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Home My WebLink About2004-02-06 Regular Meeting GRAPEVINE SENIOR CITIZENS ADVISORY BOARD MEETING AGENDA February 6, 2004—2:00 PM SENIOR ACTIVITIES CENTER 421 CHURCH STREET ART ROOM 817-410-8130 1. Call to Order tor 2. Welcome Guests 3. Report — Silver Haired Legislature — Oscar Garcia 4. Consideration of minutes for October 3, 2003 meeting. 5. Citizen Requests 6. Old Business Volunteer Recruitment, Grapevine Sun Column — Edith Pewitt Health Clinic— Pat Frosch, GRACE tie 7. New Business a. Election of new Secretary a. Discussion - future items of interest 8. Adjourn IF YOU PLAN TO ATTEND THIS PUBLIC MEETING AND YOU HAVE A DISABILITY THAT REQUIRES SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS AT THE MEETING, PLEASE CONTACT THE SENIOR ACTIVITIES CENTER AT 817-410-8130, AT LEAST 24 HOURS IN ADVANCE. REASONABLE ACCOMODATIONS WILL BE MADE TO ASSIST YOUR NEEDS. 4111, IN ACCORDANCE WITH TEXAS GOVERNMENT CODE, CHAPTER 551.001 et seq, ACTS OF THE 1993 TEXAS LEGISLATURE, THE BOARD MEETING AGENDA, WAS PREPARED AND POSTED ON THIS, THE 26`h DAY OF JANUARY, 2004, AT 4:00 PM. h SENT R ACTIV S4S CENTER DIRECTOR H:GSCAB agenda0l/26/04 - Linda aregory-040206.doc Page 1 (111V GRAPEVINE SENIOR CITIZENS ADVISORY BOARD Minutes of February 6,2004 Meeting Reported April 2, 2004 Page 1 of 3 The Grapevine Senior Citizens Advisory Board met on February 6, 2004 at the Grapevine Senior (111/ Activities Center. The following members were present: Dr. Edith Pewitt—Chairperson Dorothy Kritz—Ex-officio, Grapevine Senior Activities Center Doris Waite—Ex-officio, Grapevine Housing Authority cirPat Frosh,Ex-officio, GRACE R. Bruce Walters Tena Burrell Martie Chaplin Others present: Linda Gregory—SAC director Ted Ware—City Council Member Liaison Oscar Garcia—Silver-Haired Legislature Edith Pewitt discussed Miriam Bahner's resignation and situations leading up to it. Linda Gregory said that Miriam plans to let her know where she will be living as soon as she moves in. (IF The minutes of the previous meeting on October 3, 2003 were considered and approved. Report—Silver-Haired Legislature -Oscar Garcia Oscar Garcia,Chair, Insurance Committee of Silver-Haired Legislature, gave Board an overview report of what happened in recent Texas Legislative sessions including: • Texas Depai talent of Aging has been folded into one of the four new Mega Agencies known as the Department of Aging& Disability Services (DofADS). • Governor has appointed a Transition team for DofADS and Chris Kyker, Speaker of Texas Silver-Haired Legislature as member of team. • Silver-Haired Legislature is still actively expressing concerns over this change especially considering that of the 12,000 employees in the DofADS only 26 are from the original Department of Aging where 10,999 are from mental health and mental retardation agencies. • Of the 40 direct resolutions and 17 support resolutions Silver-Head Legislature approved and submitted to State Legislature, 35 bills were passed and 16 signed by Governor. • Oscar explained current status of Texas cities that have frozen taxes on disabled and seniors and presented a spreadsheet of Average Tax Bill for City of Grapevine, Grapevine (hwColleyville ISD and Tarrant County for those citizens 65 or older who have homesteads. (copy attached) Ted Ware commented that the City of Grapevine rate appears to be overstated and that it is about$0.37 versus $0.97/$100. Oscar mentioned he had a state source for the information. Oscar also relayed that Grapevine has 99 homestead exemptions on about$54.7 million in property. tor Linda Gregory-040206.doc Page 2 GRAPEVINE SENIOR CITIZENS ADVISORY BOARD Minutes of February 6,2004 Meeting Reported April 2,2004 Page 2 of 3 • Some good news stories were about legislation that passed included such things as tort reform for frivolous lawsuits,high cost of home owners' insurance, and auto insurance issues. Also,Oscar sponsored a bill that now will allow Volunteers under the Legal Guardians Program to admit people for psychological evaluations to determine if care is needed. Other issues Silver-Haired Legislators are involved in are: • The State Legislature does not record each individual's vote on bills considered on the floor. • It is all done by voice. They are trying to have this changed. • Considering proposing forming"Friends of Silver Haired Legislature"run through their existing Foundation to solicit contributions to defray costs of Silver-Haired Legislature expenses, e.g. travel expenses of Silver-Haired Legislators to attend centrally located meetings to conduct business. They will also eventually need an Austin office to increase effectiveness. Questions raised and addressed by Oscar included: • Edith asked when there are scheduled meetings relating to these issues. There was one in Arlington last week for transition of Aging Department. There is a hearing on Medicaid (myrecovery on February 19 and 20. Since Oscar cannot be there,Jim Cowgill will represent the Silver-Haired Legislature. There is also a public meeting at the University of North Texas' Science Center but he will have to email that information to us. • Tena Burrell's question whether legislation was passed to guard against fraud towards seniors. She relayed story about Keller senior approached by people to change all her legal documents for very high price when they were not even attorneys. Tena then asked if it would be appropriate for her to bring a supply of brochures put out by the Texas Bar Association and Texas Young Lawyers Association on avoiding such situations. Attorney Wayne Paul Franks has the brochure and she will bring some in for Linda Gregory to review. • • Bruce Walters asked what the appropriate process was to propose a resolution to Legislature to consider outlawing TV advertising of prescription drugs similar to what have been done for the tobacco industry. Oscar gave his business card to Bruce and said they should keep in touch to work on this issue. Old Business Volunteer Recruitment,Grapevine Sun Column—Edith Pewitt Edith Pewitt said that Les Cockrell of the Grapevine Sun is willing to help in any way to ask for (isv volunteers needed in the paper. But Edith, after learning of how volunteers are involved throughout Grapevine, will end her work on this issue. Health Clinic—Pat Frosh,GRACE Pat reported that as of their 5th month of operation they have helped 100 people,many of whom Linda Gregory-040206.doc Page 3 GRAPEVINE SENIOR CITIZENS ADVISORY BOARD Minutes of February 6,2004 Meeting Reported April 2,2004 Page 3 of 3 have been back again. She relayed many details which touched on the generosity of volunteer doctors,nurses,and other staff members needed to keep clinic running. Cay (Services have included such things as diabetes education, lab work,oral surgery, cancer treatment, dispensing doctors drug samples to those in need and more). They have been fortunate to have on average 2 doctors and 4 nurses volunteer for Clinic hours. Pat asked us to continue helping her learn of more health care professionals willing to consider volunteering and she will approach them Pat addressed question as to how people learn about the services. They are learning about it through GRACE or word of mouth. Eligible citizens must be residents of Grapevine, Southlake or Colleyville,within 200%of poverty status and not have Medicaid or Medicare insurance coverage. New Business Election of new Secretary (1119 Linda Gregory reported to Edith and the Board that Martie Chaplin offered to run for Secretary. The motion was made by Tena to elect Martie and seconded by Edith. The Board elected Martie Chaplin as Secretary. Linda Gregory will pass on Secretary's records from Miriam. Discussion—future items of interest Bruce Walters' term is about to expire and he asked about how an existing Board member would need to reapply. Linda said a notice will go out to him about his term ending and the application process is the same as it was in the beginning. Dorothy Kritz relayed that Sue Franks suggested that everyone should always look around them to avoid a mishap like the death of the retired teacher in Denton. Especially when we are alone. One suggestion as grocery store is to always have someone walk you to car even with only one bag. The next meeting will be on Friday,April 2, 2004. Even though New Vintage Wine Festival is that weekend,there will not be any conflict with Board's business. Meeting adjourned, Respectfully submitted, • Martie Chaplin Average Tax Bill for City of Grapevine, Grapevine Colleyville I.S.D. and Tarrant County 1998 2003 Average Average Average Average Appraised Taxable Appraised Taxable Value Value Tax Rate Tax Due Value Value Tax Rate Tax Due % Increase Tarrant County $82,204 $32,204 0.498906 $160.67 $120,630 $70,630 0.507897 $358.73 123.27% (Includes County Hospital District) City of Grapevine $40,903 $903 0.98 $8.85 $57,995 $17,996 0.97 $174.56 1872.58% Tarrant County College $82,204 $32,204 0.10641 $34.27 $120,630 $70,630 0.13938 $98.44 187.27% Grapevine Colleyville I.S.D. $161,203 $106,603 1.53779 $1,639.33 $224,660 $170,060 1.70105 $2,892.81 76.46% Total Tax Per$100 $3.1231 $3.3183 Total Tax Bill $1,843.12 $3,524.54 Average Tax Bill Increase 91.23% r r r r r r C Senior Movers FY-03/04 TOWS:::>::<:::::::::»_>;:> >::::::».....<:::::>k" t:::lpeg`::> 0,Rf f 0.4#:: t :.::::.. .::::.; .: ;, ::::::.Y,. kt >::::> __:;:.. ' ,::.;.:..; Number of Riders 32 23 23 40 25 30 17 23 22 10 1 — 245 Volunteers Used 21 15 10 25 12 14 12 18 19 6 Mi 152 Local Trips 10 16 10 17 15 19 7 18 12 3 127 Out of Town Trips 23 8 131 23 10 11 10 5 10 7 ini 120 Volunteers Recruited 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 Users Signed Up 0 3 2 2 6 4 3 0 0 1 21 Staff Trips 11 8 13 15 13 16 5 5 3 4 61 Requested but denied 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 1 1 3 9 Requested but cancelled 5 Total for the Month 98 73 72 125 82 94 54 70 67 39 0 0 " 774 i