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Community Health and Senior Services chair Elanor Yik urges council to sustain senior services coordinator as grant ends
Summary
Commission chair Elanor Yik told the Los Gatos Town Council the commission’s year‑end report documents successes including a grant‑funded senior services coordinator whose grant expires in December, and urged the council to consider sustaining the role and provide data access to better identify service gaps.
Elanor Yik, chair of the Community Health and Senior Services Commission, presented the commission’s year‑end report to the Los Gatos Town Council on Nov. 18, highlighting accomplishments across seven goal areas and asking the council for follow‑up on staffing, data access and meeting‑space availability.
Yik said the commission welcomed a part‑time senior services coordinator this year and called the hire “really successful,” but said that the position is grant‑funded and the grant expires at the end of December. She asked the council to consider options for sustaining the role or identifying alternative funding so the town does not lose the coordination link the commission has developed with service providers.
The report noted program growth in the 55+ recreation offerings, a twice‑monthly West Valley Community Services market outside the library, and the completion of an updated Los Gatos housing resource guide. Yik described a volunteer connections newsletter — led by Commissioner Martha Stern in collaboration with Los Gatos Thrives Foundation — slated for a soft launch in January to connect volunteers of all ages with local providers.
Yik highlighted a governance concern about a recently adopted policy that added a seat to the commission. “If a quorum is determined by the number of seats that have been filled or not, it impacts how you determine that quorum,” she said, asking staff and the town attorney to clarify whether quorum is measured against authorized seats or the number of appointed members.
Council members welcomed the report and pressed on two practical issues: how the commission could better incorporate community health and mental‑health priorities into its roadmap, and whether program metrics exist to measure outcomes from initiatives such as the monthly “ride and taste” transit‑familiarization effort. The town attorney advised she would review state guidance, noting the Brown Act and Attorney General materials that define quorum rules and public‑meeting notice requirements.
In follow‑up, council members asked staff to return with clarifications about the quorum question and information to help CHSSC assess gaps, such as service providers’ budgets, staffing and participant counts. No formal action was taken; the presentation closed with council direction for staff follow‑up.
