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Senior Advisory Board Meeting Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - Hopewell Valley Senior Center
Attending: Lawrence Mansier, William Farmer, Anne Bolick, Severino DiCocco, Tom DiMuzio, Joel May, Virginia Silliphant, Nils Stout Call to Order: Chairman Mansier called the meeting to order at 2:05 PM. Notice was made of meeting the Open Public Meetings Act requirements. Minutes: The Minutes of the June 16th meeting were amended to eliminate two typographical errors. With these changes, the Minutes of June 16th were approved. Senior Services Coordinator's Report:
Administration: The Coordinator attended training on Medicaid eligibility and prepaid funeral benefits in preparation for the renewal of her social work license. Chairman's Report:
Chairman Mansier reported that Eileen Doremus of the Mercer County Office of Aging provided information on four projects:
Explorations: Mr. Tucker reported that Pennington Point has denied access to their Club House as a site for an Explorations course. Their objections are based on issues of insurance and concern for setting a precedent. Planning is currently underway for the fall session. 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. Nancy Nelson and Carol Sheaffer will offer a Genealogy course, and Ian Burrows a course on Local Archeology. There remain logistic issues involving scheduling and venue that need to be worked out. Announcement of the program will be made on the Web site on August 16th and in the September issue of Senior Spirit. Old Business: Seniors' Day: Mr. Farmer reminded the group that Monday, August 9th is Seniors' Day at Cream King. Twenty percent of the profits and all of the tips received that day will be donated to the Hopewell Valley Senior Foundation. He distributed posters and invited the group to display them at multiple locations. Expansion of the Current Senior Center: At the previous meeting of the Advisory Board on June 16th, four strategies were discussed as ways to move forward expanding the programs available to the seniors of Hopewell Valley and the space required for those programs. At that meeting four alternatives were identified:
He cited as reasons for this preference the fact that the Y is four to five years away from any significant movement toward their goal, that temporary classrooms represent the least costly way to add space, and, since they are temporary, they would not interfere with efforts devoted to going ahead to create a new building. He provided site plans showing the location of the current senior center property in the neighborhood, the dimensions of the current building, and a suggested location for the temporary classroom relative to the current building. He also investigated the costs involved in obtaining a temporary classroom with dimensions of 20' by 56' or 60'. The quotes he got were:
Discussion of his report ranged from the observation that we would have to go before the Pennington Borough Planning Board before proceeding, through the potential reaction of the neighbors to a temporary classroom, to considerations of how to determine and present information on the value of such an addition to seniors and the community at large. Some discussion of the fourth alternative, explore the feasibility of building a new senior center on the current 3-acre property, took place. The possibility of Pennington Borough treating the donation of land as in-kind matching for the Mercer County funds pointed out. Mr. Stout felt strongly that the current property might not be suitable because of the location of the detention basin and the presence of wetlands. The discussion then turned to the issue of what would happen in the Y failed to meet its September 2011 deadline for purchasing the West Franklin Avenue property from the Capital Health System. Mr. DiMuzio suggested that we try to get some information on the possible action(s) Capital Health System might take in that event by meeting with them and exploring the possibility of working together in the future to meet the needs of Hopewell Valley seniors. Mr. Mansier agreed to attempt to set up such a meeting and asked Mr. DiMuzio, Mr. Farmer and Ms. Silliphant to accompany him. New Business: Ms. Johnson announced that the Hopewell Township Committee will hold a work session on July 26th to discuss strategies for raising the funds necessary to match those available from Mercer County to construct a new senior center. Because of the lateness of the hour, Ms. Waugh noted that the short video on the subject of intergenerational programs mentioned at the June meeting will be viewed by the Board members at the next meeting in August. Mr. May moved and Mr. Farmer seconded a motion to adjourn. The meeting was adjourned at 3:55PM. Next Meeting: Wednesday, August 18, 2010 at 2 PM at the Senior Center.
Respectfully Submitted,
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