Senior committee creates new mission statement

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.>> The Saratoga Springs senior advisory board committee recently created a new mission statement and announced plans for 2017. The committee updated its mission to clearly show what the committee hopes to accomplish.

“What we really are in existence to do is to raise the awareness about the needs that senior citizens in the city have,” said chair Barb Thomas. “And if there are problems, address them.”

The committee wants to increase access and mobility for seniors within the community, enhance opportunities for seniors to participate

fully in the life of the community, advocate for support services for seniors, attend meetings of organizations that are of significance to senior issues and to serve as a liaison between seniors, the mayor and members of the city council.

“This is declaring purpose and I think it’s going to serve our senior citizens very well in this community,” said Mayor Joanne Yepsen. “One of the reasons this group exists and has over the course of several mayors is in order for the community to feel like they have representatives at the government level, so if anybody in the community has suggestions, ideas or input into how we can be even more senior friendly, contact myself or Barb Thomas and get their ideas flowing through the discussion and process.”

The committee works directly with the Adult and Senior Center of Saratoga.

“The senior center has worked very hard in the past six years to be a onestop shop for seniors, so the mayor’s office and senior advisory board has supported that,” said executive director Lois Celeste.

One program that the committee developed is senior-community connections.

“[It’s] a volunteer match program that matches volunteers in the community with seniors in need, so if there isn’t a service available we try to get a volunteer to help them out,” said Celeste.

Celese has been on the committee since the beginning and said the committee and senior center have worked together to get communication and resources out to senior citizens in the community.

In 2017, the committee will advocate for special mobility needs of seniors, including a drive-up mailbox in the downtown area and additional handicap parking.

Last fall at a city council meeting Thomas said the committee expressed the need for really good snow removal at the corners of sidewalks.

The committee meets monthly, and at its next meeting a city code enforcer will speak. The meeting will be at The Wesley Community at 10:45 a.m.

The committee plans to hold a public forum with governmental officials.

“A goal for this year is to have a forum where seniors can come and we bring public officials so that the seniors can talk directly to public officials about things that they see as needs or problems or tell them what they are doing well,” said Thomas.

“We can represent the seniors at a forum like that and ensure that our state and county officials are hearing the same needs and messages that the city council is hearing, so working on all levels of government I think is important when you’re really trying to communicate needs of a population,” said Yepsen.

The committee will continue to communicate with the senior center about issues like affordable housing and the complete streets plan.

“It’s a really helpful group to talk about what’s needed for instance in our complete streets proposals and any policy that we are setting, walkability is a very big issue for them, having access to services and programs in the community seem to be a priority,” said Yepsen.