Re: Opening and Welcome

Commission Chair Ciriaco Gonzales called the meeting to order at 10:05 a.m. with a welcome to City Council member Phyllis Marcuccio.

Re: Approval of Minutes

Chair Gonzales asked if there were any corrections, additions or deletions to the September minutes.   None were noted and the minutes were approved as read.

Re: Club Reports

Pete Sante, reporting for the Triple F Club, said they had a regular business meeting on October 9th with a potluck lunch.  Pete said the club enjoyed a talk on safety and preparedness presented by a Rockville Police Lieutenant, 25 members attended.  In closing, Pete noted that he spoke briefly about the survey that has been created and included in the Center November Newsletter entitled “Live Better at Home”.

Audrey Beck, reporting for the Young in Heart, said she had forwarded information to Betty Briscoe following the last Commission meeting and had received a flyer with all the club’s news on upcoming events and activities.  In closing she mentioned that members had taken a trip to the Toby’s Dinner Theater on September 27th in conjunction with the Triple F Club.  She had not been able to attend the meetings because they meet at the same time and date as the Commission meets.  She did, however, take time to go and remind them to respond to the
Senior Citizens Commission Survey form in the latest newsletter.

Stu Crump, reporting for the Willing 3 C’s, said there had been no meetings over the summer and that the September meeting had been cancelled.  The next meeting is scheduled for October 21st and he hoped to have a report next month.       

Doug Bly, reporting for the Bethany House Club, said their last meeting had been held October 2nd with 28 in attendance.  It was a regular meeting that was called to order at 7:00 p.m. and adjourned at 7:20 p.m. as the business was short and the entertainment had cancelled.  Doug noted that there is a lasagna dinner planned for November.

Ciriaco mentioned that there was currently no liaison from the Commission for the Golden Ringers and asked Kathy is she would be willing to take the position.  Kathy was given some contact information however, it was also noted that the liaison position to R.S.I. might be open and she indicated she would rather take that position.  Ciriaco will check with JT to see if he agrees with the proposed change.  It was also noted that Steve Lipson was already assigned to the Golden Ringers.

Re: Task Force

Doug Bly reported that there had been no more meetings since his last report and that the information collected was being compiled and printed.

Re: Montgomery County Commission on Aging

Ciriaco said he had been unable to attend that last meeting however there is one scheduled for next week that he hopes to attend.  Regarding a follow-up from last month, Ciriaco noted that he had spoken with Hal Wallach regarding the updated policy on the nutrition program and the proposed restrictions on the number of meals the county would be serving at the Senior Center.  The city had offered to make up the difference in the cost of the Rockville Senior Center meals so that Montgomery County could continue to offer a meal to everyone that wanted one however the state has now authorized the county to use carry over funds to bring the monies back up to the required level.  Ciriaco noted that he had written a letter to Congressman Chris Van Hollen and has found out that the Bush Administration’s FY 07 budget request of $712 million has been increased by $10.8 million by the House of Representatives and there is still no appropriation for this and other programs in the departments of Health and Human Services and Labor.  He noted that this will not help the program next year since it is still below the needed levels.  It was noted that everyone who participates in the lunch program needs to reassess their capability to contribute more for their meal and advocate for an increased budget. 

Ciriaco asked Pete and Stuart to work on passing out information and collecting signatures during the noon meal for presentation to Congress regarding the financial issues with the nutrition program.

  Re: R.S.I. 

No report.

     
Re: U.S.M.

Ciriaco advised that during their Monday meeting they had been working on plans for the state rally to be held January 23rd in Annapolis.  He urged all the Commissioners to mark the date on their calendars and plan on going.  He also said they had discussed Medicare and the problem with the Medicare ‘donut holes’ and the fact that everyone would need to sign up every year even if no changes were needed.

Re: Old Business

Ciriaco asked Pete for an update on his committee that has been working on the ‘handyman’ program.  Pete advised the committee has not met as they are currently waiting for the survey results, noting again that the surveys have been included in the November calendar.                                                                                                                                      

Lorraine reminded everyone about the November 2nd “Live Better at Home” program that will be held at the Center.  She said there would be a panel discussion, the main presentation, followed by a 10-minute break.  After that, tea and refreshments will be served at each table where a moderator will collect information regarding the services that would help  seniors stay in their homes longer.  Lorraine said she would need greeters, table monitors, servers and a ‘runner’ to keep an eye on supplies and urged all the Commissioners to plan on coming early.
 
During the discussion it was noted that once the information has been gathered, the committee will need to collate everything, define what services are already available, note what part of the population is currently being served and figure out where the gaps are.

Re: New Business

Council member Marcuccio said she would like to make the Commissioners aware of two things that were currently at the top of the list of priorities for the Mayor and Council.  The first is the re-writing of city ordinances – each Tuesday between the hours of 6:00 and 9:00 p.m. a committee has been meeting at the Glenview Mansion to go over all the ordinances that affect the operation of the city government.  Items and issues that have come up are re-evaluated such as the ‘McMansions’.  She went on to say that the second item is the Town Center design, noting we are at the halfway point and it is time to evaluate how things are going in relation to the Master Plan.  There was a brief discussion during which Ms. Marcuccio spoke of the time frame for completion, how the commercial property would relate to the residential, parking and traffic flow, etc. 

Re: Staff Report

Lorraine said the 2007 Needs Assessment Survey request has gone to the Purchasing Department, noting that she is hoping that the contracted company would be able to conduct the survey in English, Spanish and Chinese.

Lorraine mentioned that the November Rockville Reports would have an insert that will be all about the Senior Center and Senior Services.  She also mentioned that next April would mark the beginning of the 25th anniversary celebration for the Senior Center.  Following the kick-off on April 2nd there will a month of celebrations, a Silver Jubilee party, Family Day and several proclamations and dedications.

Lorraine called everyone’s attention to the flyers that had been passed out earlier regarding ‘Scarves for Seniors’, an area wide program where new scarves, hats, gloves and mitten and socks would be collected and wrapped for distribution to needy seniors.  She said the Senior Center would be a collection point this year.

She mentioned that she and Ciriaco had recently attended the Candidates Forum at Holiday Park noting that it was a very good program.

In closing, Lorraine mentioned the Snow Removal program where volunteers and businesses willing to offer a discount to seniors have been recruited to shovel snow during the winter months for those who were physically unable to manage the chore.  She said over the past few years it has become much more difficult to find dependable people to commit to the program and asked the Commissioners to ask around and let her know if they could come up with any ideas on how to improve the program. 

With no further business to discuss Chair Gonzales adjourned the meeting at 11:45 am.