President John Remias called the regular meeting of the Residents’ Council [the Council] to order at 3:02 pm on Tuesday May 7, 2024. 89 people were in attendance including association members; Residents’ Council members minus two; Patti Santoni, Philanthropy Director; Gladstone James, Finance Director; Don Grove, Executive Director; Ken Zahn, Dining Services Director: Jayson Spivey, General Services Director; Karen Leighton, Resident Life Director, and Resident Board of Directors members Pat Kasuda and Stephen Schimpff.

Moment of Silence

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

Previously distributed minutes of the April 2 meeting of the Residents’ Council meeting were approved as presented.

 

Mission Moment

On February 28, Elaine Breslaw fell while walking down the corridor outside the Cross Creek Creative Arts Studio. The members of the Wednesday Line Dance class, who were practicing in the studio, immediately stopped their class and came to help Elaine. In Elaine’s words “They helped me to a chair. They rushed to stop my bleeding finger, went to find some ice, and someone also called Security.” The Security officer that bandaged Elaine’s finger said she would need stitches. Since our Medical Center does not do stitches, she was advised that she needed to go to the hospital or an urgent care center.

Continuing Elaine’s story, “one of the women (later identified as Norma Snow-Goldberg) offered to take me to an urgent care center and went to get her car. Another woman found a wheelchair and wheeled me to the car. Norma then sat in the urgent care center with me until my son arrived to relieve her.”

The ladies that we can identify as ‘Elaine’s helpers’ include Sherry Stewart, Diane Sullivan, Moffett Churn, Margaret Eng, Katherine Selig, MaDonna Yoder, and Norma Snow-Goldberg. We apologize if we missed anyone.

Elaine concludes “They are genuinely great examples of the Charlestown lifestyle: helpful, warm, compassionate, friendly, and willing to help at a moment’s notice. We are a community who cares and can be depended on to support each other. Thank you all!

 

Executive Team Reports

John Remias, President

A couple of months ago I talked about various issues facing us as a Council FAMILY.

Today, I would like to share some of my feelings about the loss of our dear friend and Council colleague this past Thursday, Pat Rudolph.

It is always hard to lose a friend to death, but when it happens so suddenly and totally unexpectedly, it seems to be doubly hard.

Pat was a humble, kind, always helpful woman that just seemed to generate people’s respect.

As a Council Past President, she was a mentor to me on multiple occasions. I was ready to ask her for some advice on a matter that I am facing in my role as President, but I waited too long. My loss and it hurts. I previously asked her to chair a Council committee to update our Policies and Procedures. She accepted without hesitation and led the committee to a successful conclusion.

As we know, she was also a woman of great faith. President of the Charlestown Parish Council. She got a master’s degree in theology. She lived her faith quietly, but evidently. Someone said, “Another Angel comes home”. Right, but why now?

Pat always attended our Council meetings. She sat in a seat right here in the front row, which today we have saved for her with a black ribbon.

Tomorrow, there will be a visitation at 11:00 and her funeral service at Noon, both in our Chapel.

REST IN PEACE, DEAR PAT!!

Diana Dunaway, Treasurer

Treasurer’s Report – May 2024

Balance – March31, 2024                   $7,336.51

Expenses                                             $   285.76

Balance – April 30, 2024,                    $7,050.75

 

April 2024 Expenses Details

President                                             $  72.60 – Printer ink

Legislative/Political                             $165.00 – MaCCRA Bus Trip to Annapolis

Health Services                                   $  10.58 – Kitty Litter

Resident Life                                       $  37.58 – Buttons for Ageism/Ableism

Respectfully Submitted

Diana Dunaway, Treasurer

 

Committee Reports

Benevolent Care, Carol Kefford

The committee met on the 24th of April. Patti Santoni reported that the fund (checking account} has a balance of $289,854 and there is a Foundation balance of $5.3 million as of 3/31/24. She reminded us of the upcoming May Treasure Sale. (Which I am happy to report netted $42,000.

 

We talked about ideas for Benevolent Care Month in September. Patti distributed copies of the new brochure “Leave Your Legacy at Charlestown” and we reviewed it.

 

The Benevolent Care Fund Committee has been holding “Get the Scoop,” peer to peer discussions on ways to leave a Legacy. The next session is Monday May 13,  at 1pm in the Black Swan. Please join us for ice cream sundaes and information.

 

If you are interested in working with us, please contact me or come to one of our meetings.

 

 

Communications, David Elder and Larry Taylor, Co-chairs

Kimberly Mitchel updates to ongoing Xfinity/Comcast issues. Kimberly will check with Gregory.

• Promoting & assisting Charlestown Residents in updating their Photos on the MyErickson Resident Directory & providing correct email addresses.

This has taken on added importance as the Photo Book project is not moving forward.

• Dining Services Discussions with Dining Managers confirm lack of progress in repair/replacement of tablets. [Discussed with Don Grove & Ken Zahn @ Town Hall Meeting]
• CCI-Communications@googlegroups.com Communications Committee Email List.

This provides an open, on-line channel of communication between residents.

• Charlestown Campus Indoor Map Update Completed.
• Ways to help new residents navigate Charlestown. One thought brought up to the Resident Life Committee was the use of the shuttle to host new residents on a trip to see the route to St. Agnes, to Giant & Weis, and to Advanced Radiology, as well as a separate tour around the campus on a campus showing the shuttle stops.

Administration & Transportation have approved this as a combined tour to be held every other month.

• Record Retention for Committee Minutes. Ongoing meetings with Nancy Meier to determine available resources.
• Scheduling and Future Meeting Plans — The team discussed the scheduling for their May meeting, to meet on Friday May 24^th.
• Budget Item Request: John Remias requested that we ask you [as individual residents] for suggestions for budget items. Format to be Title, Current Situation, Recommendation.
• Our next Communications Committee ZOOM Meeting will be on FRIDAY MAY 24th@ 2:00 PM, Preceded by the Website Subcommittee ZOOM Meeting @ 1 PM.

 

 

Conservation, Mark Buehlman

Good afternoon, my name is Mark Buehlman, and I am Chair of the Conservation Committee.

We began our April meeting with an update from our Recycling/Reuse Sub-Committee. While there are occasional problems, well over 90% of the resident recycling is being done correctly. A question came up at the recent Town Hall on the recycling of a couple specific items, bottle caps and light bulbs. Marty Tewksbury will discuss the recycling of these, and other problematic items in an upcoming Sunburst article.

We discussed the recently released report from the Sustainable Dining Working Team. One of the highlights is that Charlestown is beginning the process of composting the kitchen scraps. Staff education and site surveys are occurring, and the program will be introduced to the community at upcoming Dining Town Hall meetings.

With all the reports from the Sustainability Working Teams now complete, we discussed those recommendations that might not be picked up by others Committee. In our upcoming meeting we will prioritize those items and decide how to best work on implementation with the Administration.

Our next meeting will be Tuesday, May 21, 2024, at 2:00pm in Brookside Classroom 1. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend.

 

 

Dining, Catherine Stevens and Stephanie Leddy, Co-Chairs

• The Dietary Focus Group is meeting with our Dietician to ensure more, or consistent non-starchy vegetables are on the menu.
• Beginning May 19, Sunday brunch will be a buffet service. Residents will still be able to order eggs and omelets from the kitchen, but other items will be served on the buffet line. Ken Zahn says that there will be enough staff to ensure aid to those on walkers, rollaters and wheelchairs.
• As already presented by Mark, restaurants are gearing up to compost their food waste
• Restaurant reports :
  • Atrium – servers have received particularly good remarks. Chef Mary and Sous chef Daniel are very much welcome to the restaurant. Residents mourn the absence of smoked salmon from Sunday brunch
  • Chesapeake/Short line – months addition of Sous Chef’s special began last week. Playing protein first and then vegetables has resulted in residents getting warm/hot vegetables.
  • Fireside – excellent marks for servers who actually knew the ingredients of the sauces and which spices were on what foods. Residents lamented that shrimp were difficult to remove from skewers.
  • Terrace – Concerns were raised about having to get in one line to get soup and then another line to get entree. Also, there were difficulties in getting enough protein.

 

 

Finance, John Yoder

• The Committee reported that they had recorded a minute expressing their appreciation and thanks to Gladstone James for his excellent work with the Finance Committee. They wished him well in his new position.
• For the year, operating revenue (operating income minus operating expenses) was $79 thousand under budget, due mainly to higher operating expenses a good share of which were attributable to higher than anticipated costs for wages and contract labor. (But for context, this must be seen against an overall revenue budget of more than $8.5 million.)
• Billed occupancies:
  94. Independent Living: March = 94.8%
  95. Assisted Living: March = 97.9%
• Settlements 2 above budget; releases were also above budget
• Seventeen residents were receiving Benevolent Care funds at the end of March: YTD expense = $352,035
• CapEx requests received to date have been forwarded to the Administration with the suggestion that the highest priority be given this year to the sustainability initiatives reported from the Working Groups. A more structured process for inputs will be developed for next year.
• Next meeting of the Finance Committee will be on May 28, 2024, in Brookside classroom #1.

 

 

Grounds, Dick Voelkel Chair. Report given by John Remias

Hello, I am filling in for Dick Voelkel, chair of our Grounds committee since he and his wife are on a European cruise as we speak.

As you can see, Garlic Mustard season has begun. As Dick said at the meeting, if you see it, pull it, and take some home for your salad. I am only reading what he said. Apparently, our excellent Invasive Plants Crew has been on it and has eradicated much of it.

The overall improvements to the Nature Trail are still being delayed pending the receipt of some required paperwork from the Contractor. This work, on the trail, will be done in conjunction with the repair of the Herberts Run to St. Charles link footing erosion problem. No danger here, just a problem prevention project. Among other things, the little bridge on the trail will be moved about 15 feet. Use of crusher rock is being considered to fill in muddy areas, along with much other work to make it a much more friendly trail for walking. It was suggested that some funds from the Nature Trail club could be used to offset some of the expenses.

There are some current problems on the trail that Courtney, our Grounds supervisor, plans to work on.

This next item is one that we talk about every month, but hopefully are getting closer to getting done. As the slide says, the Lake hydro raking is now hoped to be completed in the next few months. As we have said before, there are VERY FEW companies that do this work, and it has been hard to pin down a date from our selected firm. It has been suggested that the muck that will be removed should be tested to see where it might be able to be used around the campus.

As we all know, the new guardrails on Erickson Way are almost complete. They look great. Job well done.

A couple of months ago, at the request of the Finance committee, we asked the various committee members, of all our committees, for their OWN individual suggestions for Capital Expense projects. Many have come in and Dick has shared a number of them from the Grounds committee members with the Finance committee.

 

Health Services, Jean Tribulski and Connie Cooney, Co-Chairs

The Medication Take Back was held on Monday April 22 from 1-3 pm at the Cross Creek and Fireside lobbies. A fair number of expired and unused drugs were received. Please be advised that only prescription drugs that are out of their bottles and in a plastic bag are to be accepted. Different tablets/pills can be combined in the same plastic bag. Over the counter drugs may be placed in your apartment trash along with the plastic med bottles. Please cross out your name and prescription number on the bottles before throwing them in the trash.

Our speaker Steve Ellis, Head of the Maryland Ombudsman program had to cancel for our April 9^th meeting but has rescheduled for our June meeting.

Residents are reminded to keep hydrated during the approaching hot weather. Our next meeting is Tues. May 14 at 11 am in BR 1. Any resident is welcome to attend.

 

 

Housekeeping, Sebastian Petix

No report provided

 

 

Legislative/Political, Paulette Hammond and Art Johnson, Co-Chairs

• The committee discussed rationale for interviewing general election candidates rather than primary candidates, as has been done in the past.
• The committee affirmed it wants to bring our legislators to Charlestown for a “meet and greet’ to discuss recent legislative session.
• The committee briefly discussed the status of bills that passed by the legislators and need to be signed by the Governor.
• John Remias requested suggestions for capital projects that the Residents’ Council could include as its input to the Charlestown budget for next year.

 

Next meeting will be held Wednesday, May 8, in Brookside #1 at 10 a.m.

Maintenance and Engineering, Jerry Donaldson

The first order of business at our last meeting was a briefing by Mr. Jason Spivey, Director of General Services. Mr. Spivey briefed the Maintenance and Engineering Committee on the status of the evaluation of the A.J. Adams report. His presentation included the results of a meeting held on April 19, 2024.This meeting was attended by Administration representatives as well as representatives from the Residents’ Council, the Maintenance and Engineering Committee and technically qualified residents. The goal of this meeting was to jointly develop a set of prioritized recommendations that the Administration would use as their baseline for proceeding with long-term solutions to the Water Intrusion issues. Mr. Spivey will be presenting more details on these recommendations a little later in today’s program so I will defer to Mr. Spivey and let him present the details.

Under Old Business, there are still five (5) open Action Items. With respect to these Action Items, General Services reported that the Caton Ridge Renovations are proceeding and are on schedule to have all tasks completed by the end of August. The replacement of the Elevator in Chapel Court has been approved but is currently waiting for parts that are on order. A completion date will be generated following receipt of these parts.

The replacement of the wooden guardrails is proceeding with an estimated completion date of mid-May.

The Baltimore County permits for the repair of the St. Charles to Herbert’s Run bridge support erosion and for moving the bridge on the Nature Trail have been approved. General Services is currently in the process of scheduling these projects.

With respect to New Business, the Signage Sub-Committee met on April 15, 2024. The discussion was primarily focused on the Arborside and Greentree Court buildings. The signage requirements for these buildings will be finalized and then submitted to Gable Signs for a proposal. Signs for the Terrace area and Arborside corner have been revised and an order was submitted to Gable Signs.

General Services reported that the installation of the railing along the sidewalk in front of the Courtyard Crossing entrance has been approved and the railing has been received. The funds are available and General Services is in the process of scheduling this project.

During the discussion of New Business, General Services agreed to review all of the dryer units in the public area laundry rooms during the next two to three weeks to determine the number of defective units. They will then place an order for the number of dryer units required. Funds are available to accomplish this task

A number of residents have mentioned the issue of “squeaky bridge floors” with respect to the integrity of the bridge. General Services pointed out that the bridges are inspected regularly and that there no structural concerns with any of the bridges .The “squeaky” sound you hear when you walk across the bridge is due to the construction techniques used to construct the bridges. The bridge floor that you walk on is constructed using a combination of 2x4s and plywood placed on top of a metal or concrete floor and then covered with carpet. The 2x4s and plywood can rub together when walked on by a person and make a squeaking noise. This noise is NOT an indicator of the structural integrity of the bridge.

 

The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 28, 2024, at 2:00 pm in the General Services Conference Room.

 

Resident Life, Nancy Fayer and Margaret Vincent, Co-Chairs

At the April Resident Life Committee Meeting, Joe Carrick presented the report of the transportation sustainability working group. The group has been meeting since September and has compiled and analyzed a large amount of data, such as the fact that 1,361 residents own cars and an average of 1,253 additional vehicles enter campus daily. Their recommendations, including approximate costs will be considered by the administration.

Five subcommittee reports were given. Of particular note is the report of the Tapestry Subcommittee. Audrey Trapp announced that there will be one more neighborhood Tapestry event on June 11. Herbert’s Run and Brookside residents will meet in the Chesapeake dining room. Also, Audrey’s team has developed an evaluation tool to collect opinions from all attendees to date. This evaluation will be used to help plan future events.

Co-chair, Margaret Vincent, spoke about the new opportunities for Charlestown residents to welcome newcomers. Elsie Kemp is working on move-in day meals. Mimi O’Donnel and Vicki Spellman are developing a Navigator team to help newcomers learn the campus layout. Margaret will lead an upcoming meeting to develop ideas for social dining with newbies. This meeting will be on Thursday, May 9 at 1 pm in DB 2. Anyone interested in joining this team is welcome to attend.

Co-chair, Nancy Fayer introduced David Graham, who spoke about the two recent meetings of the Low Vision Group. There are 15 in the group, which is currently by invitation only. One sub-group is preparing a list of resources in Maryland, Baltimore and on campus. A second sub-group is looking at signage and lighting. The next meeting was a working lunch, providing planning time and opportunities to socialize within the group. Still in a “start-up” phase, the group hopes to bring low-vision-related programming to the wider Charlestown community.

As per John Remias’ request, Nancy Fayer asked all attendees to name any capital expense items that they would like the administration to consider for next year’s budget. The suggestions varied, including paving of the path around the lake, adding more EV charging stations, and including Apple computers in the computer labs.

The next meeting of the Resident Life Committee is May 22 (not May 15) at 2 pm in BR 2.

 

 

Safety and Security, Ed Appel

At our April 11 meeting, the committee continued discussion of security issues – traffic safety, firearms, & dementia sufferers.

 

• The committee passed along CapEx suggestions to the Finance Committee.
• Baltimore County PD reports that auto thefts and break-ins continue. Since some offenders’ test car doors, keep your car locked and do not leave items in view.
• The committee participated in the Health and Wellness Expo April 23 and a survey of the Shortline trail April 26. A preliminary report on security-related observations was distributed to the committee and Residents’ Council.
• Charlestown safety & security continue to operate at a high professional level, including rapid responses to emergencies on campus. Use your pendants to notify Security, which can locate the device and respond immediately.

 

Next Meeting:  Thursday, May 9 at 1:00 at Charlestown Square 116.

 

 

Nominations and Elections, Mark Buehlman and Joe Carrick

Good afternoon, I am Mark Buehlman, and along with Joe Carrick, I am Co-Chair of the Residents’ Council Nominating Committee for 2024.

Thanks to residents’ willingness to step up and the hard work of the Nominating Committee, I am pleased to announce that we have a strong slate of 13 candidates running this year. On behalf of the Committee, I want to mention that Pat Rudolph was an integral part of our team, and her experience and diligence will be greatly missed.

So, what comes next?

1. Candidates will be announced at the June and July Residents’ Council Meeting
2. Around July 1^st you will be receiving a packet containing important information about the annual election of the seven new members to include
   1. Photographs and 100-word bios of each of the candidates
      1. Study them and decide which seven (7) candidates will receive your vote. You may wish to mark them and bring them with you on Election Day, as it may help you complete your ballot
   2. An Election Day Schedule for independent living voters showing location of polling places and voting hours. You must vote at the polling place designated for the building where you live, so become familiar with the place and the voting hours
   3. Absentee Ballot Information
      1. If you are an independent living resident and will be unable to vote on Election Day, you may obtain an absentee ballot. The Instructions for Absentee Ballots will be on the last page of the packet and contains all the information you need
      2. Continuing care residents will find an absentee ballot at the back of their packet
   4. In addition to the information in the packet, there are several other ways to become acquainted with the candidates before Election Day
      1. Large posters containing photographs and bios of the candidates will be displayed near the dining and lounge areas throughout Charlestown
         1. The posters will help you identify the candidates
      2. Channel 972 (The program will also be viewable on MyErickson)
      3. Name Badges
         1. Each candidate will be wearing a CANDIDATE ribbon on their name badge during the campaign. Candidates are encouraged to visit various dining rooms and other campus activities. Introduce yourself and get to know them

Election Day will be Wednesday, August 7^th, outside the restaurant near where you live. The only change from last year is residents in Buildings 1-5 will be voting at a separate table outside the Terrace Restaurant. This is due to the uncertainty of space because of the construction in the historic area.

Questions and Answers

• At the end of the presentations, President John Remias called for questions. Residents praised the Council’s attention to the flooding issues that have plagued our community and praised the Administration for reducing response time. They also expressed the hope that the issue would not be dropped by future Council members as flooding will always be a concern.
• Next, Jason Spivey, Director of General Services gave the administration update. He started with an update about the water intrusion recommendations and actions taken. Flooding is caused by many different issues, such as overflow and domestic water lines. A few years ago, the Resident Council and the administration noticed different water intrusion issues, primarily at Brookside. They hired an engineering firm, AV Adams, to study the issue. The results showed that the flooding that caused the most damage was related to the loop line system throughout the campus. The study showed that the system was good. The flooding was a result of human error, primarily by contractors, compounded by slow response time. Changes were made to put policies in place for speedy response time, to provide access to necessary tools and equipment, conduct emergency drills and to train staff and contracts on an ongoing basis. Continued training and regular inspections will be carried out. On the home front, checking the pipes in apartments has been added to the routine maintenance. When an apartment is being prepped for a new tenant, contractors are checking all shutoff valves that are included in the closets and removing and replacing them with copper steel. All hoses are replaced with a metal mesh hose versus the PVC piping. The results have been a reduction in incidents and decrease in response time
• The next topic was an update on the status of the Caton Ridge project. The building stabilization part of the work is completed. Next, because of necessary changes to the stabilization some of the first-floor plans had to be modified. New drawings for the first floor will be ready soon and construction will begin. A timeline should be available by the end of next week,
• There have been some power blips in recent weeks that have affected computer connections. The problem is with BG&E. We have been communicating with BG&E to let them know how dissatisfied we are.
• Someone asked, “When are they going to fix that pipe that goes from the administration area?” Jason explained that there was a failure at a connection point but that the fix would require turning off the HVAC to the building to drain the water. This will probably take three to five hour, so they are waiting for cooler temperatures.
• The next question was about the rails to trail project. They are still waiting for a proposal from the organization planning the trail.
• Jason was asked about a comprehensive long-range plan. He explained that the administration is actively working on an updated five year plan every year.

 

A resident pointed out that the acoustics in the dining rooms are extremely noisy. Since pickleball is being added to the Refectory, was any consideration being given to sound proofing the refit of the Refectory. Jason said the issue is being addressed.

 

As there were no further questions, the meeting was adjourned.

 

 

Respectively submitted,

Diana Dunaway Residents’ Council Treasurer for Nancy Meier Secretary