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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/25/2019 - Regular Minutes - Senior Advisory Committee College Station Senior Advisory Committee Regular Meeting February 25, 2019 Southwood Community Center 1520 Rock Prairie Rd. 9:30 a.m. MINUTES Members Present: Bart Challis, Margaret Charmichael, David Cherbonnier, Bryana Childers, Jerry Crockett, Frank Duchmasclo, Clay David Hanks, Sherry Erwin, Barbara Pratt, Norma Teetes, Pat VanderBoom, Darla VanFickell, and Janet Wood Staff Present: Virginia Godwin & Katy Peterson Visitors Present: Maxey Riggs I. Call to order : The meeting was called to order at 9:30 am by Frank Duchmasclo, Chairman II. Hear Visitors : Maxey Riggs was introduced and welcomed III. Welcome and introduction of newly appointed members of the Senior Advisory Committee: Chairman Frank Duchmasclo welcomed new members Jerry Crockett. Jerry introduced himself and gave a brief history of their time in College Station and his previous history serving on the Senior Advisory Committee. IV. Approval of minutes from January 28, 2019 meeting: Barbara Pratt moved to accept the minut es as written. Sherry Erwin seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously. V. Report from Frank Duchmasclo, Chairman on Senior Age Demographics for the City of College Station. Frank and Katy researched the topic. Frank asked Katy to report their findings. The information available was from the last census in 2010 and outdated. Frank asked the Awareness Sub-committee groups to give their reports. Bart Challis reported on his visit with Elianor Vessali. His committee sought to bring senior issues and awareness to her attention. They reminded her that they were most likely to vote and the seniors of the community were a large demographic group. Frank reported for Arlene Petroski (absent). Arlene told Frank that they all had productive input with Ms. Vessali. Arlene showed her the spread of activities that were offered on the January Senior Activities calendar and the totals of all the members that participate in the classes and programs. The group explained that not all seniors could afford to spend money each month at the Y (which Elianor indicated, was what the Mayor liked). The group asked Elianor to come visit the City of College Station Page 2 of 4 Senior Advisory Board in the future and invited her to come attend some of the larger classes and see how crowded they are. Elianor seemed interested but indicated that she is just one voice and the youngest on the Council. Sherry Erwin reported that Elianor’s target group was the 30+ group and her focus was on neighborhood integrity. It was mentioned that Elianor was a real estate developer. Chairman, Frank Duchmasclo felt that Eleanor would be understanding and supportive of seniors in an issue. Darla VanFickell reported that Eleanor advised them to talk to City Council and have a presence at their meetings. Frank supported this suggestion and wants the council to visit City Council meetings, make our presence known, express our opinions and let them know that we care. Jerry Crockett and Frank both reported that they have been working on building relationships with City Council members and they will continue to work on developing those relationships with the assistance of the committee. Frank asked Janet Wood to report on the visit with Council member Dennis Maloney. Clay Hanks, Janet Wood, Barbara Pratt and Bart Challis all reached to Dennis Maloney. Janet sent an email and she could not pin him down for a meeting. He wanted to know specifically what they wanted to meet about. She told him she wanted to put a face to a name and that we were the Senior Advisory Committee and to talk to him about the Meyers Center. She reported that we were getting ready to move into a space that was too small for our needs. He immediately responded that “seems like to me that’s your issue”. Janet suggested that we use the local talent pool, especially TAMU to provide architectural or engineering to expand the Meyers center. Dennis Maloney agreed and said that the time to act was now because Council is meeting on the budget in March. Janet and Frank both feel that he will be on our side in an issue. Janet suggested that we use TAMU or Jo Bostic’s husband who is an architect to help provide services as a project. Clay Hanks asked for a bullet point list of items that show where we are and where we want to be and the existing plans and he would take it to the Dean of Architecture at A&M and see if he had some graduate students or undergraduate students that may be willing to take the project on. The committee looked at the blue prints of the Meyers Center and all agreed that a larger room was needed and had been asked for from the very beginning. Comparing square footage there is a difference of 7 square feet between the Game Room at SWCC and the Multipurpose Room #3 at Meyers Center, with the Game Room being the largest. Frank wants the Senior Advisory Committee to let Parks & Recreation know that the room is not big enough and the seniors need a bigger room. Frank asked Janet to get back with Dennis Mahoney and let him know that we are definitely going to need more room and see where it goes from there. Frank wants to let City Council and Parks & Recreation know that with all of our expanded programs we need a room big enough to accommodate large senior classes and events and the Meyers Center Rooms and SWCC Rooms are not large enough and we need to let them know that now. Barbara Pratt and Margaret Carmichael both expressed concern that at many of the previous Senior Advisory Board meetings, the committee kept saying we needed one bigger room. The SAC was told the room would be bigger until the actual square footage was shared and then they quit saying that. Sherry Erwin asked if the senior program budget was under Parks & Recreation. Frank responded that we were. Sherry suggested that we make an appointment with the Director David Schmitz to come and talk to us about the Meyers Center and the senior needs. Janet Wood also suggested that we invite Mr. Don Hellerigel Parks & Recreation Chairman as well. Margaret also suggested that we invite Ann Hayes City of College Station Page 3 of 4 from the Parks Board to the SAC meeting. Frank asked Virginia Godwin to let the administrators at Parks & Recreation know that we don’t have a room that is big enough. Frank suggested that we meet with them, get a reaction and see where we go from there. The committee discussed possibly putting a number on the square footage that we need but then decided against it and in favor of listening to what might be recommended. Frank asked Virginia to let Parks & Recreation know how we feel. Jerry Crockett replied that this is not a new request, and this was in the planning request from the “Get Go”. It is not new information, he wasn’t sure if there was a communication issue or if they didn’t understand. The committee agreed the lack of a large room does not meet the current needs or the needs of the future. Frank called to move on to the next agenda item. VI. Presentation, possible action and discussion on sub-committee appointments • Program sub-committee – Frank asked Katy if she felt that we needed a program sub-committee. She said her door was always open and she welcomed any programming ideas, but did not feel it was critical at this time. Frank recommended to do away with the program sub- committee & that the members of the SAC would just be available to help work events as needed. He wants to replace this committee with the Awareness Sub-committee, • 2019 goal sub-committee – Katy read the current goals (last updated in 2017) and Frank appointed Jerry Crockett as the sub-committee Chairman and asked him to recruit a couple of members to help him. • Web site committee – Jerry Crockett asked if a new third party contractor had been retained for the City Website. Virginia Godwin responded and said that there was a new website coming on line this summer. She said it should be much more user friendly. Frank appointed Clay Hanks as sub-committee chairman. He agreed to do it. Janet said we need it to be simple. Pat VanderBoom and Part Challis will help out. Frank asked Virginia if she would also help out and she said she would. VII. Presentation, possible action and discussion on Senior Services Coordinator Report regarding current and upcoming programs and events: (report attached) Katy Peterson Reported on activities and special events for the month of January and February. Included in the discussio n were: • January 2 – Feb. 11 Registration open for Senior Games • February 1,8 – Martial Arts for Seniors with Master Doc 1:30-2:30 p.m. • February 6,13,20,27 – Beginner Tai Chi from 3:30-4:30 pm by Bryan Collins • February 7,21,28–Beginner Tap Dance from 1:30-2:30 p.m. by Sue Engbrock • February 14 – Valentine’s Day Tea, Fashion Show & Dance – Frank & Barbara volunteered to work the door as greeters and check the guest list • February 15 – Beginning Jewelry Making Class 3-5 p.m, • February 20 - EH Lunch Lecture “Muster Speeches” by Jerry Cooper • February 27- Aging in Place Lecture Series & Cornhole Tournament by Alec Moreno with Right At Home City of College Station Page 4 of 4 VIII. Presentation, discussion and possible action on future agenda items: A Committee member may inquire about a subject for which notice has not been given. A statement of specific factual information or the recitation of existing policy may be given. Any deliberation shall be limited to a proposal to place the subject on an agenda for a subsequent meeting. • Report from Parks & Recreation Director, David Schmitz & Assistant Director, Kelly Kelbly • Report from the Awareness Sub-committee groups • Report from 2019 Goal Sub-committee • Report from 2019 Web Site Sub-committee IX. Adjourn: Margaret Carmichael made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Jerry Crockett seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously and the meeting was adjourned. This building is wheelchair accessible. Persons with disabilities who plan to attend this meeting and who may need accommodations, auxiliary aids, or services such as interpreters, readers, or large print are asked to contact the City Secretary’s Office at (979) 764-3541, TDD at 1-800-735-2989, or email adaassistance@cstx.gov at least two business days prior to the meeting so that appropriate arrangements can be made. If the City does not receive notification at least two business days prior to the meeting, the City will make a reasonable attempt to provide the necessary accommodations. Notice is hereby given that a Regular Meeting of the College Station Senior Advisory Committee will be held on Monday, March 25, 2019 The following subjects will be discussed, to wit: See Agenda. Posted this the ______________________________ CITY OF COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS By ________________________________________ Tanya McNutt, City Secretary