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Minutes 01-07-19 MINUTES OF THE SENIOR ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING HELD AT INTRACOASTAL PARK CLUBHOUSE, 2240 N. FEDERAL HIGHWAY BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ON MONDAY, JANUARY 7, 2019, AT 2:00 P.M. PRESENT: Terry liames. Vice Chair Brent Rolle, Board Liaison Margaret Newton Jennifer Gomez Larry Siegel ABSENT: Marsha Bionta, Chair I. CALL TO ORDER Vice Chair liames called the meeting to order at 2:19 p.m. II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The members recited the pledge to the Flag. III. ATTENDANCE Vice Chair liames announced Chair Bionta would not be present. A quorum was present. IV. APPROVAL OF AGENDA 1. Additions, Deletions, Corrections 2. Adoption V. APPROVAL OF MINUTES There was one change to the December minutes on page five, last paragraph, Adjournment, change Ms. Siegel to Mr. Siegel. Motion Mr. Siegel moved to approve as amended. Ms. Gomez seconded the motion that unanimously passed. VI. UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. Ethics Training Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida January7, 2019 Vice Chair liames explained the members have to submit their acknowledgement certificate for watching the Ethics video. She was aware Mr. Villatoro did not have his, nor did Mr. Siegel. She explained it is about an hour video and she requested it be submitted by the next meeting. Ms. Newton took the training and would submit her acknowledgement form. Vice Chair liames noted an item not listed under Unfinished Business was the members contacting the various communities to start to compile a list of contacts. She had called some communities, but has not had a great response as she did not get any call backs. Mr. Siegel advised he did receive a call back from Sterling Village. He has not heard from anyone from High Point West. Vice Chair liames was wondering if they could put together a letter to mail to the communities. Mr. Rolle explained the letter should come from the Board. The members should decide what to put on the letterhead, put the information and send it out. Ms. Gomez thought it had to be approved by marketing as the last time the Board wanted to do something they were told. Mr. Rolle explained the Board would still draft the letter and if they want to send it through the proper channels, they could. It would be reviewed, approved or have changes recommended and they it would be issued. Ms. Gomez agreed to draft the letter. The letter presents the Board to the communities and to make contact. There would be one generic letter. Mr. Siegel made six calls including three where he left messages, and not getting anything back. He thought it would be a good idea to send a written message. Vice Chair liames sometimes there is a recorded address and if they could obtain that information, they can send the letter out in lieu of a call. Ms. Gomez agreed as often she could not get a name or number for someone, but they can send a letter to the HOA as they would have the address. Mr. Rolle agreed and commented an HOA or business office address would be helpful. He suggested getting the address for the business office for Sterling Village. He thought if the members were just asking for contact information, some of it would be available online. It was recognized the Board was trying to develop an information hub and two- way communication with senior communities. Mr. Siegel commented he did receive a call back this morning that he could not understand. Mr. Rolle also thought it might be a good idea to meet face to face and introduce oneself. He commented he does that with newsletters and for the health fairs. Ms. Gomez asked for the written script and Mr. Siegel agreed to email it to her. Mr. Siegel noted a number of communities are run by management companies that are not physically present at the property. The Board could create the letter and put the Board members' names and number on the bottom and forwarded to management companies. Ms. Newton had no problem sending a letter as a Board with the Chair's name and number and further inquired if there was a City number they could use, as she did not want her personal number published. She would be comfortable with her number provided to people she knows and has contacted, but not with those who the other Board members had contacted. Ms. Newton did not realize the communities would call the members directly. She was not under the impression they would do so in terms of each member giving out their number carte blanche. She thought it was only those people or groups the individual member worked with. Vice Chair liames responded that was what 2 Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida January 7, 2019 they were discussing. The Board member contacted two communities and if the Board cannot contact them by phone or the member does not want to see them, then the letter is sent to them so they know who the Board is. Ms. Gomez commented Ms. Newton could include her number on the letters sent to those she contacted. Vice Chair liames explained there will be one letter for all the Board members to use and they can each write her name and number on the letter they will send to those they contacted to let the public know there is a Senior Advisory Board. VII. NEW BUSINESS A. Welcome new member Vice Chair liames thanked Mr. Siegel for his interest in the Board and welcomed him as a new member. She appreciated his input and all of the input from the Board. B. Next Senior Health Fair on March 7, 2019 (table for Advisory Board Vice Chair liames announced they can get a table at the Health Fair being held on March 7th from 9 to 11:30 a.m. The Board will be handing out the Villagers to attendees. Mr. Rolle suggested completing the process of contacting the communities, but first obtaining information about the Fair to send to the communities so they can distribute the information to their residents. If they want further information, such as if they want to have a table, register for the fair or sponsor a table, they can be directed to Mr. Rolle or the Senior Center. That is one way the Board could be helpful on the front end. He suggested having a plan for what the Board intends to do with the information once it is obtained. They could continue to survey individuals at the fair. He suggested it be put in place before the March Fair. Time is of the essence. The Health Fair is two days after the next meeting. Mr. Rolle can send the members information about the fair to the members. Brent will email the info the members now and they can send out information about both issues together. Mr. Rolle will send Mr. Siegel information about having a table at the event, as he may want to have an exhibit separate from the Board. He will be in attendance, but did not know if he would man a table. Ms. Gomez would be available as would Ms. Newton. Ms. Newton asked how the survey information would be used. She was hoping the survey was a handle for grant suggestions. Mr. Siegel took note of the grants discussed at the last meeting and thought it would be helpful to have a sense of what grants the Board would look for and apply for would help. Vice Chair liames commented they would have to speak to Debbie Majors, ADA and Grant Coordinator for the City. Mr. Siegel thought the focus of future surveys could be based on the criteria of the grants the Board was contemplating applying for. Ms. Newton asked Mr. Rolle if he found it helpful that the Board was present at the Senior Health Fair and learned no in terms of service to the event, but very helpful for the notoriety of the Board because the Board was not present at prior fairs. There was no particular spike in attendance, which is what the Center wants to offer as it assists in bringing in vendors and businesses. The only thing the Center has to offer vendors in 3 Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida January 7, 2019 return is face time with customers and a variety of people who come in and serve. The biggest impact the Board could have in service to the event would be to notify more people to attend. C. Free Tax Preparation for Seniors provided by AARP at the Senior Center Vice Chair liames explained Tax Preparation is free at the Senior Center. She asked if there was any notification about free taxes sent by the Center and learned it was well advertise. He commented AARP has been providing the service for years and they have advertised. The service is handled on a first come first served basis. There are flyers that can be distributed at the event. Mr. Siegel was curious as to the Senior Advisory Board and the Senior Center. He thought the Center would be the main conduit for many of the things the Advisory Board may want to do. He asked how the Board could support the Senior Center. Mr. Rolle explained the Board could work to serve the community and residents from the Center and further throughout the entire City. The Board will not be involved in the day-to-day activities. The Center has two health fairs a year, which serves the greater community. The Center is open to the public and has discussions that are medically-based. Presentations can be helpful because anyone is able to do that. The Center is not seeking to boost its membership, but the members can be an advocate for those needs. He suggested explaining to people the difference between a recreational senior facility and a care senior facility. He noted people think the Senior Center is a senior care facility. The Center provides services to seniors for recreation and refers seniors to resources for other services outside of recreation. (Vice Chair liames left the meeting at 2:51 p.m.) Mr. Siegel was curious what the Board could do regarding advocacy and promotion. Mr. Rolle responded the Board serves the greater good for all the seniors in Boynton Beach. He suggested any time there are items before the Legislature that will affect seniors, the Board could research them and share it also with the Center who could also disseminate it to the Center members. Another example was the Center interfaces with the Mae Volen Center, but due to legisiative changes, seniors are experiencing much longer bus rides than they had in the past. The Center cannot do anything about it, but since the Advisory Board,who serves the larger senior community,they can identify it as an issue that affects the entire community. Mr. Siegel requested and received confirmation the Board is trying to establish conduits. Ms. Newton noted there is new development on the MLK Jr. Corridor and two presentations will be made. One already occurred and the other was later in the evening. She noted there will be park like areas. She contemplated how seniors are going to be able to use public parks, so she asked a question about seniors and the parks and the speaker could not really provide her with answers at that moment. She thought that kind of information could be distributed to the community. Boynton Beach has a great deal of new development occurring and all of it directly affects senior citizens, such as sidewalks. 4 Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida January 7, 2019 Vice Chair liames returned at 2:55 p.m. Mr. Rolle noted there was a scam that banks were calling seniors that affected a few people in Hunters Run. He asked if someone from the Board put together information, even if it was a copy of the notification about what is occurring at the health fair table so people will get a better understanding. D. Healthy Boynton Beach a. Grant for HHA for Seniors in Boynton Beach Ms. Newton explained this item pertained to grant proposals from Healthier Boynton Beach. The grant amounts usually range from $2,000 to $5,000. They spoke at length at the last meeting about the grant process going into 2019. Ms. Newton was looking how they can impact seniors with various interests. Ms. Newton noted one grant provided tablets to the Boynton Beach Mental Health community and they provided tablets to seniors and they work with them with the tablets. They also work with the Library. Last year they purchased over two hundred books on caregiving. The grant process is available through Healthier Boynton Beach. Another grant gave seminars on caregiving. Another grant was for line dancing for physical fitness for seniors. There were a number of grants that were promoted last year and she thought it was the perfect opportunity for the Board to come up with ideas and promote it. She thought the Board could use the information from the surveys given last year, would provide direction on which grant they could apply for. Vice Chair liames requested they review it when Ms. Newton receives the information. Anything they can do to assist seniors with home health aides is helpful all over the City. Home Health Aides touch every life in Boynton Beach. Ms. Newton commented last year they had a Respite Services grant. She advised it has to be with what the group decides and the group has to implement it. Ms. Gomez agreed as far as other resources for home health care, because they are limited. Many people in the city and county cannot afford for someone to come in and help them once or twice a week and many elderly do without. Often seniors do not have enough to self-pay, but make too much to qualify for Medicaid. Many individuals use reverse mortgages to get home health aide assistance in and for medical costs. Ms. Newton agreed to forward the information. She asked if the Board contacted the Police Department to learn if they have a list of all of the fraud alerts. She wanted to know where list of fraud alerts can be found. Mr. Rolle suggested contacting the Police Department Resource Officer/Public Information Officer who is Stephanie Slater. Mr. Rolle receives text alerts from the Police Department for various occurrences. He commented that was available for what they know of and from what he sees from them, it was an email from the ITS. He also suggested contacting the Department of Consumer Affairs. The 561 area code is being targeted. Mr. Siegel agreed local exchanges are targeted for robo calls. Ms. Newton agreed to contact Ms. Slater. 5 Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida January 7, 2019 Mr. Siegel inquired if there is a City grants person the Board could request to look specifically for grants for them. Mr. Rolle was uncertain. Mr. Siegel agreed to contact the ADA and Grants Coordinator. Ms. Newton asked if the City was developing new parks. Mr. Rolle was not sure but commented there has to be green space per so much count of population. He was unaware of anything being developed as a new park. Vice Chair liames suggested approaching the City Commission or emailing Wally Majors, the Recreation and Parks Director. There are renovations ongoing at parks, but not a groundbreaking or an additional proposal for Barrier Free Park Ms. Gomez attends the Recreation Advisory Board meetings and she understood the City was having enough trouble maintaining what the parks they have. Should there be additional funds, they would likely improve them before expanding the park system. Ms. Newton noted there was a park by the Schoolhouse Children's Museum. Mr. Rolle thought it may be part of the downtown plan. Ms. Newton commented it does concern seniors because they want parks to be inclusive of all generations. VIII. NEXT MEETING: March 4, 2019 Vice Chair liames announced the next meeting and summarized they will have a table and three members at the Health Fair. IX. ADJOURNMENT Motion Vice Chair liames moved to adjourn the meeting. Ms. Gomez seconded the motion that unanimously passed. The meeting was adjourned at 3:16 p.m. Catherine Cherry Minutes Specialist 6