Kenai Council on Aging recommends adoption of grant-funded emergency plan, approves 2025 work-plan objectives

The Kenai Council on Aging Commission on an April meeting swore in a student representative and two new members, approved its work-plan objectives for 2026 and recommended the City adopt a grant-funded emergency operations addendum for the Kenai Senior Center.

Chair Craig Sadler opened the meeting and confirmed a quorum. The commission voted by voice to accept Objective One (intergenerational programs) and Objective Two (health and wellness programming, including a planned Senior Health & Fitness Day on May 27). The transcript records assent on both items but does not include a roll-call vote tally.

Kathy, a senior center staff member who led the emergency-plan presentation, said the city secured state-administered Older Americans Act funding to develop a site-specific continuity and emergency-operations plan for the center. "We wrote the grant and received $44,000," she said, and described purchases of shelf-stable food for home-delivered meals and supplies intended to support continued operations during an incident. She told commissioners the finished plan is intended to be attached as an addendum to the City of Kenai emergency operations plan.

Commissioners asked how the plan will be shared with seniors. Kathy said staff plan to post the plan on the senior center web page and provide information to participants rather than mailing large packets; she added that the center would communicate specific expectations about roles staff or volunteers would assume during different emergency scenarios.

Staff reports during the meeting noted March for Meals participation was near a program high (about 75,000 meal units served), the senior-services program is fully staffed with a new driver, and the team is preparing continuation grant paperwork and a triennial Medicaid recertification due at the end of May. Staff also said a donation from the Bill Osborne family will support the senior center’s greenhouse project.

On safety infrastructure, Kathy said the city updated its camera policy and the city manager approved a plan for nine security cameras at the senior center; if the cameras are funded in the upcoming budget, recordings will not be continuously monitored and the facility will post recording notices.

Next steps: the commission recommended the emergency-operations addendum be forwarded to the City Council for formal adoption. The transcript does not record a vote tally for the commission’s recommendation or any roll-call results; the recommendation will be considered by the city council as the next procedural step.