Town Council - Special Meeting

Council is called to order and can we please start with a role? Council member Renie here. Council member Hudis here. Council member Badami here. Vice Mayor Risto here. Mayor Moore

here. Uh perfect. Um so we'll go to verbal communication. See if anyone um from the public wants to speak ahead of our uh discussion this evening. Seeing none, I'll close verbal communications and I'll turn it over to the clerk to introduce this item for us.

Good evening. Council is scheduled to interview two applicants. The interview binders contain the interview questions approved by council in policy 2-11. The standard questions are limited in number to allow the applicant sufficient time to respond. You can decide not to ask all the provided questions, change the order in which they were provided or ask other appropriate questions. The mayor will determine the order. Council members will ask questions for each applicant and applicants will be given two minutes to respond to each question. Once the interviews are completed, I will announce the commission along with the number of vacancies and the number of applicants who applied to the position and distribute the ballots. Once the voting process for the commission is complete, I will announce the results. In the order for candidates to be appointed, a majority of three or more votes must occur and the mayor will now proceed with the interviews. Thank you.

Perfect. Thank you very much. You can come on up. Um, have a seat. And apologies for the mic. So I'll ask you to both speak into the mic because this meeting is recorded and that way they can uh hear it online. So that's the the formality there. Though we like to be a little bit less formal at at the table alto together here.

Um um so how this process will work is each council member will ask you a question. Um we'll alternate who starts back and forth. Um, so, um, if it works because we just have two applicants, u, maybe we ask a question and both applicants answer. Um, we'll alternate and we'll go through the five of us. If there's any remaining questions, we will, uh, ask you more. Um, but you'll each probably have about five questions to to um, introduce yourselves to us. So, any questions about the process? Okay, perfect. Um, so when we ask questions, if you don't mind using the mic, um, we would appreciate it. and you can just flip it

on. Um, yeah, perfect. Um, do you want to just introduce yourselves to us? Um, your names and

the real name is Stuart Brewster, but I go by Skip generally. I'm Laura Halbert and I go by Wild Woman. Perfect. Thank you. Um so Vice Mayor Risto will ask the first question.

Okay. Um thank you both for being here. Uh you both have very impressive applications. Um given your roles in the community, what what would you identify as a top thing in the next year or two you'd like to see community health and senior services address or solve? And I guess I'll go to Skip first and then Wildwoman. Um there's so many things that could be uh I made actually made a list of different things but I think I think uh I think the f first thing that I'd go is u trying to develop help I have I have a note here developing help through possibly getting interns through the college of health and human services at San Jose State to help with the aging and aging staying in place keeping seniors to live in their home is to to me is a very important um goal that we could have.

There's so many. If I could ask a follow on on that. I mean, would that be something you see as the commission overseeing or the county or the town or

it when I was in the Peace Corps, they told us to not jump to conclusions to do a needs analysis before you did anything. So, I'm just winging it. It may be that the council has already focused on this and there's other goals that put in place. I've read I've read through the seven other goals and and uh the two that I would probably want to focus on uh are the sorry are are of course thrives and uh care core senior services. And I say Thrives because I've been involved with Thrives. Thank you.

Thank you, Laura. Same question.

Uh what I've lived here a long time and I've seen a lot of really good things uh that have been happening in the town. Some some of them I saw in the beginning and then they go away and then they come back and I see this position as being somebody to put together the enormous resources that already exist. Um, communication, developing an attitude of problem solving rather than winning and losing. I think this town has a lot of really good stuff going for it and but a lot of times people aren't aware of it. So, communication would maybe developing some sort of um like a not a newsletter per se, but like a handout that lists the resources that are already available, but nobody really knows about them. Um, my children went through schools here and I don't think they were ever exposed or required to do anything with regard to community development. But my grandchildren when they hit the high school here, uh, they were and it was a wonderful, wonderful thing that was required and I think could be expanded upon by working with the high school and that is uh the kids were required, it was a requirement that they do some sort of a good deed type community service and for my granddaughter. It just really opened

up a whole new world uh for her and it also did a lot of good. Uh my grandson learned that there were other ways and began doing things like random acts of kindness. Well, that would require maybe coordinating with the with the high school and that class to develop it to have a senior component.

Thank you. Um, and so when the you have two about two minutes I didn't uh warn you. So my No, no, my apologies. I didn't warn you. Um, you'll have about two No, I didn't. You'll have two minutes um to to wrap up uh your questions and uh you'll hear the the ding. Though you do not have to take the full two minutes. So, thank you. We'll go to Council Member Badami. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, Skip, I'll start with you. Um, can you expand on working with Lost Scatus Thrives and how it inspired you to apply to the commission because I'm I'm maybe making a an assumption that that's what inspired you to apply to the commission.

Well, first of all, what inspired me is that uh Ellen Vic uh came to me and said, "Please apply." And uh and I didn't have any aspirations to do that because I got a pretty full agenda. But um I'm a member of the ro Rotary as with uh council member Hudes and I was asked by Tom Picro to come and join Lascas thrived because he uh thought with my Peace Corps background as well as my all other activities and volunteering especially with the United Methodist Church that I had so many uh connections in the community that he thought that thrives would be a good fit. Once I got to Thrives, um, people liked some of my ideas. And I guess one of the ideas that took off was I said, "Hey, we we need some help. So, let's go down to the, uh, San Jose State Masters program in Urban Development and get some interns." And this turned out to be so valuable. I think uh that that uh council member Hudz agreed that this turned out to be so valuable for us to have this expertise and give this committee some cred extra credibility to move forward on the analysis of of our needs. So um I've always been interested uh in the Peace Corps I was community development specialist. I've always been interested though in senior services. I I'm interested in all people but senior services because of our aging population. Um I've done a lot of voluntary work with seniors and since the main I'm not saying name um not even primary work because it's inter intergenerational uh community centers being been built but I'm really interested in quality of life for seniors and as I said before one of the programs is getting people to be able to stay in home. uh statistically um 82 I think 82% in a

survey came out a couple weeks ago 82% of seniors over 75 have number one goal to stay in their house. Thank you. Okay. Um Miss Halbert, um during your answer to the vice mayor, you talked about problems that go away and come back in Lascatus. Can you expand on that and how you might be able to solve those in working in this commission?

Okay. One, um, when I first moved here, I was active in a hospice group and one of the resources available was PG&E. you could call them and but that was when they were still walking around you reading meters they if they received a request they'd knock on the door and do a welfare check. Um the churches were much more involved and had programs that helped. I started a casserole uh group at one of the churches whereby if there was a parishioner that was undergoing some sort of trauma like a death in the family or hospitalization instead of one person doing it as on the casserole brigade. Uh, I'd sign you up for Mondays and you up for Tuesdays and you until we and then we would make one phone call to the family impacted, find out if there were any allergies or if they were possibly uh eating kosher foods, um, whatever a special need might be. And then every day at 5:00, the Monday person would drop off a meal that was enough to feed them for that night and uh freeze for a second meal. So the churches seem to I I don't hear much about them anymore. Um, the police, I think there was more what we called in those days community

policing rather than just law enforcement. Thank you. Thank you, Council Ren. Okay. Well, I'll start with Laura. Give her a chance first this time. Um, one of your answers, you said you have a a wealth of experience servicing the needs of the target population. Perhaps you've started to answer that, but um could you expand on that a little bit more? Well, I uh can you grab the mic? Oh, thank you.

Uh with Jim Mcnty, I opened the first cold weather shelter in the county and that ed not only did it help all these people, it educated the heck out of me. And we found out that sometimes just throwing something at somebody wasn't really help that we had to, for instance, to come into the cold weather shelter, you needed to be sober. Otherwise, you were going to come in, yes, we would be feeding you and protecting you, but you would be endangering all the other people. Um, so then I worked for uh, Volunteers of America and opened up a community mother infant program that took in federal prison inmates, state prison inmates, and uh, county inmates uh, that were mothers with children under the age of two. that that would be in lie of prison and we would teach living skills and also to to work and earn what you need. There are many ways to earn it. Doesn't have to be hard labor and shoveling. Um again, building upon resources.

Okay. Thank you. Um, Skip, you answered um the same question with um experience with the LJ55 playing ping pong and you've probably seen me in there putting the puzzle together and I've spent a lot of time playing cards and so forth. So, I get a I get a feel for kind of what goes on there. And one of the things this commission does is analyze or maybe oversee the services the 55 plus program provides. So, did do you know in your time there, have you got a feel for how's it going? Things going well, maybe things that could be improved, um observations.

Thank you, Councilman. Um the staff are wonderful. They are dedicated and they are uh friendly, but they have limited space and they and they do so much. If you look at the calendar, I think it came out yesterday, they just do so much in outreach. Um, I go to several events, but I do go to I I'm pretty good at playing a little pong. And uh, we it's more of social than it is actually physical. And people get to know each other and and and it people said to me that they come more for the social rather than the the uh, activity. And so it it just this is reinforced through all community centers throughout the United States. We're not reinventing the wheel here. in the fact the United States is such an aging population, we can gather information as the thrives did from our community centers in the Santa Clara County. So, there's just so much information that we can um we can hitchkite on from other community centers. But this partic I'm not going to be negative all about this community center because they do the maximum amount of work and value with the limited space and in budget that they have. Let's face it, there always a budget restraint. Um we I just uh participated in the um Rotary sponsored first I it's not really a New Year's party because it's like 10 days later where I I served all the mock cocktails and uh it was a fun event. I think maybe there's a hundred people there and it was up for a lowcost event. It was wonderful. Very it was great. and the Peace Corps. Part of our mission, our our our goal was working with 17 to 25 year olds, but we also knew the the health needs in our community. That's why my biggest project in Armenia was the starting a diabetes support group. So may that may relate possibly. I have no no way of knowing but maybe we need a

diabetes support group because as you know uh statistically 18% of people have diabetes over over 65. Thank you. Are are you missing out on a Rotary event at Galley right now? I walked by looked like your Rotary was in there. They're there's a big crowd over there. I'm not much of a drinker but I might stop by and have an order in a bit. Council member Hudus.

Yeah, thank you. Um, Skip, I'll start with you. Um, so, uh, you mentioned one of the unmet needs is aging in place. Um, I wanted to maybe just continue that conversation a little bit. Um, what are the things that you think would make it easier for older adults to age in place in those countries? Well, my personal experience is my mother who passed at 97 two years ago and my brother and I and my sister were desperate. She's she was in Florida to keep her in the house. She wasn't the type of she was very outgoing. She wasn't the type to go to a a um retirement home. So, we hired a lot of people to come into the house every day toward the end. It was every day. It was uh four hours a day. that takes money, but there are services with visiting angels that we used, but there are several different uh uh for-profit um companies that will provide the services. So, um my mother played piano a week before she died. She sang, she had good quality of life because she stayed in her home. I got my brother and sister-in-law to to buy a home with her to live with her. So, it turned out to be my sister-in-law is a nurse, so it worked out wonderfully. I don't know if that answers your question, Councilman, but

personal experience definitely um adds to that and I'm sure it's something that the CHSSC will explore some more as that's one of the goals of the road map. though, but but we don't have to reinvent the the the uh wheel here because the National Council of Aging is putting out tremendous information and our local county, the age friendly Santa Clara is putting out tremendous information on this. So, all we got to do is tap into that knowledge. Thank you. Um Miss Halbert, um if I could ask you.

Okay, Laura, for you had um extensive experience working for the county. Um, are there some services that you saw in this realm, older adults, um, that you think could be applied in Loscatoos, uh, you know, more or better than we've done so far with, you know, relating to your experience with a county?

Can you speak to the mic? Thank you. Um PG&E for instance offers resources to help uh elder people stay in their homes. But if what was it two years ago when we had that horrible blackout? I was in an area where the tract of homes went without power for a day or two. But there were six of us that went without power for 8 days. and 8 days is much harder to live with. PG&E was very willing to help, but not locally. I had to for if I they kept saying, "Oh, well, you don't have any lights or power. We'll put you up in a motel." Uh the hotel was not acceptable. The police warned against it. So taking some of these big organizations um that provide services in Loscatos, Xfinity is another one uh to make sure that instead of just providing the service globally where I would have to go to Sacramento or or San Francisco to access it, we get more local connections. Uh it's the little things that really help seniors stay in their home. And uh maybe it's an arrangement uh not only PG&E if a power outage but I noticed that they come around to do work and there are things that if they didn't I

wouldn't be able to stay in my home. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Um Laura, we'll start with you. Um, same question for both you in in both of your applications. Um, which again were were both um, uh, impressive. Both of you talked about, you know, some of the issues that older adults are facing like um, loneliness and um, you know, uh, uh, bridging divides and and being, you know, more inclusive. And so my question is about if you have any thoughts on on how the commission might work to bridge generational divides you know understanding gaps between different generations um you know through things like mentorship or you know connecting things like that um if you have any thoughts on on that topic. I do um again going to the high school uh maybe even the junior high to build uh grandparent groups where the kid can go and do something for this elder uh attack. That would be the loneliness factor. But the the uh elder person, the grandparent would enrich the kid so that there is more of a bridge. There are a lot of children in this town that don't have grandparents locally and grandparents serve a unique role and we've I mean right now there's that horrible criminal trial going on with the woman uh the they call her the Loscatoo's party mom. Better communication working together.

Remembering the mic possibly short circuit at that. So again building on on building bridges. Thank you Skip. So the question is what can we do for intergener intergenerational uh connection

connections? Um our our research shows that older people want to be with younger people and surprisingly younger people like to be with older people. So activities my mother had to talk to her again. She loved singing. Singing is a great way to bring people together. Um and I'm not talking about I'm talking about middle-aged adults. Uh more intellectual opportunity. Um I do voluntary work with the uh Jewish family services and I uh tutor people uh who are not native speaking, English speaking and they are so smart in their 80s. that was only

sorry in their 80s and early 90s

they are so smart they're still so with it so maybe we do we I'm not being negative but maybe we should overestimate the intelligence of older people and their experiences and have a high goal or a high standard for for having talks discussions and bringing especially in cultural my mother loved these these trip discussions or you went to Greece for two weeks and with the slides they love those type of presentation if we have the space to do this. So you know it's they love to travel because it's all you know you're sitting your seat but you're going to to Venice it's wonderful. So, so anyway, I I I just like to overachieve and and treat older and uh even younger people uh to have higher expectations of their intellect and their needs just to bring them in to so they're not bored.

Perfect. Thank you. Um thank you both very much. Are there any final questions for the group? All right, seeing Oh, I have a last comment and I meant to before. As you know, I I was married in this uh United Methodist Church 46 years ago and I've been involved with uh Live Oak uh quite a bit. We have to One of my goals is to get more funding for Live Oak. It was, you know, started in 1983. now got four different locations, but there's so there's so much good that comes out of Live Oak and I'm so proud of our church being able to keep pushing that along. Sorry to jump back in both the nutrition and

both both Yeah, both daycare and nutrition at and uh I just think we can get it going a little stronger.

Perfect. Thank you. Absolutely an important cause. Um for fairness, Laura, do you have any closing comments? I like a lot of his ideas and but I I want to go back to the fact that I think a lot of the resources already exist in this town. They need together and this person can or b this business can provide this uh the next one can do something else. He mentioned singing. Uh there you there was a group at one point from I believe it was from Fiser that where the kids would go to the nursing homes and sing and I remember it was a very popular thing but those things seem to be fading away.

Thank you. Thank you both very much. Um, so you can uh have a seat back in the the pews and um we'll uh Yeah, absolutely. No, thank you both. Thank you.

Thank you. Two applicants were interviewed for the Community Health and Senior Services Commission. There is one shortterm expiring December 31st of 2028, and we will now be distributing the ballots. Okay, we have four votes for Stuart from Hudis, Renie, Moore, and Badami, and one vote for Laura from Risto. So the majority vote goes to Stuart and he will be appointed to the community health and senior services.

Congratulations Skip and thank you very much Laura for applying. It's always hard when we have two very qualified applicants. So thank you both for your interest and uh moving forward um the clerk can share maybe more um specific details but toward the end of the year we'll reopen applications. There'll be more opportunities to apply to more commissions. So, um, thank you,

mayor. Would you like to adjourn the meeting? I sure would. This meeting is adjourned.