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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWUSSB 10-8-15West University Senior Service Board Minutes November 12 , 2015 Roll Call (Michelle Moore - Chair): Present: Miche lle Moore (Chair), Rebecca Dozier, George Baker, Carlos De La Torre, Sarah Ballanfant , Selby Clark, John Palmer, Joe Mitchell, Virginia Lootens, and Burt Ballanfant , Senior Board Council Lia i son Absent: Stan McCandless, Judy Faulkner, Ruth Becker, Becky Arnold, and Candyce Beneke Visitors: Susan Davis Sta ff: Toby Brooks , Tim O'Connor , Patricia Nore n Residents in Attend ance: Alida Drewes , Linda George Smith and Dick Yehle Minutes: The mee ting was called to order at 2:0 5 p.m. Selby Clark moved to approve the m inutes with an amendment that includes the senior tax exemption discussion and the decision to appoint a task force to work with City management . Carlos De La Torre sec onded. The motion to a pprove the minutes passed with the amendment. Activities and Previews (Toby Brooks): Winter Hi Neighbor newsletter has been delivered. A n ew walking program was initiated by Ruth Becker who will be leading it. Selby Clark commented about the nice write up on Lupe Palacios in the newsletter . There had also been several inquiries regarding an afternoon yoga class that is sched uled to begin once 6 participants have paid. A list of former participants is kept and will be contacted. The Festival of the Arts had 23 vendors including artists, knitting, quilting, photograph y etc. The event took the entire facility. The Fun Run ma y have deterred more attendance to the event. We will p ossibly schedule it in November instead next year. The s cheduled kayak trip was canceled on the way to Galveston since t he weather conditions were unfavorable . The group decided to continue on to Gal veston for the hiking/educational portion of the trip in spite of the wet weather. Another trip will be schedule d in May with priority given to those individuals originally registered. Monster Mash Theme meal had 70 folks in attendance and the McGovern Gardens tour was sold out with a wait list. APAC Repor t (Virginia Lootens ): Anthony Hardy with the Social Security office was the guest speaker. Pat Pullings announced ongoing events such as the Shalom Series at the JCC, and LGBT training sess ion s on cultural competency sponsored by the Montrose Clinic. The advocacy and Legislative Committee met on October 1. Free colorectal cancer screening s were sponsored by EPICS . Lisa Bixler, a n Aging in Place specialist and architect , is retrofitting ho me s for the Elders as part of the National Association of Home Builder s . AAA was requesting both volunteers to help with home delivered meals and individuals that may be in need of a meal. Council Meeting Report (Burt Ballanfant ): Council has r educed th e tax rate to protect homeowners from the growth in property valuation by Harris County. The council has gotten off to a good start, and there is currently almost no public criticism of the council actions at the present time . Good Neighbor Team (Toby Brooks ): Will meet next week to address the Thanksgiving cards at 1 PM on Thursday, November 19. Poinsettias are scheduled to be delivered December 9. Help will be needed to unload. Time is not yet set, as they are coming from Arkansas. Parks and Rec reation Report (Tim O’Connor ): Tim asked permission to set up tours for the Senior B oard to visit other senior facilities and their boards. Hopeful it will provide useful insight and will require a full day’s commitment. Lunch will be provided. Motion to approve the tour was set by Michelle Moore, all voted (8) in favor. Will be scheduled in February or March. Tim O’Connor also mentioned that , in general , senior services is behind in the technology department. He is suggesting a touch screen kiosk for users to register for programs and find out information. Suggested getting a graduate student from U of H or Rice University to set up and oversee the program. Suggested a subcommittee to investigate . Michelle Moore offered to be the chair of this subc ommittee and Selby Clark is a lso interested in helping. Car los De La Torre reported it would be the best interest of the subcommittee to know what the user wants to accommodate the levels of technology competency that different user s may possess . Tim als o brought up his concern with the county bus service. On t he last precinct trip , the bus had two break downs g oing and coming from Bastrop for a total of 5 breakdowns in the last 13 mont hs. The f irst concern is safety, the second is the dependability/trus t our customers have in our program. It would be extremely expensive to offer trips with a chartered company. Currently the city uses the county once a month for a trip. After a lengthy discussion it was decided the B oard would do nothing until speaking with the City Manager. Burt Ballanfant and Michelle Moore were going to meet with Chris Peifer after the meeting was adjourned. Action Items: New Business : Becky Dozier was given her oath of office . S ince the meeting exceeded the allotted time , it was decided to table the discussion ab out special trash pickup policy. This item will be on 12/10/15 agenda. Citizen Comments: Linda Smith commended both Patricia Noren and Toby Brooks on the variety of trips and programs offered through the office. She would like to continue to see the use of the county busses for programs. Alida Drewes commented on the need for hearing assist ance devices. She also made note that she was on one of the broken down bus es , and they were on the road for several hours . She said senior s should not have to pay for bus trips and a backup plan is needed. Adjournment: Meeting was adjourned at approximately 3:30 PM Selby Clark motioned to adjourn, John Palmer second ed .