Last Updated on April 7, 2022

THE RECORD OF THE CHARLESTOWN RESIDENTS’ COUNCIL
(web version)

March 1, 2022
Residents’ Council Website: ccicharlestown.org

President Pat Rudolph called the regular meeting of the Residents’ Council [the Council] to order at 7:00 pm on March 1, 2022.  70 association members attended. Visitors included residents, Pat Kasuda and Naomi McAfee, members of the Board of Directors, and Don Grove, Associate Executive Director.

The Council observed a moment of silence for those who have passed away.

The minutes of the February Residents’ Council meeting were approved.

Mission Moments Read by Pat Rudolph

At Charlestown Retirement Community, we share our gifts to create a community that celebrates life. That mission statement is the foundation of the Mission Moments we share each month in the Sunburst. Here are two examples from Phyl Lansing.

The hallway in Arborside (8, G Level) suddenly was festooned with snowflakes even before Charlestown had its first snowfall. What a joy to see the snowflakes, large and small, hanging from the ceiling and fastened to the walls! Roberta Poulton recommends Charlotte Poore for Mission Moments recognition for this beautiful surprise. Charlotte and her daughter made the large snowflakes and added others of various sizes to turn that hallway into a fairyland. Charlotte and her husband Joe are relatively new residents, but they quickly got into the spirit of making their community beautiful for others. It helps to have a daughter who can help fashion and hang the snowflakes. Thank you, Charlotte, for bringing your enthusiasm and friendliness to Charlestown. She even says she is planning a surprise for next year. Stay tuned!

For another look at snow, we know it sometimes falls in inconvenient places. Elsie Kemp wants to recommend Bill Ryan and Lee Schmidt for their help in handling snow. Elsie decided after two snowstorms that she needed to clean off her car. That wasn’t easy for her because she has a Honda Pilot and the roof of the car is much higher than she can reach. Lee and Bill saw her efforts and came over to help. In fact, they cleaned off her entire car. She thinks they went off to help another resident. That teamwork as well as their caring and responsibility really helped Elsie. She thinks Herbert’s Run residents are lucky to have those two gentlemen as neighbors.

It may be a good time to list the values that were adopted by the Residents’ Council on March 7, 2017. They are Respect and Caring, Diversity, Friendliness and Enthusiasm, Integrity, Responsibility, Excellence, and Teamwork. If you see these values displayed at Charlestown, you are witnessing Mission Moments. Please let the Mission Moment Committee know what you have seen or heard, by submitting that information to Phyl Lansing at CR403 or phyllansing@yahoo.com.

Committee Reports

Pat Rudolph called on the following officers and committee chairs for reports; the text of those reports appears following the formal minutes:

  • Merci Izquierdo-Whitaker, Vice President
  • Mimi O’Donnell, Secretary
  • Ron DeAbreu, Treasurer
  • Eugenia High, Chair of the Benevolent Care Fund and Foundation Committee
  • Dick Crebs or David Elder, Co-Chairs of the Communications Committee
  • Anna Marie Ciarrocchi, Chair of the Conservation Committee
  • Ron MacNab or Mary Lee Seaman, Co-Chairs of the Dining Committee
  • John Yoder, Chair of the Finance Committee
  • Mike Rose, Chair of the Grounds Committee
  • Carol Eshelman, Chair of the Health Services Committee
  • Sebastian Petix, Chair of the Housekeeping Committee or Betty Elder. Assistant Chair
  • Pat Payne, Chair of the Legislative/Political Committee
  • Gordon Piché, Chair of the Maintenance & Engineering Committee
  • Rosemary Eck or John Remias, Co-Chairs of the Resident Life Committee
  • Justine Parezo, Chair of the Safety & Security Committee
  • John Yoder, Chair of the Nominating & Elections Committee

UNFINISHED BUSINESS: None

NEW BUSINESS: None

Don Grove then presented “Words from Management,” which appear below for those residents interested in reading the full text of the message.

President Rudolph adjourned the formal meeting at 8:09 p.m.

Mimi O’Donnell
Residents’ Council Secretary

REPORTS—EXECUTIVE TEAM

ANNOUNCEMENTS/ PRESIDENT’S REPORT (Pat Rudolph): 
Pat began her comments by admitting that she had encouraged all committee chairs to keep their reports concise so that all could get home in time for the President Biden’s State of the Union address.

She reminded all residents that the Residents’ Council is continuing to look for candidates for the Residents’ Council year beginning in August. Many residents have many gifts to share and the Residents’ Association is looking for talented additions to the Council. Please contact the Nominations and Elections Committee Chair, John Yoder, if you are interested or if you would like to nominate another resident.

The Residents’ Council has been hosting brainstorming sessions to collect ideas for interim, short-term use of available spaces in the Historic District. The third and final session will be held on March 2, at 10:00 am in the conference center. If you cannot attend, please contact Mimi O’Donnell at 410-314-1740.

VICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT (Merci Izquierdo-Whitaker): 

No report

TREASURER’S REPORT (Ron DeAbreu): 

The Council’s account balance at the end of January was $3,316.46. The Council had no income in February.  Expenditures for the month totaled $884.43. Thus, the Council’s account balance at the end of February was $2,432.03.

By the next monthly meeting of the Council on April 5, the annual dues collection campaign will be underway.  Each year the Charlestown Residents’ Association, of which all residents at Charlestown are members, asks each resident in Independent Living for a voluntary contribution of $2.00 in dues to support the work of the Residents’ Council.

On or about April first, a dues collection packet will be placed in the cubby of each Independent Living resident.  Included in the packet is a return envelope with which to submit your dues either directly to my cubby, Brookside 640, or via campus mail.

While each resident is asked for just $2.00 in dues, if the Spirit moves you to give more, I would say listen to the Spirit, and feel free to do so.

SECRETARY’S REPORT (Mimi O’Donnell, Secretary, and Diana Dunaway, Assistant Secretary):
No report

REPORTS—COMMITTEES

BENEVOLENT CARE COMMITTEE (Eugenia High, Chair): 
The Benevolent Care Committee met February 23rd via Zoom with the Philanthropy staff and guest, Teresa Reyman-Curran.

On “Giving Hearts Day” the 800 family and friends distribution group received emails designed to educate and inform them about Benevolent Care; how it is funded; and how families can help.

A realized planned gift valued at $315,000 will soon be received from the estate of a former resident.

Future events include: a Treasure Sale tentatively planned for May 5, 6, and 7; a Telethon to be aired in September on Channel 972; and four seasonal “Pop-Up” Sales.

23 residents currently receive financial assistance from the Benevolent Care Fund.  The Fund contributes $120,000 per month.  Committee members brainstormed ideas to raise funds to honor the promise of Charlestown as a resident’s home for life.

How to encourage residents to leave a percentage of their entrance fee or a portion of their estate to the Benevolent Care Fund is a challenge the committee would like to address.  An idea was presented whereby the Sales Department could include a check box on the entrance deposit form that lists the Benevolent Care Fund as an option for estate planning.

Patti Santoni and Gladstone James will present a program, Financial Assurance, on March 31 at 11:00 am in the Auditorium.

The next meeting of the Benevolent Care Committee will be Wednesday, March 23 at 2:00 pm in Charlestown Square room 116.

COMMUNICATIONS (Dick Crebs, Co-Chair): 
22 Members of the Communications Committee were in attendance.

Brian Gentile and Dan Johnson from Erickson Senior Living IT, and Don Grove, Mary Evans, and Kimberly Mitchell from the Charlestown Administrative Staff attended the meeting.

The guests gave an update on the status of the Charlestown Connect Wi-Fi upgrade project. They also explained their efforts to hire three dedicated IT Staff for Charlestown: IT Site Manager; IT Site Coordinator; and IT Site Analyst. The IT Site Manager will be tasked with providing assistance and information to Charlestown Residents as well as technical support to the Charlestown Staff. This manager would also be the “turn-to” person to deal issues that are beyond a problem an individual resident might encounter.

Dan and Brian acknowledged they are aware of Charlestown’s problems and are actively working to resolve them. They asked for continued patience. They answered questions that the committee had supplied ahead of the meeting, explained the process for handling IT requests, and talked about how the network is set up. They are also working with staff dedicated to resident support for Wi-Fi.

Many Charlestown Residents shared their experiences with long waits calling the Help Desk and indeterminate response from the on-site tech staff once they responded.

Other topics discussed included:

  • Wi-Fi Issues, Connectivity Stability, Outages
  • Evergreen Topics
  • Charlestown Computer Literacy Project
  • Campus communications strategy
  • Spam calls
  • Sunsetting of 3G wireless effects on Charlestown Residents

 
The next meeting of the Communications Committee will be on March 28, at 2:00 pm via Zoom preceded by the Website Sub-Committee at 1:00 pm.

CONSERVATION (Anna Marie Ciarrocchi, Chair): 
The Conservation Committee met on the 15th of February. During the meeting, our staff liaison said that she is hoping to get the recycling data soon. Currently dining only recycles cardboard and they are hoping to increase recycling other materials. There was also a discussion about a possible cleanup day at Charlestown. On that day, a dumpster truck would be brought in so that residents could clean up and get rid of trash.

The Committee continues to track various pieces of legislation that affect conservation. The topics of legislation include: single use plastics; green school construction; zero emissions for MTA busses; new vehicle pollution fees; a ban on PFAs; environmental human rights; and the Climate Crisis and Environmental Justice Act. Residents can find information on legislation on the Residents’ Council website.

There was an article in the newspaper recently, stating that only about 10% of plastic has been recycled. We need to have a way to really increase that amount.

We want to emphasize that your recycling containers should not be lined with plastic.  Also, if you put materials you want to recycle is in a plastic bag, Waste Management is going to toss it. Recyclables cannot be put in plastic bags.

The Nature Trail Club will be hosting a nature fair or on April 21 from 11:00 to 2:00 in the Convention Center.

The next meeting of the Conservation Committee will be on March 15 at 2:00 pm. However this month, the meeting will be held in CTS 116.

DINING SERVICES (Ronald MacNab or Mary Lee Seaman, Co-Chairs): 
The Committee met on February 21 with Ken Zahn, Director of Dining Services.

The main focus of the meeting was on the new Dining Services Quarterly communication plan. Dining Service discussions with residents will be held on the third week of the month each month beginning the week of February 21. The first month of the quarter will be a chat with the specific restaurant general manager, executive chef sous chef, and assistant managers. The second month is what is being called Dinner with Dining Services. The venue’s General Manager, the Executive Chef, committee chairs, and a representative from Dining Services will meet.  A Town Hall presentation will be held in the auditorium and shown on 972 for residents in the third month of the quarter.

We also discussed the menus which will change the Monday of the first full week of the month. Approximately 60% of the menu change. Dining Services has hired a new manager for the Terrace Café. There is also a new position of Staff Development Manager. This manager will be responsible for the ongoing development and training for our dining services staff. Dining Services is also looking for a culinary manager for the bar area of the Chesapeake.

The next meeting is Monday, March 21 at 2:00 pm here in the auditorium.

FINANCE (John Yoder, Chair):
Finances are complex as you know, but in the interest of time, and out of respect to Pat’s request, this is going to be a brief report. If you would like more details, please get in touch with me or a member of the committee.

The Finance Committee met on February 22, with members of the committee and guests. Occupancy in Independent Living remained stable in January hovering around 91%. There were thirteen settlements and six releases reported for January. As a result, there is in a net increase for the month of seven.  Occupancy in Assisted Living remained high at just over 97%.

About $120,000 was distributed by the Benevolent Care Fund in January to support twenty individuals in need of assistance.

Charlestown will begin offering quarterly seminars for residents on topics such as Resident Care Agreements, Medicare, Spend Down Provisions, and understanding and managing other insurance to the best advantage. More information will be forthcoming in the coming weeks and month.

The next meeting of the Finance Committee will be on Tuesday, March 29, at 9:00 am.  For this one meeting, the committee will meet in the Cross Creek cardroom.

GROUNDS (Mike Rose, Chair): 
The Grounds Committee met on February 22.

Topics discussed included signs being made for the memory garden; ongoing lamppost painting and repair, road striping repairs, landscaping at Brookside and St. Charles, and pruning on the loop road and around the cemetery. Other topics of interest to the Grounds committee are: access to the terraces at Wilton Overlook and Caton Woods, maintenance of large pots and benches on the nature trail, garden plot barriers, markers on the lake for the sailing season, and anything else that residents want to discuss. I’m available to discuss any of these topics after the meeting or by email.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday, March 22, at 11:00 in Brookside 1 for this month only.

HEALTH SERVICES (Carol Eshelman, Chair): 
Lisa Roeder, Manager Resident Services, updated the committee on new additions Karen Leighton, Director of Resident Services, and Violet Peoples, Director of Intermissions.  Lisa reported they are seeking an administrative assistant for Karen and an additional assistant for the growing Intermissions program.  Resident Service Coordinators are available to help residents who have lost friends and/or a spouse.

Louise Dempsey submitted reports on the quarterly meetings of Wilton Overlook and Caton Woods.

Influenza is decreasing nationwide.  Specific data was not available for Maryland.

Committee members will submit articles to the Sunburst on a regular basis on health opportunities and information.

The next meeting is on Tuesday, March 8 at 11:00 in Brookside 2.

HOUSEKEEPING (Betty Elder, Assistant Chair): 
The committee did not meet but reports were sent in via email by most members. Issues addressed were forwarded to Michelle Fenn and to Gordon Piche if relevant to the Maintenance and Engineering Committee.

LEGISLATIVE/POLITICAL (Pat Payne, Chair): 
The Legislative and Political committee met on February 9. We had several major items of business. First of all, 2022 is an election year. Key statewide positions to be voted on include Governor, Attorney General, and Comptroller. The current occupants of all three of these positions will not be running again. This is a major election year.

The committee discussed inviting other Erickson properties in Maryland, Riderwood and Oak Crest, to join with Charlestown in sponsoring candidate forums for residents for each of these statewide offices prior to the November election. Several committee members have volunteered to serve on a forum subcommittee to prepare a proposal for this event. We are going to be meeting on March the 11 at 1:00 pm. As a result, the regularly scheduled of the legislative political committee will not be held on the second Wednesday as we will hold this meeting instead. If you want to come just give me a call or email me.

The next Committee meeting will be on Wednesday, April 13 at 10:00 am in Brookside 1.

Committee members are actively tracking legislation now before the 2022 Maryland General Assembly. They are looking at legislation in the area of election law, health care, conservation, and climate change. A complete list of the bills, as well as the committees to which they are assigned, can be found on the Charlestown residents’ website, CCICharlestown.org.  If you check the website, you will find all the bills that the committee has tracked from 2019 to the present.

The committee chair filmed an interview with two members of the House of Delegates, Pat Young, and Eric Ebersole. We talked about the legislation before the General Assembly and what’s going on right now in the Maryland General Assembly. The taped conversation is being shown on Channel 972. Special thanks to the subcommittee who met to write the questions that were used in this interview.

The committee had hoped to film a briefing on redistricting in Maryland so we could show it on 972 so that you would all know what district you’re in and what’s going on. However, the redistricting process in Maryland has now entered uncharted territory. As a result, the candidate filing deadline has been moved from February 22 to March 22. The courts could intervene and throw out both sets of maps. Baltimore County officials are now reviewing their options after a federal judge blocked the maps the County Council approved. They only have until March 8 to adopt new boundaries for the County’s councilmanic districts.

Working with the League of Women Voters, we are going to make every effort to keep Charlestown residents up to date on the outcome of this once every 10-year redistricting process in Maryland. There is still more to come.

MAINTENANCE & ENGINEERING (Gordon Piché, Chair): 
Our committee met on Tuesday, February 22nd at 2pm, in the General Services’ Conference Room with General Services’ Kevin Crawford, Chris Caldwell, and Donald Hoffman.  Also in attendance were the Council President and Council VP.

Projects Scheduled for 2022

Brookside Renovations are scheduled and include carpet, wallpaper, and furniture. The new elevator generator installation for St. Charles has been completed.  The Bldg. 7 Courtyard Crossing elevator repair will be finish in March. Scheduled to roof replacements for Buildings 8 and 9 (Arborside and Green Tree Court) have been scheduled. Terrace level awning replacements not yet completed will be done this spring and summer. The air conditioning update for Maple Terrace is scheduled for the March/April time frame. The replacement elevator for Charlestown Square may be delayed. Action is underway for the interior signage up-dating project. Piping repairs to the water leakage from the ceiling in the Ladies Boutique is being worked out.

Projects Scheduled for Next Year 2023

Renovations are expected for Herbert’s Run and the Auditorium Stage. A decision on the interim usage of the Refectory space is in process, given that the return of the Refectory to be a dining facility is expected to be three or more years away.

Items of Concern that Need Attention

Renew centerline striping on road near the Chapel. Some of the roadway wood guard rails are in bad condition. An incremental approach for replacement was discussed. Replacement of batteries for alarms in apartments (smoke vs pull cords) is often problematic. It was suggested that this be a Residents’ Council issue since it involves multiple departments. The condition of the Herbert’s Run/ST Charles bridge support foundation was discussed.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday, March 22 at 2:00 pm in the General Services’ Conference Room.

RESIDENT LIFE (Rosemary Eck or Remias, Co-Chairs):  – Rosemary Eck:
At our February 16 meeting, the Resident Life Committee attendees learned the pool hot tub heater has been repaired and is working.

The Archives has been named in honor of Janel Douglass. The naming event occurred on February 15 with Clara Parker and Pat Rudolph officiating. It was covered by Ch. 972.

Residents’ Council members have been gathering your ideas for the utilization of the open spaces in the Historic District (Refectory, CVS, and Store). A final session is being held tomorrow in the Conference Center at 10:00 am.

Along with virtual reality being introduced by Tom Moore and his team at Ch.972, be on the lookout for closed captioning on your tv screens in the future.

Taking our own advice, we asked those in attendance to tell us something about themselves. It is like a magical mystery tour: two ladies had sung in Barbershop Quartets; two others had played the accordion; another has an Eastern European background, and one among us works her farm when she is not at Charlestown.

Our next meeting is on Wednesday, March 16 at 2:00 pm in Brookside 2.

John Remias: The Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging sub-committee met on February 18th and approved our Mission and Vision Statements by unanimous consent. The mission is to enhance the goal of harmonious living by strengthening the bonds of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DIB) in our Charlestown community.

The Vision Statements are:

  • To promote open and shared communication about DIB within the Residents’ Council Handbook guidelines.
  • To acknowledge, respect, and value individual differences of all cultures, attitudes, races, religions, gender identities, sexual orientations, ages, ethnicities, and disabilities.
  • To promote collaborative participation and decision-making within the DIB subcommittee.
  • To foster collaborative relationships between the Residents’ Council DIB Subcommittee and the Charlestown DIB Council.
  • To encourage the use of Mission Moments in support of DIB.
  • To agree to disagree civilly.

The next meeting of the DIB subcommittee will be held on Friday, March 18th at 1:00 in the Conference Center.  The speaker will be Mr. Ian Brown, the Corporate Vice President of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging for Erickson Senior Living Communities.

SAFETY & SECURITY (Justine Parezo, Chair): 
The last meeting was on February 8, 2022. Attending from the Charlestown Security Department were Craig Nelson, Manager and Shawn White, Assistant Manager. Pat Rudolph and Merci attended for the Residents’ Council.

Craig and Shawn told us about the strong focus that they and their staff are putting on parking and vehicular safety. They have removed several unauthorized parked vehicles, freeing up more useable parking spaces for residents.

As the weather warms, they have begun to and will continue to focus more and more frequently on speeding and stop sign violations. They are using radar to track speeding and are physically monitoring stop signs. People who speed or run a stop sign are ticketed, be they staff, residents, family, friends, or resident contractors.

Consequences are significant for both staff and residents. When a staff person is ticketed, the information travels up the supervisory hierarchy, with notification of the first ticket going to their immediate supervisor on up to notification of the fourth ticket going to Clara. Any more than that is followed by termination of driving privileges.

Tickets received by residents, families, friends, and resident contractors are entered into the resident’s account. There is no monetary fine associated with the first two or three tickets, but after that, there are increasingly stiff fines up to the fifth or sixth ticket. The culminating action is that the resident is banned from using a vehicle on campus.

We have received lots of complaints from residents about traffic and parking infractions. These are the actions of a Security Department that has heard your concerns.

The next meeting of the Safety and Security Committee will be Tuesday, March 8, 2022 at 1:00 p.m., Brookside, Classroom 1.

Nominations and Elections (John Yoder, Chair)

The committee continues meeting.  A number of residents who have agreed to run for the council next year. We thank you very much, but we still need more candidates. We thank you, Pat and others for your support.

I want to refer you to the current Sunburst. There you will find two articles in there about the nomination process.  On page two, there is one written by the Council’s Vice President. The other, on page three, was written by Justine Parezo, Chair of the Safety and Security Committee.  Justine’s article is titled, “The Confessions of an Unwitting Residents’ Council Member.”  In it, Justine gives all the reasons why you really ought to run even though you thought you shouldn’t.

Once we have a slate you will be hearing lots more about the candidates and election process.  Please consider running or nominating your neighbors or others you think might be good candidates. Pass those names to m, or to a member of the committee.

The next meeting is on March 8, 2022. The meetings of this committee are only open to members of the Nominations and Elections committee.

WORDS FROM MANAGEMENT (Don Grove): 
Thanks for including me in tonight’s discussion. Clara’s is on vacation this week.

One of the things I want to make sure everybody knows is that I put a big focus on communication. Our focus is making sure we are getting out to hear your concerns and questions. We are making the discussions more conversational.  We gather what we hear and work to get responses and feedback to each concern or question. For example, each dining venue is having dining discussions. Ken and his staff are meeting with residents. I think we are getting listening more effectively, especially when we are able to talk with smaller groups of people.

I appreciate everybody’s emails and make sure we are following up with the requests or questions that come into the office. If you have raised a concern with a department but have not heard back from that department, please alert me. We really want communication to improve.

The Swift Reach communication system has not been ideal. We are replacing that with Alert Media as of April 1. With this new system, we will be able to better communicate with you in the event of emergencies. We will be able to focus the alert through phone and text messages to the building or floor where there is an emergency without the need to alert everyone on campus. We want to make sure that everyone is in the system properly. I will be addressing this new system more in the upcoming weeks.

If you feel like we’re missing the mark somewhere, please send me a note.

Let’s talk about COVID. Continuing Care came off outbreak status today. This means that no residents or staff in Continuing Care have COVID. The last time they came off outbreak status, we lasted for six days. We are trying to do a little better than that this time. There are two resident cases and one employee case in Independent Living.

The Chief Medical Officer for Erickson spoke to all executive directors today. He mentioned there are about 20 resident cases across all of the Erickson campuses.

The County announced water outages which were cancelled and rescheduled. I think the new outage is planned for this Thursday night from 10pm to 5am. So please plan accordingly.

We have another update from General Services regarding the Courtyard Crossing elevator. This has been very frustrating. A part was needed and it has taken over four weeks to get it replaced. We are planning a reception for the residents most affected by the elevator repairs to thank them for their patience and understanding.

There is good news on the Benevolent Care Fund. We received a check for $315,000 from the estate of a former resident. This individual moved out of Charlestown but still left this sizeable donation to the Fund. This is a reminder that the Philanthropy office will assist residents with planned gifts to the Benevolent Care fund.

Dining Services has some announcements. First, fresh fruit will be available for purchase at the Terrace and Shortline Cafés. Second, a Staff Development Manager is being hired. Dining Services has hired a number of servers and other staff and it is important that we do a good job of training all of the staff.

Now it is time for a sales update. We had fifteen settlements for the month of February against a goal of thirteen. Year to date we have had 28 settlements. Our budget was 24 settlements. I hope you saw my article in the March Sunburst. I was focusing on everything we do to sell during the month of March. Any support you can lend to the sales team or anyone you can invite to Charlestown for a discussion is a good thing especially as we approach Spring and are moving out of COVID restrictions.

Comments from Residents and Guests
Pat Rudolph introduced this segment of the Residents’ Council meeting by saying that all questions and responses are being recorded and will be part of the minutes of the meeting posted on My Erickson and CCICharlestown.org. By asking a question or making a comment, the speaker agrees that they accept publication of their comments in print and on the video recording of the meeting.

Sherry Stewart,
My question is about the recent power outage. Is there any additional information?

Don Grove responded saying he did not have the full update at this time. More information will be presented at the upcoming General Services Town Hall.

Frank Moran,
Two questions:
1. Will we have to pay for fresh fruit that is not part of our meal?

Don Grove responded that fresh fruit is for purchase in the Terrace and Shortline Cafés. The fruit cup option is part of the menu service. Expansion of the fresh fruit program is under consideration by Dining Services.

2. As a result of the power outage and the problems some people had navigating stairs without elevators, I have noticed that there has not been an emergency evacuation practice since I moved here in August. What is the procedure for emergency evacuation?

Don Grove responded that Charlestown does conduct Table Drills during which key players on campus review how to handle emergency situations. Charlestown procedures for emergencies are consistent with Risk Management protocols in similar communities. He also noted that during the recent emergency, Security personnel were actively involved to ensure the safety of all residents.

Justine Parezo, Chair of the Safety and Security Committee, commented that the Security Department is aware of residents with mobility challenges. The physicians in the Medical Center give the names of residents with such issues to the Security Department. It is up to a resident who has a disability and mobility issues to notify Security about their need for assistance at the time of an emergency if they do not use the Charlestown Medical Center physicians.

Larry Taylor,
Wanted to thank Don for the information he provided regarding communication efforts.

Bill Fleming,
Made a comment regarding street lights which are illuminated during the day including sunny days.

Don stated that he would check into the situation to learn about the timers and light sensitivity.

Diane Lyons,
Commented that vehicles speed along some of the roadways. She has previously suggested that large lettering of “Slow Down” be painted on the road surfaces. John Remias had a follow-up comment about the use of speed bumps.

Don stated that he did not know the answers to these comments.

The meeting adjourned at 8:09 pm.

Mimi O’Donnell
Secretary