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Minutes 10-06-25 MINUTES OF THE SENIOR ADVISORY BOARD MEETING HELD AT CITY HALL, COMMISSION CHAMBER, 100 E. OCEAN AVENUE BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2025, at 2:00 P.M. PRESENT: James Czizik, Chair Marvelous Washington, Division Director Ann Cwynar, Vice Chair Recreation and Parks Louise Farrell Cody Bonanno, Recreation Manager Phillip Martin Cheryl Ryder Charlotte Novak William Perkins ABSENT: Monique Bodden Mark Stephenson I. CALL TO ORDER Chair Czizik called the meeting to order at 2:01 P.M. II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The members recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. III. ATTENDANCE Roll call was taken. A quorum was present. IV. APPROVAL OF AGENDA 1 . Additions, Deletions, Corrections Chair Czizik stated that Mr. Martin would present the Senior Prom Survey as New Business Item H. 2. Adoption The agenda was approved by unanimous consensus. For the benefit of the new members, self-introductions were made. V. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chair Czizik asked how the minutes are distributed and if they are submitted to the City Commission. Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida October 6, 2025 Mr. Bonanno explained that the Clerk's office takes the minutes for the Board which are then reviewed and distributed to the members. The minutes are sent to staff, but lately, they have not been receiving them, and it would be beneficial to receive them. Chair Czizik said they will have detailed minutes to review at the next meeting. A question was posed if the minutes are transcribed using Al and a comment made that it would be easier to automate and ensure the minutes are distributed to the Board prior to the meetings. The Minutes Specialist, Catherine Cherry, responded that she records and transcribes Ms. Cherry explained that the minutes are sent to the Board Liaison to distribute with the agenda for the next meeting. She commented that at one time, the minutes were distributed to the City Commissioners and Mayor, but that no longer takes place, in lieu of an annual Board report made to the Commission. Chair Czizik commented that in speaking with the City Commissioners and Mayor in casual conversations, they knew nothing about some of the things the Board talked about. Approval of the minutes were deferred to the next meeting. VI. PRESENTATION None. VII. PUBLIC INPUT (Comments limited to 3 minutes and 1 Turn) None. VIII. UNFINISHED BUSINESS. Mr. Perkins asked. Chair Czizik said that at the last meeting, the Board scrambled trying to get the Senior Prom together and a lot was deferred to Recreation staff to handle. He said that they successfully held the Senior Prom, and that he learned a lot. He thanked Recreation staff for their assistance with the event and said that in spite of the confusion, the event came together nicely. IX. NEW BUSINESS 1) Discuss Proposed events for 2026 Chair Czizik said he wanted to open this up to the members as Mr. Martin put together a list of items that the Board may be interested in holding next year. For the benefit of the new members, he explained that last year, they had $10K put into the budget under Recreation and Park to be used for senior activities, which was the Senior Prom, but it 2 Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida October 6, 2025 is under Recreation Department's control. He commented that if the Board wants to offer trips, they have to determine how to fund them and it would be good to make recommendations about activities they might like. He said that the City was looking into ways to subsidize senior activities and asked if the $10K allocation would continue into the next fiscal year. Mr. Bonanno responded that funding is not guaranteed at this time. Ms. Washington explained that the City did not have $10K allocated this fiscal year for senior programs, but they anticipate that would be the amount needed for senior programming. She said that the Senior Prom alone was $9K and costs will increase. Ms. Novak stated that she reviewed a list of proposed activities and some may be more than $10. Chair Czizik agreed, and said that the City Commission was trying to use a model from other municipalities to subsidize events to make them affordable to seniors, and it was noted that many venues have senior and veteran discounts. He suggested that they narrow the list of events to consider for 2026 at the next meeting. Ms. Novak requested that the Board be cognizant that some seniors have mobility issues, which could preclude them from participating and that it is important to adhere to ADA Laws. Ms. Farrell noted that some of the activities are very low cost, and if they charge $10 for them, the difference in the fee charged versus actual cost could be set aside and used for another event. They could look at items that are minimal cost, and often there are group or senior rates. 2) Senior Prom Chair Czizik said that they need to better understand what an event like the prom cost. Ms. Washington said that the prior event was at the Cultural Center, and it would be about the same amount. She commented that staff was looking at other options, how to move forward with events and how to structure and sponsor them. Mr. Martin asked if they could receive a breakdown of the senior prom event costs and the amounts received and paid. Ms. Washington agreed to provide it. Discussion followed about selecting dates and having the event in November and another event in the spring, drawing from different communities, getting the word out to HOA's and increasing attendance to defray the costs. 3 Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida October 6, 2025 Further discussion ensued about advertising and that the event was not easily found on the City's website. Chair Czizik said that the target audience was Boynton Beach seniors and the sentiments from all who attended was the event was positive. He said that some mistakes were made, but there is a learning curve. He said that they can start months earlier. Mr. Martin asked if the $9K for the event was after ticket sales. Mr. Bonanno said that about 100 people attended and he listed the expenses. It was further noted that there were in-kind services provided that may not be available next year. Ms. Novak commented that they did not come close to breaking even. Chair Czizik said that some venues are gracious in reducing admission fees and there are sponsors. Mr. Perkins mentioned that many venues already offer a senior discount. a. Elder Issues Symposium Chair Czizik said he added a lot of events to the agenda because he has held them or researched them in the past. He said that there are healthcare experts that cater to senior care. He said that there are individuals trying to maintain skills for daily living. He said that attendees of these events can be caregivers and family members and these speakers help the senior community to adapt their lifestyles to safeguard them. He stated that the other issue is end of life planning. He said that they can bring in insurance agents, Trustbridge, funeral directors and others to give people a mature approach to planning for end of life. He stated that these speakers are not salesmen, rather they only provide information. It could be done as a symposium with morning or afternoon sessions. Ms. Novak did not think individuals 70 or 80 years old would sit through long presentations and discussion followed that the presentations could be attended by family members and caregivers. Chair Czizik noted that 150 individuals sat through a three hour presentation on Alzheimer's. He suggested that they should identify the needs, work through the discovery of them, finding out the applicability of them to the community they want to address, and find the right caregivers to be part of the symposium. He advised that the purpose is to provide a broad understanding of the topic and to give people options. b. Senior Healthcare Challenges Seminars 4 Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida October 6, 2025 Chair Czizik said that he attended the seminar a year and a half ago, and it was well received. Ms. Novak suggested focusing on nutrition, movement, and other things to improve quality of life. Mr. Perkins thought that there were other issues, including cybersecurity and senior transportation. He suggested looking at both lists and identifying opportunities as health fairs are common and usually funded by health providers. Ms. Novak pointed out that Apple and Microsoft spent millions on amenities for the disabled that can be accessed from their phones that many people do not know about or how to access them on their phones. She said that there are representatives who can show seniors how to use them and that it is a matter of knowing the amenity is there and where it is available. She noted that disabled senior citizens feel helpless in certain circumstances and there is an awful lot of information out there that an event could provide to them Chair Czizik commented that health fairs are usually sales, and they would have to identify someone or an organization to provide that type of information. Ms. Novak thought they should try to find some of these groups to provide these services at minimal cost. Chair Czizik agreed and said they need to identify the topics, prioritize them and then plan it out. They will have to work with recreation, and emphasized that what is offered should be germane to the target audience. c. Senior Day at Cacti Park (Baseball Spring Training) in late Feb early March Chair Czizik said that this event is a great event, but the cost may be too steep for some. d. Farm Share Events Chair Czizik said that he is working with an outside organization to receive 300 Farm Share donations of food. He said that Farm Share wants to work with Boynton Beach in 2026 and that if they had a venue like the Hester Center, they would bring in bags of food, prepare the venue the night before and the day of, they distribute to up to 300 bags of food. He pointed out that it is not just for seniors and veterans, because it has to be open to everyone, but he said that if it is under the auspices of the Senior Program, they can still plan it for the community, and it would be wonderful for seniors to take advantage of. He noted there are several good cooperatives that offer this and that they should consider this for 2026. e. National Senior Day (August 21, 2026), try to put something together 5 Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida October 6, 2025 Chair Czizik said that they should plan something for this. He said that they could put a theme around it, and it would be easy to publicize. f. Sugarcane Tour g. Butterfly World Both organizations are good to seniors. Chair Czizik said that both of the above are already on the list of proposed activities and both have been very good to senior communities in the past. He suggested the members review the activities, keeping in mind how far away they may be, consider transportation costs and reach out to the whole of our communities. He said that they recognize that they cannot reach everyone, and they are not trying to exclude anyone. He advised that the City may partially fund the event, or the Seniors may pay the entire amount, but that they can discuss it next month. Ms. Novak asked if the Board has held activities with other events, because seniors also attend those events. She referenced the Fire Department giving away smoke detectors. She said that there could be an aspect of cooperation by the Board not having to spending all their money. She thought there may be synergy with other groups to cosponsor an event. Chair Czizik said that the Fire Department program is a good program that people sign up for and Mr. Bonano said that the Board can partner with the First Friday events. Chair Czizik said that in the past, they were at other events such as at the Hester Center, but that they did not have anything to offer. If they had a platform about things they would work towards, they can get people involved. He said that they can attend Pirate Fest and/or First Friday, and start building an email database. He noted that a former member was compiling information about resources and that there is a pamphlet from the County with agencies and phone numbers for the community. Discussion followed they should post a flyer with the information on the website. Ms. Novak volunteered to research what is available and commented that the website needs to be user-friendly; information is hard to find and events need to be advertised. h. Senior Prom Survey Mr. Martin reviewed the survey he took on the Senior Prom and said that he thought overall, it was a huge success. He noted that lack of knives for salads was an issue and that there was a lack of slow music and there was one complaint on parking. Chair Czizik noted that the DJ took requests. Chair Czizik said, on a different matter, that one thing that that is problematic in his community is people are often clamoring for Automatic Electronic Defibrillators. He said that senior communities are not access to AED, or getting information about the 6 Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida October 6, 2025 process to use them. He said that the biggest problem in senior communities is residents' unwillingness to help. He pointed out that there are Good Samaritan Laws in Florida, but said that training is the key. He said getting a large group of people together to provide training and instilling confidence in people is important and that he put it on his list. Mr. Bonanno said that the American Red Cross has a free program people can take online. X NEXT MEETING November 3, 2025, Agenda items are due by Tuesday October 21, 2025. XI ADJOURNMENT Motion There being no further business to discuss, Mr. Perkins moved to adjourn. Vice Chair Cwynar seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 3:34 P.M atju Akct Catherine Cherry Minutes Specialist. 7