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1998-02-10 City of Southlake,Texas Cof SENIOR ADVISORY COMMISSION February 10, 1998 Meeting Minutes Members Present: Wanda Buschman, Martha Greenberg, Dick Johnston, Fran Weiser, Linda Moore Members Absent: None absent Ex Officio Members Present: Kelly Bradley, and Rose Hampshire City Staff Present: Shelli Siemer, Senior Community Services Coordinator; Nona Whitehead, Community Services Coordinator Agenda Item No. 1: Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 1:09 p.m. by Chairman Dick Johnston. Agenda Item No. 2: Approval of Minutes for 1/13/98 Meeting A motion was made to approve the minutes as revised. Agenda item 4 revised. Motion: Fran Weiser Second: Wanda Buschman Ayes: 4 Nays: 0 Approved: 4-0 Abstain: 0 Martha Greenberg requested that the meetings be taped. Agenda Item No. 3: Administrative Comments Zena Rucker resigned from the Senior Advisory Commission. This leaves three vacancies on the Commission including one regular position and two alternate positions. The terms expire this May, 1998 for the regular position and one of the alternate positions. The other alternate position has a term expiration date of May, 1999. There have been two applications received by the City Secretary who is accepting them through the end of February. Dick Johnston asked about Madeline Smith who applied for the Commission last year, but was not appointed. Dick Johnston stated that he wanted to recommend to the City Council that the Senior Advisory Commission drop the age requirement from 55 to 50. Fran Weiser said she disagreed because it is inconsistent with the action the Senior Advisory Commission took in November to define the age for seniors to be 55 years old. She noted that as a result of the Commission's action, the Southlake Seniors revised their by-laws to reflect the age requirement of 55 instead of 50. Martha Greenberg reported that she will resign unless there is a change in the age requirement. Martha does not meet the age requirement and was not trre asked her age when she applied for the Commission. Linda Moore stated that she should be able to serve on the Commission if she is interested. Martha stated that there needs to be an expertise from individuals who work with seniors and that there should not be an age requirement. It needs to be decided soon. Fran stated that the age requirement should not be changed because the Senior Advisory Commission represents senior citizens. She felt young people do not know what it is like to be 75 and without an age requirement we will lose the input from senior citizens on issues affecting seniors. Martha Greenberg said the Senior Advisory Commission shouldn't be age driven because the experts who work with senior citizens are not necessarily senior citizens. Fran Weiser said that the Senior Advisory Commission has everything to do with age and there should be an age requirement. Shelli Siemer stated that the Senior Advisory Commission was created to act as an advisory board to the City Council relating to senior issues. As such, they represent the city's senior citizens and it is the responsibility of the commission to research issues and bring recommendation to the City Council. If these recommendations require an expertise, then the Commission may bring in an expert to discuss related issues. Kelly Bradley discussed having one way to get younger seniors is by having an activity which brings in the younger seniors. Then they may be interested in serving on the Commission. Wanda Buschman stated that she disagrees with the age requirement. The Commission talked at great length about the age requirement. Shelli reported that if the Commission wants a change in the age requirement, they will need to make a recommendation to the City Council to change the ordinance. The commission may consider an alternative solution which is to require the majority of members to be 55 or older and having two at-large members without an age requirement. At the next meeting this topic will be on the agenda as a consideration item which will allow the Commission to take action on this item. Shelli Siemer discussed the Criminal Background policy and passed around copies to the Commission members. This is a new policy adopted by the city. Shelli went through the policy and explained some of the details. We need a completed application for anyone planning on volunteering at the senior center. Agenda Item No. 4, Report: Metroport Meals On Wheels -January Statistics Rose Hampshire passed out the January monthly statistics. During January there has been an average of 48 people attending the congregate lunch program including an average of 40 seniors in attendance. On Jan. 20, the lunch included 85 people because there was a special program. We are growing. There was a new senior today who enjoyed the lunch. Dick Johnston would like to see more recognition of the guests. He suggested they can introduce themselves to the group or they can wear a different color name tag in order for people to know that they are new. Linda Moore reported that people who volunteer at the senior center want to start coming to the senior center programs. Agenda Item No. 5, Report: Eubank's House Renovation for Senior Center - Shelli Siemer reported on the progress of the Senior Center renovation project. The outside doors have been installed. The inside door units will be completed soon. Cliff Spence, of Spence Trim, is donating the trim and will send a crew over to install all of the door units. Vinyl siding was donated by Alcoa and volunteers have started putting up the siding materials. Once the doors are in place, the painters will come in to the facility to paint. M. Danny Harrison, Co., a professional painting company will donate labor to paint the Senior Center. Nona Whitehead reported on the programs and activities coordinated for the senior center. Linda Moore asked about ceramics. Nona stated that the center does not have adequate space to designate one room for ceramics. The goal is to keep the function of the facility as flexible as possible to allow activities to rotate as the needs arise. Rose Hampshire suggested getting copies of calendars of events in area senior centers. Ceramics is offered at other centers and maybe Southlake Seniors interested in ceramics can go to another facility. Nona Whitehead extended a thank you to the Newcomer's Club for their donation of a computer and related software and hardware for the Senior Center. Kelly Bradley also thanked the Newcomer's Club for their donations to Metroport Meals on Wheels. Agenda Item No. 6, Report: Senior Living Community Dick Johnston reported on the progress of the Senior Living Community. Dick visited with Diana Hanson who projected that their development will be on the Planning & Zoning Commission meeting on March 19. They had to meet the requirement of the PUD and they are working with city engineers. Dick requested that the Senior Advisory Commission members attend the March 19th meeting to represent the seniors. Martha Greenberg would like to know what changes have been made to the facility plan and would like to see the changes before the next meeting. Fran suggested having some representatives from the company come speak to the Southlake Seniors at one of the upcoming lunch programs. Rose Hampshire said the Feb. 24th lunch is open for having a speaker. Agenda Item No. 7, Report: Northeast Tarrant County Senior Issues Committee Martha Greenberg reported that the meeting last month was canceled. They are scheduled to meet tomorrow and it is a work session to compile the survey. Dick Johnston asked how the group will use the results. Martha stated that the survey will identify if there are needs in the community and the results will help towards a plan to achieve the needs. The Commission discussed the limitation of the NETS program. NETS provides transportation to seniors based on a priority basis. Martha Greenberg reported that rides to medical services is the top priority, but typically is the only service provided. Sometimes seniors wait for hours for their scheduled ride and then find out that NETS will not be able to provide a ride because it is not on their priority list. An additional limitation is that NETS does not cross county lines. Agenda Item No. 8, Report: Southlake Seniors- Report on Activities Planned Fran Weiser reported on the activities of the Southlake Seniors Organization. The Southlake Seniors Steering Committee is continuing with their usual activities. The upcoming program on the February 17th will be on Crime Against Seniors presented by Josh Weiser. There are a number of Thursday trips planned with an upcoming trip to the Dallas Arboretum. The next out to lunch bunch will meet in Hurst. Wanda Buschman asked about the Tax Law program which will be scheduled this Thursday at 10:00 a.m. Nona Whitehead explained the purpose of the program is to provide some general tax advise regarding the new tax laws. Agenda Item No. 9. Consideration: Naming the Senior Center Facility Shelli Siemer explained that this was placed on the agenda for the Senior Advisory Commission to recommend to the City Council a name for the Senior Center. The policies and procedures used by the Park Board was distributed to the Senior Advisory Commission to follow. The Center has been referred to as the Senior Activity Center and the Commission discussed naming the facility "Senior Activity Center." Fran Weiser stated that the simpler the name the more identifiable the facility will be to the public. Wanda Buschman said most other facilities have the city's name in the facility name. Maybe the name Southlake Senior Activity Center is a good name. Kelly Bradley said the center in Roanoke is called Community Center and does not use the word "senior." Shelli Siemer stated that would not be a good idea for Southlake because the city may have a Community Center in the future and it would cause some confusion with the public. Dick Johnston stated that the facility was called the Senior/Adult Activity Center because the word adult included individuals who are not seniors. Additionally, naming the facility after an individual is difficult because you recognize one person and not another. A motion was made to name the facility Senior Activity Center. Motion: Linda Moore Second: Fran Weiser Ayes: 4 Nays: 0 Approved: 4-0 Abstain: 0 Agenda Item No. 10, Discussion: Senior Tree Farm Proposal Dick Johnston has received matching funds of $1500, and is working to find the matches. Dick ordered 275 trees which have been delivered to the Public Works facility on Continental. He hopes to get the grow bags started very soon. Dick will be using the equipment next weekend to begin the tree farm. Fran Weiser asked whether these trees will be in containers. Dick reported that the trees are in containers now and once planted they are expected to grow 8 to 12 feet tall in the 5 year period they are in the tree farm. They will buy seedling trees to plant in 1 gallon containers to replace trees in a year. Agenda Item No. 11, Discussion: Goals & Objectives The Senior Advisory Commission decided to delay any further discussion of goals and objectives until the new members are appointed. Agenda Item No. 12. Discussion: Other items of concern Martha Greenberg requested that copies of the by-laws be distributed. They updated the by- laws, but do not have an official signed copy. Martha Greenberg feels that the Commission needs to meet alone for approximately 15-30 minutes without city staff present. She would like to discuss these items as a group without input from staff to attain a better understanding of the goals and objectives of the Commission. Shelli stated that according to the Open Meetings Act, the commission meeting must be open to the public. Shelli will verify the regulations surrounding the open meetings act. Martha stated that staff interjects into the business of the Commission. Fran Weiser disagreed with Martha and stated that staff has valuable input to the Commission meetings. Fran Weiser reminded the Commission about the goal setting process in which staff facilitated the development of the Senior Advisory Commission's goals and objectives by asking for our input and writing down what the Commission wanted. She noted that they have started from nothing and the Commission made up the goals and objectives. Martha Greenberg asked what the Senior Advisory Commission has accomplished over the two years since it was established. Dick Johnston stated that the Senior Advisory Commission's input has paved the way for the Owen's Company to go forward on the proposed development of an Assisted Care facility. The Commission gave input into the development of an Assisted Living Ordinance recently adopted by the city. Fran Weiser said the Commission has accomplished many things over the past two years. Martha Greenberg feels the Commission should have accomplished more in its two year period. Shelli Siemer said one of its great accomplishments is the senior activity center and she has been working hard to provide seniors a facility. This should be viewed as a Senior Advisory Commission accomplishment. Kelly Bradley reminded the group that the Senior Advisory Commission was created to get the voice of seniors to the City Council. The Commission is charged with going before the City Council to give a recommendation about the issues affecting senior citizens. Carol Demlow, a visitor at the meeting, stated that she feels the commission has covered an incredible amount of information in a short period of time. Ms. Demlow also told the commission that if they have impacted community attitudes regarding senior living, then the Senior Advisory Commission has made tremendous progress and influenced the community. Agenda Item No. 13, Meeting Adjourn Wanda Buschman moved to adjourn the meeting. Fran Weiser seconded the motion. The motion passed and the meeting was adjourned at approximately 3:04 P.M. Submitted Approved Secretary Dick Jo s n, Chairperson C