===PAGE 1=== Lunenburg Council on Aging Minutes approved at the 7/8/2014 COA meeting Annual Meeting Minutes June 10, 2014 CALL TO ORDER: Ms. Brown opened the meeting at 9:34AM & welcomed all to the meeting. Present: Barbara Brown (Vice-Chairperson), Doreen Noble (D irector), Jane Doyle, Joyce Wass, Connie O’Dea, Shirley Bertone, Tony Bertone, Judy Tarbell, Deb Seeley, Debbie Lincoln & Sue Doherty (Admin. Asst.) Excused: Mary Lynn Conrad (Chairperson) Guests: Pete Lincoln & Chair Moves Class Participants ANNOUNCEMENTS: None MINUTES APPROVAL: A motion was made and seconded to accept the May 13, 2014 COA minutes. On vote, motion carried unanimously. APPOINTMENTS: 9:40AM – Mary Ann Sudolnick & Betty Carbone, Reques t to discuss Senior Center Exercise Program: Christine Lattanzi, Chair Moves class participant, read a letter written by the Chair Moves participan ts that had previously been sent to the COA Chairperson & Town Manager. The COA Chair was not present at this meeting so board members had not seen or have had a chance to review this letter. The letter expressed the class participant’s dismay over an incident which happened in March 2014 rega rding room rental fees that had occurred between the COA Director and the Chair Moves Instructor, Judith Lindstedt which included the following: • Class participants feel that they had been disresp ected by the Director and that she was unfair in th e handling of this matter, which resulted in Ms. Lind stedt re-locating her class out of town to another senior center. • Suggested fee by the Director of $200 per month to the vendor would result in participants paying a higher fee. • Class participants would like to have the classes reinstated at the Eagle House but are unwilling to be treated in the manner in which the Director has chosen to deal with them in the past. Ms. Noble responded to this matter by explaining th e events that happened that day which caused her to implement the COA Policy of a room rental fee as follows: • Ms. Lindstedt had entered the closed main office t wice that morning demanding attention to the heating/cooling system after being asked to wait while a Protective Service case was being dealt with. • Ms. Lindstedt has an existing medical problem, tha t had not been disclosed, which requires the use of an oxygen tank that may cause the Town Liability. • Ms. Lindstedt was given a 30 day period to respond to the room rental fee, which she did not. She was also given 3 other opportunities, 1 by phone by the Director, & 2 in person by the Admin. Asst. to speak with the Director regarding seeking a resolution of the situation, she chose not to respond, and moved her classes to another venue. Discussion: Board members, class participants, and others in attendance discussed the following: • Some class participants understanding the Director ’s actions and the need to instate a vendor fee • Some class participants thinking that the Director ’s actions bordered on senior abuse • The possibility of looking into grant funding to h elp pay for this class or by asking the Supporters of the Eagle House Inc. for funding • Better communication should occur between all at t he senior center whether it is as board members, staff, or participants. ===PAGE 2=== • Concerns that this situation has escalated to this level. After due and diligent discussion the COA board det ermined that since this was the first time they had seen this letter, they need more time to review the matter, and it will be discussed again at a future COA meeting. The board thanked the chair moves participants for coming forward. CURRENT BUSINESS 1. Director's Report : Ms. Noble reported on the following: • Director’s End of Year Draft Report which included the new programs implemented at the Senior Center in FY14 such as Salad Bar; Soup & San dwich; 2 Kitchen Aides have been hired; and a Home Care Expo will be held in October at the senior center. Ms. Noble will distribute the completed report to COA board members at the August meeting. • As of July 1 st the senior center will be open on Tuesdays & Thursdays from 8AM-6PM which will enable transportation to run longer on these days. • New exercise classes have been set for Tuesdays at the senior center, Body, Mind, & Balance class at 9:30AM and a Zumba Gold class at 4:30PM. • The Meal Site Manager, Joanne Brazell, has given h er resignation and her last day will be on 6/30/2014. • Capital Planning has approved rug replacement in t he newer building and floor tile replacement in the older section of the Eagle House. • The Director suggested holding “Texas Hold Em” or poker like games on Thursdays after 4PM • A back up van driver will be hired in FY15 Discussion: Discussion began again concerning the C hair Moves issue. Ms. Noble stated that at the Mar ch COA meeting board members were in support of implem enting a fee for vendors. Currently the manicurist & line dance instructor pay a fee of $1 and Zumba Gol d along with Body, Mind, & Balance Class will be $2 . She stated that $2 is what she would have charged the C hair Moves class which would be considered “Legal Tender”. Ms. Noble spoke to say that this issue has been tab led and she would not be answering anymore question s regarding this matter. 1. Set Date for COA Cookout/Volunteer Recognition Cere mony: Board members discussed two possible dates for the Annual COA Cookout/Volunteer Recognition Ceremony as 8/19/2014 or 8/26/2014. Ms. Noble mentioned that the Police & F ire Departments do the cooking at this event and she will check with them to see which date is better for them. 2. Discussion/Vote to change title of COA Bylaws to CO A Policies: A motion was made and seconded to change the title of COA Bylaws to COA P olicies & Procedures. On vote, motion carried unanimously. 3. Discussion/Vote to change title of Sub-committees t o Task Force or Advisory Body: Board members discussed changing the title of sub-committ ees and Ms. Doyle recommended changing the title to “Task Group”. A motion was made and seconded to change the title of COA sub-committees to Task Group. On vote, motion carried unanimously. 4. Discussion/Vote request for re-appointment to CO A board of Jane Doyle & Barbara Brown: Board members discussed the request for re-appointm ent of Jane Doyle & Barbara Brown to the COA Board. Discussion included the following: • Although these members are productive members on t he board to reappoint may be precedent setting • It may be beneficial to keep these members for the ir experience • Consider the possibility of appointment of Ms. Doy le & Ms. Brown as Honorary Members • There was an obvious communication breakdown betwe en Director & COA Board and this needs to be addressed • Consideration of appointment should be given to th e interested people who attended the May COA meeting ===PAGE 3=== • Possibility of implementing a policy of not appoin ting spouses to the COA board due to the fact that it could pose quorum issues No action was taken by the COA Board on this request. 5. Discussion/Vote to recommend to Selectmen Appoin tment of new COA Board Members: Board members discussed the list of recommended candidate s for appointment touching on the following subjects: • Ms. Noble spoke to say that although she appreciat es everyone’s contributions to the board, she objects to married couples serving together on any board • There are other talent banks that had been submitt ed to the Selectmen which had not been reviewed by the COA Board Development subcommittee • Whether or not the Director and the COA should wor k together in choosing candidates for appointment recommendation Mr. Lincoln also spoke and said that he was highly offended by the Director’s comments concerning marr ied couple serving together on a board. A motion was made and seconded to recommend to the Board of Selectmen the appointments of Pete Lincoln, Susan Andrews, Caroline Griffis, Kevin McNally, and Diane Nowd to the Council on Aging Board. On vote , motion carried unanimously. 6. Discussion/Vote for Slate of COA Officers for FY15: The COA Board Development Sub-committee presented two Slates of COA Officers for FY15. The first suggestion was that Pete Lincoln would be Chairperson and Barbara Brown would remain as Vice Chair (pending re-appointment approval). The second suggesting was that Pete Lincoln would be Ch airperson and Connie O’Dea as Vice Chairperson. After discussion the COA board had determined the following: • The board had taken no action on Ms. Brown’s re-ap pointment therefore nullifying the 1 st nomination suggestion. • Ms. O’Dea declined the nomination as Vice Chairper son. • Mr. Lincoln could not be nominated as Chairperson at this time due to the fact that he had not been re-appointed by the Board of Selectmen as if this meeting. Discussion/Vote for Slate of COA Officers for FY15 tabled until the August COA meeting. COMMITTEE REPORTS/END OF YEAR REPORTS Board Development: This report included that this c ommittee had met once on 5/28/14 for the purpose of establishing Officers and Members for the COA. Finance: No report Bylaw: No report Advocacy: No report Director Evaluation: This report included that thi s committee had met 3 times during FY14 and have completed all tasks that they had set out to do. Discussion: Ms. Noble spoke to thank board members but also to voice her dismay over this particular evaluation stating the following: • One board member had stated to her that she would complete the evaluation after she sees how the Director handles a particular “Outreach” request she had made concerning her neighbor • All of the goals that the Director had achieved we re not addressed in the evaluation • Board members are not present on a regular basis a t the senior center and therefore cannot accurately evaluate the Director • Ms. Noble believes that she was given low scores t o penalize her handling of the Chair Moves incident • Due diligence was not done in this evaluation and Ms. Noble respectfully asks that this process of evaluation be re-assessed Board members discussed the following: • This evaluation process is not helpful and should be left to the professionals at Town Hall • Board members need to be more of a presence at the senior center in the future • Director’s Evaluation Task Group should discuss th e elimination of doing an annual Director’s Evaluation ===PAGE 4=== NOTICES & COMMUNICATIONS: None BOARD COMMENT: Ms. Noble mentioned that the 2 COA meetings that we re cancelled in February & April were done so due t o quorum issues. They were not rescheduled due to th e fact that there would be quorum issues again the next week. She suggested that in the future the decisio n to cancel meetings should lie with the Chairperso n and not the staff. Also suggested was that board member s should call the Chairperson rather than the staff when they will not be attending the meeting. Board members discussed sending a note of appreciat ion to Planning Board Director Marion Benson & than k you notes to all outgoing COA board members. Ms. O’Dea commented to say that she felt that the C hair Moves issue had been “blown out of proportion” and that it was unfortunate that it had gone this far. PUBLIC COMMENT Pete Lincoln asked Ms. Noble if she felt that doing a Director’s Evaluation was helpful to her. Ms. Noble replied yes but felt that there were “hidden agendas” being used in the evaluation process this year. ADJOURNMENT Being no further business a motion was made and seconded to adjourn the meeting. On vote, motion carried unanimously Meeting adjourned at 11:37AM UPCOMING MEETING SCHEDULE No meeting in July August 12, 2014 (1 st meeting of FY15) Respectfully Submitted Susan Doherty, Administrative Assistant Lunenburg Council on Aging