STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT: Jill Hall Anne Robbins, Councilwoman was also present and spoke about her dedication to getting affordable housing for seniors. For any requests for new developments she will not sign off unless there is affordable housing for seniors. The minutes from the August 17, 2004 meeting were accepted after corrections. Joyce Staub thanked the RSI board for sponsoring the softball team and presented a plaque to the board. There will be a party for Bocce Ball on October 19 at 12:00 p.m. TREASURER'S REPORT: A report for the month of August 2004 was presented. Copies will be forwarded to the city's Mayor and Council. The report reflects July and August amounts for Bingo since Betty Hughes was away last month. STANDING COMMITTEES: A. Budget: No Report. B. Ways & Means: Betty Briscoe thanked the office staff and Mary Barber, Paula Carver, and Jill Hall for all their help in explaining the procedures for the Holiday Bazaar. Plans are progressing in a timely manner. Paula volunteered to be responsible for the Craft Show. Letters have gone out to crafters, and even before they went, we received calls from some of them saying they want to be with us at the bazaar in December. Letters went out to over 40 businesses requesting participation in our raffle. We have already received a call from one, Red Hot and Blue, saying they were going to donate “gift certificates”. Virginia Sacco is donating an adult afghan she made. We have also received donations from Flagship Carwash, Normandie Farms and Giant Food. Mary Barber has already picked up the barbecue and soft drinks from Giant when they had a sale recently. George has agreed to once again be responsible for publicity, and Martha Finley will again handle the bake sale. The Gift Shop will be taken care of by Mary Barber, the plant sale will be taken care of by Mary Ferris, and the Thrift Shop manager, Harriet Hopf, is in charge of the “In House Yard Sale”. We still need coordinators for the Carnation Café, and raffle. Marge Costa volunteered for the raffle sale. Betty Hughes will help Mary Ryan with the money and with the raffle. A high school student who needs community service hours could sell the popcorn. C. Bing: Bingo had a rough time last week with very few volunteers. We need volunteers for the floor and kitchen. D. Correspondence/Memorial: Sympathy cards were sent to the families of Helen Lowery and Rosalie Campbell. E. Gift /Thrift Shop: We had $1,236 in total sales in July and paid consignors $275. F. Publicity: The crafters wanted ad will run in the Gazette tomorrow. G. Senior Citizens Commission: We have three new commissioners Richard Ahlberg, Nancy McIntyre and Pete Sante. We will present an overview of affordable housing for seniors to the Mayor and Council in October. The Governor’s Conference at University of Maryland is on November 5 and the State Rally in Annapolis is on January 25 with a snow date on February 2. H. Hispanic Services Report: Hispanic Heritage Celebration is on September 22, 2004. I. Asian Services Report: No report.
OLD BUSINESS: Ron met with the bank regarding the endowment fund. He recommended that it not be set up as a trust fund because it would be too long and involved. After discussing it with Mary Ryan, he recommended setting up a third account and listing it as living legacy savings account. $40,000 from savings and the collected checks will be deposited in there. Jill suggested that Ron write up his meeting notes with the bank so the Board has the information for the future. Jill also suggested he call Andrew Begosh (accountant) to see what he thinks about setting up the Endowment Fund. We have had two bake sales and sold flowers to fund Alzheimer’s. Mary R. asked Ron to bring up the issue of the light for the parking lot in her absence. Jill has spoken to Mike Critzer regarding the lighting and the costs. Mike says that we have to maintain the same type of lighting we already have, be consistent with the landscape, conform to COG agreement regarding energy efficiency and we use directional boring to meet Forestry guidelines. Electrical Advantage has a contract with the city to provide electrical service. Jill suggested that the board meet with Mike so he can explain the situation and answer their questions. Jill will set up a meeting and any board members who would like to attend can do so. Ron can call board members after the meeting and then they can decide if they want to vote to pay for the lighting or not. Ron spoke with the Mayor regarding the possibility of changing the board terms from 1 year to 2 years. The Mayor did not have any objection to that but indicated the bylaws would have to be changed. George called for a vote of the board members to increase the terms from 1 year to 2 years. Three members voted to change to 2 years and five members voted to keep it at 1 year. Motion defeated. NEW BUSINESS: We have so many walkers, wheelchairs and medical equipment the board was asked to fund the building of a small facility outside near the garden and bocce shed. This request was denied since it wasn’t considered good to have medical equipment getting rusty in an outside facility. It was decided that we would recommend the Wellness Coordinator limit the number of pieces of medical equipment that we can keep in the building and dispose of any additional equipment and turn down offers of any donations. We received $1,000 from Young In Heart Club for the kitchen and need to find out how to use this money. Jill will meet with the kitchen staff on Tuesday and will ask them for any ideas for small items or possibly use it for the Snack Bar in the Dining Room. Marty asked if the board would be interested in selling Sees candy with the profits going to the Senior Assistance Fund. Marty will order, store and distribute the candy. The RSI Board members would be responsible for selling the candy. We could have two tables at the Bazaar. George made a motion sell Sees candy as a fundraiser for the Senior Assistance Fund. Marjorie seconded the motion. Motion carried. The Bocce Ball court sunscreens are finished and look fantastic. RSI will send a thank you letter to the crew for a job well done and copies will be sent to their supervisors and the Mayor. We also need a plaque on the screens that they were built in memory of Estelle Berberian. Ron noted that in the future when we have something built we need to see rough drafts or blue prints so we can see what we are getting. STAFF REPORT: The Dining Room and Kitchen are finished. We are going to wait for the furniture to be delivered before we have the grand opening. We should get the furniture at the end of the month. We will have the grand opening before lunch and will invite the Mayor and Council, staff from Recreation and Parks and RSI board members. Jill asked the board if they would give a gift certificate to thank Jerry Daus and Mauricio Daza for overseeing the dining room and kitchen project. Marjorie made a motion to purchase gift certificates from Clyde’s in the amount of $100 each for Jerry Daus and Mauricio Daza to thank them for their hard work in overseeing the kitchen and dining room renovation. Louise seconded the motion. Motion carried. Jill asked the board if they would like purchase holiday cards for the volunteers as we have done for the past few years. They cost about $383. Betty made a motion to purchase holiday cards. Marjorie seconded the motion. Motion carried. We will have Customer Service training on October 4 and 5 and are asking that all of our volunteers who deal with the public and part time staff attend but it is not mandatory. We need to replace two old metal carts in the center. Marjorie made a motion to purchase two carts for the center at approximately $360 for two. Betty seconded the motion. Motion carried. We have received applications to apply for grants from the Freeman foundation. If anyone has any ideas for this grant please let Jill know. Some ideas from the board were textbooks for English classes or supplies for the Gift Shop crafters. Jill distributed copies of the RSI Board photographs. The meeting was adjourned at 3:20 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled for October 19, 2004. | 
