Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Seniors Services Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council on Aging seeks to convert part‑time post to full time, cites rising senior population
Summary
Kelly, director of Lakeville’s Council on Aging, asked for a full‑time replacement for a part‑time clerk and modest increases to personnel lines driven by rising service demand and state grant changes.
Kelly, director of the Council on Aging (COA), told the finance group the COA serves about 1,700 of the town’s roughly 3,000 residents aged 60 and older and is seeking personnel changes to keep up with demand.
“Most of the increase that we're asking for this year is for personnel,” Kelly said. She proposed converting an existing part‑time position into a 40‑hour a week full‑time clerk, and moving the current full‑time clerk into an administrative‑assistant role to reflect added duties.
Nut graf: The COA requested increases are driven by workload and by variability in grant funding; Kelly also reported increases in state formula and SIG grant dollars that support outreach and said the COA prefers to use grant funds conservatively for salaries to avoid creating unsustainable recurring obligations.
Kelly said the COA received $23,987 in state formula funding for the coming year, an increase of about $5,000 from the prior year, and reported a three‑year SIG grant that will bring approximately $36,000 over three years to fund a shared outreach worker. She said the COA logs substantial volunteer activity — “about 86 volunteers who logged over 4,000 hours in 2018” — and that gifts and a friends group help fund programming and a recently completed children’s room renovation.
Committee members pressed on whether grants could cover the personnel shift. Kelly replied that some grants can subsidize positions but are variable year to year: “I tend to on the side of caution with that piece. I would rather subsidize maybe ... a smaller portion of grant money going towards a position so that we wouldn't later down the road have to ... eliminate or cut it back because it's so needed.”
Selectmen and other members who attend the COA praised the center’s growth and several expressed support for the personnel request, citing increased program use, Friday‑morning crowds and broader community reliance on the COA for services.
Ending: The committee did not take a vote on the COA request during the session; members said they would consider the proposal during ongoing budget deliberations.
