Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Senior Services topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Senior-center director reports ridership gains, details WRTA-linked service and survey methods
Summary
The Westborough Council on Aging accepted the senior-center director27s monthly report showing a 14-ride increase in May (367 total), expanded service area with WRTA partnership, and a phone-based rider-feedback approach; members discussed limits to monthly quantitative reporting and the need for year-to-date trend charts.
The Westborough Council on Aging on an August meeting accepted the senior-center director27s monthly report covering transportation, outreach and program activity.
Senior Center Director (speaker 5) reported 367 rides in May, a 14-ride increase from April; average daily attendance of 52.76; 192.5 volunteer hours; and 426 individuals visiting 1,468 times. The director said outreach efforts included farmers-market engagement, two summer dinners and a cooking class, and that staff will run additional community-engagement sessions tied to the community-center planning process.
Members focused much of their questioning on the center27s transportation service. The director said the program expanded from town-only trips to carry Westborough residents anywhere in Westborough, New Northboro and Shrewsbury, and to medical appointments at Marlborough and Worcester facilities, including dialysis and cancer-treatment centers. She said the rides are free for now but that the WRTA board must vote annually to continue that policy.
On rider feedback, the director said staff rely on a volunteer caller who follows a scripted set of phone questions to collect qualitative feedback; WRTA does not supply the phone-call data. She told members that compiling paragraph-level responses into a monthly numeric report would be burdensome and recommended an annual summary instead, though members asked for year-to-date trend charts ("just a graph") to see changes over time.
Council member Guido (speaker 2) pressed for more frequent data and trend visibility; the director said a staff member (Daryl) has begun producing year-to-date charts for internal use and could provide them for the council if requested. The director also confirmed the town owns three buses in addition to two WRTA-operated vehicles used for the program and noted that at present there is no mechanism for drivers to accept cash fares.
Speaker 1 moved to accept the director27s report and Guido seconded; members voted by voice and the motion passed. The vote formally recorded acceptance of the monthly report, which will inform upcoming community-outreach sessions and program planning.
The council asked staff to consider whether a condensed, periodic charted summary could be provided to show trends without requiring full monthly narrative compilations.
