Council on Aging hires BME consultants; board agrees to separate meetings for strategic goal-setting

Needham —4 —4 Consultants from BME Strategies introduced themselves and outlined a facilitated strategic goal-setting process for the Council on Aging, and the COA signaled support for holding dedicated meetings to complete the work.

Arisa Ruano of BME Strategies introduced herself to the group, saying, "My name is Arisa Ruano. I'm a consultant at BME Strategies." Brad Clark, who said he would lead most of the work, told the board the process would bring in diverse stakeholders and be focused on producing realistic but aspirational goals.

Clark described an expected meeting cadence and time commitment: he said a "60 to 90 minutes" session once a month would be ideal and that the team expects to run about three to four meetings from October through January to develop final goals. The consultants asked whether the board preferred to tack goal-setting onto the existing COA monthly meeting or hold separate, dedicated meetings; after discussion and a show of hands, the board indicated a preference for separate meetings to preserve meeting focus and avoid overly long regular meetings.

Staff clarified that the professional staff would monitor implementation and report back to the board while BME would facilitate the discussions. The consultants also offered to handle scheduling coordination and use stakeholder outreach, including recommendations from the board on which groups to engage.

What happens next: the consultants will work with COA staff to schedule the dedicated sessions, and staff will monitor implementation once goals are adopted. The board and staff agreed the fall will serve as the main period for facilitated sessions, with an aim to finalize goals by January.

(Ending) Board members asked to be polled for scheduling availability; the consultants said they would send coordination tools (for example, Doodle polls) and return with a proposed calendar and stakeholder-engagement plan.