2020-02-19 Senior Advisory Comm Minutes
Page 1 of 3
SENIOR ADVISORY COMMISSION
SUMMARY
February 19, 2020 @ 2:00PM
Hylebos Conference Room
Commissioners Present: Chair Debbie Harvey, Vice Chair Lana Bostic, Hope Elder, Sue Ellebrecht,
Lynette Karasuda, Kevin King, Catherine North, Cheryl Volheim, Frank
Fields (Alternate), Dora “Pal” Leonard (Alternate)
Absent: None.
Staff Present: Council President Susan Honda & Jeri-Lynn Clark, Executive Assistant
Citizens Present: Rev. Colleen Chinen (Assoc. Pastor from Steel Lake Presbyterian
Church), Councilmember Linda Kochmar
1. CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 2:00 p.m.
2. CITIZEN COMMENTS
None.
3. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS
Commissioner Leonard inquired what happened to the flag on 320th Street and why was the
flag not flying? Council President Honda shared that it was hit by a car and it is unsafe to fly
the flag until the pole has been repaired.
4. COMMISSION BUSINESS
A. APPROVAL OF 11/2 0/2019 MEETING MINUTES
MOTION TO APPROVE 11/20/2019 MEETING MINUTES BY VICE CHAIR BOSTIC, SECOND
BY COMMISSIONER ELDER. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
B. SOUTH KING FIRE GRAB BAR PRESENTATION
Captain Brad Chaney and Lt. Andrew Lowen from the Community Affairs department gave
a presentation on the CARES program.
CARES (Community Assistance, Referrals and Education Services) is a joint partnership
between South King Fire and Rescue and Valley Regional Fire Authority to serve the most
Page 2 of 3
vulnerable populations in South King County. The CARES team is made up of 3 social
workers and 1 fire fighter.
The CARES team can be initiated by calling 911 or if there is no emergency they can call
the Community Affairs Office and start the process of getting assistance.
If a person calls 911 and they have fallen and need help up, but they don’t want a fire
engine to arrive because there is no life threating emergency, they can send the CARES
team out there to help. Once with the patient, the team may spend one to two hours
with them. They are able to assess the needs of the citizen and connect them with
resources to help keep them safe in the home. There is no fee to have the CARES unit
respond to the citizen.
Lt. Lowen has offered to come in and teach hands only CPR, the Commissioners all agreed
to have him come to the next Commission meeting and teach the Commissioners. There
is no cost for the training.
For more information on the different programs that the Community Affairs Office has or
to set up CPR / AED classes, school visits, station tours, community event participation,
smoke and CO alarms, fall prevention, car seat safety inspection and any fire department
questions. Please call 253.946.7347 or email commaffairsoffice@southkingfire.org
C. WORK PLAN UPDATE
Chair Harvey opened up the conversation about job boards. Councilmember Kochmar
talked about having a website or job board at City Hall, Federal Way Library, SHAG or
senior apartments for jobs specifically for seniors. Look to see what other cities or
counties are doing.
Councilmember Kochmar also shared that there should be a board or site for seniors to
find a roommate to help offset expenses for them. The Commissioners agreed to look in
to this program.
Chair Harvey would like to look at senior discounts on property taxes, rent, etc. The cost
of living keeps going up and their income doesn’t. This will be some topics for the
Commission to work on.
a. Directory
Commissioner North shared the updates on the directory subcommittee, she
shared that they are calling all of numbers to make sure they are correct. They are
looking to get grants instead of selling ads. They have added in experiences that
seniors would like to do and discounts for seniors at the local restaurants and
stores.
b. Transportation
The transportation subcommittee has completed and turned in their information
and is ready to be included in the directory.
Page 3 of 3
Discussion regarding the timeline for the directory to be printed in and ready to
send to the printer by June 1, 2020 and back for distribution by July 4, 2020.
After going through the timeframe, it was decided that city staff will put the
directory together and send to the printer instead of working with a different
organization due to timing. Commissioners will have their updates to staff by
March 18, 2020.
5. STAFF REPORT
State of the City is on February 27, 2020, Commissioners are invited to come and sit at the
City Commission table to share information about the Senior Advisory Commission, time
slots are 15 minutes each. Ms. Clark shared handouts for the Commissioners to review
and approval to use at the State of the City.
Rep. Pellicciotti has agreed to come and speak to the Commission after the Legislative
session is over. We will revisit with him after the session is over to schedule a visit.
6. NEXT MEETING
Wednesday, March 18, 2020 @2:00 PM.
7. ADJOURN – The meeting adjourned at 4:07 p.m.
Attest:
Jeri-Lynn Clark
Jeri-Lynn Clark, Exec. Assistant to Council
Approved by Senior Advisory Commission: 7/18/2020