line dancing downstairs so um the setup's a little bit different and we'll try to speak up the best we can actually I can hear you better in from that room than I did when you were in the big room the last meeting I don't say
that I I I am saying it I didn't hear a damn thing the last meeting oh jeez and something something changed with this connection and Zoom um it's it's
different coming up it was coming up Community Services Department then it asked me to sign in all over again then it didn't accept anything did you have any trouble John to get on to the zoom me Ros R yeah I'm on Zoom right now
and I'm I'm just but I'm doing it from a new iPad so I'm kind of unfamiliar with this thank I'm trying to figure it out a little bit oh that's pretty neace thank you are you able to hear him brosur I
can yeah the last meeting I couldn't hear them they were downstairs in the big room those 9:00 meetings she has what the the yeah what 9 o' the one we had this morning 11 o' I mean 11 o'clock I wish
it was 9 o' oh because with the 11 o'cl meeting it cuts into the afternoon I like it but Joan likes well I know I know she doesn't like M but to me it it cuts into your afternoon it cuts into your morning and I'd rather have one of them
free I like it because of course you would because I don't all right just make sure the microphone's here so we got to speak up especially if you're at the end of the table yeah I can speak up can you hear
me I can hear you you couldn't hear me we can hear you it's better downstairs okay you do you want to shut the door behind you yes oh my God
[Music] place oh yeah okay I call this meeting to order we can move that table we down if we want I like to I like to hear and we'll
be closer to the mic do you want to sit right by gon make more noise than I I think that's better like that yes all right I call this meeting to order and I'm going to take attendance Jean prto
here John Carson here Ros Marie Here Deborah small is not here J Coco is not here Karen Janowski here Karen panette is not here Marilyn here Nancy
here Sally PO is not here John S is here here and Tony is not here yes I did so we have a pretty um compact
agenda tonight it's basically going over the uh uh uh EHS reports uh and we'll get an update on the friends and talking about recal and
then maybe a little bit of discussion on um Outreach so I am going to attendance oh approved minutes okay that's why she gave us a week to read them and we didn't vote last
time a month that's right a month this is what I want to do I have a list here of all of the [Laughter] minutes and I'm going to name the dates
for the minutes and then if any and then I'll open it up for discussion and uh and then we'll vote so we won't vote on each individual minute
sounds good minutes so we have July 22nd and July 34th 31 on the 24 2024 um August 12th
2024 September 9th 2024 October 15 2024 November 20th 2024 December 9th and December 13
2024 I open it up for discussion anybody have additions Corrections okay a motion that we accept all am minut nam second all in favor hi do
it hi okay Jean yes Karen yes Marilyn yes John Nancy yes all right yay they so good all right um select board update we
don't have one well can I just say we were there oh you had both had left um Mark stepped down is the representative and so it's going to be Karen and Chris haey okay Al we have two of them
still Karen was kind of one four I know I anyway all right so we'll move on to Elder in Human Services report all right um we had a uh January is a great month
um as you can see um we are over the um we are over the uh 3,000 um duplicated number um and um so I'm excited about that um we just had a really good month
um going sorry I don't have this written out um we had a lot of great events we had the New Year's lunch in on jary 2nd lunch learn on the 9th birthday lunch movie Pizza hearing screenings on January 28th R&V presentation on the
29th um we had another bridging generation Jeopardy night on the 30th which is a great success um we have a lot of things coming up in February which we're excited about this Thursday we have the Valentine's lunch um that um that is
failed and has a wait list I think right now we have eight or nine how many right now we're at 53 I'm keeping at 53 I try to keep it between 50 and 60 I try not to go over
60 um we will go up to 60 if we need to but um right now we're at I think when I last looked eight on the weit list with uh 53 in the event so
when do you make a decision about when they can well we we decided um we decided to keep it where it's at um as we were this close um the New Year's lunch in um filled up really great I don't know why I think the weather has
kind of um because it's supposed to snow on this Thursday so the weather is playing a factor in this um which I don't blame people so I'm not surprised it's just a smaller uh weit list um oh I don't wait yeah but we we already set them um
number um we had to set the menu in the food order so we kept it at 50 that's why okay so it's just a tricky time um with the weather in February um so any a lot of good events coming up in
February um we are closed on the 17th so on Monday um we continue our continuing our on registration push um and that seems to be going really well so more and more folks are starting to um register for um programs online we
started um air wax removal with Marie Anderson she also is a podiatrist and I have to say she is booked I mean Podiatry has been phenomenal I mean we are B booked months out and ear wax the same thing
keboard it is just um so excited about that um ARP tax uh tax preparation um they had their run through soft opening um the soft opening is uh this Wednesday
the 12th um so we have the tax taxes with ARP um going again we're doing the um scheduling here at the Pu stre Center but they are doing the taxes at the library downstairs in the small uh conference room we just don't have
enough space here so seems to be workout it's a nice part partnership with the library um and it works really well so we essentially take care of the scheduling like I said but they have enough space there that they can you wait outside they can do four I think
they can do four Folks at a time um and it's filling up pretty quickly so we're excited about um about that are they doing any evening hours no Library Wednesdays um 9 until I think it's 2 and
that's all based off the volunteers what the volunte but has anyone asked the volunteers I think we have I'll double check on that I think we have but it'd be a nice addition to dancing it's hard because of I mean it's up I mean really we look
for volunteers that we don't pay so but but it might be more convenient for some of the Vol until you ask you just I'm pretty sure I'm 99% sure we've asked okay and then of I'm can do it um I'll double check to make sure I'm correct on that great before I give you definite but
um yeah what's the AI presentation and artificial intelligence presentation and I'm forgetting I have to get the newsletter to it there yeah I think it's a senior um
it's a good should be a good event we're starting to get quite a bit of signups so um so yeah good event um good January looks like a good February numbers may be down in February only
because we um last um last Wednesday whenever the snow was last week Thursday we we canceled the um a lot of programming so um just so everyone knows um we do
follow the school schedule so if they schools are closed cancel our programming but we try to have staff unless Town Hall tells us not to be in we are here at the center um I do proceed with caution though I know I I
think last Thursday I was probably on Wednesday I the trigger to cancel um we had a birthday lunch then and I didn't want to be stuck with $300 or $400 worth of food and then it just looked worse so
other than chair volleyball um I didn't want any ball or risk it so I always encourage folks that I'd rather them stay home if the weather is bad so they can come back the next day rather than maybe having some issues so find in
there I didn't find this I I'll look in a second here anyhow that's the report numbers are really good volunteers are really good so kudos to the staff um they continue to work hard and that's good Jean do you have a question yeah I do and I don't know if this was
confirmed or touched upon and I missed it but I know there was at one time uh I think it falls under elder hu and the services uh anything on the volunteer coordinator's permanent position has it been
extended um yes um we are it looks like um as far as I know unless something drastically changes um she's in the budget um to 20
hours um it's up from 19 um she's she's been 19 um because of the grant funded we got are able to bump up to 20 um as long as nothing that's changed in the budget um but she also
has she she automatically gets like an hourly bumping hourly pay so it worked out um is that put her over the line so she can get benefits and she has yeah she has the option of benefits which she was looking for which is really good um
I don't think she's necessarily going to take it but I mean that's up to her not our business um but she has that option if she wants um so yeah Janet um unless unless something I don't know um
is say um which we're excited about so yeah and it's nice she comes in on Friday occasionally she's not SC you know Janet works really hard um she will pop in sometimes she's a very hard worker like the rest of the staff
and kudos to her worth ethic I mean I do she is aware and I know I've told her you know pleas stay to the 19 hours but her worth ethic is amazing and I you know I have a hard time kicking staff
out even though sometimes I want to well thank you Chris yeah so Rosary Rosary go ahead okay uh on your report I don't see that line add if a waiting list how many
people were on a waiting list yeah so we didn't have um Nancy emailed me today about that I just put the one waiting list um I didn't make a category I popped it into the bottom notes and then next next month I'll add it to a
category um I I kind of forgot about it then I got it into the bottom and then I was busy today to switch it up so I'll get that in for next next um next month what
about what about a teers if we add a line on the bottom like where they're coming from would that be helpful information um it's getting them from I mean we know um I mean more importantly
is um I mean what's more important is the numbers um you know where they're coming from isn't the huge huge thing what what's important what's what's pretty amazing is how many we have so you can see in the bottom there
um you know January you had 41 folks volunteer um for a total of 59 hours um we were just talking about the volunteer it was actually pretty good today we were talking about the volunteer appreciation I think that's
coming up in April or something so every year we do it an appreciation so we were talking about it today and part of the Dilemma when we were talking about it is we have a lot of volunteers we've had more than we ever had um so we were like all right how do we
how do we manage this appreciation it's it used to be packed used to be they'd have 75 people and included us and it included some of the ones for other yeah departments it wasn't just the ones working physically in this building and they packed it yeah I mean that's our
problem is we have um we have easily over 75 that's great yeah I mean could you do a luncheon could you do a luncheon in the main room well we gota same limit it's hard because we have to find volunteers to St
it no actually no just kidding um we're just trying to figure out the details and how we want to do it with so many folks um working on that I'll keep you updated I don't think that's until April so okay we have some time when you tell
up your inter intervention by interactions if somebody calls and leaves a a message me on the phone because a lot of times the phones aren't me um and and so if there's a whole lot of phone messages are they interactions um not the messages themselves but if we
call them back or they call back that would be recorded So I try to be very fair and understanding on what an interaction is I don't take I don't try to skew or anything I mean I could sit here all day and be like oh this is an interaction email email no no no not
doing that but if someone call a call is essentially like a walking if someone comes in for information um or someone calls that's important information so we know how many people are either calling or coming walking in for information and that's a
very valuable statistic you know um but usually a voicemail leads to a phone call or conversation in some way so most of the majority do um turn into an interaction but you know
we're not recording every voicemail I should have made it a yes or no question yeah let me ask is it possible can you put um next to each category the numbers like educational
programming how many programs in each one yeah I don't know if that would involve an extra column but that was actually information that I was looking remember I was looking for that the
other day oh yeah yeah and I think that just would be good information to have yeah um I don't know you can fuss with this and figure out the best place to
yeah overall overall though just you know the that I I can definitely get you the number it doesn't change by a whole lot it's there's no drastic MH and it'll change by a few but most like um I'll
definitely get you the number but like um Health wellness and fitness all our classes are scheduled now there may be a few less because well there's 28 days in February and 31 in you know January so that'll throw the number off a little
bit but I can definitely get you um a number just be aware that um that that number is pretty consistent um could you put it in the notes just like you do yeah I can put it in the notes at the bottom big success just to kind of give you an idea of how
many programs yes exctly we just put a few yes um some kind of pop in so it'll fluctuate a little bit but yeah I'll get you the numbers for next uh for the next month this is I'm sorry goad I did
not um but you'll be sending out you always send out something yeah very curious It's on the E blast okay um the other the other question I have with the snowstorms do we have anybody checking in on um those 60 plus who live alone
and may not K Carrie does to a certain extent um you know it we I know Carrie has a list of folks um that's what but that's also why we make sure we check our phones and we rely on people calling
us other than us trying to yeah we do call some that we may have a concern about and we have eyes on um so that is intentional and it is track yeah but we do encourage folks to that's why you know even if it's a snowstorm or
something we always manage to make sure we check our email phone and voicemails just in case someone because usually if there's a need I guarantee if like someone's heat goes off they call us yeah you know that's the that's the nice thing and it happens I do know it
happens periodically like you know some people will call us hey I'm out of food or I have no heat or whatever I mean it's not a huge huge thing but that does happen even throughout the year not just winter um
have people been asking for the bucket of sand people have not they might not know about it yeah I would know we haven't had a lot um of people asking um I that weigh how much does that
weigh well it's a 5 gallon it's a five gallon bucket so it's pretty heavy I mean it would be set by your door with a little scoop but we're not you have to keep in mind we're not a our community is um
a lot of people in our community are pretty still you know they can they like to do it themselves you know they their family makees sure they get salt I'm not saying everyone um I don't i' have to check with Carrie this is a good question I don't think I've heard anyone really
call us this year about snow shoveling on Facebook there's been a lot of yeah a lot of people on Facebook looking but I don't know if they're seniors um it might be worth it some Point doing a house to house survey that's on paper and stamped to the whole
thing of do you have are you aware of and do you have a need for um we still only really know about about 1500 of this is the yeah I mean this is the same thing like um most of the people that come into the senior center they drive
this is I know there's always talk about are we going to have an issue with Transportation are we going to have an issue I mean maybe down the road or something well maybe people that don't come seeing because they can't we don't know but we get but you know what we have we have a handful of people that we
know of that's call us or contact us and we get them Transportation yeah um and you know but you know statistically looking at it and you know the most people still drive um which is you know really good um studies they've had at
the the Massachusetts thing say something like 40% of the people over 60 are no longer driving when they've done systematic go to every single door and find it not just look at the list people yeah well that means 60% still
40% of I don't want to get into it tonight but um you know I'm not going to get into it tonight I'm just saying the people that come here but you also have to remember they have to abide by our standards of Independence so yes there's probably a large portion out there that might not dry but they probably also at
the same time can abide our standards of Independence and take care of themselves huge assumption I'm not saying umch um you know we We Gather statistics
and we you know from what we know this is what we operate on right now I know but that's the problem we don't know it will require a conscientious effort you can also you can go door to door for us well you could do it okay well volunteers for yeah Services Carrie yes
yes so so Carrie could could almost be under the health and and um and wellness as well no she has her own she's under social services but but you could almost put her up there if you wanted to it's kind of the same thing
wouldn't you say under under what under health health wellness and fit activities activities Health wellness and Fit I see okay I'll tell you where I'm going the um between carry between the numbers
on carry and the numbers on health well wellness and fit the um the only thing that that's that's bigger as far as uh numbers goes is the phone lot I think we need to get out to the public to realize that Health Wellness fit and ser Social
Services is what goes on down here the most not the picnic and not the the the the pizz in movie and the and the birthday parties and the in and and and all the stuff like that because there are too many people that think that it's a that if their taxes are going to go up
they're just fun uh funding seniors having fun I think I think somehow when we're when we're promoting the new uh Community Center along with the uh the senior center we've got to get that information out and I bring it up now
because we happen to have the numbers right in front of us and if you look at the numbers you'll see what I mean I mean I I would keep I wouldn't combine them no no I was just saying that for purposes of M I wouldn't combine them har Social Services Health
wellness and F are completely different for but if you put those numbers together they're they're pretty even closer times to theise yeah exercise programs Zumba that's different you that's but that's right and I think what you're saying is you should therefore you could
total them just the magnitude of between those two categories what a huge percentage of what taxpayer dollars are going for is health related stuff one way or the other yeah that's okay you probably put it better than I did but that's what I'm trying to say he's saying that that's what women around for
right don't go that path educ could we include a questioner in any of the Town mailings we could we could and what would we we could do a mailing
ourselves for that questionnaire but could we piggy back on a Town mailing and then it would go to Every household for what purposes no instead of just working off of what we're aware of to know what the
population as a whole has to say about the kinds of things we've been discussing do you need help are you able-bodied but get here because you don't have a no they ask very high level very generic things and they they only
talk topic but also you have to trust us that we're doing our job I'm not saying understand that but I'm just letting you know that it comes off um because Carrie does do Outreach um and people do know people do
call and we're doing our job and we do it pretty well again no no one's saying you're not you know what I would be concerned about is we were still having numbers that we were having years ago now yeah you know what really indicates is that we reaching more is that our numbers have
doubled Chris people who are around the center people who our age know it's the rest of the town that doesn't yes yes I mean the most of town has no life and the size of the 60 population has doubled since this
place we can on agenda another month I mean you guys can figure out on what the ca wants to do um you know we we could do it something I mean that's up to you guys as a COA if you guys want to do Outreach we could do a we could do a Sur
wanted all right and we're not saying anyone's not doing their job I know you're working with what you've got I know but I'm not saying saying you're doing fine you're working with what you've got but there are other things that could be done that are props outside the real what you got
the resources to do say do it and that's not how it go I think it's a good idea um okay oh trust funds that's next um TR hasn't really changed much we
haven't really pulled from so pretty much the same as last time because we had a extensive presentation and I think again select board is is reviewing the select the trust funds yeah townwide although that didn't come up
last week as an agenda item previous week it did yeah ARA funds are all allocated so are the ARA funds on here or these just trust funds ARA update
see are they in that collection under out Human Services report underneath that oh those are trust funds I mean those are arpa funds yeah trust fund and arpa update yeah
so which one so we've got I'm looking at the first page now so we have total expenses then oh you don't have any you don't have a form on the AR oh yeah that's just a trust F can you includ
Offa every once in a while the next next one we can see if they can take a look yeah that would be good right um there was a friends of reading senior
60 plus today um I was there Nora was there John was there um anybody want to say anything they have close to
$12,000 or yeah 12 th a little over $112,000 that they've raised to date so yeah yeah they've they've had um I know that there's one from uh someone
who's donating she donated quite a bit and um so I think there's varying degrees of donation a matching a matching yeah
and the the first program I guess to be awarded a uh um an allocation is the ready food pantry that serves 30% of the reading food pantry
are elders and um the discussion that they that Julian and and and Marie have had with the directors is that um the those the funds they received from the fors
group will be allocated to the services that are kind of above and beyond like there are some seniors who require special Foods well home delivery or maybe dietary diet dietary constraint
so they're looking at um looking at that and other fundraisers well actually we had the one at the Mandarin and that raised 450 so that was good because it doesn't require much the people going out to eat but um they're looking at other fundraisers but we have to you
know find a place looking that Meadow Brook Country Club or St Agnes fall I mean just trying to find a place for fundraisers um we're looking for some computer help because we have a Google workspace and we have a website we have
the Gmail but getting us all together on the shared drive has been sort of a challenge looking that um some marketing we're going to the Burbank y Wednesday just to introduce ourselves
because there's lots of seniors that participate their programs there um and maybe there's a winter fest going on uh ready north ready in March we're thinking of maybe doing something something with the Garden Club just to
get the word out you know who we are what we do we hope to do um but no it's they have some very great the members it's increasing and very active a lot of initiative
ideas you want to add anything Jen no not really El add um and then that brings us into uh uh discussion of what's been happening with
the reading Center for active living and um I'm on the communications work group Marilyn and Jean are on the design work group and I'm also the representative on the permanent building
committee so why don't I start and you guys can talk a bit about design um I'm just going to start with Communications um I hope people are
going and talking to others about the recal website reading mass.gov forreal and it has a lot of information on it and it also has a uh um
a place where you can send your comments and those comments are frequently turned into FAQs that are also posted on the site so um we had the second public
forum which was more on programming talking about programming so there was a panel up front um Elder and Human Service and uh veterans and Recreation and they
all kind of talked about their vision for programming and what their current programs are and um how they kind of Envision working in the news
center uh also uh Brian did an EXC excellent presentation um for some it might have been a little dry but it was how the costs for projects are determined and
all of the factors that go into it and and the reason for including that in there was to make sure that people understand that there are many variables that go to making up a total
dollar amount so when you compare um the senior center in North Andover with the senior center in wilington with the senior center in Pembrook you have to think about a lot of different variables and you can't just look at the dollar to
that I I I really found that helpful um let's see uh Human Services and Recreation and
I think to some extent veterans is also working on an operations plan a consultant was hired to work with the group to look at the current operations and then also to look at what it might
look like in this new building so that information will be for the permanent building committee is recently completed a schema
IC review what that is is each component of what goes into a schematic review was reviewed so there was Landscaping architect structure um Electrical Plumbing fire
protection and a and a couple others and the nice thing about the permanent building committee is that it uh has people with different expertise on it so there are some people that are very good
in um the electrical end others in structure others in landscape so they were all able to weigh in on that section of the schematic that uh they were expert
in uh Jean and Marilyn and I laid in on the architect architecture that's where we put our com and we probably had what about
30 about 30 comments um and it it was done um without necessarily doing analysis before we put it in because that's going to be the role of the uh Consultants
they're basically going to take all this information and the Perman building committe committee is meeting again on the 11th and this is one of the top yeah this is one of the topics that we'll be
talking about is the schematic review and does it add more costs subtract costs etc etc can I add one but um yeah at the last Council on Aging meeting we brain a little on this like you brought
up I think desktop computers those things went in the list too so was like everything we heard and then we a few of us ended up having some conversation not enough to have a quum anywhere so no dangers but um we had anything we heard went on the list basically because the
list was meant to be comments and just so that's what it was so so it was kind of like the last ditch effort to make any changes to the existing schematic
although as Joel reassures us um during the uh design development process there is always room to move a door from here to there or move a window or so there's
always room to to do a little bit of uh changes um on February 4th the permanent building committee did a presentation to the select board Karen
was there I was there um Marilyn was there uh and um it seemed to be received pretty well um there weren't a lot of questions there were some questions and they were good questions so um that that
was uh that was very helpful um also during the last couple week estimates and Reconciliation documents were prepared um from some of the materials that were submitted as part of the schematic but
also other materials so um um they started to put together what the estimate for this building would look like hasn't gone public yet because it's not completely
done uh theate I thought was 2 30 they're narrowing that they're narrowing that was just Baseline comparison to other communities correct that's it wasn't us that was looking at similar projects what's the
range okay um on February 18th the permanent building committee is going to well first of all we're meeting on the 11th so we'll be looking at all that information as well as the
estimates that were out there and then on the 18th the uh uh PBC is going to recommend a project budget based off disinformation and on the 18th so this
is going to happen at like five o'clock and then at 7 o'clock the permanent building committee is going to do a presentation on costs to the select board so and it's for informational
purposes then on on March 4th there's a select board meeting and that the select board at that point is going to vote on the cost of the project budget so that will that will be a
vote um and then after that on the 5th fincom will receive a presentation and then fincom on the 12th will vote on acceptance of the budget um as
presented on March 25th we have another public forum number three and that is going to focus on cost so they're looking at a bigger place in PSC to hold it maybe up
at the library um which can fit more people and then so that's on the 25th in the evening and on the 27th the public forum will be repeated at 10:00 a.m.
here at the Pleasant Street Center so people that don't travel at night will be able to hear the same thing um really at the end of February through
May the warrant preparation begins town meeting starts April 28th runs for uh four meetings of which two of those will be considered special Town meetings
and town meeting will be voting on uh whether to uh uh accept the uh vote as part of the warrant and then May 13th a special election will be held that will
uh include not only killum but include recal on it so there are some opportunities between the 13th and now um to look at the budget but uh but it's
not a whole lot of time as you can see it's only like six to seven eight weeks at the most and it's taken us a long time to get here so um that's what the permanent building committee is up to and that's kind of
the timeline that has been um that has been uh developed to date but it's always changing always changing and I have to read this with my little
um magnifying glass when it's digital you can just I know but I I'm I'm old school in some respects I I I'm a touchy peing person so but I do I I kind of put the feel here
too yeah SC well thank you for all your work you spent a lot of time on this s oh we all of us that these meetings yes yeah it's it's um it's a a lot of work I
was talking to Carla nazaro today and she says that she spends about 20 hours a week just working on her killum work and I would say spend about 12 15 hours a week you spend more than that yeah but
you know Jean and Marilyn have um um B in behind her yeah yeah and and you know I think one of the great things that's come out of that design committee and then I'm going to turn it over to you
guys is that the West Wing of the building is going to be senior Focus senior Centric so it's not like it's going to be all over the place in the building can use other rooms but the
lounge area the car room area it's going to be Senior Center the flex room the flex room yeah Fitness so let me turn it over to you guys I think Jean correct me if I'm wrong I think you've covered most of what we've been up to recently
and we're on a meet every other week schedule but the last two meetings have ended up being cancelled because we kind of reached consensus of what they needed with sufficient detail to do the rough like soft estimat I think they're
calling them which was the first goal uh the second goal was to collect comments which we sent in but we have not met as a group to go over them because that's I think tomorrow night going to be what's going to get disc discussed um but than that Nancy's done an excellent job
unless Jean did she miss something that I'm not thinking of no I think you were fine very detailed Nancy thank you yep yep soor yes yes an important
one yeah um yes it's on zoom and um it's over in Hall too it's recorded I think it's int yeah easy enough to check now when you say special election so they we're all going to the voters are
going to go out to vote on this one question no two questions two separate questions and you have to go out and vote well no they're they're also looking at mail yeah
mail just for those have time to do that yeah sounds pretty tight I mean if toming approves you know I I knew that I was hoping that you would all have detailed question that because I really
don't have the detail down I have the high level but I promise next time I'll come with with the details because there's another election there is an election on April 8th right which is that's the select board and the
town meeting members and the light department yeah so these are different okay just getting people out to vote yeah yeah yeah so that's that's going to be a busy busy
spring I know so um I've lost my uh I think we're it's just an open discussion now with no one public Outreach discussion and we're early
I just make one comment at these um forums Chris has done a fabulous job of presenting the need the numbers what's been done what we want to do I just am in awe you did a really really good job and as did Jim on the rec side but
we're just focusing on us here and Jenna on the whole Community I just something are we public discussion yeah so what I've always said all along is I just want this to pass the first
time and so I think the last presentation really focused in on this is a community center which S I mean it sounds fantastic it sounds it sounds
wonderful and if we had an unlimited checking account absolutely but the other thing that's always in the back of my mind is when people back in 2017 or whenever the questionnaire went out people were willing to spend what was it
in ter to fund taxes you mean above hundred or dollars wasn't it Zer to 100 they were willing to is that what I'm recalling correctly that was it's like asking people what are you
willing to pay for an egg and doesn't mean they're not going to Shell up I get that but the thing is you know that is always in the back of my head and so even if it's twice as much or three times as but we still don't know what the impact financially will be per
household no and you know I am concerned about um the the cost to the community cost to Residents the cost to those of us 60 plus and so um I do want to just you know make that point point because I
think it's an important one and you know yes it is a beautiful Center and it really will meet a lot of the needs but our priority is the seniors and yes there's seniors in the veterans and there's I me clearly there's seniors who
participate in the recreation department and I just um think that I we I think we need to acknowledge that this is a significant expenditure and I do wish that we had some sort of limit you know you know this is our budget and
that's not how Town politic how Town Financing works but this is our budget and so um so I am concerned I'm very conflicted about um what the cost will be is there something that you can think of that we could be doing to help
something something that been thinking about this for quite a long time because the staff here and I are going to be on the Forefront of of that especially yeah you know taxes increased something I've been announcing lately we I didn't add to my report
because in February because it was this month so I'll talk about it next month um we did do a property tax worker L and learn um last week um and it was pretty well attended over 30 folks um so I'm
trying to get the word out and I've done this numerous times and we'll continue to do this is you know I tell I I told him at the lunch and learn with property tax I was like look this is a good program I know we can only get 10 in now but you know you can get in our hope is
to grow the program that's why we increase the sou um the income limit which is good and that gives you $1,500 up to $1,500 off of the you know and I told people what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to raise awareness of things that
people can do that's one of them you know 1,500 off a year that really kind of really lessens a blow for if if things do pass um which is good and I want to make sure people know that the other thing is I'm trying to tell people about services like shine appointments
I've been announcing that at events here that hey you may or may not save but it's worth it's a free service that you should take advantage of I know I had a friend the from already they signed up had his dad because
they were he was spending $1,200 a month and well he was on the wrong plan in five minutes into a shine appointment switch the plan and he save $1,200 a month so I am trying hard to raise awareness especially at groups and when you know people come in of hey have you
done this have you looked at this have you done this you know less than that blow regardless have we had this pasted very 30 people attend it was over 30 did anybody officially sign up uh we're
getting applications I didn't check with and uh Janet to see how many we got so far that's really but I have no idea that we will be at 10 so a lot of good questions a lot of interest I didn't add it to this month
because it just happened February last week so um so I am it's a big I share Karen's concern as you know all these older adults are
on fixed incomes Social Security if anything gets changed with that it makes it even harder so we have to be aware of that something that no matter what we have to think about Jean's Got Hand anybody notice yeah Jean hi I think Chris have um I'm
not familiar with it but has the center uh ever conducted uh specific sessions like a half hour informational Center session giving the attendees all
of these new services that are offered are making those that attend aware of the services just doing a program for services that are available for seniors we haven't done it
specifically that's a really good idea um you know but we do try to Target I know um throughout the year last year we had one of the shine counselors make an announcement or talk for about 20
minutes at um at at the end of events so what we're doing is but I mean this is a really good idea and we probably should do this is just have an lunch and learn or something um we we have been trying to plug in all our services for a 10 20
minute chat at a at at the end of events um it was um we've done shine I know we were supposed to do um the My Active Center um we were supposed to do that at end of an event a week or two ago
unfortunately he um he got sick but we're going to reschedule that so um we are doing that just not in around about its own program but it's a very good idea Jean yeah I I think that might something like you just say okay we're
going to have coffee and dessert informational Center of what is provided for seniors in the town yeah and maybe do that like every three months quarterly or something and you'll grab in the new people that are
interested in that and then the participants will have more knowledge yeah can I make a comment too I I agree I agree with both Karen and um
um Chris about about the cost and um what it might cost my feeling right now is this is the closest reading has ever gotten to a new
senior center and mark doxer world is it perfect no does it do everything that we wanted no does it do some of what we
wanted yes yes um so so when when people say to me oh it's way too expensive I say look at where we are and how long it's taken us to get
here and the amount of research that was done and the numbers that gone into this let's just let um democracy um flow here and let's just go
forth with the election and with the election with with the ballot question and if it passes great if it doesn't pass then we've
gotta think of the alternative and then maybe the clear message is there it's too expensive and we we've got to cut it back but you know we're so close I'm just so afraid that if we in the last
six weeks of this project if we start really talking about the cost of this and what are we going to do and who's doing it and what are you going to cut and how are we going to get together it's I'm just so afraid it's going to
muddy the waters in terms of um marketing or selling this I don't know I it it causes me concern that um we won't we won't move forward and you know if we
move forward and it doesn't pass then we move on to whatever the next step is but um I don't look at it if it doesn't pass as that we we can't keep going we've got
the momentum we've got the we've got it going and we're like so close um and um let's see what happens in Bay Nancy thank you thank you that was
very well said and I appreciate that because as a senior and been in this town for 50 some OD years I've seen the delays Etc going on and now we're recognize as an actual 60 plus group and
we're still active I don't want to think about the cost right now let's go forward with the designs and hopefully it'll be voted on and if they think the cost is too high then things can be eliminated but the building is needed
definit itely needed and I'm I feel badly that there are two major constructions going on but it'll happen I'm thinking positive and that's what we have to think of I agree totally as well it's as a
practical matter to go all the way back to the I don't know what number wouldn't make you anyone not Target you but anyone feel that that won't be any stress for the community there is no number any $5 is be 100 I mean it's going to cost money that hurts bottom
line and so to go to the point where you could come up with a number and say what could we do if it were only that much money would be months and months and months of work and months and a lot of architectural fees the whole thing I think we are so heavily invested in a
really I think good project here that to not get behind it and say okay I mean we don't know it's another one of the we don't know we don't know what the community of large will say we'll find out when it goes to ballot and maybe it will go through and maybe it won't and
we'll take the next step as need be but in six weeks we're going to do what we haven't done in the last 10 years no I just don't see how that can happen it it's just um you
know into democracy these days it's democracy in action you know let the people make the decision to me the biggest problem is is again I I H on is getting to the people
there 28% of seniors right but 60 plus that means 72% out there isn't and 72% out there don't know how nice this building looks don't don't understand what the condition of this building how do you get to that 72%
at least at least make them somewhat understand yeah they're not even they're not even paying attention to it well some some of it is the the addition of wreck to it which is sometimes a controversial sometimes a godson kind of approach depending on your mood that day
but that pardon me it would be Inc yeah I mean it makes it appealing to far more than just the 27% which should and people have worked hard to build that case and to design the building and you know we've gone through a lot of exchanges to figure out well how much of
it is this and how much is that and how I think it's been a really productive conversation um I I don't see this as benefiting just the 60 plus population but a long shot but but still the people out there don't know about they just don't know well that's that's prob for a
lot of things yes which is let me just shift the subject a little bit here oh Rosemary um forgot what I was to say no matter what we come up with a figure there's always going to be people who are going to complain nobody wants to
pay more taxes put it all in there and put it all out and then we'll take the next step from there but as far as construction goes my feeling is the building should be built intact totally from the beginning because to do it five years or 10 years
now from now an add on this and add on that will cost more so it has to be done completely maybe we can cut something inside to cut back a little bit but the structure itself has to go up as
planned so to just to to build on that Rosemary and to build on what John said um there is there is the beginnings of a well kilum already has organized a group of
parents have organized a vote Yes on kilum group and they're working on on Outreach to the community there is the beginnings of a
vote Yes on recal group Council on Aging is very restricted we cannot um we can participate in a group like that as indiv ual as residents but
we can't go to that group and say oh yeah the Council on Aging has a problem with that so um so there there is a movement of foot to start one of those for um
recal there's a couple of issues one there's do you remember the lecture we had yeah yeah so campaign and finance law um has some real strict regulations and rules I'm supposed to be getting a
call back because um we were told that well anyways I don't want to go into that so so there is there is a a group that hopefully will do some
Outreach um to maybe further that so that other residents know about it you know there's the uous lawn signs bumper stickers door
hangers problem is can't we just do a meiling why can't we just do a meiling to every household well and there's mailings but here's the problem Rosemarie who's gonna do it we can't no no no no you can make up a flyer and run
off so we can't um so that's one of the issues right now if you if if you saw the killum I don't know if I brought it with me
yeah um if you saw the kilum flyer that went out and it had a page in it that gave an update on um uh the kilum school project and actually because maryn was
reading it to me on the phone this afternoon prettyy pretty pretty blunt it says right first opportunity to vot this is a good thing to vote on yeah and you're going to have the opportunity no this is the school
committee that or or the killum building reading reading public schools published the pamphlet who wrote vote Yes I how to raise my hand certainly is that thinking let's put it that way I think for this thing the P
it's got to be advocated as a weding community center for active living not as a senior center you gota you got to get support from everyone or it's never going to pass and and that's kind of a double-edged sword too
because the seniors no one knows what an active Living Center is the senior community center is so but but John that's one of the things that we have to we have to work on the
message and what the message would be but before we can get to that we have to figure out where people have to think about not we as the Council on Aging but people have to think about how are we going to
pay for this because we have no group we have no money in order for a group to be started we have to uh fill out and submit a form to town hall and I'm using we but please
don't think of it as a council whomever and on top of that um campaign and political Finance recommends that you open a bank account
with an EIN number given by the IRS well that's I don't know I I was they did that for yeah it's a wied lot of work it's a wicked lot of work why do we need a bank account why why would the council
and agent need a bank account no no this is not we are not talking about the Council on Aging we're talking about a yes on reading group um oh you're talkinging
go ahead John I didn't talking about what we're talking about oh yes on recal I keep saying ready yes on recal um I I don't think the property owners the people the citizens would even know what
recal is right but so let we even really talk about this what that's what I'm wondering are we over yeah we can we can talk about about you know what what we can and and can't do I mean the Council
on Aging can't get involved in this right um but from an education point of view you can learn about what it takes to set up something like this and to run a
campaign like this and the bottom line is money now the Council on now I'm going to switch okay I'm I'm going to switch back to the Council on Aging discussion Rosemarie you said let's send
out a flyer with some information on it I'm told by the town that we can't even do that so do you think some rules have to be changed so that what we can do can be
expanded this is at the state level yeah it's the law Rosemary it's not just policy it's actually the law as it currently stands well they they did they just did
it they just did it they've been doing it for years it's been an annual update one no one noticed and probably no one even thought about it because they've been doing it for years to be fair but one way or the other they just did it they just did it so it's out hey who are
you talking about the kill F that sent out yes and do you know the cost of that trifold color flyer do you know how expensive that is to do that a lot a lot
yeah that's why I'm saying an Outreach campaign you have to have dollars and um the other thing is and and I have to tell you
it on my list of to do things is I'm having discussions with the campaign and political finance office to see if that's true can we not really send that
out and something information exactly figure out what we can and cannot do in this because we have a short period of time very it's good to figure it out I mean we can't be the group raising you know we can't be that
group we you know and I think this discussion just comes down to you know what can we what can we do what can we do um and let's find that out on the sooner side and let's try to do at least a couple of those things that we can do and ny's beating on the
absolutely we we we technically we cannot send a mailing yeah um and um one of the things that Carla nazaro uh suggested was take a page like
that put it on your website because do you remember the lawyer said you can post things on your website why you can post things on your website you can't but anyways um town website but then it has to then it's on
the town website and um and it could be on the recal website we don't control that website we don't have we can suggest that a page be put on like this but if
the town decides that that isn't appropriate to put on the website that that a a page like that is not appropriate they've
beening they use FAQ approach and they've been putting some information of that that goes along but not a focused thing like what we're talking about right I mean what I would suggest is I mean hopefully soon you'll find out what
you can and cannot do we just have to remember this is moving really quick and we have two months essentially you may need to call a special meeting once you find out out to you know okay special meeting Chris can
Jenna tell us what we can do no can J tell us what's good all can't do no the attorney came I transcribed the entire thing word for word to someone wants to go back and read what it's in a
minutes from um I hear you Chris we have to move fast but we can't move fast because we don't know the answer and there's two different things going on right now
there's a Council on Aging wanting to um deliver some education and advocacy which is our role and then there is a yes on reading group that can do that much easier if they had money if they
had money so so there's two things going on simultaneously so we can't control we can't control one we we can't control the yes on we can't control that what I'm just saying what are you talking about we could all
be on the yes on indivual but we can't I mean we can't discuss that or anything with the COA here we can and because this is an open meeting they said say anything we want at an open meeting because anyone who wants could say the opposite and it's
open this is one of the few places we speak can I can I ask you a question sure you you you brought up this yes on reading this morning and you brought it up today this evening both times you're G to get mad at me but you've been very
very vague about it you have said I can only say so much we need to know more about that somebody's got to Define what we can do well that's remember so we we got two separate discussions going on here when
John when you say John S when you say what we can do you need to say what the Council on Aging can do that's what I'm saying who do you go to find that out from John on recal so we've got two different
conversations going on here um and the answer to John's question the reason I had to be vague about it is because we need a chair and it's very
difficult to get someone to volunteer to be a chair of committ well I don't know if we need a chair if they don't use the word we we don't John not do that go like that they need need
a chair now what I was trying to what I was trying to get to earlier is once you find out the ad Mission information that the what the COA can do you don't want to wait until next month's COA monthly meeting because then you only have a month to talk you know
it's too late what you need to do is you need you need to figure that out right soon and then you're going to probably need to call special meeting I I agree with that Chris um so you can discuss what can happen um and then move
forward in the limited time that we have um now the whole yes for recal then that's no it's very important that this group knows about that and and it's very important that this group knows
that they can participate in that and hopefully whoever it is they can move fast the friends group they created and hopefully they can no but but but Chris it's a it's not a they versus US kind of
thing it's and and we we have to we have to they have to know what Council on Aging is doing Council and aging has to know what the
vote Yes on writing is doing but they we don't even have a v yes nany's close we're getting there all right can I just point out the meeting where all DET do you want to be chair I don't have I don't
have the ability to do that time and that's the answer I'm getting and could I point out that it was September 9th that the attorney Olivia bolamy came and in detail told us what mostly what we couldn't
do right right that's right but but some of our answers in that and I refer you to the minutes for that because I transcribed it September 9th Oops I did I'm sorry it wasn't the nurse it was Donna Brewer I apologize thank
you um but did you say September 9th yes and I said Olivia by accident she also did mention that there's a primer on the ethics law that summarizes this that's on the general laws chapter 55 political Finance page I've never looked
at it but she did mention that there was sort of a cliffnotes version of this around might be more helpful um was she to get back to us and clarify some things on that well she was
gonna write up a I think when she remembered the perer she was using that as the alternative think she kind of let herself off the hook with that but but yeah she did say she wouldn't best my knowledge she didn't do that but so if if um a couple
of people can spend some time reading that that would be helpful um in in terms of um you know what we need to do and what what we can't do and you know why we
have to read it John is because we need to be very um certain about what we can do and sometimes what is when we're told we
can't do something it's out of a billion ounces of caution yep and and it's out of saving possible lawsuit which is important but it doesn't mean that we
can't do it so that's why we need to do our own Dil due diligence and that's why we need to look at what the lawyer told us and then we need to look at how to how to apply it one thing she did say we
could do from the council is to write letters to the editor yeah no as a council because no public resources are used to do that is that but doesn't it have to go through no doesn't have to go through
town no we are part of the town you publish a letter you can your individual name but not using your official title is that a letter or is that a letter to the editor letter in the newspaper okay I wrote down COA can State a position at
the not you're looking at the notes that I wrote up okay so the notes Nancy but can we say it's from the COA at large as a whole that's what no name I mean when I've done the ones we've done our names cares at this point okay I mean we can that was the
original idea for the letters to the editor YouTube did it and we did it to um from the p on Aging but wouldn't it be great if we had a Cadre of 30 people and every every day every day they send
a letter to the editor I am 72 years old and I firmly believe that this is Gan I think this topic is an absolute
very very important topic I think we need to call a special meeting to really get this going or give our ideas and move forward quickly on this do we meet with them again do we have another expert the
lawyer not not unless I mean to have something like that again I I just would find that we need to know exactly what we can do I think the way she left it was feel free to ask and saying that didn't mean we're free to call the attorney's office it me go through the
chain of the town and ask because they're trying to manage fun I want to know what can be I don't know how you can plan anything if you don't even know if it's legal or if it's okay to do it or anything I think you got to find guidelines first guidelines we do have guidelines
on temporary lawn signs I have that but that's all I know of but where did you get it it's from the town office of the town
clerk is it that's right it do but it doesn't state if the COA can is just telling you where you can post them what you can't do how big the signs need to be Etc that's that's different yeah the
issue is the use of public funds what we can use it for or not we can't buy those LA Signs but as a but as a resident could someone do that no I was actually that's
that I was talking to Laura Jimmy today and I said well you know why can't I just go to the lawn sign company and write them a check for a couple hundred doll and buy 150 yard signs she said you
you you can't do that because then that would be a donation to the Council on Aging and the Council on Aging can't take that as a donation well what's
interesting again I'm reading those minutes yeah and it says question say a COA member as an individual wanted to fund laze could she or he do it yes you can use your own personal money to fund law signs what you can't do is
participate in a fundraising activity of some outside group and they're the ones who raise the money to print the lawn signs you can do it yourself personally yes question so I couldn't ask the friends for the money but I could give the money myself answer
yes like you can buy your own sign so so then it goes back to money again you know it goes back to table send $200 to have a pool of
money um I don't think he can do that you can it seems to me that you can fund your own yeah any Resident can fund their own long sign they just can't be connected to us right like they can they can buy it and they can try to
distribute it as a resident but you know well we could all just band this Council on Aging individuals at large and do whatever we want do you guys remember
this we put this together in um uh August August 12 and we came up with a list of 10 things that we could do for outreach for this project so my gut on
this I don't want to go to a meeting and brainstorm ideas let's look at these 10 things and say okay we're going to do lawn signs bumper stickers letters to the
editor as long as they're legal from the Council on Aging but it would be helpful if we could get some insight on the as long as they're legal before we have the meeting or we'll just be brainstorming again well I think that we can put um a
letter together put a letter together that can gow you could it's worth clarifying okay that's true so we put a letter we write the LA and we say here it three things
but we can't send it directly to the lawyer we need to go through the to the town we'll just out so I mean what I would do tonight is since you have the list let's just quickly go through and select a few and then and ask and the
letter um you know if you just want to read down through it and um okay let's do lense lawn signs and bumper stickers um public comment every select
board and fincom meeting um actually this one was crossed out flyer with a QR code the recal actually puts a flyer
together um let's actually questions on if they post it on the website what then can we anyways um printable yard signs create an exhibit with
posters that we can put at the library the reading Co-op could do we did that last time with um early on we had things at the library and then it was fine I mean the issue
here is that it can't relate to a combination of a warrant and a vote it was that it was like if only one were in the future we could do this but they're both there it's This Kind of Perfect
Storm of legal mess right right but back then it was fine it's just a different world um why don't we take Chris's suggestion and actually draft these questions so question number one there still question in my mind on what we can
and can't do with the lawn signs if we as individuals each bought 100 Law lawn signs and they don't mention the COA are we free that say vote Yes on question whatever for recal are we at Liberty to
do so without violating the law even though we're COA members I don't think one signs and bumper stickers are going to meet this is just one piece Rosemary this is just the first question it's one piece why why don't you let Rosemary finish I'm
sorry yes one signs I forgot what I was going to say I don't think what we're discussing are going to reach the majority of the voters I think something has to go to each household see if we can do that some way well how about
mailings to Target groups with customized message or mailings so we need to know we need to know about what we can include in the mailing because the feedback that I'm getting right now is we cannot do a mailing at all on this
topic and it's expensive well it's like $4,000 I mean we can we take that from the trust funds no no that's public money we can't use it well that's another question I have into campaign and finance law is it public money it's
being managed by the town but it was donated by an individual for a specific purpose I asked that question trust funds equal public charitable funds I think we need
askc I was listening to it took me an entire I just kept replaying and I I request that we please find out if we can do a meiling that's true the I'm changing the focus again
that's the yes group they'll have to do that um but I think if if right we have the same well let's again let's take suggest and write the question so let's ask the question again
are we at Liberty to use the trust funds at all let's ask again so that who do you have to ask the lawyer these legal people oh the town lawyer yes we'll get back to us in
June first I think that's well I vote for lawn signs I'm right off the bat saying that let's check that out I agree with Ros and re the law signs and and bumper stickers do nothing but then John why do why do all
the politicians put lawn signs it's depending on the wording that we can use not reach a lot of people La is not going to reach a people I live in a condo
I did you hear what John said did you hear what John said John John has comment John said I live in a condom do no good for I'm not listening okay here's here's the three things that we want to do we want to do
mailings we want lawn signs and or bumper stickers we want um let's just say those are the two big things how about news releases yep I go for
that I'm against stickers and then if those are all shut if you don't make bumper stickers you have to make the ones that peel off because nobody's gonna put permanent bumper sticker on their $80,000 car that's right put a bumper sticker on my car
either you just you can put it in the gonna do that in the back window with tape it's a waste of money let's just find okay let's just have the all right what I'm gonna do is I'm
gonna put together the the three top ones mailings lawn signs and um maybe an exhibit use that one at the library no you only you only reach a few people
no what you only reach a few people how many people go to the library the whole go to town doesn't go there we need to get the whole town behind us we need some kind of a meiling saying this 1883 building needs to be replaced
because it's got mold mil we can't be the ones that do a mailing we cannot the friends of I mean the yes for recal can do the mailing but we cannot I for kill and they can do the mail for
us we just it a John made John made a good comment and nobody was listening to him he lives in a condo nobody's gonna see a lawn sign nobody and to put a bumper sticker on the account unless it can be peeled off
easily you know every everyone wait a minute I'm gonna end the conversation right here yes I agree because we're going to pick I'm gonna choose three things we
I'm gonna write them up we're gonna send them to the lawyer via Jane Wellman the assistant Town manager and we are going to get feedback I am also going to send them to the lawyer that I'm t about
talking to at the campaign and political Finance is that a State office that's a state office and that's one of their jobs is to respond to Citizens request
everybody you have to remember everybody has a different way that they like to learn personally I like Juans son Rosemary and John don't like juanson signs personally I like bumper stickers
because I can just take a piece of peel off tape and put it on the back of my window and everybody can see it I think we all like mailings remember we did a mailing um here um we did postcards we
have no idea how effective that was other than enrollment has increased so maybe that was the start of it who knows we actually know because I got phone calls saying we're getting swamped with calls what did you do and I'm like
yeah effective theah I would say did you get the yes I did can I can I tell you the only thing that I think is good about lawn signs what when there's election coming up I drive by John liet's house and then I go go vote for
all the other candidates the opposite all right end of conversation all right I am gonna do this and if we need a special meeting I will put one
together okay okay and you're gonna find out about the funding can we take from the trust funds you're gonna ask somebody about that yes yeah we'll ask about the trust funds and if a couple of people can read through those notes that
would be wonderful and maybe take the most hurt notes and write them up like you read Karen you read you know what it what it says so if if we can write them up into
a cheat shei I think that would be helpful too but someone else has to volunteer to do that it's all right cheat sheet she want one p John what do you typically say at the end of the meeting I don't know I mean do we really
want to stop now yeah yes yes Nan's madej your decision with all right okay motion to second second Jean what am I asking
to ending the meeting yes I agree Karen Marilyn John yes Nancy yes okay we are a journ here's what stonum they had these lawn and them for about two
weeks e