Gardner Senior Center reviews finances, approves reports and adopts Lifeline technical support role

The Gardner City Council on Aging reviewed monthly finances, approved the director's report and related addendums by voice vote and discussed several program and grant updates at its monthly meeting.

Board members were presented a summary of the month’s expenditures and account balances, including statements for the general fund, gift fund, revolving fund and grant accounts. The director reported that routine expenses include salaries, building utilities and information-technology costs; line-item overtime has been exceeded and staff plan a planned internal transfer from on-call/standby to cover overtime through the fiscal year. The report listed a general-fund balance (reported in the meeting materials) and account balances for the gift and revolving funds and noted a set-aside of $25,000 from the gift fund as a local match for a future painting project.

The meeting included detailed updates on three grant streams. The FY '24 state grant expenditures for February were reported and the account balance was stated as roughly $30,000; staff projected about $25,500 in additional contractor costs through June 30 and estimated a projected remaining balance of about $4,600 if current projections hold. Separately, the center’s tech grant has been amended to reallocate funds originally budgeted for personnel into equipment purchases (cameras, a production cart, a network switch and wireless access points) to meet the grant deadline; staff said the amendment was approved by the grant manager and purchase orders were placed.

Staff also described program and outreach growth: social media and email metrics were presented (tens of thousands of post views in recent months and an email list of roughly 1,849 contacts, with about 460 identified as center members), and weekly in-person attendance was characterized as averaging roughly 700–725 visits across all days when programs run. Staff detailed new and returning classes and trips scheduled through the year, including multiple veterans’ outings and seasonal concerts.

On services for homebound or higher-risk seniors, the council heard that the Gardner Senior Center has begun administering Lifeline monitoring support for North Central Massachusetts. The center will perform local technical support tasks (battery replacement, basic troubleshooting, on-site checks) and handle administrative signups and billing for clients served locally. The meeting clarified that emergency medical/crisis alarm calls continue to be routed to Lifeline’s national monitoring and emergency dispatch; the center’s role is technical and administrative support for equipment and local subscriber needs.

Formal action taken during the meeting was limited to adopting the director’s report and addendums and approving the treasurer’s report by voice vote. The meeting concluded with scheduling the next regular meeting for April at 2 p.m.

The meeting materials and the director’s financial report were sent to the city auditor as the official record.