HomeMy Public PortalAboutA 2008-04-02 - SENIOR ADVISORY COUNCIL
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SENIOR ADVISORY COUNCIL ~~AR 2 7 200
GENERAL MEETING
LYNWOOD SENIOR CITIZENS CENTER 8t9~llts'fl`~'Pl`~1s~' .4i~ ~ ,
11329 ERNESTINE AVENUE ~~
LYNWOOD, CA 90262 ~~~~ ~~ -~(
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AGENDA
Wednesda ,April 2, 2008 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
THIS MEETING WILL BE CONDUCTED WITH KINDNESS AND RESPECT.
12:30 p.m. Call to Order
Pledge of Allegiance
Invocation
Roll Call
Certification of Agenda Posting
Approval of Minutes 03/05/08
12:40 p.m. Swearing In of Officers
Nomination for Vice Chair
Guest Speaker, Herman Gordon-Presentation on Living Trust, Wills
& Financial Management
Extended hours at center
Open room to lunch group/change time
Group trip to checkout any problems with pool
Facility monitor
1:05 p.m. Public Comments (2 minutes)
1:15 p.m. Board Orals (2 minutes)
1:30 p.m. Adjournment
Next General Meeting on Wednesday, May 7, 2008
The Recreation Department, Senior Services Division does not discriminate on the basis of
disability. Persons with disabilities may request accommodation services by calling (310) 886-
0425 two-weeks in advance of the meeting. The facility providing this service is wheelchair
accessible.
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Senior Advisory Council
Meeting Minutes
March 5, 2008
The meeting was called to order at 12:36 p.m. by Marisa Cordova. The agenda was duly posted as
prescribed by the Brown Act.
Pledge of Allegiance: Member Lorene Reed
Invocation: Member D. Joyce Edner
Roll Call: Cecilia Amezquita-Minutes Clerk
Present: Absent:
Margaret Araujo Paulette Bradley Barbara Battle
D. Joyce Edner Lorene Reed
Appointment of Chairperson:
Marisa Cordova opened the floor for nominations.
Member Paulette Bradley - I was going to suggest since we have two members that are not present,
Mrs. Barbara Battle had a pervious appointment that she was not sure she could break and I advised
her last night of the meeting. Mrs. Margaret Araujo just arrived so 1 suggest that we hold off for full
council to be present to choose the Chair and Vice Chair.
Lorene Reed - I would like to nominate Paulette Bradley.
Marisa Cordova -The suggestion was to hold off until full council is present.
Lorene Reed - 1 know but [ am opposed to that because we may never have a complete panel I
believe we should choose the chair as per the agenda and I nominate Paulette Bradley.
Lorene Reed nominated Paulette Bradley for Chairperson, 2"`~ by Margaret Araujo-By unanimous
consent motion passed.
Paulette Bradley-Chairperson
Marisa Cordova - At this moment we also need to appoint a V ice Chair.
Paulette Bradley nominated Margaret Araujo for V ice Chair. Due to lack of votes motion died.
Lorene Reed nominated D. Joyce Edner for V ice Chair.
D. Joyce Edner - 1 thank you very much for the nomination but I decline.
Lorene Reed nominated Barbara Battle for Vice Chair, 2"d by Margaret Araujo-By unanimous
consent motion passed.
Marisa Cordova - At this moment I will hun the meeting over to the Chair, Paulette Bradley.
Chairperson Paulette Bradley - We have a new Senior Advisory Council. We are starting out our new
day with a new organization. We have a lot of ideas floating around and our success is going to
depend on your participation, in bringing tp the table suggestions for our center and more events like
the one we has last month. We had visitors come and share information with us, which was excellent.
I shared with Marisa Cordova some ideas and we have suggestions from Elector De La Torre's office.
They are participating in senior information and workshops. Sanchez's office also has senior
information that is coming our way. If you go to other centers and experience workshops, we want to
be sure [hat this upcoming year we have those kinds of workshops coming to us. We are going to
advertise more, put fliers in our lunchroom and advertise at City Council meetings for seniors that
attend so they can join us at our monthly meeting with their concerns. We've shared the desires for
the new Senior Advisory Council success in being a median between the seniors and Council,
working with our Senior Services Manager, Marisa Cordova. We are still going to be very dependent
on your input and please share with us those areas you think could be helpful to the seniors.
Margaret Araujo - I just have to say congratulations to you. I know you are the perfect choice. You
care about this center and I know you are going to move this Advisory forward. 1 look forward to you
working with us as a team member. 1 want to thank whoever nominated me as Vice Chair but I had
already decided due to my future schedule t would not be able to hold an office. I think we will have
a good Chair and Vice Chair with Barbara Battle. The both of you are good women and you work
well with everyone. I know that you will make it an all-inclusive advisory.
Lorene Reed - As the previous Chair of the previous Senior Advisory Board 1 nominated Mrs.
Bradley because she has spent so many hours in this center. Mrs. Bradley is a positive person and she
has the ability to communicate with everyone. I believe the previous board was in existence for over
30-years and they definitely tried to be inclusive. People were upset about their removal from that
board and that is what brought about this Council. We had people that had been members for 30-years
removed from a working board that was accomplishing things, behind a vindictive act to get back
because they were voted off. Well they were successful and 1 hope they are happy now. This council
will work Mrs. Bradley. 1 will continue to do things that I did, bring people here to cover various
items. In future meetings we will discuss the direction you plan to take us.
Public Orals:
Pearline Calderon -The seniors of this community have longed Cor a new direction. I am happy to
hear that you will be all inclusive. It was stated that some people should be happy to see the old board
taken away. I do not think anyone could be happy if something was good and was working to be
demolished. It was a time for change. If the board was working, the Council would not have seen the
need to take the board down. 1 am going to move away from that and if you want to continue to be
ignorant and blame people, where they should take the responsibility for themselves. My statement to
you and the new board is that I am happy to hear what you said about the Area Agency on Aging, the
County and City Commissioners. It was a wonderful meeting, it brought out a lot for our seniors. My
first recommendation to this board is whenever such meetings are held in our senior center that they
should be brought forward to the whole community not only the community that comes in here.
Chairperson Paulette Bradley -You just brought up another idea that with enough notice I would like
to see this advertised in our Lynwood `N Perspective. There are working seniors who might see
something in the Lynwood `N Perspective and change their work schedule and come to these events.
When 1 first retired my means of finding out what was going on in the City was by what was
advertised in the newsletters. I will make the best effort possible to get these announcernents in the
perspective so we can advertise to everyone who will have an interest.
Frank Calderon - 1 want to congratulate all the new members of the board. I do not think this board
will have any problems if they adhere to the pertinent laws of boards and committees particularly the
constitution of the United States. I always fought and pledged to defend the time 1 was in the service.
Margie Harper - I would like to say that my heart is heavy because I received a letter inviting me to
be a member of this council. 1 feel if that being said, it should be acknowledged. 1 would like to see if
there is any possible way that the Chair and the other members of this Senior Advisory Council could
look into that for me. t do have a letter stating that I was approved, welcomed, invited and chosen to
be on this panel with the seniors here. 1 do not know where the communication go[ lost. 1 feel it is an
injustice to me as a resident to send out something so important and to somehow or another retract it
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shows bad faith. I do not think it's fair to me as a senior citizen of this community. I waited a long
time to be here and now I am retired and ready to give back. Council t ask you, 1 challenge you to
look into this and see how this wrong can be rewritten and corrected. It has already been written and
sent to me and whenever you send out a communication either it is or it isn't. Please look into this I
have a communication in my purse. I was received into this body only to be told last night at the
Council meeting in front of all my neighbors and constituents that they did not want to recognize it. 1
told Madame Mayor this came out, she said well I am sorry we evaluated it and we felt that we are
going to change it. I said well how could it be. 1 am the Mayor this is what l want and I can do what I
want it was stated last night publicly. I am not putting anybody down. I want to see this body grow.
Chairperson Paulette Bradley - Yes, I will. 1 was there last night so I know what you are talking
about.
Willie McGill - I must say it is back to where it used to be, five people Alfred Kilts, three others and
myself. I want to say I did not get any notice that it was closing out. 1 believe [should have gotten a
notice.
Chairperson Paulette Bradley -'thank you. I take [o heart what you have to say and frankly I agree
with you one hundred percent. The way they handled it was a surprise to everyone at the meeting. 1
did not see that coming either so I cannot give an excuse for the decisions or behaviors of others.
Irene Garcia - I would like to piggyback on what Lorene Reed stated. "Phis was due to the two
members that have always instigated. That made things impossible to hold a meeting or move
forward because of their bickering. Lastly, Margaret Araujo she was very upset. She has wanted for a
long time along with the Calderons to disband the board because it was not doing anything according
to her. She always came late and never once was she on time. Yes, she did not resign. It was very
unfair that this was a back door deal and no one was informed because they listened to pcople that do
not have a leg to stand on. You have tapes from prior meetings available to hear how these people go
running to the Council, Mayor, and City Manager.
Chairperson Paulette Bradley - 1 think it is therapeutic and it is a good thing to express how you feel
about it. I can understand your comments and I really want us to express them today. I am aware with
some of the doers and some of the things that went on. I want you to trust me that the new council is
not going to operate like that, as that is not my style. I want to interact with you.This is our country
club. We need to be the ones that are participating in the decisions of our community and things that
go on here and that is the whole point of having a council. When we leave today, I am asking you to
give me the chance to show you a different way to get things done.
Julio Mendoza - I would like to know why we were not given the courtesy of notifying us that the
board was disbanded and renamed. 1 do not accept that we were in here for one year and in one year
we couldn't do anything because we had people upset. We tried and you know it and they all know it.
1 am speaking the truth if you do not like it i am sorry. I am due my opinion. 1 believe in the
constitution. This is the first and last meeting I will be attending. 1 will come use the facility. [ do not
see that anything has changed 1 just want an apology as to why we were not informed.
Lien Stringfield - I have been involved in the City of Lynwood for 28-years. 1 have never seen
anything like that but it is ok with me. I am not going to make a sign and walk down the street and
make my city look bad. One thing is the way City Council went about things was not professional.
Lorene Reed -1 need to say something to the people that were removed from the board. We had the
fact that there was an NAACP complaint. The Senior Advisory Board was disbanded due to the
NAACP complaint and the threats of suing the city because two individuals were removed from the
Senior Advisory Board. That is why the board was disbanded. The complaints were non-stop. There
were stacks of letters written to Council, the County, the State and the Federal Government. These
people harassed the staff, our taxpayer dollars were spent on these hvo and three-hour meetings with
two individuals that held this city hostage with the treat of a lawsuit. So Council finally said, that is it
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I am disbanding this board to get rid of them. The Senior Advisory Board was disbanded and they
appointed individuals in order to represent the seniors. The Older Americans Act calls for a senior
group to represent the seniors in the community. This is that group. We need to move forward. I
really do not want our new Chairperson to spend a lot of time investigating something we cannot
change or control. Council has that discretion Mrs. Harper and it is in the commissioner's handbook,
your appointment to any commission is up to City Council, it is at their discretion. What the Mayor
told you last night I can appoint you today and remove you tomorrow that is true. There is nothing
that we as a board can do because staff runs this center not the seniors. We will be able to make
recommendations as a board.
Charles Wood - I am coaching a team of 7 and 8 year olds. They get along better than this group,
they have more common sense. 1 was here for two meetings and I will tell you that 1 am not coming
back. I am not going to miss it.
Chairperson Paulette Bradley - 1 am different and this is a new start. Some of you are upset and are
saying you are not coming back. 1 am asking you to give me the opportunity and trod out what 1 am
about.
Marie - Is this a council or commission? (Chairperson Paulette Bradley -Senior Advisory Council, it
is not a commission) so then it should not be accountable on the same level as a commission and
that's what it sounds like to me. In addition, if it is a new day and a new whatever then you need to
get old people off because you still have old people here. If it is a new council then it should be all
new people.
Alfred Kilts - We started at the Community Center as the Senior Advisory Board. We did not do
much the first few years. Council Member Louis Heine would come to the meeting and tell us what
was happening iu the city. It was not until the last few years that we accomplished much. We started
thinking about a new building for the seniors. We got behind it and we finally got it. I have been on
the Senior Advisory Board for 28-years. I have been honored to serve on it and [attended the first
meeting and the last.
Nancy Gaston - My husband and 1 used to get involved with the senior groups over at the old
building. We participated in all the trips, aboutl0 to 12 per year. Right now I do not find anything
going on. t see a beautiful building but we just do not have anything going on here. The computer
class is full and you cannot get in. The newsletter arrives after the trips take place.
Chairperson Paulette Bradley -There are senior outings posted next to the front desk of up-coming
events_ You can also pick up the phone and call. Inform us that you have not received the newsletter
when you can't come in. We have had at least two trips per month since last .lone. Since t have been
doing the trips we have gone to the museum, circus, and The Color Purple. I am giving you avenues.
Marisa Cordova - I appreciate your comments. You are right, these are things we are trying to
address.
Jose Trejo -Sorry to interrupt. If i may ask the board to adjourn the meeting to move onto the
presentation and announcements.
Marisa Cordova - We have a little reception and some certificates that we want to present to the past
members that served on the Senior Advisory Board. We want to thank you for your participation and
all of your hard work.
Chairperson Paulette Bradley - [want to thank you all for coming.
Adjournment: Member Lorene Reed made a motion to adjourn. By unanimous consent, the meeting
adjourned at 122 p.m.