##VIDEO ID:mfI4XlBjWNc## Mr chairman motion to open second no mov all in favor uh we've already called the order but I'm confirming that there is a quorum present and would like to do a roll call of voting members we'll start with Chuck and gowise yep presid Chuck presid Chris how Janine Cunningham John Ferrar Joseph Damon jerson introductions of others are esteemed and fearless leader Cindy uh I would entertain a motion to approve the meeting minutes from 10212 24 second any comments all in favor I uh the chairperson's report is fairly short I've met with Cindy and the town planner as part of looking at properties and talking about uh the conflicts that may exist between things the town is planning and anything we recommend as the ad hoc committee which was a very I think fruitful and productive meeting and beyond that I have been trying to catch up on having been away at work and so I've been through to sign papers and said hi a few times but I've not been able to do very much beyond that and now to the directives report okay so I will start with yesterday I went to the central Congregational Church in Newport they are the ones who put on the chocolate tour every year in Newport and now in Asbury um and the council aing for five local areas so Newberry Newberry Port West Newberry Salsbury and asbery are always recipients of the chocolate tour and then sweet Paw's rescue was the other recipient I believe and there was another one green I want to call it green stone what they do is they provide funding for families if there's a you know parent is out of work whatever they fund kids activities whether it's their driver's ed or their sporting activities so they were another um recipient so because they had this additional evening in Asberry we actually walked away with a check for $2,300 so that goes to our what they have earmarked it for so to speak is prescription assistance and transportation but we really can use it for anything what we use it for is transportation assistance so when we have someone who needs a has a medical appointment and they need a ride if the van is not available if a neat driver is not available if they can't afford to get themselves where until they don't have someone else to help them we would pay for a taxi to get them where they need to go we don't want people to cancel appointments Some people prefer to cancel and they don't want to take a taxi and that's okay um other people have someone who can help them um but it's just sort of a backup plan for us to have in the event that someone can't get where they need to go and it's nice that that's funded by the chocolate tour so we appreciate that go through c as such neat yes okay paying for taxi that's very important tell you why when we were doing the ambulance we would have different um citizens call for the ambulance to go to the hospital that was paid for taxi wasn't even though they didn't need medical assistance they called the uls so that's a very good idea that relieves a lot from the fre up the EM yes yeah for emergencies so I really applaud that uh now that happened to me two weeks ago where I called cathol set an appointment for masser came up to 48 hours I called Kathy and she said you want to pull the cord so well what we do is we do try to have it available for people who can't afford to have a second a backup plan so we always tell people on need you must have a backup plan you really must have a backup plan so it might be your neighbor it might be your friend your daughter whatever but we have some people in this town that don't have anybody that live around here I mean if I give tax RS to everybody that money is gone pretty Qui right right so we are a little bit careful about who we're using it for if I you know if we know you have someone who can help you or have the funds available it's a different case for someone who you know that's getting food from the food pantry they're on different assistance I know they can't afford a taxi ride thing that medical so that's kind of where we the taxi turn around was 140 one way yeah so tax well it depends where you're going you're going into we had them we have done that we have Tak taxi or Uber it was it was an Uber trip but taxi was the same rate and I just had an Uber kid that I dealt with in the past and he lives in Jamaica plane he came all the way up to new I mean he's become a friend we use report taxi I think is what it's called um and they're very good with us and we will actually for a Boston appointment we will have them stay there and wait for the person we pay for that how long how long will they stay about an hour I think is what they'll stay I we're paying them so that's my problem is my my appointment is because of Dr son she keeps me 3 hours yeah then you'd have to have the taxi come back in to get you so um we asked them to stay so that that person we'll get the taxi ride back when they're done with their appointment but it's usually about an hour right I changed the appointment to the 24th the the perfect pickup is Ani she's always ready to go and she picked up your ride no she's going to take me in the 24th okay um so that was the chocolate tour so I just wanted to let you guys know that that was um the chocolate tour is held every year in October but about this time in November is when they invite us to this they have a serve they do their regular service and they bring that up okay so upcoming programs we have for the remainder of this month our Thanksgiving luncheon is at petah Hall this Wednesday we have a craft class on Monday that is with time to clay that is um we are making glass holiday tree ornaments um in the past we have done like a plate um we did Acorn luminary it was like put a little battery CED teal light in there we've done a bunch of different things so this will be new uh the glass so that will be fun um and then our regulars Bingo yoga P hall in the Fieldhouse taii Stretch Class Maan weering Market Basket trips since like got all um still on the calendar uh our friends group had a craft fair this past Wednesday uh that went pretty well they are going to do a debrief I know they have a meeting this Wednesday morning I don't know if they're debriefing what worked what to keep what to change um many things have already been brought up so this this was a Wednesday that we had this event they had this event um they're thinking next year to do it on a Saturday um and they get more people right way right um maybe even more vendors um and they're considering a change of venue instead of here um I'd suggest they talk to the library so the library Room Pet we were thinking parking um and I don't want to compete with petah Hall's event do at the beginning of December yeah so I certainly would take anything from them um but they are they are sort of reviewing what worked what didn't they'll go through that and make a decision but I think it went pretty well um I believe they had 12 venders here plus they had Raffles and they had a cookie sale and all kinds of different things so it was pretty well attended they came spend money thank [Music] you um our December January newsletter went to the printer last week we are hoping to get that at some point this week it'll probably come on Wednesday when we're P so um we'll start on Thursday and then Monday I do want to get it out in the mail before Thanksgiving um our next Med Petty is December 4th I believe there's one appointment left on that date and then I think we're looking into January our holiday lunch in at Peta Hall has been changed so our caterer needed to change the date so we were Wednesday December 18th that has been changed to Tuesday December 17th so um we've put that in the newsletter the appropriate date when is it Tuesday December 17th so Susan was really great and put us in their petall newsletter but it has the date that we ini had so that is incorrect that's at noon time over call the uh star valy um so we changed the we had to call the entertainment then we had to speak to Peta Hall and all that kind of stuff so um that can be a challenge to try I was going to say yeah um also parking is a challenge there over at petah Hall so we're asking people like for this Wednesday or for our holiday event if you can to park further away to leave the spots that are there for people you know people who are using rolling Walkers or people who have um I don't think I have anyone who's in a wheelchair but there there are several people that come maybe that aren't on the van that are driving or driving with someone and it's more difficult for them to signage on that defun property next door on the corner so we can't use that one but we have talked to Sunset gr we have used them in the past but they've got I usually go through Joyce mairos who has a lot of um connections over there um but she has talked to us the the past about Sunset Grill so Kathy's heading over there this week just to confirm they never say no to us um there is the cottage as well but that's a little bit further down and you'd have to park around the back so we were just making Sunset Grill um so that's sort of the plan and then I we're really pushing the van as well well me have a lot of town stickers you can park right in the parking lot where's that all the way at the end of the that's that's a long on walk for people for the you know right for them um yoga at petah Hall I talked with Chris we're going to put that on hold for January and February we are doing coffee with a cop here at the COA on January 22nd our pickle ball has ended at the end of October we stopped doing outdoor pickle ball the rec committee might be still doing it here or there um but we are starting ping pong beginning in January inside the field house we do have a new program we're starting in January we are doing a hearing um service so this gentleman comes he's from a company called atome hearing Healthcare he will come give free hearing aid cleanings free wax removal and free hearing screenings and then if people are interested he can talk to you about different hearing aids that are available but um that will be on January 15th is our first one that's from 1: to 4:00 p.m. it's about a 20 minute appointment so people should call Kathy to schedule a spot because it's only lied spot between 1: and 4 but it's not a drop in so you got to call Kathy it's like our foot character that you get a specific appointment right that will be in the next newsletter our traveling chefs for December are I believe the 11th I wrote this wrong on my I think it's the 11th in the 22nd um in this edition of the newsletter uh police chief Patty Fisher has put a scam awareness um sort of chart in there so it talks about what to do or what happens what their the scammers are looking for you to do we've had far too many people uh fall victim to scams here in Newberry um so she's just trying to lay out to people if someone says this to you what they're trying to do they're trying to get you to act fast they're trying to get you information they're trying to Rattle you so that you just give them everything um and the best thing to do is hang up the phone the best thing to do is not pick up a phone number that you don't know right but um a lot of us will pick something up and then give information that we shouldn't so it's um something directly from the police department that we wanted to include in this I've heard that they will record you saying yes on something and then use it to gain different passwords and that's pretty sad when it gets to be that point so that's one of the they're pretty Savvy I mean it's a billion dollars they really are yeah yeah they brought it to a whole new level so my sister say never use the word yes when you answer the phone you've got to be kidding as it come to this right just dones of the phone that's really what we're trying to get people to do um but unfortunately some people are wrapped up in a scam they don't believe it's a scam um and they lose more money so um piles of money right it's it's astounding so to add to that know anybody read There was um a news report about um real estate fraud so recently um there was a Cape Cod uh couple that ended up their son randomly found that their his parents property was listed for sale and um anyway so I guess this is a new thing now um where Connecticut somebody successfully sold a property you know listed did a rapid sale below value none of the attorneys or anything checked on stuff and once the property sold the the couple didn't Discover it until somebody was already building on the property so Massachusetts just um put through a um regulation where you can actually go to the registry of deeds and put an alert on your property so that you are noticed if something changes for example if the property goes on the market on the MLS that's whatnot they basically K Cod couple the um had figed the IDS uh licenses so it was basically like their ID but a different picture and so that's why it got past the legal check and stuff like that but if the sun hadn't come across it the property would have been sold they would been lost it so there's a lot more real estate scams that are happening so I bring it up because I just suggest that it costs nothing to go to the registry of deeds and have the alerts put on so if you own property it's probably a good thing for everybody to do great information that's something that wjo should talk about with cops you should uh bring that up uh well we're also working with um Chief Fischer has just sent an email about working with the FBI and LEL about a new scam alert program that we're working to collaborate on and put out as well so we're constantly trying to talk about this with people we actually have a book here full of Articles recent articles that Janine and I see um and we put them in there just so people can be aware of I mean there an astounding amount of things that people will try and scam you on well the Medicare is one coming up I mean taxes in Medicare are huge because people say that something's wrong with them and it scares you and then because we're going into the charitable giving season people reach out and say oh you've been a member of you know Habitat for Humanity for years would you consider giving more this season as we approach you know this deadline and of course people want to do it but it's not Habitat for Humanity calling they just get your information yeah get your credit card yeah I always say mail me your address I'll mail your check never get it um okay so that's that uh upcoming holidays the office is closed is Thanksgiving day um and then in December initially we were going to be closed on Christmas Eve day through that whole week however Janine has opted to work that day um so that we will be open on Monday and Tuesday of that week closed Wednesday which is Christmas Day and Thursday the day after Christmas the following week would' be closed on New Year's Day but open the rest of the time okay so those are in the newsletter as well um so our shine counselor as I mentioned now is open enrollment that ends December 7th I did get an email from the woman who runs the shine program at hpan this weekend they have been inundated with people so they are referring people to 1800 Medicare from now on I did put a call out to an email out to our shine counselor he is meeting with a few people this week uh on Thursday um ordinarily what happens is people from Newbury will call us say they need to meet with the shine counselor we have them fill out a plan comparison form I give those forms to Max he's our shine counselor and he either calls you or meets with you in person I have a email out to him just to see is he at his max for meeting people or can he still take people so if he as is at his limit we will be referring people to 00 Medicare that is a 24/7 operation so people can call any day any time um but you're not going to get someone sitting right so um but I will see for Max in the past when Lisa from AG span has told me there at their limit he has still has availability to meet with people so he's really great um but people should just call us and let us know if they need to meet with someone who we'll direct them from there um again always in need of volunteers for our neat program so if anyone knows of someone who's looking to volunteer and would be willing to drive we can direct them to meet um and then the only other thing is I'm wondering if we can maybe discuss some solution for us we here I know that the council ning is a public space pretty much 99.9% of our programs we offer food so the staff we are always very aware and cognizant of washing our hands wearing gloves putting our hair back things like that um but we've had some incidents of late people going into our cabinets to get um we had an art class oh we need just some bowls we need to go in and they're going in and going through our cabinets people going into our closet people going into our refrigerator to get food so or on if we have things on the counter and a lot of times when we have things Kathy's counting out what she's buying for different programs so if we have muffins or Donuts or whatever she's kind of tabulated what she needs for different programs and then if people go over and just help themselves it can turn into we don't have enough for people aside from the fact that um people aren't necessarily wearing cloves when they go in and take such things sanitary right so I'm just looking for maybe some thought on how I can how about quiet signs with some humor and asking please do not open the refrigerator do I ask I have had signs on the refrigerator for about a year now they it's a big stop sign so they have a magnetic lock that is kind now a lot of people use them with small kids cabinets yeah so just a thought okay yeah I don't think it'll work on the refrigerator but it will work on all the cabinets and I bet it can be adapted yeah you have to see how a clip lock I mean literally it's a velro clip rock that on the refrigerator door that somebody will have to reach around and press to release it in order to open the door that's easy to figure out that's easy but it would make them stop stop it'll prove the note stop is is for Real okay um all right it's just we try to maintain an open and welcoming environment here and we want people to feel comfortable but we're at a level that's a little too to yeah that's all we had to do volte but I always bring my own food now I don't touch anything yeah I have my own I have my own things y I mean we're happy to give anybody anything they want just let us know that you want it and then we can put the appropriate precaution in place that's the only thing I'm worried about is you know because everything is for the public if someone takes something and it's not there for the one that was planned yeah your next your next send away put a note from the director just describes the we need your help and in a pleasant manner tell them what you're up against and what your prefers Behavior did I mention something on the scamming yes what brought me to the Council on AG my sister was scammed out of $400,000 so uh after that I became much more aware of who was being scammed I'm going to tell you about something that we who are very aware were almost scammed um I was calling comcat regular number for assistance with Comcast someone actually broke into the line I have no way of knowing that happened they broke into the line they said you know we'll we'll fix your problem something like um it'll cost you this much money now I'm sitting across from my husband an attorney and I'm saying well we want to give you want to give them yeah we want to get this fixed I don't I don't remember exactly but they said can you give us the credit card number I am talk to conest I thought yeah so I'm giving I'm I'm about to give them the information and almost to the end of it they said I want your CVV number my husband said I'm not giving you my CVV number I'm never giv that out to anybody I'm telling you all this because if you think it's legitimate someone ask you for that don't give out your CVV and he said I'm not giving that to you no you have to give it to us no so we called the podcast afterward and said we are calling you why does someone in your line ask us for these this information so it's it's something that who would be a win who would be a win the only reason that we we were alerted is because he's an attorney and he said never give up your CVV number and I I mean I'm sitting with one and and I'm talking on the line to the 800 number I've never heard of anything like this in my life so I'm just alerting you guys information thank you you wonder how you avoid that every time somebody you know completes a task and then they run your card through their today their portable machines your your four four four digigit numberers is made public on that every time they swipe that card they're talking about going to the store no no they come into the house whether it be a a purveyor uh who who then you know for instance the boys out on the Salsbury Highway uh that take care of the mat tags of the work they will come in with a machine and you'll pay them on the spot as they fix your dryer or fix your refrigerator and and when they swipe the car the form M goes across as well so I mean the whole universe has your American espresso Chase guard and the security number every time you transact uh it's a but I do think credit card companies there's a little bit more fraud protection than say your debit card or you know anyone asking you to get them Bitcoin or get them gift cards or send them cash it's not legit yeah and in America Express is is remarkable and they don't let anything through the door if it doesn't me a profile it's so deep you know I happen to be impromptu with my company in shil Park Chicago a few years ago uh first time in my entire life I'd ever been in sh Park in Chicago and the American Express call because I went to I went to use it at the airport and they denied it yeah and I had to get on the phone and tell them who I was and answer those four questions where did you go to k through six and etc etc etc y I have a question on scan should I wait till new business no I think we're we're discussing it now we can when you're scanning down through the internet Facebook I get invites to go for a grocery card for seniors up to $3,000 and have you ever heard of this is that a scam or is there really I would I would steer clear of any of that stuff something is nothing I have until I ask and that's why you know I don't want to go push the button until I inquire a little bit on it anything on social media makes me very hesitant too wait you know so the other one was um Biden put in you can get up to $180,000 for homeowners for seniors really so look into that too I mean it's enticing you look at 180 Grand but it's got to be a draw somehow well the word continue is the one you should avoid I mean literally every time I see the square whether it be New York Times it's when I go to delete curious if right if they're asking to click a link if they're asking you to click a link to to continue or to read more about it I would steer clear it okay so you know if there's a federal program that was put in place go to the federal page right so don't link through wait search for the page in the program or something okay like mass.gov for anything from Massachusetts you go to mass.gov and then go to search bar yeah because yeah I get stuff for solar solar advertising all the time yes um because I'm an advocate of solar power um and they say oh these programs are created by Massachusetts they're often not they're created by somebody who's interested in getting information on you so you go to mass.gov look for the solar programs if say match up fine if they don't you know it's not a real program thank you but I would go with the contact information on mass.gov or from mass.gov not from whatever that original email or social media post was I always go with the I want to mention one thing good information I want to mention one thing to you uh about shopping for your groceries people often use credit cards when they shop for their groceries which is not a problem don't ever use a debit card when you're shopping for your groceries and I'm going give you an example of someone very prominent the wife used a debit card they you know they they they got the readers on those machines why is the deut I'm in line now with anybody I said that's the deard don't use it I'm telling them and that person um then the the husband saw the bank account and he saw a a deduction of $20,000 and he said what's the $220,000 for they said did you use your card someplace yeah he said we will take care of this once but we will never do it again so they would have lost $20,000 while using a debit card which is a bank card so the thing is you're thinking I put $100 on this that's all no on but it does too yeah so yeah they have automatic limit but the automatic limit they can go up to your limit no but they go beyond that they have your information you're right so this is not by 7 line don't use that no actually do that don't use that you know I actually do that because I don't want anybody to get hurt and and they're not thinking they're getting hurt or paying cash if you have the cash people have cash some people do all right I think we've ort more things okay um is there any new business anyone um somebody had asked me if we' ever you thought of using the B for voting so we've done that the past we've offered it several times in the newsletter and nobody's ever taken us up on it so I didn't do it this time okay um I was like I don't know yeah but I have I have offered it to us and it's just never been okay accepted I'm happy to offer it again you know was just one person asking me I mean I was like with mail and everything else voting nowadays it's you know but she was like well a lot of people actually like to to go I go yes I go on Election Day to so you know if people are interested in that they should call us and then we can okay um see if we can work it out yeah can I ask you a question you know I AG everything know everybody knows that I actually filled out a whole sheet to give to us to uh Janine on hearing people understand hearing aids and why people hear them what the restrictions are but one of the main reasons I ask you for this is if you have a hearing a I don't know who has one you need an app on your phone in order to adjust that hearing age these PE people can't afford the phones so having a hearing a without an app which is on the phone raises and low raises and low as the hearing is is almost useless because they're constantly doing this the hearing aid is only one expense the app is something else entirely so I don't know if there's any way you can help people I've mentioned it the Janine they need a phone to hear so here's the thing is there' have to be a limit right because you get a smartphone and then you have to have the service to pay for it right so then that's a monthly bill right so I at the council ning do have an elder emergency fund MH that is very limited but if I buy $1,000 phones and then pay for monthly service so there there I believe there are other options for other hearing aids that don't have SM you can have a regular hearing you don't need a cell phone but you don't you can't hear with it cuz it constantly adjus it behind your ear I was with the gentleman yesterday he doesn't have the phone he couldn't hear a damn thing I we hearing a well this is also why we have this new Hearing Clinic coming in we're trying I think is absolutely fabulous we'll see if it it if it works you know it's something new to us so we're going to try it out see what people think it's like the way we were with the medical pedicures we didn't know going to work question for the gentleman for the here right yeah right is there a way I can get something that I don't need a smartphone for and he's connected in that world and knows yeah use Audiology and I do have it on my phone but I can shut the Bluetooth off and I can use a little widget that they gave me that will hook into either the TV or the town meeting and it will go right to my heiring a and block everything else off and yes you can turn it up and that so very and I'm not I'm not familiar obviously I have nothing thing that goes to the TV all the every ideology does it for me so yeah well see the other thing is um I recommend to everybody everybody seriously that the hearing needs at Costco because I paid $5,000 for my first set and Costco had the same thing for $ 13.99 that's that program of free hearing has completely stopped with this new Medicare plan so now I have two two sets of hearing a one's 139 I'm fine with that but I have an alternate set and I also go to an audiologist and I do all that stuff but when I tell about my my cousin said I have to get I have to get a hearing I said you're getting your hearing tested Mass General don't you go anywhere else but Costco to buy it the best hearing aid test I've ever had was at Costco and I've had many they offer me a job B that's the truth I said I'll take the job but I can't see at night to drive so I can't come all right any other new business uh so let's establish our next meeting date we had I think talked about not meeting in December because it's so busy so let me pull up the calendar I don't have my phone do you know there is um holiday in January on Monday January uh the third yeah would be MLK Day right yeah um so we are shut down yes so the 27th uh or the 13th we could do it a little early because we're taking December off early probably okay so let's uh set the meeting date for January 13th at 900 a.m. 2025 13th right where is that amazing okay uh I could get a motion to that effect motion and a second all those in favor I and a motion to adjourn so moved all those in favor thank you guys very much