Minutes Archive

Senior Millage Allocation Committee Minutes

Senior Millage Allocation Committee
January 25, 8:30 a.m.
Calhoun County Building-Marshall
Human Resources Conference Room

The meeting was called to order by Commissioner Eusebio Solis at 8:36 a.m.

Members Present: Betty Arnquist, Karin Hayes, Joanne Konkle, Rev. Ed Scully, Eusebio Solis, Mary Crowell,

Members Absent: Jim Moreno, Viola Johnson, Arlene Bolton, Jase Bolger

Guests Present: MaryJo Byrne of Fountain Clinic

Staff Present: Wendee Woods, Karla Fales, Rodna Stealy

Citizens’ Time:

No citizens were present to speak at this time.

Karla Fales chose to speak at this time to inform Committee Members that she will be leaving her position as Senior Services Manager to accept the position of Executive Director at Burnham Brook Center.

Approval of Agenda:

Karla proposed changes to the agenda; add Burnham Brook Request for funds transfer as New Business. Father Ed made a motion to accept the agenda with the above change. Mary supported the motion. Motion Carried.

Approval of Minutes:

Joanne made a motion to approve the minutes from the December 14, 2007, meeting and Betty supported. Motion Carried.

Consent Agenda:

Karla referred to the correspondence from Guardian Finance & Advocacy Service to Burnham Brook; and explained to members that Benefits Counselors from Burnham Brook spent several days meeting with guardian staff members, reviewing information on Medicare D regarding their individual clients and to help them make sure their clients were enrolled in the Medicare D Plan that would best meet their needs. She pointed out that this was a great collaborative effort between these providers.

Joanne made a motion to approve the Consent Agenda. Betty supported the motion. Motion Carried.

Committee Reports

Father Ed reported that he had met with Wendy Tackett and Karla regarding the evaluation process and he was well pleased with the plan outlined by Wendy as far as evaluation with our providers.

Wendee Woods expressed concerns of Administration regarding this step. She explained that administration is not comfortable with going on with this process until we get a new manager in place. She also stated that we need to replace the members of the committee that have recently resigned so that the new members can be a part of the training process.

Members discussed the possibility of having a new bidding process after we have new members and a new manager in place.

Father Ed made a motion to table this until the next meeting. Joanne supported the motion. Motion Carried.

New Business

Meeting Schedule

Karla explained to members that they had received, in their packet, a new meeting schedule that reflects the changes we discussed last meeting.

Senior Prescription Discount Card Report

Karla explained the report that members received in their packet. She explained that we are spending less on this service because most seniors are getting signed up for Medicare D. Karla further explained that we still have a lot of seniors who just do not want to sign up for Medicare D, and that since that is an optional program we cannot force anyone to sign up for it.

Managers Report

BROCHURES
A big thank you to the Juvenile Home kids who broke speed records finishing the stickers on 14,700 brochures! I have a letter of thanks on its way to Mike Gillum and the kids for their help. We have also provided a donation to their student incentives fund. I will have brochures to distribute to you at that meeting.

COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS/MEETINGS
Just before the holidays, staff from the Area Agency on Aging and I met with Pastor James Ritchie from Washington Heights Ministries to discuss their senior programming. They were able to secure some funding for transportation and since our meeting our working with Burnham Brook’s community services to provide transportation. Audra, the senior center coordinator, called this week to report that they now have a van and our working out the details to get it on the road. She said they celebrated this week with an outing with their seniors, who were very thankful to be out and about again. I’ll continue to talk with them and monitor.

We are still working on issues related to the congregate meal site. At my insistence, Pastor Ritchie and one of his board members did meet with Teresa Allen of CAA to discuss how to get the congregate site operational once again. Apparently they have enough funding to go through February 8. CAA will provide congregate meals through February 8 and we will continue to work on a solution to the issue.

BENEFITS COUNSELING
I received a report from Jolene English regarding the benefits counseling that has occurred in our office. Rodna deserves major kudos for her efforts in this area. She truly has gone above and beyond. Many of the seniors she worked with had very complicated situations. Rodna would work diligently with them to solve their problems, get the information they needed, or resolve conflicts. I was amazed at the complexity of situations she had to deal with over the course of open enrollment (November 15 – December 31). She assisted 109 people – 64 through personal one-on-one counseling and 45 through telephone contacts. Many of these folks required multiple contacts to bring resolution. Please take a minute and express your appreciation to her for her work in this area. She is a tremendous advocate for the county’s seniors as the public face of our office.

Membership Recruitment

Karla suggested a sub-committee chaired by Father Ed to work on recruitment of new members for the Senior Millage Allocation Committee. Mary and Betty volunteered to be on that committee.

Father Ed discussed the things that the committee needed to take into consideration when recruiting members. The back ground of the individuals is an important factor as well as geographic and demographics.

The Senior Services office will provide him with information on all current members of the committee, to allow him to see what areas we need to consider.

It was also noted that the Planning Retreat planned for March needs to be postponed until after we get a new manager and new members on this committee.

Transfer Request

Karla explained that Burnham Brook was unable to use all of the money allocated for hearing because even though seniors received the vouchers to purchase a hearing aide they were not able to actually get the hearing aid before the end of the year. Therefore, Burnham Brook is requesting that they be allowed to transfer $6,000 from Hearing Assistance to Purchase of Service to pay for in home services that were provided to seniors during December. Karla explained that Purchase of Services had an increase in expenses that they could not have predicted and would like to utilize the money to help cover those expenses.

Joanne questioned how many times Burnham Brook had requested transfers this year. Members discussed that this year was an exception and that they certainly would not like to see this as a pattern. Wendee Woods noted that this has to be an exception and that we not set a precedent.

Mary made a motion that Burnham Brook be allowed to transfer $6,000 from the Hearing Assistance Program to the Purchase of Service Program for 2007.Father Ed supported. Motion Carried

Citizens Time

There were no citizens present who chose to speak at this time.

Announcements

Wendee Woods announced that Administration will move forward as quickly as possible to find a new Senior Services Manager. She said that they would be forming a committee to interview candidates. Joanne stated that she would like to be part of that committee. Eusebio and Betty will also be on that committee.

Adjournment

Meeting adjourned at 9:40 a.m.

Next Meeting February 22, 2008

Calhoun County
315 West Green Street
Marshall, MI 49068
Phone: (269) 781-0700

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