1991 09 20
CHANHASSENSENIOR COMMISSION
REGULAR MEETING
SEPTEMBER 20, 1991
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Chairwoman Montgomery called the meeti ngto order at 9: 30 a.m..
MEMBERS~PRESENT: Barbara Montgomery, Betty Bragg,
Kubitz and Bernice 8il1ison
MEMBERS ABSENT: Emma St. John and Sherol Howard
STAFF PRESENT: Paul Krauss, Planning Director; Sharmin
and T6dd Hoffman, Park and Recr~ation Coordinator
MINUTES:
APPROVAL OF AGENDA:
Montgomery:, We'll start with the approval of the agenda.
to mak_ any~changes in the order?
Billison': I 'approve the agenda as written.
Montgomery: Okay. It will stand as written.
Heinlein: The only correction I have is on page 11 Marion Stultz is
spelled wrong. It should be Stultz, not Stoltz.
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Jane Kubitz made a correction thatwasn'tpicked
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Heinlein moved, Kubitz seconded to approve the Minutes of the S~nior
Commission as amended. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
VOLUNTEERS: SCHOOL DISTRICT 112
VOLUNTEERCOORDINATOR~
MS. . LOIS FISKNESS.
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Montgo~er~: We are very happy this morning to welcome Lois Fiskness. . She
is with Pistrict 112 and she's the Volunteer Coordinator and she has some
t;.hings she'd like to ask us and tell us about. '
Lois Fisk~l\iss: Good morning. I'm Lois Fiskness with District 112. I am
the person: l;'Jho is employed by the District to work with volunteers within.
the District. Both parent volunteers and non~parent volunteers like
yourselves who may no longer have children within our public schools.
this morning to invite you to participate in our schools. I heard a rumor
that some of you were looking for s6me very worthwhile activities to do for
volunteerism~nd if that isn't a true rumor, let's start it now. Maybe
we'll build some inte'rest. .,.,But definitely our public schools do have a
need for volunteers. ,We have an elementary building very close to where
many of you live'p,Some of you are probably even within walking distance of
that building. We"have a variety of types of things available for
volunteers within our schools. Some of you might like to work with
children. Small groups of children. We need volunteers. Senior leaders
are especially welcomed within each of our classrooms. For seniors to come
in and share reading with children, both your reading to them and share
time as they read with you. Perhaps doing some small group activities or
flash cards with math or numbers or this type of thing. You've never alone
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Senior Commission Meeting
September 20, 1991- Page 2
with the children. A classroom teacher is always there and we need
volunteers especially in the lower grades. Kindergarten, Grades 1, 2 and
3. Working with small groups of children so I'd invite any of you who have
an interest in working directly with children, we have a need for you. A
senior volunteer is a very valuable person within our community. You have
so much to contribute to these children. Many of you perhaps do not want
to work directly with children, we have opportunities for you too. We
always have needs to put together mailings and assemble materials and do
various types of clerical things that can assist us so I just invite any of
you who maybe have an interest in volunteer ism within our public schools or
maybe know someone else who has the interest in a very worthwhile volunteer
activity to give me a call. I have a brochure with me this morning. The
blue outer portion of it is put together by ARP, Association of Retired
People and then I have a'brochure which I put together through the school
district on the inside and both of them just happen to have my hame and
phone number on them so if you have an interest in volunterism within our
public schools, we definitely have a need for you. So I'll share those
IrJi th you. I have lots more. I didn't have any idea how many to br i ng this
morning so I just brought a small number but do you have questions or any
information that I can help, connect you with as far as volunteer i ng wi thi n
our schools?
Montgomery: Can you tell me how long a period of time?
Lois Fiskness: This is very, very flexible. This is something that you
would arrange with the individual classroom teacher. If you give me a
call, I know of some very.specific things that need to be done within the
. classrooms. I'll try to connect you with that teacher. You can go in and
introduce yourself and say I'm a volunteer who'd like to work with this
group of children or whatever the activity is. And with the tea6her you
would arrange your schedule. Maybe only have a half hour once a week.
Maybe only want to come in once a month. Maybe you h~ve a longer block of
time. It's very much flexible as to what the amount of time is that you
have to share. Now the individual classroom teacher might say I really
need you at about 10:30 because that's when that particular group is
reading or something or I really need you at 2:00 in the afternoon because
that's when we're doing art and you'll come up with some agreement as to
what's a good timeframe for you. What will work for you so it's very
flexible. We don't have an expectation that you're going to he committing
yourselves for days or hours but yet many of our senior volunteers, we have
several vol~nteers, about 10 of them that come into our Chaska Elementary
building and they come in once a week for about an hour during the months
of October and the early part of November. While the weather is still
good. While driving is still relatively easy. Then they come back again
and commit about 10 weeks of time during the last part of March and early
part of April. These people come in and they read with children so that's
been a very effective ~rogram. We call it Reading is Ageless at Chaska
Elementary. I know that Chan Elementary has a program called Book Nook
where each week there is a period of time where someone comes in and reads
to the children and they try to get a'variety of people to come in. Some
senior citizens. Some men. . Some people with other, perhaps people who are
visible within the community. A policeman or the Sheriff or the Mayor 'or
someone of this sort, come in and read to them. And then also a corps of
volunteers of parents who are there consistently So the Book Nook program
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Senior Commission Meeting
September 20, 1991 - Page 3
has been a real fun one for both the volunteers, parent volunteers and
seniors such as yourself. It's a non-threatening environment to go in and
read with children and there the teachers provide you with materials that
fits their curriculum and has something available. Working with small
groups of children, typically it's the younger grades that need the
additional time and help and those are the children that are so very
spontaneous and have a fun time working with you. Some of our.classrooms
also would like to adopt a grandparent and have a person continuously
. throughout the year who they might .be able to write letters to as a
language experience for them. And then you would write them a letter back.
Maybe plan a special event with them and you would be at their parties or
thei r event. t1aybe they would i nv i te you to come in and do some sort of a
project or a cooking activity or share a skill or talent with them so we do
have classrooms who would like to adopt a grandparent. That's a fun
program too. So I just thank you and I hope thcit some of you do have
interest.
Montgomery: And what is your phone number?
Montgomery: I have another question for you~ If somebody does not
is there transportation available or would they take Dial-a-Ride?
Lois Fiskness: Dial-a-Ride would basically be the transportation and
within our school district Dial-a~Ride does. serve Chaska, Joriathan
Elementary and here at Chan Elementary so that would be.
Lois Fiskness: I'm with Community Ed. r'm at 368-3682 and I do have itan
my brochure. So I thank you.
Montgomery: Thank you very much for coming.
Kubitz: May I take an extra one? I'm going to give it to
is not a senior but she has no children. I think she used
teacher.
Lois Fiskness: That would be super.
Kubitz: She's well versed in birds and things like that.
Lois Fiskness: 01'1 we would love to have her. We also are looking for
people who have various kinds of resource information. Maybe a skill
talent. Maybe a trip you've ta ken. Maybe a collection t.hat you have, like
this person. t1aybe she has an interest in birds or science or birds nest.
It's amazing what people keep in their basements and the kinds of things
that people have. And I do have teachers who connect with me and say can
you provide me with someone who knows how to make lace because I'd like t.o
have this demonstrated with our colonial unit around Thanksgiving time or
all sorts of special requests that can enhance our curriculum. I'm going
to be providing Sharmin also with a stack of the brochures for the seniors
booth at the Oktoberfest. If you don't get one today, there will be a
bunch there. Thank you.
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Senior Commission Meeting
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CREATE A VOLUNTEER SUBCOMMITTEE.
Montgomery: That brings us to the matter of the volunteer subcommittee. It
seems to me we seem to have a lot of assignments and sometimes we don't
have enough time at the meetings to get through .a lot of things~ I thought
that this might be a good time to see what you think about ap,pointinga
subcommittee to deal with volunteer matters. Any of you?
8ragg: Well I'll be on that subcommittee if you'd like. I'll volunteer
for that.
Montgomery: How about Emma? Do you think she would?
Bragg: I think she would. Emma can't be here today.
Montgomery: I guess what we need is a motion that we the Chairman appoint
a committee. Subcommittee. ~
8ragg: Madame Chairman, I move that we creates subcommittee to deal with
volunteerism within the school and in the community.
8illison: I second the motion.
Bragg moved, Sillison seconded that the Senior Commission create a
Volunteer Subcommittee to deal with volunteer ism within the school district
and in the community to be appointed by Chairwoman Montgomery. All voted
in favor and the motion carried.
Montgomery: In that case then I may as well just appoint you right now and
maybe Betty you'd like to chair the committee and Bernice.
Billison: Yes.
Montgomery: And also Emma, we'll check with her. Thank you.
a task for you right off the bat and that is, I believe at the last
meeting, as I read the Minutes, the Mayor was asking for some help in
creating a list of possible volunteer jobs. Perhaps you'd like to work on
that and bring it to the next meeting.
Bragg: I started one today real rough.
Montgomery: And I think.you might want to get a lot of help from the rest
of the Commission on that too in getting a really good list.
Krauss: It might also be useful too to have them meet and sit down which
each of t:he city department heads and get an idea, kinds of tasks where
volunteer labor can be a lot of assistance. I know our parks folks
probably have a lot, as was mentioned. Our public safety folks probably do
too. So I think we 'can work with you on it.
Montgomery: Where would we
Krauss: I'll start it u~.
Senior Commission Meeting
September 20, 1991 - Page 5
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Bragg: I started a list, just category and I put~own Parks and Rec. 4H
and Scouts. School~. Library and then community such as friendly visitors
and senior center and t.hat sort. of thing and I underst.and you have some
news for us.
~10nt.gomery: I think too we need some specific jobs ment.ioned.
Mont.gomery: Well it.'s coming up.
Bragg: Okay.
Bragg: Yes. I t.hink when you do assign a job you have t.o have
descript.ion of the job. It. could be just., L put down since t.he Mayor
talked about somebody going, visit.ingthe parks. I called it. trouble
shooter. That. was one word but. that. probably wouldn't. sell. If somebody
t-Jas interested, they wouldn't like the idea that. there's t~ouble involved.
Mont.gomery: Well maybe you put. it. nicely.
Bragg: But you know, it.'s the title you give the job too that makes it
more enticing instead of just., if you call it a host. or host.ess someplace
it. sounds bettert.han wiping off tables.
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Montgomery: Well I know you've had a lot. of experience in t.hat. and we
appreciate your help in that.
SENIOR COMMUNITY
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Ben Withhart: Good morning. I'm Ben Wit.hhart, Executive Director of
Senior Community Services. I apologize for missing the last. meeting. Or
not the last meeting but. the one before. I had the wrong date writ.ten on
my calendar. I didn't. realize t.he mistake unt.il JoAnn call~d me and
wondered where I was at. We have put together, we.' ve tal kedt-Ji t.h Paul and
Sharmin about some possible services for Chanhassen and following up t.hat
discussion ttJe put together a proposal which you have in front of you today
t.hat. gives a breakout. of many different kinds and levels of services that
could be made available and some of the costs for those. Let me walk you
t.hrough t.his if I.could. By backing up just. a moment I'd like t.o give a
brief overvie~ of who we are and why we're here. Senior Community Services
was founded by United Way and some municipal officials back in t.he early
50's. 1950 exactly and incorporated in 1951, t.o bring human se)"vices to
t.he suburbs. We st.art.ed in those days, we had a different name. Many of
you may remember. It was called the Suburban Recreation Association and
dealt. primarily with youth services. We have evolved over t.he years and
are now serving only the elderly. I think it's reflection of the changes
in the suburbs. There are now more older people in the suburbs than in the
city of Minneapolis and in many of the older suburbs, the first rings.
Hopkins and some of the other places, the densit.y if you will or t.he
percentages of population of older people is actually denser in t.he subu)-bs
than it is in Minneapolis. So you not. only have more people over the age
of 65 in the suburbs, ttJe now have a denser population in some of those
suburbs. We also have more people over t.he age of 85 so it.'s not just.
folks who built houses here after the war growing old. There are others
here as well. A lot of out migration as housing becomes avail~ble. People
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Senior Commission Meeting
Sept.ember 20,1991 - Page 6
move into the suburbs. It's a phenomena that.'s happening not only in
Minneapolis and St. Paul but. in major met.ropolit.an areas across the count.ry
in varying suburbs so I t.hink your work is very t.imely. It.'s very
import.ant. because you're on t.he cutting edge of the change that is
happening to society. The fastest growing gro~p in our population are t.he
elders right now and as my generatiori nears retirement, and that will be in
15 years, 20 years, the baby boomers, we're going to see growth in the
,-etirement community like ~'Je 've never seen before. Now that sounds like a
ways out. there but. I think we can all reflect on the last 20 years and they
go by pretty quickly. Especially as we plan for this sort of thing.
Senior Community Services has continued it's role as a partner wit.h local
municipalities and we operate all of our programs jointly using Unit.ed Way
funding and funding from a local city to help pay for the services. We
currently operate 5 major divisions or programs and I put those in the
beginning of the proposal. We are a voluntary, non-profit organization.
That means that we belie0e in and utilize volunteers. In 1990 we
recognized over 1,100 volunteers. Most of t.hose were retirees t.hemselves.
We used them to drive vans and deliver meals and just teach classes. Do
all kinds of act.ivities. It's hard to describe everything they're doing.
of the 5 major programs the first one, and these aren't in a ranked order
but are the senior cent.ers program and I think you're probably most
familiar with that. The City of Chanhassen does pa,"tially support the
South shore Center which has Chanhassen in it's service area and probably
serves more Chanhassen seniors than any other senior program than I'm aware
of at this time. Although it's not located in the city, it's intended to
serve a large geographic area. t~e also have and manage the Minnetonka
Senior Center for the city of Minnetonka and I be1ieve there are also some
Chanhassen people who part.icipate at that center. Neither of those centers
have residency requirements and people can kind of go wherever their
friends go and where they feel comfortable. Then you can see from the
list, the other 4 centers t.hat we operate. The second program that we rUn
is called Senior Groups Program and this is a program that's composed of
groups much like your own, the Chanhassen Senior Club I think it's called
that'meets here in town. We work with 24 of those groups. In fact I know
we organized and started the group in Eden Prairie but I don't know if we
did the one in Chanhassen. But these were primarily organized in the late
50's and 60's and we're at this point in time not organizing community
groups any longer. L,Je find that they tend to have a limited membership and
it's ha,-d to provide the breadth of services through a senior grup. They
tend to like to focus in on one topic and be a social organization and
t.hat's very fine and they do a good job at that but they're a litt.le more
limited than a senior center can be as far as offering transportation and
meals and education and volunteer opportunities and all of that. What we
found is where we have a center like in Minnetonka, the groups actually
tend to meet there and use it as their meeting place and neither one
supplants the other one or erases the need for th~ other. There's still a
need for the clubs. Where there's room they can do that. So that's our
senior groups program. The third program we operate is called Senior
Out reach. What ~<Je' ve t r led to do. We find today that. there are t.hree
, generations of retirees. Three generations within retirees. This is
somet.hing that school districts never have to worry about. They deal wit.h
one generation at a time. As an organization we deal with three
generations. ~Je have, and I'm sure you all in your own lives or friends
lives knOlAJ sons and daughters v.Jho are ,retired. Taking care of morn or dad
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and dealing with that. Many times it's even grandparents that when we look
at retirement age and I talk about retirees rather than senior citizen
because there are so many definitions of when you reach senior citizenhood.
It depends on who you're tal ki ng to and \lJhat membership you I.>Ja nt . to joi n
but l~t's talk about actual numbers. In Minnesota today the average
retirement age for a man is a little over 55 years of age. It's about 55.7
months or something like that. So if we look at people 55 and older as
being retired, then we can really look at three generations in that time
period. We have one of the highest populations of people over the age of
100 concentration in Minnesota so we do have a long life span. The Senior
Outreach Program is targeted at the frailer part of the populatioh. Senior
Centers are really for people who are able to get out and get going. That
are very active and involved in the community and it really gives them a
~'Jay to pull together and continue that focus. Continue their education and
socialization or volunteer opportunities and that kind of thing. Senior
Outreach Program is one that really is working with people who without some
help from their families and from the Senior Outreach Program may end up in
a nursing home. t.Jhat the Outreach program can do is come in and meet with
them . ~1eet with their fami 1 ies . Find out what they need and then really
bring in those servides. It maybe a volunteer friendly visitor. Might be
a home delivered meal. Mi~ht be a homemaker. Whatever it is. Visiting
nurse. The outreach worker goes to bat if you will for that family. For
that. older person and brings those support services in. That's been a very
effective program and one we're very pleased with. We know statistically
from some studies that have been done that we do a very good job of keeping
people out of nursing homes. Much better than the population in general
who doesn't get any service. A fourth program we operate ii called the
home program. It's household outdoor mai ntenance fOl" the elder ly. This is
a program that serves' the South Hennepin area currently, as close as Eden
Prairie and the program uses a mix of professional staff, some part time
help such as kids during the summer to mow lawns and do that kind of thing
and they get paid...and volunteers. And what it does is it has several
different components. It does home repair and fix up. That's vJhere our
professional staff comes in. We have a journeyman carpent~r who will
install grab bars and do all kinds of odd jobs for people who need some
work in their home. Minor home repair. Anything real major, it doesn't
that but it's kind of minor stuff that people can't do for themselves.
There's also a pai nter that does pai nti ng for people and then \I.Je use
volunteers and the Skills Bank, depending on what the individual needs.
And I guess we go with the least costly service possible for the older
person. We also do what we call outdoor maintenance and that's the snow
removal and lawn mowing. Storm windows. That sort of thing. That pl"ogram
is one I think that Paul and Adele have talked about at some length. And
then the last program we operate and I won't spend a lot of time on this is
our employment program. The best w~y I can describe this is it's like a
shelter I.>Jorkshop only it's not shelter. Shelter means you can pay people
sub-'minimum wage. We do not do that. We think that paying sub-minimum is
less than dignified. ,This is a program where retirees can earn some extra
money. They can work up to 20 hours a week. No more than that and it's
located in Hopki ns cw"rently and we contract with area businesses from
throughout the Twin Cities area actually to do collating and light assembly
work and provide some employment. And that seems to be a needed kind of
activity for people, especially those ~"ho just aren't into volunteering.
They still want the comraderie and the good feeling that you get from the
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wo'( kplace. We've been runni ng that nO~<J for a.bout 8 years and just have on
an average of about 40 seniors that are active in that program. So that
leads me, and that's a quick overview of "'Jho "'Je are and ~<Jhat ~<Je do. Leads
me into the second part of the presentation and this is I guess a draft if
you will and open to discussion and I hope that you ask me questions as ~<Je
go here. ["Je put together several t.<Jhat t'Je call components of service that
we would, we're recommendi ng and ~<Je say to the Commission you can pick and
choose or depending on funding and what you feel is needed in the
community. With that let me start. The first component, we call Component
A is staffing fhe city's proposed senior center. This we see working with
a newly ret.ired and a well older adult.. Proposal A would be t.o provide 12
hours of service at t.he cent.er and that. could t.ake place 3-4 hour days or
2--6 hour days. That.'s really depending on how you'd like t.o see t.he cent.er
used. The cost for that is $8,400.00 a year and that covers t.he salary,
the fringebenefit.s and the supervision of that person. One of the things
that we really bring to a community and our staff and others have liked is
that ihis person is not alone here at City Hall being the only person doing
what they're doing. They get to network with people at South Shore and
Minnetonka and other senior centers. They learn about new programs. They
find out solutions to issues or problems that they're getting so it's like
rather than being a teacher in a one room school house, you're part of a
team in an elementary school and you can talk to others and find out [I.Jhat's
going on. That's I think a great benefit to the staff. The position to
work vJith the senior commission or if you set up a subcommittee or some
other function, to work on what the program services and activities would
be at the center. They'd also work with the Planning staff, Park and
Recreation staff, Adult Education from the school district and any of the
suitable agencies that we could contact and bring services here to the
center. We see the position being responsible for recruiting volunteers
for center services. I think for 12 hours a week, we don't see this
position being a volunteer recruiter for other organizat.ions like the
School Dist.rict or the library or other kinds of things. That's probably,
we feel t.hat's too a.mbi tious at 12 hours. Component A( 2), which is 20
hours, does take that into account and really the difference between the
and the 20 is that. the 20 hours allows that person to recruit and place
volunteers, recruit volunteers from among the elderly in Chanhassen and
I guess refer those people to other organizations. The library. The
schools. Wherever. It might be the City itself. Then a second service,
and again this is the Senior Outreach Service. This would be targeted at
the frailer and older, some people call these folks homebound. They're not
always totally homebound but many times isolated. Single people generally
over the, we're not talking about the 60 year old here as much as maybe the
75-85 year old peTson that has had some health problems. Let. me state that
our OutTeach workeTs, we are a certified agency by the State of Minnesota
and our Outreach ~<JorkeTs are licensed. They meet all the license
requirements of pToviding this kind of seTvice so whenever you visit with,
people in theiT homes and you counsel them on "'JheTe they can get services
or help, you need to be licensed by the State of Mi nnesota. And vJe do
t.hat. We see the Outreach staff serving Chanhassen 4 hours a week and
within that 4 hours a week, we determine that based upon the number of
older people that are in Chanhassen. Based upon the kind of level of
sen) ice that we have in other communi ties given your population base. ["Je
think that will seTve the need. As time goes on that may change as more
people, more older people move into Chanhassen or' as people grOvJ older here
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Senior Commission Meeting
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in Chanhassen. The cost of that is a little over $3,300.00. That position
would do a couple things. We want again to work closely with the Senior
Commission and do a lot of infonnation referral. ~~hen people call in and
they say, I'm frustrated. My mom needs some help. Where can I get help
and they do a lot of what we call over the phone counseling. Short term,
non-intensive counseling. If needed they can also do, and vJe do a lot of
home visits where we go out and talk to the older person. Many times those
people just don't, I don't want anybody coming in here and providng
homemaking you know. This is my house and I want it done my way and it
sometimes takes some tough love to convince a person that if they don't
accept a home delivery meal or whatever it might be, that they could end up
in a nursing home. Sometimes it's taking a little help rather than needing
a lot further on down the road. And that's what t.he posit.ion can do.
Again l'Je hav a second level here with serving Chanhassen. One full day and
we see that as being able to serve more elderly resident.s and t.heir family
members.. .talking to older people about the center and what's available
here. So any questions on any of this so far? Okay. Component C.This
is the home program. Again this is the one that does the homemaker and
household maint.enance kind of work. We see this service being provided t.o
the citizens of Chanhassen. We would utilize all this stuff is sort of
based out and through the senior center as we see the center as being t.he
focal point. in the city for all the people that, they look to the center
for the anSlAJers for t.hei r services. We found t.hat. to be a great model to
use rather than having separate offices allover. Try to use the center.
The home st.aff would use voluntee~s that we would recruit from Chanhassen.
They don't have to be elderly volunteers necessarily. Many times we find
younger volunt.eers. I noticed in your ~1i nutes t.hat t.here ~.Jas some
discussion last time of the Paint-a-thon program. We have used some of
those kinds of corporat.e volunteers and actually cooperat.e very closely
with the Paint-a-thon whenever we can identify a home that needs that
service, we find homes for t.he Paint-a-thon volunt.eers. That's sort. of a
limited program because you have to be pretty low income to qualify to get
your house pai nted in that, prog,am. The ki nds of senlices that Home
provides, I want. to be real up front about this and clear about it is, that
the,e is a cha,ge to the older pe,son. They pay a fee for t.hat. It.'s not.
free. What Chahhassen will be paying fo, is the cost of operating that
service because it. does take a lot. of phone calling and a lot. of, we have
somebody go out and assess the job. Make a job est.imate on it. Whethe,
it.'s using volunteers or t.heSkills Bank wo,ke,s, t.he paid people. 0, t.he
staff so there is a cost of just administering the prog,am I guess. It's
not. really admini~t,ation costs. It's a p,og,amming cost. The fees for
the program are determined on a sliding fee scale. We ,aise money
th,oughout the community. There is a group c~lled Friends of Home, which
is a non-profit organizations itself that does nothing but raise money to
subsidize t.he fee schedule on Home. It generally comes in $20,000.00 to
$25,000.00 a year to underwrite the cpst of the fees. So if you are
wealthy and have a lot of money, I mepn income wise, you may pay full
freight for the cost of programming. We find that vJe're at or slightly
belo~\J what you could get from some of the Handy Homemaker. I hear these
advertisements on the radio. There's some companies that'do this work and
that.'s because we don't charge a profit.. We don't. have a profit. margin
built into our fees so l",e're able t.o keep it going. We're bonded and
licensed and all that sort of t.hing. But if you're 10lrJer income, depending
on ~'Jhere you're at on the income scale, there's a buy dOvm I guess on that
Senior Commission Meeting
September 20, 1991 - Page 10
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sliding fee scale so it can be quite minimal.
remarks and ask if there are any questions?
Krauss: I guess I don't have a question for Ben. He and I
talking about this quite a bit. I would like to say though
Community Services is an established program that we're all familiar with.
They've been runni ng services and are' extremely pr'ofessional in a cost
effective manner that our citizens use. We're all familiar with South
Shore and maybe we can go visit thet1innetonka center and... We are going
to get into a phase with the senior center here that is frankly beyond
anything that I have any experience with and Sharmin has any experience
with and ~<Je need to have professionals who know how to provide these
services. lrJho knm'J how to organize these things on board with us to make
sure it's done well and we're getting the most bang for the buck and
getting the highest level of services for our seniors as possible. I'm
very partial to Ben's proposals here for those reasons. I really think we
do need that kind of assisstance. Recognizing that we're new and that we
need to get our feet wet I asked Ben to break it down so that we sort of
have a Chinese menu right n~w and we can pick and choose what we can afford
and what we think meet-s our needs and as our needs grow, hopefully our
r-elationship wi t.h Senior Serv ices can grow with it.
Ben LJithhart: If there are questions about. the specific services,
give a broad overvielrJ but I asked JoAnn Kvern, who you've met before.
JoAnn works part time at South Shore center but is primarily responsible
for administering all six centers so she knows the senior cente:r business
inside and out, backwards and forwards. She's also very knowledgeable .
about volunteers. Whe was the forme:r Volunteer Director for the Minnetonka
School Distr ict before she came to wor k for us so she knot.<Js a lot about
volunteering and all of, these programs have a lot of volunteers in them.
Also ~<Ji th JoAnn is Adele Meta. Adele is the admi nstrator fOi both the
Senior Outreach Program and the Home Program. She's the person in charge
of those two. She's also very knowledgeable about volunteeis and both of
those programs use volunteers. Before she came to work for us, .she was
Volunteer" Coordi nator for the Ebenezer Society so as you can see, the
orga nization has a strong commitment of volunteers. I n fact I t..Jas the
first Volunteer Coordinator for RSVP in this aiea. Many, many years ago.
So vJe do have that commitment to volunteer ism and I sense that that's kind
of a direction you'd like to take and I applaud your effort.
Heinlein: Which would appear to be the most impottant?
Krauss: If I could suggest a couple of them. I think the experttse in
getting a senior center focus, getting a senior center program together,
soliciting volunteers is something ~<Je really need. Also, all the programs
they nm are wonderful. I mean theY'e's no questions. I guess I'rn .
particularly partial initially to the Home program just because I have a
strong suspicion we have a number of people out there vJho could use some
assistance in staying in their homes and.this directly serves them.. Plus
it couples in very well with the Mayor's goal of having people in the
community help other people in the community. This would help to make sure
those efforts are focused. The people lrJho need the services aiegoi ng to
get them. One of t.he good things about that Home program too is t.\Jhen you
use, I mean it's a great thing to call fo:r volunteers and to have
volunteers call the City and say what. can I do. But you need a lot of
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Senior Commission Meeting
September 20, 1991 :.. Page 11
expertise in knowing how to do these things. For example, I'd be very
relunctant to send somebody to somebody's home because I don't know. The.
person may have volunteered but are they trustworthy or do they charge too
much? . Is it goi ng to be safe to do that.? The Home prog'r am is designed to
screen t.he volunteers. To screen the employees and make sur~ that it's
done in a professional and cost. effective ma~ner. I don't. know how to do
that. I think we need to hire somebody to do that.
Ben Wit.hhart.: You find you t.ake time on t.he phone,
the volunteer. That's several phone calls and I see some heads nodding.
Obviously you've been volunt.eers or worked with volunteers. And t.he ot.her
side of that coin is that, in essence even though we're a non-profit
charity, it is a business kind of t.hing because somebody's calling in.
They've got a problem. They want their lawn mowed or perhaps the faucet'
dripping or whatever it might be and they're calling in and they want to
find out, and you need to find out from them just what the job is. Many
times you have to go out and kind of assess that. before you can even send
volunteer. '{ou need to find out just lIJhat it is. It may be too big a job
for a volunt.eer.
Krauss: There's also a matt.er of what we can afford now. I've got. some
comments on that in a lit.tle bit but I've been talking with Larry Blackstad
quite a bit and we have some money, I think that you're aware that. we've
been pigeon holing for feasibility studies and we haven't spent it yet.
It's money from 2 years ago and there's fewer stTings on that than there is
on the money I can get now. We can actually use a portion o{ that .to
contract wit.h Senior Community Services to buy a package of programs for
the coming year. I've also got some desire to see some of that money go to
.pay for ~he architects fees for t.he senior center itself so we can get t.hat
ball rolling. This is kind of occuTring as we speak and I don't have the
exact numbeTs for either one but I t.hink a lit.tle bit later on I'm going to
ask you to recommend to the City Council a reallocation of Block Grant
money fOr both of those. We'll buy as much of Senior Community Services
center programs and time as you think is worthwhile depending on how much
we can affoTd. Next, we don't have the ability to spend this year's Block
Grant money for the service. I think if you recall we had Larry Blackstad
here and he tells you about the strings that are at.tached. One of the
problems is you can only spend, if they give a million dollars to funnel
through Hennepi n County, only 15% of that can be used foY" services.
Everything else has to be spent on something. A bus or furniture or'
buildings, what.ever. And the cap for this year has already been exceeded.
So fortunately we got some of last yeaT's money sitting around that we can
utilize. And t.he next funding cycle will be I think June-July type of
thi ng so we can 100 k at t,..Jhat lIJe' re goi ng to do henceforth. But I thi nk if
we can work something out here and juggle this money around and get
contracts signed before December 31st~ Larry's telling me we should be in
PTetty good shape. t.~e don't. have to spend t.he money befoTe December 31st.
l.Je just have to have it under contract.
Ben Withhart: Paul, if I could add just one thing. I would say it sounds
like from information, maybe I'm jumping ahead here but if the centel" does
become a real space, the room in this building, I really t.hink that you.
should consider some staff time theTa. You can staff a Toom Ii ke that vJ i th
volunteers but ou.r experience has been when we try to do'that, what happens
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Senior Commission Meeting
September 20, 1991 - Page 12
is it's hard to avoid a click taking over the space and then you don't get.
everybody served. This way with a staff person you have somebody who's
neut.ral so t.o speak and it. keeps t.he door open for everybody wit.hin, all
citizens in Chanhassen are able to use the space and that person does bring
some expertise and they're going to work with the Park and Recreation
people to bring in activities. That kind of activity and hopefully some
adul t education thi ngs from the school distr ict. ~~e wor k closely wi th the
University and other places. other agencies mainly. Health serving
agencies that do screening. Health screening and that kind of thing. So
that's really a field of expertise that you get.
Krauss: I would agree with that very st.rongly. Again I see us getting
part time assistance. Part time basis someone in the center. At least
initially and with a lot of volunteer assistance. Now Tbdd Hoffman's here.
from our Recreation Department. Todd has also been vJor ki ng on some of the
programming needs and there's going to be a lot of coordination and
cooperation.. Todd's got, is it programming position that you're looking to
bringing on? It's committ.ed, well why don't you describe what you're
committed to.
Hoffman: A program specialist person serves a wide variet.y of things.
Obviously in the past they've not served the seniors group that intensively
because we haven't had t.he space.. .other services in the communit.y. But as
this situation begins to evolve, we'll mold that person. We'll continue to
go back for additional funding for futuY'e staff people in t.hat aY'ea.
Ben Withhart: The kind of difference if you will between the Senior Center
CoonJinat.oY' and ~AJhat the ProgY'am Rec Specialist would be doing, they do
have a very distinctive and I think different jobs. I'll give you some
examples. At the Mi nnet.onka Cent.er, which is goi ng great guns, we ~"or k
very closely. The Center staff there does not. hire, recruit or place any
of the instructions that are teaching classes or leading gY'oups and that
sort of thing. It's either done through the Community Ed Department at the
School Distr ict and/or Hopki ns/Mi nnet.onka Recreation Department. t.~hat.
happens is t.he Senior Coordinator .vJi 11 meet vJi th theprogr am committee and
they come up with ideas and t.hey have a suggest.ion box where people can put
ideas in. I'll look at those and say gee, can w~ tY'Y some of these and .
then they meet. jointly with t.he Recreat.ion DepaY'tment and we'll say, can
you find us a macrame instructor? We've got some people here who might be
interested in that.. We think that might. go and t.hen t.hey'll go ahead and
find that person and schedule it and find the space and that sort of thi
So t.hat. ~"or ks out.. That. t.akes a lot of t.ime t.o do that. set.ti ng up. Rather
tha n rei nvent the wheel and dupl icate v.Jhat the Rec Department's do i ng, the
Coordinator wOY'ks wit.h t.he Cent.er side of it rather than trying t.o schedul
all that stuff and find those people and pay them and make sure that
they're there and all that sort. of thing.
Krauss: Yeah. I guess I.. .complimentary. Especially if IIJe have a space
wheY'e we'd like t.o keep it open as 10fl9 as possible and it allows us to
juggle who's there vJhen and just to fill in and bac k each other up. And
this is still obviously, we're still discussing this as we speak but I
think there's a lot of potential that it can IIJork. It's irnportant to have,
when this place opens we need t.o have somebody t.here, we n~ed to have
somebody knowledgeable helping us to organize what's there. Help to
Senior Commission Meeting
September 20, 1991 - Page 13
program the space. I guess I'm very supportive of, if you give us
ahead of negotiating with Ben's group and getting the contract.
Bragg: I'd like to say that we made about 6 visits to different
communi ties to see II.Jhat thei r senio~' centers had. Each one of them had' a
professional person there and there's a lot of volunteers. Somebody's
taking the heat and somebody's also getting the ideas. So it, wor,ksboth
i..Jays.
Ben Withhart: One of my favorite people is Ward Gray who is a retire~ who
i'JaS one of the first advisory committee chairs in t'Hnnetonka back when they
were doing what you're doing right now and did not have a center yet. They
had a ~'epresentative from all the var ious clubs in Mi nnetonka ahd a number
of people appointed by the City Council and others that sat on that group.
And Ward had worked for years in the YMCA before he retired so I think he
understood volunteers and knew what they were all about. He made a plea
for a staff person. Some people II-Jere saying oh I think we can do it. We've
got volunteers and he said, well that's true. ~~e 're goi ng to use a lot of
volunteers in our center but if you think of the center being the whe~l and
it's spinning around and it.'s making lots of progress and ~\!e're going
places, he said think of the staff being the g~'ease on the hub. Well ,
maybe the staff doesn't like to think of themselves as grease but I thought
that i>Jas pretty desc~-iptive. It keeps it going and keeps the squeaking at
a minimum.
II
Montgomery: I just think you do a wonderful service an~ I just think
there's been a lot of evidence of it and I think the coordination is go
great and I think that makes such a difference.
I'll put on my...hat here just for a minute because I
say that it's not my fault but I think credit to JoAnn and Adele and
their staff people. Out of 140 agencies that the United Way, the
Minneapolis Greater Area funds, they not only fund us but they evaluate us
every 2 years. l.Je go through a rather rigorous evaluation process. One of
the toughest in the industry. Of all t.hose organizations, we received thE1
very highest ~'anki ng possible. I mean we i'.Jere highest of all agencies and
i..Je got the highest ranking possible. We got all exceptional ratings on all
our programs. We were the only agency, the closest agency that came to us
only had half their programs rank that. So we feel, I think the staff her
has done a tremendous job. And th~ volunteers and we have a tremend00s
Board of Directors. The folks listed there. "1am' of them are retirees.
About half are retirees. Half corne from major corporations and businesses
and civic organizations and many of them are elected officials or former
elected officials. You find that elected officials generally don'Lhave
enough time to spend with us but once they're out of office they're a great
asset because they know their way aY'ound and help us relate to all the
cities we work with. That's a group that helps and I guess for my boss,
guide the organization.
t"'lontgomery: Do any of you have any questions you'd like to ask?
e
Bragg: How soon would you get involved? Let's say we have a senior center
proposed and Clccepted and the space was there and payment was there, how
soon IlJOuld you get i nvol ved? l,jould you plan, he Ip i'Ji th the archi teet?
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Senior Commission Meeting
September 20, 1991 - Page 14
8en Withhart: We've already met with the architect. And threw out a
number of ideas actually and we would do that. There's no charge for doing
that kind of service. I've done that with several places. We ran a number
of thi ngs up the flagpole in teims of what ~<Je could do. I thi nk you've had
some discussion and I.remember the discussion about the kitchen. We Went
throug'h it and I think you went. t.hrough it. with t.he architect. and there's,
a limited kitchen means you can do some very limit.ed things because of the
St.ate Healt.h Regulations. If we really want to do meals and st.uff, we've
got to talk about something that's more expensive than we really want to
get. int.o and t.he...
Heinlein: In t.hat regard, what. would we be able t.o do? I mean what could
l'.Je.do?
8en Withhart: With t.he kind of limited kit.chen?
Heinlein: Yeah.
8en t.~i thhart.: You can do coffee and br i ng in rolls and that. sort of t.hi ng
but you can't do it catered.
Heinlein: Couldn't you have pot.luck or anyt.hing like t.hat?
8en Withhart: Actually you shouldn't. Anything that the City sponsors
shouldn't be a potluck because t.he Healt.h Department can close you down. I
know that some senior clubs do potluck and people look the other way. There
have been cases in Minnesot.a where if it.'s been a city kind of sponsored
event, that the State Health Department will come in and shut it down.
Hei nlei n: I'm not tal king on an evey'ydaybasis but. an occassional one>.
8en Withhart: It could be done by the Club. Not under the sponsorship of
t.he center lfJhere t.he Club is just usi ng the space. That would be di fferent.
but the center itself should not organize a potluck.
Heinlein: Because I know our group does like to have one.
Ben t,Jithhay't: Yeah and I think a lot of groups do. It's just one of
things where you know, the City could be real embarrassed if they had
Senior Center shut dOvin.
Heinlein~ Well from that st.andpoint I can see t.hat
talking possibly of having something like that.
Ben Wit.hhart: I think what. it limit.s is you're not. going to have a pancake
breakfast. You're not going to do a number. You're not going to do a
regular meal. The meals a.t Sout.h Shore and Minnet.onka and ou, othe,
center, well not all of them. Some of , them. We do Have a cook at one
cent.e, that does prepa,e food on si te but. those other cent.ers, food is
actually cate,ed in. It's half cooked, and it's wa,med to serving and
finish cooking at. site but in o,de,'t.o do t.hat. you need a full comme,cial
kitchen and generally vJe',e talking six digits to get that kind of stuff
in. That.'s an expensive it.em and t.hat.'s what. you ,eally need to do. You
know pancake breakfast, all that stuff. You have to have a vented hood
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Senibr Commission Meeting
September 20 ,1991 WN Page 15
with a sprinkler and then it's just the regulations on there are crazy.
Three compartment stainless steel sinks. I remember when we built the
Delano Center and we went out and bought used kitchen equipment. Boy the
sink, we couldn't believe it. Stainless steel sink. We heard they were so
expensive. We bought it. Brought it back. Health Inspector came out to
inspect it and 'said you're one compartment short. They used to allo~'" two
compartments. Now you have to have three compartments sinks so we had to
take it back. Then we found out how more expensive three compartment sinks
are than two compartment sinks. Buy them cheap but you can't use them.
Ben Withhart: I think a senior club, you're talking
Bragg: That's where your expertise comes in. We could avoid
mist.akes.
Heinlein: Basically what our groups does is each one, we say well each
one's going to bring in something and that's all we do. We make coffee
something there but other than that. we don't.
Heinlein: Yeah.
Ben Withhart: The senior club could continue to do that as a club.
I'm saying is ~"'e wouldn't '-'Jant to put it in the Palk and Recleation
brochule that evelY foulth Thursdaythele's going t.o be a potluck at the
center fOI evelyone in the city. I think what our intention would be, and
I assume this is what the City's intention would be, that this center be
open to evelyone within the city. EVelY oldel person within the city and
not have to be a membel of just one club 01 South Shole 01 whatevel.
Heinlein: On an ovelall basis.
Ben Wit.hhart: Yes.
MontgomelY: Well I just leally appreciate your coming and I think that's a.
very, vet"y good proposal and I think it's something.
BenWithhalt: Well we've been following your Commission's work.
been shaling some of the Minutes and things with me and I've ,been
them faithfully.' .That's a lot of reading on it.
t'10ntgomery: (.je talk a lot but I
t.hings ale leally moving along.
we really are interesfed in what
it lat.er.
think it's really exciting and I think
In fact faster than ~lJe expected. I think
you'le ploposing and VJe IIJill be discussin$:J
Ben Withhalt: Some of the things we didn't put in hele, but when we do go
into a community, that becomes mOle than, legally we're contracting. I
always t.ell my Boald of Directors t.<Je contract at a loss and some of the
businessmen in t,hat group look at me and say, how can you do that? (.Jell ~'.Je
do it because~lJe receive funding from the United Way and we do some fund
raising and other things to help do that. But we believe that if we're in
the community, that's our community too. I mean we are Minnetonka. We are
South Shole. We would be Chanhassen and as a consequence, then we also go
out and look for funds. We look for grants, whether it beflom the State
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Senior Commission Meeting
September 20, 1991 - Page 16
Humanities Commission or the fv1etropolitan Council Title III Funds. At some
point in time, and I'm not promising all these things but these are
possibilit.ies t.hat. we've done in ot.her communit.ies. We have received more.
168(2) vehicles for our local communities than any other single non-profit
organizat.ion in t.he St.at.e of Mi nnesota so IrJe've got. a good t.rack record of
bringing things into the community. Every time we bring a van to a .
communit.y, t.hat.'s wort.h $25,000.00. So t.hose are nice lit.t.le gifts t.o
br i ng in and we're glad to be able to do t.hat. L,Je have a person on staff
who's very t.alented in writing t.hose grants.
8en Withhar-t:
in doing that.
Montgomery: Well, we're going to need all the help we can get.
following one foot after another.
Yeah, we~l we feel we're a partner ~ith the
That.'souY mission~ That's our purpose.
Montgomery: Well we thank you very much.
BenWithhart: Thank you.
ON SENIOR CENTER
Krauss: The reason it.'s verbal is because it happened in
12 hours ago. As you're aware, we've been discussing the possibility of
using tax increment funds t.o pay for the construction of the senior center.
It's an eligible activity and the HRA's indicated some interest. in t'Jorking
with us in the past.. We brought. them the proposal that Jack Anderson had
prepared that you saw at your last meeting. We emphasized to them and Jack
r~nderson l.<Jas not. there last. night. Basically conf i 'rmed to us that his cost .
estimates are clearly on the high side. He wasn't trying to pad it but he
prett.y much set everything up as a Cadillac type of option. It also
included furniture. It also includes things like a vestibule that really
isn't needed for the Senior Center. It helps it but it's really part of
the future expansion of City Hall. So I told the Council that the cost
est.imate ~'Jas a $140,000.00 to $170,000.00 but., I mean t.he HRA, but l.'Je felt
that if everybody sharpened their pencils and if we got it down to where we
knew that if we sought some volunteer contributions of either funds or
materials or time, plus if we're able to use some Block Grant money to
offset the cost, that. we probably could lower t.hat.. To be honest the HRA
didn't dwell on the price so much. They asked me when I thought we could
get this going and I t.old t.hem probably by t.he end of t.he summer and t.heir
response was, why is it going to take so long. So they did authorize,
I forget. ~<Jhat. t,he exact. motion IrJas. They have t.o amend t.hei r downt.own
development. plan t.o include this project and they directed the City Manager
to go ahead and do t.hat.. Now I've got t.o t.alk to t.he Cit.y Manager to see
what exactly what that means in terms of v.JheYl the funds will become
available but. basically ~<Jhat. t.he,' did is they author ized us t.o go ahead and
to build the thing. One t..-Janted us to do it before thesnov.J flet'-J. So I
t.hink it's real posit.ive. It sounded like we're over the hump and I guess
we are but now you realize. ..and we are going to again, what we need to do
now is I need t.o get in touch wit.h Larry Blackstad and figure out how t.o
start Juggling money. One of the t.hings I was talking about doing, and it
comes up on the next item, is we're using part. of our money to pay the
architect t.o get working and get the drawings right away because I suspect
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Senior Commission Meeting
September 20, 1991-Page 17
we won't get funds available until after the first of the year at the very
least anY~'Jay. To use 810ck Grant money you actually have to have a
competitive bid for the architectural services so I'll need time to get
that done. Plus what that also does I think is, r'm not clear on hO~.JI can
be involved in this. I think it's something that you might need to,do but
If )/ou S~3t up a non-prof I t group, once we have this thi ng on paper. Once IAe
have a time frame, there's going to be some need to go before the Rotary or
the Chamber of Commerce and put the clutch on all of them to help out.
Contact oUI local bus! ness communi ty. I knov.J Todd's been velY successful
with his plograrns getting donations for lecleational things in the past and
he's plobably got some good advice on how to Walk that. But I can see us
looking to do things like finding out if then~'s any contracting firms in
town tha't ~.Jould like to participate in this and Plovide eithel materials 01
time. One of the othel ways we're going to look potentiall, hopefully
trimming some of the costs is things like, by the way they autholized going
the whole plogram with the vestibule and everything. So the vestibule is
the only palt that leally has a new foundation but I don't see any reason
why if our Public Safety crews have time... Construction's not going to be
an issue. The HRA's going to take care of that or the Block Grant.
8ragg: Is there a pay back to that agency? So basically they're
sponsoring us all the way then.
Krauss: Yes.
a.nything. So
excIting.
So that's one way. You don't have to take out a lo~n or
that's basically what happened last night. It was kind of
Montgomery: We were so excited we haldly said thank you.
believe it went that fast.
Krauss: Well I think there's been a real untapped level of support for
senior services in this community. I think the City Council and the HRA
have both recognized that we do have a need to do something. In fact one
of the reasons we're here today, and I see Jay Johnson sitting there is
because Jay had an idea three years ago that there were some unserved needs
out there and that' s ho~'" lIJe got to do the senior study in the first place.
We'le learning more about it all the time but it's a real mom and apple pie
issue.. It's a tough one to lose on.
Bragg: It's interesting that he referred to the glaying
because ~.Je realize v.Je're not the dnlyones that have these needs.
I personally feel that money spent on t.he seniors, you don't have to spend
it on the police and that sort of thing. UsuallY\JJe're not ca-rrousingand
getting into trouble that way. Yeah, we're in after dark.
Mar ion Stul tz: I '01 1'-109.'- ion Stultz and I tal ked to you over the phone. t1y
daughter just renewed hel kitchen and she has a stainless steel sink that
they we,-e goi ng to thrm.J out. If it hasn't been thrown away yet,. ~",ould you
accept that to use in the kitchen there?
Krauss: We sure could look at it. I don't know what kind of.
Marion Stultz: It's a double sink in the stainless steel.
perfectly good but she Just wanted a colored one.
Senior Commission Meeting
September 20, 4991 Page 18
--
Krauss: That may well fit the kind of kitcherwe're
facility. It may just be great.
Marion Stultz: Well I'll ask her if they still have it. If they do I'll
contact you and you can go down and look at it. They live right on Lotus
Lake.
Krauss: And that's the kind of thing we're hoping to do because any
we save on that makes it quicker and easier to get the center built.
can do that, we can get bette, fu,nit.ure for it. So I guess t,.Je'll be
proceeding. And hopefully we'll get. more good news like that..
Mont.gomery: Well it.'s just ,eally exciting.
Marion St.ult.z: You know what would be nice is if we could get somebody t.o
donate a piano because we could do so.much. We could have sing alongs. We
could have entertainment corne in and usually any entertainment that. comes
in needs a piano if they',e going to sing or do anyt.hing. In fact ~'Je had a
kitchen band years ago and we had t.o have a piano everywhere we went so
maybe we could st.a,t up another one.
t10ntgomery: I'm hoping that people ~'Jill ~"'ant to help out and I t.hinkthey
~.Jill.
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Heinlein: Once we start building anyway.
~1arion St.ult.z: I know Paul convinced one of our members to go along with
it. He was very opposed t.o it. and r t.alked to him yeste,day and he said,
well after talking to Paul I'm going along with it now.
K,auss: I should also ,epo-,t. that. ou,dnon-profit g,oup had ,eceived an
anonymous donation already of $50.00. ,..
Mont.gomery: Well that.'sg,eat.. Do we have anything mOle?
Krauss: Not on that. No, I guess we codld roll int.o the next.
K,auss: You know this mo,ning I was t.rying to figure out exact.ly how much
money ~"e had left in this fund and I couldn't lay my hand on it. I t.hink
it's $20,000.00 or $23,000.00 of money in this Year XVI that's eligible,
t.hat. t"e can play a,ound lrlit.h. I can't. give you t.he exact. dolla, figu,es
yet. but I know we may have to move fast.. I had to schedule this for the
cit.y Council meet.ing on the 14t.h and to basically ,eapporp,iat.e some Block
Grant money. To take it. away from t.he two st.udies t.hat we proposed t.o do
and reallocat.e t.hat. fo, a,chit.ect.s fees and fo, a senio, communit.y service
program. If you would, I would like to get. a recommendation to authorize
me t.o p,esent. t.hat. t.o t.he City Council ~.Jith the exact. dolla,s amounts t.o be
determined. And if you have any preferences for, depending on how much you
can bu)/ f,om Senio, Communit.y Se,vices p,og,arnming, lrJhich you'd like t.o see
us spend it on. I would appreciate that direction.
.
e
Heinlein: Well I'll make a recommendation that we ellow you to ask for
that.
Senior Commission Meeting
September 20, 1991 - Page 19
8111ison: Second.
Heinlein: But next question is, what particular one. Do
an idea?
t-1ontgomery: I thi nk what. Paul is sayi ng is first irJhat ~'Je have to do is tq
request that.
Heinlein: Well that's what I meant.
KI"aUss: We have to reallocate them specifically. Now to reallocate the "
funds, the ~-'Jay I see that happeni ng is, I have too get an idea of irJhat the
architectural fees ar~ going to be on this and I really don't know. I
thought architectural fees irJere somethi ng 1i ke 10% of the project cost.
Heinlein: Tell them to be generous. It's poor people that are looking for
it.
e
Krauss: IrJell under the deal they have to competitively bid so we have to
go out to a few different firms. I'm guessing now, I mean ballpark. An
architects costs us $10,000.00 or $12,000.00 t.o do construct.ion plans.
That irJould leave us another $10,000.00 to contract for Senior Community
Services. The way I would prioritize t.he Senior Community Services is when
l-'Je look at their proposals, I look at Option A( 1) which is the 12 houTs pei-
week. I really think that. meets our needs because the $8,400.00 cost is
veTY reasonable. By the way, we did check with Senior Community Services
and t.heir administrat.ive cost fOT example on t.he Home pTogTam, it's only
15%. I think sometimes you hear about when you give to a chaTity they use
70%... They only Llse 15% of 't.he, money t.hey get fOT administ.Tative costs so
85 cents on eveTY dollaT is turned aTound and invested back into seni6T
pTograms for senior needs ~-'Jhich I thi nk is.
Bragg: 'They're Just a wonderful organization. As faT as pTioritizing,
when you contTact for them, wouldn't they help you t.o see what. our
beginning, how we should proceed because they've done so many of these?'
Krauss: They feel t.hat. one of the priority t.hings we need is to have
somebody coordinating programming with volunteers at the center and that's
Option A. I think that that's almost~ given.
MontgomeTY: Well if we ~tart with Option A, then can W$ add on at any tim$
if we have the money?
Krauss: I think so, yes.
Montgomery: Or we could raise the money.. .then we could ,add programs as we
go. Do we need to prioritize that one and then see where we ate.
e
Krauss: Well if I bould, what I have preference to do is Option A there
and then Component C, the Home services. I Just think it's an excellent
fit. I mean the Mayor has a very st,'rong push on getting volunteers to help
.
--
.
Senior Commission Meeting
Septembei 20, 1991 - Page 20
otheipeople in the community.
Bragg: And you need to have that supeivised.
Krauss: So to the extent that I can juggle money around, those aie the b,w
that I would see going into initially. Now in terms of othei SOUices of
funds, that's a different question. l,Je're going into OUi budget sessions
now for 1992. This is not Block Giant. This is not HRA. Wheie YOUi
property tax money goes. And last year I asked the Council to squirrel
hole just a few thousand dollars for opeiations and it got lost.. For the
Senior Commission. We didn't get that. I didn't think it was because they
objected to it. It just kind of got lost. between.
Bragg: We weren't that visible.
Kiauss: (<Jell t.his year I was thinking of asking for something on the oider
of $5,000.00 to $8,000.00 which l>Jould give you a little more flexibility to
do some of that. I don't knol.<J if they'll buy it but I think it's impo'rtant
to look to some permanent commitment of general funds for senior
activities. I mean ~\Je have a very big commitment to the iecieational
programs as ~I.Je have a very big commitment to the Sheriff's time and all
these things that the City Piovides. I'd like to see if we can get our
foot in the dooi to start some general revenue funding for senior
programming. So I'm going t.o give that a shot. Failing that, lfJe get an
additional round of Block. Grant money. In Apiil we've got our
appiopr iated, I thi n k we can start recei vi ng it in Jul y . Last year \",e got
close to $40,000.00. This yea,' is going to be the first one with our ne!;.J
census and our population's doubled since the last time. Now I asked LaXiY
if that meant that our money would double too. Of course it doesn't work
that ~\Jay. Because it's a complex formula I.<Jhereby not only figuie YOUi
population but the percentage of the communi ty belo\'.J the poveity 1 i ne
virtually everybody that's moved into town is fairly affuluent so the
percentage of poverty has gone dO~'Jn. So what Larry told me that it would
be safe to figuie that it may be a little mOie bieak even.. .so we ~.Jon't.
kno\'J that until, I think I get something from them in ~1arch. No\I.J we could
look at buying more progiamming. We've got to put this on a stiong
footing. If you look at buying mOie progiamming fiom Senior Community
Seivicesin June, or when they allocate this money, but remember only 15%
of all money channeled through Hennepin County can be used forprogiams.
~md last year, everyone else has to buy something. BUses. Kitchens. And
last year they had a problem that when all the requests came in, about 20%
of the money \",as for progiams and they actually had to cut some people'
back. We've had a long term commitment to funding South Shore Senior
Center. Now last year we gave th~m $8,000.00, which was about 20% of OUi
allocation. l.Je could have a problem in the future continui ng to fund South
Shoie at the same level and tiY to fund programming here out of the same
Block Grant dollars because that would be coming in and we'd be having 50%
of OUi money towards piograms. We may get away with it. It depends on
v.Jhat every other city in Hennepin County does so t",e won't know but unless
there's some iegular funding from the City Council in the geneial fund,
can see we're going to bump up against the ceiling.
Heinlein: Why would we have to
going to have something here?
.
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Senior Commission Meeting
September 20, 1991 - Page 21
Krauss: Well that's true Selda, you wouldn't necessarily. I guess when
~-Je' ve been tal ki ng to Jo Ann over time, I guess \.>Je ahJays said that long
term there'd be a phased, when we had an opportunity to do it here, there'd
be a phasing down of South Shore's commitment because of there'd be an
increasing commitment here. Maybe that has to start next year. I guess
lIJe'll kno\.>J a little bit more after we get the city budgets done and from
what we see when we get our Block Grant allocations. Ideally in a perfect
world we'd continue to do both because we're not going to offer congregate
dining here. They will and we'll try to juggle that.
Jay Johnson: One of the biggest reasons I see for South Shore is that
northern half of Chanhassen, some people say the forgotten side of
Chanhassen up there in the Excelsior zip code, is closer to the South
Shore. The people think TH 7, which is South Shore and then the south half
of Chanhassen. Chanhassen's such a complex community with the lakes
splitting us up and everything. The people up on the north side of Lake
~Hnnewashta just think Excelsior. The biggest example of before Paul was
here when we ~-'Jere tal ki ng about changi ng zip codes. ~0e had a lady come in
here and say, I moved to Excelsior 7 years ago and you're not going to move
me. But the people just don't identify with Chanhassen but they're still
our citizens and \.>Je have to provide services for them and South Shore's
doing a good job of that for the seniors on the north side of Chanhassen.
The seniors on the south side haven't been getting that. But South Shore
~"ill probably continue. It's st.ill far more convenient for people on t.he
north side of Lake Minnewasht.a to drive into Excelsior. A lot of them
don't. even know hO\.>J to get to downtown. My soccer program I run for the
kids and we get people from that neighborhood calling me and I say well
it's over by City Hall and they say where's City Hall. Where's downtown
Chanhassen? They've never been here.
Krauss: Well anyway that's, I
ar6tind that we have now. I'll
we'll know a whole lot more as
for the first year if this all
L'Jith ~-'Jhat happens lat.er.
guess all we can do .now is juggle money
go for some funding with the budget and
we comei nto next year. t-J 0 \.>J we'll be set
falisinto place but you'll have to deal
p
Heinlein: Do a lot of praying about it.
tiontgomery: l-Jell let's see, ~'.)e need a couple of motions here I guess.
that Paul requests reallocation of Year XVI isn't it Block Grant funds.
And the second one', that Paul negotiat.e with Community Services to pursue
the items A and C in the Community Services proposal.
Heinlein: I so move.
Second.
e
Heinlein moved, Billison seconded that the Senior. Commission recommend to
reallocate the Year XVI Block Grant funds to be used for the design and
construction of the Senior Center and,the balance to be used for Senior
Community Services for their Programs A andC. All voted in favor and the
motion carried.
e
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Senior Commission Meeti~g
September 20, 1991 - Page'22
Montgomery: I thought now it's a whole different sort of thing but it
seemed to me that ~""e wer e comi ng to a need for a subcommi t,tee where the
Senior Center itself is concerned and now more than ever I think we do need
that because we're certainly going to have a lot of details. A lot of
things coming up that we're going to need some help with. We may be able
to use additional information that the subcommittee could gather and who
knows at this point e><actly what tt.Je're going to need next. I've sort of
changed. I think we have to wait a little bit before we decide what the
first task would be until we know just what's going on but I would ,like a
recommendation that the Chair appoint a subcommittee to deal with th~ new
Senior Center. Anybody willing to move that.
Heinlein: I'll make the move that we should.
Montgomery: Is there a aecond?
Billison: I se60nd.
Helnlein moved, 8illison seconded that the Chair of the Senior Commission
appoint a subcommittee to deal with the new Senior Center.
favor and the motion carried.
Montgomery: I'll appoint Bernice as the Chair I think of the committee
with Jane Kubitz and Selda Heinlein. That's the committee and please ask
for help from any of the other commission members or v.Jhatever. We' 11 so~-t
of have to follow our noses un'til ~,'Je see just ~..shat U1e ne>:tassignment i
going to be.
Bragg: I'd like to ask cl question about these subcommittee meetings
you'd like to have us set that up separately and then corne in as a
committee.
Montgomery: Yes but anything that you decide or is done as a task
need to be brought befor the Commission and we can all discuss it
decide what we think we need to do.
Could r interrupt for a second?
Yes.
Krauss: Barbara, we've talked to ~he Mayor about getting people at large,
from the Senior Club and business and whatever to work witH a g~oup on the
senior center. Maybe this is the kernel of th~t g~oUp.
t'1ontgomery: I haven't had any response from the Mayor although he v,Jasn' t
sure he knew exactly who would be appropriate to help with that...
Heinlein: What are we basically going to look for?
Montgomery: People in the community, and they don't have to be seniors,
who would be actively involved in starting the senior center. Who would
have an interest. Remember Cindy Reese and Dave Amundson from the bank for
instance indicated an interest. Herb and Carol Bloomberg .indicated that
they ~\Jould be support.ive. I'm sure t.here are a lot of other people.
Senior Commission Meeting
September 20, 1991 - Page 23
e Kr'auss: lrJe can help you \AJith some names too. I t.hink somebody f(om
Rotary. Somebody from the Chamber of Commerce. We can go back. r had a
long discussion with Oscar Anderson from the Senibr Club. Maybe he'd be
appropriate or they could designate somebody or group of people.
Heinlein:
How about the Lion's Club?
Montgomery:
committee.
You know, whoever and r don't
I think we could use a lot.
Krauss: We certainly want to have any of t.h~ fraternal or business
o)"ganizations that you're going to later ask for money from.
Bragg: We learned that from our trip to Buffalo when they were starting
and they told us how much these people that were acti\ie in the communi ty
took on their project and were very interest'ed.
Montgomery: I think it's soing to take a lot of thi~king and a lot of
careful planning so t.hat we can move on to the next fund raising part. he,e
l..>Jhich is ahJays a challenge. 8ut I think t>Je've got a vJonderful start. I'm
reall~ excited about it..
e
DISCU~SION BETWEEN PAUL KRAUSS, PLANNING DIRECTORAN~ OSCAR
CHANHASSEN SENIOR CLUB PRESIDENT.
8ragg: Of, by and for the seniors.
e
Krauss: Initially we were going to be scheduled to go speak to the Senior
Club a couple weeks ago. I had spoken with. ..a couple times about that and
\.\Jhat I had heard from Selda and Mar ion [.AJas t.hat t.here seemed to be a
misunde,standi ng I guess ofl..>Jho you people l..>Jere and l..>Jhat the Cit)/ v.Jas
doing. I've been to the Senior Club meetings before where we tried to
speak, and especially if it's not something they're real interested in,
t.hey'd rather play their cards and that's fine. It's a t.ough environment
to have a good discussion in. So before going there I called up Oscar
Anderson, t.he President and said, I don't know if this t.<Jould wor k but.
rather than meeting wit.h everybody there could you and r sit dO[.AJn and
discuss this and after you're comfort.able with it., then we'll come t.o t.he
Senior Club. Oscar was real generous with his time and asked if he could
first meet \-Jith the out.going President and get some background. He came
over here on Wednesday and we spoke for probably a couple hours. I
explai ned t.o him t.hat. there [.AJas no desire to interfere t'Ji th the Senior
Club's programs or activities in.any way, shape or form. That. as far as
t.he Senior Commission, as I underst.ood is concerned, the Senior Club is
performing a very important service. They should be supported and if W3
can get a senior cent.er on line and ~\Je can provide space for them that
meets their needs, we'd love to have them but that there \>Jas no obligation
t.o do that. If they t.<Ja.nt.ed t.o st.ay in the school, t.hat.'s okay t.oo. . I did
point out. t.hough that the senior center is designed for the entire
community of seniors in Chanhassen. Near as we can t.ell t.hat's about. 1,000
people a.nd the Senior Club itself serves 50 or 00 very hard core card
players. They're probabl y t.he most. t.oget.her group in the ci t.y at. t.his
point but what we wanted to do is have a Senior Center that offered
services above and beyond the Senior Club. We'll provide space for the
.~
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Senior Commission Meeting
September 20, 1991 - Page 24
Senior Club and then make all the other programs and services available for
the two senior club members that they could take or leave. Like anybody
lse they could use them if they so wished. Oscar was very open minded
about it and he was glad that we had the discussion and I think his partin9
comment hlas that I sold him but how was he goi ng to sell everybody else;
I asked him to think about set,ting up a subcommittee or \I~hatever he lI-,lanted
to do. If he wanted us to come talk to the whole group or whatever.
Sharmin was telling me that the business meeting was.
AI-Jaff: The first Thursday.
Krauss: Is that a special meeting or is that also card day?
t-1arion Stultz: l.Jell we play cards too but t'Je usually have the
maybe a half hour after we're there. We ask everybody to stop
cards and that is a chore too.
Heinlein: If Merrill is there, would y6u stop the card playing.
Krauss: So I don't know if that's where someplace you'd want us at. I
asked Oscar to think about it. Or to pick 5 or 6 people from both camps,
pro and con and just si t dovm and discuss wi th them. :r t,ook Oscar into the
room and showed him what we think is going to happen dot-.m there. He lrJas
not in a position to say yes, definitely they would come over but I think
he certainly has an open mind to it.
t'1arionStultz: I think you~"ere a very good salesperson. 8ecause he t>Jas
real enthused yesterday when he talked to me.
8ragg: I'd like to comment that as we've been making again these visits to
different communities, \I~e find that i nqui te a fet-.J of the cases the Senior
Club was one of the first groups to come in and begin to see their function
and become very enthusiastic. I noticed Gernice, I noticed your husband
('Jas one of the Presidents.
Gillison: Yes.
8ragg: Of the Senior Club in Eden Prairie?
Gillison: In Eden Prairie for 2 years.
8ragg: So she's kind of been through this with her family. Watching the
Senior Club spread out and taken in and become part of that whole
community. That's a great place over there in Eden Prairie.
Gillison: He sits on the Advisory Goard.
8ragg: So we've got a lot 6f experie~ce on our own commission
that can work. We could ask her about it.
i'1ar ion Stultz: There's so much potential that is there.
use it.
Montgomery: I think they will.
Senior Commission Meeting
September 20, 1991 -Page 25
e i"1arion St.ult.z: I t.hink t.hey I;Jill. It.'s like you say, if we have our own
place, I think W3 vJill. I have a feeling they'd just as soon have us out
of the school anyway because we interfere with the cooks when t.hey're
try i ng to clean up and the chi Idren are r"u nni ng bac k and forth and the
t.eachers 100 k at. us you knol;J I;Jhen t.hey go by a nd say what. ar e t.hey doi ng
here. I just have that feeling that we're not as welcome as We were when
we first. st.arted t.here.
"'10ntgomer"y:lrJell It.hink they'r,e having a space crunch.
t"1ar ion St.ul tz: I t.hi n k t.hey ar e too. I'm sure they are.
Montgomery: So I think that maybe is good timing.
Marion Stult.z: You know we are interfering wit.h t.hem. They're trying to
clean up the tables and her"e we are standing around I;Jaiting for them to
our tables up and get t.he lunch tables down. I can see their point.. I
know we're in the way because we have to run to their kitchen when they're
tryi ng t.o clean up. t.Je take OU'( lunches or t.he food that. we br i ng you knol;J
and ~"'e have to set do~"'n 'our paper plat.es and everything and we're running,
back and fort.h trying to handle the meet.ing maybe before t.hey go home. So
I'can see t.hat. I really think we need our place.
OKTOBERFEST SENIOR BOOTH.
t10nt.gomery: I t.hink Shannin had a lot. 6f t.hings t.o t.ell us about. ,,,,hat. some
of t.he plans are.
AI-Jaff: On the 28th of Sept.emberwe'll have our annual oktoberfest. We
reserved a boot.h for t.he Senior Commission. That should gi0ethe Senior
Commission quite a bit. of exposure. We will have handouts such as CART~
Dial~A-Ride. Those will be brochures. What else? How a senior cit..izen
can have access to a volunt.eer dr i vel' t.o get. t.o places. Sout.hShore l",111
be providing us with their brochures. Carver CoOntyCommunit~ Services
will be provid1nga list. of agencies that. provide services in Chanhasseh.
Fire Depart.ment is going to provide us 'wi thfree smoke detectors to those
\"ho qual i fy .
Bragg: The Vial of Life.
AI-Jaff: The Vial of Life, or act.ually Alert. t<le l",ill be presenting the
sketches of the Senior Center. The two options A and 8. I was speaking
withJo Ann Kvern and t.here will be a program in October for Home~~~and
conserving energy agai nto those ~'Jho qualify so we will be presenting that
aSl<Jell at t.he table . If. you have any suggestions .
e
Montgomery: How about. some fund raising something? Is there something w6
could, I don't know. Writ.e up something.
e
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Senior Commission Meeting,
September 20, 1991 - Page 26
Heinlein:
like that?
out..
Are \lJe offering anything like free coffee 0, donut.s 0, anyt.hing
We're not are we? We just have a table where we're handing
AI-Jaff: Correct.
Heinlein': Okay. Are you going t.o ask for people t.o man t.het.able fromou,
comm iss Lon?
Heinlein: Well I'll come up. WheTe's .it going
AI-Jaff: It. st.arts at 4:00. I will be there t.he ent.ire time but
members of the Commission could voluntee)" a fe~'" hours.
great. That. would be wonderful.
Krauss: It's right. here.
Heinlein: From 4:00 until?
AI-Jaff: Maybe 3 or 4 hours.
Krauss: A lot of people come when it.sdaylight..
8ragg: I volunteered at South Shore about 2 years ago. People ~topped
and you hand out something so it sounds like that. But you knovJ, if a
person wou.ldgive an hour, that's not too much.
Heinlein: Well I had figured on coming.
e
Should we just come when we can?
Bragg: Why don't you get a commitment from us.
AI-Jaff: Alright.. Why don't we have it from 4:00 to 8:00 and theni we can
have whoever wants to come and give up the time when you. We can go hour
or half hours. Whatever.
8illison: Well I'd be willing.
8ragg: Selda, would you come from 4:00 to 5:007
Heinlein: Yeah I could.
8illison: Okay, and I'll come from 5:00 to 6:00 or 5:00 to ]:00.
Krauss: You'll have
before people leave.
return some phone calls
Montgdmery: Jane, do you want
Kubitz~ I'll let you know.
(There were a number of discussions going on at one time at this point.)
Senior Commission Meeting
September 20 1991 '.~ Page 27
.'
At-Jaff: I have a question. As far as the fund raIsIng soes, do you
a goal? Do you lJ.Jant to achieve a certain goal? Let's sa)1 t'.le want
$1,000.00. This t'.lay we can have a chart and keep building.
Heinlein: How about a thermometer?
Bragg: Yeah, that's what we did at South Shore.
Montgomery: What do you think?
Is that too high a figure?
Bragg: t,Jhat, $10,000.00?
Montgomery: $10}OOO.00 or should we work.for it?
Bragg: We can try it.
Heinlein: All we can do is try. Like that old gal did up on the board.
Bragg: Yeah, wasn't that something.
Heinlein: She finally gott.Jhat she wanted because some factory gave her,
her company gave her the balance of the money.
AI-Jaff: Maybe we should
fund raiser. I will talk
t.Je wi 11 be having a
t"lont,gomery: Yeah, I t'Jas goi ng to
us.
AI-Jaff: He's really committed to the seniors.
Montgomery: He really is committed and he has done a lot.
AI-Jaff: By the t.Jay, anytime you need a light bulb chan~jed.
Billison moved, Bragg'seconded to adjourn the meeting. All voted
and the motion carried.
Submitted by Paul Krauss
Planning Director
Pr$pared by Nann Opheim