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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-02-02 Regular Meeting • GRAPEVINE SENIOR CITIZENS ADVISORY BOARD MEETING AGENDA Tuesday, February 2, 2010— 3:30 PM Grapevine Senior Activities Center 421 Church Street Grapevine, TX 76051 817-410-8130 1. Call to Order 2. Welcome Guests 3. Consideration of minutes for December 1, 2009 meeting 4. Citizen Requests 5. New Business a. Housing Authority update — Joetta King b. GRACE update— (dell Bowker c. Senior Activities Center update 6. 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 ACCOMMODATIONS WILL BE MADE TO ASSIST YOUR NEEDS. 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 29th OF January 2010 AT 5:00 PM. I Kaye ra son, irector Grapevin Senior Activities Center GRAPEVINE SENIOR CITIZENS ADVISORY BOARD Minutes of Tuesday, February 2, 2010 meeting Grapevine Senior Activities Center 421 Church Street Grapevine, TX 76051 817-410-8130 1. Call to Order The Grapevine Senior Citizens Advisory Board met at 3:35 PM on February 2, 2010 at the Grapevine Senior Activities Center. The following members were present Dick Guckel — Chairperson Tena Burrell — Co-Chairperson Pam Price, Secretary Paul Ernst Carey Miller R. Bruce Walters Joetta King — Ex-offico, Housing Authority Dorothy Kritz-Ex-offico, Grapevine Senior Activities Center Francia Arrigan — Ex-offico, GRACE (dell Bowker— Ex-offico, GRACE Others present Kaye Grayson, SAC Director Chris Smith — Recreation Superintendent, Parks & Recreation Roy Stewart— City Council Member Liaison 2. Welcome Guests There were no guests present, but Idell Bowker, Program Assistant, of GRACE introduced Francia Arrigan, newly hired Director of Programs for GRACE. 3. Consideration of minutes for December 1, 2009 meeting The minutes were approved as read. 4. Citizen Requests —A letter dated January 26th from Lorraine Saeger of 506 Landing Court, Grapevine, Texas brought forth a suggestion for consideration by the Board to provide a foot clinic at the SAC for seniors. (Her letter is attached for reference.) Chris Smith, Recreation Superintendent, Parks & Recreation, and Kaye Grayson, Director of the SAC addressed her letter. The Board voiced a concern for liability issues that might arise. This would be a suggestion that would have to be approved after all the concerns were clarified, but the Board did not feel that this was a service that could easily be provided at our SAC as such. No final action was taken. No other local senior centers offer this sort of service. 1/4 • Tena said that she would look into ways to help the Senior Center obtain a foot doctor home health care agency who would go to the senior's home for foot care. This will be followed up on at the next meeting. Dick Guckel showed the members of the Board a Citizens Appearance Form that we were unaware of. This form (see attachment) should be used by citizens who wish to address the Board. Once the form is filled out, it will be presented to the Board, but no direct action will be taken at the time of this presentation. This form would benefit the citizen by allowing his concerns to be voiced, yet would not put the concerns on the current Board meeting agenda. The Board would address the citizen's request at another meeting. This would avoid any interruption in the planned agenda of the day. 5. New Business a. Housing Authority update — Joetta King, Ex-officio There has been a drainage problem at a couple of residential units on Worth Street. Following a heavy rain, the water is directed towards the front entry way of the units causing mud to accumulate on the entry sidewalk. Further work to correct this problem is scheduled to commence this week. To clarify a concern relating to client transfers to vacant units, Joetta read from this excerpt from the Housing Authority's Procedures Policy Manual: "The Authority will maintain a list of families (by number of bedrooms) that need to be transferred. Families in efficiency units may request in writing to transfer to a one bedroom after three years." Once a client is housed in a unit he cannot change units for 3 years except in certain circumstances. This is to ensure that persons on the waiting for units are served appropriately. b. GRACE update— Idell Bowker, Program Assistant and Francia Arrigan, Director of Programs To clarify what she was talking about at the December Board meeting, Tena Burrell gave some insight to what the Senior Service Affiance (SSA) was. She stated that she has been asking for volunteer drivers at the SSA, a Grapevine Chamber networking group meeting, as well as the Women's Division of the Chamber of Commerce, (a group of women who are volunteers and business women). Also the SSA group is working with Gary Fickes office to introduce the "Neighbor helping Neighbor" program into the Grapevine area, taking seniors to doctors, medical and/or hospital visits. Kaye Grayson explained that the Senior Movers program involves volunteers who are willing to drive seniors (55 and over) using their own vehicles and gasoline. They select the days that they are available and can specify if they will drive in and around Grapevine or be willing to drive outside of town to areas within the DFW Metroplex. During the time that a driver is working with Senior Movers, he will be covered under the City's insurance policy. Citizens who need the Senior Movers 2/4 • • must provide a 48-hour notice for service. Other groups such as Tarrant County's Neighbor-Helping-Neighbor program want to duplicate this program. Kaye agreed that she would like to meet with Francia regarding the various services provided at the SAC. [dell stated that home visits with seniors have begun. She mentioned that GRACE will be helping with the February 11th Valentine event sponsored by the SAC at Lonesome Dove Ranch. Francia introduced herself and told of her background working in California with seniors regarding their safety, health, and well-being concerns. She started working at GRACE at the end of January and is very impressed with the program that has been set up. She will continue working toward the goal of providing for seniors as they face many issues during these economic times. Once again she voiced a desire to meet with the various groups who are involved with Grapevine's seniors — the SAC, the SSA among others. Tena asked !dell and Francia what the status of the free medical clinic provided by GRACE is. 'dell stated that GRACE is trying to set up a dental clinic. It would be held at a local dentist office once a month. GRACE would do the screening for this service. She shared with the Board that Metro Arlington currently has a dental clinic established with 40 dentists and 50 doctors providing their services. She suggested that a visit to Metro Arlington could be arranged. c. Senior Activities Center update — Kaye Grayson, Dorothy Kritz The Holiday Dinner Party in December was held at the Hilton DFW Lakes with 105 seniors attending. Everyone had a great time. This was our first time to have the event there. Dorothy and Kaye both commented on how nice the dinner party was. The city of Grapevine supplemented the event and the Hilton DFW Lakes worked with the city to cover the expenses. Bus transportation was provided by the SAC and each person attending paid a cover charge of$5. Door prizes were given out during the event. Registration for the computer classes winter semester that runs through March 41h was held February 1St. There were 82 people who registered for computer classes. The next registration is set for March 8th. Tena asked about the computer classes and Dick, Pam and Joetta provided feedback about the program as instructors and students who have attended the program. AARP Tax-Aide is starting Wednesday, February 3rd and will be offered every Wednesday through April 14th. In 2009 Tax-Aide provided services for 174 seniors. This was the first time that the staff at the center emailed or made telephone calls as appointment reminders and this eliminated a lot of"no-shows" from their clients. Many clients gave monetary donations for the free services rendered; these funds were directed toward FOGSAC which provides many services to the center as well. Dick reported that John Armstrong has joined Paul Ernst, Allen Mossman, and him (raw to provide this service to our seniors. Appointments are required by signing up at the front desk or calling the SAC. 3/4 . . . • (., On January 22nd there was an AARP Defensive Driving with approximately 20 students in attendance. The next class is set for March 11th. Recently the 2-day course has been reduced to a 1-day four hour course. GRACE presented a program on their commodities program on January 26th. ldell Bowker from GRACE presented the information to the seniors and answered questions about the program. The monthly Saturday dance will be held at the SAC this Friday, February 6th from 7-9:30. The cost is $5 per person at the door. The Sundown Band will be performing. The SAC is scheduled for a roof replacement that will start next Monday, February 8th It was set to start on February 1st but because of the weather forecast it was delayed. The project is expected to take up to two weeks. This will not affect normal operations at the SAC as only several parking spots will be blocked off at a time while the work is being done. The Annual Rotary Senior Valentine's Dinner and Dance will be held on February 11th from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m. at Lonesome Dove. We have 113 seniors signed up, and there is a waiting list. There will be free bus transportation to and from Lonesome Dove. Door prizes will be given out at the event. There are approximately 30 volunteers from the Grapevine Rotary who will help with this dinner and dance. CDorothy updated the Board on the changes taking place within the SAC Choir. Bernice Hatcher, who has served as the accompanist for many years, will be retiring from the choir at the age of 99 years. A new pianist has volunteered to accompany the choir. Dorothy is organizing a retirement celebration at the SAC for Bernice on Sunday, February 21st. Chris told the Board about the Texas Round-Up kick off. Board member can go to www.texasroundup.orq for more information. This program runs for a six-week period through April 24th and participates go online to document their own workout and walking hours. Currently there are 170 employees logging minutes online. Kaye and Eileen brought SAC members to the Grapevine statewide kick off held here in Grapevine. At the center, Diane is in charge of the seniors who are participating in the program. 7. Adjourn - The meeting adjourned at 4:30 p.m. Reiectfully submitted,s_ Pam Price, Secretary C / 41 Minutes approved by the Board on wday of /AAA! , 2010. t 4/4