##VIDEO ID:KCToO3BSwH4## e e e e e can folks online hear us I see a not another head one head yes oh two heads okay oh was it 6 6:32 I call theet um does they have to be second second no I think we're fine um all right so attenda we have um here and Rosemarie here yes yes I thought you say I thought you and Marilyn and Karen yes yeah and Jean pra yes and Karen Panet yes and Tony yes and I think that's it did anybody count them up do we have a quorum I think so one two three four where's all right so tonight we are going to spend some time with our announcements we are going to get the Elder and Human Services report we're going to talk about the trust funds and ARP update and Welcome to our newest member Janet who's gonna just for this T member Janet that oh you always have to pick me up on my uh this is my job I know um we're gonna get some feedback on all of the wonderful volunteers that Janet has been recruiting um oh I the ad hoc commemoration establishment committee Ace is looking for some volunteers and then lastly I want to talk about a plan of action work group for the new Senior Center so that's the plan so every thank you so much everybody should have received a copy of the minute they are very long yeah thank you very much read them all there was no way to summarize the legal stuff because every point was something different and I was like all I can do is Skip points and I'm not going to judge which ones matter and which ones didn't I just put oh oh so you did I did it yes I just put the TV on and I do another one long so how do people feel I this morning um do you want to table that and do it the next time and everybody can have a chance to read it okay well wait a minute if if Marilyn typed it up and then she's really read it she can can she give us the highlights oh god oh no look at it it is the most detailed seven single spaced five of which what what's in there legal all legal I don't know anything about legal any I would I would rather see it okay um wait until the next one I would advise did an amazing job but I didn't have time to read them I was glad through it totally understand my intention was just to like say here are the key three points go watch the video but I couldn't find three key points that I trusted myself to say that at that point she was articulating it in its entire I just just watch TV and kept doing another one um ah and Karen fontino is here hi Karen and um and we have a guest tonight Mike Colman yes hi Mike um so we're going to table the minutes to the next time to accept them that's fine um so that brings us up to our next r here select board update I don't think we have anybody here from the select board they have a meeting tonight yeah oh that's right they could have stopped in there isn't until seven right um and then um I have I noticed I have ril uh PBC update on here um recal um I don't I don't really and I have John Parson's name and it really shouldn't be it should be my name um because recal is sunsetted Right recal still exists but recal sunsetting what's the difference committee committee one's part of the PBC okay okay so that's what I see what you're okay okay um and uh the up a quick update on that the uh uh town has hired a um consultant tth last name is Healey turn and towns and Har yes and um they have been hired and they're starting and there is a meeting on Thursday with the uh TT and H and BH and a are they the OPM they are the OPM thank you yes yes and I understand that next on October 23rd they're supposed to be testing the soil yes it'll be important next week yes it's finally here right um and that's really all the update there is on that right now friends of reading senior 60 plus nor you want to talk a little bit the launch of yeah we had a launch October 1st it was at post um the new restaurant 1917 and it was very nice very well attended um select board Senior Center was there C aging some politicians I uh Mystic Valley Services was there some RNN leaders um so went well you know we just sort of introduced oursel as an organization that were um going to start fundraising and advocacy for the seniors and we have um there's been a lot of work done I mean there's a a website where you can donate there's a Facebook page um we have a brochure we're going to be at the um next week at the library at the connections we were at the reading figure what's what's next week at the library I think it's called reading connections for new anybody in the neighborhood comes to the library there's all organizations is oh welcome new welcome new neighbor renamed it yeah so that anybody can yeah we should be there yeah a table and so how are you inviting people in what night is it uh October 22nd from 5: to 7: what what day of the week Tuesday I volunteered to work on the friends table as long as I could also talk about Council on Aging and they said yes and you about the library which so how are you getting people to come the library library in the town it's it's what used to formally be new neighbors or right it's they get a good turnout I've been it's like a centralized welcome L um I also heard going back to the Friends group though I heard today that their friends group is officially out of the out of the hole out of the money we have money yes you have money now yes we have money people have been donating so was last week a fundraiser as well did you raise any dur no that wasn't a fundraiser just a launch just a launch yeah okay but people have been sending in checks um giving checks um so the people who were sending you checks how are they finding out about friends well they seem to know about either Facebook page about a Facebook it was in theing post there was an invitation yeah that was By Invitation Only for the launch but it was in the reading post and yeah there's been some write ups in the fair select board the the um also Joanne and and Mar have been doing a lot of Word of Mouth they've been working yes they had they know a lot of people yeah but it's exciting that you guys now have money I know rather [Laughter] than that's SK how much money who's taking who's doing the accounting is there a print out am I allowed to say I don't know allow to it's not Town information there's no open accountability on it it's nonprofit yeah mean it's nice to know but yeah an annual report or something not accountable for it yeah technically there's a separation in um between the organizations but um um we invite everybody here so you're in the four digits yeah with like a six wow that's great a small that I sit with during the day today one of the women said that you should put in the pleasant trees that anybody talking about end of life documents to consider friends for a donation and also when they're writing up their obituary flowers please donate I think we can yes and they're actually they're going to approach funeral homes and that were in the process of Outreach like and then also um people love their pets so you can tell them to donate pet fluffy fluffy donating no I saw your email to Joan she thought that was very helpful so I talking with that group and they thought they that was a good idea yeah they love their pets they really love their pets so they can donate okay good to know so great work great progress um moving forward um what else uh noxious odor remediation didn't want to do Mystic Valley Elder services oh I'm sorry um Mystic Valley Elder Services I wasn't able to attend the meeting this ah okay okay next month um so I'm going to turn it over to Chris right um yeah time to take a look at the report we had another um we actually had a really good month um the only reason our numbers if you can see we September was 273 um duplicated and 616 unduplicated the only reason this is low is because we almost not totally shut down but um we installed the new AV system in the great room for a week um so we didn't have any classes or programming in the great room that week so that is the only reason that number is low um you know typically on average you know if we would have had that week um we would have been well over 3,000 um probably closer to 32 um I kind of did some averaging and stuff and it probably would have been around 32 which is good um but so um it was a really good month despite being shut down but it was shut down for a good reason um so our numbers are good um even so the total number of individual people serves still grew substantially yeah 548 up to 616 without a week of our biggest room Yahoo people were so C people were so active um you know it it was really good so to have 27 three um for the month so I'm I'm excited about that um you know we continue to grow we it continue to have solid numbers where we need them to be um as you can see um volunteers right below that um take a look know what I'm talking about um you know it just kind of gives you an idea of how many volunteers July August September how many hours I kind of put in so it's um in a few minutes you'll hear from Janet our volunteer coordinator about the volunteers and everything going on with volunteers so it's you know it's been amazing and I am really excited that we have a volunteers and Jenna has done an amazing job with that so yes she has so um as you can see just some of the highlights uh October highlights this month we had Blue Cross Blue Shield um we have our blood pressure clinics back we had two lunch and learns um know we had uh State Rep Brad Jones um last Friday in um so but you can take a look down through there we have a lot of good stuff coming up up in October Halloween party on October 31st lunch um Anna's done again phenomenal with getting you know the programming in so another good ahead of us so kudos to Anna um PSC update um I'm just going to skip around just a little bit as I mentioned um the AV system is in and it is working really well so it is nice um we have the wireless mic back the volume's good it's a very simple system um easier than the previous one it's literally hit a button and it's on so it it is working really well we did we did uh last Friday they got the second we installed a second camera for conferencing so we have one that will that faces the audience but then we just installed a su one to um point and focus on any presentation presenter um so originally we were just going to go with one that showed the audience but um you know we we had actually the town had another one we just had to purchase the bracket and everything to hang the second one so it it's kind of an no-brainer to get both cameras so we can see you know the room but also we can focus on the presenter so we can um be honest yeah I think if we wanted to we could start having COA meetings at the Pleasant Street Center if we wanted to I feel like we're the council and agent and the pleasantry Center I feel like kind of makes sense I I was gonna suggest that that our next meeting can it be ATC so we can my hope um I got to look at the date um but yeah as long as we have nothing in the great room we can have great COA meetings at the Pleasant stre Center which is St before the pandemic it's just because of Zoom that we haven't but now we have that covered so can do it really excited about that um we continue to reduce the use of plastic water bottles at the Pleasant Street Center which is really good over the past month if you've been to some of the bigger events and some other events we started using pictures of water on the tables and cups so we really have reduced the number of little plastic bottles that we're using we were going through quite a bit and we have really cut that down um we still have some if if if we need them but we're not using many which is really good so um you know so that Al so that means over the past two years you know most of our utensils are compostable plates are either paper or compostable tablecloth a compostable except for the round ones I can't find round compostable tablecloths yet but you know we don't use the round ones very often right now um but you know we've really reduced the how much plastic we're using at the plma street Center so it's a really good initiative and I'm really it's a nice thing to have so the staff has done really well with implementing that and getting things set with that so to reduce the plastic so who does um we do have a I put this on last month but we do have a coffee time group um after best exercise on Fridays and that seems to be going fairly well um other than the once a month when Brad Jones is there for office hour um you know after don't get me started Rosemary um don't um but we you know after best on on Fridays you know best gets done at 10: and we make some coffee and folks can hang around and have some coffee and chat you don't even have to be best part of best you could just come down at 10 and you know have some coffee nice so um feel free to join um facilities rerouted the HVAC exhaust system in the Attic um away from the intake um We are continuing we're not 100% sure it took care of the odor we're continuing to wait for to make the weather's been up and down so the system's been kind of in flux so we haven't had a good cold spell to really run the system we are getting getting some of a smell um something that I did notice though last week and they started cleaning is um I had I started having them clean the vents so a lot of the vents and inside the vents were pretty caked with a buildup of dust um so they in the process of doing that um which would help with the air intake so and um so we're kind of going with that that's the update on the odor um we're going to give it a month and see and then it's going to be up to facilities um and if you want an answer you're going to have to reach out to facilities on that one um but that's just a quick update on you know I know yes we're probably still smelling something the system's kicking on and off quite a bit because we're going hot and cold still we want to get cold to see wh you know see the extent of it and we'd like to get the vents cleaned um the intake vents cleaned um oh so they're not being cleaned now well I don't know the last time they were cleaned but I noticed they needed so but I asked that they cleaned them so I know they started working on that last Friday I noticed some um and I but it's going to take probably another Friday or two just to get them down and get them cleaned up um so that's an update on the hbac system I have a question yes the um trash cart presentation how did people respond to that I know these are enormous trash can so um actually I thought it it went really well um so there's a couple differences last time we did it about a year ago or whenever it was um you know that it was still something that was being thought of it wasn't an actual you know it wasn't a done deal now it is a done deal so people know it's coming um and they seem to have um you know it was a good presentation there's a lot of good questions um it's also nice that they're uh providing different size barrels especially for seniors so they have three different size barrels that seniors can choose from they have a 48 48 gallon a 64 gallon and the standard one is a 96 gallon um and they have a list for seniors older adults that they can sign up um request a smaller one so when they implement this later in the fall they can receive a smaller one if they want to so um smaller than 48 or just 48 is the smallest and it's not it's still maybe for some people a little bit big but it's not I think it's pretty manageable compared to the 96 96 gallon but I thought it went really well people had a lot of good questions what do you think Jenna yeah I agree and I feel like there wasn't as many people signing up for the small barrels as I anticipated I don't know I signed up for the middle ones yeah did you have the sizes there Y and they're still at the center so people can kind of view them um they're right in the great room so if you want to come by and take a look please please come by and test drive them when is that rolling out in the town uh spring next spring after after winter okay yeah so that's when they will distribute everyone will get a recycling and a trash barrel the recycling barrels will be blue um and the trash barrels will be all green so the recycling are these sizes as well yeah so you can okay um rather than giving everyone a 96 of make I use my little red thing and it's more than it so but they have you'll have a 48 one which and they're coming back again right in December December yeah December for another talk in DEC so it was a good presentation not a whole lot of uproar um you know see people seem to be okay with it so but it's also coming so I mean it's GNA happen um yeah so it was a good mench there good question thank you Jean um has her hand up Jean uh quick question for you um is there a signup sheet going forward at the center if those who did not attend the meeting they come down and look at these can they sign up at the center so I have taken a couple names at the center I got I was going to call Chris cool today but I got um side check with a couple things I'm going to call him tomorrow to see if we can't grab it I don't see why we couldn't have a his sheet down there for a couple weeks because I have taken some names um and then just kind of called him and be like hey John Smith wants a 48 gallon you know is it publicized on the town website they can where they go to sign up yeah but I think it I mean I don't see any harm why we couldn't have it at the center I think that's great they just woring about the 6,000 don't go to yeah their slideshow their slideshow that they use for the lunch Lear will be on the DPW website and should be on the town website soon I haven't checked if it's up yet but they said they we're going to put it up soon yeah and how did they sign up for what size they want um contact DBW or they can come down to the Pleasant stre Center okay okay is the easiest and I think Chris was also going to be putting together a flyer there was a suggestion from someone at the talk that they would like because there's a lot of information so hey give us all the key points on one flyer um and then Chris can distribute that at the center as well good idea so part of the key points were what we going to do with our red bins right so people need to know that too right yeah all the FAQs right those frequently asked questions and even people had a lot of great questions about their bulk items like they thought that was completely out the door um It Isn't So leaf pickup is still there they're gonna do that too did they talk about leaf pickup I don't remember but I don't recall that they did but it's a good question we can add it can make sure that's a good question this and this is nice it's good that we talk about this because these are really good questions that you know like this that I didn't even think about I think about bulk items but I didn't think about the leaf oh they did mention bulk items yeah they didn't mention the leaf collection yeah we will um ask Chris about that I think I think the pickup for bulk items needs to be clearer what exactly can we put out there and can we just put them next to the barrels are we going to be lifting up something heavy to go in to the barel does everything have to go I didn't go I'll watch the thing but does everything have to go in the barrel yeah yes okay so you can't just put out a green bag with well anymore they are thinking about specific bags that you can buy that you like overflow okay I'll watch $3 a bag I don't think they have that set yet huh I don't think that price is Si yeah I H $3 a bag well whatever good the middle barel winter before they do it you have another like handful months yeah declutter yeah it should CH do do you have any more questions K thank you good thank you very much lot going on a lot of information too so that's great um actually if people don't mind mind I'm going to switch the and put the volunteer update next great um and then we'll do the trust fund oper absolutely thank you so um so I haven't met you my name's janto I'm the volunteer coordinator at the center um Chris and Jenna asked me to come because I well just been here 10 months I was hired in December of 2023 for an 18-month contract with arpa funding I work 19 hours a week at the center um just I'll give you a little recap and looking ahead so since I started we created and updated the volunteer application a handbook and we have an opportunity list for the community we have successfully trained um recruited and overseeing over 43 volunteers now at the center who come weekly some are monthly and then we we do have several who are now continuous weekly volunteers we have established Partnerships with Northshore Bank Eastern Bank Royal Health um Austin prep Wakefield High St John's Prep and um reading high school and the larger organizations provide groups of volunteers for all of our large events and then the high schools have been giving us um volunteers for specific events this summer we had a student from Austin prep who helped run our chair volleyball program we had a student from St John's Prep who we''ve been working with on a redesign of pleasantries that will be launching in January and we also have uh volunteers from Reading High School who have volunteered at events and they're also our decorating committee and they've been coming in the decorating Center for all the holidays so we're just looking to keep that growth going and it's involving people from all ages which we enjoy um we have developed and maintain a volunteer Spotlight which is featured in pleasantries on our Facebook page and also in Reading Post the purpose of this is not only to thank our volunteers but so outside people can see themselves volunteering it's not just for seniors we have this wonderful woman Michelle who's a she's a mom who works from home but she comes on her lunch break on Mondays to help serve lunch so it's highlighting these people so they can see other people can see themselves you know volunteering with us it's not just you know we have Ralph who's wonderful who does our Bingo but we want them to show all different ages and different skills like we have Biff who we're featuring this month who is our lamp repair volunteer who has volunt has been fixing lamps for over six years with us free of charge for every senior so it's we're just trying to show people what we have so they can see themselves with us um in addition to those items I've um I took a grant writing class this summer in hopes that we can bring some more funding in through grants we just submitted our first grant today Chris I Chris and Anna and I um worked on a grant so we're hoping maybe we'll see something come from that um and we are looking to expand our volunteer recruitment to work with the Knights of Columbus the Boys and Girls Scouts and some other local companies to keep growing the numbers um there's been a bunch of other things that I've you know that I work on just to help out you know I assist with front desk when Linda's out um I assist with the program um with Anna like helping out with events you know I'll help her with ideas we help her execute clean up you know just because it's hard she's a oneman show with that so it's nice to have some help and finally we are on the final steps of revitalizing our property tax worker program for 2025 this program um existed in the town prior to co and kind of petered out due to co for those who aren't familiar it's in most towns across the state it is a program where it allows senior 60 plus to work in the town to get um an abatement on their property tax So currently um the program was kind of just you know treading water so we tried to revitalize it bring it up to um minimum wage and we are in the final steps that we will have 10 positions available for 2025 hopefully um at where seniors can work a 100 hours to get $1,500 off their property tax wonderful good for you so not we're almost there so this is our a request for this group we would like to present the final program to the COA next meeting and that to vote for your approval so that we can then go to the select board in December get their approval and then hopefully launch in January so we can start accepting applications February March and people can start working in the spring so if we can get I'm so sorry I'm sorry what's the name of that program it's the property tax worker program is it income base yes we uh we will be we just were met today and there were several we we did a comparison of surrounding towns to see how what other towns do and there's several different ways it can be done some towns have no income limit some use the um Circuit Breaker Senior circuit breaker tax credit limit and other towns use the federal poty level times four 500 for their number and it was decided today we'd be going with the federal poverty level because it is a higher a bit higher number um and we will be hosting um once the program launched the assessor has kindly offered to come over and do some presentations with us at the senior center to educate everyone on the on the program plus all the other programs that the assessor's office offers to seniors um how they can work together and hopefully if if this works well and people are interested we see a lot we can grow the program from 10 positions to hopefully more in the following year but it's kind of like dipping our toes in seeing how people respond and if there's a desire for it from the seniors then we can continue to make it grow is M just so you all know we are going we're hoping next month to give you more information and and tell you more about it we're just we met this morning Jen and I Jenna and a handful of us met this morning to go over some details so um I mean feel free to ask some questions but just know um hopefully we can add this to the agenda for next month sure and get you more detail so um definitely yes and so we we learned today the process would be for you all to vote to approve our proposal and once that approval comes then we can take the next step what is the federal poverty level um I can give you the numbers right here so what they do is they take the number and they multiply it either by four or 500 it would be 75,00 for a family of one from a family of 22,200 and then that number gets multiplied by four no that's that multip that is the multiplier yeah and the income level before was extremely low I think it was 39,000 so obviously the number of eligible people would be yeah I have a question wait hold on Jean's Jean's had her hand up for a while Jean hi hi one quick thing from my knowledge with this from previous years I don't know if it's still in force but something you might want to check with is um with the town because there was something years ago I have heard that if a senior's income at the time qualify them but if they had anything in a trust that was something the town needed to see or check out so that's another aspect of that yeah on the town accessor we have that as part of um the application process in the checklist so that is included and um when when that happens when the application is filled out they'll include that information and the town assessor will clear all applicants but you know if you guys think of more questions um I hopefully we'll have all the answers for you I have a question did not about this but um how is your position going to be funded after oura funding ends well we have been discussing that um and we plan to ask for it to stay in the budget with um also maybe about five to six at least increased hours um so stay tuned oh good that's really good to yeah you're planning it absolutely so we've been talking extensively pretty pretty I know Jen and I have been talking about it a lot I know I've been talking to Janet with it a lot I do not want to lose her so it's a very good question Karen so Jenna have you been discussing it with so um yeah we've met with the assistant Town manager who's talked to the town manager Chris and I have met several times um I talked to someone on fincom who mentioned it at the meeting last week and specifically the one of the reasons why Janet is here today is obviously I want you guys to see how valuable she is she isable you know she's so much more than just a volunteer coordinator which a lot of our staff does a lot a lot more than their position everyone does and you know if you're a good worker usually you do you go above and beyond in whatever work you do but like the amount of care and time and effort and the level of execution um over there is like tremendous like you would ask Janet for something and she would probably have it to like in three hours or if she didn't she would work all night until she got it to you so um you know she's she's really great over there and her experience before the center too is also what makes her are so valuable working for the Jimmy fund and having marketing background and so she's really a go-getter and um has so many tools and knowledge that work really well with like the direction that we're heading in so it would be awful to not have her in the future um obviously it was Grant funded and she knew when she was HED it was it was an experiment for us all but but um we want to keep her so and I have to hold on I I do want to say jennet's work has been amazing this is you can soak it in for a few minutes she has like I have been impressed by the volunteers how many volunteers have signed up it has made a huge difference you know um I I I go down and say hi but I'm not you know it's amazing that I know even if I have to stay up on my desk I know the operation there is running magnificently and it's thanks to thanks to the staff but it's also thanks to Janet and the volunteers that I know for events I mean I have never seen an operation you know the the cogs are turning perfectly knock on wood that you know I know it's smooth everyone knows the operation we they know what they're doing and it's it's fantastic and you know a lot of this has to do with the sheer number of volunteers that have come in um and it's made such a huge difference so kudos to Janet for all her work it's everybody now that we're sharing the the funding of our public health nurse as well um it allows us to keep our program coordinators that we're being offset so even if we do ask for Janice position to stay funded but some extra hours I the way that the numbers balance out it may not be like a very large ask either so who are you asking what is the final who makes the final decision well fincom um select board you know they got to approve has to go before and then it goes to town meeting oh before town meeting yeah all the budgets go before town meeting to get approved yeah so we've we've been able to be creative with a lot of our resources so we think that we can keep a lot of these arpa funded positions of the way that they are so and Jenna's been working I have to say Jenna's been working you know getting what we need and I appreciate that I mean Jenna support um and you know we've been focusing on I mean we're just we're in a different time than we ever have been things are different we have a lot more Folks at the center you know we're at a different level than we were and you know this operating at this level wouldn't be possible without the staff but it also wouldn't be possible without like J support and you know as we try to get this figured out so I want to make sure thank you to Jenna because I know she's always there I I annoy her with phone calls probably too many times during I know she screens them now not answering his call for the third time today um but it really I have to say at the level that we're operating you know it's the volunteers the staff um and Jenna to get what we need you know it looks differently and change is a little scary for people but it's what we need and it's a good change and we're getting the support we need which is awesome and from you guys and and from you guys yes course a suggestion you may already do this I have no idea but it just occurs to me that um you enjoy working with the volunteers I'm sure because they're doing it they must all really enjoy the opportunity to be engaged in the senior center and I think that is a really good poster child for how important the senior center is in giving people in the community an opportunity to be engaged with the community so even if you had like a two question you know what does this job mean to you anous that that's what the volunteer f l does it great all right fabulous we found it's nice because like we I mean my sons have been recruited and they are there but it's nice to see the different ages and it's also it's fulfilling for the seniors we have that volunteer but then also for from all these organizations like they come in and then they're vested you know we see like example Northshore Bank and Eastern Bank we keep seeing the same people coming back at the beginning they it would just be random they put it out to their all their branches and we'd see different people but now a lot of people keep coming back because they they enjoy being there and an example we have a wonderful woman who comes in on Mondays and makes coffee she started um a couple months after I started and you know it's just nice that she didn't really come into the senior center before and now she's she comes to events because now she you know you feel part of the community so I think it has a positive effect on me on other seniors but also on the volunteers is there a way to encapsulate that for to share with the select board I mean we really need to get our message out as to how important to the community a senior center community center whatever the heck it ends up being is and I think this again I think it's a great poster child and clearly you've got the material needs to some I'll be happy to help if you want help thinking about how to put together you do realize J's going to probably have it to you tomorrow how she work it's fine but I'm happy slides out of it or something here's an example of how important this kind of institution is and it crosses the ages so we can get that out and I think it's that's wise I think it's a smart now that we're having different aspects and a lot of things going on Jean has her has her hand up hi uh I strongly I strongly feel Jan's position is very very important this is mainly for Jenna Jenna how long is it going to take to get an approval or vote on this position I mean my thought is this is there any way to write something into the OPA fun that should they need it that they will cover an additional time for Janet until it is approved by the town that's a great suggestion um I did when I was asked a month ago or so I think in the last meeting I had mentioned it that there would be a discussion on reallocation of funds that was one of the suggestions that I brought to leadership and I I said it was um staff in the potential um funding for the future design and construction of the um Center the recal center and um additional funding to offset staff and the overwhelming response from the leadership including our town accountant was that they never really liked the idea of Cliff funding um positions with grants that they want it budgeted into the actual budget and not keep relying on that um so that was a response to that and then the design and construction of the center since the funds have to be encumbered by the end of FY end of calendar year 2024 um that there's no additional plans yet for the center so we can't apply it to something that we don't know is going to happen or get voted on so there there is some um discussion on that which is why next this is the thing that we think is is a good solution but I'll get to that next but so with the budget like I said before for the position um in any additional positions it would be um the first fincom meeting then it would be the select board and then it would go to town meeting so we would find out in the spring generally speaking if like fincom approves it and the select board approves it and it's kind of a short amount of money generally speaking town meeting does approve it um so I would think by the winter time December um we would have a better idea November December right because Janet's position ends in June doesn't it cor yep yep but we'll know before then right okay all right we'll know before next June and the town manager sees this as a priority because he has to put forth the the budget to be presented by everyone yes I mean I I've been speaking with him and Jane quite extensively so I don't have the projections for the next fiscal year with everyone's increases and all of the offsets yet so I can't dive in to see still pretty much because you you can you can look at things that you're not using within your staff like we don't really use one of our part-time drivers anymore but he was in the part-time driver budget so knowing what it's projected for the next fiscal year I could take some of that money and I could apply it to like that salary so there's some creative things that you could do within the budget existing budget I just don't have those numbers yet and I will in a few weeks so when will that information be available be be firm be so we will know what's in it and how can the Council on Aging help yeah it'll be in the at um November fincom meeting okay when we go over the budgets um so at that time there'll be a definitive plan we have to do writeups for each of the Departments SL divisions so um we'll have a plan that itemizes out everything that we're looking for the additional funding that we're looking for um we wouldn't be asking for any other operating expenses or anything like that just like an increase in the salaries um slightly probably for Janet I mean might there be other expenses that I mean the EHS has a very um minimal budget compared to other towns and and I think sometimes what happens is it's low balled more than it should be so I'm really glad to see that Janet's salary um and position would become part of it and perhaps um you know there might be a discussion what else is missing from that budget like an Outreach coordinator we don't have an Outreach coordinator um so what else might be missing that we would want to put in it right and it's hard because you know before arpa we didn't have any staff really like literally our front desk person was in full-time and his position was part-time we didn't have a Janet um wreck had a part-time program coordinator and before that we had no program coordinator it was just me and Sue or Sue and I and I'm not saying that more staff isn't needed because certainly when you start to grow a program and you think about having a potential new place that more staff is needed however the budgeting season is going to be really tight this year um due to Union contracts and other things like that and two years ago we were given an increase in our operating expenses by $25,000 and plus we just have all this money in arpa that we received so this current year I don't think that we need extra money in operating funds um considering we have the $50,000 in the operating funds and we have the remaining of the arpa funds that is encumbered through the end of next year and you know we're we're using all of our money and we have the over $400,000 in the trust funds too so right now I don't think asking for more of a an operating expenses budget is necessary okay so maybe I also want to make sure um I would like to suggest that perhaps this be a topic for the November meeting and Jenna you could because the operating budget is still a mystery to me so perhaps you can walk us through the operating budget what's in it how is it calculated and um and there may be opportunities for the Council on Aging to assist in and getting additional budget so yeah and then one last thing I know we're off topic um is that we do have a consultant that we can use I think it's called Ballard they're they're part of BH plusa so my suggestion was to enlist them so they can compare what we would need in the they could tell us what we need in the future if we were to have a bigger Center um because right now if we had another staff person there I don't even know where they would sit either um I don't have space for another roommate in my office use my dining room so that would be a good use of um Town funds I think too and that's something maybe you could help with or anyone who's we can have a larger the focus I want to make sure the focus though stays on Janet oh no operating and salaries are different budgets just so you know I wanna that's the focus I just my two cents and I think Nancy's idea is excellent um and you things and I like the idea of at least a little bit of brainstorming but I appreciate what you're saying about this reality we have to live with this right yeah there's also the comparative reality and of course I know the thing I we go back and forth Chris all the time well we be great to have some evening things my fous could we just have one night a month that has full services for people that work and it's like well we don't have staff for nights so things like that to brainstorm over a little bit yeah absolutely so what can we do to secure that Janet's jobs with us before we before we get into that I'd like to see if Janet do you want to add anything anything else that you're doing that um we should we have we have a new an exciting program coming for the winter last year when I started we were there was a request for volunteers to shovel but then we discovered there was a lot of liability with that scheduling so we're going to be launching sand for seniors where we have volunteers going to come and we're going to fill buckets of sand because the to of writing provides free sand to Residents so we are going to be Chris has arranged for us to get the buckets and shovels we're going to have volunteers fill the buckets people can sign up if they aren't able to get their own sand we'll be delivering it to their home so that we can at least try and help make their homes a little bit safer in the winter months nice so it's I mean it's it's not shoveling but it's some we're trying to provide some service and sand can be very heavy and so we were looking to launch that program to try and help you know with the icy sidewalks this winter so we'll have a group shoveling sand into buck and delivering yeah so no but I'm I I really I'm very fortunate to have this position working with Chris Anna Carrie and the social work Joe the driver is fantastic Linda and we added Liv the nurse who is wonderful so I mean it's a really it's a it's a pleasure to work with everybody and it's it's a nice team everybody contributes like not one of us does anything alone everybody's always there so it's really nice so it's a very nice it's a wonderful place to work good yay thank [Laughter] you um so shall we move on to a discussion of the trust fund and an arpa update bye bye Janet great thank you thank you coming as well as for all you're doing I know thanks Janet I did reach out to Dian morido about coming to the meeting I know Nancy was on the email too but she's just too busy um at the moment so she gave me a list of little blurbs that I added onto the trust funds that kind of tell you what each line item is on the trust funds and again we'll try to get her in here if there's additional questions and if anyone does have questions specifically related to the trust funds or any of those items the best thing to do is to email me directly and I can reach out to Diane and get the answer and then I can compile all of those questions that you have and the answers and bring them to you know the next meeting so you can stay informed on you know what's going on um so that's that for the trust funds the arpa funds we did I know that we sent out the monthly report like we usually do but the other item obviously can I just sure go back to the trust funds for a minute so I'm looking at these columns what column how much money is there to spend right now so if you look at the Expendable yeah all the way on the right hand side that's the principle and earnings that can be used for for authorized purposes okay so those are the amounts in each of the TR trust funds that you can expend okay the amount and the non-expendable and this is just you know what Diane didn't do these herself um is a mount that is principal that must be preserved intact so and where is the Burbank principal sitting right is that in the Expendable or the non-expendable Expendable yeah until we change our opinion on it I'd argue it shouldn't be but yeah I mean the standing we can change it but the standing decision of the Council on Aging was that only the interest would be spent until unless a further motion was made to change it so until that happens I just don't want to get anyone's hopes up on something that Comm will could be totally justified in saying nice idea but no you know yeah and there is um outlines on all of these trust funds that says oh like you can only use the interest you can only use there's certain outlines that but the are allocated but the B birbank one was voted on by the Council on J as well documented that unless we make a reverse decision which we can sure but we haven't yet so that column those columns need to be adjusted yeah okay all right can check with Diane yeah or at least as skit or something you say this would I mean honestly I don't really feel comfortable going back and forth with her so if you know because being the middleman's difficult because I'm not again like I said in the last meeting I'm not an expert on this yeah so I think the best thing to do is maybe you contact her directly and set up a meeting okay um and that way and maybe with Marilyn too yeah or anyone else who's good with numbers I I'm not good with like the the trust fun stuff I just I just wonder I mean the patron for older adults is that a really old yeah what is all very old because that has a significant amount I'm just the interest that's a significant amount yeah um that has been earned I'm just curious yeah yeah these are all very old and we haven't really been pulling from them which we've been letting them grow and to be honest the Market's been doing really well over the past year too um so there's one were required to make an expenditure out of each year and hopefully now you did the birthday C that was the patron of for adult one I think we just have to make that one I think that's one you did you do it we need to do it if we haven't done it yet we're required we're required by the trust to have at least one expenditure a year we use any of these monies for Janet salary no the you can't use any of the trust funds for salaries yeah that I do remember reading okay can can you send me Diane's um email yes that would be great yeah and even if you wanted see see you on yeah maybe when they have their next trust fund Commissioners meeting you can be added as an agenda item and go in there to discuss this and then they and I would obviously go to that but I think it'd be more powerful and impactful coming from you okay um and if you need help Nancy find oh well definitely I was going to say the documentation of the fact that the council and AG made its decision but it could be reversed it just hasn't been through the dates so you're saying that it was all made Expendable no the opposite it was the interest oh for the Burbank the council in aging voted quite a while ago um and said that the only the interest out of that was to be expended the trust was to be maintained to build I'm sure the that donation is pretty significant though as well I understand but that was decision and and it can be reversed by Council and AG but it hasn't been yet it has not been no and actually I think think Mark was suggesting it gets switched to Expendable a couple years ago because it made the point which is true it could be it's just it hasn't been so I don't want people to look at it and say well that money's ready to go no what's involved in switching over you switch it back we would have to have a council vote Yes why don't we do it i' oppose tonight we don't anything we know let's figure out the details first before we take yeah yeah all right awesome okay well thanks for helping with that Nancy and Marilyn possibly thanks so the next part of the arpa is the reallocation of the funds I know I spoke really briefly on it last month how I would probably have to be going to the select board for a presentation and um basically I asked hey do you want me to make a detailed presentation and they were like no have you know give all of your information to Sharon and obviously Jane and have them kind of relay the thoughts um of what you think could the funds could be used for like I said I had preliminary conversations before um any of this came about about how different ways to spend the fund so it wasn't just like automatically I thought it should go to what I'm going to present but I think this what I'm going to present is a really great Harmony of what the fund should be used for um I think it's a really good use of the funds I think it Services the 60 plus Community as well as other people in the community so I wanted to write something out and read it so I knew that I got everything out and I didn't just like speak off hand so I'll pass it around so you guys can have it and then we could add this to the meeting minutes too everyone and sorry this wasn't out in advance I literally just finished it today because last week when Nancy and I had a conversation about this she said well I want backs I want you know data supporting this and I said fair enough you're absolutely correct um we want in my head I thought I I knew um and facts are are very important to have when you're presenting it holistically and um I'll just go ahead and start reading it and then Chris is going to chime in after So currently most of the reading Pleasant Street Center programs are encumbered until the end of calendar year 2025 the lunch and learn meals are encumbered until the end of calendar year 2025 and Monday Community meals are encumbered until the end of June 20125 there are some events that have not been scheduled past June 2025 that can be paid from the operating fund EHS has their annual operating budget of $50,000 which was increased two years ago by $25,000 and the cumulative amount of expendable trust funds is over 400,000 we're not really quite sure about that now yeah because of the interest part but in full transparency um there's approximately 98,000 remaining in arpa funds by the end of December 2024 we need to encumber the funds and we project that 880,000 give or take will be remaining that was slated towards supplemental programming space this was also mentioned in the last meeting there was a discussion at the select board in thcom on the Poss possibility possible reallocation of funds toward pickle ball we apologize for The Rush timeline and want the Coe to know that a few ideas were brought to staff and Leadership over the course of the past month and that pickle ball design appeared to be a great use of the funds here's why currently our people PA reading pickle ball Players Association Along with a private donor have fundraised $120,000 to put towards pickle ball Courts at Simon's way they are projecting to have even more by Spring of 2025 pickle ball is an extremely popular sport among our 60 plus Community the intention of the arpa funds was to use it to benefit the 60 plus community in Reading not just those who attend the PSC outdoor activities were a lifelong during covid and remain an important part for our community Community therefore the design of these courts will benefit another demographic of the 60 plus population while also creating inter intergenerational and multigenerational opportunities this is long there are currently than a Breo there are currently Courts at Memorial Park but there is inadequate parking and complaints from Neighbors about the noise of pickle ball in addition pickle ball courts were removed from the Birch Meadow due Capital plan in large part due to the proximity to the neighborhood and school because of the noise the allocation of arpa funds to pickle ball is not an entirely New Concept there have been Suggestions by staff committee members and members of the community to explore this opportunity for the funds at the time there are various boards and committees like swc and recal that were determining uses at specific locations after much vetting pickle ball Simons away was an identified project in both committees and a supported by rppa and staff pickle ball courts would also not affect the addition of a future Reading Center for active living if Simon's W with the determined site we have done some data pulls through rppa and reading Recreation over the past week to show the popularity of the sportt in our 60 plus population first there was a pickle ball petition made last year for new courts pickleball Enthusiast submitted postcards to the town staff that they would like sports at Simon's way now and that's what in capital letters um Recreation received 167 postcards and 93 were from Reading 60 plus residents or 56% Recreation also calculated the number of participants in pickle ball from January of 2022 to present and had 376 unique participants which means that they weren't repeating um and if we calculated the repeating it would be pretty significant um there were 172 60 plus participants or 46% it can also be noted that ages 50 to 59 account for 1404 unique participants are 28% therefore ages 50 plus make up almost 75% of pickle ball participants in Recreation programs finally the list from rppa 60 plus participants provided by m Michael Colman reading W 60 plus participants and 60 plus petitioners who submitted those orange cards was the combined 247 unique participants it could be argued that on a given day just as many ring seniors play pickle ball as attend the Pleasant Street Center there are also of course members that do both and I've I've seen that happen and I know that happens ultimately it is a select board decision but we hope that the COA will support the reallocation of arpa funds from supplemental program space to design money for pickle ball and then below is just the um graph that Rec provided that is kind of just a graph of what I just said so do they want all the funds the whole 880,000 or would there be some left for maybe Chris needs to order things can can I just before we get into discussing it can I just say a few words I I I I support this proposal I think it's a very good use of the money um uh and um I think Jenna has laid the groundwork for the fact that the population is part of the population that the COA serves and um if you remember way back when when we were beginning to all we but we were part of the input for allocating the funds this was brought up and the recommendation was let's hold off and and see which way this goes well now it's back up again and um I I just want to say that I I fully support using the $80,000 for um pickall one of the things that Mark doxer did at the select board meeting was rather than vote on it at the last week's select board meeting it's going to be put off into until November at that point we'll know what the testing holds for us and we'll be able to make make better plans on the expenditure of the funds but I I just think it fits into our mission and I I also think my gut tells me that there's this is a population that we currently are not serving and um um and I think it's a good news to the Nancy are we voting on it or we're discussing okay we're discussing it but I do you need a vote from us like from the next meeting or not I I think that they don't need a vote because the town can go and say hey we brought it to the Council on agent and it's and that we support it so but I I just um so we can put it on the agenda for the next meeting and we and take a vote um that we do support this um uh money to go towards the pick a ball pick ball effort it would be helpful to have a vote I do too to take to the black Bo and and just sorry just really jump in really quickly I want to say I support it as well I think it's a good use um you know it is a population that you know a lot of them don't come to the center and it's a good way for us to do a little bit of Outreach and maybe reach a population that I think would be important to reach to um you know and I hope to be able to be a great partnership to form between pickle ball and the Pleasant Street Center because a lot of those folks they're coming in and you know the more information that we can get out to help um the better um and you know it's I think it's a great opportunity to share you know I think and there's no explanation pickle ball is it's a great sport it's growing um I mean my expertise before coming here was in exercise health and science um and older adults need to keep moving I do hope that you know especially the pickle ball Association I I hope they um promote proper proper pickle ball so older adults might my only worry is that you know I want to make sure older adults don't get hurt there is an increase and you know I want to make sure we Advocate that we keep our our older adults moving and we keep them healthy and this is a fantastic way to do it and I want to make sure we do it properly um because I don't want someone to get in like but that's any of our health and exercise classes I don't want anyone to get injured and you know that could lead down to a road but I support this because pickle ball people are fans it's a group that you know be great to form a relationship with it's important I know Karen um has spoken about it a lot and I value her opinion on it and what she says and what it's done even for her um and know those are that's important um so I want to say you know as the EHS administrator I support I think this is a good use of funds um you know I even mentioned you know maybe we could there's a little bit of room maybe we could put in a botchy Court you know which would be I think would be awesome to you know because I do I don't have a huge lot of data on this but I do know a lot of guys over the past year or two have mentioned hey is there possible to get a bot Court I'm not saying we have to fund it through this 880,000 but maybe if there's some space to okay we can throw in a Bachi court that we don't have um might just be another tool to continue Outreach um and continue to serve our older uh younger adults and older adults and ready yeah so I I support it so I'm gonna open this up for discussion now we're not going to vote on this um just so that people know um we're pretty much on time for the agenda the the next two items should be very short but I'm thinking that you know we keep the discussion to about 15 minutes and go forward Marilyn wa a minute I I support this as well at the select board meeting I spoke asking I wasn't even mention wreck or pickle ball I just was concerned they were going to decide that night and on the document that they had in the packet for possible uses actually pickle ball wasn't on the list but also what had me upset was I didn't see anything about funding the upcoming expenses that we know are coming on the community center work but you just explained that that scene there was conversation wasn't reflected in the document shared for the packet that there was reason it wasn't there it wasn't just who needs that so I was reacting to that I was not reacting against anything about this proposal I think that pickle ball is a great way to get into that segment of the seniors that we don't really have a lot for right now I'm for it yeah you you had a you had a question rosary and I I I think you asked oh will some of that money be available if Chris needs it for certain things um by the end of this year um 2024 there's still $188,000 that we're using towards the programming so this is the supplemental programming space portion so until the end of the year Chris will have those those funds and then any general supplies that he'll need or anything like that we have almost our whole entire operating budget of $50,000 remaining that he can use from January till June and then it resets again in June um so there'll be plenty of money um because again we encumbered all of the programs too for next year so right I put all the vendors on contracts for the next 14 months um so we can pay them out of the arpa funds also means participants won't have to pay um for the next 14 months I've also been taking a look at our supplies um and utilizing some of the arpa um making orders with some of the arpa funds so we can have the supplies that we need for the programming that we have encumbered for the next year so we've been not just looking near nearsighted we've been looking longer term to make sure we have what we need so right and Sharon Our Town accountant encumbering the funds is difficult so we needed those contracts to encumber all of the funds yeah so we needed to have every single vendor sign it they needed to give a pricing sheet then we needed to go into munice you know set up the PO um so it it was a lot of work that was done in the past month so thanks for all your help into all the vendors for being responsive and and respond and now I think next year even more programs are free than this year we have more that's what I've been doing over the past essentially month is getting contracts and talking to all our vendors so you know um Zumba on two Mondays and Tuesdays at senior fate and Zumba is going to be free for the next 14 months so we can pay Kelly um you know so art class will be free um so we can you know really going to try to push the Outreach and I think this is a great opportunity like I was saying not you know we can help grow you know with our remaining arpa funds the Outreach and we're encumbering so we can help get people in the door and the more people we get in the door the more we can reach and you know not everyone will stay but we do a pretty good job on keeping people staying and this is also allows us to with a pickle ball to reach folks that we don't reach and I need to reach because I think it's important Does it include the rackets and things or does everyone bring their own bring your own you bring your own okay so I don't know anything about pickle ball um take exercise I don't do that um but so for these courts do they need to be like reserved or anything like that is there going to be a fe fee associated with that or anything yep so they do need to be reserved you can reserve um two weeks in advance um there's four courts currently that you can rent so over at the hopefully the potential new site there would be eight um and it is free to reserve the courts unless you're a non-resident and it's $25 and it's a two hour time block right for the reservations you can one or two one or two if I could just say um I mean that right now it's at over capacity so reservation were get made you know 15 minutes after they become available all the prime times are booked up and that's a an impediment people you know coming new to the sport and they want to get on and play and learn how to do it and all that stuff so that's the value of of eight courts I think I'm hoping that with eight courts most of the time there would be a court that's empty that people could just walk on and and that's that's really how you get new people into the game and and uh they just walk up and play and you do have open play on Fridays too right open play on Fridays and and now the issue is it get starts 6 so I didn't think of that early enough to do anything about that but oh bummer but um next year uh the Y has indoor court space too for it they have one Court one court and it's too bad the jym isn't just a little bigger Michael if we don't tell Recreation I'll hang some lights for you oh wait a minute J sorry well they were even willing to find portable lights at Memorial Park too but um the neighbors I just like to say you know jna did a great job putting together these numbers and all that stuff I'm pretty certain that this is an undercount because it's really hard to keep keep track um we don't check IDs so I don't I don't really know but I actually know of a couple players who are over 80 who play all the time they're not included in this and the other nice thing about Simon's way is that we could make it much more pleasant to get to get from your car to the cords right now you have to walk up a hill over all sorts of stuff and um I think aachi Court's a great idea and I really think that there's there's so much potential Synergy if we can get if we eventually can get community recal you know in that local that would be just tremendous but um and there's no I mean there's no Neighbors at Simon's way which makes it it really does I've thought about this for a while now it makes it a good spot for pickle ball gun most I mean you're comp with a gun R rather than you hear on the news the sound of pickle ball of these towns and they're right next to it and Simon's way I mean you really are competing with an ice getting Rank and a gun range I mean yeah the other Benny that I see is you've got pickle ball quartz and you've got um a new active Living Center that has bathrooms and might have you know a little coffee station and um so so it really does help to build a community yeah so I think it's good I feel as though the Simon Way is an excellent spot for pickall we do have a lot of people who want to play it so I I would back that fully you want to go from six courts to eight I'd like to see it stay at six and put a dog pack in because there were a lot of people in read who want a dog pack and over in Sim's way that would be another perfect place to put something that people are interested in but don't want next to them where they live and and talking about um the headaches the pickle ball court there's been articles printed about people want to sue the town and not pay the town taxes because they cannot sell their properties exra pick right that's what I'm saying and I would back the pickleball courts being over there and I also would like to see a dog park hook over there because we have a lot of people who are animal lovers and Everett has a wonderful dog pack it also has a uh almost like a restaurant a gathering place for people so maybe we can expand that thinking and think about that too the the pickle ball court and a dog park are two areas that people would not want around their housing and we're very lucky to have this land over by Simmons way to to put these items on Recreation over there so that's where I stand on that and I would back anything you want yeah and I think the dog part on that other parcel of land maybe to the left um I think that was the original location where Steven cool came in and was proposing not where pickle ball is supposed to be but in that other location not to say a dog park couldn't go where pickle ball would go um but it didn't seem like the dog park had much of a following as I don't know I've heard it from people I know they're looking for a dog pack yeah it's really important to have an organized group of people to kind of advocate um I'm not org because I'm not an animal person I just that people I think my only concern being sorry last saying my only concern with the dog park is the noise that's why it would be good Sim I know my dog I can't she she has really high anxiety around fireworks and Loud Noises so I couldn't take her over because she would um that's pretty common she would she would collapse and I um uh bring us back to the topic at hand I I think the idea of looking at other other opportunities um is is a good one but it sounds to me like the oh wait a minute I see Jean PR's hand up hi I think I personally think pickle ball courts are great my other thought is uh to draw in the 60 plus pickle ball is awesome I agree with the bchi court has anyone thought of when they do the pickle ball courts to do them a size that they can be uh alternate from pickle ball to tennis courts no they would be dedicated pickle ball courts okay there's a lot of courts up by the high school and places so um I just have another question about the accessibility of it so if we feel like now there's going to be a lot more courts do they still need to reserve that time or will these will we be able to open up the pickle ball courts to everybody so they would still be on a reservation system definitely the tennis courts are also on a reservation system oh really yeah um and then do people have to go online for that is there any way we could dedicate one of those courts to be um organized by like Pleasant Street Center or something like I just want to make sure that that people who don't have access to computers or you're being able to access the the reservation system if we could make it easier for them especially if we feel like the population that's going to be at the pickle ball court is going to be a little bit different than the on to go to the pleasantry Center is there any way we can have the pleasantry Center be like a I think it I think it would be worth I know Jim and I have worked really well together with like coordinating the Pleasant Street Center um what I would suggest as I know and Karen brought this up and I think you were the one that voiced this is they started doing beginner pickle ball lessons and I think it's a great opportunity to you know get seniors in to continue knew that um maybe you know I think that was very valuable then I think it maybe at some point it'd be worth exploring you know Jim and I could talk be like hey could we set aside some time be like so you know do a whatever it is like a like you know they use a Pleasant Street Center they book it maybe we could do the same thing and I think these would be good things to explore be like all right could we maybe have a court that we could just advertise if doesn't work we'll take it off as advertisement but then try it again um is the liability involved in that there be liability Michael even mentioned that too earlier that the reason for the eight courts was with the in indication that there probably would be an open court for people to just come down and play if they wanted to at any given time right Mike yeah and and I mean I would love it if they were so popular that they were reserved all the time but in that case I think we would work with with Jim uh to set aside open open play time uh probably you know set aside these four courts are you know every morning have to be available for for whomever U there's lots of things that that can be done as soon as you have a little bit more capacity yeah and a great idea oh sorry one last thing I just want a clarification if we get these eight pickleball courts does that mean what happens to the Memorial Park fors so that's not been decided but I would assume that they would go one they probably need to get yeah they resurfaced probably within a couple of years there's some cracks in them and but at that point I would recommend that they remain dual aligned but be made as as primarily tennis courts again uh and you know then become a like a neighborhood kind of thing that you could go up and play um sort of like there there are four pickleball courts at the high school um that are substandard courts and people use them they bring their own net and use them a little bit um but that's that's sort of what what I would Envision that that it would essentially not become the pick aall location it would be secondary or t you know where parents might come out with their kids to to teach yeah and I think we'll talk probably more at the rec committee about it too just because I know one of the big reasons why we want to move it is because of the noise right but if there's less pickle ball playing up there um and it stays dual line like maybe that would work for the neighborhood but maybe they would prefer it to go back to Just Tennis if there's eight pickleball course that are L can I I I think that what I'm hearing here is that the the ccan Aging members agree that this is a good use of of this unencumbered money I'm also hearing I think that we need to a lot of thought needs to be put into how the pickle ball courts are um um res oberved and who has access to it and so hoping that we can do a lunch and learn yeah so I'm hoping that you know that um um that EHS is working closely with wreck as I'm sure it will be to to to uh work that out and um they don't Ro can't rock the rent the Pleasant [Laughter] pick them courts you don't get the room is this a seasonal thing the picture looks like it doesn't have any kind of cover so come winter is it we in the winter as long as there's no wind and it's above 32 we're out there that has to be Cloud I remember last year this was brought up at the select board meeting so Jim and the leaders will figure it out we'll figure out a plan we'll talk with Michael okay so the the hope is we're Hardy New England pickleball players apparently I raise it only because it was raised as a criticism last year that things weren't being kept open that could have been I just yeah and there was a lot of reasons behind that we don't need to get into the weeds but ancient history but there is an in the future is good there's an intention that it will hopefully be plowed like other towns do okay but priority needs to go to the school the town walks all those now is there more money that needs to be raised or is this going to cover no well the courts well we don't know how much they'll actually cost because that's one of the the things that has to happen is you have to really do the design get the testing of the soil done to find out what sort of remediation you might have to do all this St so estimates for how much this C would cost are probably between 400k and 800k that's and it could be more it could be less I don't I just don't know rppa um has raised over 120 maybe over 125 as of as of today I'm not sure and we project that we will be able to raise over over 200k before the spring and maybe more I mean I would I heard some ideas on fundraising tonight so um Y and we haven't really looked through the grant deals and all that stuff yet so uh that's that's the range of what a private donation would might come come up with and then um wreck in the town would propose the town meeting some some some okay that's really what some of this adk would help really gel a lot of that and get a lot of that information much clearer and Rec has $100,000 for FY 26 to put towards the project so say if pickle ball has 200,000 and um we have the 100,000 that's 300,000 in funding that we could bring so we then we advocate for this and we say hey we want eight courts it's going to cost 700 ,000 and we've raised 300,000 so we'd asked to meeting for 400,000 so you know and who knows maybe a 600,000 and that's half of the funds right yeah so and maybe we can do more thank well I think I think we um we all agree agree great and we're gonna we're gonna make a vote um next time we'll put it on the agenda in support of yeah so very good presentation Jenna yeah very good write it all out to because there's just so much background information and I was like you know I could come here and spout off but anyone watching can now oh yes edit and it will be in the meeting minutes you could addit as a yeah part of the meeting minutes nicely done thank you okay thank you got some help all right the next topic is um a new committee the ace committee is looking for a representative from the Council on Aging to participate in their um in their new committee and I did put the URL there I don't know if anybody had a chance to um take a look at it but basically this is an ad hoc commemoration establishment committee and it's to acknowledge and express accountability for the mistreatment of Bill Russell and his family establish the funding and infrastructure for the long-term action plan identify barriers to participation engagement and representation for black and brown people and all aspects of reading life and to honor Bill Russell's Legacy by striving to create the vision of an exclusive Equitable and welcoming community so it's it's being formed right now they are looking for a liaison from our committee um if anybody here is interested what I would ask you to do is send me an email and um I can get back to the committee and let them know that we have someone that would be interested in uh being on the committee you can also reach out to this committee to ask them more questions so um um I can't remember her her last name Holly I've had several conversations with her she's very nice and she will chat with anybody who would like more information about how this is going to happen so just send me an email and let me know if you would like to participate have to be a vote for a member yeah they probably would um probably we can put it on the agenda at the next one we'll see who wants to put their name for forward and uh go from there ask but just it it's not clear to me um other things that we're L on are because one committee have we have parallel or synergistic things we're working on and I don't see the connection to agent and maybe it's unless it's just Old-Timers will remember I don't know I I think um they asked not I'm not criti I think that they asked for a representative if anybody is here is interested let me know okay so know what L really is well no other than other than what I what I read it's the mission of Ace okay okay so just let me know if you're interested um uh and the last item is uh to form a work group to uh begin to talk about those Outreach activities that we talked about back in um August uh so I am looking for probably three volunteers that would like to participate on that committee to put together a more formal plan um and to uh uh recruit volunteers and um so if anybody on the committee here in this room or online wants to work on that again send me an email and I will report back in the November November meeting uh questions on that one yeah well what does that involve out Outreach activity what what exactly do you remember in August no um Nora has it we came up with yeah with in the pack um we we came up with ideas ways to support the um um the ways to support the new Senior Center the new building for executive uh executive for Elder and Human Services um is that when we were at the library just three of us you and I and Jean well yeah we we talked a little bit about it at at the August meeting and then we all kind of decided that we needed more information about what we can and can't do so what that what that group has got to do it's it's got to look at everything that um was said during the September meeting by the uh lawyer what was it oh the legal the legal Donna yeah Donna um and um which is detailed in the minutes excr too funny right so we've got to pull all that out we've got to come up with some recommendations we've got to summarize it and we've got to figure out what activities we can do we can't do that we have people that are willing to do it and I think the only way that's going to get done is if we have this Core group of four people although if more people want to get involved to do that I don't care we we can just call a meeting that's all we'd have to do is call a meeting so um actually anybody who wants to uh be part of that discussion but rather than spend the time here at this meeting going over that level of detail I think what we need to do is do kind of a highlevel presentation and then bring it back here for approval and feedback discussion just to FYI I noticed that the um killing folks have got a list of here are the dates of all our upcoming Outreach meetings I mean I I was assuming they were reacting to having all have been told your only means of communicating is through these Outreach meetings so we should probably be along the lines of what that group means do was let's Identify some dates and get booked at wherever we need to be booked to do that and get it out so that's that's what this subgroup will do is take a look and I'm assuming that with the um the project manager on board now we're going to be back to um uh bhna is going to restart the schematics and um and we're we're going to start to move forward again so all right so send me name of anybody that might be interested in participating on the ace committee and send me names of anybody that if you're interested in participating on a smaller work group to work out the details of Outreach all right just for more actually you don't have it on this week's agenda the work on the work groups I guess this is going to sort of replace them anyway FYI Karen and I are working on a presentation that could be used in Outreach it's explaining a lot of this great we're making head white great good so whole series of them but it's it's one Prett pictures will add it like this size of building goes and that's like that's great background information to have too because Jane has mentioned about using Dave cartoon in um he's been doing some really great videos for killum and um MBT communities most recently so they're like two- minute videos that give you a snapshot so people can easily that's because canva only lets you make a twom minute video what do you want to bet oh probably you're right people's attention I know I know I know but I just was looking but having your information is really helpful because we can take all the information we can get to give to this person that' be great can help us market and Outreach we're working on it thank you yeah any other items that not on the agenda unforeseen you know any major just a suggestion for an item for next agenda is we should have discussion of expenditures possible things um there are some things that I think it would be nice to have like a Counsel on Aging sign for when we go to these things for our table there are things like maybe we want business I mean they're minor but we can't do it without a tablecloth yes we we should and we should walk up again on whatever we want to replace or supplement the jar openers I mean so if we could have a vote on fun expenditure next month that would be a good time for us to think about getting some of that stuff covered that's a great idea yeah would people mind if that's part of this committee to come up with the I mean do we just want to have like this General discussion people throw out ideas what have to make a motion someone say I'd like to move we spend X on y but you can just say you know you can make a vote to empow the chair to okay come up materials the Council on Aging and expend amount of money that' be fine okay and then you would know okay we need tablecloths we need jar openers yeah we need a sign yeah you can know the um um the friends have this fabulous sign let's get one I know business cards wouldn't hurt either they also have a beautiful brochure yeah yeah all right expensive so I have for the next agenda um in November talk about the operating budget getting a little lesson on that sure um in November in the meantime talked to Diane about the trust funds and Burbank and figuring out the Expendable funds and then expenditures for promotional items and then voting to oh pickle that we're in agreement yes and voting for an ace member yeah in what voting for a potential Ace member and voting for um taof progr oh yeah program oh yes well that'll be a busy one we haven't voted on it in a long time yeah but we've got the um trip to the State Council and aging thing coming up in a couple of weeks not voting but the last thing I remember having voted on was the money for that Jour want get to this last I second second all in favor oh Karen Karen panette PR yes um uh Marilyn yes and Rosemarie yes and Karen janeski yeah and Karen Fatina and Nancy ziml all in favor I I thank you everyone thank you thank you e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e