Charlestown Retirement Community Residents > Council > Residents’ Councils by year > Council Members 2023-2024 > 20240702 Council Minutes

Last Updated on August 14, 2025

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

July 2, 2024
Residents’ Council Website: ccicharlestown.org

Vice President Joe Carrick called the regular meeting of the Residents’ Council [the Council] to order at 3:00 pm on Tuesday July 2, 2024. 87 people were in attendance including Residents’ Council members minus six. Additional staff members included Don Grove, Executive Director; Ken Zahn, Dining Services Director; and Jason Dennis, Assistant General Services Director.

Moment of Silence

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

Previously distributed minutes of the June 4 meeting of the Residents’ Council meeting were approved as presented.

Mission Moment

Phyl Lansing is being honored for her leadership of the Mission Moment ministry. Phyl has served as the ultimate editor for all Mission Movement Sunburst articles since 2017. She also made sure that honorees were celebrated at the Residents’ Council meetings. As in all things she does, Phyl accomplished this multitasking in her proficient, yet gentile and unassuming way. As she now transfers this mission to new Leadership (Marianne Reichelt and Virginia Antevil), let’s extend gratitude and blessing to Phyl for the time, energy, creativity and love she has poured out for Mission Moments over these many years.

I want to extend the Council’s thank you to Marianne and Virginia as well as the members of the Mission Moment Committee. They are Dick Crebs Sheldon Euler, Ed Lilly, Fran Maczis, Mel Milio, Gloria Palladi, Charlotte Poore, Roberta Poulton, and Linda Godley Smith. These generous committee members bring a wonderful diversity of perspective and history to the process of honoring our residents.

Executive Team Reports

John Remias, President

Hello from northern Minnesota. I sure wish you would send some of your heat up here. Currently our normal high temps are in the mid-70s with lows at night in the 50s. And we’ve got white caps on our large lake which has a water temperature in the 60s. Certainly a challenge for our usual water activities.

I do wish each and every one of you a Happy 4th of July. Safe travels if they are in your plans. Good family times if those are in your plans. Good times with your Charlestown friends if those are in your plans. We are certainly grateful for the great nation we have. Most of all, GOOD HEALTH or a successful recovery if needed.

And finally, my constant refrain – Isolation is my Enemy. Socialization is my Friend.

See you all at the end of July.

Joe Carrick, Vice President

The Council wishes every resident and staff member a wonderful memory making 4th of July.

Diana Dunaway, Treasurer

Balance – May 31, 2024                     $5,974.96

Expenses                                             $    141.33

Balance – June 30, 2024                     $5,833.63

 

June 2024 Expenses Details

Secretary                     $  41.33 – Paper

Council Donation        $100.00 – To Honor Pat Rudolph

 

Nominations and Elections

Merci Izquierdo-Whitaker, Chair of the Nominating Committee for Officers, presented the Slate of Officers for the 2024-25 Council year and thanked the other committee members, John Yoder and Mark Buehlman for their hard work.

Slate of Officers:
President–Joe Carrick
Vice-Pres–Jerry Donaldson
Secretary–Nancy Meier
Treasurer–Connie Cooney

Election of officers will occur at the August 6th Council Meeting.

The Election Committee, chaired by Mark Buehlman and Joe Carrick, has been talking to potential candidates since late January, and Mark was  pleased to announce that we have a very strong slate of 13 candidates running this year. The posters and election material will be available on July 1, and after going over their backgrounds and qualifications, I’m sure you will agree. This year’s candidates include:

o         Virginia Antevil
o          Lois Eldred
o          Jack Flood
o          Eileen Friedman
o          Bill Jones
o          John Kuntz
o          Richard Lee
o          Charles Robinson
o          Fred Sadler
o          Larry Taylor
o          Rob Vickerman
o          Marty White
o          Jean Williamson

Election Day will be Wednesday, August 7th, 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. Please review the election material including directions for absent tee ballots.

Committee Reports

Benevolent Care, Carol Kefford

Benevolent Care Fund (BCF) Year to Date – Patti Santoni reported that $278,760 had been received this year: $185,451 in contributions and 73,308 realized planned gifts.  Additionally, a resident has pledged $5000.00 annually through their family foundation in perpetuity.

Upcoming Events:

  • Treasure Sale. July 25-27
  • Contra Dance August 3 – tickets $5.00 to benefit the BCF. (There is a new contra dance club, and they will have a program.  Watch the scroll and bulletin boards for more information.)

Benevolent Care Month:

  • September is Benevolent Care Month and there are some familiar and some new activities that will take place. August 28 will be a kickoff reception for all residents who have contributed $300.00 per year or more, also referred to as the Treat of the Quarter Club.
  • There will be a Get the Scoop on August 29th at 1:00pm in the Gallery.
  • Benevolent Care will have a table at the Fruits of our Labors event on September 13. (Note the event may have a name change.).
  • Patti will present an ELLIC class on September 25 on Benevolent Care Facts and Myths.
  • We will continue Philanthropy Fridays on 972 with special guests and testimonials. There will be raffle baskets with weekly drawings — everyone who has contributed will be enrolled in a weekly drawing.
  • More updates on Benevolent Care Month in August

The next meeting will be Monday, July 24 at 2:30 in CTS 216

Communications, David Elder and Larry Taylor, Co-chairs

Gregory Johnson from General Services spoke to us about the first three bullets.

Amazon Deliveries: Amazon is having problems with their contracted delivery personnel called Flex drivers. These are the ones who mostly deliver on the weekends and outside of the Monday-Friday 9 to 5 time period. He is considering strongly recommending that residents only ask for deliveries during the workday hours to avoid issues with their deliveries on weekends.  He said he would keep our committee informed.

EMV Program Registration and Donations: He discussed the need for an updated registration process for the new EMV program on campus. He underscored the importance of having current data for communication emergencies and highlighted that some residents had not registered their vehicles. He and Ms. Peg Buehlman were to visit the Fireside this past week and plan to visit the Chesapeake this coming week to reach out to residents who still need to register their vehicles, and to register any unidentified residents.  Mr. Johnson also introduced a new program allowing residents to donate towards benevolent care in exchange for specific license plates.

Comcast for New Residents.  Lastly, he highlighted issues with the Ultimate package upgrade which caused some resident to have Billing problems.

WiFi Network Issues and Outages. The team discussed the ongoing issues with our WiFi that have affected connection to the Network.  It is also affecting TV WiFi Streaming connections. If you’re experiencing any of these issues, please call our IT Tech Support number 1-800-677-0211. Myrone Foster has added a new IT Tech to his team has name is Jordan Maddox.

Dining Services Tablets Issues.  The Council met with two senior executives of Erickson, Greg Colon and Chris Emmett along with Don Grove this past week to talk about the Tablet issues. They did note that Charlestown isn’t the only community that has these same issues. They did say that Erickson has ordered replacement Tablets, and we should see them in the fourth Quarter.

MyErickson Resident Directory Photo Project.  We are still encouraging residents to add their pictures and their email addresses to their Profile in MyErickson.  We only have about 11% of residents included to date.  If you need help getting your photo and email addresses added there will be help available at the upcoming Tech Bar.  Also, David and Betty Elder will be hosting tables at restaurants later this summer to help residents with their entries.

Discussion of Rebranding Online Community Name.  There was a discussion about the rebranding of the CCI communications Google group with a new name. Some new names were discussed.  These new names for our Google group have been sent out to current members of the Google Group.  A vote on the new name will take place at the July Communications meeting. 

Tech Bar or Technology Assistant Day is on August 14 from 10 AM to 12PM at the Chesapeake Restaurant. REMINDER! This is a FREE event.  Also note that onsite service calls can be booked at this event, and they are also FREE!

The Communications Committee discussed NOT meeting in August due to Vacations, etc.

We will take a FINAL vote on this at the JULY’s meeting.

Our next Communications Committee is scheduled to be on July 22 at 2:00 via Zoom.  Which is preceded by our Website Subcommittee at 1:00.  As usual, the Communications Committee meeting is held on the Forth Monday of each month.

Conservation, Mark Buehlman

Our June meeting began with updates from our Recycling and Reuse Subcommittee and our Staff Liaison, Michele Fenn. The Recycling Program continues to run smoothly, but on occasion a question will come up on the recycling of a particular item. Marty Tewksbury, who heads our Recycling & Reuse Subcommittee, is always available for advice. His contact information is available on MyErickson.

On June 5 there was a free Resident & Employee Electronic recycling event. It went well, and next month we hope to provide some details on how much was collected. While recycling an item is always preferable to disposal, always keep in mind the 3 “Rs” of sustainability:

  • Reduce – Before you buy something, do you really need it?
  • Reuse – Before you dispose of something or recycle it, could it be donated to the Treasure Sale or an outside group?
  • Recycling – Recycling is always better than disposal, and if you ever have a question about an item, remember Marty Tewksbury and his team is always available for advice

In June we finished reviewing the many recommendations from the Sustainability Working Teams reports. We decided that reducing the use of dining carry out containers offered the greatest opportunities for cost savings and waste reduction. In July we will be setting up a Working Team that will continue the work begun by the Sustainable Dining Working Team and work with Dining and the Residents’ Council Dining Committee to try and implement some of their recommendations.

Our next meeting will be Tuesday, July 16, 2024, at 2:00pm in Brookside Classroom 1.

Dining, Catherine Stevens and Stephanie Leddy, Co-Chairs

Dietary Focus Group – Chef Paul and Melanie, dietician, listened to the “wish list” the group has been working on to better serve those residents who have a variety of disorders. This partial list with soups, starters, hand-helds and desserts suggests vegetables and other foods that would benefit many groups of people. These will be available to the chefs in the restaurants for their menu selections.

Fireside problems: The quality of pork, chicken and beef required steak knives to cut. Many servers have been late causing delays. Pencils are needed to fill out the QR cards.

Notes from Ken Zahn:

  • He as happy to report that he received 326 QR responses last month (50 more than previously received) with an overall 90% rating
  • QR cards and pencils are at the tables and staff is encouraging residents to use them
  • There is a competition among the Assistant General Managers to see which restaurant can get the most QR responses.
  • If residents sign their QR response, they will be entered in a drawing for one of two sets of seats at the next Chef’s Table.
  • Regarding sound proofing, Ken is talking with Windcrest, which has already been working on this, for their best ideas. Fireside will be the first to get the paneling.
  • They are looking for servers from some more distant schools but will check with them on transportation to assure they are in between 3:30- 4. Chronic lateness will be addressed of student servers.
  • Ken is checking into problems with getting reservations for Atrium and Fireside. When the new Terrace opens in a few years, it will have 120 seating and that should help in reservation problems.
  • One new change is that Dining Buddies and Dining Ambassadors have combined into Dining Ambassadors since both were inviting new residents to dine with them.

The next meeting will be Monday, July 15 at 1:30 in Brookside 2

Finance, John Yoder

  • The Finance Committee did not meet in June.
  • Highlights from include:
    • Net Operating Income YTD for IL continues above budget.
    • Continuing Care is below budget due to census and higher operating cost
    • Current occupancy in Independent Living is 95.3%.
    • Continuing Care is 92.1%.
  • As of May 31, there were 19 residents on Benevolent Care funds
  • For the year there have been 77 settlements versus 69 releases, which is a move in the positive direction.

Next meeting July 30 at 9:00, in Brookside classroom #1.

Grounds, Dick Voelkel Chair

Nature trail work update – Start date is still uncertain.

Lake hydro-raking will begin in September.

Recreational fields update to install pickle ball courts, bocce court and additional raised garden plots may not start until the first quarter of 2026.

Caton Ridge plants and temporary grasses are going in but not sod until cooler weather.

More concrete bases for outdoor benches are being installed.

2 positions are still unfilled on the grounds crew.

A new campus map done by Margaret Vincent is being circulated and changes and recommendations are due in August.

Next meeting: July 16, 11:00 in Brookside Classroom 1

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

Stevanne Ellis, Head of the Maryland Ombudsman program spoke at our last meeting. She described the program as basically an advocacy organization for residents in assisted living facilities and nursing homes. Many problems in these facilities are due to Medicare regulations and the Ombudsman role has been more on empowerment with interpretations of the regulations that are meant to protect the residents. There are about 1400 assisted living facilities and about 400 nursing facilities in Maryland. The program has a representative in almost every county and their goal is to reach every facility as often as possible.  I Have several program pamphlets if anyone is interested in more information.

Continuing Care and Independent Living Liaisons: The Wilton Overlook Resident Council met on June 10.  A search is on for a Council President. The Administration hosts coffee and conversation meetings on a regular schedule with any interested residents. Wheelchairs are washed monthly, and electric vehicles are wiped with disinfectant.

CDC: Bird Flu is highly active and transmissible from birds to animals, especially cows. Three cases have been reported of people contacting the virus from cows. CDC recommends not touching dead birds or bird feathers or drinking unpasteurized milk. Ticks are prevalent so use caution when walking in tall grass or forest.

Low Vision Group: A steering committee has been formed to investigate the needs and help create solutions for folks with low vision. More information will be forthcoming.

Old Business:

  • Jean Tribulski reported that a letter was sent to the Administration and the Maintenance Department regarding the soap and towel dispenser problems in the bathrooms with folks in wheelchairs and EMVs.
  • Next Medication Disposal event is July 15

Next Meeting is July 9, 2024, 11:00 in BR classroom 2

Housekeeping, Sebastian Petix

  • After discussion of revising the trash and recycling pick-up days, they will remain the same.
  • The Chapel Court will have some washers and dryers replaced and also some maintenance in that area.
  • There are several outdoor trash containers that have been overflowing. We just urge you to please refrain from bringing your trash outdoors unless absolutely necessary. And if those trash containers are filled, then make a call and see that they’re picked up so that we don’t have those trash containers spilling out.
  • I mentioned last month that we have a group of housekeeping inspection tours that Michelle Fenn, housekeeping manager, has organized and we requested that they be opened to folks outside of our specific housekeeping committee. That is still being considered. So, stay tuned for that information. The emphasis on common area cleanliness and aesthetics is being encouraged and you’ll note that there is new carpeting now at the Charlestown square leading up to the second floor. I looked at that today and it’s looks very good and attractive. The committee will be taking a closer look at common areas. Generally, we look at the hallways and in the areas is specific to where we pass every day, but the general areas around the clubhouses aren’t necessarily looked at that carefully. We’ll be doing that a bit more carefully, and reporting on those.
  • Again, I am asking all of you to be part of our committee unofficially by looking and see what you see that may be a ruinous and send your reports. Take a photo if necessary and send that to CCIworkorders@erickson.com and copy me at joysib@aol.com. Our has been working closely for the last few months with our General Services Management team and we’re pleased that they’ve been responding to us and whatever we requested they have really given us 110%. We now have a list of just what is the hierarchy, where we go for specific areas That’s been cancelled.

Next meeting is August 19 at 10:00 in Brookside 1.

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

Pat Payne provided a summary of HR68, which pertains to CCRCs. We have summarized the bill before in earlier residents’ Council meetings. Our MaCCRA chapter will work with the Committee on implementation issues.

MaCCRA’s semi-annual meeting will be held October 2 at 11:00 in the Conference Center. More information will be forthcoming.

Senator Charles Sydnor and Delegate Eric Ebersole will meet with our residents Thursday, July 18 at 7 p.m. in the Gallery. The focus of the meeting will be the recent legislative session and its implications for the future. Please try to attend, and encourage others to do so, so that we have a strong turnout.

Vice President Joe Carrick called attention to the guidelines for political expression as outlined in our Residents’ Handbook.

Next Meeting:  Wednesday, July 10, 10:00 am in Brookside Classroom 1

Maintenance and Engineering, Jerry Donaldson

The Caton Ridge Renovations are proceeding with the revised schedule. The back fill is finished, the fence is down, and the initial landscaping is complete. Final landscaping, including the application of sod, will be postponed until more favorable weather. General Services is still predicting a total completion date of early Fall.

The replacement of the elevator in Chapel Court is scheduled to be completed by the end of July. Following completion of the replacement in Chapel Court, elevators #1 and #2 in Herbert’s Run will be considered for replacement.

The repair of the erosion around the base of one of the support columns for the Herbert’s Run to St. Charles buildings is scheduled to start in early August with a completion date by the end of September. The pedestrian bridge will be closed for 1 to 2 days while the work is being done as a safety precaution.

The wooden covered bridge located on the Nature Trail will be replaced with a bridge that is capable of supporting the equipment that is needed to repair the column erosion. The front part of the Nature Trail will be closed until this project is completed.

The Signage Sub-Committee is proceeding with a survey and the identification of all signage requirements in the Charlestown complex. Efforts during the last month have identified proposed changes resulting from two meetings on site in Charlestown Square, Parkview, and Chapel Court. These changes will be given a final review at the next meeting on July 1, 2024. The Signage Sub-Committee will then give these changes to the vendor, Gable Sign Co. A few new signs have been received and will be posted when more of those already on order have been received.

New Business

The results of the PVC pipe support tour, conducted by General Services, resulted in a General Services agreement to do a “test” bulk-head constraint approach with the bulk-head made from wood rather than steel. The goal of this exercise is to obtain a better understanding on how difficult it would be to implement a wooden bulk-head constraint versus a single strap-hanging support in terms of cost and time. There has been limited progress in this effort and, as a result, General Services accepted an Action Item to provide, at the next Maintenance and Engineering Committee Meeting, the status of the progress and the estimated completion date so that the value of the bulk-head approach can be realistically evaluated.

All twelve washers and dryers required in the Chapel Court Laundry Room have been ordered. Operating instructions will be provided following receipt and installation of the machines. The St. Charles Laundry Room will be the site of the next survey as well as evaluating the remaining washers/dryers required for Independent Living.

Richard Buckingham made an excellent briefing to the Maintenance and Engineering Committee addressing the issues of the Low Vision population in Charlestown. He pointed out that there are two primary issues with some of the elevators in that the floor numbers inside the elevator have poor contrast and are very difficult for people with Low Vision to see. General Services pointed out that the elevator suppliers provide snap-on replacement numbers that have black numbers on a white background which will make them much more visible.  General Services accepted an Action Item to obtain and install all the required numbers. In addition, the elevator location numbers, as viewed from outside the elevators, is being “washed” out by the ceiling lights.   General Services agreed to review the issue and to determine if shielding might improve the visibility of these numbers.

Mr. Buckingham’s briefing also identified the need of marking curbs that are contoured for wheelchair access. This contour causes a dip in the sidewalk and this dip, unseen by Low Vision walkers, can cause a loss of balance and a possible fall. General Services agreed to accept an Action Item to survey the Charlestown campus and identify the locations where curb markings are missing.

Deborah Patterson, a Charlestown resident and a retired Emergency Nurse, briefed this Committee on an incident where another resident tripped and fell down the steps on Stairway #2 between the Terrace Café and the Edgewood hallway. Ms. Patterson was a witness to the fall and stayed with the resident until the Medics arrived. We, the Maintenance and Engineering Committee, commend Ms. Patterson and thank her for her service! The resident was transported to the hospital where she received the required medical treatment. It was noted in Ms. Patterson briefing that the steps on staircase #2 had just been re carpeted and both the treads and the risers had the same brown color of carpeting making it more difficult to distinguish between tread and the riser. Following considerable discussion directed towards the appropriate actions to take to improve the safety of the steps, General Services accepted an Action to re-carpet the stairs with separate contrasting colors of carpet for the tread and risers. General Services also accepted an Action Item to review possible lighting changes on stairwell #2 if the new carpet is not sufficient to distinguish the edges of the steps.

Next meeting is on July 23 at 2:00 in the General Services Conference Room.

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

The Resident Life Committee currently has two emphasis areas: Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DIB) Committees; and Welcome Subcommittees led Margaret Vincent. DIB includes the following: Tapestry subcommittee; Ageism/Ableism/and Accessibility; and Low Vision Development Team.

  • Tapestry subcommittee led by Moffet Churn and Audrey Trapp
    • Tapestry held their 4th neighborhood Tapestry event of this season at the Chesapeake Restaurant on Tuesday, June 11 with 48 residents and hospitality hosts attending.
    • Tapestry is particularly well attended by new residents receiving special invitations.
    • Continuing Care residents have been included and have started their own monthly Tapestry sessions. Clearly, there is an ongoing need for this program, which strengthens the connective tissue of our community.
    • To ensure its continued success, Tapestry is planning for a change of leadership, with 2 leaders stepping back and 3 members assuming greater responsibility.
    • A strategic planning session was held on July 1
  • Ageism/Ableism/Accessibility subcommittee is led by Ann MacKay.
    • Ann submitted an article for the July Sunburst.
    • She attended a gerontology webinar addressing issues faced by those living longer lives.
  • Low Vision Development Team (LVDT): which I lead, is moderated by David Graham. The LVDT has worked this month to reduce the negative impacts of low vision these residents experienced many times a day, including physical injury and losing their way as they navigate moving around campus.

The result of their work is amazing, with thanks in large part, to being able to partner with other Resident Council committees. For example, there are partnerships with:

  • Maintenance and Engineering Committee to:

                        -Install higher visibility elevator buttons where needed

-Reduce lighting glare to increase visibility of elevator floor numbers.

-Paint sidewalk curbs yellow to reduce the potential for residents falling.

  • Safety Committee to correct safety issue of unidentified steps and poorly lit stairs.
  • Dining Committee and the Health committee on possible joint projects.
  • The program and resource action teams are working co-operatively to present two to four programs for the larger CT community during the upcoming season.
  • The LVDT appreciates the generous support of the RC committees.
  • The LVDT has formed a Leadership Board, composed of the four Action Team leaders and the chair and first met on July 1. The Leadership board is responsible for strategic planning and implementation.

The Welcome Subcommittee work is led by Margaret Vincent

  • Mimi O’Donnell is leading the Friendly Visitors program.
  • The Dine Together program, led by Marie Skane, helps new residents meet one another. It is held first Monday of the month in card room across from the Shortline. On July 1, 25 residents participated, 20 were new residents five were hosts.
  • Two new dining programs are combined under the leadership of Stephanie Leddy. This Dining Ambassadors group are running a pilot program over the summer.
  • A new Charlestown Indoor Map:
    • Has been designed and printed by Co-chair Margaret Vincent.
    • It is a simplified campus map designed to particularly help new residents

(and the rest of us) find the way to the most popular locations at inside Charlestown.

  • The map is currently being distributed for comments and corrections,

Which should be returned to Margret Vincent at mcvinc@comcast.net. A finalized version will be available in September. We have copies of the map available today. Please see me, after the meeting if you would like a copy. The map’s release coincides with introduction of next anticipated Welcome initiative, the Welcomers Navigator Team. This team plans to assist newcomers with finding their way around campus.

Resident Life Strategic planning meetings were held on July 1 by the Tapestry Steering Committee and by the Low Vision Leadership Board. There will be no July meeting.

Safety and Security, Ed Appel

In the past year, all levels of Charlestown staff have made us more secure.  For example, Craig Nelson and Shawn White watching over all at Summer Solstice, Jay Spivey acting quickly to make pedestrian crossings and walkways safer and Don Grove at the LGBTQ+ walk talking about how to make sure marchers in the July 4th Catonsville parade are safe in the heat.  All Charlestown staff focus on our safety and protection.

The committee’s June 13 meeting focused on safety for those with dementia in independent living, with presentations by Lisa Roeder on staff monitoring and measures to help residents, with the goal to help them stay in independent living.  Ed DeLong discussed the resident-led dementia support group.  Residents should notify staff about any concerning event or situation, so that the extensive resources of Charlestown can help residents in decline.  For example, don’t just help another resident back to their apartment when they are lost or confused.  Tell Security or staff about it.

The committee will follow-up with a multi-committee focus group on dementia safety.

Next meeting: Thursday, July 11, 2024, at 1:00 in CS Classroom 116.

Nominations and Elections, Mark Buehlman and Joe Carrick

The Committee has been talking to potential candidates since late January, and I am pleased to announce that we have a very strong slate of 13 candidates running this year. The posters and election material will be available on July 1st, and after going over their backgrounds and qualifications, I’m sure you will agree. On behalf of the Committee, I would like to introduce this year’s candidates:

o         Virginia Antevil
o          Lois Eldred
o          Jack Flood
o          Eileen Friedman
o          Bill Jones
o          John Kuntz
o          Richard Lee
o          Charles Robinson
o          Fred Sadler
o          Larry Taylor
o          Rob Vickerman
o          Marty White
o          Jean Williamson

Election Day will be Wednesday, August 7th, 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.

Update from Don Grove:

I can be brief too, and I can be brief because your Residents’ Council does such a good job. I have my list of topics and I’m like well, they covered pretty much everything. On the 25th, our Chief Operating Officer from Ericsson, Senior Living and Chris Hammond, our VP of Community Operations were here, and we had a discussion with council. All the Charlestown residents should know that the council is clearly on top of the right topics. We talked for a while on sustainability. We talked about our challenges with the tablets. We talked about the work order system. I’ve been asked this question a lot within General Services when you send in a work, order can the system tell you the status. The feedback we got was that system is not there yet, but we will continue to look for options which people know the status of work orders that they put in because I know that that’s an interest. We talked about our challenges with Comcast. And their answers and frustration are much the same. But it was good to have the discussion.

We had some conversation about design. We worked a lot in the last year to give residents a little more input in the design process and we have our design committees and the Council which I think is very fair as you’re trying to be as much toward the front of those projects as possible. I always remind everybody that so that residents can have some say in the decisions. I always remind everybody that we have designers who we work with us through Erickson who manage the communities. And despite comments as to whether they ever work with seniors, the answer is yes, they have such experience. Sometimes there have been some mistakes but nothing we can’t work around. But we’ll continue to make sure residents have input in in the design process. And then we also had fair questions related to safety requirements in contracts, making sure safety is factored into projects. And you know, some reassurance there from our visitors from the corporate executive team at Ericsson. So, good discussion. Again, I appreciate the council’s participation in the discussion.

It was mentioned about the QR codes, and we have seen an increase in use of that. So please keep that up. Thank you. Give me approval to vote personality. So, continue to do that.

A couple of notes on current projects. Historic remains on schedule, ceiling tiles going in, paint being done, ongoing work on the Ramp Installation, I believe back to the music room. They cut part of that very thick wall that we’ve shown on TV a couple of times and the old wall, and they had to cut a little bit more. So apparently, at this point, only short people would be able to get that right. One more weekend of some noises that work on that. We’ll do more video on historic area very soon, as soon as we get to a good point to show you some social stuff in depth. I think the St. Charles 6th floor work started and I think fifth floor got underway today. Starting from the top working down, removing wallpaper and prepping for paint in St. Charles.

So those long overdue work on their common areas is in the works. We heard a little bit about Caton Ridge and earlier a couple things so yes, we will have staff watering the plants that they did plan as best as we can. It might be tough in this weather to get them through but we’re trying to keep an eye on them, and we’ll go back, and some sod will be done later as needed. On the upper floors of Caton Ridge there are squares of carpet that were pulled out when they were working on some of the support. We haven’t forgotten those residents when the upper floors carpet replacement is in the works, and we’ll get a notice out as soon as we have the date there. I also ask all Caton Ridge residents near the stairwell at the end of the building that the stairwell must remain accessible in case of an emergency, but at this time we continue to ask residents not to use that stairwell. We may put a cone or a light sign to ask people not to use the stairwell. just ask everybody to continue not using that stairwell the end of Caton Ridge until we get some more clear out in the security area. So technically folks could walk down there, but for safety reasons we ask folks to avoid that area if possible.

We have the carpet replacement change on the stairs at Charlestown Square. I was taking pictures because the top area was not complete. I learned it will be completed today. So that will be done as a two-tone step that is the standard that should be used. Thus, you will be seeing it in the short stairs that are between Edgewood and the Terrace. We will likely put some additional signs up to remind folks where the elevator around the corner is. We will look at lighting if that’s what’s necessary. The other thing just as a share with everybody, I’m looking forward to Fourth of July and not just because it’s Fourth of July. My wife and I probably have about 14 years’ worth of participating in the parade with residents. And so, we look forward to that. Hopefully the weather is good, but it’s always a little you know, it’s the fourth of July right. 90 degrees and possible storms. But I enjoy that great promotion for our community a sense of camaraderie around the residents and showing off how great we are.

Questions and Answers:

A St. Charles resident asked about the QR cards. She wanted to know how many QR cards will be pulled for the chef’s dinner. The answer was that we only have four tickets, or two pairs of tickets I believe for the Chef’s Table, just two pairs of tickets we’re pulling from the chef’s table to be used for the QR contest. The rest of the tickets would all be available to residents.

Respectively submitted,
Nancy Meier, Residents’ Council Secretary