Re: Opening and Welcome

Commission Chair Ciriaco Gonzales called the meeting to order at 10:02 a.m.  

Re: Approval of Minutes

Chair Gonzales asked if there were any additions, deletions or corrections to April’s    minutes.  There being none the minutes were approved as written. 

Chair Gonzales introduced Katherine Foti, a Senior Center Member and applicant for the Senior Commission. 

Re: Club Reports  

Kathy Neale, reporting for R.S.I., noted that the Center held it’s Volunteer Appreciation Party and R.S.I. Board elections May 15th where 303 volunteers were honored for more than 25,000 volunteer hours.  She also mentioned that the Estelle Berberian Volunteer of the Year Award was given to Howard Briscoe and the corporate award was given to Safeway, Inc. The Board of Directors Elections for 2007 – 2008 was conducted to elect three Board members: George Galaso was elected the new President and Ron Barber, R.S.I. Chairman was elected Vice President.

Rinn Shinn and Vivian Dupuy were new members elected to the Board.  In closing, Kathy noted that the Board has been invited to attend the Gaithersburg Senior Center picnic at Smokey Glen Farm on June 19th.

Audrey Beck, reporting for the Young-In-Heart Club advised the May meeting (May 17th) will be held at the Magnolia’s at the Mill in Purcelville, Va. with Officer Installation and a luncheon planned.               

Stu Crump, reporting for the Willing 3 C’s, said their most recent meeting had been held on April 21st with the officer elections, noting the officer positions will be held by the members as last year.  Stuart mentioned that the planned Bingo program was cancelled due to low attendance.                                                                                           

Pete Sante, reporting for the Triple F Club, said there had been no regular meeting but the club members did get together for a luncheon at the Old Country Buffet in Gaithersburg.

Steve Lipson, reporting for the Senior Associates, said their last meeting had been held May 15th with 12 members in attendance.  He also mentioned that the club members went to the Old Country Buffet for lunch and Bingo on May 16th.  Steve said Lois Darling noted the next meeting would be May 29th with a potluck luncheon.  He also said that during his presentation he has asked those in attendance if they had any suggestions for topics for presentations by speakers at the Senior Center.  Some of the suggestions made were Pain Management, Medicare Billing, and a doctor’s right to refuse new Medicare patients

Doug Bly reporting for the Bethany House Club said their last meeting had been held May 7th with 29 members in attendance.  The Treasurer reported $1,477.51 in the club account. He also mentioned the June 12th meeting will be held at the Flaming Pit Restaurant in Gaithersburg with officer installations.  Following the meeting the members were entertained by Mark Hanac playing the piano and signing.

J. T. reported that he had spoken briefly with Ed Duffy, the city’s Community Development Program Manager but no specific date has been set yet for a meeting.

Re: Montgomery County Commission on Aging

Ciriaco said there had been no meeting.

 Re: U.S.M. Report

Ciriaco said he has attended the Federal Rally last week along with approximately 100 others.  He noted that Senator Ben Cardin had been one of the speakers and there was much discussion of a possible change to the act that set up Medicare Part D that would allow Medicare to negotiate the prices of drugs just as the Veteran’s Administration does.  During the discussion it was noted that the nation’s Pharmaceutical companies have such a large lobby that in the past it has been very difficult.  He also said discussions covered saving Social Security and Medicare from privatization.  U.S.M. will be working on legislative priorities for next year with a request for all the members to be working on ideas for the state and federal levels.

 Re:  Old Business

Ciriaco said he, Audrey, Pete, Kathy and Lorraine had met with Burt Hall, the Director of Recreation and Parks, about the Commission’s proposal for a Home Maintenance Program for Rockville’s seniors.  Additional information was requested as well as tallies from the Needs Assessment Survey that was recently sent out.  It was noted that Burt Hall felt that 1 van and 1 employee might not be sufficient to handle the number of calls and the possibility of out-sourcing the requests was noted.  He did indicate that it was a good idea and that staff would work with the committee to work out the details.

Kathy Neale brought up the subject of Comcast and asked if the Commission was still willing to send a letter to the Montgomery County Council regarding customer dissatisfaction with Comcast service.  During the discussion Doug Bly and Kathy volunteered to draft the letter.

  Re: New Business:

Pete noted that the Commissioners needed to find out where seniors live and determine if the Center is convenient for those who may live in Twinbrook or the Maryvale areas.  The Center is somewhat remote and they may not be aware of all the programs and services and daily bus service.  Jill can find out where the members come from and will be asked to get that information.

Steve reminded everyone that we still need to schedule seminars on the topics discussed  at previous meetings.  Decisions were made to sponsor seminars on the following topics:

1. Pain Management.  2. Long Term Care Insurance.  3 Home Health Care. 
The first one on Pain Management will be scheduled for fall.

Lorraine also reported on the conference on the BEACON  HILL PROJECT that was held in Boston.  Several persons from Montgomery County attended and brought back information that will be made available to the Home Maintenance Project Committee.

 Re: Staff Report

Lorraine said that she and Burt have met to talk about the Handyman Service idea and have been discussing ways to handle the program. 

She also mentioned that there would no longer be Duplicate Bridge players in the Center. She said the program had become so popular that the players had simply outgrown the space and while R.S.I. would not be realizing that income any longer, Senior Center members would no longer have to worry about the crowded conditions in the building and in the parking lots.  She did say however, that they would be sending a letter to the group to propose a smaller group set up a program at the Center with 9 tables on one specific day of the week.                       

Lorraine noted that she needed volunteers Memorial Day weekend to help with the flower project, displaying and selling, as this was their fundraiser for the year for the Senior Assistance Fund.

She said the Needs Assessment Survey did go out in the mail and that she was happy to report that to date approximately 250 completed surveys have been received.

Lorraine asked the Commissioners to mark their calendars for November 8th for the 2nd Annual Aging in Place event.  This year the theme would be “To stay or to move – Choosing Wisely”.  She said speakers will be talking about the psychology of the decision and the State of Maryland Deputy Secretary of Housing would explain how to read a contract and the criteria for making your decision.  During the discussion it was decided that the Commissioners would again co-sponsor the event as well as help with the set up and man an informational table.

She said the Health Fair has been scheduled for May 30th, noting the Commission would have a table with information from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.  It was also noted that the Commission Board would need to be updated with new pictures and the addition of Kathy and Doug.

Lorraine said the Mayor and Council have approved the new budget and she also said she wanted to thank everyone for all their help with the 25th Anniversary celebration.

In closing, Lorraine reminded the Commissioners that they needed to decide if they wanted to sponsor another Candidate’s Forum as City elections would be coming up in November.  It was decided that they would and Lorraine will be checking on available dates.

With there being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 11:55 a.m.