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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWUSSB 11-12-15West 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, and Virginia Lootens, and Burt Ballanfant Senior Liason Absent: Stan McCandless, Judy Faulkner, Ruth Becker, Becky Arnold, & Candyce Beneke Visitors:– Susan Davis Sta ff: Toby Brooks , Tim O'Connor , Patricia Noren Senior 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 Minutes with the amendment regarding the senior exemption. Carlos De La Torre sec onded. The motion to a pprove the minutes , passed , with the amendment – senior exemption discussion and a task force will be appointed to work with city management . Activities and Previews (Toby Brooks): Winter Hi Neighbor hit the homes. New walking program initiated by Ruth Becker will be leading it. No interest as of yet. Selby Clark commented about the what a nice write up on Lupe Palacios. There had also been several inquiries regarding an afternoon yoga class scheduled to begin the minute 6 fo lks 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, photographer etc. The event took the entire facility. The Fun Run may have been a deterrent . Pos sibly do it in November instead next year. Scheduled kayak trip was canceled on the way to Galveston. The waters were too rough and too windy. The group decided to continue onto Galveston 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 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, LGBT training session on cultural competency sponsored by the Montrose Clinic. The advocacy and Legislati ve Committee met on October 1. Free colorectal cancer screening , sponsored by EPICS . Lisa Bixler, An Aging in Place specialist and architect is retrofitting home for the Elders , as part of the National Association of Home Builder. 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 ): A successful launch of the new council. Reduced the tax rate to protect homeowners for the gr owth of valuation of home by Harris County. The tax rate reduction protected homeowners for the city and valorem taxes due to the valuation increases. The council has gotten off to a good start, and there has been almost no public criticism of the counc il actions to the present. 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 Recreation Report (Tim O’Connor ): Tim asked permission to set up tours of the senior board to visit other senior facilities and their boards. Hopeful it will provide useful insight and 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 and kiosk to register and find out information. Suggested getting a graduate student f rom 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 subcommittee and Selby Clark is also interested in helping. Carolos De La Torre reported it would be t he best interest of the subcommittee to know what the user wants to accommodate the levels of technology competency’s the user may possess . The last precinct trip the bus had two break downs going and coming from Bastrop. A total of 5 in the last 13 mont hs. First is a safety issue, the second is the dependability/trust 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 d iscussion it was decided the board would do nothing until speaking with 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 . It was decided since the meeting was over the allotted time to forward the discussion about special trash pickup policy 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 devices. She also made note that she was on one of the broken down bus, a nd they were on the road for several hours. Senior s should not have to pay for bus. A back plan is needed. Her three minute time allotment Adjournment: Meeting was adjourned at approximately 3:30 PM Selby Clark motioned to adjourn, John Palmer secon d .