Last Updated on January 2, 2023
THE RECORD OF THE CHARLESTOWN RESIDENTS’ COUNCIL
(web version)
December 6, 2022
Residents’ Council Website: ccicharlestown.org
The Council observed a moment of silence for those who have passed away.
Previously distributed minutes of the November meeting of the Residents’ Council were
approved as presented.
Mission Moments: Each of Us Is Unique
Merci Izquierdo-Whitaker read the following Mission Moment submitted by Phyl Lansing:
One of the joys of living at Charlestown is the wide variety of people you meet. Through varied activities, you will encounter unique personalities. When Covid came to Charlestown many of us were quarantined due to contact tracing even though we did not know who the contact may have been. Fortunately, symptoms were often mild or nonexistent.
David Kramer nominates John Lorenz for a Mission Moment. When David was surprisingly quarantined, this was a major disruption. David is often seen in the Fireside
Lounge, enjoying being around other people. To be confined to his apartment was difficult. John came to the rescue by telephoning David three times a day and delivering his mail. Their relationship had been building in that David often helped John with the Friday night Singalong or with Bingo. But Uncle John’s thoughtfulness during David’s stressful time was a lifesaver.
Commitment to the values of respect and caring, diversity, integrity, friendliness and enthusiasm, responsibility, excellence, and teamwork make Charlestown a great place to live. If you are aware of any of these Mission Moment values in action, please let the Mission Moment Committee know. You can enrich others’ lives by sharing the good news. Send your observations to Phyl Lansing. See contact information in the Resident Directory
Old Business
None
EXECUTIVE TEAM REPORTS
Merci Izquierdo-Whitaker, President
I am always amazed at the generosity of Charlestown residents. Under Charles Dentons term as president of the Residence Council in 2011 to 2012 the council assumed the responsibility for promoting the Staff Appreciation fund and for personally distributing checks to the staff. This change in leadership resulted in a significant growth in contributions. This year, the staff appreciation fund has achieved the highest amount both in percentage of resident participation as well as in funds contributed the highest our kudos to Mimi O’Donnell, chair of the fund- raising campaign and her committee and to Emily Fowler at the philanthropy office who almost single handedly processed all the checks, currency, and credit cards. And as Mimi likes to point out it is the residents who deserve the biggest thanks.
As 2022 ends, let us respect the past, but be open to the future and how we can change this course. There is plenty that you could do that would make our world a better place one day at a time. We can choose to do, and think right, refuse temptations, yearn to be better, repulse negativity, share our talents. Visit the sick, comfort the mourning, and most importantly, be kind to each other. On behalf of the Residents Council, I wish for you the happiest of holy days and holidays and may 2023 be the best year yet. Thank you for your support.
John Remias. Vice President
No Report
Diana Dunaway, Secretary
No report
Mimi O’Donnell, Treasurer
First, I want to thank the residents for their generosity during the Staff Appreciation Fund campaign. Residents contributed over $320,000.
The Council’s account balance at the end of October was 4941.16. No expenses or revenue were recorded during November. The account balance is $4941.16.
The proposed 2022-2023 Budget was approved by the Residents’ Council at the November 1,
2022 meeting.
Steve Harders conducted an audit of the Residents’ Council financial records and congratulated
Ron DeAbreu and the Council for diligent recordkeeping.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Benevolent Care, Carol Kefford (read by Merci Izquierdo-Whitaker)
Good news financially: Funds raised in 2022 versus 2021 as of 10/31:
2022 cash raised = $459,809 2021 = $370,855
2022 TOTAL = $871,006* 2021 = $439,652
*total includes realized planned gifts
Overall, we are up $431,354 over 2021 YTD (up $88,954 in fundraising efforts).
2 new planned gifts this year totaling = $98,600 (not in above total). Spending for Benevolent Care is approximately $1.5M YTD. 21 residents receiving benefits.
John Fahey, a 99-year-old resident who has several DVD’s narrating his experiences over his career – i.e., Behind the Iron Curtain, First in Flight, and other topics, will donate income from sales to Benevolent Care. They will sell for $5. An AD is in December Sunburst and being promoted on 972 as well.
A Planned Giving consultant has been engaged to work with the Philanthropy team to build out
a strategy, help focus groups, develop new marketing materials, etc.
There is still time to make year-end contributions to Benevolent Care Fund either directly or through your IRA.
Sip & Shop was successful, and Philanthropy is grateful for the wonderful efforts of the Community Resources team to create a fun event that helped raise funds for BCF.
Plans for 2023
• Planned Giving Focus
• Updated brochures
• Treasure Sale first week of February (2-4)
• Winter Putterland – Feb 20th – 24th
• Red Leaves for Legacy Tree in honor of 40 years.
• 40th Anniversary – Possible Gala in September (Theme TBD) Committee to work on goals for 2023 at January meeting.
The next meeting will be January 25 at 2:00 pm in CTS 116
Communications, Larry Taylor, Co-Chair
The Communications Committee met by ZOOM, November 28, 2022, with Gregory Johnson representing the Administrative Staff.
• We are waiting for ESL IT Managers to provide residents with a presentation on the issues we are experiencing with the Wi-FiWi-Fi is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for wireless networking and allow nearby devices to exchange data by radio waves. Wireless local area networks (WLAN) are widely used in the world to link laptop computers, tablet co... READ MORE System.
• Final Sunsetting reminder of 3G Cellphones by Verizon in December.
• Residents should include their photo in the MyErickson Resident Directory.
• Sunburst distribution Improvements were discussed with Gregory Johnson.
• High -Definition upgrade: HD Fiber/cabling/hardware are in the process of being installed (Chapel, etc.) allowing for operation of Digital Closed Captioning.
• The Committee plans to provide Hybrid In-person/ZOOM meetings next year.
• Webmaster Hope Tillman provided a review of Communications related Website topics discussed in the Website Meeting.
• Computer devices recycling will taking place on the 14th. starting at 10 to 1 at Charles Square.
• MyErickson will be upgrading their website starting on the 17th. to 18th. This is basically an update to their logon processes.
Next Communications Committee meeting will be January 23, 2022, via Zoom, Preceded by the Website Subcommittee Zoom Meeting @ 1 PM
Conservation, Mark Buehlman Chair
During our November meeting we covered a range of topics.
The Invasive Plants Crew provided us an overview of what they do. They work to get vines off trees, cut down garlic mustard to keep it in check, trim some shrubs, and take out saplings that if left, would lead to overgrowth. They work in different areas each Saturday and can always use additional hands.
Headed by Marty Tewksbury, the Recycling/Reuse group is now a standing subcommittee. They updated us on the recycling support provided during the recent Treasure Sale. Education of the Community in recycling and reuse is important, and we hope to offer a Fall 2023 ELLIC Class on Sustainability and Recycling at Charlestown, with a follow-up tour of the Baltimore County Recycling Facility.
Sustainability is important to many of us, and the theme for the upcoming Resident Advisory Council Annual Regional Retreat is “Empowering Erickson Residents to Shape the Future of the Planet and their Communities.” We will be presenting at this meeting and moderating the morning panel discussion on sustainability.
Erosion control is an ongoing priority. As we mentioned last month, we are well underway on an Engineering Study of water problems and erosion on the Nature Trail, and plan to submit the report to management soon. Courtney Baker, the new Grounds Supervisor, will be at our January meeting to discuss both erosion control issues and opportunities to embrace more sustainable horticulture practices.
Our next meeting is Tuesday, January 17, 2023, at 2:00 pm in BR1. Everyone is welcome.
Dining Services, Mary Lee Seaman (written report provided by Mary Lee Seaman Dining Services Committee met on Monday, November 21, 2022, with Director of Dining Services, Ken Zahn. Ken gave updates on the following:
Leadership Transitions: There will be six leadership transitions in early December. John Christensen promoted to General Manager at the Atrium. Datwaun Raikes, from Chesapeake/Shortline to the Terrace, Alex Williams from the Terrace to Chesapeake/Shortline, Carolyn Rushizky from Chesapeake/Shortline to the Terrace, Selasi Klufio from the Terrace to Chesapeake/Shortline, John Stevens from Fireside to Terrace, and Patrick Raghoo from the Terrace to Fireside.
Terrace Café: Ken and JB have not been happy with the way services has been going. In the process of changing procedure for placing orders. Coming soon, residents will be able to walk up and order Home Style offering as we did in the past. There will be two staff taking orders, one for the Grill and one for the Deli/Pizza station. There is a cash stand issue but should be resolved by using tablets.
Purpose of Subcommittees: Ken has challenged his team to meet with the chairs of restaurant subcommittees prior to the chats. He encouraged members to ask residents what they want.
Robot Pilot Project Update: There will be an additional robot delivered to the Fireside for phase two of project. Pilot project to continue for another six weeks.
Menu Migration: Dining Services has worked through phase one. Migrating to the Cloud in January.
Tablets: Seventeen tablets have had new batteries installed. Ken is working with corporate IT on scanner issues and is refocusing servers on use of tablets.
Employee Engagement Results: Participation was the best ever and results better than seen in a long time.
Resident Communication Strategy 2023: Dining Services is revamping communications for 2023 as follows: Dining Services Town Hall meetings will be every other month, the restaurant “chats” will now be called Open House and will be held on the other month. The Chef Table dinners will be coming back once a quarter. The Chef’s Table dinner cost is Meal of the Day plus a monetary fee.
Ken is still looking in to whether residents will be able to use Meal of the Day in the Abbey. They should be able to charge Abbey purchases to their accounts.
Concerns were mentioned that Corporate is “dictating” the menus. Ken assured us that they
are not.
The Dining Services Committee will not meet in December. Our next meeting is Monday, January 16, 2023, at 1:30 p.m. in CTS 116.
Finance Committee, John Yoder, Chair (Report read by John Remias)
The Finance Committee met on November 29, 2022, The monthly financial performance reports were reviewed; selected highlights were noted as follows:
• Billed occupancy rate, YTD, for IL and CC, are 92.6 and 93.8 respectively. Month over month occupancy has been increasing slightly but consistently since the beginning of the year. Both IL and CC occupancy are at or slightly above budget.
• Actual settlements, YTD, are 14 units above budget. Actual releases are 133 compared to a budget of 134.
• There were 21 residents receiving Benevolent Care as of September 30, 2022 compared to 25 as of June 30, 2022.
Invited guest Paulette Tansill reviewed highlights from the Human Resources department that interface with finances. The Charlestown workforce, at present, numbers 976 (headcount) with an FTE (Full Time Equivalent) of 682; vacancies, as of 11/23/22 = 6.7%.
The next meeting of the Finance Committee will be on January 31 at 9:00 am. in Brookside 1
Grounds Committee, Mike Rose, Chair
No Report
The next meeting of the Grounds Committee will be on February 28 at 11:00 am. in Brookside 1
Health Services, Jean Tribulski, Co-Chair
The Health Services Committee met on November 8, 2022, at 11:00 am in BR2.
DR. Pelczar sent a written report that the influenza rate in the mid-Atlantic region and Maryland is extremely high. He advised that if you have not had an influenza shot, get one as soon as possible. If you contract the flu, Tamiflu is recommended.
Three additional medications take back days are scheduled for 2023 the first being January 23. Please read the article scheduled for the January Sunburst to re-familiarize yourself with what can or cannot be brought to the disposal sites.
The next meeting will be on January 10, 2023, at 11:00 am in classroom BR1
Housekeeping, Sebastian Petix, Chair
Committee met on November 21, 2022. Michelle Fenn housekeeping manager was present. Areas of concern included: Parkview 4th floor, Chapel floor, outside Terrace restaurant area, contractor debris surrounding apartment renovations including adjacent elevators.
Michelle Fenn suggested various staff members to call regarding issues raised. As of meeting date there were10 housekeepers out on leave and two open positions. Problems observed on weekends should be reported to front desks nothing that there are only 2 staff available to respond.
Theme for Sunburst article in February will be, “See Something-Say something” encouraging all residents to report housekeeping issues via email to CCIWORKORDERS@Erickson.com.
Next in person meeting will be on 1/16/2023 at 10AM in BR classroom #1.
Legislative/Political, Pat Payne, Chair
The Legislative/Political Committee last met on November 9th, the day after the mid-term elections. The first part of the meeting, as Wendel Thompson noted is his meeting minutes, was “an interesting time as 17 personal stories were heard” describing members’ various reactions to the events of November 8th. You will note that tonight is once again an election night as we await the election returns from the State of Georgia.
As you know, the 2022 mid-terms will bring major changes in the elected officials who govern the State of Maryland. One of the jobs of this Committee is to maintain an up-to-date listing of all our elected officials. This is a task we will complete by January 2023 as our newly elected Governor, Attorney General, Comptroller, Legislative Delegation and County Council representative are sworn in.
The Committee wants to make sure that you get to know the elected officials who are serving you at the local level, including your newly elected State Senator, Charles E. Sydnor, newly elected County Council District 1 representative, Pat Young, and your House of Delegates Member, Eric Ebersole. We are currently rescheduling a “Meet and Greet” for these elected officials during the 1st week in January.
The Maryland General Assembly convenes for its 445th session on January 11, 2023. This year we are looking forward to being able to go to Annapolis during the Session.
At our next meeting, Tammy Bresnahan, a representative of the Maryland AARP will be present to talk about AARP’s legislative agenda. Tammy is also on Governor Elect Moore’s transition team!
At this meeting, there will also be a report from the sub-committee exploring ranked choice voting in Maryland. This group will be holding a Zoom call with the Delegate from Montgomery County who introduced legislation during the 2022 Session enabling the Montgomery County Council to adopt, by law, a ranked choice voting method for certain of their local offices.
The next meeting of the Legislative/Political Committee is scheduled for January 11th at 10:00 am at Brookside Classroom 1.
Maintenance/Engineering, Gordon Piche’
Our committee met on Tuesday, November 22nd at 2pm, in the General Services’ Conference Room with General Services’ Kevin Crawford and Chris Caldwell. Also in attendance was the Council Vice President.
PROJECTS SCHEDULED FOR 2022: Brookside Renovations are going well with completion by the end of the year. Action continues on the interior signage updating project. Alternative interim usage of the Refectory space continues; the return of a dining facility in the area is expected to be about 2 to 3 years away. Some A/C bridge units are still not working correctly and continue to be worked on by General Services. Caton Ridge building renovations are going well and will be completed early 2023.
PROJECTS SCHEDULED FOR NEXT YEAR 2023:The replacement elevators for Charlestown Square and Chapel Court are delayed. Renovations are planned for Herbert’s Run but not expected for the Auditorium Stage. Roof replacements for Buildings 8 (Arborside) and 9 (Green Tree Court) are scheduled.
ITEMS OF CONCERN THAT NEED ATTENDTION AND NEW ISSUES: Some of the roadway wood
guard rails are in bad condition – an incremental approach for replacement is moving forward. Additional lighting for the crosswalk at the East end of Brookside is moving forward, as recent photos clearly show the issue. Recommendation to build a covered walkway from Bldg1 Medical Center entrance to the parking lot is still under consideration and will be included in the historic neighborhood studies. The gutter downspout problem remains at The ST. Charles. The original Charlestown buildings are experiencing window and exterior door operational issues and need repair; replacement is available on a case by case as needed basis; residents should contact General Services. A flow meter test for the HVAC auto shutdown of the water system did not go well and now an alternate is being considered. Campus sidewalk tripping
hazards have reappeared and will be addressed. Let me end by pointing out that the signage at
the Maple Terrace Dental Suite entrance corridor says “Game Room” when it should say
“Physical Therapy/Outpatient Rehab.”
Next scheduled mtg January 24, 2023, at 2pm in the General Services Conference Room
Resident Life, Peg Buehlman, Committee Co-Chair
I updated the committee on the status of the Short Line Trail access. Catonsville Rail to Trails and some Charlestown residents are in the process of formulating a NO COST feasibility study. The study is in process and will take some time. I compiled the Committees thoughts & concerns about the access and have shared them with administration. I will continue to update the committee as information becomes available.
Mary Evans from Community Resources shared that Charlestown is partnering with the Marine Toys for Tots Program. The Wood Shop is making toys for the program that began 11/28-and will end this Friday the 8th. Residents are welcome to donate. You can contact Community Resources for locations throughout the campus.
Birthday Angels Group will be giving birthday ribbons with a Rosette that can be worn on your clothes instead of balloons. The Birthday Cards this year will have the Charlestown 40th Anniversary logo printed on them.
The Committee discussed potential topics they would like Joe and I to look into for future meetings. Some suggestions included: Charlestown transportation to include potential tracking monitors at reception desks for residents that do not have smart phones, Baltimore County ride program, deer population concerns and continuing care information.
Robin Clay and Andrea Lanasa, Resident Services Coordinators explained their role and how they are here to support us when we have concerns, advise us of available resources & assist us with the transition to Charlestown and life’s changes. There are 3 coordinators, and each are assigned to different buildings throughout the campus.
Violet Johnson, Intermissions Program Coordinator explained how a structured social day program provides respite services to family members and caregivers.
I updated DIB for John Remias-As many of you know, the DIB Tapestry event began today. We had over 60 residents join us in lively small group discussions and expect close to 80 attendees tomorrow. What a great way to get to know each other better. Our next DIB event dealing with disabilities is now scheduled for February. Stay tuned.
The Committee agreed not to meet in December. The next Resident Life Meeting is Wednesday January 18, 2 pm in Brookside Classroom 2
Safety and Security, Justine Parezo, Chair
No report.
The next Safety and Security Meeting is January 10, 1 pm in Brookside Classroom 1
COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS FROM RESIDENTS AND GUESTS
Merci Izquierdo-Whitaker 37:19
Our guest tonight is Patrick Kincius, Assistant Rehab Manager. He is here to explain a new policy implementation for Rehabilitation
Patrick Kincius
I am here to talk to you about a cancellation policy that will be implementing in the rehabilitation gym. I want to explain why we are implementing this policy and answer any questions or concerns you might have.
Over the past year we have a lot of residents no showing or calling an hour or so before their appointment to cancel. We understand that life events happen and being able to go to appointment at times can be difficult. However, it’s really hurting our ability to provide quality care to residents and get people in. Over the past five months, we’ve had 245 instances of no show. That is about 8.8% per month. As we are only open Monday through Friday, that represents about two cancellations per day.
We have three or four therapists working every day. Cancellations can keep them from provide the treatment they need to do and there is a cost to that. When there is a cancellation, Medicare pays for only for the no show charge, but not for the therapist. We still have to pay the therapist. But the real cost is to the quality of care. Your doctor prescribed the therapy.
When there are no shows and cancellations, we aren’t able to follow that doctor prescribed order and the effectiveness and results of what we’re able to provide for you is limited. In addition, this is a large community and there are a lot of people we are trying to see. When we can’t reschedule the time, people waiting can’t get the treatment they need.
Our goal with the cancellation policy, is not to make money but to reduce the cancellation percentage. Cancellation of a scheduled appointment must happen 24 hours before your appointment. Our current policy is that we will give you a reminder call 24 hours prior to your appointment. If you cancel, then we can reschedule someone else. If you don’t cancel and are a no-show there will be $50 charge for the cancellation that will be added to your monthly Charlestown bill. We understand that there are going to be emergency cancellations that will
be handled on a case-by-case basis. The new policy starts the first of the year. Are there any questions?
Sebastian Petix
Are you strictly reminding people by phone?
Patrick Kincius
Yes, currently that is our only way to do so. We don’t have any technology So either we call and are able to talk to you or we leave a message. if you have a voicemail set up.
Sebastian Petix
Is it possible to do 48 hours and then 24 hours is that too much?
Patrick Kincius
Yes, it’s too much. We have three or four therapists seeing between nine to 10 people each day. That’s 30 to 40 phone reminder calls a day that the Tech has to do.
Sebastian Petix 44:44
and you don’t have the technology to automatically call.
Patrick Kincius
Our hope is to get that but right now we are working with what we have.
Veronica Coleman
I know that some people cancel because of mobility or pain is there any way that those people can get escorted?
Patrick Kincius
This would have to be done on a case-by-case basis. One thing we’ve talked about is a volunteer program. I know before COVID They had volunteers come by and pick up the residents that weren’t able to get there their appointment.
Merci Izquierdo-Whitaker 46:19
When patients don’t show up it just hurts everybody else. Thank you, Patrick. Appreciate it. Our next guests are Chandra Kumar and Don Groves
Don Groves
One of the things I wanted to do is give a mission moment sort of appreciation to the Resident’s Council for their partnership.
We have a magnet coming out with key phone numbers for Charlestown such as numbers for emergencies, front desks, the medical center, and the finance office. They will be available to all current residents, and we’ll start giving them to new residents as they move in. The magnets will be available the year.
Along the same line, I know the Safety and Security committee proposed a magnet related to fire safety or getting more information out there related to fire safety. I ask them if we could hold a little bit on that because our corporate team members have been working on a campaign associated with fire safety that we expect to come out at the start of the year for all the communities, I want to make sure that everything is in sync as to how we promote that so we will partner with them soon.
Another partnership opportunity is Diversity Inclusion and Belonging (DIB). The idea was introduced of going forward with a committee of residents and employees. When that idea was first launched, we were concerned that we might get a lot of residents interested but will not get too many employees because they get caught up in the work of the day and finding time.
But we did have a good amount of interest in that committee so we are going to meet and get that rolling the first of the year. We are excited about that partnership.
And then the Housekeeping Committee presentation tonight about “If you see something, say something” report the issue through CCIWorkOrders@erickson.com. You will see me around campus taking pictures. What I’m doing is sending the CCI work orders with a note. That is the easiest way into general services so there’s follow up. The more of us doing that, the better. it’s good to see that being promoted here tonight.
Chandra Kumar
I’m going to talk about what we’ve been talking about for three years, COVID. Monday, we went on TV to report that we had about 25 cases at that point across the community. We have seen a bit of a spike. We are 29 residents in Independent Living and six in continuing care. We also have 10 employees, nine in independent living and one in continuing care that are out with COVID.
You received a letter talking about the tracing process in general that states we’re getting away from that. However, I want to emphasize that our Infection Preventionist will still make calls to individuals who test positive to see if there’s any other household contact or if there is a broad spectrum of contact that could have occurred. We know that COVID is here to stay, not so dissimilar from the flu or any other kind of virus. Fortunately, we have come from this mutation
being really, really scary to still being scared but not to the same extent. We had high participation in both the vaccinations and the boosters that we administer for residents and staff. That was the thought process behind contact tracing starting to go away. What we will ask is sort of on the honor system to make sure you stay in your apartments and self- quarantine.
Covid is something that is not going to go away. This is something that more and more individuals test themselves rather than worrying about somebody else testing us. You can still contact the medical center when you’re not feeling well and please let the medical center know if you test positive. I know we’ve had some large-scale functions and Thanksgiving, so we did anticipate a spike. After any holiday we typically see a spike, which mean right after Christmas we’ll see another spike.
In continuing care, protocols are pretty much the same right now and will remain unless there’s some change in both our jurisdiction and the Baltimore area. And if there’s any changes in our continuing care, then the expectation there would change. The main thing is to stay safe.
Some key positions that I wanted to talk about: We have filled the clinical manager role in home health named Shannon Scranton. We have also hired another assistant director of nursing named Sheila Tate. If you see John Christianson, please congratulate him. He is going to be our new general manager at the Atrium. He has been pitch hitting in that role for several months now so I think this is a well-deserved promotion for him.
I want to thank the committee for your leadership in raising $320,000 for the Employee Appreciation fund and thank our residents for 74% participation. You know it has a huge impact that is felt by all our staff.
As requested by residents, we are going to put a screen, like a TV screen, in each clubhouse to show where the shuttle is going. There will be seven of them.
Don Groves
Next, I want to talk about what we are doing on capital improvement projects.
• The transportation knoll project, the area behind Herbert Run where we keep the shuttles and do recycling is being completely updated.
• The Brookside project still has more to do. They are doing corner guards and some touch ups. You will see some baseboard at some areas that have to be redone or replaced. I did a walk through, as requests by residents, to looking at the artwork. We noticed some shortcomings where there could be additional art and some pieces that weren’t the right fit. There are some changes coming. We have ordered some additional packages. That project is nearing completion but it’s still going to need furniture. We’re hearing January for that furniture to arrive for Brookside.
• We are taking bids to do Herbert’s run. All the upper floors will be done. We hope to get that going in quarter one of next year.
• Later in the year, we will be working on the St. Charles to do those hallways.
The historic project and where that stands.
• Work with the architects. I’m kind of excited about what I’m seeing as far as the architects and we’re anxious to bring it forward to share with you. We have to get approvals from the board and with the funding all planned out and those types of things are coming together.
• One of the things I was pleased about is the list of things residents asked for. It’s amazing to see they’re checking them off one by one. For examples sit down dining is in the works. It might not be in the refectory space that we used to have. The current plan that’s kind of the leading plan has the terrace being completely redesigned to become a sit-down restaurant.
• In addition, we want to second dining or additional dining options. And so in that model where we now have the Abbey, we would have cafe that would serve breakfast and lunch.
• The Refectory is very important to us. Plans for a multipurpose venue are being developed
• Outdoor space is an absolute priority. We are looking at adding another door to give closer access to the shuttles
• We are looking to other outdoor space such as raised gardens. finding pickleball locations on campus, a second bocce ball court, and a meditation labyrinth. So we’re trying to figure out where we can put some of these things
We’re looking forward to getting to the point where we can do some roadshow to show you what we are looking at. Hopefully that’s going to happen early in the new year.
The only other update I have to share is a reminder about my Erickson update that’s occurring tomorrow night and I just get word that there is a phone and Wi Fi upgrade happening on December 13 at 11:30 pm. There will be a brief outage.
Chandra Kumar, I have a request before we take questions. My request to you is to look at meeting during the work hours during the winter months coming. That way we could have more participation from our leaders and more participation from our residents.
Merci Izquierdo-Whitaker
The issue of a meeting during the day was turned down. We’re still working on it because there are a lot of other activities that council members participate in, but we’ll talk about it again.
Resident’s question
I am a new resident. I have lived in the area quite a while. Is corporate talking to the county about getting Maiden Choice Lane repaved?
Chandra Kumar
I think the Council has had more success than we have to get them to listen through the
resident’s voice. A council member could talk a little bit about this
Pat Payne
Okay. It is a work in progress clearly. And there’s been a great deal of difficulty working with the Department of Public Works of Baltimore County on the addition of the water line. Things have not gone well. A lot of the work had to be redone. There has been considerable difficulty with the contract. Bill Miller says he’s almost become the psychiatrist for the Department of Public Works person who is in charge of this contract because of the complexity and difficulty of it. I will ask Bill to give you a call and give you an update on where we are without help.
Ken Parezo
There was a sewage plugins issue here some months ago. I talked to the guy who runs maintenance here. Kevin Crawford. Is there a go to person in Baltimore County for Charlestown to call and get answers? I mean, this guy was really frustrated. getting any response out of these folks.
Pat Payne
I think we ought to bring Pat Young, your county council representative in who wants to have his role as working with people who need to get departments of county government to work for them. We are going to have Pat Young here at a meet and greet. I can actually talk to him about this. We’ll try to follow up. This has been a continuing issue for two years and it is really a difficult, disastrous kind of contract
Michael Rose
Before they finished Brookside are they going to put up little corner guards?
Chandra Kumar
Yes sir.
Michael Rose
I know we have quick tests for COVID. Are they available in our pharmacy if we need them?
Chandra Kumar
CVS has COVID kits. if you have an insurance card, they will give you four a month, as far as I was told
Resident
I do not know what the advantage program does, but if you have regular Medicare, you’re entitled to eight single kits per month. I got them, not from our CVS but another CVS. So, you can stay well supplied with them
Pat Payne
Erickson advantage does not cover it. They do.
John Remias
When you go there, give them a Medicare card or they know your credit card. They use that number.
Resident
A Resident Asked a technical question about the work being done on Caton Ridge
Don Groves
Don said he could not answer the technical question but that he did know the project is installing piers underneath the building. In recent weeks They ran into some things they cannot get through. We had hoped it would be done first quarter of next year but It’s going to go a little bit longer.
Merci Izquierdo-Whitaker 1:13:20
Thank you very much if there are no other business, I’ll adjourn the meeting. President Merci Izquierdo-Whitaker adjourned the meeting at 8:13p.m.
Respectfully submitted, Diana Dunaway
Residents’ Council Secretary