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BODFeb2022 Beverly Council on Aging Directors Meeting Date: February 1, 2022 Place: Beverly Council on Aging, 90 Colon Street, Beverly,MA 01915 Members Present: Susan Feeney, Bob Hobbs, Blair Smith, Stephanie Tallo, Jessica Wistran, Barrence Whitfield Staff Present: MaryAnn Holak Invited Guest Present: Mayor Michael Cahill Meeting called to order: 2:35 pm Secretary's Report: The minutes for the December 7, 2021 meeting were reviewed. Bob Hobbs moved to accept the minutes with one correction to the spelling of Board member, Barrence Whitfield's last name. It is Barrence not Barrens as written in the Dec. 7, 2021 minutes. Susan Feeney seconded. All were in favor. Unfinished Business: Chairperson Smith welcomed invited guest, Mayor Michael Cahill and introductions were made. Mayor Cahill and the Board discussed their correspondence of September 15, 2021 regarding potential uses of ARPA funds to support the needs of older adults living in Beverly. 1. Covid Update—Mayor Cahill gave an update on the weekly COVID testing offered in December at the Senior Center and from January—February 2, 2022 at the Beverly High School. He explained that FEMA resources, Care Acts funds and now ARPA funds have been used to provide testing and that each test costs $75. 2. Business Relief Plan—the city is currently working to roll out a business relief plan for performance venues, retail and dining sectors and non-profit sectors. The Board recommends that access to food programs be supported as part of this plan. 3. Board of Health use of Senior Center program space - The Mayor is working on a plan to return the activity space to the senior center for programming in the next few months. He plans to move some of the BOH staff off-site. Board member Susan Feeney expressed her concerns that the BOH is over-crowded with files, and records and that these all should be removed. Mayor Cahill also shared that the city has hired a project manager to direct the retrofit of the former police station into an office complex for inspectional services, BOH and other departments at City Hall that have outgrown their work space. Ms. Holak shared that there were architectural drawings from 2004 to add an additional story onto the senior Center building. All agreed that the size of the parking lot might not support such an addition. Mayor Cahill also hopes that when the Briscoe Village for Living and the Arts opens we might have Senior Center programs and services on site there. 4. Housing Specialist—The Board and staff have expressed the need for more staff support to help older adults with their housing needs. Including downsizing, home improvements, repairs, property tax abatements and the like. Ms. Holak reported that in the first 6 months of FY'22 the outreach and social work team opened 51 housing cases resulting in 212 interactions with older adults with housing concerns/needs. It was proposed that a Housing specialist could offer housing options and support and also manage a senior home improvement or handyman program as part of the job duties. Mayor Cahill suggest a housing"summit" to bring together all community partners to learn about the emerging needs and existing resources for helping older adults with housing challenges. BHA, Harborlight, Bootstraps, Seniorcare, Inc. among others were mentioned as being stakeholders and important collaborators in assessing the problems and the needs. 5. Senior Center Building needs —Mayor Cahill said that if the building infrastructure needs were eligible to be replaced/repaired with ARPA funds that they could potentially be repaired through that source. He also state that he, the Finance Director, Bruce Doig and Ms. Holak all need to meet to discuss the problems and concerns with building systems etc. to see where funding could come from for improvements. MS. Holak reminded Mayor Cahill that the building will have been operational for 30 years in November 2022. 6. Home improvements for seniors—Mayor Cahill thought that the Grants Director E Catherine Barrett could potentially find a grant and that we could work with the Fire Dept. to make sure that all homes with older adults have working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. 7. Transportation needs—we all agreed that it was time to look at the transportation models in place for older adults to see what improvements could be made or suggested. 8. Elder Affairs Liaison— Srg. Brown is now in charge of the Community impact unit and has always supported this role. 9. Technology needs—it is felt that seniors need both access to technology and someone to teach them how to use technology. 10.Next Steps—the Mayor said he would be willing to meet with the Board again, asked Ms. Holak to reach out to the ARPA funds manager and to send him a memo in regards to some of the other items that were discussed. New policy updates—Member J. Wistran distributed drafts of two new policies for consideration. One policy would add a category of"Emeritus"board member and the other would put in writing the Board's policy on receiving public comment at a Board meeting. Members were asked to review and to be ready for discussion and possible vote at the next meeting. Title VI Policy—The Board voted in favor of the Title VI policy as prepared by former AD Samatha Kossow with the stipulation the Samatha's name be stricken from all the documents and replaced by Ms. Holak's name. Strategic Plan Review—this item was tabled until the next meeting. New Business Ms. Holak updated the Board on the resignation of Assistant Director, Samatha Kossow and the search that is underway to replace her role. We will submit an application for a school year 2022-2023 Fellow from Merrimack College Ms. Holak wrote a grant to the Lahey/Beverly Hospital Community Benefits Program for$5,000 of funding for a collaborative program with the New Entry Sustainable Farm Project based at the Moraine Farm in Beverly. Applicants will be notified in February. I Directors Report In the interest of time, the Board agreed to forgo the Director's Report and to call Ms. Holak with any questions about its content. Committee Reports Ms. Feeney reported that the grant committee (Tallo, Feeney, Holak) met and discussed one application agreed to grant$300 to an individual who had undergone major surgery and was still paying the individual portion of medical costs. Announcements Mr. Hobbs announced that former BevCam Executive Director Walter Kosmowski would like to join the Livin' the Good Life crew and serve as program host from time to time. Next Board Meeting Tuesday, March 1, 2022 2:30pm Respectfully submitted: MaryAnn Holak, Director