Senior Advisory Board Meeting
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 Hopewell Valley Senior Center

Attending: Larry Mansier, Anne Bolick, Joel May, Nils Stout Virginia Silliphant, Jean Harrington, Severino DiCocco
Excused: William Farmer
Senior Coordinator: Abigail Waugh
Hopewell Twp. Mayor: Vanessa Sandom
Pennington Councilman: Weed Tucker
Citizens: Kim Johnson, Frank Davis

Chairman Mansier brought the Meeting to order at 2:05. Notice was made of meeting the Open Public Meetings Act requirements. He asked for a volunteer to assume the duties of Secretary, the office previously held by Bob Riley. Joel May indicated a willingness to undertake the task.

The September minutes were not ready for presentation and will be reviewed at a subsequent meeting

Senior Services Coordinator’s Report:

The presentation by FourSquare Research, Inc. , “Opportunities for a New Hopewell Valley Senior Center,” originally made at the Hopewell Township Municipal Building on October 14^th, will be broadcast on cable channel 95 for the next three weeks on Tuesday and Thursday at 10am and 5pm, Saturday at 10am and Sunday at 5pm. It’s also available on the Web at http://hopewell.peg.tv

Recent Programs: Engaged Retirement, Caregiver Support and Coffee Connections were well received by participants, but attendance was low. Medicare and Preventive Medicine was canceled for the second time due to low enrollment, and Checkers, Chess and Scrabble drew only one attendee, make play difficult. It will be scheduled in the morning beginning in November to attempt to attract more attendees.

The WISE Program had 15 participants, Memory and the Brain had 12. Bingo, Mahjongg, Artists Choice, Let’s Chat and HV Seniors Connect continue to be popular programs.

Chairman’s Report:

Chairman Mansier began his report with a round of introductions for the benefit of the members of the public attending the meeting.

"Explorations": Forty-one people have registered for one or more of the four courses being offered in the Fall Semester (Medical Ethics, Enjoying Shakespeare, Myths, Lies and Legend in American History, and Genealogy), making this initial effort a great success. Joel May reported an income of $1,190 in tuition payments.

Old Business: A question was raised regarding the appointment of a representative to the Advisory Board from Pennington Borough to replace Bob Riley. Mr. Tucker indicated that the process was continuing.

New Business:

Joel May reported that the Hopewell Valley Senior Foundation had received a grant from the Church and Dwight Employee Giving Fund in the amount of $4,000 for the purpose of up-grading the restroom at the Senior Center. This, along with the $2,150 previously contributed by anonymous donors and the funds remaining with Pennington Borough, provides sufficient funds to undertake the task. Based on the information in the next minute, a decision to approach the Borough was postponed until a future date.

Mayor Sandom pointed out the existence of a vacant building on the Capital Health System property which could be shared with the teen’s organization (seniors during the day and teens in the late afternoon and evening). The building is larger than the current Senior Center and has a handicapped accessible bathroom. It has been vacant for some time. The Board acknowledged that (a) the new YMCA/Senior Center campus is still approximately 5 years in the future, but that (b) if we were to relocate the Senior Center to this building, we would have no home during the construction process. Nils Stout and a committee will visit the building on October 22 and report back to the Board as to its suitability as a replacement for the current Senior Center. (See addendum below.)

Chairman Mansier polled the group as to their awareness of the activities of the Municipal Alliance, a drug and alcohol prevention and education program involving eight municipalities in Mercer County. He also mentioned that at the next meeting of the Aging Council of Mercer County our “Explorations” programs and Web site will be discussed.

Mayor Sandom announced planning for a meeting during the week of October 26^th to further explore the directions to follow in moving toward a new Senior Center in the context of the recent FourSquare Research, Inc. survey results. She asked for suggestions of names of participants.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:50

Respectfully Submitted:
Joel May, Secretary

Next meeting scheduled for Wednesday, November 18^th, 2009, 2pm at the HV Senior Center.

Addendum:

The day following the meeting reported above, Nils Stout provided the following report on his visit:

Vanessa Sandom, Abigail Waugh, Ann Bolick, Sevy DiCocco, and I, along with a Home Inspector met at this location, 9:30 AM today, for initial inspection of a building used chiefly as a training location for nurses.(Capital Health location) 

I feel that this building has great possibilities as a location for our temporary uses.  There is one large room 16' X 32.5', another 16 X 20.5', one 7' X 15.5', an entrance room, and a 2 piece powder room.  On the other side there was an entrance area, a handicap 2 piece powder room, and 5 smaller rooms approx. 10' X 10' to 10' X 12'. This is a total of approx. 2600 Sq. ft.  The building is one story with a fairly flat ramped access on a beautiful setting with only 7 parking spots (more needed).  The building is in fair condition with some questions about the roof, and whether the heating and air conditioning, electric and sanitation is in workable order.  Heating is hot air along with air conditioning.  The exterior is vinyl siding. Inside needs painting and some ceiling tiles need to be replaced. The building is about 30 years old. It appears the building was last used 3 to 4 years ago.  The home inspection and drawn to scale floor plan would better help us to make an intelligent decision.