STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT: Jill Hall and Anne Robbins Ann Robbins let everyone know that there will be free parking at the library.
The minutes from February 21, 2006 were presented. George made a motion to accept the minutes. Rusty seconded the motion. Motion carried. TREASURER'S REPORT: A report for the month of February was presented. Copies will be forwarded to the city's Mayor and Council. All members present voted to accept the treasurer’s report.
STANDING COMMITTEES: A. Budget: Rusty distributed the financial report for the month of February 2006 and wanted to know if there would be any large expenses coming up besides the $20,000.00 we give to the city at the May Gala. The new chairs cost $11,421.00, the seeds for the greenhouse were paid for this month as well as the volunteer gifts and the new mats for the doors. We have received a lot of memorial donations. Betty H. was concerned about the Bingo concession revenue not covering expenses. She wondered if there was a way to serve different food and make more money on it. Food is a marketing expense to bring in more Bingo players, so the Board agreed not to worry about the cost. $500.00 was paid for Supper Club entertainment this month. B. Ways & Means: Betty B. and Rusty will not be at the May Bazaar. Mary volunteered to take Betty B.’s place and Betty H. will handle the money in Rusty’s place. Betty H. will call Ruth Smith to see if she will help her. Ron and George will run the raffle drawing. Louise will also help that day. When the raffle tickets are printed we will need volunteers to staple and number them. We have 13 tables for the craft show. We need to setup a table to sell comic books. C. Bingo: We did very well in February. We have a new volunteer who is learning to call. D. Correspondence/Memorial: No report for correspondence. We received $200.00 from Sue Lee to add her father’s name to her mother’s name on her plaque. The $500.00 received from the Coyle’s designated for the Game Room was spent on getting one of the tables refelted and 16 cue tips redone. E. Gift Shop: In February we made $844.00 and paid out $261.00 to consignors and netted $544.09. F. Thrift Shop: The Thrift Shop made $535.23 in February. G. Publicity: An ad for crafters wanted will run next week and another ad for the Bazaar itself at a later date. H. Senior Citizens Commission: No report. The Commission will select a liaison for RSI at their next meeting. I. Hispanic Services Report: No report. J. Asian Services Report: No report.
OLD BUSINESS: George, Betty H. and Rusty need to be appointed if they want to remain on the board. All agreed they are interested in returning. George asked if Ron had received any of the promised information from Steve Chappel and he has not. Ron will ask Steve to attend the next board meeting.
NEW BUSINESS: Rusty said that The Young In Heart Club is concerned about being asked to donate $125.00 to the center’s birthday party budget when RSI pays for the birthday party supplies and entertainment. They also feel that RSI is not getting credit for sponsoring the birthday parties and that there should be some accountability for how the money is spent. Karen Lumpkin has told them that it is to pay for staff time, advertising in the Recreation Guide, decorations and other costs. Betty B felt that since Chris is already working at the Center that is not something clubs and RSI should be paying for. Jill explained that due to a Department-wide cost recovery policy, staff has to figure out what the total expenses are, including staff time (for example how many hours spent on birthday party planning) and advertising, and then show what revenue is available to offset expenses. Karen does receive money from RSI and other sponsors and this money comprises her revenue since the participants do not pay for the program. If there were no donations there would have to be a participant fee to cover the expenses. The cost recovery for programs ranges from 25-100% and trips have to meet 100% cost recovery. In addition, each division has a cost recovery target that they must achieve for their division budget. If we don’t have the revenue to cover the expenditures than we have to cut costs. Young In Heart feels that they should know all the costs and so they could determine the amount of money needed to supplement the budget. Betty H. felt that if sponsors knew that they were paying for staff salaries that they would not give money to the birthday parties. Mary B. disagreed and said many people enjoy sponsoring birthday parties so they can publicly honor a loved one. Betty H. wanted confirmation that the birthday party petty cash was being used correctly. Rusty said she receives receipts for the cake and paper goods and contracts for the entertainment. Jill told the Board that of they have questions about programs and costs to please talk to the staff so they can explain in detail how things work. There are, for example, cost recovery sheets for programs as well as the cost recovery policy and division budgets. There was some discussion that RSI could pay the total cost of the birthday parties and then they would receive the money from donations made to the birthday parties. They would not run the birthday parties just fund them. The board decided that they did not want to change the current procedure. George questioned the purpose of RSI. He stated that in the recent past he had heard RSI referred to as the fund raising component of the Senior Center and asked whether this was the sole function. Jill read from the bylaws: “Article I, Section 3, Purpose, The overall purpose for RSI is to improve the quality of life for all senior citizens of the City of Rockville through properly supported senior center facilities and adequately funded social, recreational and educational programs.” Twenty-four years ago RSI was created to look at ways to help fund the senior center since it was supposed to recover 100% of the operating costs. RSI was established to enable donations, grants and fundraising areas such as the Bingo, Thrift Shop, Gift Shop, Bazaars, etc. While the major role of RSI is to raise funds to purchase items/support programs for the center, the Board should know what the needs are to ensure that what is being purchased represents what the membership desires. The RSI Board also provides input to staff since they represent all the members of the center.
STAFF REPORT: We need to select someone for the Estelle Berberian award. George has received 6 nominations. Staff recommend Charlie Caroccio for the Corporate Award. He has been giving free legal advice at the center for many years and is retiring this year. Lorraine does not have someone to replace him. The invitations for the Volunteer Appreciation Party on May 16 will be mailed out soon. We received 13 bids for the drywall project. We have $25,000.00 budgeted for the project and the lowest bid came in at $32,000.00. The staff are not confident that the low bidder can handle the project and it is likely the project will be put off to a future date. Final additions have been made to the satisfaction survey. The Spanish and Chinese translations are being proofed. Please encourage members to complete the survey. George asked if we could advertise for a volunteer to run the Woodshop and the Ceramics Room since the rooms seem to not be very busy. We do use the Ceramics Room for classes and there a few members who use the Woodshop on a regular basis. Jill will advertise for volunteers in the newsletter and in Rockville Reports. Livia Laffey, the Volunteer Coordinator, is working on the volunteer handbook, which will explain the different volunteer jobs at the center. The front desk will get a rough draft copy until Graphics prints the final copies. George gave an update on the Senior Center Task Force Meetings. He said that they are off to a great start and staff have done a terrific job on preparing material. The Task Force has discussed opening up the senior center to a larger population by lowering the age limit to 55 to be consistent with the County senior centers age limit. Mr. Coyle is a great moderator. When the final report comes out it will be for the good of the senior center. Jill also said that it is a diverse group and has it has surprised some of the group how much we do at the senior center. If the age limit were lowered to 55 we will have to get approval from the mayor and council. Recommendations from the Task Force also include staggering membership fees depending on a member’s age, with younger members paying a higher fee than older; staggering registration dates depending on membership category (i.e., member, resident, non-resident) and increasing the difference between what members, residents and non-residents pay for programs. A common theme throughout the weeks has been that we need to improve our marketing of what is offered by the Senior Services Division. We still have not heard back if the floors in the Mansion attic can handle the Community Chorus files. Jill had copies of the Zoning Report that will be discussed at City Hall on Thursday. There will be changes to the zoning laws and regulations if you are interested in reading about and attending the meeting this Thursday. May is Older American’s Month. We will have the Volunteer Appreciation Party and Elections, the Health Fair, the May Gala and the Spring Bazaar this month. The Secretary Lunch will be on April 23 this year. Mary Fleisher submitted her request for $500.00 for the Health Fair. This has already been included in the budget and was therefore approved. Next year we will be celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Senior Center and we need to think about how we want to celebrate and also budget funds for the event. Jill has a received a few suggestions for the Logo and Slogan contest and would like to encourage people to submit entries.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:05 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled for April 18, 2006 at 1:00 p.m. | 
