Kenai: 11/12/2026 Council on Aging Meeting

What's going on tonight? No, she's pretty tech savvy. I think we're both, so I don't want to— you, you rest. Okay, we are recording.

Recording. Oh, Okay, I guess we're ready to call to order.

Would you all join me in the Pledge of Allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Roll call. Cruzman. Here. Sigura. Yep.

Smother. Sadler. Keona. Here. Dorothy.

Yes. And I do not see Representative Hargix, so that's a— you have, you have a form, you have a member form.

And, and I have a motion for the agenda approval.

I motion that be approved. Is there a second? Oh, sorry. Thank you.

And, and then scheduled public comments, we have none.

Unscheduled public comments, anyone online or anything?

Uh, do we have an approval of the minutes for the last meeting, October 8th?

So we have a motion to approve the— second. I didn't know if we were still meeting. There's a slide.

Get a second. I'll second it. Is there any unfinished business?

Excuse me, I don't know if at this point I tell a little bit of what I found out about the intergenerational skill. Or wait,. Um, probably 10. No, 2 council,. 3.

Commission members.

All right, so new business.

Is it early or are we all late?

I was late too.

So, new business, capital projects. Hey, yes, if you will turn in your packets to page 6. First of all, I'd like to introduce to, um, those of you who haven't met him yet, this is Levi. He is with Kenai Public Works. He's the Public Works Manager for the City of Hope.

Which they can't. And so he's the one that, um, sets up the capital improvement projects for us, um, and, uh, he's in charge of the whole capital improvement program for the city, along with many, many other seats. And, um, so I had him come today because I wanted to, um, Last year, those of you who were on the commission would remember we did— every year we do a capital project review, right? And I give you— I give you the update. And, um, this is a recommendation that you make as the Commission on Aging to the city council and what you're recommending for the senior center.

Village life is not in this discussion. This is purely just the senior center on there. So, and if you look by the, um, I just gave them a copy of the memo that I sent last week along with this. And so, um, I asked Lee to come and, um, and talk because he, we want to talk about two, um, and we'll just, let's just start with down the list. And, um, comment— Joe, did you want to comment?

So, uh, yeah, the roof repair. And can we— you've seen the, the front canopy out there, and I'll let Pete talk about how that went. So it went way more expensive, uh, than we originally thought. Um, when they tore open the roof, we were expecting, um, because we have had a lot of water coming through that in the past years, so we we were expecting to replace all the plywood that's on top of the roof joists in there. When we opened it up, we found a bunch of the roof joists were also rotten.

There was like 82 that weren't good in that entire room. So we ended up basically just change ordering the contractor to tear off and kind of replace the entire structure of that canopy in there. So added a lot of cost and time delay for them to go through all the additional design and everything to get that done. They're out there working on it now. We had to wait for ordering the metal that we decided to replace as part of the project, just to get the new metal wrapped on there and have it all clean, because all that stuff, all the metal that was going to come off the bottom was probably pretty damaged trying to take it apart, put it back on.

So we went ahead and did the cost just to replace all that metal so everything was nice and new there. They're finishing up the parapet capping out there right now. The last thing we're waiting on is new lights were at for that. Um, I think the total project cost ended up, I want to say, around $220,000. That includes the design and, and all the rework and everything associated.

A little more than the $50,000 that was budgeted. Uh, so when— can I ask some questions back and forth if that's okay? So when it goes over like this, where does that money come from? So all this money comes from the general fund. Um, so when we got to that point in the project, the original, um, cost increase that we went back to get money for was just the construction of the roof.

Um, when we received the bids for the project, uh, the bids were fair and reasonable. We bid this one out with also replacing the roof at the, uh, animal control, um, building. So, um, the costs were pretty comparable, um, to what we've seen on other roof projects in here. So we appropriated, um, I'm not sure, I can't remember how much money it was, but certain amount of money so that we can award the project to the contractor. Um, then after we awarded it, then we found the other issues, so we went back and asked for council to appropriate the additional funds so that we can do the entire room choice.

Yeah, and that one we already talked about. We don't do this, we already learned the whole thing. Yeah.

Yeah, everything in the Senior Citizens Fund is always funded by the general fund dollars.

Okay, this current fiscal year we have the Senior Center door project, and you want to talk about what that's going to. Entail? Yeah, so Kathy and I have been kicking this one around. The original scope of this project was looking at replacing a couple of the doors that come through here and adding some closers on the bathroom doors, um, to make them push-button doors, because I think they're pretty heavy to open and close right now for people with walkers or things like that. Um, and making these doors wider so that wheelchair can fit through them, and they're about like right, right at where you can put in a wheelchair right now.

So, um, we have been having some discussions about possibly changing this project around a little bit with some of the other access in Vantage Point here. So, um, that scope might change. We're— Kathy and I are going to look at that, um, possibly with an architect here soon and, uh, possibly look at changing out how the access works into Vantage Point and possibly redoing some doors here to make, make everything flow a little better. So that was kind of a work in progress right now. Okay, all right.

And we did have an exterior door project that was already in the budget several years ago. Yeah, and that one we have the design finished on it Um, I'm waiting for a cost estimate from the architect, and I'm anticipating we'll figure that out. That's to redo the front doors, um, which will become slider doors to open and close. Um, I think we would put a heat curtain in to help kind of condition that air when people are coming through, and then the interior doors would be sliding open doors with a push button. Um, those doors are going to push back a little bit from where they are now, so that kind of front area will get a little bit reconstructed, but it'll be to provide for better access and try and keep the cold air draft that just kind of shoots right through there.

You're not going to eliminate it, but hopefully it help. Two sets of sliders? No, the first set will be slider, the second side will be swing, the interior set. These are the problems I have with mine. You can't put the inside ones on.

That's too—. Well, they— but they're, they're swinging out.

No,. No, I'm sorry.

Okay, um,.

So when, uh, for instance, this, the, the outside door, the, the front door project was on the Kathy Romaine project. Some years ago. There's been some other work with HVAC systems that are in there as well,. And. That means that the money was put in for that.

It may not have— the work may not be done yet. So there are some projects that were passed previously that the work hasn't been done, but, um, but it gets more and more expensive to do work now, and as we see with that So those of you who've been on the commission for quite some time will remember we talked about the landscaping project, and we talk about that and we keep pushing it back. And so I've been talking with Lee a little bit about that, and I wanted to meet out here. It's a little brighter, and the senior center's closed today. He's out getting food for— so we won't have a lot of going back and forth.

But, um, to do some landscaping in the back, and, uh, we would look for grants for this to do that. And, um, we, uh, um, talked to Leslie about the bluff and your thoughts on when that might, um, concerns about how the bluff is still, still watching. Yeah. Um, So there's no exact timeline. So we finished that project last year.

We just did a 1-year warranty walkthrough on the bluff with the Corps of Engineers about a month ago. And everything's holding up really well. The vegetation actually at the bottom, at this side of the bluff, is looking pretty good. Just with the sloughing that's already happening from the top, you can already see a lot of vegetation growing behind that wall. So the idea is that as more of it sloughs off, it's eventually going to get to some angle where it would kind of settle and vegetate.

And that's what we know is really stabilized as far as it's not going to— shouldn't keep slipping off because we've anchored that toe. So we're kind of at a waiting point for that to happen. The city has money set aside, state grants for that project to build an access path down there so that we can maintain it in the future. But that's one of those things that we don't want to build until this until it's all stabilized, because a lot of it is going to just slough off on top of that wall. And if you keep digging it up or trying to maintain it, more of it just keeps sloughing.

So we kind of want to let nature run its course and stabilize. But, you know, that could take 5 years, it could take 10, we don't really know. It's just going to be what, what it is. So with that being said, I think you could look at doing some sort of landscaping back here. We have some models we did with our engineering company for the bluff that gives some possible lines along the property of where the erosion could occur to.

You know, there's like best case and worst case scenarios. So we could look at doing some landscaping closer to the building or something along those lines if you want to try and move something like that forward to a certain point. It's just a question of, you know, you don't want to obviously do something right out on the edge that it might fall off the edge of the earth.

You get closer to the sun. Yeah. Is there any consideration about terracing? No.

So the landscaping, um, when Rachel— it's been 10 years, um, that we've been pushing that landscape. Rachel and I talked to you, pushing that, and So it's 9 years. So I think one of the, one of the thoughts to get it, we had initially talked about doing pathways so that someone on a wheelchair or walker would be easier. The memory walks over at Lee Hanson Park, I don't know if they're doing any more memory walks, but they're sold out. On the things that you can purchase for memory.

And so we have talked about having a place for memory, a place that even some benches and some bushes and put some more growth out there and things. So there's a lot that we could do. Those plans are not finalized. Even having fire pit and, you know, and looking something like that. So there's a lot.

So I think it would make sense probably to push that back even again. And I'll put that on there next month that we can push those back again until we get a better idea of what our back— how much back there we have. Yeah. So we talk about that every year. So I just have a question for you about the— can go back to the bluff just for a minute.

Is there any way they can measure the rate of erosion in a way? There is. We actually got a— yeah, when we did the study on that, we did a survey of the entire bluff after they built the wall so that we could kind of get a baseline of where it is now. I mean, continuous, going into the future. Is there any way of monitoring?

I mean, that's essential. I mean, the— I think the projections say anywhere from 2 to 3 feet a year is kind of the average rate of erosion. But since we did that, we did the survey all the way along the bank so that we know where it started, so that we had a monitor and see how it's moving in the future.

Yeah, there are no plans for any kind of interim.

Action, meaning. What, with stabilizing further? No, essentially since we built the— got the whole wall built on the edge there, that should be the— that's the main stabilizing action. The rest is just letting nature take its course, waiting for its education, adding more place. Yeah, you're going to wait that happen before you put that thing down there?

That's the goal, yeah. Let's wait for it to mostly get stabilized, that we be able to put that. Huh? No slide. No slide anymore.

Yeah, no, we actually have the design, um, we have like 95% design on the pathway to go down there, but we just wouldn't be building anything until it's— this is not—. Do they do any planting to help vegetation? No, I don't know. Okay, like it doesn't fit Yeah, true. That's— but I'm there, you know what I mean?

I ask a question about that. We talked about the memory block. Oh, I think she came as far as, um, now, you know, we have people that have passed, you know, and today we possibly maybe start was just getting like, you know, those paper bricks and something done so we can just pay for it and then we can just place them out there until we can get a whole walkway without— There have been, there's been so many missed opportunities that way. That's right. You know, through the years of the senior center's been.

Here, the family Hadsey Clifford and the family at Buff Steiner have already contributed funds toward possibly, um, a small tree or a bush or something, and that's a useful model to have. Art bench, they wanted. Um, can we start like the advertisement of that, of saying, you know, when a family that you know, or just speaking to the family that this is our, our projection, you know, couple years down the road or whatever. And so if you'd like to put some funds toward that, then this is what we'll be doing. You put a bush in for you or a plaque or just something.

Usually when the family has a donation, has memorial that they want to give, and, um, they want to I will ask them, do you have anything specific that you would like this to go to? If, and they say, oh, can I do that? Absolutely. And so, yeah, and so then they can. I think it would be, I think that would be a great discussion to have as far as a memory wall or a memory plaque or memory steps and wondering where that could go until we start the process.

I don't mind that idea of talking about it. I think that, yeah, we do talk to them somewhat about that. I just said, yeah, that was a possibility.

Lee, do you have carpet?

Yeah, we would put that in the budget for next year. That's what you and I talked. About for carpet for the dining room. So the one thing, and we love our carpet, I mean, our carpet's nice. It does not do well on stains.

We have a terrible issue with stains. And it was put in, it's about 8 years. 8 Or 9 years. And, um, so it, it, it would, um, you know, I, I would be opposed to putting the whole thing with LBP in, in the building, but it'd be a whole lot easier to keep clean. But the sound issues, the sound issues that we have with the tall ceiling and all, we have really bad ones in this room.

It would be a special project. Down the line. So, but, um, we are going to look at putting, uh, replacing carpet with diamond. Awesome. Have, have you guys looked into, like, carpet tile instead?

Carpet tile? So that goes off the back and the furniture? Exactly. Before we make that decision, we got to find a home for carpet, because we do have boxes of carpet. Right.

Because you can just Back to you, Robert. Okay. All right. So anything, any other down the line you're looking at? You and I talked about doing the computer room remodel down the line, depending on what we end up with the door room here.

The only other thing is I think we're going to be appropriating some supplemental funds for that front door project as well. I don't know if that's the way it's very cost-effective for the architect, so. We'll be doing that. So, um, yeah, the only thing I would, you know, add as far as spending money from the general fund is just that the city's getting hit a little harder this year with the medical insurance cost is not waived to the city and the vote passing for the property tax, um, deferment. So I think they're okay that way.

You know, between that, those two things, it's like a $1.2, $1.3 million, um, increase and decrease in revenues, or decrease in revenues from the sales tax and increase in expenses from the medical. So we are potentially looking at spending a little less on capital here this year than we have in the past years, but they're just getting started in the budget process, so assume that all And then, but, but typically I, I put this plan together with all the department heads and, um, commission recommendations. Um, then we will present it to council, um, or we can have possibly the first meeting in January this year. Um, and then the second meeting is usually when you approve it. Um, and half the plan at that point is still just a plan.

So none of that is appropriated funds or anything. It's just the recommendation that we developed with board. So then the actual appropriations come as part of the budget when actually finalizing everything. So I think we have to be able to bring it— so. It would be good to push the landscaping back, would be good to push, and maybe even the carpeting.

And, and, and see if there's some other, um, if we have the, the tiles that are definitely most stained, we could get them replaced. So we do have boxes of tiles, the carpet tiles that we purchased with carpet replacement.

Anything else, Kenai, for us? Any questions you may have?

Okay, I was just curious about the Department of Public Works. Is there one budget that covers everything under that, and what does that actually include? Public Works? So Public Works is several budgets, several. Oh, several.

I— we have our Public Works Administration, which is me, my administrative assistant, and our assistant works director. Uh, we have the buildings department, which is 2 guys and, um, all our janitorial staff and our building inspector for the city. Um, we have our streets department, uh, which manages all the streets. Um, that's 5 people. Our utility department, um, the 7 guys in the utility department, um, they are funded separately with the water and sewer fund, so it doesn't come out of general city.

So it's all made of water and sewer payers. And, um, yeah, in our shop, um, we have 3 mechanics that maintain all the fleet for water and sewer for the airport, um, for police and fire, all that. So that's in Public Works. Uh, we also have the safety budget for, uh, managing safety department and purchasing safety equipment, things like that for the city. Um, and our streetlight budget is under Public Works as well.

Remember, just a tiny, tiny little bit for this. 50 Cents isn't bad. So, and on top of that is just, yeah, the capital. Our department's in charge of the capital, capital projects throughout the city. So that's generally anything over $35,000.

That's a cap— over like $35,000— thank you— for kind of capital project. And most of it's construction or— I. Can read it on this because it is popped up. Gotcha. Yeah, so some things we still just hand out once we, you know, goes in bidding on it.

I mean like, not happy or something. We help, we help purchase vehicles, things like that. So that comes to mind that we be talking about, um, is that what we got to do? Uh, not at this time. Okay, we can— we will talk.

Okay, good. I got to go.

So any other questions for me?

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You're supposed to stay, especially since you have— All right, so I'm going to move on then. Seniors, we're forth.

My director, uh, I don't have any calendars on me. So sorry.

I was able to speak at the borough on Monday. Hopefully, the borough hosts these gaps and solutions. The one they've been working on for the last few years is transportation in the area. And this one, which I know is dear to Council on Aging's heart, is this one with housing. Senior housing.

And well, it was— I was talking about senior housing, they were talking about housing in general. So they had speakers from around the area, um, and from around the state talk about— and I was giving, um, representing the other senior centers and all the senior areas. And I, um, told them— I— we talked about how much, um, low-income housing is being built in our area. Thanks to the City of Kenai, KPHI is building new housing over on Le Out, and, um, last units, wonderful units, um, people have been very happy with them. And, um, but there was one, there was one area for seniors that I thought was being overlooked and needed to be remembered, and that was— I won't— I, I said middle to upper income, but it should be market rate seniors, people who pay market rate for their rent.

And, um, so talked a lot about that. They were shocked at how many people are on our wait list. And, um, of course, the biggest issue is money. Everybody needs money, you know. So, um, explain, you know, $5 million to build the one, the 40-unit we have over here, probably $25 million to build another one.

And no one has that kind of money, and you can't find grants that would feed into that. So just wanted to remind them that that was a— when they talk about low-income housing, they talk about the need for that as well for senior housing. There's also other seniors that need to be, you know, and Red and I, we see the Majority of people who talk to us about housing, because they know we don't have low-income housing, but they're folks that they're like Brad or I in our ages who are moving with folks that the parents want to live in this area, and they can't find housing for them. The parents don't qualify for lower income, they don't need subsidy, and but there isn't anything available. And if there is, is it practical for settlement aging and so that they can keep their parents in, you know, parents want to stay in the family as long as possible.

And the second one would be for the homeowner who is, uh, they worked, lived here, retired here, and they don't want to take care of the home anymore. And so as many of you completely understand, I live next door, and so sorry, Jane, you've bothered me all night. I know.

Oh, excuse me. So it's, um, anyway, there is a program with Alaska Housing. It's the GOAL program, and it does talk about grants and funding, and there are outside investors. There are investors, but it would require— and they have a senior housing, um, special program. And so I'm trying, um, in December to get us connected with, uh, the person at Alaska Housing who manages that program.

So we could have a Zoom session with them and for Council on Aging so we could ask all the questions we would ask about what would that entail. And I know, um, it, it, um, we do have in the capital plan somewhere down the line to do a survey, a, um, a, it would be a feasibility study for senior housing and the council did put that in there, but we're talking $300,000 for that to happen. $300,000 For feasibility study. And those have a time, those have a timeline on them, meaning that they have an expiration date. So they won't last.

You can't get one done now and then expect to go in 5 or 10 years after you get your funding approved. They have a certain period where they expire. So lots of questions, lots of things that I'm not sure about, but it was good to be a part of the discussion and it was I'm going to, from where seniors come from, and they only gave me 5 minutes. So anyway, heard talk a lot longer. So that was this week.

We are gearing up for the craft fair, which is this weekend, Saturday and Sunday here. And then next Friday is the Hillport luncheon, which we are over 200 signed up for this. And I'm seeing people that we have never seen before on this list. So that's it. Hill Corps is running— they're going to be running their pan that they produced here 2 years ago.

And some of you I don't know— it was great. Yeah, it's okay. I got an email when I bought it in yesterday, an email saying that they're buying it again. So that's cool. But you were also Um, let's see, in December, all sorts of winter activities, all sorts of Christmas activities.

So anything you think they have read, think you're listening sessions? Yes. So, um, that, you know, I said, you know, Commission on Indian Food Safety. So every 4 years there's a new Senior Plan in order to get Older American funds with the Older Americans Act, which was in the 1960s. Um, we get funds from that every year through the state of Alaska.

That's a Title III grant. Uh, that's over $300,000 to the senior center, which means a lot. It means a lot to us. So, um, what they— any, any state that receives those funds Um, goes through a process of developing state plan procedures, and it's a 4-year plan, and this is the year to do that. So they're— we're holding listening sessions.

I think ours here is on, um, Tuesday. Tuesday. It was, um, it'll be here at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, and I'll represent the commission. We just go through and talk about— there is a survey that I have out as well, and is that the— let's say, last week, Commissioner Majors, right? And then, um, if, if, um, I can't get into my email today, otherwise I wouldn't be able to— is the, the city survey that, um, the city is developing a strategic plan sent all of you an email.

Janet, I'm not sure you got yours yet. I'm sorry. And go forward. Um, it's, it's, uh, an email. Did you get yours?

A survey on what you would like to see, and as a commission member, what you'd like to see from the city moving forward. And what— I mean, do you want to see, you know, a, um, a big mall here? You want to see 4-car dealerships? What do you want to see? You know, what is your— or is you want to see more parks?

So, so, um, anyway, there's a survey, and if you can't do that survey online, um, please let me know, and I'll give you a paper January one that you can do. Okay. As soon as I can get in there, I'll get you one. Yeah. And, um, so I, I, um, they sent them to employees and, uh, uh, the end of the '80s, Christine told me they were like '80s.

Surveys that came back. They sent them to all the commissions. And I think it was either 3 or 7. Yeah, it was a little bit. I heard it was very young, 3 or 7.

And so I said, I really think as far as we know here, we get a whole lot more response with paper surveys. So next month we'll talk more about the Commission on Aging survey things too, but I'll get all of you a paper survey. For the commission, but this Council on Aging, I know, so, so, they're very open. They see one. Yeah, it.

Takes, it takes. A little bit. It's a very open-ended question, so it can be—. It— well, and, and I found it difficult as an employee to— when I'm working, I am multitasking 100 miles an hour and constantly, and then All of a sudden I gotta stop and focus.

See, I need, I like multiple choice. Yeah. I like, okay, what is, you know, you don't have to write it down. Yeah,. It was pretty open-ended.

So, yeah. I think that's, oh, we have hired David Weeks as the cook to replace Missy. David Weeks. He's in my kitchen already, and he started to make some changes over the last 3 months and things. If those of you who eat down here or eat here, you'll notice we've cut back on desserts.

We're doing fresh fruit 3 days a week and desserts twice a week. And doing— he is also— we've been able to cut back on our bulk black meals that are frozen and we serve them up because he can, he takes what he has left over and he makes like white trays of patty loaf now. There's white trays and it saves us quite a bit of money. And so it's just, just a different, a different way of looking at things. And, and Missy has been back.

She's been back part-time when Dave was on vacation last week. She was back. Or she got a few hours in, but it's still pretty limited. She's, she's taking it easy. Her retirement party is December 4th, and it is Friday, December 4th, and it is here at the senior center.

It is during lunch. She did not want an evening activity. It will be during lunch. She wants, because seniors are who, you know, she's cooked for 24 years. She's found— December 4th.

December 4th. That's a Friday then. It is Friday, yeah. And so, um, I'll have cards and things going around. There is a collection being taken up for her.

Um, if you're interested in that, you can see me or Brett. And, um, Anyway, it should be a fun time. So she picked the menu and she picked ribs. Yeah, and she's not good with that day. She's not good.

She's— her last day is November 30th. So, yeah, last day. We are currently hiring a kitchen assistant. Have you looked at any— pardon me, have you looked at anybody? I'm going to be interviewing.

We will be interviewing the first week. And, uh, Red, David, and I will be letting David in on this. And then, um, and we're also hiring a, uh, another driver for Homer's. And so, well, driver all around, 14-hour, we're going to leave that open.

So another question, what is a white tray and a black tray on the If you get them, you know. Yes, you do. So Patti was using those. Oh, yours are made up and they're frozen and they're— No, they're purchased from Gold Gourmet. And they're not—.

They don't have seasonings. They do not have that extra little bit of love that a white meal has coming from the kitchen. Oh, so they told me. The homemade ones are about higher value. I'm on the honors of that.

At least they think so. Get food, you know, a good, a good stable food meal. But I remember the Y trays, so that ugly one, the white with the A's. Don't leave me on those platforms. Leave me one of those.

You could not clean off your line thing. Oh yeah, lots of stuff. And we'll have a complete summary for my report. I did start working on a little bit. I have been in a moving mode and packing, so, uh, structure.

Yeah. So I have started working on, I have a list of places for the quick lookup number that we talked about putting in the packets. And I did get a chance to go through the packet itself. And there's some pages missing that I had. One of them was like an appendix.

So like on the quick look at, I just have the name and the phone numbers and I have it broken down by transportation, PCA, medical, kids, that kind of thing. And so when we get computer systems back up and running, then maybe we can email or just bring it to the next meeting. And that way, if there's something I missed or something that's on there that you're like, hmm, probably not, then we'll make adjustments and stuff. And then the appendix that I have, I think on the old computer here, actually lists like the names, addresses, phone numbers, and I'll put like hours and stuff on that. And so I started working a little bit on the table of contents.

I don't remember how to work Word so much, so that's taking me a little bit of time to remember how to do all that kind of stuff. But my plan is that I'm moving in on the 18th, and so that I'll be unpacking, but after that I'll I'll plan on Thursday mornings coming in, working on the computer and getting that project finished for us and stuff. So, so, um, that's the only thing I have on my report. So City Council, she can't be here today. And then Carolyn, do you have anything to report?

Um, for our, um, sports, our volleyball team is currently at a tournament and they won their game against Sparrow today. Oh yeah, so they're moving up in the tournament. And, uh, skiing started. We're just working out in the weight room since there's snow outside. Um,.

Hockey has a game tomorrow at the Kenai River versus Diamond Ridge High School. And wrestling has a meet in Soldotna on the 19th and a tournament on the 20th. And, um, our student council is collecting cans for a food drive. We just started, um, this week and it ends next Tuesday. We'll be donating food to families that need, and we've also been decorating the doors of teachers to show appreciation for them.

Mm-hmm. And, um, we're— we've been doing, um, team-building activities, which are activities that the students, um, organize and have the class do so that we are all on the same page and to encourage collaboration. And then, um, events in the auditorium. Our drama class is gonna put on play— a play called Clue. And it's based on the board game called Clue.

And I. Saw that this week. Yeah, it was really— it was—. Is it on again? It's this weekend.

This is the end of it, right? Yeah, it'll be shown on Friday the 13th at 7 PM, Saturday the 14th at 7 PM, and Sunday the 15th at 2. Yeah. And this is the information. And then our winter band concert will be on December 10th at 6:00 PM, and the choir concert will be on December 15th at 7:00 PM.

And all of that is on that packet.

Nice. We say that M4 game on the second floor today. It's more complicated than you think, Bernette. And then I got a date to play the dance, uh, January 20th is what I was told, the people in charge.

So yay! And now dance again, that's my scene.

Yeah, is that a Wednesday? Yes. The 20th is a Wednesday night.

Okay. And that was here, right? That— I'm trying to remember what we talked about the dance. Refresh my memory. I don't know.

I mean, I assumed it would be at the school, but I didn't— I didn't know for all. It's whatever you guys want.

But it was the dance for seniors? Yes, senior, elderly seniors. And then the leadership class was just going to go over how to serve food and stuff. All right, perfect.

Take a little turn.

Especially, it's hard for seniors to drive at night.

Thank you.

Next slide. Are you still getting votes and yes? Um, I don't know. Okay, that's okay.

Okay, any— we had no public, you know, from the public, so no public. So I guess our next meeting could be December 10th.

It's— So should we go around and see if there's any comments and questions and stuff? And Abby, we'll start with you. Well, the only one that I had was I'd say, um, okay, the, um, behind the desk where the heat that replaces looks kind of tacky. So I was thinking, you know, if we could do something like what Kathy said, hey, you know, I can come and, you know, put up a piece of wood with the trim on it and make it like chalkboard, and you can really easy. But then she was talking about—.

I need to talk. To Carmel. Oh, okay. So it needs to. Be— well, and it— we had— he's a building foreman.

Oh,. Okay. And so, um, what I would love to see put back in is a gas fireplace. Um, we had two— we had two gas fireplaces in here. I started here and they put out a great amount of heat.

And, but my understanding is that they don't, they, that's why we got the electric one. And I think the gas is now maybe covered up with the deck. I don't know. So I think we need to, we need to make a decision to either pull that fireplace out. To pull it out and put it in there.

Yeah. So storage back there or something too. You know, I haven't even put that storage. No more storage. Something to get put clean.

But, and I thought too, they could even put shipboard. They have tongue and groove pine that was on the other parts of it. And then we just whitewashed that tongue and groove pine when we did the entryway. That would be neat. I would think it's easy to do, but that's— Carmel has beautiful houses.

Oh,. It is something that makes it look better and also seals it, you know, to where doesn't have a breeze going through. I'm sitting at the desk and it's like, it's getting cold back here. It's because of the— probably not related to anything else, but Amazon delivers. Sometimes Amazon gets confused with our address over there and delivers to our address.

So I get, you know, well, it doesn't happen a lot.

I wonder if we could talk to a representative from Amazon. Just a little backstory on that. Yes.

FedEx and the Post Office. And FedEx too. Oh, UPS, FedEx, and Post Office. All have, they're usually the same driver in this area. And if they switch, you know, FedEx driver has one area that he delivers to, say UPS.

And so they have their own swipe key to get through that front door. And so they can take them to the different apartments and whatnot. Amazon has quite a few drivers. They hire people locally. They do.

And so there are always different people that come. They are. And I mean, Bill and I have talked about that and we're opposed to giving them each a swipe key. So if they— what they're supposed to do is they're supposed to go in and hit your room, your apartment number. As an apartment, you're supposed to do, and if they can't, Then they come back and leave it here at the desk, and then we'll make sure that you get it.

Bill's down there a couple times a day. We take that. And so I don't know that they have been as good at trying Biddish Point first. And so, and we will, I will, I will speak with them. Okay.

So, but yeah, we don't want each of the Amazon drivers to have a swipe.

Okay, um, this night I had Amazon tell me that they delivered at the reception desk. They would tell you that? It was on— They won't even tell me that. They won't even tell me that. They put that on there and it was Sunday, so there's no way they could.

So I called them and tried to tell them, you know, on the phone. I think it's because they're hiring people gives that or not for full-time employees of Amazon, where the problem—. They're just firing them. They just don't know the scope because if you're living in a regular residential area, that could never happen. You know, they'll take a picture of it and send it to you.

And usually we don't get that either from Amazon. They're supposed to take a Photos and post it to you. Yeah. And, uh, execute when it's delivered.

I'm telling you, anyway, I contacted the Kenai Library, spoke with a gentleman by Seth Gray, very nice gentleman. Um, they don't take volunteers right now. So there's really not much available right now at the city of Kenai. Then I called the Boys and Girls Club, spoke with Emily. She was really excited.

She needs to know what we want to do because she has to get approval. So, um, let us go. I talked with Courtney. She, again, the background check. And Courtney was going to pass along to Marcy McClendon to return my call.

Haven't got call. Aurora Borealis, he wanted the principal wanted to communicate with email. So I emailed him, have not heard back. Mountain View, still haven't heard it. And some of the concerns that I had looking through all this.

And will the volunteers be just from the commission or the public or this vintage point? Um, and then will transportation be provided to the seniors? And then the schedule. So those were my concerns. Um, some other activities I thought of besides reading would be puzzles, board games, Burning Crafts, Kenai River, and Lunch Buddies.

But unfortunately, I think the way that society has become in the schools, it's going to be hard to be able to do that. And then to take the public, you know, somehow do that, that would I don't think that's a. Good— you need some teachers involved. So teachers who are looking for older people in the classroom to help. And,.

And yeah, I've already— I will do anything to help, you know, and raising— and so you got to go through receptionist where my aunt uses the phone, and you got to go through the principal, and that's who running into trouble. But of all the people I called, Emily at the Boys and Girls Club was. Most. Enthusiastic. And she said, just give me an idea of what you want to do, and then she can get the approval that she would need.

But there's so many children that are homeschooled in this area. Mm-hmm. You wonder if maybe you could target that group. Idea, connection. I don't know.

But then you'd have to deal with individual parents, which is probably not going to be—. There is that skittish. And if we schedule the same feeling, it'll work a whole lot. Even in the pen pal situation, you know, you got that skittish. You got to make sure before we send them out.

It's unfortunate. That's unfortunate. Bad guys. Exactly. Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone have any other comments or questions?

Kathy? Bill? From the standpoint of the delivery next door, you're going to see a lot of new drivers. Christmas is here. They put on a lot of new folks.

So there'll be some questions. We don't want to let them in automatically, right? That's why it's. Here. Oh, and talking about, you know, security, I heard somebody had a car stolen just from the parking lot.

Has anybody ever considered putting cameras in our parking lot or even at every entrance?

I got some cameras. I got 9 of them on my desk.

Welcome to you, Janet. It's nice to have you here.

Any comments or questions? Not just yet. We will have.

Any questions for you, Carol? Do I have a motion for adjournment?

You guys want to stay? Okay, I'll set it up. Carol, okay.

I don't know. I don't know exactly.