##VIDEO ID:QgnbYZ7iysw## e for oops the like that there we go how are you I'm hanging in TKS how about you uh about the same very long day and it's really cold out oh yeah I know it is really chilly yeah well you're onun first so you can get out of here and go about other activities I have have a planning board meeting after after [Laughter] this it's a full right yeah yeah that okay so this is the night that you can't go to the Democratic du yeah I went to the one yesterday yeah I'm going so I'm going after this meeting so it was was it worth it uh marginally I mean he's a nice enough guy everyone got two minutes to talk you know so what what can you express the thing that was was encouraging because it was district one so it's like all the birkar and then like the southern part of like Hampton and Hampshire Hampshire County like running along the Connecticut border oh and so they showed a map and so like the birkar is like all blue and then as it goes sort of East it it turns into red and there's a couple of things I mean pretty much across the board people were not satisfied at the national level about how the party didn't step up but then in Massachusetts they were saying the Democratic party doesn't support the Democratic committees you know like it's no one comes out to the little towns surprise surprise um you know so it was just the firming in that regard you know and then there was a whole thing about like I mean my point was the lack of transparency you know the fact that like you don't know what the hell is happening um and then a few people were outraged I said you know we just the the general public just passed this thing about the auditor and now it's trying to be subverted you know like if you're about Democratic processes you should be respecting the will of the people and actually following through so that was was all very interesting well here here we all are I believe we may have we may have another guest tonight um I'm sort of semi expecting Mary Joe Johnson but um if she comes I will hopefully try to uh invite her in admitter so welcome everybody to um the um January uh 8th meeting of Council on Aging and we are welcoming Our Guest Michael DEA Michael do you know everybody you need to be in I know Janice I don't think Jessica we ever met but it's a pleasure to meet you since I don't I don't think so you know maybe Crossing in town but I don't think so nice to meet you yes I'm here I see Melissa often enough oh I'm sure so um you want to start in Michael by telling us what you think would be helpful for us to know about digital Equity sure um so Janice and I had a whole conversation she was very patient um and so I think what would be helpful is sort of well the starting point was confusion I think there just sort of like it wasn't clear what was happening but the two things I'll say so in my work life I've been involved with this organization or really a coalition it's called The Alliance for digital Equity so it started in 2020 just as the pandemic was coming on you know and it it's it was basically um I was working with the vice president of Public Health at Bay State who called me and said Michael do you know what the digital divide is and I laughed and I was like Frank I live Franklin County I know what the digital divide is you know but the whole world sort of discovered at that point like the internet that mattered um so I've been you know I helped co-found that and I've been working on it for four years and it's at this point four it's in all four counties of Western Mass and it's trying to do a lot of different things around digital Equity um I'd say you know to like what digital Equity ends up being like there's three legs of the stool so there's connectivity to the internet which can either be having a connection you know which is what we struggled with for a long time or affordability you know so if you can't afford it either those those are its connectivity there's not having a device so you know if you don't have a good enough computer if you don't have a computer that can connect that's the problem and then the third part is not having the skills or the comfort of using skills and in this so those are sort of where things worked and with the alliance we've worked we've had a whole bunch of connections with pretty much everyone on the ground in community groups so we've worked with for colag we work with pioner Valley planning we've worked with a bunch of coas like there's a really active Consortium of councils on Aging in Northern Hampshire County County like Chesterfield Goan Williamsburg so we're working a lot with folks there and then the Council on Aging and where we've been working with but working with libraries um not really with shutesbury but like soon to be in Wendell um so there's lots of different touch points um I think and then we've working with and then we were working municipalities which is probably the last part so I don't know do you guys remember hearing about MBI Mass Broadband Institute they were they were the ones who helped you know they helped fund the our buildout for shutesbury but when all this Federal money came down for digital Equity the legislature said MBI is going to basically do everything for Massachusetts around digital Equity so in the past it was building out the so-called middle mile and then the last mile which got shutesbury connected as well as all the other towns um and now they're the they're the ones for the state and so MBI when they started funding things a couple years ago they had a nonprofit track which is how the alliance of digal equity got money and then they had a municipal track and what the money for municipalities was was to do Municipal planning around digital equity and so the idea was and this is what shsb ended up doing was working with regional planning agencies to figure come up with the digital Equity plan so furog you know they did shutesbury and lever together but they also like there was an a toown group that included charlmont and Northfield and Liden and I think Wendell New Salem um so bog done a lot of that and then PVC pvpc has done some and the Burk Shear have done a bunch um and so really getting to where we are now was excuse me that was my dentist office um so G where now is shoot spr finishes digal Equity plan and the idea is fortunately MBI had the wherewithal to say you know when you finish your plan you probably need some money to do something that you were planning for which which isn't always the case with governmental agencies so this was good um and I think that's where shutesbury is now is you know like the select board maybe two months ago approved this the digital Equity plan and the idea is furog is working with the town to figure out well what do you know what does shb want to do and I'm not sure how much money is available to shur but I know like in talk talking to Northfield I talked to Northfield like a month ago and they were getting $55,000 which was really significant so you can get as much as a 100,000 and I know Springfield's getting 100 but you know I sort have assumed if Springfield is getting 100 you know we' get like five or 10 but it's actually decent money um and uh so then the question is what to do with it and so I think where we're at now which is sort of part of the conversation is there's there's two different things happening um one is there's a program called cyber seniors um it's based out of Toronto but um GCC has been working with them for probably three years and cyber seniors is a model where it's targeted to older adults and it uses younger people as mentors to sort of you know learn not the skills but sort of like how to be how to be a mentor because you know know if you're 18 or 19 or 17 you don't necessarily know how to do it be a mentor um and so that's been really successful in Greenfield but gcc's granted ending and so GCC is looking to sort of partner with other people to go get it going and fog is brokering this relationship between those eight towns that they did this the municipal planning with so the charom mon the um wide Northfield wend New Salem and the idea is is that all those towns will take some of their implementation money some of this like $55,000 that each of them will probably get and put like five or $6 thousand shared to get a cyber senior's person and the idea would be that cyber seniors can come to each of the towns on like a weekly basis or something for a few hours a week and provide you know local mentoring support um and I think cyber seniors is actually hire would be hiring a staff person to do this so which is really cool because part of it is you know as you all know oftentimes we have to schlep to Greenfield or to ammer or to Northampton to get things and so this would be bringing those Services here which especially for older adults is you know much much more convenient so that's happening and I think one of the questions you know for you all in conjunction with whoever else is deciding for shutesbury does shutesbury want to jump in and say if we get this implementation money we'll put five or six thousand bucks in and get a piece of that action so that someone can come from cyber seniors um which I think is a great idea um so there's that and then in addition we so wearing my alliance for digital Equity hat when we talked to Northfield what they were saying is we really need someone to come and just be available you know they have a senior so it come to be available at the senior center with some kind of regularity and in the world of digital Equity there's this the role that's developed is it's now called a digital Navigator so but it's someone who's basically helping people with whatever the variety of problems is you know they haven't set up an email or they forgot their email address or they need to get on you know they want to get on Facebook so they can talk to their grandkids or you know whatever it might be but that whole host of stuff you want to borrow a book from the library online but you don't know how to do it you don't have an account so digital Navigator sort of or it's a utility player who sort of can help with a lot of these things and Northfield said we really need a digital navigator to come to town but we don't we don't need a person full-time we don't need a person for you know even half time we just need someone who's regularly showing up and as a result of that conversation um um the alliance with digital equ that I'm involved with is going to hire a digital Navigator just for Franklin County to sort of be a circuit a circuit writer to be able to go to different towns to do that which is really exciting and I got to say I'm really sort of pleased that the woman who's the director who is now taking over about a year ago she lives in Holio she's a great person but she doesn't really know Frankton County so sort of she's learning and she wants to learn she and she grew up in rural Maine so she gets rural um and this I think this would be a great addition so my my thinking is and that person I think is supposed to get hired by the beginning of March is the Hope um and it would be someone who lives in Franklin County is and they'll be they'll be hired by the United Way of Hampshire in Franklin County um and then be based in Franklin County so I think you know from a implementation perspective if shb wanted and decided to like chip in for the Cyber seniors you know for like more formalized um support and then have the digital Navigator be able to swing through shutesbury with whatever the regularity is that would meet some of the needs because you know I'm talking to Gail Huntress there was you know we've got the connectivity but and we have a high subscription rate I think our subscription rate is like 95% or something and the people who are not subscribed are folks who don't feel comfortable on the internet you know so like why would you pay for something if you don't know how to use it or you don't feel comfortable using it and so the idea would be I think to sort of not only assist everybody but maybe reach out to folks who are feeling like you know I don't I don't get this stuff you know I didn't learn it I'm not comfortable with it and I would you know one of the reason I was I mentioned the coas earlier was it was really interesting to me probably like two years ago as we were doing research on this that you know you all know like there's huge messaging about not getting scammed and you know like older adults got that message like no one wants to be scammed no one wants to sort of have their bank account emptied and so there's a high level of caution about getting onto the internet because you know it's one thing to get phone calls and you know things in the mail but then if you if you voluntarily go in the internet and you don't feel comfortable and don't know how to do it safely um that's you're opening yourself up so I think there's a lot of older adults that we've heard about who just for the safety precaution part don't you know like no one said this is how you can do the internet safely so I think whether it's digital navigation or cyber seniors that might act that education process of sort of saying this you can do it and this is how you this is how you're safe this is how you can tell what a fishing email is etc etc um might actually be helpful you know for folks in town and feel more comfortable so um that's I think that's sort of we're it's we're an exciting place you know just because if we have implementation money there's actually funds to do part of what you know the town is visioning um and I think you know just looking around at all the other towns the main players at the municipal level are the libraries and the coas like those are the places where people come and are actively participating you know in digital Equity stuff um the other things I'll just mention which with with the alliance is that we've got a program like if people need devices we can get devices for free for folks and so there's Su I can send you the link but there's this request form so um as people get into the space and they'll say well we we we have cyber seniors and people are now interested in the internet but they don't have a computer at home they're just coming you know to the library or they're coming to town hall that we can provide through the alliance your devices um which is a great a great benefit um and then there's other skills training things that we could do so I think aside from the Cyber seniors and the digital navigation just sort of being part of this cohort of other towns that are getting involved I think more things open up so that's a lot and do you guys have questions that I lose you in any of this there's a lot of information um yeah I prob we probably do anybody want to start off with a question for Michael I have one question um so you were talking about like Facebook and different things that you know people need help with I think it's huge for um elders and we talked about this when Martha was on the board about digital Medical portals where you know you're now you can't get call up your doctor and say hey I need a doctor's appointment they tell you to go on the portal right the elderly have no idea how to do that and I didn't know if that is something that they would help be willing to totally totally yeah I mean that's the that's the thing Jessica is like all parts of life have moved online everything yeah I mean if you want to do your banking you know it's I mean you want pretty much you want to do anything you know it's something or you sit on the phone for four hours which nobody can do right um and so I think that's what I think someone so a digital Navigator or cyber seniors is either one of those two things I think is exactly that kind of stuff so a digital Navigator depending on how it got set up like you know Northfield is is a bigger town so they actually have a senior center they actually I I was amazed the town hall was so big um so but I can imagine imagine a digital Navigator either going to someone's house or you know having hours in town hall and just doing like a dropin thing where you know you sort of say well we're gonna we're going to talk about how you get on a met you know portal um and then go through and talk about accounts um you know and it's it's the Comfort level of knowing how to do it and then just sort of you know and then and like my father-in-law was died yeah two years ago he was 97 you know and like for the last 20 years he would call me up and say I forgot my password you know and we you know like that's the bane of I think our society is people can't remember password so right there's there's the Comfort level and then there's just the support of saying okay you forgot you forgot your password for the portal let me show you how to Reg get it or you know come up with a system for remembering your passwords or writing them down like all that stuff that comes with the requirement to being online it's it's it's all complex I mean it's simple but complex so they did have um some iPhone and Android sessions where um they had people actually participate they I I don't know the numbers offand but I remember Martha saying I believe like 10 people had showed up you know and it was just simple stuff that they didn't know how to use within their phone so I can imagine how much more they don't know you know so I think I think it would be great to have to have some informational sessions for the elderly absolutely and somebody handy on a regular basis to answer questions because how it is with computers if you don't use it all the time you've forgotten whatever it is you learned right and you don't know who to call you know there there's really is no one to call pretty much you know and you could you could ask a neighbor but you know it's sort of depending on availability and all that kind of stuff so yeah having someone you know you can like will swing through town um the other part with cyber seniors which I think is really a good model is at least initially they had to train their trainer model you know so that it's like you all could sort of like work with cyber seniors to say here's things that come up all the time we want to have this confidence of you know like you might know how to do it but you not might not feel comfortable teaching other people how to do it so just sort of walking through and I think then then we're building local capacity um as well so Jessica that enough answer for now yes okay Michael uh does the town have an official plan we that we already go about yeah um I think from what I understood I don't know if it was either Janice told me or furog told me but I think Martha was the representative on it maybe it was Gail so Gail was on it for you know the MLP um it sounds like Martha was on it Maryanne might have been on it for the library I'm not sure but I I got sent the plan I Haven actually haven't read it but I think in early December maybe or late November the select board approved it um and the process is the town approves it and then furog sends it into MBI to get like officially approved and once it's officially approved then the town gets approve for the money for the implementation money so I think I know the plan's been approved I don't know if MBI has approved it yet like that's something either gaale could confirm um or furog or I could I could check it should be easy enough to do just to find that out um and I would I'm guessing Gail was probably the point person because she emailed me like early on to ask me some questions yeah it'd be easy to ask to just email Gail and ask her what she knows about this so I'm assuming if there's when there's money to be given out somebody will be doing the giving and and the COA won't necessarily be first up for the money they'll probably sort of application process well I well it's an it's an application from the town to MBI but it's a given you know so like once they tell you what the money is you know like what the Mount is any of the activities that the town would come up with is going to be acceptable I think it's just at the Town level like if you guys reach out to Gail and say um and I I I feel like I talked to her somewhere in the last few weeks the holidays mess things up I forgot I lost track of time um but she does know about the Cyber senior stuff she doesn't know about this digital navigation person getting hired that's that's like brand new um but I think if G was the point person for the plan I'm assuming she would be the point person for the application and you you know the COA just has to get contact and say we're in for this we'd like we'd like to be able to earmark five or $6,000 to join you know the cohort that fog's putting together that's my guess okay I a lot of red tape on on the town level yeah and I will say so I think you know Wendell and New Salem are both involved in this initial cohort and the Wendell library is doing some more work so like I think oh and actually well I don't know if lever's doing Le lever went in on the plan with us so was a shb lever um we got separate plans but the process was paid for with furog do the same time um so we have neighboring towns so I think you know the other thing just to know is that it's not like us doing it all by ourselves like there's other towns that we can check in with um and I would imagine like the digital Navigator could spend a day or two like doing a a wend new Salem shets spury kind of thing yeah so did you say that you have done something with us and Leverett CH and Leverett or you just think we would no the the Burk hog did the the plan so did okay yeah so they got they get money from MBI to do the plan you know so of the towns rais their hand and say yes we want to do this um and then NBI gave fog the money and lever chatsbury did the plan at the same time okay separate plans but at the same time correct but this is the thing Gail was working on yeah okay okay gotcha yeah if I can you know I'll see if I can find the plan and send it to you guys that'd be great yeah here's the question if I send it like I've set it up on the planning board that if someone sends an email to the planning board it goes to all of us but if I send it to I think Janice you and I were talking about this if it goes to the COA it only goes to one person goes be that way all members oh got changed great yeah okay so I'll send it to the COA email then yeah fantastic any other questions Janice did you have something you wanted to ask Michael or say um I can't remember now I got distracted raed I can't remember I'm sorry if I think of it I'll me email not necessarily Michael because he might be out of here but um well the nice thing about being local is I'm always available so you know if if there's a question you have just shoot me an email and I'll track it down or whatever but uh I am I'm I'm thrilled that like sh did the plan and Sh sort of getting more hooked in because you know well I know what I was going to say good um when whenever whatever the select board did about digital Equity I don't believe anyone bothered to tell us yeah well I did that's what I asked Gail about because I wrote email it was it wasn't a conversation about I emailed Gil after you and I spoke and I said from what I hear the ca wasn't part of the plan that's what she said Martha was the representative so I think like when Martha left maybe she took that information with her it's possible Martha had a lot of iron in the fire plus Frank's dying so she was really yeah yeah yeah so I'm glad involved though gee thank you Michael it's really been helpful my pleasure yeah and I'm sure bugging you in questions occasionally I'm happy to answer them and this is my first COA meeting so I'm glad to have come okay thank you for all you guys do by the way it's appreciate it okay have a good rest of the night thank you you too bye Micha nice meeting you same here byebye hi Mary Joe do you want to join us oh okay Mary Joe's there in mute if you would like to join us Mar we'd be happy to see you I think we have to probably should officially call a roll call so roll call who's here I guess I'd be first gray here oh make peace here Jessica and me Susan okay okay can you hear me sorry this is Mary Joe I just unmuted myself it took a while to figure out how I'm I'm I tuned in on my phone oh okay don't normally do okay so I'm figuring out the whole way to navigate zoom on my phone okay well welcome Mar Joe is is thinking she might want to join us so she's check stopping by to check us out tonight and we are going to have a um a pretty short meeting because uh Lake wola got committee got to the meeting sign in before I did and it's going to be kicking us off at 6:30 so we may be able to finish in the next half hour the work that we have to do That's essential but if we don't um would people be okay meeting at 5:30 next week for a half hour next Wednesday because I've signed us up for a meeting from 5 to 6 next Wednesday but I don't know whether you want to come in at 5: and if we have leftover business we probably could finish it in a half hour unless there's another time you'd prefer I flexible with anything you guys need are you are you Jessica that's good y I'm okay that day okay do you what do you think well I guess we need to decide we I reserved the time from 5: to 6 because I've got another committee meeting at 6 um but we can see at the end of this meeting how much work work we have left to do does that make sense yes hopefully and if we get bumped out email you and ask so I think that we ought to go first to what did I just say I in my notes um Foot Clinic business because we have our Foot Clinic letter in process is it in shape to be sent out is the last version acceptable I had one suggestion let me pull it up and I should wrote it down hold on um that's not what I wanted to do um where is it um hold on a second it's G to take me a second to find it okay do you want to it it was just a wording um if it's wording just send it long okay it was yeah it was oh it was um where it said since the clinic returned to the town hall the C cost of foot care has risen to $55 yet donations do not offset I think we should say currently the donations do not sounds good that's good idea offset the currently donations do not offset that increase as I think we should put it okay yet just bothered I don't know you want to make that change in in something in the text that I the most recent text that had the proper name for you talking to me yes Jessica sorry okay so if we I wanted to just show it to Susan gber oops there Joe it coming again um is it okay if I show it to Susan gber since she's responsible for passing it out to people I want to make sure that she was comfortable with it which I think she should be after you've um hi Mary Joe um added your um better tone introduction in conclusion what when is the Foot Care Clinic it is the third Wednesday so it's next Wednesday so it's next Wednesday yeah so I have the morning off and more than willing to support Sue gomberg um with the footcare clinic in passing them out oh that would be wonderful if she needs that support okay okay thank you I will tell her that thank you okay so we're okay and I think we should probably approve letter yes do we have a motion to approve the letter and as chair I Jessica I motion to approve the word uh the uh Foot Clinic letter for donations to be increased we need a second y yep okay second gray second okay all in favor roll call Gray gray I make millinger I okay okay and I um talked to Susan gomberg and I'm um trying to C get in touch with someone at Foot Care by nurses to talk about the situation because they just they should not have just abandoned us December just cancelled the session it means that people who last saw a foot care nurse in October won't be able to see anybody until February and that to me just does not seem appropriate so I'm going to talk to them and see if we can get them to come up with a policy for cancellations and for substitutes basically other people have substitutes that's sound reasonable yes I'm hoping so I haven't been able to get in touch to them yet because the hours that they said online on their website were not turned out be their office hours just a quick question did they ever reach out to make sure we were doing it this month oh that's I will ask Susan about that because she said she had HT her back I believe and is she okay now to do it I mean has there any been any Reach Out is I guess what I'm asking I don't think no I Susan doesn't didn't say anything to me about it so they had not reached out to her so I will check with her okay double check with her and I will add that to the call okay now um the other thing we have before us is and I bet nobody's had a chance to see it because I sent it around it quite late the grant possibility that was mentioned to us um it's a grant that and I sent out to you I post I on I said out to you and put it on COA uh too that uh the the draft of the content of what we' be asking for and um it's the idea is if you all approve it's a joint Grant application from Village neighbors and the four coas of the towns that Village neighbors serves and Village Neighbors which has a much larger staff and volunteers than we do is willing to do a lot of the work I think what they're hoping we would do is help publicize it in our own community and and I would hope that and I think there's also talk about some of the programs would move from one town to the other so that we would have some Pro program prog possibilities of putting on programs in this area and the focus it's on Dem the focus is on dementia and the focus is on uh coming up with ways to provide support for dementia caregivers as well as provid activities uh for um people who have dementia so it's a it's a broad um it's a broad sweep and if you look at the the document that I sent you you'll see there's a long list of things and it made me a little bit nervous to think we would try to do all of those but the idea is to do the activities that appeal to local people because what they're going to be doing initially is getting somebody to reach out to um each community and the people in this community who have demena and our caregivers clearly um and there is uh a woman who has been recently I think she just recently retired from Life Path and she has been um in charge of uh um providing support for caregivers and for dementia related activities so she'll be in charge with doing the Outreach and the work that's being done is that enough of an introduction to what's happening what the what the proposal is it is for me yeah well for both of you and for Mary Joe if she's interested um if it's and okay so there were three of us at three of us from Co shutesbury C COA were at the meeting which discussed this document so Janice is pretty familiar with it Janice was there I was there and um jet yes and Janette was there and all three of us thought it was a good idea for us to participate and for the the basic activities but we wanted to make sure I wanted to make sure that it's okay with you too so that we are sort of taking a a shsb COA position in support not just us I am definitely on board with anything that helps the elderly especially the people who um are caregivers with the dementia absolutely yeah good I suppose we should have a formal motion to approve Shy's participation in the Grant application and the program that we hope the grant will support so I guess I'm know anybody want to say that to use that language to make a motion oh we can't hear you Janice I know I I mute myself because my phone it keeps making noises um so uh I guess would could be something like I move that the shb Council on Aging applying collaboration with the coas from Leverett Wendell and New Salem now is um and I'm trying to remember a village neighbors is part of that yes oh definitely definitely uh and there were two two different grants one to cover Staffing costs and that includes this Linda puan if that's pronounced right the uh social worker who was with life path and um the other one um is to cover administrative and scholarship costs which I don't know how that would have Transportation mileage reimbursement for volunteers this is not a motion I apologize um anyway I I move that we apply uh apply in collaboration with the seway in the four towns for the agent dementia friendly Grant application and maybe that's enough yeah I think it's enough unless you want to add end the program that it we hope it will bring but that we can do that later probably I think we need I think we need to do that later okay is there a second I'll make second oh okay and um all in favor say I gray gray I make piece eye go ey things are really pretty easy would you want have three members to ask questions about um okay thank you folks so there's a there's a meeting on Monday to work on the Grant application and I'm going to be in it at it and Martha I believe is going to be add it and I just saw Janette say that she would come if she could okay so thank you all is that a virtual meeting yes okay it and it's uh it's in the afternoon after lunch it's either at 1 o'clock or 2 o'clock there was difficulty setting setting it up you want to come join I won't be able to be working I figured you wouldn't which is why I didn't I didn't ask you to I thought it was at night so never mind no no it's in the daytime this is a  group looks like to me all right well I'll just I'll just hang out over here and you guys can let me know okay okay okay um we're really not paying much attention to the motion to movement on the agenda which I apologize for but I just want to make sure that we're getting everything in that we need to get in before 6:30 um oh the transportation update I think what that was about check see if I'm wrong we talked about sending a letter out to people who are not apt to be on broadband who aren't on the internet to give them a copy of the application for the um ferda program the demand response program we talked about you know we've we've sent out the information on Town announce but people who don't have internet are not likely to know what's on Town announce so we talked about the possibility of um sending out a letter and the question was how do you find out who in town doesn't have access to the internet and the answer is I asked Linda you ask Gail Huntress because Broadband knows who doesn't have access to the and then you run that by grace to to see that you've gotten everybody's still alive and in town and whether they're seniors or not if she'll tell us that so we are in the business of we can send it out send out a the the document the application form oh Mary Joe we found out we've been concerned about transportation for ages and get giving people public transportation to get off hi um thank you to get out of town and go places like doctor's appointments and shopping and it turns out that uh because the um the state has given extra money to the the public buses that fera has the money to make it demand response which is one of these you call and make an appointment and they come and pick you up that's going to be free for this year so we want to get this and you have to apply you have to send in an application proving your age um that you're a retiree or disabled or a vet I think those are the other categories um and we decided we wanted to try to make sure that people who didn't have broad the people people who do not have D digital Equity uh would be able to find out about the program so I think we' have just found out so I will um unless somebody else is dying to do this which would be wonderful I will contact Gail and find out who the 5% are who don't have access to Internet does that sound okay okay Grace says okay so there really I don't know that there anything yet when we get to sending out the letter that that which maybe we could do next month um then I will me probably need a motion but I don't think for me just to explore it we need a motion so um let's see you know I think we're g to get through all our business tonight so we might just as well go back to where we should have started in the minutes of the December meeting are they in shape to be approved they looked good to me they look good to me okay is there a motion to approve the minutes of the December meeting December only we already did November right uh good question good question what did it say on the I think the agenda just said December minutes yes so we have done the November ones at least as far as I know we have I'll double yeah because I think you sent the final ones um I move that we approve the December minutes as submitted okay is second thank you all in favor gray gray i m peace I millinger I thank you okay and financial update um we this month right so we we spent nothing this month because so we we have the same um there was um a issue with our um the fiscal year 2025 budget where it wasn't an issue but um I had originally thought that the birthday the decade birthday party would come out of the grant money that donation she took it out of the um fiscal year 25 um money so we only have $39 and some change in that account now um but our grant money went up that $58 so there's a little flip-flop in the things Gail did send me the reports created just today and I got them about 10 minutes before the meeting I wanted to see how accurate our accounting is and she said if there if she took something out of somewhere she can fix it you know if we want it done differently um so I'll go over those I'll go over those um this month but they looked pretty they actually look pretty good um comparing them to my numbers so um the one thing I wanted to bring up which is going to be um not really part of the financial is I'm wondering if for the fiscal year 2026 we can actually ask the town for a little bit of extra money so we're not going into the red and I know that um there's a deadline for that and I'm not sure when exactly it is but I think we should ask for a little bit of more money since we're um in debt you know we since we went into debt with the Foot Care Clinic I know we're asking for more donations but even if even if we don't use it all it's there in case we want it so I think that we should we should um talk about that maybe when when Janette comes back next month is she is she here next month or no uh she I she's going away way through February I think oh but I think if she's in Mexico she might come join the meeting I think she's not here tonight because she had a family thing planned oh that's right that's right so so yeah maybe maybe I can I can look in to see what the deadline is that would be this month what we have to do to put in for a little bit of extra money and like I said even if we don't use it it's going to be there and I think from what because I had asked my sister about it and I think that amount rolls over every year we don't have to keep asking for it so that's why we get that $200 every year because it just rolls over into the budget yeah yes so so what are you thinking I mean maybe you want us to talk about this later but I'm wondering whether we want to ask for 500 instead of 200 or we just want to go up say to 400 had you thought about that um in my brain not really but I'm thinking if we took one of our larger expenses and covered that with the budget like I said even if we don't use it like our Gazette gazeti how do you g GTI the newsletter um if we took I think it was $800 for that if we said you know and then we just had it there so I'm thinking maybe between $5 and $600 more oh the last newsletter cost us a lot more than 800 bucks but the one thing that you don't know about that I remember is Linda said that there are certain categories of expenses particularly if we buy something for kitchen supplies we okay we cannot use grant money for that okay so we so I think we should say some of the town for something like because we might very well be yeah Sally we had uh yesterday was Community lunch and there were 10 people there um Sally was talking about us buying a small electric kettle okay hot water then we found out there was one there so that's but that up but yeah that like things like that could could definitely come up and eventually probably we're going to need plates and such cuz you know plates and and well silverware um cuffs and such to re to resupply the stock so I think I definitely think that we should ask for a little bit of more money okay why don't if you if you think of well I was just just concerned about what the best strategy is since we've been going along with with 200 bucks for I don't know as long as I can remember if we go all the way up to 600 or 800 that's a big jump unless we have a c a real cause right so think about that I'll think about that that' be that would be helpful and and I'll I'll um run up and see Gabe at some point and see what the deadline is yes for the fiscal year budgets and then and she might even know what our parameters are of what we can spend on what we can't yes so that's a good idea I will I will get the information oh thank you very much for next meeting I have um my on yep okay I have two little things for the future uh which would fall under an unanticipated business which is I don't know if you all saw that um let's see uh the Silverline directory of resources update still is out updating its directory I tried to to fix it because they still have us doing a med ride program of our own covid and I couldn't figure out how to do it um and I try and I called the woman who's sent us that email and she wasn't there so I'll try again and the other thing is we got an email from somebody named um uh what's her name a a she was an author who was inviting herself to come speak lunch yeah she and she's from somewhere around the Quin I got that a copy yeah okay and I just wanted to bring that up there's nothing urgent but I thought I would mention it in case no one else saw it yeah I want I have two things to quickly bring up one of them is that Jessica uh um Carlson binski or whatever I'm forgotten it's been since a long time since I called Jessica by her last name Carlson Banger thank you thank you Carlson Banger she called up to say would we be interested in participating um it with uh the school kids if some of the school kids had a tea for the for elders say on Valentine's Day and I said I thought that was a lovely idea that we might have ulty getting a lot of Elders from our group but we would try to outreach reach out and get some from the community who aren't regular you know we can ask the people that come to COA lunch Community lunch we can ask people that we know who are seniors if they'd be interested in coming what do you think is that worth pursuing I mean I think Jessica's going to do all the work we would just be getting the seniors there so when when my grandmother did it um she used to do a lot with the school and they used to do um on Valentine's Day or or from holidays they would make cookies together or decorate cookies together and do such and there was always people that absolutely loved to be with the school children so I don't know if the the the same would apply nowadays because it's a different generation of you know of everybody but I would kind of like to see it because I think it'd be great for both the kids and and the senor years and Jessica did point out not the other Jessica uh uh did mentioned that she had not yet run this by the principal but it was a thought yeah yes that's right you're right she's exploring it okay so we we're game to continue to explore it with her gray thinks we should okay I don't again I don't think we need a motion on this maybe if it once it comes to to fruition it does we but not now so last thing I wanted to bring up before we get uh bumped is that of the is the annual report everybody has seen the Ann report you and I've made the corrections that you all brought up uh brought to my attention the only thing that's holding me up right now is I have to just finished double-checking Gail sent me some of the information I was unsure about so I could check and see just exactly what um are what we did spend last year but but I think it's ready to go if you're ready to approve it and I will send it to you again before I send it in once I've got the figures CED away so are you willing to approve the annual report based on what you've seen gray is I'm willing to although I wasn't here so I don't know you know for most of it but you know what I what I did see was looked okay to me oh good oh good so I think we probably need a motion about sending in the annual report okay I guess I will just ask um make a motion to that the COA approves the sending in of the FY 24 annual report Grace So moved make peace you wna oh make pce huh I'm sorry okay great millinger I thank you folks anything else you think we should do before we get kicked off by the next group I think we've actually uh pretty much finished our business on the agenda so that we don't need to meet again until next month I think we'll be okay good thank you all so I will see you again on the um the second Wednesday in January in February and I seem to have misplaced my calendar but we're all capable of finding the date out I'm sure just let me know what what Sue gomberg um would like if she'd like me to stop up on the I would on the um the Wednesday I defin Foot Care Clinic yeah I will and thank you for offering to do that yes I don't mind Mar Joe do you have any questions you'd like to ask us