COMMISSION ON AGING MEETING                                     FEBRUARY 13, 2008

 

Vice-Chairman Nielsen called to order the regular meeting of the Commission on Aging Committee at 9:00 a.m., on February 13, 2008, at the Vilas County Courthouse, Conference Room 2, in Eagle River, Wisconsin 

 

Present:  The following persons were present:  Steve Favorite, Betty Gussick, Betty Hansen, Ray Johnson, Dennis Nielsen, Donna Rollmann and Chris Wise. Staff present was Greg Schiek, as Interim Director and Susan Richmond. Members excused were Mary Peterson, Carolyn Kneip, Loyd Black and Fred Radtke.  Also present were Maynard Bedish, County Board Supervisor, Jimmy Dean VanRossum from Boulder Beer Bar and Erv Teichmiller.

 

Approve Agenda: Favorite moved and Rollmann seconded the motion to approve the Agenda as mailed, which order may be changed at the discretion of the Chair.  Carried. 

 

Approve Minutes:  Hansen moved and Gussick seconded the motion to approve the Minutes of the regular Commission Meeting held on January 10, 2008 and the Minutes from the Public Hearing held on January 10, 2008. Carried.   

 

Agenda Item #4 Northern Area Agency on Aging:  The February report was discussed. Nielsen stated that he had another Board Meeting for the Northern Area Agency in March.

 

Agenda Item 5 Program and Committee Reports

Directors Report:   Schiek discussed the following:

*He contacted Glenna Schumann regarding the additional funding for the Benefit Specialists program.  She recommended that we send a letter to the co-chairs of the Committee with a copy to the Governor.  Nielsen stated that he felt Schiek should type up the letter for Nielsen as Vice Chairman to sign.

*Schiek received and read out loud the legal opinion from Corporation Counsel regarding the Standing By-laws.  Corporation Counsel felt that the By-Laws are good as they stand.

*One of the Commission on Aging printers broke and the quote from IT Department was under $100.00.  Because it was under $100.00 we were just letting the Committee know.

*Richmond distributed a flyer regarding the TV Converter Box and a coupon for the same.  She requested that the Committee pass them onto people in need of this converter box.

*Nielsen distributed a copy of “Gas Pumping Tips”

*We received two thank you notes, one from the Phelps Group thanking us for the nice jackets and shirts and the other one came from Daybreak Adult Center thanking us for the donation of games.

*Richmond stated that she has received Nutrition Re-Call Notices and has distributed them to the Nutrition Sites.  These are basically FYI’s for the providers.

*Richmond distributed Injury Falls Report for Vilas County.

 

Friendly Visitors/Family Caregiver Support:   Barron has been out of the office for a month and will return on February 18, so no report was given.

 

Grandparents Raising Grandchildren:  The Quarterly Report was given.  The swimming event held in January only had 5 participants, although 13 had signed up.  Kurandt, Coordinator for the program will be working on getting people to respond sooner in the future so that we can either cancel the event or re-schedule to get more people there.

 

Chore: Thirteen households received reimbursement for 106 hours of service at a cost of $811.64 for the month.  There were no Handyman expenses reimbursed, leaving a budget balance of $24,424.36.  There are two households on the waiting list.   

 

Alzheimer=s: Three households received reimbursement in the amount of $330.00 for the month.  The balance of the budget is $11,088.00.  There are no households on the waiting list.  Richmond stated that either Barron or herself will be doing a presentation to the physicians/nurses of Howard Young in the spring trying to recruit more clients for this program.

 

Escort: Thirty clients were driven more than 3999 miles at a cost of $2,064.17for the month.  Volunteers donated 216.75 hours of service.  The donations total $556.01 for the month.  Richmond discussed the reason for the large number of miles, there were several trips to Wausau and we have one client that goes to Minocqua for chemo treatment and is there for almost 8 hours, so our driver drops him off in the morning and goes back home and then travels back again to get him in the afternoon.  So for one client/appointment, it requires 2 different trips.

 

Nutrition: Jimmy Dean Van Rossum from the Boulder Beer Bar came to speak to the Committee.  The new nutrition site has grown considerably in the first month.  They have gone from about 15-20 meals a day to about 60 meals per day.  He expressed concerns that because of this increase that he may be cut days and/or limited to the number of participants they can serve in a day.  He will need to purchase more tables/chairs if it stays at this level and doesn’t want to spend additional funds if there is a possibility that he will be cut or restricted.  He also expressed concern that the costs for the meal keeps going up.  Richmond stated that it is too early to determine if we will run out of money or not.  This is usually not discussed or looked at until around mid-year, June.  She also stated that she had checked with other counties to see if we could restrict amount of participants and/or cut a day if need be.  These were both done by other counties and allowed.  Favorite stated that as the Chairman of the Nutrition Sub-Committee that he would like to call a meeting to discuss the meal sites.  There were 2514 meals served in January, at a cost of $16,100.87. Donations totaled $5,790.37.  Richmond stated that these numbers were not complete since she was unable to get the site manager’s salary amounts from the Clerk’s office.

 

Benefit Specialists

Gengle reported that she assisted 38 clients this month and had 50 issues addressed.  Total impact for the month was $297,880.01.  Nielsen stated that Gengle let him know that the first Tuesday of every month, they are holding sessions for anyone just coming into Medicare that needs help.

 

CWAG Report:   Gussick stated that Elizabeth Conrad would like to come to our March meeting and speak to the Committee.  Nielsen stated that in everyone’s packets there was an Agenda for the March 31 Forum held in Antigo and anyone that wanted to attend should let us know at the March meeting.  Richmond stated that we could possibly get a van to take everyone.   

 

ADRC:  Schiek stated this is on hold until an Aging Unit Director is in place and at that time Schiek and the new Director will get together to discuss ADRC’s. 

 

Agenda Item #6 Old Business

Monthly Expense Report:  $26,364.36 as the total monthly expenditure, with a year to date total of $26.364.36, which is approximately 5% of the total budget.

 

Agenda Item #7 New Business

Travel Requests:     At the January meeting it was requested that Richmond put all the mandatory non-overnight trainings for Benefit Specialists and the Director on a sheet to be approved at the beginning of the year.  Favorite made a motion with a second by Rollmann to approve the following mandatory non-overnight trainings:

 

Benefit Specialists: (Connie Gengle & Pamme Williams)

These are held in either Rhinelander or Minocqua, Wisconsin:

 

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

 

Mandatory Trainings for Director:

These are held at The Waters in Minocqua, Wisconsin

 

Monday, March 31, 2008

Monday, June 30, 2008

Monday, September 29, 2008

One in December, 2008 (Actual day to be determined)

 

Discussion was held for the overnight, out of county travel requests and a motion was made by Favorite with a second by Gussick to approve the following out of the county and/or overnight requests:

 

For Benefit Specialists (Connie Gengle and Pamme Williams)

June 17-18, 2008 Ben. Spec. Association Meeting (overnight needed)

July 9-11, 2008 at CWAG Convention (overnight needed)

 

March 18, 2008 for Richmond to Eau Claire for a conference on Positive Aging.  (The Alive to Life Committee is planning on attending to get new ideas for Alive to Life and to get ideas for programming in our own communities)  One overnight needed.

 

Monday, March 31, 2008 to Antigo for the CWAG District 7 Forum for any Committee member to attend.

 

April 30, 2008 for Barron, Richmond and LaFata to attend the Caregiving Conference at the Mole Lake Casino Convention Center.  No overnight needed.

 

 

May 4-6, 2008, for Richmond to attend the Alzheimer’s Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  The Alzheimer’s Association will pay for the registration fees and any extra expenses for food.  All the County would have to pay for is the hotel room for 2 nights.  A.A. felt it was important for Richmond to attend since she chairs their fall conference every year.

 

Both Motions were Carried.

 

Agenda Item #8 Business of Members/Letters and Correspondence:   Nielsen thanked Richmond for copying on both sides of paper when possible and “saving a tree”. Favorite thanked both Schiek and Richmond for doing a good job during this time of no Director.  Schiek stated that he wanted to thank Richmond for the way she has handled what was considered a bad situation and not making things worse for him.

 

Agenda Item #9:  There was a motion by Favorite with a second by Bedish to approve the payment of the January bills.  Carried.

 

Future Meeting Dates:

FEBRUARY 21, 2008, AT VILAS COUNTY COURTHOUSE, CONFERENCE ROOM #2, AT 9:00 A.M. FOR NUTRITION SUB-COMMITTEE.

 

MARCH 13, 2008, AT THE VILAS COUNTY COURTHOUSE, CONFERENCE ROOM #2, AT 9:00 A.M. FOR THE REGULAR COMMISSION MEETING.

 

Adjournment:  There was a motion by Favorite with a second by Bedish to adjourn at 10:25 a.m.  Carried.     

 

Minutes reflect the recorders notations and are subject to approval by the appropriate board or committee.

 

Submitted by:                                                   Approved by:

 

 

Susan Richmond                                               Greg Schiek

Administrative Secretary                                   Interim Director