Mayor Alvin Brown’s transition committee about seniors asks for broader consideration for Jacksonville’s older citizens.
It also asks that the head of the Adult Services Division of the Recreation and Community Services Department be elevated to directly report to the mayor’s chief administrative officer, “ensuring that there was a strong advocate for seniors ‘in the room’ when decisions are made,” said the committee report.
The committee’s eight recommendations start with the request that Brown and his staff consider the effect of all decisions on seniors’ quality of life.
Those decisions include transportation, housing, employment Downtown revitalization, pedestrian safety and other areas.
“Seniors should also be considered as a resource,” said the committee report, “and not just as a population with special needs.”
The recommendations were:
• Consider seniors in every decision.
“As an overall recommendation, the committee felt the mayor should consider services to seniors on a larger scale than any particular agency or part of City government,” said the report.
• Elevate the importance of senior issues.
The committee said the Adult Services Division of the Recreation and Community Services Department is the primary City agency charged with providing activities and programs for Jacksonville’s senior population.
It noted that the division has a budget of more than $7 million and 95 full-time and 10 part-time employees. It operates 19 senior centers that offer classes, fitness programs and recreational opportunities and serves more than 300,000 meals a year.
In addition, it offers respite care, coordinates volunteer activities and supports the Council on Elder Affairs.
Generally, services are available to residents age 60 and older, it said.
“The group felt strongly that the head of the division should report directly to the mayor’s office through the chief administrative officer,” it said.
• Immediate organizational changes.
The report said that in the short term, the Adult Services Division should undergo two changes.
First, the custodial positions should be consolidated under a single supervisor to improve efficiency and accountability.
Second, responsibility for planning and conducting dedicated events for the senior population should be moved back to the Adult Services Division along with staff.
This move, it said, “would improve responsiveness and coordination, and make sure the events are relevant to the needs of seniors.”
The report also said there are five vacant staff positions in the division that should be filled “immediately.”
• Develop an integrated communications campaign with a communications coordinator to implement it.
According to the report, seniors in Jacksonville face a “fragmented landscape” of services and the information about the services is not highly visible.
It calls for the City to improve and expand its efforts to communicate with seniors, using “proven methods as well as new technology.”
It cited the “Senior Guide” as a good publication, but that too few copies were produced, and it said the monthly “Vintage Grapevine” newsletter was discontinued for budgetary reasons.
It suggested that the City help seniors take advantage of new technology by expanding the low-cost cellphone program and by training seniors in new communications technology, such as social networks.
The report said there are other areas where the City or an agency could improve information, such as a transportation information center to help seniors decide how to use existing programs like the JTA Connexion paratransit service and the community shuttle, or information about the fire department program that offers free home smoke detectors to seniors.
The committee recommends that an assistant director of communications, reporting directly to the director of the Adult Services Division, be responsible for a communications plan.
• Strategically evaluate current organization and services.
The committee recommends a thorough study of the current structure of the Adult Services Division and said it needs clear lines of authority and responsibility, “which the current organizational chart does not provide.”
It included a recommended organizational chart.
It also called for an evaluation of the division’s functions, including whether the City should continue to contract for congregate meals or prepare them itself.
• Help every senior feel safe in his or her home.
Improved communications from the City and the police and fire departments were recommended, along with infrastructure upgrades such as additional street lighting or crosswalks that provide more time for seniors to cross streets.
The committee also recommended that the City consider a program to provide emergency call buttons for seniors who reach a certain age, but did not specify that age.
• Encourage new development to include “aging in place” options, especially in the Downtown core.
The committee urged Jacksonville to position itself to offer quality “aging in place” options for seniors and make an effort to attract seniors to the physical and medical assets of the city, especially to the Downtown core.
“The City should provide incentives for new developments that include senior living facilities with services and amenities,” said the report.
All residential development in the Downtown core should include “aging in place” considerations to allow units to be converted for independent or assisted living, it said.
• Create and maintain a volunteer corps that accelerates Jacksonville to the top tier of livable cities.
The committee recommends a “Senior Volunteer Corps” similar to the Peace Corps of the 1960s.
It would be based on university and college campuses in Jacksonville as part of their continuing education divisions and the program would report directly to the mayor’s education commissioner.
Calling it “an enormous potential volunteer pool,” the committee said the Senior Volunteer Corps must have a lifelong learning component to help volunteers stay knowledgeable.
It also recommends a wellness program to help volunteers maintain their health.
It also suggests that a grant and contract development office be created to take advantage of local, state and federal funding.
Finally, it said, a rewards program should be developed to encourage and reward volunteers along the concept of a frequent flier program that offers discounts to participants.
356-2466
Seniors Transition Committee
Co-Chairs: Lee McClure and Betty Holzendorf
Members: Becky Gay, David Holladay, Earl Kitchings, Linda Levin, Kate Morehead, Gordon Robbie, Bertha Padgett, Carol Thompson, Norma White.
In transition
Mayor Alvin Brown and his staff are reviewing reports submitted Aug. 8 by 18 transition policy committees. The committees consisted of 217 people and another 125 subject area experts and staff. More than 110 meetings were held over a month. The Daily Record will summarize one report daily and include the names of the committee co-chairs and members. Today’s summary covers the Seniors Transition Committee.