HomeMy WebLinkAboutFebruary 8 2024Senior Board Meeting
February 8, 2024, 2:00 pm
Community Building
Call to Order, Chair Ann Crowley, at 2:05 pm
Board Attendance: Ann Crowley, Robin Burkes, George Hildebrandt, Kay Bryan, Debbie Pedrick, Karen Kenny, Geri Wood, Gloria Nino Monacelli, Soraya Brombacher, Laura Turley, Candye Beneke,
Eileen O’Neill, Diana Ayers, Jennifer Sickman, John Montgomery, Toby Brooks, and Susan White Absent: Teresa Geroge-Hung
Guests: Dick Yehle, Mardi Turner, Alida Drewes, and Carlos De La Torre
Approve the Minutes:
Diana moved to approve the corrected minutes and Karen seconded the motion.
Citizen Comments:
Alida Drewes expressed concerns about the treatment of seniors in West U
Process for Citizen Comment Discussions
Ann advised that if Board members want to have a follow-up discussion regarding citizen comments, the Board member should make a request to have the issue put on the agenda 10 days prior
to a meeting.
Communications and Outreach:
Debbie Pedrick obtained a list from the Senior Services Offices database and culled the data to create a list of 2000 addresses grouped by age ranges.
Based on Toby’s identification of users, the belief is only about 9% of the people in the database are using Senior Services.
The Board agreed to pilot a personal outreach program by the Board, including a flyer, to the 47 non-users in the 70-age group.
Toby will track the citizens who reach out by phone to Senior Services.
West U Centennial - Soraya
The first West U Centennial event was well attended. Centennial books and shirts are available for purchase from the City.
The next West Centennial Event on May 4 will be family oriented with food trucks. Senior Services could have a booth there.
The Cookbook/Memory Book is already receiving interest. The Board discussed ways to obtain contributors. Both current and former West U residents will be included.
Senior Services Data Collection
Ann, George and Karen are continuing a previous effort (2018, 2019
to collect data regarding Senior Services, including people served and program offerings.
Programming Ideas and Options
Per the discussion at the November meeting regarding priorities and broadening interest in programming, please reach out to Kay or Toby to join a subcommittee to continue this effort.
Reports:
APAC (Karen)
The Harris County vaccine program is back up and running after the pandemic.
Good Neighbor Team (Mardi):
The Valentine Delivery is underway as well as sharing information on mosquito and vector born illnesses.
The AARP Tax program is available, although slots are full until March.
Senior Services (Toby)
80 people attended the Valentines Luncheon.
The outing to the Galveston Infectious Disease Center was informative and attended by 24 people.
The Summer Newsletter is at the graphic designers.
Parks & Rec (Susan):
Monday will the construction kickoff for Weir Park.
The Park Lovers Ball is on Saturday with a record number of attendees.
Parks & Rec is working on a financial sustainability plan with an outside contractor beginning in March.
The Parks & Rec open space master plan with be refreshed in-house with the assistance of a Parks Board Member saving approximately $600,000.
A grant has been awarded to assist Parks & Rec in making irrigation equipment “SMART.”
Council updates (John):
The City offers a service called H2Online if you have an online water account which will give you data on your water usage at no cost.
Communications outreach can be complicated so John noted that the Senior Board could ask for resources from the City Council for efforts.
There will be a joint hearing with the ZPC to discuss consolidating the single-family districts within West U.
The ZPC is looking at ordinances for residential sports courts.
Council has hired a cement contractor to accelerate improving West U sidewalks. Metro funds of $400,000 will be put towards this work.
Council approved improved Buffalo Speedway esplanades.
Weir Park improvements will cost around $900,000 funded by Friends of West U Parks.
The Mayor’s State of the City address was last week. An important topic is the City’s Master plan and Council is actively seeking comments.
The Senior Board will use a future meeting to get more detailed information on the proposed plans for the new Community Center and members should put consider their input. Ann will also
share the work of the previous Board in this regard.
After this topic, Eileen moved to adjourn, and George seconded this motion.
Adjournment 3:30 PM, Minutes: Laura Turely