Sudbury Elder Board Revises Senior Needs Survey

In this report: Key decisions · Next dates · Full report · Sources

What happened

The Council on Aging approved its September 14 minutes by roll call, 7-0. Members spent most of the meeting revising a draft senior needs survey for roughly 4,500 residents 60 and older, consolidating age brackets, adding a non-binary gender option, and combining overlapping loneliness questions. The board received guidance from Select Board liaison Lisa Kouchakdjian that any future strategic-plan working group of more than two directors must post agendas and minutes as an open meeting rather than deliberating by email.

Key decisions

• 📜 Revised senior needs assessment survey draft. The board asked member Mary to produce a revised draft consolidating age brackets into 60-70, 71-84, and 85-plus; adding a non-binary gender option; and combining overlapping questions about family and social contact. Distribution must go through Senior Center Director Nickole Boardman rather than by email to avoid Open Meeting Law issues, with the revised survey scheduled for November 9. (Next: Nov. 9). Read case details
• 📜 Strategic plan working group Open Meeting Law compliance. The board agreed that any future joint work among three or more directors on strategic-plan initiatives must be posted as an open meeting with agendas and minutes, and that members must route questions through staff rather than emailing each other directly. The board did not disband existing three-person working groups assigned to six plan goals. Read case details

Next dates

• Nov. 9: Council on Aging next regular meeting

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Full meeting report

The complete, section-by-section account of the meeting, 2,407 words, for members.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript. It was corrected where it differed.