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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996-05-16 Council on Aging SummaryCOUNCIL ON AGING May 16, 1996 10AM A~enda Approval Minutes from Prior Meeting Old Business lo Automatic Opening of Front Doors Soldotna/Kenai Auction 25th Anniversary Celebration New Business lo 2. 3. 4. 5. Election of Officers Budget Issues Increase in Meal Donations Change of Carpet in Dining Room Introduction of Administrative Assistant person Wanting to be Heard *NOTE CHANGE IN DATE THURSDAY, MAY 16TH COUNCIL ON AGING MAY 16, 1996 MINUTES ROLL: Members Present: Members Absent: Others Present: Al Pease, Sam Huddleston, Gene Seay, Betty Nelson, Joanna Hollier, Roger Meeks Georgetta Funk, Lucille Billings, Loretta Breeden Pat Porter, Marilyn Kebschull AGENDA APPROVAL: Chairman Huddleston asked for additions or corrections to the agenda. noted. AGENDA APPROVED. None MINUTES FROM PRIOR MEETING: Chairman Huddleston asked if anything needed to be discussed from the prior meeting. Nothing noted. MINUTES APPROVED BY UNANIMOUS CONSENT. OLD BUSINESS: 1. Automatic Opening of Front Doors--Porter stated that the board had asked City Council to look into the doors and that originally they had been in the budget. However, they have been pulled out of the budget. Porter stated that the way the doors were going to be designed would have had all four doors opening at the same time. Porter stated that Council had asked how much of a problem it was now. Porter stated she didn't feel it was a big problem because she had never had anyone complain. However, when it is 1 0 below and all four doors are opening, they don't open fast, and won't close fast. Porter stated she had felt it would be a major exposure to anyone in that area. Porter reiterated the doors had been taken out of the budget. Meeks stated that generally speaking if someone is in a wheel chair they have someone with them and they can manage with the doors. If there is not anyone with them, it doesn't take very long for someone to get there to assist them. Meeks stated he agreed with Hollier that if both the doors open at the same time in below zero weather it will put a lot of cold air on the person at the front counter. Huddleston added that he thought if there was a larger room and the doors didn't open at the same time, you wouldn't have a draft through the area. Porter commented that the building was constructed prior to ADA requirements but noted that the building fits all the ADA requirements with the exception of the front door. Porter added that it is her understanding that because the building was built prior to those requirements, the city will not have to fix it. Pease stated that if that was the only system they could obtain that he would move to get rid of the doors. Porter stated a motion was not necessary as the doors had been taken out of the budget. 2:. $oldotna/Kenai Auction--Huddleston reported that there had been several meetings to date working on planning for the auction. Porter stated that she felt they needed to have more of a commitment from the Kenai seniors to work on the auction. Porter noted that Sylvia Johnson had attended a couple meetings. Johnson stated she is on the committee. Huddleston asked Johnson to report on the auction status. Johnson stated that Lois (of the Soldotna Center) and several people including Jenny, the Kenai Activities Director, are working on certain things. Johnson stated that as they get closer to the auction, they will need personnel to help with selecting finger foods and wine. Johnson stated it will be an auction of big ticket items which will be donated to raise money for both centers. Johnson stated it is her understanding that the funds will be divided equally between the two centers. Johnson stated they have chosen August 16th for the auCtion. People will be needed with the food and serving adding that there probably won't be too much help needed before the auction. Johnson stated they will need as many volunteers as possible to help out with the evening. There will be entertainment. Johnson commented that she thought it was being patterned after the auctions that the Boys and Girls Club have had. Huddleston stated that letters are going out asking for donations and items to auction, etc. Porter asked if people were going to be needed to solicit donations and to sell tickets. Porter added this auction was for people in the general public who would be willing to bid on items. Porter commented that Chugiak Senior Center does this very successfully and they make approximately $20,000 a year. Porter stated the biggest thing is to get the auction items and to sell tickets. Without those two things, the auction will not Council on Aging Minutes Page 2 May 16, 1996 be successful. Porter stated she felt they need to think about how they can help to do these two things. Hollier asked what the ticket sales were for and Porter advised for admission. Johnson added that the tickets will include food and entertainment. Porter stated people who attend bid on items. Hollier stated the Pioneers have been having a spring fling that is kind of like this and people are really supporting the event. Hollier stated that what they do is they send five tickets to everybody who belongs and they can either buy them and give them to someone or keep them. Hollier noted the tickets are $25 for five tickets. Hollier stated that everybody is expected to either buy five tickets or they can sell the tickets. Huddleston stated the ticket price for the auction has been set at $25 each. Porter questioned if this was for each ticket. Huddleston stated it had seemed high to him but that was the decision. Hollier stated if they sent her four, she would give them $100 adding that she didn't realize the tickets would be that expensive. Hollier commented that she didn't know if they could sell many tickets at that price. Porter stated maybe the board needs to go back and say that $25 is too high and state a price that the board feels comfortable with. Porter stated the tickets would include nice hors 'doeuvres. Johnson stated it would include finger foods adding that Lois has all of the information and they are just going along with it. pOrter stated she could see she would need to attend the next meeting. Huddleston stated there would be wine on the table. Porter asked if that was worth $25. Huddleston stated that most of this was Lois' idea adding that she had came from Anchorage where there are more businesses to support something like this. Porter asked the group what they felt was comfortable to ask for a ticket. Huddleston stated that $10 would be okay. Meeks stated the secret is to get a crowd to the auction and if you charge too much you won't get a crowd. Johnson stated she thought they were thinking that they would have the support of the general public because they know the good these two centers are doing for seniors in the community. Johnson stated it was her understanding that they would get all the people from the Chamber of Commerce and various business managers, etc. to buy tickets. Porter commented that she personally feels $25 is too much. Johnson commented that she felt the price was already set. Porter stated it should not have been and they should have been a part of the decision making. Huddleston stated it was discussed and there were objections but it still went through. Porter added that it is not too late to change it. Porter suggested that they have some vocal people attend the next meeting. Huddleston stated it should be in Kenai. Porter stated it is in Kenai and it is June 7th, Meeks stated he had attended one meeting and it seemed like they had decided everything before they got there. Porter Council on Aging Minutes Page 3 May 16, 1996 commented that the group needs to be involved, more than Sylvia, Sam, and Roger. Porter stated they need to take an active part in this or pull out of the auction. Johnson added that Jenny has been trying to do the best she can but she has been steam rolled. Hollier asked what she has done? Johnson stated she has tried to make suggestions and offered to do some things. Johnson added that it seemed like they are there to hear what already has been planned. Porter reiterated that if they don't want to do this, it is not too late to pull out. Porter added that perhaps they need to go to the June 7th meeting in mass as a board and express how they feel. If they can't come to an agreement or a compromise, then just back out. Porter asked if they could make a commitment to be at the meeting June 7th, Johnson and Hollier stated they will not be in town. Huddleston and Meeks agreed to attend. Johnson commented they need to get the Kenai center people involved if they are going to proceed because evidently Lois has good support from the Soldotna Center. Hollier commented that the $25 tickets scare her. Nelson suggested supporting Soldotna and then have them support Kenai with a similar activity. Porter stated that originally they had decided to proceed together because it was decided it would be a united effort. Meeks stated if they can sit down with five people from each center and vote that is fine. Meeks added that when they make all the decisions, it is not democratic. Porter stated she will remind them about the meeting and will attend the meeting. 3. 25~ Anniversary Celebration -- Huddleston explained this was for 25 years for the Senior Center in Kenai. Porter explained this would be at the end of September and they have blocked off a Saturday for a community barbecue and celebration. Porter advised they would be hearing more about the celebration. Note: At this point group went back to the topic of the auction. Discussion included their feelings regarding planning and that they needed to attend the next meeting and then decide what to do. Johnson asked to address the 25th Anniversary Celebration. Johnson stated that at one time Porter had asked her and Betty Warren to come up with ideas. Johnson stated that Betty does not want to be involved. Johnson stated the big day is planned for September. Johnson added that Betty had not put things together in one day when the center was started in 1 971. Johnson stated there are three people including Betty who were the original seniors noting there were 1 7 charter members. Those are Louise Rhodes and Louisa Miller. Johnson stated that Louisa lives in Spokane and she had written to her but had not heard back. Council on Aging Minutes Page 4 May 16, 1996 Johnson stated she would like to see through the summer, as tourists come in, some memorabilia be posted on the bulletin boards or even a sign noting the celebration. Porter stated she felt the sign was a good idea. Porter stated it would have to be taken down all the time because the center is booked through the summer. Meeks commented on discussions he has had about feelings that this center gets so much. Meeks stated there are a couple reasons, the first being that the city is incorporated. Meeks added that the city is behind the center. Meeks added that secondly, the center has been operating for 25 years. Porter commented that she thinks one of the things that are so important is that the people support the center. Porter stated for example the $5 club has at least almost 70 members every month in comparison with Soldotna's 10 or 12 members. Meeks reiterated his feeling that the fact that the city is incorporated allows the center to get more and that the center has been at it awhile. Johnson stated that this is the only center on the Kenai Peninsula that the city owns. Porter stated since Betty Warren had resigned from the committee, they could get a couple more people to work. Johnson stated that Warren had said she didn't want to come in to the center adding that she had so many memories. Porter asked Huddleston to appoint a couple more people to help with the planning. Hollier suggested Francis Meeks may want to help. Meeks stated they would have to ask as he couldn't speak for her. Hollier stated Johnson should call Francis to see if she would participate. Hollier stated she would help adding that she is in and out and will be gone the month of June. Johnson stated she will be gone for ten days in June. Johnson stated perhaps they could get together before she leaves and plan something for at least one day a month. Porter suggested taking one day a month and plan something around lunch time. Johnson stated they have scrap books and photographs and Porter has copies of all the old newsletters. Porter suggested that perhaps Betty Nelson should help since she is new. Huddleston appointed Nelson to the committee. NEW BUSINESS: 1. Election of Officers--Huddleston advised he had informed Porter that he would like to release his position. Hollier asked Seay if he would like to be president. Seay stated he was going to recommend they retain the officers since they were doing such a good job. Huddleston advised he Council on Aging Page 5 Minutes May 16, 1996 had already said he wouldn't. Seay asked about Meeks. Meeks asked how often they meet. Porter stated usually every other month. Huddleston stated it didn't necessarily have to be a certain date. Meeks stated he would agree for a year and then would reconsider. UNANIMOUS DECISION TO HAVE ROGER MEEKS AS PRESIDENT. Porter advised they need a vice-president. Hollier stated she held the position last year but she is gone so much. Seay stated he has the same problem noting his appreciation for the center but he has so many other obligations. Huddleston asked for a' volunteer. Al Pease volunteered to serve as vice-president and was accepted. 2. Budget Issues--Porter advised she wanted to inform the group of what is happening. Porter advised they have applied for $11 8,000 from the state and the federal government. That money is normally the biggest bulk of funding which is used to fund the meals program. Porter stated she will not know the status until around the week of the 20th of June. That is when the board will meet to make recommendations as to what all the centers in the state should be funded. Porter advised that is a $6,000 decrease from last year's funding. Porter stated that they knew that was happening and had been told they could only apply for $11 8,000. Porter commented that she didn't think that was in jeopardy but didn't know. Porter added that she didn't know how many other centers had applied for money. Porter explained that money is normally divided into a pie and each region gets so much. Porter noted that if another center came on line, for instance Sterling, and the state decided to fund them, they would have to take moneys away from their existing programs. Porter stated that has not been their intent to do that in the past because they don't want to make a bunch of weak programs. Porter commented that you don't know politically what will happen and reiterated they will not know until June 20th, Porter stated she had spoken with someone from United Way that the center will be receiving almost $1 0,000 more than what was received last year. Last year the center was awarded approximately $11,000 and this year will be awarded $22,000. Porter stated that the center was the third highest agency that received designated dollars receiving even more that the Salvation Army. Porter explained that money that is given to United Way can either be given without instruction as to use or you can designate where you want your money to go. Porter commented she feels this is a reflection of how the center is perceived in the community as to doing a good job. Continuing, Porter advised that Al Pease and Sylvia Johnson served on the United Way committee. Porter stated she Council on Aging Minutes Page 6 May 16, 1996 had made her presentation in front of a committee that Pease was a part of. Porter asked Pease if he had any feedback. Pease commented that most of the people appeared to just be asking for handouts and most of the presentations did not show much and didn't appear to have been well prepared. Porter asked if her presentation was okay. Pease advised it was good and made the others look bad. Porter reiterated they are proud of the amount of money they are receiving. Porter noted that unfortunately this looks bad to others sometimes. Pease explained that the same funding formula is used for everyone and Kenai's reflects the amount of people they serve. Porter added that it appears that they may get more money from the borough. Porter stated it will stay at least the same which is $50,000. Porter added they will get that information on June 4th, Porter told the group that anyone who would like to review the grant that was sent to the federal government, it is available in her office. m Increase in Meal Donations--Huddleston asked if they wanted to increase the meal donation? Porter stated that she thought it should be addressed noting that meals are $3.00 in almost every other center. Porter advised that she and Pease came in the office before the meeting and they got statistics together. Porter stated that depending on how the program income is and whether or not they are where they should be with their donations--Al interjected that the way they have been going this year, by the 1st of July they should be on schedule with what they figured the cost should be. Pease advised that the cost and the income are running at 87% of what was projected. Thus, if the income and expenses continue as projected, they should be right on the money. PEASE MOVED TO INCREASE THE COST TO $3 BUT THAT IT BE HELD IN ABEYANCE UNTIL AFTER JULY TO SEE IF IT IS NEEDED. AT THAT TIME IF A NEED IS SHOWN, IT CAN BE PUT INTO EFFECT. Huddleston asked why they didn't table it to the next meeting. Pease stated that if they put it in as a contingency, they wouldn't have to get everyone back together again for a special meeting to vote on it. Pease noted they can go with the $3 if they need it after July. Seay noted he has supported every increase they have had so far but stated that if they don't have to increase it, he would like to leave it the way it is. Seay added that somewhere they have to stop raising prices. Seay noted that people can go to McDonalds and eat cheaper. Seay stated he is not saying that he wouldn't support it but he'd have to feel it must absolutely Council on Aging Minutes Page 7 May 16, 1996 be raised. Pease stated that is basically what he had said. Porter stated she felt Al was alluding to the fact that if they don't get the money from the federal government for the food program, then there may be a need to raise it. But, if the $118,000 is received, it appears as if the history of getting contributions for meals is right on target. Porter added that it will probably repeat the same thing next thing. Porter stated they might be very safe in continuing to keep the meal contributions at $2.50. Meeks stated since they will know by next meeting, wouldn't it be better to wait until next meeting. Porter stated they could have a meeting at the end of June once they know how much money will be received from all agencies and then they would know if they would need to do that. Porter stated that could be the only thing on the agenda or perhaps they could discuss the auction issue. 4. Change of Carpet in Dining Room--Porter asked if anyone remembered when the addition was built and that the contractor had put the wrong pad underneath the carpet. The city made the contractor buy new carpet and pad and it has been in a warm storage building all the time. Porter advised that because of the rippling that is going on and is caused by the pad underneath, they have decided to replace the carpet. Huddleston asked if they had the replacement carpet and Porter advised yes. Meeks asked if the contractor had to replace it. Porter advised that they didn't and the city had to pay for the installation. Porter stated that they have decided to use a different type pad that is supposed to be even better. Porter advised it will cost $7,000. Porter stated she had agreed that the center would pay $3,500, half of it. Porter stated this money will come from roll over money when excess donations have been received and it is in the unencumbered balance. Meeks stated he felt the contractor should have had to pay it because it was their mistake. AL PEASE MOVED TO TAKE THE $3,500 OUT OF THE UNENCUMBERED BALANCE. SECONDED BY JOANNA HOLLIER. UNANIMOUS. 5. Introduction of Administrative Assistant--Porter introduced Kellie Steiner- Kelso to the board. Porter explained that she and Mary Ellen had interviewed five applicants and felt that Kellie would fit in better than the other applicants. Meeks advised that Kellie's dad was here to oversee the construction of the liquefied gas plant adding that Porter's husband and Kellie's father had worked together years ago. Meeks advised he is retired now. Porter stated she wanted to explain why she had hired her noting it was difficult because she had a problem with the fact that her dad came to Council on Aging Minutes Page 8 May 16, 1996 the center occasionally. Hollier commented that she thought he might be a good person to have on the 25th Anniversary Celebration committee. Porter continued stating she is hesitant to hire someone who has a relative who visits the center. Porter stated Kellie was hired because they felt she was the best applicant out of the five noting she has a wonderful personality and her body language was absolutely terrific. Porter stated she had asked Kellie (noting her reaction was marvelous) if Jack and Peter are playing pool and get into a disagreement and Jack comes to you and says that Peter has been cheating, how would you handle the situation. Porter stated Kellie walked over and said, "You're kidding, this really goes on here." Porter stated she then added she would handle it like she would with children. Porter noted that Kellie has a degree in elementary education. Porter stated she felt that if should could deal with kids at that age level, she should be able to handle working in a stressful situation. Porter noted that Kellie had said she would just listen to them. Porter continued noting Kellie had written the most beautiful introductory letter stating, "1 was so excited to see your advertisement in the paper." Porter stated she comes with great credentials and has lived a lot of places. They have been in Australia the last four years. She has been an elementary school teacher. She came from a job where she was in administration in a university and part of her responsibility was to supervise other people. Porter noted that when she is not here, that Kellie will most likely fill that role very well. PERSON WANTING TO BE HEARD' ADJOURMENT' Meeting adjourned at approximately 1 1'1 5 a.m. Resl~ctf~ly Submitted: Marilyn Kebschull Administrative Assistant Council on Aging Minutes Page 9 May 16, 1996