Attending: Lawrence Mansier, Thomas DiMuzio, Anne Bolick, William Farmer, Virginia Silliphant, Nils Stout, Severino DiCocco
Excused: Joel May, Jean Harrington
Others Attending: Hopewell Valley Senior Coordinator: Abigail Waugh
Hopewell Township: Kim Johnson, Helen Lee
Pennington Borough: Weed Tucker

Call to Order: Chairman Mansier called the meeting to order at 2:09 PM, noting the passing on March 11, 2010 of Allen Wiseman, an original member of the Senior Advisory Board. Notice was made of meeting the Open Public Meetings Act requirements.

Minutes: The Minutes of the March 17 meeting were corrected on page 2, Explorations as follows:
. . . Ian Burrows is scheduled as a speaker for the fall semester."
Bill Farmer moved and Tom DiMuzio seconded a motion to accept the minutes with correction. The motion was approved.

Senior Services Coordinator's Report: See full page handout (2 sides).

Chairman's Report: Chairman Larry Mansier, Nils Stout, Joel May, Hopewell Valley Township Member Kim Johnson, Virginia Silliphant, Senior Coordinator Abigail Waugh, Pennington Council President Weed Tucker, Pennington Mayor Tony Persichilli met with NJ State Senator Shirley Turner, Mercer County Executive Liz Muoio and Former State Senator Bill Schluter regarding a new Senior Center facility. Senator Turner and former Senator Bill Schluter were very impressed with the presentation showing the tremendous amount of work and time spent in preparation of this goal and offered strong support.

The Hopewell Valley News caption over the photo/article featured "Teens" instead of "Seniors". Letters were sent to the editor, Ruth Luce, asking for a correction. Kim Johnson supported contacting The Hopewell Express for Senior Publications.

The bathroom renovations in the HV Senior Center have passed initial inspections and are therefore complete.

YMCA: Bill Farmer reported that the YMCA has asked for a SAB member to serve on the YMCA board. Since they have no non-voting board members there was discussion relative to conflict-of-interest issues. The consensus was that we want to maintain a good relationship with the YMCA and to be knowledgeable about their new building project since the goal is to share the same property site in the future. Kim Johnson suggested that the SAB might have a community liaison from SAB to the YMCA Board. Larry Mansier suggested that we invite a YMCA Board Member to attend the SAB open public meetings. Abigail will invite them.

Explorations: Two courses, Sign Language and Women Characters in History, were cancelled due to low registrations. A total of 32 participants registered for the 3 other courses. Chairman Mansier announced that a meeting will be held in May (To be announced.) to plan the courses for Fall 2010 Semester.

Old Business: The timing and kind of publicity used to inform the community about Explorations was discussed. Photos that are needed will be made during the current courses to use in publicity for the Fall. Helen Lee suggested that Students in the Artist's Choice Classes design a logo for Explorations.

Chairman Mansier read letters written by NJ State Senator Shirley Turner to Senators Menendez and Lautenberg and Representative Holt expressing strong support for building a Hopewell Valley Senior Center and praising the HVSAB for 5 years of preliminary progress. She requested that they too, give all the support they can from their positions. She cited the need for 20% of Hopewell Valley population and the many advantages to the seniors. Chairman Mansier wrote a letter of thanks to Ms. Turner and asked what we can do to move the process forward.

Mayor Mark Markulec of Hopewell Valley Township, at a February 24 meeting with Chairman Mansier, Bill Farmer, Abigail Waugh and Kim Johnson committed to bringing together the mayors of Hopewell Borough and Pennington Borough to discuss providing municipal funds to match the available Mercer County grant of $1,500,000 and to continue to provide operating expenses for the new Senior Center.

New Business: There will be a Brown Bag Lunch meeting on May 7 at Pennington Presbyterian Church at 12 noon. The program will be the HVSAB power point presentation. Abigail Waugh, Senior Coordinator suggested preparing a photo board of Senior activities for display.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:05 PM.

Next Meeting: Wednesday, May 19, 2010 at 2 PM at the Senior Center.

Respectfully Submitted,
Anne Bolick, Acting Secretary

Attachments: Hopewell Valley Senior Services Coordinator Report, April 21, 2010