Rockville Senior Center
1150 Carnation Drive
August 28, 2003
10:00 A.M.
Members Present: Ciriaco Gonzales, Audrey Beck, Stuart Crump, Winston Lark, Bill Morgan, Marty Roney, Murray Stein, Jonathan Triandafilou
Guests: Connie Farrell, Roald Schrack
Staff: Lorraine Schack, Jill Hall
Re: Opening and Welcome
Commission Chair Ciriaco Gonzales called the meeting to order at 10:07 a.m. He welcomed Connie Farrell and Roald Schrack.
Re: Approval of Minutes
Chair Gonzales asked if there were any additions, deletions or corrections to July’s minutes. Marty Roney pointed out that there was no mention of the discussion of a candidate’s forum to be held at the Center. With this addition, the minutes were approved as read.
Re: Club Reports
He advised that due to the special nature of the August meeting, he would postpone the Club Reports until September.
The Chair went on to say that Roald Schrack was invited to the meeting to give some background information on the voting patterns in Rockville. Roald said that there are approximately 26,000 registered voters in Rockville, and that 20% of the voting population normally turns out to vote, or approximately 5,500 people. Of those 5,500, the senior population will be the controlling group as “the older a person is, the more likely they are to vote.”
Roald showed a graph that indicates how the voting patterns change with age of the voter. Between age 18 and 30 only 2% of the registered voters actually vote. The highest percentage of registered voters who actually voted in the last two elections peaked at about 60 to 70 years of age, then declined back to about 1 percent at age 90. He concludes that voting is a learned experience over many years and that this is a concern because seniors tend to vote conservatively and may not be beneficial to society at large.
Following Roald’s presentation, the Commission discussed the date for the proposed forum, deciding on October 28th. They also decided that the membership of the Senior Center would host the forum. Marty Roney proposed that the September meeting be changed to the 3rd Thursday of the month to allow the Commissioners the opportunity to attend the September meeting of the Montgomery County Commission on Aging. During this discussion, it was recommended that all future meetings be changed to the third Thursday and all the Commissioners voted aye.
Re: Chair Report
Chair Gonzales reminded the Commissioners of the training session scheduled for September 13th, noting that they were expected to attend. He also reminded them that they needed to R.S.V.P. by September 8th .
Chair Gonzales said he and Marty Roney attended the United Seniors of Maryland meeting August 14th. He noted that the issues discussed were: the restoration of budget cuts, transportation, health care, housing, the pharmaceutical industry and prescription drug coverage under Medicare at the top of the list. He added that U.S.M. members had decided to divide the group into three committees: legislative – grass roots – rallies, and asked that each member join one of the three. Chair Gonzales selected Grass roots for the Rockville representative. In closing, Chair Gonzales reminded everyone that the rally is scheduled for September 10th.
He also noted that last February, the Commissioners itemized a number of issues that they were interested in for Rockville’s seniors, to include Health Insurance/Medicare, low income housing, diversity, transportation, etc. He said he would like to make a suggestion that the Commission set up committees to cover three areas – legislative – activities – proposed programs. He would then ask that each Commissioner join one committee and that committee in turn would work on those issues that fell under their specific category. During the discussion, everyone was reminded that they could ask for input and assistance from other Rockville residents, that their committees could be expanded to include any citizen of Rockville that had an interest in working on specific issues.
Re: Old Business
Murray Stein mentioned that the Commissioners needed to contact the District 17 Delegates to ask if they could attend the October or November Commission meeting this year. Marty Roney said she had attended R.S.I.’s August meeting and indicated their available funds currently total $59,564.
Re: Staff Report
Jill Hall advised that Jenny Forehand had recently been presented with a lifetime membership to the Senior Center in recognition of all her work for Rockville’s seniors. She went on to say that the Commissioners were asked to join R.S.I. to sit down and outline specific guidelines for qualifications for future lifetime achievement / membership awards as none were currently on file.
Jill said the bid documents for the Center’s renovations are being prepared, noting the architectural diagrams have been approved. She also mentioned that there are tentative plans to close the Center the last two weeks of the year to allow crews time and space to install new carpeting / flooring throughout the building.
In closing, Jill said the City’s Volunteer Party is scheduled for September 12th reminding the Commissioners to R.S.V.P. if they were planning to attend.
Lorraine said English Class registration would begin next week, noting a new site (Montrose Rec. Center) for non-seniors and senior non-residents.
Lorraine went on to say the buses seems to be doing well, but added that she is always in need on part-time drivers for evening and weekend trips.
Lorraine mentioned the upcoming Hispanic Heritage Celebration scheduled for October 9th from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:45 a.m.
