Short-handed Senior Commission Meets Tomorrow Morning

SHORT AGENDA FOR THE MEETING TOMORROW
The Costa Mesa Senior Commission, short one member since the resignation of Chair Ernie Feeney, meets Tuesday, September 13, 2016 at the Costa Mesa Senior Center, 695 W. 19th Street beginning at 9:00 a.m.  You can read the full agenda HERE.

ELECTION OF NEW CHAIRPERSON
Right off the bat they must elect a new Chairperson and, if necessary, a new Vice Chairperson.  We presume Vice Chair Ann Perry will officiate that process. According to city sources there were plenty of applicants to fill Feeney's vacancy on the commission, but that spot won't be filled until the next regular City Council meeting and won't actually be seated until the commission's November meeting.

ALL ABOUT GOOGLE
Also on the short agenda is a proposal for a Senior Instructional Class - All About Google - HERE.

PROGRAM ADMINISTRATOR REPORT
The final item is Yvette Aguilar's Senior Center Program Administrator Report, HERE, which is full of very interesting statistics.  For example, active membership in the Senior Center is up more than 25% from the two previous months and, of the 1,089 members, 814 (75%) are Costa Mesa residents.

YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN
I will not be attending this meeting - choosing not to infect the entire Senior Center with my lingering cold - so if you want to know what happened you're going to have to attend yourselves.  Usually there are plenty of seats.

CHANGING THE NEXT DATE?
There will apparently also be a discussion about possibly changing the date of the next scheduled meeting, which falls on November 8th - Election Day.

Senior Commission Tackles Goals In Special Meeting

ONLY FIVE COMMISSIONERS AVAILABLE
A short-handed Costa Mesa Senior Commission (no replacement has been named for departed Stella Adkins and Sue Healey was absent) met before a very small crowd - 8 people eventually showed up to observe and/or speak -  in a special meeting this morning with a single item on the agenda - the establishment of goals and objectives, something Commissioner John McGlinn has been pushing for since the very first meeting of this group a year ago.

OVERLY-OPTIMISTIC AGENDA
Interim Recreation Manager Justin Martin and Senior Center Program Administrator Yvette Aguilar guided the discussion by providing some history and some statistics, but it was clear early-on that some of the commissioners felt the proposal to craft and adopt the goals and objectives at this meeting was overly-optimistic. 

(CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO ENLARGE)

GOOD FLOW OF INFORMATION
Each commissioner had been asked to come prepared to offer suggestions for goals and objectives for their peers to consider, and each of them did.  The discussion was more free-form than past meetings - more like a study session - so the conversations many times overlapped, but in a good, constructive way.  Sometimes it was difficult to tell whether a commissioner was describing a goal or just providing background.  In my opinion, this was - by far - the most productive meeting of this group so far.

KROCHMAN GOT TO THE CORE... WHO DO THEY SERVE?
While each of the commissioners offered good suggestions, the core of the issue this morning revolved around Commissioner Janet Krochman's suggestion that they didn't have enough data to actually accomplish this task - yet.  For example, she suggested that they didn't really know who the Senior Center was supposed to be serving.  She cited the fact that, based on the numbers currently available, they are trying to design programs and services for a very broad age demographic - ages 50 through 100.  The membership at the Senior Center has dropped by 50% since the initial push last year for free membership.  Of those 832 remaining, we don't even know the ages of of 53 (6%) of them.   In fact, the Senior Center is currently providing services and programming for only 2.8% of the Costa Mesa seniors - if you begin to count those ages 50 and older.

COSTLY ACTIVITY
McGlinn at one point observed that it was costing somewhere in the area of $900 per member to provide services - a questionable return on the investment.

WHAT ABOUT THE 50-59 GROUP?
It was generally agreed that it was important to attract more seniors to the center, but some wondered whether there would ever be programming and scheduled hours to attract the largest segment - the 50-59 age group, most of whom are still working and raising families.  At one point it was suggested that the definition of "senior" may need to be amended to exclude that particular group.  This suggestion was serious, since grant funding depends on providing services to a specific percentage of the group to be served.

MCGLINN'S THOUGHTS
McGlinn led off with a series of questions/observations, some of which appeared to morph into "goals".  He suggested, for example, that many times seniors go through a traumatic loss of identity, so some kind of "job training" could be valuable.  He further suggested the following:
1 - Increase the participation of the 55-65 age group.
2 - Expand the hours of operation to accommodate a broader age group.
3 - Explore a different method of access control and use the data collected to further define those being served, and how.
There were other suggestions buried in the discussions.

KIRK'S LIST
Commissioner Kirk Bauermeister provided a clear, concise list of goals:
1 - Increase 2-way communication with Seniors
2 - Increase Senior Center membership by 10%
3 - Expand health and wellness programming by 10%
4 - Increase volunteer opportunities by 10%
5 - Each Costa Mesa high school sponsor an event at the Senior Center next year.

ANN PERRY'S IDEAS
Vice Chair Ann Perry opined that "we're here to serve the seniors, but if some don't need us, that's OK."  She observed that those in their 50's don't see themselves as "seniors".  She suggested that membership sign up sheets should be included inside every issue of The Chronicle.  She suggested greater outreach at venues like the Fish Fry, Concerts in the Park and the Car Show.  She thought there could be transportation to City Council meetings and that City Staffers could make presentations to the seniors on operations within City government.  She also suggested high school groups could do dress rehearsals or abbreviated versions of upcoming productions at the Senior Center. She also suggested more weekend and evening programming be created to serve the younger demographic.

FEENEY - ANOTHER BUS, AND MORE
Chair Ernie Feeney suggested that it would do little good to attract more seniors to the center if we were unable to provide transportation, so she suggested a goal of adding another bus and driver to facilitate better transport.  She further suggested expanding special programming from Friday nights to other evenings of the week.  She suggested mailing The Chronicle to the mailing list of the city Recreation Guide twice a year, to expand the readership and potential membership.  She also mentioned a "volunteer greeter", but it was unclear if that was to be considered a goal or not.  She also suggested an annual survey of all attendees to the Senior Center, using simple "yes or no" questions.

PROGRAM OVERLAP?
Krochman wondered if the programming outlined in the Recreation Guide may overlap some of the Senior programming.

PUBLIC COMMENTS
During Public Comments two people rose to address this issue.

ASHENDORF
Long time activist and volunteer Charlene Ashendorf suggested, using her own, personal experience, that we shouldn't leave the 50-59 group behind - that they can be valuable assets to the center and learn from the more senior members.  She opined that we need to remain relevant in this digital age and the Senior Center should be a one-stop destination for many services.  She suggested that we need to "cultivate the Senior Center" and adhere to the core values.  She also indicated that The Friends Of The Center could be a valuable resource.

HUMPHREY
Former councilman and current candidate Jay Humphrey thanked the commissioners for serving, then observed that the two minutes alloted per person for speaking with such a small group was "preposterous".  He observed that the commission didn't seem to have enough information to make proper decisions yet.  He also suggested folks who declined to return be polled to find out why.  He also suggested a series of "invite a friend" events, where members would be asked to bring a non-member as a method to expand membership.

STAFF WILL COMPILE DATA
The information discussed will be compiled by the staff and presented to the commission, along with answers to their many questions, at their July 12 meeting where this process will continue and - with luck - goals and objectives will be established.

Feeney/Perry To Lead Sr. Commission, Karlen Quits

AN INTERESTING MEETING, FOR SURE
Well, the sparsely-attended Costa Mesa Senior Commission meeting this morning at the Costa Mesa Senior Center was full of interesting surprises.  Let's lead off with the two biggies.

NEW OFFICERS ELECTED
First, Ernie Feeney was nominated to retain her post as Chair of the Commission and Ann Perry was nominated to become Vice Chair.  Both were approved by the commission unanimously.

KARLEN LEAVES FOR IRVINE
The biggest news, however, came near the end of the meeting when Recreation Manager Travis Karlen announced that he had resigned and would be leaving the City of Costa Mesa on March 17th.  He's moving on to greener pastures with the City of Irvine and will be heavily involved in their Recreation organization in the evolution of the Great Park project.  This is one of those career opportunities that just cannot be passed up. 

LESS THAN TWO YEARS
Karlen has been with the City of Costa Mesa since July of 2014, when he replaced the departed Bob Knapp as Recreation Manager.  I've had a chance to get to know him just a little and to watch him in action.  It seems to me he has been a very effective manager in the Recreation organization and will certainly be missed.

MARTIN TO BE INTERIM MANAGER
He introduced Justin Martin, who has been with the city just over a year, as the Interim Recreation Manager.  It is presumed that The City will do a normal search for the Karlen vacancy.  I've also watched Martin in action over the past several months and Karlen is leaving his organization in good hands - even if it might be temporary.  I presume Martin will be in the running for the job on a permanent basis.

BUS REPORT
Back to the agenda.... Senior Center Program Administrator Yvette Aguilar presented the staff report on the Bus Reservation issue.  She provided a brief history of the issue and covered the statistics included in the staff report.  In a nutshell, since the satisfaction level appears to be quite high - 97% - and the one complaint that made up that 3% was from one incident with one individual, the commission agreed to leave the program as-is for now.  Staff recommended a review in a year.  Stella Adkins indicated she preferred a six-month review.  Karlen indicated that they were monitoring the program closely and would immediately respond to any kind of problems so a shorter review period probably wasn't necessary.  Chair Feeney asked for a summary statistical report in six-months and agreed to a full review again in a year.  The commissioners agreed on a 7-0 vote.

SIGN LANGUAGE CLASS APPROVED - PROCESS TO BE EVALUATED
The second item was the proposal for a new class - a 6-week Sign Language class.  Most of the commissioners seemed to be just fine with it - until Public Comments.  At that time Mariann Ross Chappell, the applicant for the Sign Language class, stepped to the podium and complained that she had actually applied to teach two classes - the Sign Language class and an E-Bay class.  She said she was told by a staffer that they were going to give their current computer class contractor a chance for that class first, and she thought it was discrimination.  She asked for the Sign Language class to be set aside until both applications could be heard.  As you might expect, this generated a significant discussion among the staff and commissioners.   The upshot of this process was that the Sign Language class was approved and the staff would revisit the process on the other issue and come back to the commission at their next meeting.

FEENEY WANTS "GOALS AND OBJECTIVES"
Chair Feeney then conducted her discussion on Goals and Objectives.  She hearkened back to the days of City Manager Allan Roeder, who would gather council members following each election cycle in an open meeting and ask each to define their most pressing issue.  According to Feeney, this process produced a roster of issues that the council would then prioritize to provide a road map for their actions downstream.  She wanted to consider a similar process for the Senior Commission.

COMMISSIONERS AGREE - MEETING TO BE SCHEDULED
The commissioners addressed this issue and it was generally agreed that it's a good idea.  They resolved to try to dedicate one meeting to this process.  There were discussions of a totally separate special meeting, but scheduling issues might to be a stumbling block, both from a staff and commissioner standpoint.  The staff will evaluate this issue and will likely schedule such an event in the near future, maybe as soon as May.  Commissioner John McGlinn offered to take a leadership role in this process.  Assistant CEO Tammy LeTourneau suggested this was more properly guided by staff members, but would welcome McGlinn's expertise and support.

CAPTAIN MANLEY ON LIVESCAN
At the beginning of her report to the commission, Aguilar introduced Costa Mesa Police Captain Mark Manley, who spoke to the commission and audience about volunteer fingerprinting.  He advised that each volunteer and/or city employee must under go a LiveScan process - the gathering electronically of fingerprint information - which is then submitted to the United States Department of Justice.  Apparently, in some cases with elderly folks, the definition on fingerprints is insufficient to get an accurate reading.  Manley said the DOJ is supposed to advise the individual of that failure so they can re-submit.  If it happens twice, then the DOJ will do a "manual" background check on the person.  The issue of transportation to Police Headquarters for the test, and the scheduling of the tests, was discussed.  Possible solutions are to call for an appointment and schedule transportation.  It is NOT possible to bring the apparatus to the Senior Center.  There was also a discussion of scheduling a block of time for many individuals if the need is there, then transport them to and from the CMPD for the testing.  Feeney suggested this kind of approach be considered and advertised in The Chronicle.

 SUMMARY OF AGUILAR'S REPORT
 Aguilar continued on with her report.  Here's a thumbnail version of that report:

• A new skylight was installed and sun room flooring was replaced in January.
• The Grand Hall will be closed 3/28-4/1 to replace the flooring.
• Membership renewal forms were distributed.  So far, 620 renewal forms have been received back.  There are currently 1,764 seniors on the mailing list, of which 1,311 are Costa Mesa residents.
• The Albert Dixon Foundation contributed $17,500 for Senior Center Programs, of which $15,000 was earmarked for electronic/technology devises and $2,500 to pay the current MELT instructor.  Four (4) Ipads and four (4) tablets have been purchased and a Tech Talk Clinic will be held on March 18 from 11 a.m. - 12 p.m.
• Additionally, the Albert Dixon Foundation donated another $50,000 to Senior Serv, which provides nutrition services to the Senior Center.
• She gave a brief summary of past recent events and of upcoming events, all of which are covered in The Chronicle.
• She asked for members interested in participating in the Costa Mesa Community Run to sign up.
• She provided a summary of upcoming Presentations/Seminars, each of which is covered in The Chronicle.
• An Emergency Action Plan/Fire Drill will be held on April 29th.
• The Senior Advisory Committee (SAC) will meet on the first Monday of each month at 12:30 p.m.
• The staff is currently working to expand the Volunteer Program.  There were 437.0 volunteer hours in January and 314.75 in February.
• There were 750.75 Programmed hours in January and 745.25 in February.  There were 5,180 visitors to the Center in January and 5,159 in February.

COMMISSIONER COMMENTS
During Commissioner Comments the following comments/observations were made:

• Kirk Bauermeister congratulated the staff on excellent reports.
• Stella Adkins asked if a pull-out calendar could be included in The Chronicle.  Aguilar advised that there is a calendar available at the front desk and Karlen advised that it's a budget issue, but they would consider it.
• Janet Krochman suggested that the calendar be made available electronically for those with computer skills.
• Ann Perry observed that many school sites have solar panels in parking lots and wondered if that's something that could be considered for the Senior Center Parking lot.  Karlen said he'd forward the suggestion to Public Services.
• Sue Healey, addressing the Bus Report, expressed concern about the reliability of service from a private company and suggested we consider using City Employees.  She said she was looking forward to the Goals and Objectives meeting.  She thanked Karlen for his service and wished him well.  She thanked the SAC committee, all of whom were among those 8 members of the public present at this meeting.
• John McGlinn thanked Karlen.  He observed to Aguilar that "you're getting better and better every day".  He, too, is looking forward to the Goals and Objectives meeting.
• Chair Feeney observed how beautiful The Chronicle is getting, and said, "it sure hasn't peaked yet."  She asked for copies of the minutes of the SAC meetings for the commissioners.  She thanked Karlen and welcomed Martin, then adjourned to the next meeting in May.