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Minutes 11-10-03MINUTES OF THE SENIOR ADVTSORY BOARD MEETTNG HELD AT THE SENIOR CENTERv 1021 SOUTH FEDERAL HIGHWAY, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORTDA, ON MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2003 AT 3:00 P.M. Present Jeanne Hasty, Chairperson Lillian Bruzzese Denise Chamberlain Olive Field Elizabeth Jenkins Christine Wilson Rose Love, Alternate Betty Spinelli, Alternate Steve Lulkin, Recreation Supervisor Absent .loan C. White I. Call to Order Chairperson Hasty called the meeting to order at 3:05 p.m. 2. Pledge of Allegiance Chairperson Hasty led members in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. 3. Roll Call The Recording Secretary called the roll and declared a quorum was present. 4. Approval of Agenda Motion Ms. Chamberlain moved to accept the agenda. Motion seconded by Ms. Bruzzese and unanimously carried. 5. Approval of Minutes Motion Ms. Chamberlain moved to approve the minutes of September 8, 2003. Motion seconded by Ms. Bruzzese and unanimously carried. Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board Boynton Beach, FL November 10, 2003 6. Chairman's Remarks Chairperson Hasty expressed regret about the failure of the bond issue that would have allowed the Senior Center to expand. Some felt that it would have been better to have three separate ballot questions for the bond issue, but Mr. Lulkin explained that this was not an option. Chair Hasty asked the Board members to start thinking about the Chairmanship, since the terms of Chair and Vice Chair would end in March of 2004. The election will be held at the May meeting. 7. Old Business We Care/Senior Center Presentations at Area Associations IVls. Chamberlain asked for a status report on this project. Chair Hasty stated that so far, delegations had gone to speak at High Point, St. John Missionary Baptist Church, and the YMCA. Yet to be visited are Sterling Village, Colonial Club, Village Royale on the Green, and Leisureville. Chair Hasty has an appointment to speak to the AARP group in Leisureville in January of 2004. IVls. Chamberlain wants to see the Board resume the visits and presentations as soon as possible. She has found several people who are completely unaware of the Senior Center and its offerings. Chair Hasty will check with Ms. Brenda Burbank at the Area Agency on Aging to see when she is available to do more visits. She plans to line up more visits and invited any of the Board members to participate in the project with her. 8. New Business A. Lunches Mr. Lulkin announced that the Senior Center was now serving lunches at its normal capacity. The restrictions of the Fall have been lilted. He commented that cutbacks were common in the summer and Fall of the year when the Mae Volen Center begins to run out of grant money. Their Alternative Lunch program for $1.50 will be used if this happens again. B. Senior Center Construction Chair Hasty asked about the Exercise Room. Mr. Lulkin stated that the construction bid had been awarded, and they were waiting for the City Commission to meet and accept it. ~[f approved, work can begin, hopefully by .~anuary 2004. Chair Hasty hoped so because the front doors were a real necessity for the handicapped. Mr. Lulkin remarked 2 Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board Boynton Beach, FL November 10, 2003 that the front doors had been ordered and that it would take about eight weeks for them to arrive. Mr. Lulkin remarked that the stage had been removed from the building because it was part of a larger stage that was sold. The Senior Center has money to purchase a new stage. The new stage will be sixteen inches off the ground with railings all around and steps and skirting, so it will look a lot nicer and be higher so people in the back can see better. C. New Project/Survey? Ms. Chamberlain said that it seemed to her that the Board was not setting up a project to work on, other than the speeches they had started doing in the spring. She spoke of reading about the survey Mr. Lulkin suggested doing at the last meeting and asked why the Board did not want to do it. Excerpt from previous month's minutes: her. Lulk/n reported that at a recent conference he/earned that Dade County was able to identify the "baby boomers" and the senior population throughout the entire County. Through this endeavor, they have determined where the seniors are coming from and where the majority of the ''baby boomers" are living. This will assist that county in determining the areas that will be affected and what their future needs will be. Lulkin asked the Senior Advisory Board if they would like to take on this project and gather this same information as it pertains to Boynton Beach. At the previous meeting, Ms. White questioned why this information was not readily available through the census. Mr. Lulkin stated that staff performed a study through the census, but it included the population of the entire City. He would like this done for just the senior population and to determine the most popular areas where seniors live. Mr. Lulkin stated that the Senior Center is a City facility and the City needs to know to whom they will be providing meals and services in the future. Mr. Lulkin also felt that gathering this information would help identify people who are homebound and at this point in time, no one knows where these people are living. Members discussed how they could gather this information. It was thought that a canvassing letter could be sent to the targeted age group. Chair Hasty pointed out that the mailings would have to be funded by someone. Ms. Chamberlain said that if they took on this project, the City could be approached for the mailing costs. There was a misunderstanding about the age limits that would be surveyed, with some thinking that the 45-55 years old age group was being targeted, which is not the case. :It is the 55-65 years old age group that would be targeted. In response to the question of what would be gained by doing the survey, Mr. Lulkin responded that they could identify the seniors who will be needing the Senior Center 3 Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board Boynton Beach, FL November 10, 2003 services and the ones that might be homebound. Once the Senior Center finds out where the seniors live, those areas can be included in the marketing effort. Mr. Lulkin indicated that this survey would also help with funding. If an increase in seniors can be projected in ten years, the Center could justify expansion. Mr. Lulkin said that they were able to identify, throughout Dade County, where their future seniors were coming from, where they were going to need to put the programs, and how many people they would be dealing with in the future. There was consensus that the Board wanted more information before they decided to take this on as a project. Mr. Lulkin will provide that information to the Board at its next meeting. The information will include the results of the Miami-Dade County survey. Mr. Lulkin said the entire County was surveyed, not just one City. The Board will take a look at the information that Mr. Lulkin brings to them and then make a decision about undertaking such a survey. Chair Hasty asked Mr. Lulkin to determine whether the City already had this information through some other means. D. Other IVls. Wilson stated that the Senior Ministry at her church, St. John Missionary Baptist Church, had discussed what purpose they could serve with organizations like this Senior Center. She said they were interested in an exchange of some kind. Chair Hasty asked Ms. Wilson to provide a list of the homebound people in her neighborhood, and IVls. Wilson thought this could be done. Ms. Wilson stated they were having a free banquet in January for the homebound. Ms. Chamberlain wondered if the Senior Ministry could possibly gather its homebound residents onto a bus and bring them to the Senior Center for a banquet or something like that. Mr. Lulkin commented that the only way to find the homebound was often through neighbors. Ms. Chamberlain asked if, when the Board was speaking to the various communities, they could ask places like Sterling Village to identify their homebound residents. Chair Hasty said that in Leisureville they had a We Care organization that took care of all that. Ms. Chamberlain said that We Care was about getting people to doctor's appointments, but not to social functions. She wants to be able to get the homebound residents to social functions. On Thursday afternoons a whole group of people come to the Senior Center dances from an assisted living facility. Mr. Lulkin stated that they had such a good time that they were going to sponsor a holiday party at the Center. 4 Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board Boynton Beach, FL November 10, 2003 Mr. Lulkin said that when they spoke of homebound people, they were not just talking about people who could not get out of their houses. They were talking about people that need services that still live at home and do not know how to get those services. Chair Hasty felt that homebound meant bedridden, someone who could not get out. Mr. Lulkin said most of those people were cared for by services of one kind or another. He said they were trying to get the people that did not have transportation and did not know about the Center's services. People in wheel chairs and walkers can come here, if they can get around by themselves. If they are not able to get around by themselves but have a caregiver, they can still come with their caregiver. Mr. Lulkin said that all of the Board members and those associated with the Center should tell their friends and neighbors about the Center. Word of mouth can be a powerful tool. Ms. Chamberlain feels a process is needed to identify the homebound. She was very interested to see how the Miami Dade survey identified homebound individuals. There are many people who do not go to condo meetings where the Board is makings its presentations. She stated that brochures should be mailed to people and not just to the clubhouses. Ms. Chamberlain wondered how the homebound individuals could be reached. Chair Hasty said that the only way to reach people was through mailings, which were expensive. Ms. Chamberlain commented that the cost of mailing would be cut down once they had identified where the seniors were. Ms. Wilson suggested that the Boynton Times would be a good place to advertise and everyone agreed. However, not everyone gets this publication delivered to them. Ms. Chamberlain will call the Boynton Times to find out why some people get it delivered in bulk and some have it delivered to their mail boxes. An ad in this paper could say: Are you Homebound? If so, call XXX-XXXX, for example. Mr. Lulkin stated that the Senior Center sends out press releases for all the programs at the Center. Mr. Lulkin asked Ms. Wilson if she would like someone from the Senior Center to come to speak with the Senior Ministry group at her church, and she responded affirmatively. They meet on the third Saturday of every month. Senior Center Events Mr. Lulkin reported that 44 seniors had taken a trip to Naples recently. The next trip will be in March to Biloxi, Mississippi, their first out-of-state trip. There are only 17 spaces left. The cost is $259 for five days, and four nights, by bus. The trip will include a day in New Orleans. 5 Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board Boynton Beach, FL November 10, 2003 Ms. Wilson invited interested persons to attend a Veterans Day ceremony and dinner being held at the St. John Missionary Baptist Church on the day following this meeting at 2:00 p.m. 9. Adjournment The next meeting will take place on Monday, January ~ 2004 at 3:00 P.~f. at the Senior Center. Since there was no further business before the Board, the meeting was duly adjourned at 4:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan Collins Recording Secretary (11/14/03) 6