Senior Advisory Board Meeting

Wednesday, June 16, 2010 - Hopewell Valley Senior Center

Attending: Lawrence Mansier, William Farmer, Virginia Silliphant, Anne Bolick, Severino DiCocco, Jean Harrington, Joel May
Excused: Nils Stout, Tom DiMuzio
Others Attending:
     Hopewell Valley Senior Coordinator: Abigail Waugh
     Hopewell Township: Kim Johnson

Call to Order: Chairman Mansier called the meeting to order at 2:04 PM. Notice was made of meeting the Open Public Meetings Act requirements.

Minutes: The Minutes of the May 19th meeting were amended to add the name of Anne Bolick to the list of Advisory Board members who attended the May 7th Brown Bag Meeting at Pennington Presbyterian Church. With this change, the Minutes of May 19th were approved.

Senior Services Coordinator's Report:

Administration: The Coordinator participated in a panel on "Intergenerational Shared Sites" at the NJ Foundation on Aging Conference. The Advisory Board discussed the importance of intergenerational activities, noting some examples in nearby communities. Ms. Waugh noted that there is a short video on the subject which will be viewed by the Board members at the next meeting.

Events and Programs: The quarterly Birthday Breakfast was held at the Hopewell Valley Golf Club on May 21st. Seventy-five people were in attendance. The Artists' Choice group will meet twice outside at the Mercer Educational Garden in June. The Let's Chat group is working on a booklet on aging that includes personal essays on what keeps people vital.

Finance: Ms. Waugh is working on a temporary budget until Hopewell Township passes its 2010 budget. Also, we are still waiting for the three municipalities to sign a shared services agreement for the Senior Services operating budget.

Social Services: Brochures were sent to the Mercer County Hispanic Association for their senior citizen fair. A number of people have been signed up for the Farmers' Market Voucher Program.

Transportation: Funding options for the 2011 Hopewell Valley Rides program are being explored. Consideration is being given to an expansion of that program to include young people with disabilities and vans able to lift power chairs.

Volunteers: Bear Tavern hosted an end-of-the-year volunteer party.

Chairman's Report:

Transportation Meeting: A roundtable discussion was held on Thursday, June 10th to discuss the public transportation needs in Hopewell Valley. The meeting was spurred by a sense from the township and the Hopewell Regional School District that public transportation is too limited in Hopewell Valley, especially for young people with disabilities and senior citizens, but for the business community as well. Several creative ideas to make public transportation options more widely available were advanced:

  • Seek an expansion of NJ Transit bus service. There are currently just three routes that serve the southern portion of the township and Pennington.
  • Create a public-private transportation partnership with local businesses that could provide a small bus to service the area.
  • Look in to the feasibility of using school buses during their downtime outside school opening and closing hours to serve the general public.
Martin Denero, TRADE director, pointed out that Hopewell Valley could qualify to receive a rural transit grant for as much as $90,000 in federal, state and county money. A follow-up meeting is planned for August or September.

Mayors/New Directions: Since the meeting of the mayors of the three municipalities to discuss providing matching funds to the available Mercer County grant for a new Senior Center, originally discussed on February 24th, has not yet taken place and the plans by the YMCA to purchase the land have a deadline date at least 15 months in the future, Chairman Mansier opened discussion on alternative approaches for moving forward with regard to the new Senior Center. Four viable options were mentioned:

  • Do nothing and wait for the YMCA option to materialize
  • Explore the possibility of locating on the Pennytown property
  • Expand the current senior center space temporarily with the use of modular and portable classrooms while waiting for the YMCA option to materialize
  • Explore the feasibility of building the new senior center on the current 3 acre property
A lengthy and spirited discussion followed, focusing primarily on the latter two options. Questions arose with respect the cost of the modular classrooms, the effect their presence might have on fund raising for a new center, and the feasibility of building a new center on the property occupied by the current center. It was pointed out that if a new center were to be built on the existing property, the contribution of the property by Pennington Borough might be considered as its matching contribution to the Mercer County grant. Mr. Farmer will check with officials of Pennington Borough with respect to the possibility of locating temporary modular classrooms on the property as well as that of building a new center thereon.

Committee Reports:

Explorations: A total of 33 people attended the spring session of Explorations. Planning is currently underway for the fall session which this year will begin in September with five to six courses offered. Stan Saperstein will offer a course on Civil War History which will run for eight weeks and have a tuition fee of $40.00. Cindy Saperstein will teach Amazing Women Characters in American History and Larry Mansier will offer Enjoying Shakespeare. Discussions are underway with John Hlafter for a course on Modern Architecture, Nancy Nelson and Carol Sheaffer for a Genealogy course, and Ian Burrows for a course on Local Archeology.

There being no Old Business or New Business to be discussed, the meeting was adjourned at 3:45 PM.

Next Meeting: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 2 PM at the Senior Center.

Respectfully Submitted,
Joel May, Secretary