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North Andover Council on Aging
North Andover Senior Center
July 13, 2021 C&, 9:00 A.M.
Minutes
Attendance
Members Present: Jennifer Abou-Ezzi, Quentara Costa }Interim-Secretary}, Eileen Elliot, Patricia Riley,
Maria Rosati }Treasurer}, Laurence Smith }Chair}, David VanArsdale }Vice-Chair}, Tallie Abernathy,
Heather Takesian
Absent: Joseph Nahil
Others Present: Kathy Shelp, Director of Elder Affairs, Cahla Ahlstrom, Outreach Manager&Assistant
Director, Denise Casey, Deputy Town Manager, Paula Lynch, Senior Center Administrative Secretary
Call to order: 9:00 AM
Roll call was read by Larry Smith.
Discussion:
Larry Smith Jehairl:
Larry offered the members and staff to share their background and reasons for being on the board. Notable
was new introductions of Tallie Abernathy, who's been a part of the senior center(Zumba instructor) and
general community for years. Also, Heather Takesian, a geriatric nurse, who wants to get involved to help
people get the services that they need outside of work. This is their first meeting as COA members. Paula
Lynch also joined us for the first time and shared her employment history and connection to the town/senior
center.
Updates from the Kathy Shelp, Director of Elder Affairs:
Powerpoint presentation by Kathy re: getting the Senior Center accredited. The benefit is showing that you
are "meeting your mission" and that you have certain policies and procedures in place that protect the town,
senior center, employees, and seniors who visit the center. IE; the human tendency to cater to special requests
which can create favoritism. Employees could now say... "I'd love to do that for you but it's against policy"
to ensure every senior receives equal treatment.
Kathy wants the center, town hall, and COA board to work on this process together on each step. In a way,
we're already doing a lot of things that fall within accreditation standards, so we don't need to recreate the
wheel, but it's not formalized. Therefore, we need to first focus on and document procedures and town policy
to make sure what we're doing is followed by anyone involved to avoid receiving multiple different answers,
etc.
North Andover Elder Services 120R Main Street North Andover MA 01845
978.688.9560 www.northandoverma.2ov kshelpgnorthandoverma.gov
Submission of accreditation materials is broken into 4 sections:
Principle, Rationale, Criteria, Workbook Data
We would set up periodic evaluations to assess if policy and programs are successful and working. The
tricky part is it's easy to assess who's visiting the senior center, it's not as easy to get feedback from people
who drop-off. We'd need a mechanism to reach out if someone is absent for 2 weeks to find out why.
Periodic evaluations raise the expectations of a senior center and outwardly shows we're meeting our mission
and complying to set standards. The goal is to breakdown negative stereotypes of senior centers by being
able to set expectations through documented process, standards, and evaluations.
Next steps are to set the strategic plan and for members of the board (should we agree to cooperate) to figure
out how they can help further the new standards that will be put in place for the accreditation process. This
process will move forward even without the COA's board cooperation or help, but it works better that we
agree that it's a worthwhile process.
Question: Are there extra funding or financial benefits to accreditation? Kathy, no. In fact, it will cost us
money to pursue.
Question: Does selectmen and the community know we're pursuing this? Kathy and Dee, no, but it will be
included in the upcoming newsletter and communicated to them shortly.
Question: The senior population is growing, how are we proactively addressing that? Kathy, there are huge
repercussions for being short-sighted on the issue. But the goal for us would be to contribute and advocate
for the seniors as best we can as the population within the town grows.
Surveys were sent out to the board and others related to their understanding of the senior center. Tallies of
the board responses were handed out at this meeting. More survey results will be tallied and reported for the
next meeting.
Denise Casey, Deputy Town Manager, update on senior center:
We're at the Purchase & Sale part of the process for the senior center. No date for groundbreaking, yet.
Kathy has been looking to clear out surplus furniture and supplies from our existing space so it can be best
utilized while the new center is built.
Minutes: The June minutes were approved unanimously via roll call on a motion by Dave VanArsdale and
seconded by Cahla Ahlstrom. Note: Spelling correction for"SWOT" analysis in last month's minutes.
Quentara Costa, update re: nominating committee:
Open Positions— I active (voting), 2 stand-by (non-voting)
Roles, Secretary—Vacant
Quentara will continue to act as Interim-Secretary. Tallie and Heather were invited to the role of secretary
and can reach out if interested.
Quentara Costa, update re: Finance & Tax:
The new website form to determine tax abatement eligibility is ready but not yet posted. Other than waiting
on adding a link to more information on abatements, it can be posted to both the Town site and Senior Center
site.
General Discussion: Thoughts on COVID safety, news on variants, etc.
Adjournment at 10:05 A.M., by a motion by Larry Smith, seconded by David VanArsdale, and approved
via roll call unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
Quentara Costa, Interim-Secretary