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Home My WebLink About2011-02-15 Regular Meeting GRAPEVINE SENIOR CITIZENS ADVISORY BOARD MEETING AGENDA Tuesday, February 15, 2011 — 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 7, 2010 meeting 4. Citizen Requests 5. New Business a. Carey Miller— liaison to Commissioner Gary Fickes' office b. Housing Authority update —Joetta King c. GRACE update— (dell Bowker and Francia Arrigan d. 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 10TH OF FEBRUARY 2011 AT 4:30 PM. L Le3Lic) Eileen Hinson, Interim Director Grapevine Senior Activities Center LP' GRAPEVINE SENIOR CITIZENS ADVISORY BOARD Minutes of Tuesday, February 15, 2011 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 3:36 PM on February 15, 2011 at the Grapevine Senior Activities Center. The following members were present: Dick Guckel, Chairperson Tena Burrell, Co-Chairperson Pam Price, Secretary Kay Blanding, new member to the board Paul Ernst Carey Miller Francia Arrigan, Ex-offico, GRACE Joetta King, Ex-offico, Housing Authority Dorothy Kritz, Ex-offico, Grapevine Senior Activities Center (IW Others present: Dianne Hall, SAC Representative Roy Stewart, City Council Member Liaison Those not present: (dell Bowker, Ex-officio, GRACE Eileen Hinson, SAC Interim Director Chris Smith, Recreation Superintendent, Parks & Recreation 2. Welcome Guests Rebecca Barksdale, Outreach Coordinator from County Commissioner Gary Fickes' office Consideration of minutes for December 7, 2010 meeting The minutes were approved as read. 3. Citizen Requests There were no requests to be brought before the Board. 4. New Business a. Carey Miller— liaison to Commissioner Gary Fickes' office reported that he and Rebecca Barksdale had a progressive conversation concerning current 1/6 c (or possibilities for Senior Support and ongoing plans for the same in Tarrant County. Rebecca provided an overview of key events that occurred in the 4th quarter of 2010 (Empowering Seniors 2010 with 900 participants) as well as major programs (3rd Annual Senior Empowerment event) slated for 2011. The $80,000 appropriated for increased assistance to Tarrant County Seniors in 2010 was highlighted. Coffee with Commissioner Gary Fickes was held Friday, February 11, from 7:30-9:00 AM at the Northeast Sub-Courthouse in Hurst. At this time Carey had the opportunity to meet Commissioner Fickes along with other Tarrant County community leaders: 1. Carolyn Sims, Precinct 3 Administrator, 2. Duane Buuck, Executive Director of the Mid-Cities Care Corps, 3. David Vanhook, Supervisor of the Tarrant County Juvenile Service, 4. Wes Higdon, Project Coordinator of Six Stones Mission Network, a community revitalization outreach program of the First Baptist Church in Euless. Projects of this network include landscaping and improving homes of those from low income families or those who are dealing with health issues- people who are identified through the local cities. Residents can apply by going to the Six Stones website. Right now they have worked within the Euless city limits but are branching out into our HEB neighborhoods. Usually 15-20 homes are tended to within one weekend. Rebecca stated that"Coffee with the Commissioner" is held every other month on a Friday. Commissioner Fickes' office emails a newsletter as well. The Northeast Tarrant Transportation Summit will be Friday, February 18th from 9:15 AM — 1:30 PM at the Hurst Conference Center, 1600 Campus Drive in Hurst. The keynote speaker will be Mike Berry, President of Hillwood Properties. There will be updates on the DFW Connector, North Tarrant Express, IH-35 and Tower 55, North Tarrant Parkway, Golden Triangle Blvd, and FM 1938 (Davis Blvd.) at the Summit. Registration cost is $25 with a lunch being served as well. Rebecca added on to this report by providing a comprehensive update on current and future activities of Commissioner Fickes' office. Carey's name has been placed on the Commissioner's mailing list. He has been invited to attend Task Force meetings as a Representative of the Grapevine Senior Citizens Committee. b. Housing Authority update—Joetta King Joetta previously sent an email response to the Board regarding questions voiced at the meeting in December. This report has been attached to the minutes of this February 15th meeting. 2/6 The project to trim the trees at the public housing units continues. Joetta stated that currently all units are full, that there are no vacancies at present. Forty replacement storm doors have been ordered for West Worth Street. c. GRACE update— Idell Bowker and Francia Arrigan 1) !dell was unable to come to the February 15th meeting but sent her report. The GRACE Family and Friends program is going very good, we have started matching volunteers with their senior. So far we have matched 8 volunteers with seniors and they have had their initial visits. We will continue to sign up seniors and match them with a volunteer as soon as possible. Currently ldell is in the process of visiting the 92 seniors and updating their files for the new year. 2) Francis updated the Board on the concerns GRACE faced with the inclement weather and the welfare of those residents who rely on GRACE for assistance. GRACE had some emergency policies to consider. Due to the ice, Meals on Wheels was unable to serve some residents on those days. GRACE was closed on Wednesday and Thursday, but opened Friday and Saturday and called to check on seniors who were at home. Several came by GRACE as they were out of food and had not been able to work during the bad weather. In Francia's commodities report she Cr stated that food distribution has been made to 92 seniors. On Saturday, February 5, after the first ice storm, GRACE staff called several seniors to check on their status and asked if they needed food. Food baskets for 2 seniors were delivered as well as servicing 14 seniors who came to the pantry as well. GRACE assisted 30 families as well as the seniors. Continuing on to report about the GRACE Family and Friends program, Francia stated that a total of 10 seniors and volunteers have been matched and are building up relationships. There are now two new seniors and seven new volunteers entering the program getting ready to be matched. Another round of interviews to target 15 seniors—assessing them and matching them with volunteers has begun. These who are being focused on include handicapped and disabled seniors who have special needs. The volunteers' goal is to maintain phone contact once or twice weekly and develop their relationship with their designated seniors. They make one to two weekly visits helping with errands, housekeeping tasks and other needs of the senior. GRACE does background checks on all volunteers and provide training with follow-up checks by the program chair. !dell and Hillary Jordan work on this project. Francia noted that with the cold temperatures, seniors are going to be anticipating high utility bills. GRACE does allocate some funds to help with these needs, but has contacted TXU Energy as well to ask for assistance. 3/6 C Last summer there was a grant, "Light Up Texas" that benefitted seniors with their high air conditioning costs. Along with GRACE, Francia stated that both First United Methodist Church and St. Francis Catholic Church assist with these energy problems. Rebecca Barksdale added that County Commissioner Friske does have ways to contact resources through qualified programs to aid these residents. d. Senior Activities Center update-Dianne Hall and Dorothy Kritz Eileen sent a written report but was unable to attend the Board meeting. Dianne Hall represented the SAC today. The Rotary Club sponsored the Valentine Luncheon and Dance on February 14 and it was very successful. Door prizes and roses were handed out at the luncheon. There were 150 reservations accommodating seniors, SAC staff and Rotarians. Transportation was provided by the SAC to Lonesome Dove Ranch. Dianne personally thanked Rotarian Roy Stewart, City Council Member Liaison who serves on the Board. Dorothy agreed that the luncheon was wonderful. She also noted that attendance at the SAC is increasing. Eileen reported that the AARP Tax Aide program is in full swing. Every Wednesday from 8:30-1:30 nineteen appointments are made available. This service runs from February 2-April 13. Every week tends to be fully scheduled. Due to the inclement weather, those scheduled for Wednesday, February gth were postponed until Friday, February 11tH The SAC will start a Matter of Balance class on March 8th that will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 4 weeks. Each class is 11/2 hours long. This is a very popular class and helps adults reduce their fear of falling through discussions and exercises. Dancing Rivers Nursing Home in Colleyville will open at the end of February. Dianne announced that the SAC had a new copier installed recently. A day trip on Thursday, April 14th to Winstar Casino is being planned for the seniors at SAC. The casino will furnish two buses that can carry 110 seniors; the only obligation the SAC has is to organize the trip. Seniors can still sign up to go. This is the second casino that seniors have had the opportunity to go to and it is a fun outing that is really popular with our seniors. They will depart from the SAC at 7:15 AM and return to Grapevine at 5:00 PM. Anyone may go who is 18 years or older so seniors can bring family and friends. 5. The meeting adjourned at 4:30 PM. Respectfully submitted, 4/6 C d • OrliA.c.0 Pam Price, Secretary ' Minutes approved by the Board on _ day of , 2011. ATTACHMENT: Grapevine Housing Authority Report from Joetta King I am sending this email now regarding your concerns relating to the Grapevine Housing Authority. Let me know if you have other questions. Joetta 1/1/10-12/1/10 • 8 new residents were placed in the residential units owned by the GV Housing Authority • 15 new Section 8 vouchers were processed 98 PUBLIC HOUSING UNITS: Tenants in the residential units have an option of paying rent based on 30% of the household income or paying a flat rate (resident's choice). Income is a consideration in evaluating an application for housing in a unit and must not exceed the income limits designated by HUD. However, once a resident is living in a unit their income may increase, and it remains the resident's choice to pay either a percentage or a flat rate rent. Tenants have not been evicted because of an increase in their income. 0 Bdrm $220 per month, 18 units, 10 or 56% paying flat rent. 1 Bdrm $287 per month, 59 units, 19 or 33% paying flat rent. 2 Bdrm $404 per month, 17 units, 7 or 42% paying flat rent. 3 Bdrm $469 per month, 4 units, 2 or 50% paying flat rent. 85% of the units are rented to elderly/disabled tenants. Most residents are long term as they are generally on a fixed income. However, there are instances where the tenant has finished schooling or employment has improved and they preferred to seek different housing. Do senior citizens receive priority in being accepted for housing? Yes and no. Residents of Grapevine who are elderly, disabled, a veteran or with verifiable self- employment are given preference over nonresidents of Grapevine. However, seniors are not necessarily given preference above a disabled, veteran or employed applicant. How long must a tenant remain in a unit before moving to another unit? The policy is 3 yrs. Depending on extenuating circumstances (childbirth, marriage, etc.), a tenant could be moved to a different unit after 2 years' residency. 5/6 SECTION 8 (Grapevine has 83 Section 8 vouchers to house low-income families in obtaining rental housing in the private marketplace) Supplemental rent paid to the landlord is based on a percentage of the participant's income. If income increases, the percentage of supplemental rent paid to the landlord on behalf of the participant decreases. Sufficiently increased income could remove the participant from the Section 8 subsidy program (1, 6/6