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1992 10 16 It - -- CHANHASSEN SENIOR COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING OCTOBER 16, 1992 Chairwoman Montgomery called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m.. MEMBERS PRESENT: Barbara Montgomery, Sherol Howard, Selda Heinlein, 8ernice 8illison, Emma St. John and Jane Kubitz MEMBERS ABSENT: 8etty 8ragg STAFF PRESENT: Paul Krauss, Planning Director; Sharmin AI-Jaff, Planner I; and Dawn Lemme, Senior Center Coordinator APPROVAL OF AGENDA: , I AI-Jaff: Can we please table item 2? Gp.yle Davi!dge called'me two days ago. She is extremely sick ~ndshe's not going ~o be able t~ make it. I But she sti 11 requested that you meet with her eiither on Monday, Wednesday or Friday of next week. You might wan~ to discuss this later. Montgomery: Alright, you'll bring that up then , ! Defore ! ! I we close. AI-Jaff: Yes I will. ,Montgomery: Alright, I have another item I'd li~e to add and that is, I'd like some discussioh about the reqUest from qART for donations. Did you see that in with the Minutes? There was an~nnouncement about that and I'd like to make that item 9. Or after item!9. Anybody else have I anything? ! APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Heinlein moved, Howard secclnded to approve the Minutes of the Senior Commission meeting dated S~ptember 18, 1992 as amended: Emma st. John should be listed as absent and change the statements attributed to her on page 5 to HowardJ and on page 23 delete her name. On page 19, cnange the statement, "I was satisfied." made by Kubitz to Howard. All voted in favor of the Minutes as amended and the motion carried. ! . I I CONCEPT OVERVIEW OF CHANHASSEN SENIOR HOUSING STUDY - PRESENTATION BY GAYLE DAVIDGE WITH MCCOMB GROUP. I AI-Jaff: Like I mentioned earlier, Gayle was sidk but! ~he really wants to meet with you. She has a few questions for tKe Senior Commission and she would like to bring you up to date on where.~he's at with the study. She's at a point where she's going to need your ~nput. She can meet on Monday, Wednesday or Friday afternoon. Whatever iworks out. I, I I DO~s anybody have a Montgomery: That's the 19th, ~lst, or 23rd. conflict on one of those days? 8illison: Yes. That would be the 19th. I I Howard: The 21st is the 8ingo at the center in the afternoon. I Montgomery: one? Alright. I How about Friday the 23rd? Any problem with that e e e Senior Commission Meeting October 16, 1992 -Pag~ 2 HO~lJard: In the afternoon? I I I Okay Sharmin. DJ you want . i a note of that Alease. to contact her Montgomery: In the afternoon. then about that. ~verybody make 8111ison: I won't be able to ,in the afternoon. at the hospital. , , I . ;That's my volunteer da.y ! j I i I I I I ! Howard: How about morning? 8illison: In the morning. ! Kubitz: The morning is good for me. Does that effect anybody? i Heinlein: Well she probably can't make it. App~rently her afternoons are only free, if she's asking for afternoon meeiings. I I mo~ning and if she has a Buti she did specify AI-Jaff: Okay, how about if we go for Friday conflict with it, I will contact all of you~ afternoons. That's why I'm going to. Howard: Well how is Monday for everybody? , I ! MOnd~y afternoon. St. 30hn: You ca n ' t go on t10nday either? Billison~ I could come in the aft~rnoon. I i I ~on9ay afternoon. Howard: Well that's what we're talking about. Montgomery: Are there any senior activities lik~shots, flu shots or any of that stuff that week? I don't have the .calendar. I : Howard: Our flu shots are the 4th of November. Montgomery: Okay. , I I wouldllike to be there too. Al-3aff: Paul was just mentioning that he I I Krauss: Yeah, and I think, I don't have my calendar with but I think I can't do it until Friday morning. Montgomery: Well, should we try that F~iday Al-3aff: We'll try Friday morning. mortling I i ! i I I then. 8illison: Friday morning? i I I I i I ! will/let i ! , I I us know~ That's for Howard: Like 10:00? Montgomery: Try Friday morning and Sharmin the 23rd. Everybody write it down. Al-3aff: Should we go for10:00? i' I Senior Commission Meeting October 16, 1992 - Page 3' e Howard: She doesn't need that. much time does she?' Krauss: Well let's find out, what time would you prefer it and we'll see liJhat wor ks . -- e Howard: 10: 00. Montgomery: Alright. You will call. Our next, excuse me. Oh, I'm sorry Paul. Krauss: I need to run back upstairs. .I'm in the middle of qudget but could I go over a couple of financial things with you before I do. Montgomery: Sure. Krauss: I just wanted to update you on our Block Grant. A couple things. We've reapportioned some of our Bloc~ Grant for this cioming cycle. I don't know if you're aware of that. What we've done is pa~tially fund D~wn's salary oUt of the Block Grant. Now that was money that was formerly going to, not the South Shore. We've left that untouched. We were buying Judy's time through Senior Community Services and ,we later realized that, well with Dawn being an in-house person. Let's just pay ourselves to pay Dawn basically instead of paying .them to pay somebody else. So we swapped that moriey around, plus we found some other money on some projects that we haven't done. They weren't. even senior projebts. I had some money that we were going to, you know the Old Village Hall. We had $5,000.00 that we were going to use to make it handicapped accessible. . But we later found out that it cost quite a bit more than that. Not only that, we found out because it's an older structure, we had to spend $20,000.00 on a study with the Federal government so we could spend $5,000.00 to fix it. So we said that's kind of silly so let's put that towards Dawn's salary as well. And there was one other project. I think we had some money left over so what we've done is we've been able to get about of Dawn's salary financed in ~his 1993 cycle out of Block Grant funds. Also, in the past year I think we explained to you last year that the City Council gave me $8,000.00 and Todd $5,000.00 for senior activities. Now in the planning fund, the $8,000.00 that I had, that was partially for your operations and you know, hiring Judy Marshek to help us with the survey and those kinds of things. And the rest of it was to do things. Programs with the senior center. Well, since we're passing the baton over to Park and Recreation on managing the programs, for '93 I'm proposing that instead ~f having $8,000.00 available through planning, that we shift $4,000.00 of that to Park' and Recreation and they c~n use that as they see fit. Partially on Dawn's salary. Partially on programs. Whatever they need it for. We will keep $4,000.00 ~f funding in '93 to operate the Senior Commission. To send you to conferences. To do mailings. If we need to hire somebody like Judy ~gain for a small project, we can do that. That's really all we've been spending for that kind of stuff and if you look at what they give the Planning Commission, it's about $3,000.00 or .$4,000.00 so it's probably reasonable that you get something similar. The last thing is, the status of our Block Grant in future years. I've been working, well the Mayor and I have been working with SenatorWellstone'$ office and Congressman Ramstad's office to get the problem fixed. To get some e e e Senior Commission Meeting October 16, 1992- Page 4 different language into the Federal law and Senator Wellstone's staff is working on it. They've made some cryptic comments about ~verything will be different in January. That tells me who they expect to have win the Presidential election. And Congressman Ramstad's office is actually getting a lot of, making a lot of headway right now under the Republican administration, which makes sense. And we're exchanging letters back and forth with an assistant under ~ecretary of Housing and Urban Development. And they've moved so far as they've even, we proposed language to be written as a rider onto a bill. They~ve comeback with an alternate set of language and I ju~t wrot~ back to them and said, I don't think that quite makes it so, I think we're making progress. I can't tell you exactly when it's going to happen but it looks like things ar~ moving in th~ right direction now anyway. \ Howard: Your feeling is we should still receive it? Krauss: I don't want to say that. I mean Congressman Ramstad, the Ramstad folks and the Wellstone folks all agree. I mean that's not a problem. I'm not sure about the HUD folks except right now the HUD folks would like to help out a Republitan Congressman I think. Montgomery: They'd better hurry. Krauss: But f6r example, they propose language. We propose language that said, if you're, a community that was eligible, at one time was eligible but became ineligible because you lost your population like we did due to government action, that it'doesn't matter. Hereonafter~you're always eligible. They came back with language .t~at said, when the County is certified, if you'r~ in the County when it's certified, that you're eligible. Their language was kind of cute though because what they forgot to say is that Hennepin County is recertified every 3 years. So if you go with their option, we've only got a 3 year horizon and then you have to fight this again. So we're asking them to clarify that point. I'm not sure if they're trying to be cute about it or if they actually have a problem with it. But at least we're making headway. I mean they're talking. Montgomery: That's real progress. At least to keep it going. It certainly look~d bleak. Krauss: Yeah. Well we'll keep you posted. Hopefully something will break on that soo~. Howard: I'm very pleased about the money for the Senior Commission because I think we will want to visit housing for one thing. See what we like. Krauss: We should have money to organize a bus tour, if that's what it takes. We should have money if there's conferences that a few of you want to go to. To be able to send you. We should have sufficient funds for that. Montgomery: That's great Paul. Glad to hear that. Sounds like y00're sorting all of this out quite well. There have been so many changes that Senior Commission Meeting October 16, 1992 - Page 5 e I'm glad you sorted it all out to our advantage. Krauss: WeIll think a lot of the changes though, we're ~o new at this that we're getting, as we learn more we're getting our act together and I think we're $.11 real excited with passing the baton over to Park and Rec to actually manage the center. I think it's going to pay great dividends. I mean Dawn has, I'm sure she'll go into it later, her scheduling. The schedule's starting to look full. There's a lot of things happening and they're all, I think they're all pretty good. Howard: Oh, those' of us who are wor king there can see avast difference since Dawn has come on. Much better. Krauss: Yeah, Judy just didn't have the time to devote. Mo~tgomery: Yeah, it takes a lot of work. Howard: And Judy's still taking part in i~ now, we~ll talk about her later I guess. Kubitz: We just had to get over the summer. Get people back oruanized. Krauss; Well the thing too, we had that letter about CART asking for some funds. e Montgomery: Yes, r was. Krauss: I mean if you wanted to recommend to the Council that we send them something up'to maybe $500.00, we probably can do that out of this year's funds. Montgomery: It seems to me that since we're so concerned with transportation and it is such a need and we can't supply that kind of transportation through Chanhassen at the moment, that I think it would be well spent. Krauss: Well if you'd like, if you want to take a motion on, come up with an amount and take a motion, I'll take it to the Council and get authorization. Montgomery: Maybe we should do that right now before you go. Did you all read the article about that? Or the letter from CART. I just talked to one of the people at CART. One of the drivers and he said they were in dire straights because they had lost 20% of the funding that they usually get through cutbacks.. You know all of this stuff together and they need.volunteers. And that they were really looking for donations. That they re~lly needed it in order to provide the service. I think it would be a good idea. That's just my feeling. Maybe somebody else, shall we have some discussion? Anybody want to say anything befoYe ~e. e Heinlein: Do we have to go as high as $500.00? I Montgomery: No. We can do anything we want. e e e Senior Commission Meeting October 16, 1992 - Page 6 Kubitz: Do we have funds to cover $500.00 more? Let's put that then. That's a good service. Heinlein: Now that's CART. Montgomery: That's to medical appointments. That sort of thing and you can get to medical appointments downtown or St. Paul or wherever and that's the only service I know of. St. John: Like from Chanhassen into Hennepin County? Like Exc~lsior and that? Montgomery: Yes. I know because I've used it and they do an excellent job. I think cit's a need. AI-Jaff: I think like $2.00 if you're in the County and it's $4.00 if you go out of the County~ St. John: High\AJay 7. So across Highway 7 would be $4.00? If I go one mile across If I go 4 miles into Carver County, it's $2.00? Montgomery: Yeah; Well they have some. Howard: But at least they'll do it. Montgomery: But they will do it. st. John: I'm not saying that but I just, the difference. Krauss: You're pointing out, you know the fare structure isn't all that fair for Chanhassen residents as opposed to Chaska residents who are further away from the County line. Maybe that's an issue we can send along with the check. Montgomery: Well that's a thought. rate that it's almost embarrassing. to have cash. You know it costs you alternative would be. But I think really it's suchalow If you take a cab anywhere, you have a fortune and I don't know what the Kubitz: Barbara, didn't you use it to go way over to St. Mary's hospital for your eyes? Montgomery: Yeah.' Kubitz: For $4.00 you can-t beat that. Mohtgomery: Yeah I used itandI think they are just very good. Al-Jaff: Barbara, it is $4.00 isn't it? Montgomery: It just depends on where you go but I Went all th~ way downtown for $4.00 and that's pretty good. e e e Senior Commission Meeting October 16, 1992 - Page 7 Heinlein: Well that's what I had to pay too when I went to Richfield to a doctoi I think it was. Montgomery: But I just think, what else is there for people who need transporta~ion to medical appointments. St~ John: Is that that you have to ~ake reseivations ahead of time too? Montgomery: Yes. St. John: You can't use it inan e~ergency? Montgomery: Well you can try. You can try but they probably can't get a volunteer driver that fast. They have to arrange it ahead of time. Well, would anybody like to make a motion or do you have more questions or want to delay it? Howard: I make a motion that we recommend that the Council send $500.00 to CART. Billison: I second that. Howard moved, 8illison seconded that the Senior Commission recommend that the City Council send $500..00 to CART. All voted in favor and the motion carried. Montgomery: Okay, Paul? Thanks very much. UPDATE ON SENIOR CENTER ADVISORY BOARD ACTIVITIES. Lemme: On Wednesday we had our Senior Advisory Board meeting for the month- of October and I think it went extremely well. We accomplished a lot in a fair amount of time. It was under 2 hours and ~e did a lot of things. Did a iot of work. We went over and we corrected By-laws~ We're trying to get our own set.of By-laws. They're fairly simple By-laws I'm sure compared to what yoQ have on the Commission but they served their purpose and just keeps us in somewhat of a structured fashion. We choose committees and decided on who was going to be the head of those committees. We did some date planning of some activities that are coming up. One thing we planned was a holiday party. We're going to have that on Saturday, December 12th at the senior center. That's for all seniors. We're going to have an open house. That's December 12th from 1:30 until 4:00~ And then we also decided, because it seems that a lot of the centers clos$ down in the most necessary days of the year, that we would hav a potluck and some type of activity on Christmas Eve day as well, which is December 24th. Howard: That would be the same hours? Lemme: We never Yeally did decide on the hours. I just put open on the calendar. It probably will be noon to 4:00 or 5:00, depending on what we do. We're working on trying to do, we'll have a potluck or of course some type of food but one thing we are working on and Jay and Judy in particular are kind of doing outreach on this, is try to do some type of tit ,e e Senior Commission Meeting October 16, 1992- Page 8 an outreach program to those who might be homebound OT in ne~d on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. So there/may be some type of a service project that we end up doing on Christmas ~ve actually to carry out or carry through on Christmas Day. A couple other just programming updates. This calendar is pretty updated. It's like every time I do it, the next day I get something else finalized a.nd it's like okay, bring it back to the secretaries and they can do it allover again. But as of yesterday morning, this is updated as far as the dates. We are also now taking part in fair share. Registration is going to be done at the Chanhassen Senior Center' in October, November and December for any netA.) people who want to register for that program. The first one being October 22nd from noon until 12:45 and then they will set the November and December dates. So that will be another opportunity for seniors OT other individuals just to come into the center and see what we have. Heinlein: morning. pibk up in December is the 19th. I looked at my card this Food pick up would be the 19th of December. Lemme: Right, so I don't know what date they're going to assign for people to register. New people to register at our center. Heinlei~: We usually do that I think a couple weeks a year. Howard: Well you can always register at the time you pick up next one, can you not? Lemme: Yes. Heinlein: Well then you sign up. If you've already been there. Lemme: This is for new people who are signing up. Who have never signed up before. We an?1 also pleased that werve got Ridgeview Medical Center's going tocom~ in ~nd do flu immunizatio~s on November 4th in the ~orning from 9=30 until 11=30 a.m. and that's $5.00 a shot. And we're going to have snacks and coffee and that too. ,We've got the defensive driving class coming up i~ November on the 5th and the 12th. That is a two part session. It does look as if that is going to go. I talked to the gril over at the Minnesota Safety Council yesterday and I also scheduled another one for March in the evenings. iI don't recall the dates right off hand but it's two evenings in March 'on Thursday evenings again. We have a matinee trip to the Chanhassen D nner Theatre planned. We were able to get a discount if we have 20 or more reservations so we've got some upcoming things. We've got a wood carving class that's going to be starting. Jane and one other gal are starting with some quilting. We've, had a real active group ,starting up with crafts now which isreal exciting to see. Bingo seems to be growing bit by bit. Person by person and thefe's a lot of other programs in the works that were mentioned at the Advisory Board meeting. We've pretty much updated our mailing list. We're just kind of doing that on a continual basis and that's working out good. And some trips have been, I met with Lois from Community Ed on some cooperative trips. South Shore seems to be still putting us on their stop list for their trips which is good. And we're ~eally just concerned about operating the service ydu know. I don't necessarily need to offer a trip to the Grand Casino if South Shore's offering it and e Senior Commission Meeting October 16, 1992 - Page 9 they're willing to do a stop here, that's great. At least we're offering that to people and people have a chance. to do those activities without having to drive to Excelsior first tog~t there. We're going to be trying to work throughout the winter and the spring on getting some Friday evening or Saturday evening events going and weekend things. Because as we discussed at the Board meeting, that is a time when seniors want activities. That is a time when they are alone and weekends can be real hard. So we'r~ going to try to, that's what we want to do. That's what the senior center is there for is for the seniors so. We discussed a lot of those things. As 1. said, we had a real good meeting yesterday. We got a lot accomplished and I'm real ~xcited to be getting the committees together. Howard: I think they would be interested in hearing about the local organizations that want to help us. -Lemme: It seems we've had floods of calls from everybody wanting to help us. The Jaycees had mentioned to someODe that they wanted to do something for the senior center. I've got some ideas on that. The Rotary Club would like to sponsor 2 peo~le a month, 2 seniors a month for breakfast at one of their meetings. I've had a call from a 4-Hclub wanting to do some type of a service project so I am lookin~ for ideas. I think they're looking for things that will last you know. Not necessarily to build something but some, they want to do something that will have an effect. You know they don't want to ju.t come in and serve donuts one _ day or something. They want to do something that will actually be a ~ servIce that maybe will continue. . e Howard~ Well perhaps the 4~H might get involved, be awfully good for the youngsters to call on the shut-ins and with this program we're talking about. Lemme: For the holidays. Howard: For the holidays. That would teally be good for them. Lemme: And if the Jaycees are looking for something that's a lasting project, we need to have a shelf built for the television set and ~he VCR so they haven't called me yet but they have mentioned that to someone. So we're getting a good response I think from outside the community organizations and I thi nk that'8 the key is just to have some cooperation with that and that will help us with oUr organization as a whole. I guess that's all I have as far as the u~date goes on that. Montgomery: I think that's really exciting Dawn, and I think it's great too to see that you've planned so far in advance. I think this is what makes a big difference and it's just re~lly exciting. I think it's great. Lemme: Well I still kind of feel like I was, kind of landed right in the middle of things going on so right now fior Park and Recreation I'm in the middle of planning winter programs so I'm doing the exact same thing for the senior center. I'm planning my winter programs. In the meantime... 5eniorCommissio~ Meeting October 16, 1992 - Page 10 e (There was a tape change at this point in the meeting.) PRESENTATION BY JIM FABER FROMAARP. e e Jim Faber: ...I commend you on what the City of Chanhassen is doing for seniors and in turn what it has created in the way of this Commission and the broad area in which you are doing a lot of very, very impo~tantwork. I wish Chaska would catch up to you. Some of this is going to have to be sort of be biographical because in talking about AARP I'm going to tell you where I come from as a volunteer who has gotten deeply involved with AARP. Not ARP. AARP. The problem with the other thing is, it reminds us of a dog. Arf, arf, arf, so we try to ,those of us ~\!ho are involved, try to refer toAARP. AARP grew out of what was the National Retired Teachers Association. Retired teachers who ~ere interested in some common benefit that they could get working together and one of the projects on which they worked was the building of a retirement home in California. A place that retired teachers, either as couples or singles could go in their retirement ages an8 enjoy what was left of life. Unfortunately that facility created a deep deficit in the finances of NRTA. And so many'people who envied the teachers for having that kind of an organization that could work with benefits and could even influence some legislation, and so the founder of NRTA ,decided that maybe other seniors ought to have an organization like it. And so the AARP was instituted for the broad public. For many years the two organizations worked side by side. Th~ NRTA because of it's growing deficits on the home in California and other programs was really in financial straights, and so AARP about 8 or 10 years ago absorbed NRTA and now there is the one organization, AARP but NRTA is still a part of that. A division of AARP. And so when we talk about local organizations of AARP, we have to remember that there is this other organization which still exists. In Minnesota for instance, a local unit of AARP is a Chapter. A State organization of Retired Teachers is known as a Retired Educators Association of Minnesota, REAM. 50 they have units and they meet independently. Now most members of NRTA are members of AARP nationally. There are some who will still holdout and say, well we want to be separate. In the Washington office they're equal, or NRTA is a ' subdivision. My wife and I have been members of AARP on a national basis for, I don't know. Probably 15 or 18 ~ears. We moved into a new neighborhood in st. Paul~ Made some fri~nds through church affiliation there and at one point they i~vited u~to come to a 10ncheon of AARP. The Eastside Chapter of St. Paul and inasmuch as we were national members, we were entitled to come and attend this meeting. Well, it happened to be the day of their electlon of officers and s6 after the luncheon there was a business session. A nominating committee came up with all offices filled exeept for President and the retired teacher who was to become President decided at the last minute she wouldn't step up and so they had no nominee. Welljfinger'pointing went around the room and at our table was, also the table happened to wor k out that we ~\!ere members of the church and this fellow's sort of a leadership type of person and so Quint, why don't you take it. He says no, no. I'm involved in so many things now, and he is. And so it went around the room. Went around the room. Well our table started kidding him. They said, you're afraid of the job. That's what's wrong with you, you're afraid of the job. He said J am not afraid of the job. I've been master e e e Senior Commission Meeting October 16,1992 - Page 11 o~ the Masonic Lodge a couple times and what not. We kept on and finally he stood up and said I'll take it. A week later I got a call fiom him. He said Jim, you're one of the people that got me into this. Will you be the Legislative Chairman for the Chapter, which on his part was a bit of a lucky strike because he was not aware of the fact that I had a legislative background and I said okay Quint I will. Well out of that automatically I attended Board meetings and then got into some other things and the next thing I knew in a year or so I was Vice President and then I was President and then I was Past President a~d I went on the State Legislative Committee and Chairman of the State Legislative Committee. I kept getting deeper and deeper involved and so at the local chapter level I had continued to b~involved until I moved to Chaska 3 years ago. At the State level I filled 2 positions. One as Chairman, member and Chairman of the state Legislative Committee. Another one as the coordinator of the Citizens Representation Program and that is ~ program in which AARP is trying to encourage seniors to become interested in serving on public boards and commissions at all levels. On the City Council up to State and Regional offices. And so I had started that program for 2 years and then again because of moving out of st. Paul I chose not to be reappointed. I was a delegate, one 'of the 4 Minnesota delegates to the National Convention. I went back and helped with another National Convention and this is quite an experience. I was also selected by Area 6 which is composed of 7 States as a member of the National Legislative Council. AARP ha~ a Council of 27 people from throughout the country who serve 3 year terms on a rotating basis but each year they select one representative from an area and I was selected from this 7 state Midwest area. Sitting on ~hatand so what I'm telling you about AARP and how it operates is from experience that I got in those particular capacities. . Asa member of and a past officer of a local chapter I'm convinced that they are important to the whole AARP structure. They are in a position ~here they can do what the regional and national offices cannot do. It's a means of people getting together with common interests and socializing but also having some serious program objectives. And so what I will say to you a little later abbut a local chapter is based on what I've been through. Eastside Chapter in St. Paul has been one of the outstanding Chapters in the metro area through the years. I think it is now ptobably about 17 years old. It's high point in membership is 250 members. I think right ~ow it's down around 200. The attendance ata meeting, monthly meeting would be about, between 80 and 90 people which is a high percentage of attendance. I want to tell you about the state Legislative Committee and how the AARP legislative process and poli6y making process on legislation works. AARP has been accused of being a front for an insurance organization. It early on took on some insurance programs, particularly those in the health care field. Hospitalization. Medigap. This kind of thing. It branched into auto insurance, home insurance, travel insurance, all these things and some of the anti AARP people, and there aTe some, accused us of being merely a front for the insurance operation. It is not. It has since expanded it's services to members through many, many other things. Travel services. The AARP card being good for discounts at places where travelers are lodged or where they eat, sight seeing tours, that kind of thing. There's a long list of benefits that have been added and it's the insurance thing now that's one of the minor parts. My wife and I had insurance for a while. We found better insurance elsewhere. Sobecause e e e Senior Commission Meeting October 16, 1992 - Page 12 we're AARP members doesn't mean that we accept everything that they offer. But on a legislative basis let me tell you how AARP develops it's policy nationally. Local chapters are surveyed once a year to give.their priorities, particularly on State issues. The results of that surv~y and the preferences of the local members are fed into the State Legislative Committee. and then with the advice of a field person coming out of Washington, working out of the Kansas City RegiQnal office also. Put these things together and work out what the legislative program of AARP is at the State level. And they'.lltake, as a matter of policy, even though they might be 10, 12, 14 issues that are current, th~y will take about 4 or 5 or 6 which they feel can be worked on and which have a chance of being enacted into law. At the National level, those same results come from all the local chapters"through the ~tate to the National body and this legislative council which holds a 3 day session each year, develops what is the national policy of AARP. In Washington there's a very capable and.influential lobbying staff. Not many people but they're well established with Congress and with the other divisions and parts of government. And so AARP's national ~olicy really has come from the grass roots up. There are those who feel that that is not the case who say that the AARP policy is made by the staff in Washington. I know from experience that is not the case. Let me tell you about the citizens representation program. Unfortunately when we~ many of us retire we've done our stint. We're through. Don't bother us and what happens is, that younger people, some of the, especially among professionals, have a selfish interest in being on State Boards and Commissions or even on lesser governmental bodies. And so the seniors t.hat are not ~..sell represented and a lot of the decisions that are made . Minnesot.a legislature about probably 10 or 12 years ago provided that on many State Boards and Commissions there must be at least. one p~blic member and in many cases two public members. But again you see the people who represent the public are coming into a top heavy, dominated professional board made up of the professional people. And so they're good representatives but ag~in they're apt to be younger because they are still active people and those are the people seeking positions on these boards and commissionS. So the seniors sit back and accept what.ever these boards develop in the way of rules, regulations, and legislation. . So AARP's interest has been to get seniors involved in serving on those boards and I found from my experience in Minnesot~ that we have a lot of retirees who would lov~ to be back in an active role. We have retired teachers and administrators who have enjoyed getting back onto a Board about which they knew very litt.le. As a consumer they knew and probably from some observations they knew. But when they come to that Board with the experiences and the problems of seniors, it injects something that has been missing by the other members of the Board. So it's a program in which seniors aTe encouraged t.o become interested in. If it happens to be in their own line, fine. But it's a .matter of having kind of a second career"in public service.- sothat'is where AARP comes from in t.he legislative and policy level and involvement. I think that one of the important things in the whole chain i~ the local chapter bebause t.hisis the grass Toots of that whole movement. There are 32 million national AARP members of which 540,000 are Minnesotans. And so we have over h~lf a million Minnesota people who are national members but only a perceniage of them are members of local chapters and the reason is that in many communities there just hasn't been enough interest to form a local e e e Senior Commission Meeting October 16" 1992 - Page 13 chapter. The reason I'm here today is that we, ~n Chaska tri~d to take the first steps in organizing a local chapter and I came into the area \.Jith the kind of background I've outlined here with deep interest and activity in the AARP and I think I understand it at all levels now. But there's no AARP chapter in this southwest area. Excelsior, Hopkins, Wright County and then we go way around to Burnsville. And I sat back the first year or so that I was back in Chaska.' It was a matter of returning to my hometown. I was sort of disconnected for about 35 ~ears. When I carne back I hesitated to push an AARP chapter because I thought, let's see if there's a real interest in it. I served on t-Jhat was the City Commission to Commitment and that was a city with a couple of us representing seniors &nd what. not. We were to take a look at what ~he community still needed. The community center was under construction. A lot of things had been done. We did find that one thing that was needed was a performing ar.ts theatre. That kind of facility. l.Je found out that there ought.to be a senior organization. .There!s a s~nior club which has existed for probably 27 or 28 years which is nothing but a card playing club which goes tb the so called senior center and plays cards Monday and Wednesday afternoons and because it was established early, it's that kind of group. All they're interested in is in getting together and playing cards and they're dying off table by table. But that was one of the things that wa~ pointed out. There i~ a need for a senior organization and so some of us who had been involved in AARP got together an' exploratory meeting. A fairly small group. About 8 of us. And we had representation from Carver, Victoria. We never did get anybody from Chanhassen. We didn't get far enough to be serious as that. And then out of that came a public meeting to whIch we invited people that we thought might be interested and that/meeting indicated that there was enough interest to pursue it further. Another public meeting with publicity came and it was held in, I think about October. And at that meeting we asked for commitments of people and we h~d two sign up sheets after the meeting and we did get some, but again not enough to go ahead. Unfortunately, I had become a victim of shingles in late JVly. and by August I was into one of those. real low points. And those who had been part of our circle said, well letJs stop here. We had the Assistant State Director out to conduct the meeting and I had worked with her. In fact she succeeded me as Chairperson of. the State Legislative Committee. We've kept in touch. She is now the Chairperson of the State Board on Aging. Also was a member 6f that for a while. And so she came out ~nd made the usual presentation. And that was a meeting that was critical because at that point I couldn't provide much leadership. Those who were interested were not willing to take the ball and we were going into that holiday period. We were going to into the period in which many were going south for the winter and so that is where it has remained dormant. What we t~lked about at that meeting was an Eastern Carver County Chapter made up of East Union, Carver, Chaska, Victoria, and Chanhassen~ The Chaska community, because of this card playing group you see, people say well we already have a senior club and we have a little problem there. AARP, a local chapter would be far different. Would really be in a position to accomplish things for the members of that community and for the whole area. But that is where that stands. Let me point out one thing. I refer to the region here. 7 state region. The only p~ople in that entire region of the thousand of AARP ~embers and the chapters, between the teachers, retired teachers units and chapters of AARP e e e Senior Commission Meeting October 16, .1992 - Page 14 Minnesota, we have around 100 organiz~ti~ns, local. In the metro area, there are 21 of those and they meet semi-monthly for a so called President's Council. So key members meet. Ex~hange ideas and we're bound together in the metro area by an extra step. But other than that, . every AARP worker is a volunteer. Reimbursed for travel expenses or food while on duty. And so all of these positions at the local Council, local chapter, state level are volunteers and it's thousands of people who are making AARP what it is. AARP insists on the chapter being ofganized as it prescribes and that is a process which must be taken very seriously. From another chapter we moved from the east side of St. Paul t.<Jhere the Eastside. Chapter was. We moved to West St. Paul where a chapter was struggling to become chartered and we joined that one so we had dual membership. Became active in the second chapter. It took them 2 years to get their charter. That time has now been shorten but it's because AARP insists that if there's enough interest to go through that labor period, that chapter is going to survive and so they insist that when you have your first official meeting, the meeting that we did not have, you must come inwithafull set of officers and directors. There are certairl chairpersons that are required membership and so forth. So you'll have to start with a group 6f people, approximately 10 that have made a commitment to take an office and to be a leadership team. Beyond that it's a matter of having other committees. Getting other people involved.AARP prescribes the meetings which you should have. It has duties for each of the officers. Duties for the members of the Board and ~o forth. You'll operate according to their management procedures. You are checked. It!s a self checked sort of thing, a couple times a year. There's a State Director, who happens to be a Mi nneapol is person no~\). Assistant State Directors geographically spread. They are sort of the Godfathers and Godmothers of the local chapters. The~ try to get to each one and visit. They're the ~nes who check you out. You have to remain qualified to be in AARP asa chapter. I'm pointing this out because I think in one way, I certainly respect those requirements but on the other hand it means going through more than one might ordinarily expect to form any kind of organization. Then they point out what AARP has done in Minnesota. A couple of the highlights and one for which we don't get enough credit. AARP is the organization that came up after experts in the field had put together a safe driving or defensive driving program. It's known as the 55 Alive defensive training program. I've heard reference to some such course here. Other people in Minnesota in a selfish way have taken the basic AARP course, put some other touches on it and are now in a commercial way out giving this course for a charge of $15.00, $20.00 or $25.00. AARP still continues topiovide that course for $8.00 with a trained instructor, a lot of retired highway troopers, teachers, people of that kind are trained as 55 Alive instructors. They Bet their mileage and out of pocket expenses. There's some valuable materials that the enrollees get and so.the AARP Chapter for $8.00 is the same course that other people get for $15.00.,. $20.00 or $25.00 and I don't know if there's reference to it. The course you have coming up here. We've had some in Chaska. Some in Shakopee. I've tried to keep track of those but again we don't feel, asa matter of fact I raised an issue and I guess cut off the situation. I read that the County was providing space for one of these commercial AARP, or not the AARP. The private driving course. I raised the point with a County Commissioner. Why is the County providing free space for this commercial course when e e e Senior Commissiont1eeti ng October 16, 1992 - Page 15 the AARP members can get it for $8.00 at the senior commons in Chaska. I understand that was a slip up on somebody's part providing that space. The policy now is being very rigidly followed. No cbmmercial ventures in the courthouse. The 6ther thing that the AARP has nationally isa 'tax aid program and I don't think that~',je've had that in this area. There.'s another, I can't think of the name of it, but AARP instituted that program nationally to help seniors fill in their income tax returns a~ the federal and state level and agriin train volunteers who take the short courses in the federal and state income tax laws and changes. One of the things that our legislative committee brought about, and again the credit has been lost. Well let me fill you in.. In connection ~\Jith the drivers training thing. We started the campaign, our legislative committee, to ~et a discount on auto insurance premiums. Other states had it and we final~y succeeded after bucking the big companies and th~ insurance lobbiest. We finally got our foot in the door with a provision that people over 65 could get this. It was a required discount' of at.least 10%. And then in subsequent years it was brought down and so now it's down to 55 but that came out of .our State legislativecommittee~ We ~ot support from some of the other agl nggroups. The other thi ngthat we.. started and has finally come about withithe coalition of the aging groups but the AARP provided leadership on the' living will legislation which is fairly new. One of the programs in AA8P nationally, and unfortunately not in this area, is the Vote program. Instituted about 6 years ago in which candidates for offices at anything from a legislative level up are quizzed and there are so many of those statement seeking kind of things but the candidates do pay attentiontb the AARP quiz on the iss0es and it's presented of course on a bi-partisan, non-partisan basis and distributed as widely as possible. And again, we don't get it here. I thi,Dk, that covers what I've learned in AARP. I am glad that there is interest here. r would hope that out of this very active senlor community that there would be part of the initiative for establishing an Eastern Carver County Chapter. There are some chapters that are as small as 30 or 35 members. /That size chapter doesn't attract some of the good speakers that are available. Some of the good programs and so there's some value in having adequate numbers to appeal to good speakers. There are all sorts of programs available. Let me give you one piece of information that you might not' know about but for the 20th year this month a program onKMSP, Channel 9 has begun by a person who instituted this 20 years ago. His name is Dutch Kassenbaum. He's been on the State Board on Aging. He's been active in aging things for years. That program, series and there's one on tomorrow morning. Unfortunately it was moved from 8:30 to 7:30 but it's still on the air. r don't hear it as often as I used to. Tomorrow morning at 7:30 on Channel 9 Bob Provost who is an executive of the Minnesota Insurance Federation. All of the insurance companies.. Retired a couple years ago and he's going to be on tomorrow morning. He's now on the, what you call theAAA part of the Metro Council. The funds from. the Americah, Early American's Act come down to the State level and then .aredi~ided among regional agencies, aging, administration. The Metro Council has one of it's bodies serving that purpose here. Out state thoseAAA's are made up of people from... but here Bob is now on that Metro Council AAA agency and they're the ones that determine what goes to senior centers. What goes to the congregate dining program. t1eals on Wheels. All of these senior programs in the state and so he might have something of interest tomorrow morning in e e e Senior Commission Meeting October 16, 1992 - Page 16 what's happening to the funds coming down from Washington to Minnesota and to the metro area. That, I'm going to leave this with your Chairperson here because it's a supplement that the ChaskaHerald and the Shakopee Valley News distributed a few weeks ago. It's loaded with information about senior services. Senior things that are available. The whole thing in the metro area here and I'm going to leave this with you. Montgomery: Well we thank you ~ery much...be able to take~ Jim Faber: Are there any questions? I've tried to cover it in a rather brief and sketchy way and again I apologize for bringing my personal part in but those are the parts that I kndw of the AARP. Montgomery: Well you certainly speak from a lot of experience. Does anybody have any particular question at the moment? 8illison: Could you give me the figure agai~ on how many members in Minnesota? Jim Faber: 540.,0.00.. Let me also leave with you the name of the Assistant State Director for this part of the metro area. There are three in the metro area. The State Director also happens to live here so I have his name, phone number and address here too but my suggestion would be for any further contact, it be Francis Johnston who's "'Ji fe preceeded him as-Assistant State Director. Is now Chair of the State 80ard on the Aging and worked with me on the State Legislative Committee. St.John: on l.JCCQ.. 8bb Provost also has a program on the radio on Sunday mornings We usually listen to that 6n our way to church at 7:30. t10ntgomery: Well thank you very much. That's a lot of good information" I've heard Dutch Kassenbaum. He's wonderful. That's a great show and there's a lot of information on that show. 8illison: I'm sorry it's moved to 7:30.. Lemme: We do have copies of that Senior Living thing in the cent~r. Montgomery: Why don't I pass this along and if you want to write down that number, pass it along. Well. thank you again. We certainly appreciate your time and we applaud ~ll the work that you have done. You certainly have put in an awful lot of time ~nd effort in bringing all of these things about and that's wonderful. Jim Faber: I had hoped to stay for the rest of your ~genda, which I saw. It is so interesting to see what in the world you people are doing but I do a bi-weekly column for the Chaska...so I'll have to get back. I attended one meeting... Montgomery: Well thank you so much for coming. Ai-Jaff: And we do meet every third Friday of the month so if you would like to come... Senior Commission Meeting October 16~ 1992 - Page 17 4It UPDATE ON DIAL-A-RIDE EVENING SERVICE. AI-3aff: Actually I spoke to Diane this morning. Diane Harbertz with Southwest Metro Transit. And we spoke again about what~s happening with evenings transportation. She said as you request~ whenever you need it~ let them know. They will provide the service. However~ she can~tsee how she could provide a bus and make it feasible and have the Regional Transit Board group but as an activity comes up~ and we need a bus, that would be available to take people. Montgomery: For instance if we have stuff at the center? AI-3aff: Correct. Montgomery: Then it would pick people up at their home and then take them back again? AI-3aff: Absolutely. Montgomery; Well that's progress. AI-3aff: We~re moving in the right direction. Montgomery: We get enough of those things going in the evening, who knows. e \ AI-3aff: Absolutely. That's one thing and the rest is really not on the. agenda regarding transportation. However, the reverse can be and that would be buses coming in the morning from Minneapolis to Chanhassen and leaving in the evening from Chanhassen to Minneapolis. That program will start November 1st. There will also be some midday trips so if for instance you want to BO to Minneapolis and spend there 3-4 hours; you will have a way of getting back to Chanhassen. Montgomery: Well that's a big improvement. I think I saw that written up somewhere. I'Ve forgotten where I saw it. That they were going to be providing. Do you know when that starts? Al-3aff: November 1st. Montgomery: Well that's nice. AI-3aff: Also, this is...right now. Seniors can use Dial-a-Ride for 25 cents. Anywhere you want to go except for Southdale. Montgomery: And this can be in advance? Can you make a reservation in advance or not? AI-3aff: An hour at least. They prefer if you give them a day warning. An hour's reservation at least. So there is definitely an improvement. e Montgomery: Pretty cheap. Okay, anything more? e e - Senior Commission Meeting October 16, 1992 - Page 18 AI-Jaff: That's all I have on transportation but I just wanted to let you know that it is in progress and we're. wo~king on it. UPDATE ON HOME PROGRAM. Montgomery: Last time we were confused about whether we still had a contract or what was going on. AI-Jaff: Okay we do. have a contract and Betty CTouch is with,us today. She will give us an update and she also has a movie. That will be, she' will be showing us that but we do have a contract with HOME, yes. That's through, correct me if I'm wrong, June of '93? Betty Crouch: Yes. Montgomery: Well thank you for coming. That's great. I'm glad you~re here to bring us up to date. Betty Crouch: Thank you. I just wanted ~ou to know we're alive and well and I suppose you're as happy as lam that we didn't wake up to 3 inches of snow this morning. I didn't bring any new figures or anythihg with me. I basically came to just show you the, I think the last time I w~s here, this video. I think I told you, can you hear me? The City of Bloomington, Cable TV had come out and done an in depth interview about our program and they put this video together and we're very h~ppy with it. It makes us look a little more professional. I alsd have our newest newsletter that just went out and if any of you, I don't know if any of you didn't get it. Some of you did because if you've gotten service from us at any time, you had. Otherwise I have several copies of the newsletter. And I know you were alittle'confused about us still giving service,and the coupons we had before said through June and that was primarily because of the opening of your new senior center. And Judy and r had talked about putting out some new coupons but then Judy left and Dawn and I just recently talked about it. I have a new coupon and it's going out in your mailing and it will be good for some painting or repair and it will be good through January. So watch fbr it and you can help us promote that. Is that ready to go Sharmin? It's only 6 1/2 minutes. Howard: Do you include Edina in your ,territory? Betty Crouch: Yes we do. Howard: And St. Louis Park? Betty Crouch: That's basically what this newsletter tells you. Exactly what areas we do service and what services we provide to each of those. The video on the HOME program was shown at this point in the meeting. Montgomery: Basically you're offering the same services that you have been all along. I mean there hasn't been any change in that sort of thing? e e e Senior Commission Meeting October 16, 1992 - Page 19 Betty Crouch: No, there hasn~t been any change in that. No, it's still the same. Just wanted to reaffirm to you that we are still available. Montgomery: You know I was going to call Y9U too because I did call and Tim came out to take a look about fi~ing a gutter and he said it didn't need it. Well no~" don't I owe something for his comi ng out to look at it? Betty Crouch: No, he didn't charge you anything for that. Montgomery: Well that doesn't seem right. Betty Crouch: But I know he was, I mean if you want to pay us somethihg for that, that's fine but it wasn't,as I recall, it was something more with your ro01 and not the gutter and it wasn't something we could do s6. And he was in Chanhassen working for someone else that day so he didn't make a special trip to go to your house. Montgomery: Okay. I meant to check back with you about that becaUse I didn't, I don't know. He didn't leave the bill or anything and I wondered. Betty Crouch: No. He was in Chanhassen so he just stopped by, Well if you have any more questions or any other comments "I'm at 888---5530, Montgomery: Okay. And your hours are the same right? Betty Crouch: Yes. We're there from Monday to Friday. Montgomery: Welf it looks like you have a lot of territory now with Minnetonka too has it. That's big. Betty Crouch: That's just new too. And you asked me about St. Louis Park. Did you understand that we just do the maintenance part. No seasonal or homemaking in St. Louis Park because there is a designated program that does that in those areas. So that is kind of confusing to a lot of people. I know someone called me yesterday from Plymouth because she had heard that we were doing homemaking in Minnetonka and Chanhassen and couldn't understand why we weren't doing it there. Howard: What about Edina? Betty Crouch: We do it in Edina, yes. The four cities of Bloomington, Richfield, and Edina were the original four cities that we've been servi ng. Howard: I've been passing your name around. I'm not sure what I'm talking about. Betty Crouch: Well that's fine. You just keep on passing it and if we can't take care of them, I'll refer ,them to where they can get service. Okay? Thank you. e e e Senior Commission Meeting October 16, 1992 - Page 20 Mont~omery: Thanks very much. I don't think it's going to snow on the way home. REPORT ON WORKSHOP AND EXHIBITS - ACTIVISM AND ADVOCACY - ACCEPTING THE CHALLENGE. OCTOBER 8 AND 9. 1992. ST. CLOUD. Montgomery: What would you like to say about it? AI-Jaff: I think we'd be better off if I didn't say anything about it. Howard: Do you have anything to say about it Dawn? You were there a whole day. Lemme: The most important thing of the conference was just meeting other senior programmers and that was how I got some, we were able to do some idea sharing. But other than that, I did not get a lot out of the conference. It was more theory and philo~ophy kind of things and r was really looking for ideas and programming ideas and so I got that through some of the sessions,that I was in. Meeting other people but otherwise! would have come out of there with not a lot of help. So and I've.been to better conferences. Montgomery: You were disappointed. Lemme: Yeah r was. Howard: I thought it was a total waste on Saturday. Sharmin and I went and first we heard a Philippino lady talk about coming to thiscountr~ and prejudices sh~ met. Then we heard a,black talk about his growing up in this area and prejudices he met. We didn't see what part it had to do with the advocacy and activism,~ And then we had a lady, who was, I don't know how paralyzed, who had been a teacher. She was a very, well rabid person. She had been dragged to jail and all this stuff, and she talked about the things that people such as she has coped with. And we didn't feel we had to be told not to be prejudice and this isn't what the agenda said. Mont~omeI'Y: That's what baffles me. It didn't say that was the jist of it. Howard: We left before it was over. noon and I think we left about 11:30. nothing from it. It started at 9:00. Went until We just were getting absolutely Montgomery: Well don't you think that it would be wise to let whoever the powers that be know that this did not: AI-Jaff: I think we should send a letter. I know I would never go to another 0 ne . Howard: We might miss something good because of this attitude but anything that's sponsored by the State Board for Aging. They spon~ored this. I would not mak~ an effort to go to again. e e e Senior Commission Meeting October 16, 1992 - Page 21 St. John: Didn't they have a slip passsd out that you say what you liked about it and how yo~ liked the confeience? If enough people return that with the same answers that you had, same opinions that you had of it. Montgomery: And maybe add a letter if you want to. But I think it was very confusing. I'd have gone expecting something to do with aging issues and advocacy. AI-Jaff: They talked about sexual harrassment. They talked about prejudices. What you'd have to deal with with the government with a handicapped-person. I mean they were good things however. Howard: I started taking some notes. AI-Jaff: It wasn't what we were there for. Montgomery: So in other words, the advertised a~enda was misleading really. AI-Jaff: Completely~ Montgomery: Well I think that's what should be addressed. Howard: Now they've gone to a lot of work to make a graph about our awareness spectrum. This is awareness of prejudice. Whether we were naive or perpetuator or border or a change agent or a fighter. Now this gal in the wheelchair. was a fighter. Working down with the other and this wasn't anything to do with what we were there about. Montgomery: 'Well I really think it would be good to express your. Howard: They didn't have a place on this co~ments. I felt being there onl\y half a day on day and a hal f conference is why I didn't fill this o~t. It doesn't specify the second day's programs that I heard. Montgomery: I still think it would be worth getting them some feedback because I think when something doesn't work, people should know why you know. And then maybe they can respond to that. Who knows. Howard: This just had you grade the.first day things that I Wasn't aware of. I didn't do it. But I think we.should let them know because we might miss something good sometime because of our attitude about this one. Montgomery: Well why don't those of you who went sort of get together and figure out what you could say that really might let them know that they need to do a better job of maybe creating their agenda and also pre~enting what they're going to be talking about. Howard: We got a n advertisement for a nother one in the spr i ng that's .at a resort at Brainerd. Montgomery: I'll bet nobody's going to that you know at this rate. (\ e e e Senior Commi~sion Meeting October 16, 1992- Page 22 Howard: Well it's sponsored by a different. It still is probably a State organization but it'~ not the Board on Aging. It might be ah offshoot of them though. AI~Jaff~ If we can find out who the speakers are and what the agenda is going to be. Montgomery: Yeah, really. A true agenda. I think sometimes people do have a hidden agenda for some of these things and I don't think that's right. I think if you're taking people's money for something you should . know what you're spending it on~ That's too bad. Howard: No, it's not ri~ht to get a captive audience there for false pretenses. Montgomery: Well I guess we don't have to dwell on it forever but I do think it's good to respond when something is wrong. Howard: You are going to write a letter? AI-Jaff: Yes. Howard: Sign my name to it. UPDATE ON OKTOBERFEST SENIOR ACTIVITIES. Lemme: AlII had really was just a brief comment on that. That it was really nice to see some seniors out at Oktoberfest. Bunny was one who helped. And Sherolhelped and Lola and Fred Prinze and they helped as v6lunteers and kind of m~nned our mini farmers market booth that we had ~ith some of the senior's craftsand:Ijust wanted to make note that We did have people helping and that was really appreciated. . And it went real well and hopefully next year we ~an hav8.a really nice set up and can advertise that and really, if it's not quite so windy, maybe we can have the crafts out and some other things. Montgomery: I understand Todd went and got all these, what was it he had? Indian oorn and I thought it was a wonderful thing to do. Lemme: Right, that was oUr farmers market. It had squash. About 4 different kinds of squash and potatoes. Howard: White pumpkins. Billison: How did we make out money wise? Lemme: We made some money on that. Yeah we did make some money. Howard~ Judy and I were talking together. You had some squaw corn and ~ingle ears were 75 cents and then we tied 3 with a ribbon and we decided maybe $2.00 for 3 of th~m. Todd said not don't be foolish. Make it. $3.00. They went like hotcakes. We ~ade a lot more money because of Todd. e e e Senior Commission Meeting October 16, 1992 - Page 23 St. John: Some of the seniors were on a trip. Couldn1t participate in it. Lemme: That's right, and they eame back afterwards and were kind of walking through. Hopefully next year there won't be a trip on that same day. I think it would be really fun to have th~ seniors do sbme other things in cooperation withOktoberfest as well. Howard: It was such a family thing though. Everyone brought their little children because they had a petting zoo and pony rides and they all bought minature pumpkins. And they were handed free ballbonsand they Just had a grand time. It was fun to see these families enjoying themselves. Montgomery: Okay, does anybody else have anything more to ask or suggest? Let's see, we've already covered the donations to CART and I don't know if you all saw the letter. It was on the back. Where was it? On the back of something in the Minutes. Howard: Yeah, for your informatio~. Montgomery: I think we will be very pleased to get that and I think that's an encouraging thing too~ When they're struggling, I think it~s nice to know somebody is supportive. Okay, how about number 10? SENIOR COMMISSION COMMENTS. Montgomery: Do we have any comments that somebody would like to make? I know Jane had some ide~s that she wanted to express but it really went with the housing thing so should we just wait with that until Friday? Kubitz: Well what I had suggested in reading that material, the back of our agenda. ..about housing and I thought, is there anybody in the, ~uch a thing in the metro area as a complete list of all senior housing available and what about g&tting into them. Like friends of mine were on a list for 7 years before they finally got into the place they wanted. I know there's different requirements and restrictions on getting into senior housing. How much down? How much a month? AI-Jaff: Ydu're thinking of the 7 county metro area. Kubitz: Well, really what we want is this area but... They'redoing this senior housing it might be hard for us to know what some of the other~ are and what the requirements are and what the costs are~ What the size is. What's available as far as amenities and non-amenities in different ones. AI-Jaff: I'll trY to get my hands on this list. I'm sure it's available. Montgomery: You'd think there'd be something. I hope i.t is fairly recent. e e e Senior Commission Meeting Octobet 16, 1992 - Page 24 Kubitz: I know I had one a couple years ago that was sent out by some senior outfit but it only had a few listed. AI-Jaff: The one I normally get is the subsidized housing. I mean Section 8 and that's through the Metro area and,they only list what's available and how much the rent is. Kubitz: I know this one I had had Friendship Village 6n it ~nd th6 cost of what you had to plumk down to get in there and then how much a month. But there's such a wide variation. Howard: We'll need some kind of list because ~e want to vist some too. Montgomery: I wonder if there's anything through real estate or through the Council on Aging or Metro Council. AI-Jaff: There are a few that are really seen as excellent. Edinborough in Edina. I have been there a number of times. They have an indoor park, theatre, cafe, restaurant. A place for Jazzercize or aerobics. Howard: Is that an expensive one, Edinborough? Friendship Village is too expensive for me. Kubitz: E~inborough is expensive. Montgomery: Well it varies doesn't it? ! 8il1ison: Very expensive. It starts at $1,100.00. St. John: We had a bus trip over there once to Edinborough. Kubitz: There's more to Edinborough than just the one senior highrise because there's that whole complex of townhouses too. ...lived in the highrise and she got to the ~ointwhere she says I can't stand it to be here anymore, which she says I shoGldn't feel this way but she says it does get me. There were too many handicap, etc. etc; and it was, she found it very depressing. So she moved and bought one of the townhouse~. Howard: They are not for the seniors though, are they exclusively? Kubitz: I know she was a senior. Howard: A friend of mine did not move in when they were building because they were giving, she resented the fact that they were giving a break to first time homeowners of $15,000.~O which they never had to repay as long as they stayed there. And she thought they should have a break for the seniors as well or something so I know young, newlyweds were going into the townhouses. Montgomery: Maybe you can see if there's something around that covers those three things Jane mentioned. AI-Jeff: There is one place, it's an hour and 16 minute trip to get there. It's in Mankato. Senior Commission Meeting October 16, 1992 - Page 25 _ Montgomery: Oh you did mention that. AI-Jaff: It's one of the nicest senior housing complexes I've ever seen. Howard: What was it? It was part of the school. AI-Jaff: It used to be the old campus and then they moved the campus to the top of the hill and the building was destroyed. Vandalized. You name it. Kubitz: Was that one of the dorms or one. of the classrooms? I AI-Jaff: One of the dorms got burnt down. It was,an arson and it jUst . burned down. Kubitz: I just wondered if it was the one my daughter stayed in~ AI-Jaff: They demolished part of it, however. ..did a study on that. Montgomery: Well that's where we read it then. AI-Jaff: I was talking to Gayle about it and she said, well our firm did that one and it was just one of the most fascinating projects... (Taping of the meeting ended at this point in the discussion.) e Howard moved, Billison seconded to adjourn the meeting. All voted in favor and the motion carried. The meeting was adjourned. Submitted by Paul Krauss Planning Director Prepared by Nann Opheim e