Comprehensive Plan:Age Friendly Community
Approved Minutes of January 22, 2018
Attendees: S Jaeger, O Jaeger, S McCandless, P Kapisovsky, Cindi Compton,
Karen MacGillivery, C Horne, P Kimball, J Cliffe, R Cliffe, J Peavey
Meeting Minutes: Approved Minutes of January 8, 2018 Meeting
Surveying the Town: Update from working group/ no update at this time. Waiting from direction from central committee
Gleaning Program: the Merrymeeting Food Coalition collects and boxes crops farmers leave on the ground as well as produce donated from farmers at the end of the day at Farmers’ Markets. Once a week they are available for local communities to pick up for distribution. This past spring/summer Deb Thibodeau and Jim Peavey picked up on Wednesdays and brought the crates of produce to Georgetown. The Community Center and school were sites used. Notice was word of mouth. Some people picked up for housebound residents. An effort will be made to get the word out and involve more people next year.
The Brunswick indoor winter market also makes gleaned produce available but Georgetown has not participated so far.
Meeting with town organizations and others
Refer to the handouts 1) Purpose and Content of the meetings
2) Points of contact for each organization
Work Area (Domain) Discussion
●Communication
Jim reviewed the Age-Friendly Community Plan of Action that was sent to all committee members prior to the meeting.
He noted that there are approximately 600 year round residents in 450 housing units. The committee plans to hold informational sessions at various locations throughout Georgetown, such as the Community Center, Five Island Church, Georgetown Central School, the Meeting House among them.
Have not yet addressed how communications are disseminated.
Mention was made of the following places locals get their news:
●P.O. and Country Store
●520 THE TIDE mailed out 6/yr
●GFD and Robinhood Rd boards
●Local organizations
●Social and Civic Participation
Members of the AFC Committee continue to add to the list of local organizations.
The survey will help quantify, give a clearer picture of participation.
●Georgetown Community Support and Health Services
Refer to meeting handout.
Resources that are identified will be in parallel with the Comprehensive Plan.
The AFC committee is free to set up services as part of the plan.
There is a wide range of services helping Georgetown residents and many of them are informal and often unnoticed. The committee hopes to augment this informal network by setting in place a formal network that would further the outreach in Georgetown.
General discussion:
When reaching out to members of the community language used will be critical so that we do not embarrass or put people on the defensive. At the top of any list should be services and resources that are available to all regardless of income.
We want to be welcoming and help people understand that our goal is to ensure that Georgetown is a place where everyone feels safe and knows they have local people they can count on.
A big piece will be to keep all resources and contact information up to date.
Rick Cliffe explained the Accessible HomeTax Credit that is available to all Maine residents.
Sandy Jaeger announced state legislation #1248 that would allocate money to expand public transportation in Maine, including $250,000 to reimburse volunteer networks.
There is also a Senior Affordable Housing Initiative pending (#735)
Logo: Cindi Compton suggested lupin as a central picture for our logo- ubiquitous in Maine/Georgetown and as a perennial keeps on blooming.
Additional Learning Opportunities
Regional Network Meeting. February 15 at the Patten Library.
Each town will be reporting its progress
Next meeting: February 12, 4:00 at GHS
Guest Speakers: Joel Merry, Sheriff, Sagadahoc County and
Mike Field, Bath PD Chief
Comp Plan - Age Friendly Mins 01-22-18