our current status is that the fire and security alarm systems have been updated to a modern wireless system and a new
internet-based telephone system will be installed next week to replace the 20-year-old computerized system that's currently running on copper wire phone lines. Um, our goals are to request funding from the friends of the Levi Hwood Memorial Library to update staff
and patron computers. Uh we have nine that are currently too old to be updated to Windows 11. So we hope to be able to update those in the near future, ensuring that we're able to maintain digital security. Um we will be exploring grant opportunities to replace
the library's HVAC and increase the building's energy efficiency overall. As the building is now 21 years old, the association will still will soon need to begin major overhauls of the HVAC system uh which has reached its full lifespan.
And our uh last goal regarding the library's infrastructure is to update our website, making it more accessible and userfriendly and including a digital catalog of library programs. We hope to be able to complete that this fiscal year. Regarding the library's materials
collection, as of June 30th, 2025, we hold a collection of 131,34 items, including books, periodicals, CDs, DVDs, and other items. Uh we also provide access to 8 million items that
are held by the CW Mars Library Consortium to which we belong. Over the course of fiscal year 26, we intend to add reading materials in Spanish and Portuguese, add readalong books for children, which are those that include a digital audio books they can press and
hear the story read to them. And uh we intend to add an adult comic section. Uh, we look forward to establishing a library of things, a collection of non-traditional items for patrons to borrow from the library, such as tools,
household technology, games, and other items. Um, we have significantly increased library programs and attendance over the past two years. I won't read all the numbers out loud because I'm not good at that. Uh, but you'll see on the second
side of the sheet that I gave you, our numbers have been really remarkable. We had 507 programs with 8,656 attendees in fiscal year 25. Due to the hard work of the library staff and community partners, we've
increased adult, children's, and young adult programs and increased the patron turnout for these programs. Um, our goal there is to support our newly hired teen librarian and outreach initiatives to the local schools in the community center and in creating a teen advisory
council and building a robust slate of programs that serve the gardener community between the ages of 12 and 18. Uh, I will be requesting more hours for our teen librarian when you see me again during the budget season.
Um, some highlights of our recent programming. We had 303 people come to play the library's life-size Candyland game this summer from June 26th through July 2nd, including a lot of repeat players. It was a wonderful time. Uh,
just last week, we hosted local author Carolyn Hosard's talk at the library and we had 30 people in attendance. An English language learning circle now meets at the library weekly and usually has between 12 and 20 participants.
And our a thousand books before kindergarten program, which encourages families with children under five to read, has 31 new participants this year. Our kickoff block party for the 2025 summer reading program had over 300
attendees. And uh the summer reading program had 170 children sign up, 25 teens and 149 adults. Um we also had many businesses that gener generously supported the summer reading program
with prizes. Um, Chairtown Lumber, Bruce's Watch and Jewelry, John's Sport Shop, Priscilla Candy Shop, Studio for Potters, Gardener Cinema, Parker House of Pizza, Gardener Ale House, Victoria Coffee, Taco Ray, Kimon, Chipotle, Great Wolf Lodge, Izzy's Ice Cream, Diamond
Hearts Art Studio, Straightaway Records, Lance Trampoline Park, and the GFA Bank and Credit Union. I hope you'll forgive me for reading out that whole list, but I think they all deserve thanks. and I would like to thank you for your continued support of the library. Uh
you'll find in this packet as well our programming schedule for the fall for adult children's and teen programs. Council Tunes, any questions, comments, concerns? No questions. I just I think the work
you're doing is amazing. I love that they're um opening up the space to to more uh folks in the community and you know really becoming that um welcoming place that you know specific people um want to go to and and do go to um in the
community. Um actually I did actually did have a what was the question? Um, in terms of accessibility, what is it specifically that you are you all are trying to to do in the with the building structure to make it more accessible?
Um, furniture for one thing. Um, there are accessibility desks that you can move for low. Um, the making the collection more accessible to a wide variety of
readers, including Spanish and Portuguese readers. Currently we we have very few items that aren't in English. Um our website is not great. I think updating the website is going to uh help
a lot to uh show people the digital collections that they can access through the library. Um those are just a few examples. Thank you. I just you know first of all thank you for this. I love I love seeing the
programs for adults because I mean and I love seeing the adults involved with the summer reading and your children's calendar for October. Um I can't say enough how excited I am about the extended hours. It's something that we as a a welfare committee were really um uh pushing for with you know for the
with the mayor was for more funding. Um I I just wanted to ask are any of your staff members bilingual? Not fully. No. Okay. Um, we have uh a few people, myself included, who can say a few welcoming things in Spanish. Um, I do
make sure that we um, one of the things I like to bring up to the front desk staff frequently is that there are computer apps that make uh, it much easier to hold a conversation with somebody in another language, even if you can't really speak to them directly.
Uh, we do regularly bring in a community volunteer to do multilingual story time in Spanish and Portuguese. Um, we had the mayors do a Spanish story time this morning, but no one on staff. No. Oh, excellent. No, I just, you know, I I think it's great how you're trying to
reach out to, you know, um to everybody and have equitable access and um and the new collaboration with the the teen center, I think, just has, you know, a lot of potential. We're very excited about that. Yeah. I think No, I think it's great. Um, for my former role in the school
department, a lot of our teens used to use the library after school and as a former page myself, I I started off working the late the 5 to 8 shift. Um, so it's and it really was the library has always, you know, been used well in the evening and on Saturday. So,
um, you know, the library is a great asset to our community. And I also appreciate everything the friends of the library do for you know fundraising, their book sales, just the volunteer hours they do because um you know we all
know that the library like many other departments doesn't is on a no frills budget and the use of volunteers is in their time is extremely important um but very much appreciated. So, um, no, I I think it's great and, um, keep up keep
up the wonderful work and again, you can if you need anything between budget and department updates or anything you want to send to us, please feel free. Thank you very much, counselor. Thank you. Thank you. Next update will be the comm cable commission, Mr. Joy. So, I'm going to
give you right off the bat, but I'm a klutz and I did have multiple copies of this and then I dropped them and stepped on it while I was cutting in. I'm not giving it to you like that. So, I'll give you one for now. Okay, that's fine. And then I can give you the other one after and I can email you at Susie. Yeah, you can email it to me fine. That's fine. Okay.
So, um Educational Television's been running pretty well. Um we haven't run into a lot of major glitches as we go along. Uh just to kind of give you an idea of what we have been doing since we last met. Um we've continued to do the live broadcast
and streaming of the city council and school committee meetings. We've been recording for broadcast rebroadcast the ZBA and planning board meetings. Um, we've continued a monthly show with uh the senior center called senior moments where Mike brings in director Ellis
brings in people who uh can give out information of how to do certain things whether it be um the Medicare or I'm sure he'll talk about a lot more um for seniors benefit. And then we've also uh continued our GCAT chat show which is a
show that's about uh addiction and recovery um with Veronica Patty who uh is involved a lot with the AED and the city doing all the different events for that. Um we had another successful summer of recording concerts in the park. We we didn't miss any uh luckily
there was no rain. I don't know if it's lucky but there was no rain so we didn't have to go to any rain dates which makes it difficult for us sometimes to do. And we've been doing the lecture series at the um memorial I mean at the library. Um and along with that we've been Mr. Ellis
has kept Shane busy a lot or Andy busy going to shoot different events like the ukulele plus drummers or painting uh different activities that the council on aging or the senior center have been putting on so that we can get it to more people who can't make it there um so that they can follow along with that. Uh
we've also gone out on sometimes on spur of the moment to shoot some like grant announcement grants announce announcements um that primarily go more onto the city's web pa Facebook page uh not the Facebook page the YouTube page um and some of the bigger ones we put on the TV as well and we continue to shoot
uh instead of weekly a monthly mayor's update um this year we com committed again to uh working with the garden police department and that's like a full-time week job while the academy is in session to go and shoot different sections of the every different section
of the academy, even if it's only for a little while, whether it's PT, whether it's at the courthouse with the judges, whether it's while they're doing the the drunk driving simulator with the little go-kart and the goggles. Um, and putting that together in conjunction with their graduation to about a half an hour, 40
minute show. Uh, that ran, not only can they use it for publicity, but the kids who took part in it love to watch it. Um, we also have covered the International Overdose Awareness Night, the National Night Out, and this year again, we were
able to cover the GHS um, athletic hall of fame. Um, that has actually started airing this week. Um, we've also expanded our fall sports coverage. Shane is currently out shooting a soccer game right now. Um, so not only is it football like it was last year, I'll be
doing soccer and field hockey um, this year as well. Um, and we're looking forward to getting back to regular hockey, ice hockey, and basketball again this winter. Um, the equipment is running well. Unfortunately, the cameras that I had talked to you about during budget time that was going to help make
sports wonderful uh are discontinued. Uh, we nobody can get them. Any of our vendors can't get them anymore. So, we are currently in talks with vendors to bring in some um trial devices so that we can see how they'll handle it before we place the order. We want to make sure we get the right thing before we spend
the money. Um, going along with that, the closed captioning system that we came for, it's been a longer process because I'm trying to make sure that we are fiscally responsible for it. Uh, there is a closed captioning system that's in our system already and we're trying to
confirm that it is what it what they say it is because that would be just an add-on price to our annual fee. Um, and in instead of going with the other one, uh, that was going to be like $65,000. So, we're trying to do some fiscals. I've been waiting for some vendors to get back to me. Um, I know it's been a
while since budget, but between vacations with me and vacations with them during the summertime, we're we're in final talks about that. Getting ready to send that to purchasing and bid. Um, we were able to purchase a a GoPro style camera last year at the end of our fiscal budget um that Shane uses for
sports. He can put it on the goalpost for football. Uh he can put it on the fence behind home plate for softball and baseball which gives a really cool view and doesn't risk the camera cuz it mounts on the fence but away from the fence. So even if a ball gets foul tip back there or a throw goes errant uh it
doesn't damage it. So those are actually like two three camera shoots with the GoPro if you include the GoPro in it. Um, we have run into a concern though and it's been something that we saw coming but something we could not get an answer from from the company because the
company that makes our switcher that we use here at city hall and in the TV station at the studio um they run on a Windows 10 platform. Windows 10 is no longer supported with safety updates which could mean that it could become a u Mr. O'Keefe would love for us to get
it off the system right now, but because we use it for the streaming of the city council meetings, I've been given some latitude till I can get some answers. Um, I just actually got an answer today because the company was in the midst of a sale. Couldn't talk to reps from whichever company needed to answer the
questions. Um, I have taken pictures of the serial numbers of them and have sent them to our vendor who is talking with the new company. And the problem is is unless we're in a certain set of serial numbers,
we cannot just update the Windows to 11. What they can do if they're in the right set of serial numbers is we can pack them up. We can ship them back to Texas. We can ship them to Texas. They can retrofit them for the cost of $2,000 plus shipping and handling. Um or we
have to go out and buy the new cost of those is about $10,99. Um, so we're we're hopefully going to be a the system at the high school isn't really on the internet for streaming at this time. Um, but obviously the one here is the other option which I'm
talking to a vendor about is um a different standalone streaming unit that we can feed from the switcher and be able to put online that's not a computer per se. Um, other than that, that's pretty much where we are. I do have a couple
personnel updates. Nothing bad. Uh, Andy is covered. I forgot to put it in the thing. The guy was told one page. Andy is currently working now 20 hours a week. He does all you, as you know, he does the nighttime stuff he does and all that. And the weekends he actually went and shot the October Fest this weekend and last weekend he was at the Hall of
Fame. Um, so that's awesome to have him for that extra time. And he is still currently staying in school. So that is good. Um, we strongly encouraged him to do that. And uh, just on a little side note for Shane in case anybody sees him, give him a little bit of encouragement. has been training since the beginning of
the year about that he is going to run the New York Marathon in November. So, uh he's been running around doing this stuff and then literally running around the city in the community uh trying to get ready for the marathon. Uh there is no I don't
have an update with Bob yet from the fiber. We're hoping to get the fiber run up here. I know he was in the process of it. I just didn't get a chance to talk to him from when I found out on Monday morning that we were having this meeting. Wow. Okay. I was away running a I was running a
woodbench training, which is like a a high-end adult leader training for scouts and and uh I saw the email on Monday morning when I walked in. Any questions? Comments? like that. Thank you, Director
Josti for your uh presentation and I'm truly appreciative of having having access to uh Gardner uh public access to television in Gardner so that we can create access for uh folks who can't
make it out to games and events and um and to city council meetings and so on. So, thank you. appreciate your work and hopefully we can next budget round of budget get some um funding to update some of the equipment that you have. Uh that's becoming
obsolete and outdated. Um the the sad part is those switchers are only 5 years old. We ordered them in 2021, so they were probably built in 2020, but because they're a computer platform, Windows decided they wouldn't service 10 anymore. So that's kind of throwing us
for a little while. Everything is made to Yep. did not last, right? Disposable. Uh so, uh a question I have actually I'm thinking about um uh when I first ran for office in in Fitsburg for um for school committee,
um FATV had us do candidates do, you know, quick two to three minutes. Who are you as a candidate? Um I was I in the last in the preliminary election I was listening to uh Representative Zotnik and Council Kazinskis on uh streaming the the election results
and I know that FATV does that. I'm just curious if those are things that um that we've considered doing or have done in the past or maybe we did it once a long long time ago in conjunction with uh WGAW. the radio station was doing it, but
deciding on where we're going to do it from now. Um, I probably would not want to start it in this election series right now, but maybe doing the little one bumps. The problem is is we get one person to come in and do the quick little, you know, two-minute this is
what I am, this is what I stand for, and then the other person who they're running against doesn't. I'm very cognizant of the equal opportunity um during election times and things. And some will say, well, they didn't come. You offered it to them. But I'm kind of always been of the theory that we have
to kind of make sure we have everybody. We have covered debates before when they've had debates. Um, yeah, I could definitely look into it. Um, you know, coming up for this one might be a little tough to throw something together, but we'll I can definitely add it into the roster for the next one, you
know, to talk to Shane and Andy and see what we can come up with for an idea. Yeah, they're great. Thank you. Um, and previously they were Such things were done in conjunction I believe with the mount or the chamber um or the so for debates. Yes, the chamber the chamber would sponsor the debates.
They would they were a they were the parties that would sponsor it and then WG would just you know cover it as well. Um but I just I just want to say I you know um I know we're talking about a big island to you know fix the chambers but
um it's it's important either way that it's done. Absolutely. Um and you know at least we have the opportunity to you YouTube if we you know if there's a meeting or two that have to be um taped and then and then published after. So the thing is is I can always tape
exactly and delay it. It's a matter of to be able to stream it live. It has to be connected to the internet. Other than that that's like kind of like what we do with uh planning and zoning. We record it right and then we put it up the next morning which is what we used to do. Um,
we always went live with city council, but all the other ones used to be streamed to put on the next day. But, and I I do watch a lot I do watch a lot of the ZBA meetings. Um, and I will say that on WG, you have really increased your coverage of the the museum has been having amazing programs, too.
There's, you know, programs. I think I I I felt really bad. She I get the same one every time I turn it on. But, you know, I just uh but they are they do have great programs and I I just think as you know, as councelor Tibo is saying, just the accessibility and the availability for people to see
things going on in within the city is is really important. I'm also seeing a lot of new programs coming out of the library. So, no problem what we can do for for that. Whether it's the teen center, the you know, the library, the senior center, you know, the museum, it's it's it's all
good. It's all positive and that's just, you know, um it just as well as the um just the the the billboard, you know, the notices of what's going on um within the city, whether it be a trash day delay or snow delay or whatever's going
on with school in the morning as you know. So, um you know, or to membership information for the for the golf course. So, no, I you know, you you've always had a very stable, stellar staff and and it's been you're you know, um and you guys uh never I've never heard you guys
say no whenever and when asked to do something. So, um you know, as you know, I just appreciate it and hopefully we can support you in getting the equipment as you need it. I hope so. That's why I'm sending out I'm looking at the other equipment for closed caption very carefully when I
found out about this. So instead of having to come back and say I need $10,000 more, if I can save $10,000 on the product, that might wash cuz I also know that the money comes from a reserve for account that you know since cable and a lot of people
are cutting cutting the cable and using only internet for watching TV. I have noticed that the account quarterlies that come in has started to drop a little bit. Um, so I've tried to be fiscal so we can keep a job for as long as we can and be able to properly do it,
but we're still good for now. Excellent. All right. Thank you very much. Going to give this to Susie or email Susie? Either Either way is fine. Yeah, either way. Okay. So, I'll give that to you so you have it and I will email Susie. I apologize.
Nope. Not a problem. Director Ellis. Last but not least, thank you counselors for having uh the Gardener Senior Center and myself here today to talk about all the really good stuff that's happening. Um before I give you my update, which I assume I'm all
right to do, I want to say congratulations to the library and get for doing amazing things. Um, what I've realized in this job for the last 5 years is the senior center always does better when other departments in the city do better. And that is absolutely
without exception. Um, between the city clerk's office and the purchasing department, IT, get uh the auditor, they give us so much support and so much encouragement. they allow us um the knowledge and experience
they have to give us the opportunity to do the things we want to do and that I think at the end of the day benefit our um constituents all across the community. So again, congratulations to my peers today for some really stellar accomplishments. And the other thing I want to mention is volunteers at the
senior center. I talk about it all the time, but the reality is so much of our programming would be impossible. would be impossible to do. And so many of the accomplishments we've had in the last year simply wouldn't exist without the enormous
support and contribution of volunteers from throughout the community. So I think if there's a message to be had today, and I'm hoping you hear a lot of really good messages, uh first and foremost is my appreciation for the volunteers and FY24. In fact, it was a
weird year. We were working with the the immigrant families. We're still doing COVID clinics. There were a lot of kind of extraordinary things happening in the senior center. But that year we logged about 960 volunteers and 16,000 hours of
volunteer time that really in essence had a value of between 250 and $300,000. Now I kind of call that fake money, right? because we wouldn't pay those volunteers. But the reality is the value and the impact they have is enormous.
But I do want to share with you some highlights of real money um that is a benefit to the constituents of Gardner. In the report I gave you, I want to let you know that conservatively we've
calculated about $2.65 million million. And that that blew me away. That was astonishing. I never in a million years imagined that the financial uh economic impact from the services we provide would hit that amount. And let me tell you a little bit of the stories about that. Last year we
did about 430 um seniors in the senior buyin program which saved them $187 a month on the part B premium. $187 a month times 12 months each and every month they get that. The value of that alone, real money that's no longer be
being deducted from their social security check for their part B premium was $964,000, almost $965,000. We enrolled about 43 seniors in the low income subsidy um which saved them $264
a month for their NEX premiums times 12 months was about $136,000. But it also eliminated their $2,000 annual cap. um their annual contribution rather co-pay on their medics plans which was an $86,000 value. That's
$1.187 million. Let me say that again because it it still is astonishing. $1.187 million that goes back into the pockets of area seekers. Um again, we couldn't do that without the volunteers and the partners
we have in the community. It would be impossible to have that kind of reach and impact, but we can do it because we built the partnerships and the relationships. Our case management services have saved seniors about $500,000. Um, some examples, well, a little bit
more than 500,000, but some examples are we were able to get somebody um qualified for social security at the age of 74 years old. They have never applied for it. who were living on a very very if I told you the amount you'd be astonished but were able to qualify this
person. They received $2,800 a month in social security. Um huge impact. That alone was about $33,000 plus a um back social security payment
of 15,000 bucks. $140,000. We saved uh a senior on a claim on a pension on pension fraud through our uh elder protective services reach and armed. Our raft program, which is a program that provides subsidies for
folks uh that qualify for housing, was uh another $210,000 plus an $18,750 fund that was available to them throughout the year. um just remarkable and substantial amounts of money. Our
SNAP and nutrition benefits, people enrolled at the Garden Senior Center, we enrolled 54 people. Doesn't sound like a lot of people, right? Like what's the impact? 54 people received $215 a month for 12 months was $139,000.
Our farmers market coupons over the last two years was $15,000 [Music] of real money being put into the pockets of seniors to purchase fresh fruit and produce. Our food drive brought in about $12,000 worth of food. Um some other
cool things, we did a recycling uh program. Our recycling day uh brought in 3.16 tons of paper, about 1,000 pounds of electronics, and throughout the year, we have been able to recycle uh 12,600
lb of textiles, which is like crazy made with that little container we have in the back that we brought in almost 13,000 lbs of of clothing and accessories. transportation programs have saved seniors about $55,000.
Um, all of that with, I think, a pretty uh, remarkable response by the community. We had about 10,000 inbound calls and 10,000 outbound calls from the Garden of Senior. Last year, we received 40,000 views on our Facebook page, which
is a fairly new um, uh, vehicle that we've implemented this past year. We have a reach of over 6,300 which is pretty which is really good for a senior center. Not so good for say like I don't know a large organization or Haywood Hospital. Um but really
exceptionally good for a senior center when you look at metrics across the board. We have likes of 700. We have followers of almost a thousand that follow the Garner Senior Center media page. Our Google page has seen about 2,700 views. um over a thousand clicks
now from our business profile. Our Google rating uh and folks uh that hear this, please if you're disappointed with the senior center, please don't log on Google, give us bad reviews. We're doing great right now. Our Google reviews are 4.7 out of five. Our Facebook reviews
are five out of five. So, we're seeing very high levels of satisfaction and engagement at the senior center. Um we did 125 tax returns last year. Conservatively in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the average cost for state and federal returns is about $275
per person. We we downsized that estimate to $150, but at $150 that was a savings of about $18,750 for our seniors. Um, real money, real money that they don't have to spend uh
later. We do countless hours of advocacy of, you know, intervention. We provide housing assistance, nutrition assistance, transportation assistance. We make referrals and make direct connections. We don't just tell people to call Haywood Hospital or call CHC. We make the calls and get them connected to
primary care, mental health services, substance use and recovery services. We do conflict resolution um for them being their advocate, calling places like Comcast and other um types of of experiences they have that aren't really
working. and we have been able to develop partnerships with legal and financial services to help folks with those other things. In your in your update, I've kind of provided a much more broad description of this past
year, the updates, but the primary things we do, our bal wig services are Medicare and healthcare counseling. We do a lot of it whether it's uh Medicare, Medicaid, a lot of connector services which we don't even include in our metrics because there's no way to capture it. Um I tell you about case
management services and it's sometimes lost on us but the reality is there's no other social service agency in the for the city of garden not in the city of gardener but for the city of gardener. So in our police department, fire department, board of health, veteran services have an extreme case. The
senior center regardless of age is always involved in that trying to uh affect housing opportunities and other types of services that support those people in transition. Um so in the case man uh management also goes to the elder
protective services side. So we're looking at exploitation or abuse in some way shape form or manner. And we're involved with our partners agent services of North Central Massachusetts. Um we do support groups. I don't know how many people know that we have a men's support group, a woman's support
group, a veteran support group, an LGBTQI support group, a weight management support group, and a dementia support group. And some people say, well, why do you do that? Our seniors have the same impacts on mental health uh concerns and issues as any other
population, sometimes more. Also, the interesting thing, for example, about the LGBTQI support group was how many seniors may not be in the community, but have a loved one that they're not sure how to support or how to engage appropriately and respectfully. And this support group has afforded them the
opportunity to learn new skills and foster and and really mature that relationship. Um, pretty cool. And then the last one I want to talk about is just the veteran services. Um, we were able to connect 50 veterans, I'm sorry, 40 veterans at the Gardener Senior
Center to our veteran service officer who had never had any engagements with them before. As a result, we're able to get them VA health coverage. We're able to get them, you know, the new benefits for their disability of between $175 a month and $4,000 a month depending on
the percentage of service related disability. I don't know that number, but I can tell you the bottom number of $175 had a value of $84,000 of direct services because of the connection they made to the VSO at the senior center.
And they receive up to $2,600 a month for medical reimbursements because of that connection as well. The impact, the financial impact is enormous. And I hope that that you know and understand um that sometimes people have the idea that we're a um
you know convolescent home or a a nursing home. And while it's true we have people of all of all dimensions of mobility um some that are very active and able and some that are less so. It's a very vibrant and active community. And
of course I welcome and invite you. It's a public building. I don't really have to but I want you to be there. you guys have been engaged in the past and every time you show your face, it allows our seniors to know who the people are that they need to talk to when there's a
problem outside of the senior center. Um, we have some things going on, a couple uh, you know, we're obviously waiting with baited breath on the status of our new location. I'm really excited about. We're developing an identification badge system for our volunteers. We do not badge them now.
Um, and sometimes that's a little disconcerting because people don't know who's in charge of a particular group or effort that's going on there. Um, we have to do some restoration on a fire escape. Uh, we're hoping to get the resources from the DPW to assist us in that, but we're probably going to have
to outsource that, which will probably be a considerable um cost or expense. We're delaying it as much as we can, and when it becomes unsafe, we'll have to close it down. And then the last thing I need to let you know about, you're probably going to be hearing from me in
the near future. It's almost October 1st and I have almost uh depleted our overtime. And my overtime coming into this year was was a small amount of money. It was $500. And last year we were able to offset it with some other accounts which I was able to do later in
the year because we could make an accurate forecast of what we had from available salaries resources to do the uh the transfer of appropriation. Um I just don't think I'm going to be able to wait until May of next year to do I won't be able to. We're not even in the
winter season yet. Um once the snow hits and people are doing snow removal and things like that um it goes up. And part of the issue with our overtime is the number of nighttime programs we're doing and weekend programs. Last night, for example, we had two. We had a Medicare
101 for the community. Folks that might not be engaged with the senior center are able to make our daytime programs and we had our dance uh program. Tuesday nights, we have our quilters guild. Wednesday nights, we have support groups. Um it's a it's a you know, kind of long duration event, which we're able
to cover pretty well. Last year, I think we hit just about the $1,000 mark all year, but we're over that already. Yep. How'd I do? Did very well. Good. A lot's going on. Yeah. Thank you,
Director Alex. Um, I'm always blown away presenting numbers every time I hear you speak. Oh my god, how you guys are like do so much and uh you know have such a great impact on on on our community. Um,
actually, can you can you remind me how many part-time and full-time staff are there in the senior center? We have uh so kind of permanent full-time staff are myself, my administrative coordinator, and our facilities person. So, facilities, they help set up for programs, but they don't
do any of the program or intervention things, but they are the backbone of getting our room switched. And we've added a lot of programs. I can't understate the importance of that position. We're flipping rooms all the time and and he doesn't do it alone. And
when it's time to flip a room a room, that usually means a director rolls up his sleeves or we're able to engage other volunteers and we have some stellar volunteers to help in that regard. Um snow removal is not a single person task. Um that's something that he and I share. Uh opening the facility is
is my job. I come in early to do that and then at the end of the day he closes up. and our administrative coordinator. Um, she takes care of all the kind of program registrations and follow-up calls. Uh, in addition to that, we have three other part-time,
very part-time people. 8 hours a week. Um, is uh, Nita Budro. She works on Mondays. Uh, 6 hours a week is Karen Oliver. Uh, she works on Tuesdays. And 15 hours a week we have Lauren Penny. She does our keeps me on task for social
media and is our lifeline person. So who who does the ca all the case management and all this stuff? That's is that that's the that's the funny looking guy in the corner office. That's all. Yeah, it is funny. Yeah. And and how where do your volunteers
come from? I'm just I just want to offer I mean if you may have had volunteers in the past taking off my counselor hat putting on my mama she's a hat. That's that's what I do in the job. But so if you need volunteers, we should we should definitely talk. Would love to. And in fact, we have a
great relationship with Mount Win Community College, the human service department. They provide us some interns, which is a great experience for the interns to see a really dynamic environment. When we talk about advocacy and social kind of social work type uh
environment, it gives them just a whole ton of experience. We also provide opportunities for those interns to work upstairs at the CAC, which also provides an enormous amount of opportunities for people to see social work. But our volunteers come from every walk of life.
Most recently um one of our neighbors knocked on the door. She is a nurse practitioner um but is very interested in cricket. And I lost my cricket instructor a year ago. So it was opportune and fortuitous that she would come knocking. That's it
really comes from word of mouth. Um we have a we have a philosophy of asking people what they like to do and giving them the opportunity to do it. So the dance for example um some folks were talking Ann and Paula beautiful people
they go to dances all over the Commonwealth and asked whether they could do a dance at the senior center. I said we'll do a dance for sure. And then it evolved into dance classes. We've been doing dance dance classes every Monday night for 18 months now. Um
because of their generosity of time and spirit of skills. Um so there's really no particular place but every particular place we get volunteers from every um you know corner of this community and they provide just great skills. Um our
digital classroom exercise classes we pay some of our vendors. So, our yoga instructors who are certified, they get paid for that as a vendor. Um, but so many of our other classes are volunteer. Okay. Just one last question. you
mentioned the the fire escape and it made me think about I was at the Waterford Street um community center last week and I just I'm curious about kind of like where where I guess that's a question for a lot of different people
but kind of where you see the timeline in terms of um moving from this I think it would be presumptuous of me to answer that um there are people that are far more engaged and knowledgeable however I feel very confident and super
excited about the prospect of being in there by spring of next year. Um, part of that counselors and I want to make sure you understand that I am an impediment to to that move before. I don't think the work is really going to be done until the end of this month or
November. So, that would if it's true, if we can get it all done and be ready to move, that would mean a moving time of December, January. Well, November, December, and January are my three busiest months at the senior center. Um, and we really believe realistically I
think we're going to have to close down entirely, not offer any programs for up to 2 weeks to pack everything. It's like, you know, packing grandma's house only worse. It's something that I'm involved in and that makes packing worse. Like, we have so much stuff. Um,
then we have to move all that stuff and then we have to unpack that stuff. So, uh, I'm thinking more likely and more probably if the the council president, the council less on U, Mr. Hegelin, and the mayor agree, uh,
like a March April timeline, but and and understand there's a whole lot of other moving parts to that. So, I'm only telling you from a very very basic and kind of superficial perspective. They can probably tell you more about the moving parts.
Um, I just want to say I'm one of your Facebook followers. You are indeed. I love seeing the pictures of like the boss board to the US Constitution and, you know, everything that they they post. Um, you know, I I think that it's important as you pointed out that our
senior center is a wraparound center. You know, it's it's not just, you know, activities and pool playing billiards and and bingo. It's it's those essential services um for our seniors who now I think in this world have become a very
vulnerable population because with you know all the Facebook and social media and stuff they're they're just they're so susceptible um you know to scams or you know even you get a bill you pay it and a lot of times
all it is is a phone call that they may not have run your your health insurance right or you you already paid the bill or it was sent incorrectly. Um they put the claim in under the wrong code. And um you know,
Gardner has always taken care of two I think really well two areas of our population, our veterans and our seniors. I agree. And I think that's something that needs to continue and that we can really be proud of. And now, you know, with with
the senior center and the CAC, the collaboration expands out to, you know, more of our our community and our citizens. So, um, you know, I I just think it's great. Love reading the numbers and seeing how much people save. I feel that textile been up quite a bit.
um because you know it's time to become a minimalist in many areas but you also know that it's going to a great pause you know and if you don't put it in the bin then you can call the CAC and they take donations of well of things that you know are in better shape and can be
used um so I think it's you know um donations and volunteering doesn't necessarily have to be your time it can be material things um you know and you know your newsletter just um you know reflects um you know not only just the activities
but the services but how important the senior center is um to a a large part of our population not just in gardener but in the area because I know a lot of other people um you know take use of it. So, um you know, I I appreciate your your updates are always quite specific
and lengthy and lengthy. Um but on the other hand, it just um reflects um the good work that people are doing and whatever we can do to constantly um publicize what the senior center can offer to the people who, you know, who may think
they're too they're too young to take advantage of the activities or um you know, or are too embarrassed or afraid to ask that question. Um, I think it's I think it's really important and I think of all the people in Gardener that still have the Alliance Club phone book, which
was the last one was probably, if I'm guessing, the one in my desk is about 2009. And all those people who don't know how to look up get a phone number these days and and the things that, you know, we're, you know, things that people miss
and they just need direction um on on how to get these things without dialing the 411 and being charged for it all the time. So, um, if I may counselor, yeah, two things you you said, you know, volunteering and I want to reflect and and recognize um my appreciation for members of the council, department head,
city employees who come and support our center in so many ways. Um, I I need to just make sure that they hear that. Um, I am I am grateful and we do better because of them every day. But you also mentioned our partner organizations which I was remissed to mention folks
like CAC and the community health connections and the list is infinite. Um honest to God I would double the size of the report I gave you which was already too long uh just listing those agencies and the impact that they've had. So, as an expression here in this meeting,
public meeting, hopefully the word gets out, um just how enormously grateful we are and we recognize the impact that they have on our community as well. There's so many good people doing great stuff in Gardener. Yeah, for sure.
I agree. So, thank you very much. Thank you. Any council questions or concerns? With that, I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn. Second. All all those in favor say I. I.
This meeting stands adjourn. Thank you very much everyone.