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Parma Heights awarded $130,000 Healthy Aging grant; senior services, vehicle reimbursement and playground funding discussed
Summary
Mayor Gallo told council the city received a $130,000 Healthy Aging grant to expand senior meals and transportation and expects a $104,000 NOACA reimbursement for a new Senior Center vehicle; the council also authorized applying for an ODNR NatureWorks grant for Greenbrier Commons playground.
Mayor Gallo told Parma Heights City Council on May 13 that the city had been awarded $130,000 in Healthy Aging grant funds from the Ohio Department of Aging and has already received the money. "We were informed that the Healthy Aging Grant Funds from the Ohio Department of Aging was awarding us $130,000, this is not a grant that we applied for. We were selected and we've already received the funds," Mayor Gallo said.
The mayor said the allocation will be divided as follows: $80,000 for home-delivered meals, $30,000 for congregate meals and $20,000 for transportation. She also reported the Senior Center served or delivered 1,327 meals over the previous two weeks and held a well-attended Senior Prom with 184 attendees.
Gallo said the city recently put a new Senior Center vehicle on the road and has submitted reimbursement paperwork to the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) for approximately $104,000. "The new vehicle... is now on the road and all the necessary paperwork has been submitted to NOACA. We expect to be reimbursed the $104,000 in the upcoming weeks," she said.
Council later authorized filing an application through the Ohio Department of Natural Resources NatureWorks grant program for the Greenbrier Commons playground replacement project (Resolution 2024-40). The mayor said the city is also pursuing a reimbursement for the 2023 tree grant, approximately $56,000, and has begun bathroom upgrades at Cassidy Theatre funded by 2024 supplemental grants.
Gallo highlighted a new arrangement with the Cuyahoga County Public Library branch in Parma Heights that will supply seniors with rotating media: "the Parma Heights branch shall provide 200 pieces of different media every 90 days that the seniors can take out and return," she said.
City staff also reported progress on other capital work: the engineer and building officials are preparing materials related to a proposed library site, and the administration is preparing updates to the Administrative Code and personnel policies this year.
Next steps: council approved Resolution 2024-40 to seek NatureWorks funds for Greenbrier Commons; the city will continue to pursue reimbursements (NOACA, tree grant) and bring project details back to council as bids and grant results become available.