HomeMy WebLinkAboutWUSSB 01-09-2014West University Senior Services Board Meeting January 9, 2014 Present: Pieter Vrancken (Chair) Stan McCandless, George Baker, Michelle Moore, Philip Bryant, Sarah Ballanfant, Selby Clark, Becky Arnold, John Palmer, Virginia Lootens, Janet Vrancken. Absent: Mary Ryerson, Joe Mitchell, Candyce Beneke. Staff: Tim O’Connor, Toby Brooks. Guests: Councilman Dick Yehle, Jean Dawson (GNT). Activities (Toby Brooks): Spanish classes will commence on January 27 and will be held from 1:30 -2:15PM on Mondays & Wednesday s. The fee will be $45 for 6 weeks. So far 9 participants have signed up. A French class will commence mid May if sufficient support is manifested. A fitness class (Bones for Life) will start on January 16 from 11:30 to 12:30 and continue for 6 weeks (fee $30). Beginning in March a genealogy course will be held focusing on computer based sources of family records (fee $25 for 6 classes).A Potluck attended by 30 residents was held on New Year’s Eve at 11:30AM Brighton Gardens Assisted Living Facility sponsor ed the Lasagne. Two boys from Strake Jesuit assisted. On Martin Luther King Day (1/20) a book collection will be held from 8AM to 5PM at the Jewish Community Center. Books suitable for children from Kindergarten to grade 6 are sought. APAC (Virginia Looten s): Sylvester Turner spoke to the meeting emphasizing the need to monitor a recent PUC mandate requiring reserves in the provision of electricity. (Prior to deregulation electric utilities maintained a certain reserve of sendout capacity to cope with unfor eseeable spikes in demand. The cost of this spare capacity was included in the rate base. Currently utilities do not have the right to rate base such reserves automatically so the mandate, which has received no legislative input, will ensure these are paid for, resulting in higher electricity bills for consumers. AAA chief executive Deborah Moore spoke of the Meals on Wheels program supported with Federal Grants, by the Association on Community Living of the State of Texas and by the City of Houston (plus i ndependent donors). Meals are prepared by the Jewish Community Center. Meals provided through AAA are free but for meals provided through Interfaith Ministries there is a modest charge. The numbers on the current waiting list are unknown. In future there w ill be means testing in the form of an income cap for the provision of free meals. AAA is hiring benefits councilors for these evaluations. The Lifespan program (a grant of $800 to provide temporary replacements to allow caregivers a break) is active. Coun cil (Dick Yehle): The Fee schedule for the Rec Center and for Colonial Park, insofar as it affects Seniors, was approved by Council as follows: all seniors over 65 will enjoy access to the Colonial Park Pool free of charge. All Seniors aged 75 and over wil l enjoy access to the Rec Center free of charge. Seniors aged 65 to 74 will enjoy access to the Rec Center at a 50% discount off the normal adult fee ($90 instead of $180 for an annual pass). A waiver will be available for this class of senior at the Rec C enter admissions desk. The recycling faci lity on Dincans has been closed as it was losing $200,000 per year. Commodity prices were falling and costs kept rising. Once the piece of land leased to Goode Company is returned to the City (after Goode company ha s completed a garage on the site between the Seafood and Burger outlets) it will be combined with the site currently occupied by the recycling facility and bids will be invited for its future use. The Chevron Marathon will be held on Sunday January 19. The Mayor’s breakfast will be held at City Hall. The leading runners are expected past this point at between 7:15 and 7:30 AM. Good Neighbor Team (Michelle Moore): 150 Poinsettias were distributed on December 12. The next meeting will be held at 1PM on Januar y 16 to consider the meeting schedule and goals for the year. Recruitment of additional volunteers has been a success. There are now 33 -35 volunteers which reduces the number of eligible seniors to be visited by each volunteer. Medical ID cards or fridge m agnets require full medical info to be provided to an online company. PARD (Tim O’Connor): West U does not qualify for the Silver Sneakers program. It may be worth re -investigating Humana. The Parks Task Force has progressed its tasks well and has worked w ell as a team with a diversity of age & experience. Activities are supported by 60% non -residents and 40% residents but the participation by residents has increased by 41/2 % over this past year. Old Activities (Various): Memberships in the Rec Center will be honored until their anniversary date. Joan Johnson will report on the Loop Hearing aid system at the Board’s next meeting. It appears that an adapter in existing hearing aids will be necessary for seniors to take advantage of this. The alarm system fun ded by the WU police as a pilot program is proving problematic. The Meeting adjourned at 3:10PM