Director reports accessibility fixes, two drivers hired and rising financial concerns for seniors

Julie, the Council on Aging director, reported a package of operational updates and outreach priorities to the board, including accessibility fixes, new transportation staffing, program changes and a push to address seniors' financial concerns.

On accessibility, Julie said she ran the COA's Wix-hosted site through a compliance scan and found mainly two kinds of issues: a handful of missing captions on photos and some color-contrast problems. "The only things that were lacking were I needed to add captions to a few photos," Julie said, and she described working with a colleague to produce a newsletter that was tested successfully with a screen reader. Board members recommended the director confirm the town IT's approach and consult the disability-rights committee to reduce the risk of accessibility complaints.

Julie also reported that the COA has hired two drivers; both finished training with longtime driver Ken Watson, and one remaining CCRTA certification for lift and wheelchair securement is scheduled for Aug. 10. "They are both trained and fully functional, able to drive independently now," Julie said. Once certification is completed the director said service levels can return to five days per week and the program will have a full backup per-diem driver.

On programming, Julie described expanding cooking and nutrition classes run by per-diem chef Linda Kelly and said she increased the chef's hours in this year's budget; she will ask the Friends group for modest additional funding to cover extra teaching hours. To manage heavy nonresident demand for popular classes, Julie said the newsletter will tell Harwich residents they have first access for the first 48 business hours of registration before openings are released to nonresidents.

Members spent substantial time on financial-security concerns for older residents. Richard and other members said many callers are worried about rising costs and the prospect of connecting to the town's new wastewater system, which could impose substantial one-time connection costs on homeowners. The director said staff routinely help residents apply for local assistance (for example, the Caleb Chase Fund) and refer people to county loan programs; members agreed to revisit the financial-security portion of the needs assessment next month and consider inviting local banks or program partners to present.

Julie and members also raised gaps in local knowledge about reverse mortgages and suggested seeking a community-education partner so staff can give residents reliable "source of the source" referrals rather than financial advice.

Next steps recorded included confirming registration-priority language in the newsletter, following up with town IT and the disability-rights committee on accessibility checks, pursuing modest Friends funding for programming, and returning to the financial-security needs-assessment section at the next meeting.