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Senior
Center March 4, 2008 May
20, 2008 August
5, 2008 August
12, 2008, work session August
19, 2008 November 25, 2008, work session December 9,
2008, work session (Goldberg parcel alternative) January 6, 2009 February
3, 2009 March
3, 2009 |
June
2, 2009
Cathy
D'Amato thanked the board for addressing the air conditioner and rug issue in
the existing senior room at the YCCC and announced that there would be a power
point presentation on the need for a senior center at the board's June 23rd
work session.
June 16, 2009
The board approved a resolution
authorizing the Planning Department to receive RFPs (Requests for Proposals)
for land development and construction of a senior center within the town.
In response to questions asked during Courtesy of the Floor, Councilman Jim Martorano explained that the plan was for someone to build
the center and then lease it to the town with an option to buy. The problem in
getting a center, he said, has always been the cost of the project, but he
thought that this lease arrangement would alter the picture. He said that this
approach was finally a way to get the senior center done. The RFP would also
give the town the numbers that it needed in order to move the project forward.
Councilman Martorano said that the town expected to
get $330,000 from Congressman John Hall and $250,000 from NYS Senator Liebell. That money, he said, would be enough to pay the
rent on the building for 5-6 years. (He said he had paperwork from Mr. Hall
assuring Yorktown that the money would be available and that the state money
was currently tied up with the NYS Dormitory Authority.) By then, he added,
some existing bonds would have been paid off, and the town board in office at
the time could decide if it wanted to buy the building and float a bond. If it
did purchase the building, all the money paid in rent would be applied to the
purchase price.
In response to a question about how the town would deal with the sewer issue on
the Goldberg property, both Councilman Martorano and Campisi said that the RFP was not tied to the Goldberg
property but could apply to any site within the town. Councilman Bianco noted that the “devil is in the details”
regarding the plan.
During Courtesy of the Floor, Nick DiTomaso reminded
residents that there will be a presentation on a proposed senior center at next
week's board meeting at 7pm.
June 23, 2009, work session
Catherine D'Amato, co-chairperson of the committee for a Yorktown senior
center, gave a slide presentation on the need for a new stand-alone senior
center. The slides compared the facilities of the Mahopac and Putnam Valley
centers with those currently in the YCCC. She also highlighted safety issues in
the YCCC center.
She said that the funds to build a Yorktown facility could come from a
combination of grants, fund raising and private donations. She identified three
sources of grants currently available:
-- $250,000 coming from NYS with the aid of Senator Leibell
-- $330,000 in federal funds coming with the aid of Congressman John Hall
-- $110,000 from Westchester County (exact source of funds not identified)
She added that the $330,000 from Congressman Hall could only be used for
programs, not rent or brick and mortar. She questioned the people in town in
charge of grant writing and said that if the town didn't “move on
it” and come up with a plan to use the money by December, 2009, it would
lose it.
In response, Councilman Bianco agreed that after
seeing the Putnam County centers, the Yorktown center was “a dump.”
He added that he hadn't seem
any paperwork relating to the 3 grants. Councilman Martorano
said during his entire tenure on the board nothing was more important to him
than the senior center issue. He explained the lease-to-buy option that the
board voted on earlier this month. (See earlier notes.) Supervisor Peters said
that the whole board was supportive of a new center and that while the $250,000
from NYS was in limbo, the town had submitted paperwork for the $330,000
federal grant. (Note: He did not specify what was included in the grant
request.) He said that unofficially, the town might be able to siphon off some
of the program funds. Councilman Campisi pointed out
that the Putnam facilities were county ones whereas in Yorktown, it would be a
local center.
From the audience, Lou Ianucci said that his group
had developed a vision and plan for a new center five
years ago and that if “you give us the money, we'll get it done.”
July 14, 2009, work session
While
acknowledging that the economy was “terrible,” and adding that the
town couldn't afford to build a senior center, Councilman Lou Campisi, noting the insistence of
some seniors, suggested that the town consider putting the issue to a
referendum. The ballot issue would ask voters if they wanted to spend up to $10
million to build, furnish and equip a senior center. “If that's what
people want, let them make the decision. This board knows we can't afford
it,” he said.
It was explained that a 20 year $10 million bond would cost $802,000 a year in
debt service, the equivalent of roughly a 5% increase in taxes.
At the board's request, Tom Meyers, the town's bond counsel attended the
meeting. He explained to the board that before a bond proposal could be put up
for a referendum, the town would have to have a site in mind, a site plan, and
a completed environmental (SEQRA) study.
Based on those conditions, Councilman Matt Metz said it was clear that the
issue couldn't be put on the ballot in November and Councilman Campisi called the referendum a “moot point.”
Councilman Jim Martorano said that while he believed
the community would not support a $10 million bond issue, he applauded
Councilman Campisi for at least bringing up the issue
and suggested that in two years the economic climate might change and the issue
could be revisited. He repeated his suggestion about the build-to-lease plan on
the “Goldberg” site but Councilman Nick Bianco
said he hadn't seen anything in writing about the suggested grant money.
Commenting on Martorano's suggestion that existing
town funds used for senior programs could be used to rent the new center while
the federal funds could finance the town programs, Bianco
said that the federal prisons were full of people who did that sort of thing.
Speaking from the audience, Jennie Menton, a senior
citizen, called on the board to “get the word out” that the town
can't afford a new center at this time and that we should make do with what we
have.
See also a 7/28/2009 discussion of use of two rooms in YCCC for the Teen Center
and/or an Enrichment Center
Use of YCCC rooms
Travel buses
for senior clubs
July 28, 2009, work session
Jefferson Village Travel Club/Buses for senior trips
A request, dating back to 2007, from the Jefferson
Village Travel Club precipitated a discussion of how the town allocated money
to senior groups who request town funds to pay for buses for day trips.
Two issues were discussed:
1) the eligibility of the JV club to get town funds, and
2) how the town funds were allocated among all the senior clubs. The bus trips
cost the town approximately $800-$1,000 each and are bid out each year based on
the location of the trips. In 2009, there were 20 trips for 6 clubs.
Eligibility
In order to limit eligibility for town funds and discourage any “fly
by night” group from requesting funds, the Recreation Commission recently
adopted a policy setting down 4 eligibility criteria:
a) the club must be in existence for a minimum of 3 years
b) there can be no more than 10% non-residents of Yorktown
c) the club must have an elected board and by laws
d) at least quarterly meetings must be held
After some discussion, it was decided that the JV group met the 4 criteria.
Although most of its members are residents of JV, seniors in other parts of
town do participate in its trips and some of the participating non residents
are “significant others” of residents.
Allocation of funds
The town currently has 6 senior clubs. Five clubs
get 3 buses a year, plus funds for two entertainments such as a DJ for a
holiday party, and one club, the town's first club, gets 5 buses, plus funds
for two entertainments.
The new Rec Commission policy is that the funds,
currently allocated on two separate budget lines, be combined, and that the
money for all six existing clubs, plus the JV club, be allocated equally across
all seven clubs.
This change won't go into effect until the 2010 budget.
August 4, 2009
During Courtesy of the Floor Catherine D'Amato, co-chair of the Committee for a
Senior Center raised what she called “disturbing
issues” about conditions in the YCCC. She called the building unsafe and
cited possible problems with asbestos and potential problems evacuating some
children who were rehearsing in a room adjacent to the senior center room.
She said an application for the $125,000 county grant (from CDBG funds) for the
center had to be done “soon” and that she had been told that the
money could be held for three years while the town decided how to use the
money. She also said she had a petition signed by 2,000 residents – of
all ages – who want a center and said that the town wasn't doing enough
on the issue.
In response, Councilman Lou Campisi said that
fiberglass, not asbestos, had recently been removed from the YCCC. He also said
that he had earlier made it clear that in this economic climate, he did not
think that a $10 million bond referendum made sense. He said that the $10
million figure was based on the cost of the two senior centers in Putnam County
that had cost $5 and $7 million.
Councilman Jim Martorano said that Planning Director
John Tegeder was completing the RFP (Request for
Proposal) for the construction of the possible lease-to-rent stand-alone
center. He agreed that even a $5 million bond was not feasible at this time but
talked about 2015 when the pool bonds would be paid off. “Time is a
wasting,” he said and he encouraged people to continue pursing this option so as not to lose the opportunity being
offered by the Goldberg family.
Supervisor Don Peters said he had been in touch with officials in Albany and
that the $250,000 “Leibell” grant money
for the center was still there and “in good shape.” He also
reported that the town had received the federal “Hall” money that would
be used to provide services to homebound seniors. “We haven't forgotten
the seniors,” he said.
September 1, 2009
During Courtesy of the Floor, Jay Tinger suggested
that as there was not likely to be any money to build a new stand alone senior
center, the town should consider using available buildings. He then suggested
that the center be moved to the Sparkle Lake Service Building.
Cathy D'Amato also asked the board to consider the Sparkle Lake Building. She
also asked for answers to her questions regarding the NYS Department of Labor
report on safety conditions at the YCCC, especially the possibility that there
might be asbestos in Room 12.
In response, Mr. Bianco advised Ms. D'Amato that a
representative from the Department of Labor would be attending the September
8th work session and would be giving an update on the sprinkler issue.
October 6, 2009
During Courtesy of the Floor, Catherine D'Amato wanted to know if the town had
given an thought to the suggestion she made at an
earlier meeting that the Sparkle Lake Service Building be used as the senior
center. She also wanted a follow up on the $333,000 federal grant obtained
through Congressman Hall's office.
October 13, 2009
Senior Programs
Helen Bauer made a presentation about expanding the town's senior program
offerings by tapping into existing resources in the county from diverse groups
including the county Office of Aging, Pace University, Northern Westchester
Hospital, etc. She said that seniors represented 23% of the town's population
(8,000 out of 36,000) and were 33% of the town's voters. Ms. Bauer praised the
work of Mary DeSilva who runs the town's nutrition
center and said that while Ms. DeSilva fed the
senior's body, her goal was to feed their minds and souls. She suggested three
options for implementing such a program: a town run program, forming a 501c3 non profit group, or some form of cooperative. The board
suggested that she speak to the existing senior groups, assistant planner
Lorraine DeSisto and Mary DeSilva
and report back to the board on how to proceed.
November 17, 2009
Senior travel bus subsidy
During courtesy of the floor Jennie Menton questioned
why the town board decided in July that the Jefferson Village Travel Club met
the requirements to obtain town funds for its trips along with the other six
senior clubs when in June the Recreation Commission decided that the club did
not meet the required guidelines. She asked how documents that were not
available in June could suddenly be available in July.
In response, Councilman Bianco said that the JV Club
was turned down last year but came back this year and provided the necessary
records. He told Mrs. Menton that if she had other
information, the issue could be revisited.
In the second courtesy of the floor, Mrs. Mention asked Mr. Bianco
exactly what documents he had seen, again repeating her earlier comments that
at the June meeting of the Rec Commision,
no documents were made available.
In June, the Rec Commission said that a club had to
be in existence for three years, that no more than 105 of its members could be
non residents of Yorktown, that it had elected officers and held at least
quarterly meetings.
Mr. Bianco stated that the Rec
Commission is an advisory board only.
Resolution
Request from
the Town Board
Approve RFP for a part-time social worker for seniors. Money is to come out of grant from federal Office for the Aging $330,000 grant. It will cost $30,000 for 6 month contract. Will do home visits, assessments, program development work.
Senior Advisory Committee -
Mary DeSilva, Jenny Menton-Grasso,
Lou Iannucci, Jen Fava
Reported to have $424,000
available of which $300,000 is from the previous board.
Mary DeSilva
handed out questionnaires about what is needed most for Seniors. The response was:
1. Computers and computer use
instruction.
2. Heat in Senior Center
needs to be regulated. At present
it is much too hot and wasting energy.
3. Space in 2 rooms. One to
be renovated to house 2 rows of desks for computer stations. The room should be able to be closed and
locked when room is used as a dining room.
This was estimated to cost
$6000 for locked space.
4. There was discussion of
computers to be donated.
5. A new exit door ($15,000)
is an important safety factor.
6. Ramp for handicapped to be
wheelchair accessible to first floor of building (computer lab). The ramp would be in the front of the
building but could be hidden with shrubs.
The cost would be approximately $235,000.
7. It was requested that Room
104, which is used by the Park & Rec, be shared
by Senior Center.
John Tegeder
needs to send the specifics of a plan to the county by May 1st in order to get
the funds to proceed.