Re: Opening and Welcome
Chair Gonzales called the meeting to order at 10:05 a.m. as he welcomed Mayor Marcuccio, Herman Nissenbaum and Sylvia George.
Re: Approval of Minutes
Chair Gonzales asked if there were any additions or corrections to the December minutes. There being none, the minutes were approved as written.
Re: Club Reports
Pete Sante, reporting for the Triple F Club, said there had been a meeting on January 11th with 15 members in attendance. Pete said he spoke briefly about the Young in Heart Closet Clutter Sale and Mark Barrick’s program on Home Maintenance that was held at the Senior Center January 7th. In closing, Pete noted that the treasurer reported $2,839 in the club account.
Stuart Crump, reporting for the Willing 3 C's said there had been two meetings prior to his last report and none since. Stu said their next meeting would be in February with a program to celebrate Black History Month.
Audrey Beck, reporting for the Young In Heart Club, mentioned the Closet Clutter Sale as she urged the Commissioners to head to the Carnation Room following the meeting for a little shopping and some lunch.
Kathy Neale, reporting for the 150th Anniversary Task Force, said she had attended a photographic exhibit that will be on display at the Glenview Mansion until February 2nd. She also noted that everyone should mark their calendars for Wednesday, March 10th when the City will kick off the celebration at Town Center with activities, fireworks and speakers etc. as she passed out flyers and postcards with the dates and times of most of the activities.
In a report filed by Karen Lumpkin, the Senior Recreation Coordinator for Ring House, said their meeting had been held January 13th with 86 members in attendance for installation of their new officers.
Re: R.S.I.
Norene, reporting for R.S.I., said they met Tuesday, January 19th where they had a lengthy discussion on the budget and the $25,000 donation to the Senior Center for their FY ’10 operating expenses. She noted they also discussed the Senior Center Newsletter format and what should or should not be included in the bulletin. Norene said they were also planning to review the by-laws. Pete Sante suggested that they should think about creating an abbreviated cover-page format in addition to the regular newsletter that could be posted on the Senior Center website. It was also suggested that a copy of the Newsletter be mailed to the officers of each Homeowner’s Association. Norene and Audrey volunteered to draft a cover letter to accompany the first mailing with a request that pertinent information be passed along to their members and residents.
Re: U.S.M. Report
Ciriaco said he and ten others had attended the 33rd annual U.S.M. Legislative Rally in Annapolis on Tuesday, January 19th. He noted that there were more than 500 people that had come to talk with their legislators in the Town Hall type gathering and to listen to the speakers, Minority Leader Anthony J. O’Donnell, Governor O’Malley and Speaker of the House Michael Busch. Mr. O’Donnell said there were several Republican proposals for cuts in the budget in areas such as education, land acquisition and the new Information Technology Dept. Other issues discussed by the speaker were reimbursement to Medicare providers, the Long-term Care Insurance credit, any new taxes on alcoholic beverages as well as proposals to create a Uniform Power of Attorney that would be acceptable to any financial institution. Ciriaco did note that it appeared there would be no cuts to the Department of Aging.
In closing Ciriaco said his group did meet with the Montgomery County legislators noting that 16 of the 32 members of the legislature were present. There were 30 seniors from Montgomery County attending the caucus with the Montgomery County delegates. All the legislators were supportive of USM priorities. There was agreement that the alcoholic beverage tax was not going to pass this year.
Re: Old Business
Lorraine said she has arranged for a speaker from Victory Housing to attend the February meeting so the Commissioners could get an update on the proposed senior housing project.
Norene said she and her husband had received another letter from Victory Housing notifying them of a meeting that has been scheduled for January 28th at the County Office Building. She commented that they have done this in the past as they try to keep the adjacent neighborhood residents abreast of all the procedures and activities of the project.
Norene also mentioned the F.O.R.S. project as she gave an overview to the guests. Mayor Marcuccio commented that the “Buy Rockville” campaign has gone very well and it might be a good idea to work to combine the F.O.R.S. program with ‘Buy Rockville’. She also mentioned an idea that had been suggested that the Science Committee sponsor a Rooftop ‘Senior’ Event similar to the ones they have been doing at Town Center.
Pete said he had been doing some research with the city and the county in an attempt to get more information regarding his idea to try to help the local senior citizen homeless population. He commented that he had run in to all sorts of difficulties with his initial efforts to try to simply define the term ‘boarding house’. During the discussion, as noted by Mayor Marcuccio, it is a very complicated issue as one needs to deal with numbers, relationships, costs, facilities, taxes, etc.
Re: New Business
Audrey said she would like to have it noted that she has been experiencing problems with Medicare Part B in that there are increasingly more doctors who are refusing to accept new Medicare patients. She did note that she has been in contact with Chris Van Hollen’s as well as Ben Cardin’s and Barbara Mikulski’s as she recommended that persons having similar problems should contact these representatives.
Re: Staff Report
Martha McClelland spoke briefly about some of her ongoing cases noting the types of problems that Rockville seniors, their family members and city staff are trying to deal with such as hoarding, economic pressures, physical health, legal problems etc.
Lorraine passed around a copy of the most recent Guide to Retirement Living ‘Sourcebook’ noting that on page 74 Commission member Katherine Foti was featured as their Real life Story.
She also passed around flyers for a new apartment complex that will be opening on March 2010, The Alaire, located near the Twinbrook Metro Station, noting that there are MPDU apartments available (minimum income $22,000/ single and a maximum income $61,000 couple).
Lorraine said she had recently attended the Homeowner’s Association meeting for Charles Walk in response to their request for more information after receiving the
Commission’s follow-up letter. She also mentioned that the North Farm Association has asked to have more information sent to them electronically which she would be working on.
Lorraine, reporting on the Snow Removal Program, said that prior to the big snow storm in December, Mark had received fourteen requests for assistance from seniors and that he had been able to match them up with volunteers. The day before the storm, he had received fourteen more requests for assistance noting that he had to refer them to a contractor due to the short notice. Since that event, he had managed to line up a few more volunteers and should be prepared for the next storm. In closing, Lorraine said his next program with be held February 9th on Cleaning Up the Clutter. Lorraine commented on the ‘Show Stoppers’ (formerly the New Attitudes) program at the Strathmore Hall’s Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration on January 18th as she said the ladies received a standing ovation for their performance following their Michael Jackson’s Thriller routine.
In closing, Lorraine said Support Services has begun the pilot program for private home shopping starting with residents of Twinbrook, Maryvale and Lincoln Park.
With no further business to discuss the meeting was adjourned at 12:00 p.m. |
