all right well welcome everyone I'll call the meeting to order at1 2:10 pm on uh Tuesday May 14th and I am required to read I guess this boilerplate information regarding Zoom participation uh for an open meeting so this meeting will be held in person at the location provided on this notice members of the public are welcome to attend this in-person meeting please note that while an option from remote attendance and or participation via Zoom is is being provided as a courtesy to the public the meeting or hearing will not be suspended or terminated if technological problems God forbid interrupt the virtual broadcast unless otherwise required by law members of the public with particular interest in a specific item on this agenda should make plan for iners versus virtual attendance accordingly this meeting will be live on Zoom the public May access the proceedings by joining Zoom meeting ID number 37541 46055 or by calling 92920 6099 for additional information about remote participation please contact Carly antonellis assistant at ATM ATM a. or 978-772-4864 20 extension 100 prior to the meeting should I um you know going forward should the um information about reme participation should I go to use um or is that always Carly for all meetings what do you mean well at the bottom of the boiler plate H it's always Carly it's always Carly yeah fair just so that we keep it that same boiler sure sure it's still through the temp there yeah all right so all these copies there we go all right so um if we could um so meeting has been called to order approve amend agenda I know that um March had was wondering whether or not we should add to the agenda um no I just wanted to how soon again before we revisit the um the sign up policies and Y I know how long it had been okay so um I I spoke with U Want accept agenda oh well I think that's the discussion right amend it to discuss that today right or add it to June or so the question is um six months or so ago we had discussed this trip signup policy and the the senior Center's policy regarding that as as Katie had discussed um and there is evidently some concern that it's time to revisit that policy it's trips and meals and trips and meals so signing up for various activities here c um so the question for the board is is now an appropriate time or do we want to schedule another time to revisit that policy or and let me say it's it's not a policy of the board it's a policy of the senior center you know through through uh the senior Senate director and her staff here the question for the board is to what extent do we want to support that policy do we want to ask that the policy be amended or changed in some way or just to allow the you know the people who participate here to feel like they have a voice in the and how the meeting is run so we we don't set the policies for the senior CER we can choose to support them to whatever degree we find appropriate or not you know depending on the circumstances of the particular request um so thoughts on the revisiting the policy regarding signups anybody any remember the board have a you hit setting I mean I was saying it probably would be a good thing to put on an agenda an item so that information could be gathered from everybody as opposed to just sort of throwing it out as a open item at this one we've got a pretty full agenda this meeting I think we do today but I think we do have some um concerns where from residents and people that are saying to me why are we having different policies for different so I think it needs to be addressed okay so um what if and what if we that is during public input members of the public are always welcome to kind of raise these concerns periodically um but does the board feel comfortable putting this on the agenda for June's meeting and between now and June soon we will collect whatever information we feel necessary and perhaps ask Katie to provide us or you know summarize the data in the best of her ability oh I'm sorry are we last speak I mean I don't oh um if for a question yeah my answer my answer would be to that is that there must be with the summer time coming there are all kinds of activities that happen more in the summer time than happen in the winter time so making this a vote to discuss it to plan it with summertime coming I think it's important so we'll add it to the agenda for the June meeting what information would you guys like from me for that discussion well um I know that when we had previously discussed this one of the pieces of information you had is how many attendees from out of town other at various activities and how often has it been that a town of air Resident was excluded due to the fact that an out of town resident had earlier um um signed up for that particular activity and I know at that time the numbers were quite small I want to say in the order of 3 or 4% um I don't know if that's changed but you know maybe that's something that we look at in some detail for the June meeting and again are we still allowed to sign up just ourselves because I think that's always been the policy never been but I think out of town has signed up so I'm aware of one incident that you and I talked about and I spoke with two other people have signed up and on the bus too for okay so if it so and I think sorry oh yeah no and I I just think when and I'm not going on any trips so it it but I think when the buses are taken up from the air people and we can't sign up again right so speaking to the signing up more than one person that's what you said I'm only aware of one time that that's happened in the last probably eight months um since we really made that policy and made that clear and that was probably I think abouta seven or eight months ago that we were very clear about that so I'm only aware of one incident that that's happened since then and I spoke to the person that that did that because they should not have done that and so I clarified that um so I think we're I think we're Square on on that one um if there are other incidents where that has happened any of the receptionists and any of the people who see that please bring that to my attention because all of the receptionists and all of the staff know that you must call and sign yourself up you can't sign up more than one person there are a couple of situations where I might make an exception for that um but that is not the typical situation so um but like let's say I don't know but by and large no um uh let me just finish answering March so but then in terms of the of the air versus not air resence I'm happy to entertain that discussion is a larger one I just think with Summer common some of the a people that can't get out right like in June or July it's going to get taken up because people come in Monday morning right for ex size or whatever and if the newsletter is out they're going to the outter town so I mean we said we wanted to hold it off for next mon I will again reiterate my I think it's important to include people from all towns um but they're the same ones that will exclude us from and I've got I've changed Ed on that a lot because I've seen it happening yeah yeah so I think we have a I'm getting a clear understanding of what the specifics of the issues are I think that we will put it on the agenda for June y have a y complete um kind of as to compile the data y um is there any other information you guys want to know in order to have that conversation um I'd s of like to know like um percentages of reservations full versus full versus and that includes like cancellations and I don't know if that's possible much easier for trips than for lunches but yes yeah they for a particular thing just like rock within one day you've got 12 people sign out and some of them are from out to and it doesn't give the rest of the air a chance to get in there to make these reservations for this has been going on for some time and it's not just that it's other things I'm for other people I'm for the other towns to be able to do it but if they come like the first day if it comes out the 28th of the month the 29th the other Towners have the information in that phone on the phone y I did it when I was at work Mary Ellen went by and she was dropping it off to the headresses and I C her and I saw that there was a trip coming up that I wanted to do I got on that phone because I Knew by the time I came in here the next day or that night it will be booked but it's like shley did the pockets Maple and no you can't go we can't B with somebody else right I B with my husband all the time no you're within the same household yes you can V for you in other words if M wanted a book with her husband I I can't say she can she can absolutely yes but like you you can't take a sign up like Marge can't call on a Monday morning and tell you that she wants to sign up herself and Mary and Nancy and to her h the same household no but that you know that could be the same thing you said the daughter I mean that's the same case you know the daughter might not be 65 years old and how can you sign up for the daughter well let's put it on something from here the existing policy is that yeah right we do not have a tiered system of enrollment they're bringing up various examples of tiered ex so that's something here we'll put it up June meeting June 11 thank you PM y y thank you okay okay any other can we make a motion we approve this all those in favor I hearing then opposed meeting meeting agenda is approved four to nothing um meeting minutes any questions on the meeting minutes I thought maryen did a great job that we approve hearing no any further discussion hearing none all those in favor approving meeting minutes I all those opposed here we on meeting minutes are thank you yes thank you very muchy Ellen you don't know I appreciate what a you know burden lifted that is um so open Office hours I know that Mary hours at the library how did that I had a great conversation with myself that's what happened when I did it so my um I think the open Office hours are a great idea yeah I really do because it gives seniors a chance to meet to you in a different venue I just don't know if we're approaching it is the right way to do it or the most effective way to do it yeah any thoughts on so maybe thinking about whether or not it goes from monthly to maybe quarterly or trying to tie it into something or you know I guess trying to figure also to is this who are we trying to get to other than the spren base of seniors so I um actually um I was speaking with Barbara who's one of the receptionists here who lives at Pleasant Street on morning when they have the Pleasant Street Apartment morning coffee there happen to be you know half a dozen people or so who may be there so that is something that I'm planning on doing um with a supposition that there will be some people there other than myself because when I held open Office hours at pu Street Department I was having the same conversation you were having um do the do the folks here well my initial thought and this was suggested by the Town Administrator was that by having open Office hours people are in a position to speak more freely to members of the board without having an official meeting did exactly the same thing he Riley no she she because I live down the street you know she just said why don't you just walk up here and they have something in the morning there yeah they have I guess a weekly Pleasant Street Apartment tenants association meeting in a I think it just is more like a coffee get together where they may raise some I'm not sure frankly but that's good because we heard this morning that there was coffee and donuts upstairs and and I said oh we're going to follow you so so yeah so my initial thought for the open Office hours was that in the absence of a quorum and not at an official meeting members of the public may feel more comfortable bringing concerns or questions to members of the board we could then kind of mud over a little bit and and try to see if we could find our way forward with it I mean I was also hoping to talk to people who might be in sort of in the public place Library be a good one that don't come to the C vendor which or that aren't necessarily in the are of the age that could use it you know why which you do you know the services all that type of stuff maybe some of the things that are concern to them and um you know when I was at tines I thought that maybe because that seemed like a kind of sweet spot to be in but obviously that that not either can what's that can I go on channel eight um oh you me like say this is where we're gonna be yeah so it's not just in the newsletter trying to get of the thing is it just that it's not publicized enough people miss it in the newsletter I don't know I mean we've been yeah no no no we've been trying to get APAC what say we've been trying to get APAC to you know collaborate with us for a long time and it just seems to fall flat once yeah yeah my understanding is they have the GU up now are you able to see that like a screen the is like with the meeting that they take here uhhuh you couldn't find it anywhere had to go digging one it was on YouTube on YouTube right and that makes no sense because not everybody plus now they want to Mage but not everybody knows that that's where it is right yep um but did they did they put the guide of what's like on your actual TV your TV screen did they put that guide up they said they were going to do it either in between programs or scrolling on the bottom hav't seen it because most of the time when I go to chat it's one of the apps so my time is off on thatat yeah I wish I had more influence over what APAC was doing I mean I offered them I have several thousand dollars for them in my grant they just we go to YouTube and then put in yeah before back watching the meeting I just whatever their situation is they're not in a place to to do it so I mean that was my thing on the I think they're a good idea but I just don't know if we're hidden yeah I'm sorry with but they can't see that being taken care of I mean that's a good example I mean if of advocacy if you guys wanted to try and Advocate I don't think that they both seem responsive to the co uh so say I'm sorry just say to who robertt oh yeah no powers of be they right well he I I he did come here once right and and nothing and we still don't know if we can see the guide or we can do we don't know they said what's they could at one point we're not all right so um with the board's permission I'll reach out to APAC again and see if I can get them F meting was that I'm sorry about excuse I heard that he teaching as well as doing a so he doesn't have time okay so I'll in terms of the office hours now when are we we are in days we've been doing what about six months yeah so why do we June July August why don't we try to shoot for September for the next open Office hours and come up with a better plan how to attract different people different people or maybe a location or what one one option would be to do a reception yeah here or elsewhere preferably not here you're getting you're trying to get people who don't come here exactly so in a but to do an actual right but it has to be without with only one of us or less than three or you could just post it as meeting me come to get free coffee um wasn't advertised been want too many people showing up okay um so on the um the next item is the rules or bylaws or regulations that I had drafted um with some help from Mary I think and others who submitted um what do people think about this trft no I thought they were good I thought they were good I think you know it's sort of H all the different points um put in more specifics about if you know es or agenda items and whatnot who you hit up so it's not multiple people puts in a time frame for how you how long people have to review it beforehand it gives all the links for all of the additional resources which I think are important especially for new board members who have never served necessarily on a public board it's a different animal it definitely is a different you don't necessarily always say those differ points and the I think it explains the the duties right so so those last um uh yeah so Article Five article six article seven the specifics um the last two pages I guess I I just included those which I got off the web and edited I I did not foresee those last two pages as being part of the the Articles themselves they are just for our purposes to help us better understand what it is that those things mean um well you might want to put them on as Amendment so that if somebody does have the question of it goes to the COA board's definition of Duty of royalty duty of obedience or and Dy of care versus a general one that somebody might find on world different I mean those could be just sort of an amendment or after all the other information um like as a gloss I a little bit ofb anyse have any other um so in article two for membership I was going to suggest a bullet point that says appointment shall be staggered so that no more than two members expire per year or whatever that would be because that would um allow us to go back and then because the search for those existing um term ending dates isn't turning up much um but I think if we adopt this and then we go back to the town manager's office and say look these three terms expiring in one year where majority of the board rolls off on one year isn't consistent with our policies and procedures then we might be able to get one person renewed for a onee ter as opposed to a three year well I mean but even just one for one one-ear period as a special term in order to get them staggered into three expiration dates rather than two so that would be my suggestion on that one um there's nothing about term limits here um I don't know that you want that or don't want that I just wanted to bring that up for discussion there isn't anything on that I don't think there's any language about term limits anywhere else in the town so I don't know that it's necessarily appropriate I just wanted to bring it up as that's where go if you wanted that um and then I'm still confused about duty of loyalty versus duty of obedience um but I appreciate the examples in the back um I think I'm just going to accept that I don't understand the difference between them but I get the general gist of it um and I reached out to the town manager's office again regarding the Staggering of terms and you really shouldn't have three you shouldn't have a full Quorum be able to be replaced at one time right yeah because it could potentially open yourself up to kind of well if we can't fill if you if you have three seats roll off and you can't fill them immediately it makes the board a lame duck yeah yeah I mean yeah or if there were a particular agenda that others were pursuing they could move to replace all three members at once right and then they would effectively go off in kind of right yeah I just think you don't want the majority of a board going off at any given time for any positive or negative reason [Music] so uh with Katie's suggestion that the U that article two being revised to include appointments are to be staggered in the manner described do I have a motion to accept the DRFT all those in favor hearing none the rules and regulations of the air Council what's that good job thanks very much Bobby so in part of that is is so we still don't know so do Bob and I have to do anything to they to be our last meeting the um no June 30th right okay it goes with the fiscal year okay and so Carly will proba Carly handles all those reappointments so she will reach out to you guys as far as the reappointment okay um cor report on number two if when the SLP board points five numbers is that based on application submission or how do they choose that because what if they decide oh this is a friend of mine I really let's get him there now how how are board members chosen by the select board so so the select board and I think there is a running list on the website but the select board will post a notice saying that there is a vacancy on such and such a board in this case Council on Aging board of directors and that notice stays up for I think two weeks where's posted on the web on the town managers I think okay and that stays up for two weeks and they take in letters what they're called letters of Interest sometimes people will submit a full resume other times they'll just kind of send send an email saying I'm interested in being appointed this is why I think I would be good for that position um and then at a subsequent uh meeting of the select board the town manager will include in his packet information regarding the applicants for these positions as a matter of course there has rarely been the case that you know there's been more than one applicant for the positions that are available yeah because I just remember um couple of years ago there was a discussion with this board about finding not getting enough applicants to join the board yeah and that's why I'm questioning now the selmen S people that do the review and do the appointment so the select board appoints but the the step missing in there for the COA board is that and actually that should probably be in in this um is that anyone so it gets posted like Dennis said for two weeks people submit their letters of Interest then Dennis would get a list of the people who submitted their interest they are supposed to come and attend one of our meetings where they can observe where we can talk to them ask them questions things like that and then the COA board makes a recommendation to the select board about who the COA board would like ultimately ultimately the decision is with the select board to make that final decision but my understanding is in practice they tend to take take the recommendation of the board you know so who when it's posted right and people respond to whom does the letters response people that are interested whom do they go to I believe mine went to Carly last year but that's a good point about um yeah that that's just an interim step that wasn't for the building committee but for this this one thank you um okay on to the director great so let's see um I think everyone should have a copy of that um so I provided you know we're not to the end of the fiscal year yet but I just wanted to I had a chance to get caught up on all my ledger items so I want to put forth um sort of where we are in the budget um we will run out of money in the meal's budget and in the programs budget before the end of the year um I expected that because I didn't ask for more money last year I asked for more money for the upcoming year but I chose to keep it the same the second year um food costs have gone up participation has gone up it was based on a model of 10 to 15 people per meal week regularly have far more than that so we'll be fine for next year um but as you can see so I have the first parts of the chart are the Omnibus budget items those the things that um is the main Town budget that gets voted on at town meeting but then I also have these special Revenue accounts um and the idea the the differentiation between those is taxpayer dollars are collected and they go into these Accounts at the top of the list for my main budget you pull money out of that but I can't put money into it the only money that can go into those accounts are taxpayer dollars raised by real estate taxes and you know commercial real estate taxes as well not just personal so that that's town taxes the yeah town taxes for the yeah that's better town taxes so that that that's a one way in one way out kind of account so these special Revenue accounts are created to be more like your checking account where money can come in from multiple sources and go out to multiple sources and things like that so um we have the donations account um which has quite a balance in it now because of the um meal Revenue so like I said we're we're out of money now as you can see in the top chart I have spent 101 1% of the the meals budget um I'll have to get with Carrie and reconcile that so the money now toping for May and June's meals are going to come out of this 2609 the meals revenue account in the bottom to car this over um then that's what it's for that's why y people make a donation you know when they get their meal so that sits there until I need it um last year I didn't need it this year need it so um let's see salaries wages services are right where they're supposed to be General supplies um are also where they're supposed to be programs um professional expenses looks smaller um that that particular budget category um I have to keep $1,000 in there in case I have um a van deductible in case just the van you know but you hope not to use that and you hope to turn it back over to the town at the end of of the year um let's see mileage you know my staff can turn in um mileage for when they use their vehicles for um work rated purposes if they turn in I have to have a certain amount to cover that you know and we don't really come near it so that's that's why that number is is smaller so that really those numbers are static so they automatically go in and you will do that right so there sort of you always have to have $1,000 so it's more like yeah it's there but it isn't so it's right so that of that $4,800 in professional expenses a thousand of it's earmarked for the mileage I mean for for the van um there's $400 we pay mock to we pay them money to bring us food um for Mondays and Fridays um there's mcoa dues there's money that comes out of that account for um didn't uh marielen and I to go to the mcoa the state conference that all comes out of that number uh and we didn't end up staying overnight this year uh at the conference we both were so busy we just went for a day so that's why that account has more in it I just wanted to explain that kind of as an anomaly compared to the other um percentages and then let's see um we have about $7,600 in the general um non-earmarked donation account uh we have $1,900 in the Outreach specific so if you earmark it for something Outreach related it's there um if it was a general donation it goes in the general donation um the Outreach donation account is um money earmarked for Britney Mary Allen and I to use at our discretion to assist with any cost related to our social service interactions with with them um with our plans um see what the the mark money oh so the mark the mark one's tricky and I don't really pay a lot of attention to it because um we pay money in as part of the transportation assessment as the whole town and then um we collect Revenue um from the van rides that goes into that account and then we Bill mart for um Fuel and Sam's cell phone and couple hours a week of my time to help with the dispatching and all that stuff and so there's this lovely complex we paid you now you're going to pay us thing that goes back and forth um and right now there's a balance in that account but but we also they'll also reconcile with Sam's salary at some point and so it typically ends up by the end of the fiscal year carrye does some sort of bookkeeping thing and that account zeros out so it's not really available money to spend it just is what the balance is no and you know obviously the transportation and and you know the desire for more robust frequent you know availability of transportation is kind of a would be great to see happen and the relationship between the town and Mark and how the money moves between them right is is all part of that and I still don't fully quite you know to the speak to the complexity of that relationship um so it just it's something that I've been giving significant consideration to how work through that in an effort to get more Transportation options available well Robert is our Mark representative so I would recommend scheduling a meeting with him specific to Mart to get some sort of handle on how that works I did that okay um and then the money that you would that you would be more interested in for that purpose is the formula grant money so um that that money was actually a little bit higher um but I Carrie hadn't done a Trent carries the town account sorry um hadn't done a transfer recently because our formula grant the first $114,000 of mar Ellen salary is supposed to be coming out of the for the formula grant and then the remainder is paid out of this wages line up at the top chart but because it was early in the year and the formula grant money wasn't here in July it got deposited in October uh the town had just been paying all of her salary out of that line so that money would run out and they'd be like how do we pay the last 14,000 actually it's supposed to come from the F so that actually was um you know almost 40,000 but they they did the trans is that what's referred to as the cherry sheet so the cherry sheet is more like think of a cherry sheet I might not explain this exactly right the cherry sheet is more of a balance between aid from the state for certain things and assessments to the town related to those things and they're kind of all supposed to balance out so the town gets state aid for transportation and then with that money the town pays the state to administrate a transportation program again I'm oversimplifying it but that's sort of a back and forth of money went this way and money went that way and it's kind of equals out um and that's more like the the mark part but the formul brand is executive office of Elder Affairs pays $14 per senior um and that number they just said um in the new budget for fy2 it will up to $15 per senior so provided that the budget gets approved um and that Still Remains to be seen but um it will go up a dollar per senior which would be roughly $2,000 more dollars for us in formula grant money for next year which be great um but it's that $28,000 that is the most flexible money for something specific related to Transportation or whatever that would be that would be the pot of money you want to be working with or something like that um it can also be used you know we can use it for programming we can use it for really anything having to do with seniors we could yacht the day I don't know whatever it doesn't matter like there goes the budget yeah there goes the budget um but um that one is not terribly restricted in terms of what it gets used for used to be um the senior activities fund is revenue from um you know the the Omnibus budget program budget pays for um activities then seniors pick in some portion of it I subsidize almost everything that we do here um very rarely does anyone pay full price for it so um the revenue that comes back in from that goes in that account um so that is just sitting there because the Omnibus budget money um you either use it or it goes back to the town in free cash and I lose it every year so I try and spend up all that money but when money goes into these special Revenue accounts it rolls over from year to year I can't be stockpiling money in those but it can roll over so I'm not in any hurry to spend all those down because we're hopefully going to have a new building in a few years and there might be some things that we didn't plan for that we want to use or do um so I guess so could you you know not stockpiling money but sort of save it stash it away for those types of thing does it can you save it to a certain dollar amount certain amount of time um at what point would they say hey Katie you got to spend money they set uh I don't have a copy of the warrant the town warrant set the maximum balances of the of those Revenue accounts and I honestly didn't look cuz I thought they were fairly High I don't remember okay so that's set by the town that was set by the town that was at um Mar can you are able to pull that up right now or if it's too hard to find I could look into that with those you have you have not been AO by the town manager's office saying you're voting the upper limits been this time I have not been not by the town manager's office the town accountant and I have had conversations about you know approaching that spot so um um but I don't know where it is I need to do a little more work it's not like I'm just automatically going to lose it um there just needs to be further conversation or all the account in total so the um the senior activities and the senior store were the two that were in the um in the town warrant okay so um mock zeros out I that $86 balance I owe to mock I need to do it in the next payables donations don't have any limit but I'm that's why we call this a $3 suggested donation it's not a fee it's not the cost of the meal it is a donation so that I am allowed to take that what would be a revenue account and be limited and it's top I can put in as a donation I have it e marked for meals so that it's being used for that but um that is the count not paying for fee to have that meal right it is a$3 suggested donation yeah what I didn't know growing up cap suggested donation suggested donation it's your seat donation yeah um and then last but not least the senior store has $118 in it we're not doing the senior store anymore it um it was a lot of effort and not very many I had people ask about it but just not that many people took advantage of it which led me to believe there wasn't really as much of a need as I as we thought so that money will just sit there it's just going to hang out so um let's see we had pretty average attendance in April um there's a list of the special programs um do do you happen to remember for tax Aid it was over a 100 was it 116 or 160 somewhere in the 116 116 okay it wasn't and notice that was about 23% of all of the ones that were done in the Reg wow that's great go Mar go sharing thank you that's such an incredible service go so thank you for doing that um let's see uh we had our we've had two hybrid programming Grant funded activities thus far we did our first test of the owl system during a conversation group um last week and we are sort of attempting to use it right now although I'm sorry it didn't broadcast as it was supposed to there but I can turn it around um it's hard to see here but on this I'll I'll do it twice but on this half of the screen you can see up here at the top it's a 360 degree view so everybody at home can see everyone here and then as each one of us talks we each get our own window down there and it will follow if I were to stand up it would follow me and follow my voice um which is kind of cool and then the second half of the screen is maryi Ellen she's the other person joining so she's on on her own camera there we we can see you so um so that gives the idea of the owl system here is that we all sitting around this table don't have our faces in a computer we're able to have a successful um cohesive inperson meeting the owl is much less intrusive than the tablets even though we have two on the table at the moment um but we're not looking into them um and then the person at home can follow along much more naturally you know so so I'm just gonna so if I begin talking I'm just looking at the light there does it it doesn't should you can ask have you been able to see me no it didn't take your voice it's some for some reason like right now it's backing up okay so it just got Kim Karen oh she was talking hello testing one two three one two three give it a chance yeah I've been ignored by people other you know it might not it might be blocking because your tablet is there trying to see if that's getting in L now say something testing one two three wow that's good to know huh yeah so if you have the it has a clear it needs to have a clear line of s too so we had um yesterday we had a watercolor class yeah that we used um went really well hard to see um that around you sent me the still that was great um so everyone was sitting sort of in a horseshoe shape around the big TV in the other room and um the instructor was in Wayman wayth or whand or something like that and everyone painted with the instruction from um the instructor that was much further away who would never come see us in person so that part was fantastic um so I have quotes in hand now for um 10 iPads and 10 Chromebooks um to further the program we can start with tech literacy skills um and then further expanding like I'm talking for example with a photographer who might be off in a class in the fall or the spring that would be funded by the grant where um you go to like an air landmark and everybody could practice taking pictures and then there would be a session following up like maybe the next week where we would learn basic digital photography editing skills on the laptops and iPads um or that um you know one thing I was suggesting is that as people are looking to downsize maybe we can teach people how to take good photographs of things that there are their treasures and how to compile them into a photo book you know um so there's a lot of really great ideas for how to use this technology and to use the laner devices so that people can enjoy it and you know and I'm just noting you know I know that you've made some good faith efforts to up with the school regarding the Cyber seniors program but it's oh wow as part of that and this is something that I struggle with is where are my documents in photos stored how do I access them how do I access the cloud which cloud account am I in Google or Microsoft you know having someone explain those kinds of things so that when you snap the photo you know where to go to find it and if you want to because you know we have a not an iPad but similar from Google in the house that will cycle through the photographs and they automatically appear how it is that they appear and some others don't or you know right I have noide that's a great example I'm kind of afraid of trying to figure it out um so to I guess the question is to what extent would you be able to access the hybrid program and grant money to have someone walk through that process that's a great example of of tech literacy skills I'd like to teach people um small small topics like how to use Google photos or how to use a photo picture frame like breaking it down into very small lessons to to teach um cyber seniors has hundreds of classes and curriculum for those types of classes um it's just a matter of getting people willing to sign up to become teachers do it so working on it okay um so let's see um Outreach has been y question I and I don't know anyone else that I have a computer but I'm not computer literate so you're going to be doing things like storing that I would recommend a written procedure so somebody can look down y follow that because I don't know how to use my know how to answer I don't know what in there instructions are are a really important part of any t for sure yeah um you going to have a on IAD we we will we're working on it that's part of what the grant is funding and so the first thing is I need to get the actual equipment and I've been going through a mul months process um because everyone of Wonders what I'm doing back there in my office I am trying to strategize and find vendors and sources and ways to bring tech classes that don't involve me going well if you hit this button right here you know so some moreal versions of that um so that everybody you know someone else is going to be a better teacher than I am um I have lots of skills but teaching Tech skills is not one of them so um I've been looking for someone to help provide those classes so that's stay tuned it's coming um but yeah it's certainly going to be easier to teach those skills if I have a common Bank of devices for everyone to come in and sit in front of to learn them okay yeah so um let's see for outreach marielen continues to be awesome um she provided Outreach Services to 28 seniors more than 52 more than 50 times in March so if you think about that that's you know there's like 20 working days in a month she's seeing at least one client a day and she is you know really more like two or more than two clients a day you know because many clients come in many many times you know um so um so she is fantastic and wonderful housing continues to be the most frequent topic of interaction General financial matters Transportation Wellness checks the friendly caller program is picking up so if you know of anybody who is alone and isolated in their home and would like a weekly just you know 10minute conversation with Mary Ellen to check in have someone to talk to a lot of senior centers do a friendly visitor um program then um definitely send those names marelle's way um she loves to call and talk to people yeah um and that's so important because if you're isolated in your home you may not talk to anybody you may just watch a lot of TV but to have a live conversation with a live person um for many of us that's hard to imagine um but having gone through the pandemic I think we can all imagine a little better than we would have a few years ago um are the Outreach numbers included the seniors in attendance number or those separate separate they are separate okay now 130 seniors in attendance for events that's all based on events I see so now are some of those 130 also Outreach clients sure all of them know okay that's good to know yeah so and then again for in the transportation section you'll see that we had 60 riders in April those 60 and 28 and 130 add up who we served is there overlap between those numbers yes are there because there are people that attend events here that came on the van to get here there are also lots of riders who ride the van that would never step foot in here right they're never here so there is some overlap but they don't all over right and I guess right so in in terms of Outreach or in terms of standing our ability to provide assistance to the community the fact that 120 are in attendance we're reaching people other than that you know reach faces or unfamiliar faces even if it's only you know once every three weeks or once a month whatever right if I had to make a guess I would say it's about 50% for both Outreach and transportation marel maybe would you you would have a different one different total but there's a fair amount of people that come in only only for your services that don't attend other programs would you say it's 5050 or would you say it's well right but so if I were to add 130 plus you know 15 plus and it's it's it's definitely 5050 for the transportation so 30 and 15 is 45 and 130 so I would say we had 100 we serviced 175 people in in the month and April was a little bit lower because of Sam's vacation so the um was your backup driver able to assist with Sam's vacation or was it he did Russell was wonderful um I didn't throw him in to Sam's full schedule it just fair I wanted him to come back again um so he did Tuesday and I'm sorry it ended up being Wednesday Thursday Friday special afternoon just group shopping trips to allow people to get kind of their necessity from Walmart t uh Walmart Market Basket and shop and safe so we did have a fair amount of riders for each of those um and he's going to be the driver for the asparagus Tour on the 25th as well so um my goal is to add more evening activities going forward um and split those between Sam and Russell and then um for June I'd like to do um kind of a prompt in the newsletter for people to let me know where they think the holes are in the transportation program do we need hours starting at 7 amm do we need you know I can't imagine that that would be the case but like do we need more hours in the beginning of the day is is 4 pm to early to end do we want to add hours to the end of the day or is it just more frequent evening and weekend trips um I don't have a second vehicle so I can't really expand the range anymore right now but um yeah so I'm going to ask people what they what they think in in June for that um Mar's been working hard on special Outreach projects we um like I said before there's been an increase in the friendly visitor activities we're going to have a booth at the Devin food truck and craft festival and I would love it if some of the board members could sit with it's June 1st June 1st June 1st it's from 11 to 6 so it's a long a long day um so if anybody if everybody can check their calendar and see if they're available to sit with marelen or give her some respit so she can y go otherwise she's gonna have one glass of water and be dehydrated or whatever by the end of the day um so there go right what what explains the Meals on Wheels utilization R up we've lost a lot of clients a lot of people have passed away so um I don't think the need has declined I think there was a huge bolus of people who signed up during the pandemic um because during that time it became more comfortable and more convenient to just get your meals brought to you rather than need to go to the grocery store store as frequently and mock kind of dropped a lot of their criteria for signing people up during that period of time so um I do think the need still exists um we are working on I should say Mary Ellen is working not we Mary Ellen is working on um contacting some of our local hospitals and rehab facilities to make sure that Meals on Wheels is on their radar as part of their discharge planning uh and we're going to do some more advertising um just locally um saying you know like on social media saying do you have an elderly neighbor that you think might benefit from this do your parents would this help your parents if so give us a call talk about it you know see if we can get some more people signed up um Trio the new food service that switched over maybe six months ago or so um they're offering a much larger Variety in meals now and I personally think they're tasty there's only one or two that I won't eat um previous mock when it was made out in Fitchburg was watch your vocabulary I will went there once so it it wasn't my favorite I think there's a a much of an increase but it's just interesting to me that as people have come off the list others haven't come for you know it just hasn't kind of re just naturally that is there just I think it's um a pretty powerful statement about the status of Aging Services right now I don't think that they are able across all of their things to meet the needs they are our our Aging Services access point we have like everybody they are underst staffed um they're not able to meet the needs of area seniors be it for Home Care Services companion Services intakes for Meals on Wheels they're not able to Market themselves they're just they would normally be the main way we would get people enrolled in the program would be because they would have an Aging Services case manager who would say you we think you would benefit from this service um you know and they're just not doing it I mean there's not able to yeah um so we're trying to make sure that from our side and our perspective that we to do that um let's see what else what else um meals program very popular um there's you know we're hovering right around 20 people for most meals every month there's about 15 to 18 meals six or seven of them will be full each time um as with anything there are people who don't remember to sign up and they show up without signing up there are people who sign up and don't show there are people who sign up and cancel the morning of it makes the catering a little bit um uneven and wild um but it's something that I accept just because not everybody knows whether they're going to feel good that morning um or not so um and one of the many benefits to having a a bigger facility is that you can sign up a bigger range of people and it the EB and flow of it doesn't keep someone else out 24 seats so do you think that's part of the problem with the numbers is because it is such a small facility here and they know that they won't call up on that last minute type of deal I think it's it's more of a I don't I don't think it's a they won't call last minute I think it's people might even be going the opposite direction might be more tempted to sign up for more meals for fear that they won't get a spot okay and then they cancel because have doctor's appointments that come up that they forgot about or they don't feel well that morning I don't think there's necessarily any malice involved in it I wasn't just wasn't sure people wouldn't bother because I'm not going to get seen anyways type deal because there's only so many limited I I don't know I have seen that with the waiting list for bus events you you know they some people don't want to go on a weight list they don't like the idea of a weight list at all um but we do have weight lists so um I haven't noticed that as much with the meals then again we don't take a wait list for the meals because there's so many meals it's really hard to administrate it um so that could be I wouldn't rule it out but yeah how many people do you think get turned away say we're both unfortunately we can't commodate on this meal you know I would have to be taking a guess because again we don't do a wait list for the meals if on a meal that's full I would say three to six maybe but then again then I might have three people cancel the morning of and then I've got three people who just show up who think they're signed up so it tends to all equal out but it's not always the three people who got turned away it's not those same people that show up anyway it's a different set of people more people show up that haven't signed up yeah um let's see else what else uh I met with the disabilities commission they are interested in creating an equipment lending program um I love the idea of it they I gave them some things to think about in terms of operations how it would work um so they're going to continue to work through that they are interested in something much broader than you know Walkers and Wheelchairs and Canes they're interested in a full disability um equipment program more like requipment in Worcester so um I'll be exed to see um they are going to attend some upcoming um building committee meetings to see if they can get some dedicated space in the new building for it um so that is ongoing um so that is exciting uh let's see if there's anything else oh um and I know this was on I'll save the friends of the air thing for when we get to that part so I think that's all that's I sorry T to my report to get long so that's all and what would happen friend the be COA is um next item on the agenda so I I know that this is something that we bandied about um as I see it that the issue is members of the friends of a COA 501c3 cannot be anybody who's on the board so in order to form a 501c3 you need people who aren't members of the board to complete the paperwork necessary to be the the chair the vice chair and I think the clerk you need three people um so that's kind of what the first step would have to be in forming a friends of a 501c3 would be getting people that aren't typically on the board to perform that function what what is what is their function well they would act as a they could solicit donations if probably form 501c3 would be able to take in money um from donations or from charitable Endeavors or whatever and then they would be able to dispense it separate from the town that is it would not be part of the town's budgeting it would fall under the uh authority of the board members who would vote on how to spend the money and in what Manner to spend it and raise it and all the rest of it um it would also act as an advocacy group and it could act independent of the town that is as a as its own entity it doesn't have to ask for the permission of you know Robert or the town accountant or or the select board it can you know function with the charitable purpose of supporting the work of the air senior senator in this case um so um I guess and I know that we kind of looked at this several months ago we need the people to kind of Say Hey I want to war the 501 C3 so I started planting that a bug in um Ellen Fitzpatrick who also can't be on that board because she's on the building commit board um as well as Carolyn Mccreary and so um Carolyn said she would love to organize a meeting and I think I told you Ellen but it was Carolyn um just a kickoff meeting um and both of them had three or four people that they thought might be interested in this so they set the date of June 11th at 1 p.m here at the senior center to have a kick off a discussion of what would be involved what would they do um and to add to Dennis's uh explanation most senior centers have a friends of a COA I suspect the reason that air has not had one is because air has a really strong commercial tax base and so the town of air has a pretty big budget for for the number of residents that it has and it doesn't all fall as a burden to the individual homeowners property taxes so um you know my budget for example is almost double here what the budget is in town it and it's exponentially higher than what the budget is in Harvard um so there hasn't been as much of a hasn't been as much of a a need for it to keep the day-to-day operations of the senior center going um but going forward to a new building there will be a need to for example ask Pepsi or ask Kat oils if they would like to make a donation towards the cost of a new Senior Center maybe it becomes the Kat oil's dining room whatever but I can't ask katania oils to donate $50,000 to the Center that would be um that would be I guess technically that would be soliciting right I mean I think it would be or extortion right and or extortion right right you will give us no um so that's why people who sit on Town boards Town committees and town employees can't fund raise we can't ask for money um because it's so intertwined with our role rules and seats of responsibility so um we can't do that but a separate 501c3 can so for example we were out in wil Bram a couple of weeks ago touring their new Senior Center built by the same architect who's went to build ours um and their friends group was selling Brits but I'm speaking in the positive absolutely so um they raised 36 or 38,000 from bricks for their patio so they will have named bricks out there and that group do I well yeah yeah it's like what the PO did with so I can't but even if I even though I think it's a great idea I can't organize that because I can't run a sale of bricks that's um just not allowed for a town official to do that so that's why we need this separate entity to do it um in wilam they raised almost a million dollar towards their project that with various projects so um that's the need for it so to like was a friends of a library committee it's the same type of deal and those and what they what do they do they supplement like the book budget and but they sell old used books those types of how they make their money and put it out although I went to the library meeting to your point I went to library meeting and interestingly the library had had been um findes book late return fines that were coming through the library the library was giving it to the Friends of the library so that they could use it for their charitable ende Nevers to to benefit the library come to find out that's a no no that is that is all all fines or any money that is um that is given to the library of the town and has to go back into the general fund um and so the friends are now going to have to they that no no no they nobody was looking to kind of claw back any money that and nobody was being accused of any kind of misspending of the money or anything of that sort it was just that and we're talking a nominal sum here but um it was interesting I had no idea but it was interesting to learn that but that's what those special Revenue funds are that it can't go back into the first set but it has to be received any money brought in has to be received it can't be just passed along Katie Katie you do a wonderful job I'm not trying to give you another project to work on but is anybody is anybody thought about raing a position about the air Hospital you know Stewart and and Senor citizens the area so my understanding is that the when was it earlier this week last week whenever they officially filed for bankruptcy that the head of stward had a personal conversation with the town manager Robert and um assured him that they were not closing so as far as I understand there is no action needed on our part right then so I mean maybe we could put that on the agenda for a I would like to do that actually Robert thanks for bringing that up because and I for me and I followed it rather closely especially the Boston glob has been all over this um that if steuart is going to continue operating in bankruptcy as as normal to hear them tell the story but their bankruptcy is occurring in Texas and it is they are supposed to have sold all their hospitals um by the end of June um most people that I've read say that's highly unlikely that they could arrange for that yeah um but all of this to say that if a buyer for the hospital comes forward and takes over the hospital and agrees to operated as it has been then you know perhaps there won't be much substance to change if however nooba Valley is seen as a nonproductive hospital and a buyer does not want to try to acquire it and keep it open as a hospital then the town will have an opportunity perhaps or will you know what is going to happen to that entity and it may be that the seniors will want to weigh in on what they would like to see happen again in the absence of another buyer coming forward and saying I want to buy in the Sha Valley Medical Center I agree to keep it open as a hospital things are going to be fine here without that happening what are the other alternative for the town I just think all of that is speculation at this point um so I just I think when the opportunity presents itself I hope the council and aging and the seniors will add for what they need here um but all of that is speculative I I did however get the assurances of the Town manager's office that they would have our they they would support us in whatever we needed to do in order to continue to serve the seniors should there be a change but right now it's a should there if there's if this if that it's you know it's going to happen fast I don't know how yeah that's my I don't know how they can guarantee anything right now I don't know that anything is guaranteed I guess I'm just saying that because they're out of Utah right now they sold their bankrupt their Texas people up there the hospital that I talked to hoping that some Boston Hospital buison oh i' to see Beth is that would be good something like Beth Israel or or yeah that's a long long complicated yeah okay um I appreciate you bringing it up it is um that have to be in public meeting of some sort some decision would have to been made in order to go to go like to Advocate or else like that well I guess what I'm saying is that's super speculative because I don't know that the town will have any role in what happens to a privately owned piece of land in the town or how it's used um aside from if it changed uses it would have to go through the planning board process right but whether it stays a hospital or doesn't like the town won't have an opportunity that there would be no right but I mean my overarching point would be that I think that the town rather than reacting to whatever it is that happens we don't know what that is going to be that is the town would be in a position I think to say if it does not continue as a hospital various economic reasons or whatever which seems like it's it's a possibility if that doesn't happen this is what the town would like to see happen in terms of the land the planning board the Conservation Commission um that would all be an asset bankruptcy what's that the land and everything and the building would the town want to acquire would the town want to buy the land out of and again I'm not asking for answers here all I'm saying is that the town may be in a position to proactively say if it doesn't continue as a hospital then then the town would like to see this happen right and and I I don't know think we'll have to wait to see that unfold and unless it's I I don't know that the the Council on Aging would be no no inv but I'm gonna be talking to some people sure sure all right um the building update just put a little well I just put a little um blur in the direct support so I'll just so we have continued to meet about twice a month um in April we and ended the second request for proposals for a private land no one in town wants to sell their land to the town for that purpose so the committee is going forward with the three pieces of town owned land um that I discussed during our last um building update the gron Harvard Road Site the Bishop Road site and the uh Bishop Brook Street Brook Street yeah Brook Street site um and the due diligence on those three sites continues and tomorrow evening um we will have and catlyn architecture was hired and the contract was finalized to hire them as the new architect um to work on the project tomorrow night um here at 6: p.m um there was a location change yesterday which I think is wonderful um we will have the meeting here it will be the kickoff session with the new architect uh it's a really full agenda um it will be I think largely kind of boring details for the first one but I would encourage anyone who wants to attend we'll have this room set up just with more chairs and tables to accommodate the bigger group but um that meeting is tomorrow here at 6m also via zoom and I will have to figure out how to get that going um for then so that we can see it um yeah I think that's the that's the update anything else you wanted to add to that no um any more public input question Council on beh of Dr Long attend the C which should don1 she has always LED seeing the beautiful flowers the has requested that some the dolls be used to continue the planting of flowers to others Cano instruction she as in the past year we sure that Janine will donate her time to purchase the toson is Don her time to this don't time few other important funs the do said dear nany thank you for your generous donation senior standard Cash donation for the purpose of CLS the outside the senior center no Services exchange for donation as of this state of this receipt Council senior tax ID number Curr 501 nonprofit standards and regulations of service please consult advis thank you by n could you include that as part of the minutes did you want to make a photocopy of that a little thank you thank you I suggest Mr chairman I made a motion we send out a formal letter of recognizing and send that thank you okay is sorry is now resident of lifeare Center in little okay [Music] 16 um do I have the board's permission to corra a letter and have it sent to DY for [Music] donation all fa n opposed motion thank you barara for calling that to our attention thank you Dy yeah they look so pretty last year did a great job um unfortunately Janine's not here today but talk to her verbally about being willing to do that he told myself that she would volunteer going and getting them flowers and getting them plant okay and then bar would take care you a green thumb you got a green thumb I never knew it just appeared I have question um and to me this is does just doesn't make sense if there's a $3 suggestion donation that means people don't have to pay but they can okay this meal scholarship program bothers why why is it because to me it's a suggestion that if I can't afford the $3 and I need to come to you say I can't afford $3 mail and have to sign up to be covered for a $3 mail do you see what I'm saying I me it's an option it's certainly an option I think the intent of it was um to try and appeal to lots of people think about things in different ways and so to some people are comfortable coming in and saying I don't have the donation today but I know it's suggested donation I'm going to go ahead and come in maybe later I'll have the money maybe I won't I don't know other people have a different way that they approach things and so their thinking is much more um going to use the word rigid but I don't mean it I'm GNA say black and white how about that that's a better way to describe it some people have more black and white thinking I either have the money or I don't have the money and if I don't have the money I can't go I could never go and not pay it's just different mindsets right versus someone else is very fluid with their thinking I have the money this time I don't have it that time so the idea was to try and make it welcoming for someone who wasn't coming at all to come for the first time to begin coming um by taking advantage of the scholarship program or for example um if someone's Financial situation changes changes for a temporary period of time a month two months something like that and they have been able to do it but they currently can't then we can help fill a gap but it really has more to do with how people think about it because it hadn't even occurred to me um that someone would feel offended but exactly and so um the whole goal is to try and make it warm and welcoming for people no matter where which way you're thinking about things to participate in our lunches because we know the benefit of coming and having a good quality uh nutritious meal and socializing with people is so good for your body and your soul well so that's for all but doesn't matter Town out of town um that's a very good question I haven't um I haven't had anyone from out of town request to sign up um it was a private donation um the person the anonymous donor who gave funds it's not Town funds being used for it was a private donation they didn't mention to me that they have any um limitation on The Residency of the person and the idea is that that's a a private and personal interaction between me and the person that no one would know who was on it or not on it right yeah um that might not be as you as much as it might be I have heard um I come to lunch most of and I put money in but I have heard people taking make up a table oh much money in here today and that chases people [Music] away ashamed by other people they shamed because they have cool but that's what's I think really nice about the meal scholarship program is if someone is on that program then they have the $3 to put in the bin your program is going to cover that $3 for that individual yes okay so I'm sitting here I can't pay so I've come to you right for help to cover my meals because it's covering the meal it's not giving you $3 put donation it is actually that's actually how it works is the people who are on the program come to see me before lunch I give them the $3 and then they go out and appear completely exactly identical to the people who are contributing money so there's no another there's no sense of othering there is no nothing for that it's designed to create a normal experience be expanded and explained more rather than that [Music] yeah you don't think what's happening that way I don't think it's always happen in that no say wait I I'm wed to clarify what do you think is not happening what was the meaning no I tell you I didn't have the money and you gave me the money to put in and people was T see go your and but people go into my office all the time for all and not all of them if you come out holding $3 in your hands you know yourself with it and put it in the bowl then that's a whole different situation I mean if you put it in your pocket I had no idea that that had happened to you because if I didn't your fault I but I want to make sure that's me yeah she pays once a week so she's coverage for the week but when she comes in and sits down she's seen not putting money in right and she gets shamed by other people yes all right so that to me is a cultural issue that we've got going on on our at our tables yes more so than a flaw in the meal scholarship program so that's I'm thank you for explaining that I'm hearing two different things right I'm I'm hearing two separate issues here so this is very helpful for me um okay first of all whoever is collecting money off the table shouldn't make any comment well what's there or what isn't well so it's the person is it the person collecting the money okay so that this is very helpful because this is very Illuminating for me is it the person collecting the money off the table that is shaming people so then that's a very specific individual conversation that I need to have versus chatter amongst participants at the table which is a group conversation okay so this is this is helpful all right sure of course I know exactly what she's talking about she's talking about me because I don't know was this way only to last week I knew there was money in the bowl and then I went to collect the money and was not in the ball anymore so I said oh what happened to the money that's what I said and I went back to I did not speci ly mention you in any kind of way shape of and then I went to Denise and said Denise did you take the money from table one she said yes I needed the money to make change end ofers yes you are okay so so H so you always it up for me so so this is helpful because I see lots of opport unities to have individual conversations and make incremental changes that I think are going to get us to where we want to go you and I can have a conversation about how we interact with the people at the table at the at the large meal conversation we can have a conversation about being kind and friendly inclusive to our friends okay and at the newsletter level and in the interpersonal social interaction Services level we can have a more detailed discussion about how the meals scholarship program works I think that would be kind of attacking this from three very valuable angles question I mean I can't come down for meals because I'm on a special diet are you said collect money from the bowls is it like an open bowl next to marelen okay I would suggest that it be like you know the suggestion box type of thing let the people put their money in that then collect the boxes at the end of the meals money people have I I think we tried it one time up on the end of the counter with a closed box and people didn't like that because they didn't want to get up and down and or they say it's not there got it I forgot and I meant to pay and I forgot now I feel bad we tried a lot of different methods including the envelopes on the table which is expensive and wasteful of paper um I I will give that some more thought on what ways there are I think inherently though the underlying issue there is yall are judging each other judging each other based on what's going in or not going in and that's I think the larger problem there's enough food there's enough everything we don't need to be judging each other based on it and that's I think the bigger discussion but I think maybe we could log in at the when we log in have somebody collect or not um then you're putting it on a reception so then you're putting on receptions and you're going to have a huge line at the door to get not really because we all come in different I mean I think that's an idea to to consider and I'm willing to try it for you but then somebody needs change you don't have Kati has changed and you can give the person so much and you know what you're given so could I ask for the purposes of the COA board meeting and again I I this is an important conversation and actually I am learning a great deal because from from listening to this and I think that there's there will be a path forward to make the situation better I think that that's going to be great absolutely um for the purpose but I think that it's going to require that the participants here and Katie kind of sit down and work through the senior center procedures for kind of administering the the meal schol program absolutely important conversations to have but for the purpose of the COA board meeting I think perhaps we could adjourn the C board meeting and you could take the right whatever the sure I think that it's important to bring it to have a venue for them to bring ABS no certainly but work where what I would say is where the solution lies is going to be working with Katie and the staff here to come up with a set of procedures that you know way it's going now okay okay I have one last thing I personally believe that should be under the board um because you handle High spes type of thing this board does not have anything to do with I mean you like you have spoken before about getting a new V an extra vandroid okay I was driving by the fire station the other day and it says COA hiring van coordinator now Sam been listed as van coordinator for years ever since he took over for money yeah and is he going to be demoted no no we're hiring we're hiring additional van driver drivers to provide more services Sam can only work 40 hours a week and he wants to go on vacation so we're hiring additional what I'd call like the equivalent of substitute teachers right I understand that but when you put down coordinator it's like you're going to have another person who all their job is going to be signing people up for this or that like doctor's appointments and I think made a huge assumption about that so I'm glad you're asking about it because what we're actually doing well I didn't even make that sign I actually had no idea that was posted there um that they had put it on the sign um so the title is the same they are part-time non-benefited employees nothing is happening to Sam Sam is fabulous I can't put in it have said steal away hiring van drivers I I didn't make the sign I had no idea the sign was there so coordinator to me is on the level as but that's the position that was that was being hired so what's happening to Sam nothing's happening to Sam nothing's happening to Sam Sam is fabulous Sam is wonderful Sam is staying on Sam needs to go be able to go on vacation and still have B service covered Sam I can't work Sam from 8: to 4: and then ask him to go spend an evening working every every week for us to do all these other programs the way to alleviate everybody's stress over these V trips is to do more V trips and so I can't do that without more drivers yes okay so then it's my definition of cordinator that Miss [Laughter] that's than this is that I [Music] TR okay