10/01/1984-CC-Minutes-RegularMINUTES: City Council
October 1, 1984
PRESENT: Mayor Armstrong, Danny Spindle, and Freddy Inman.
ABSENT: Carolyn Adkins (sick), H. W. Thomas (sick), and
Benny Bridges (out of town).
OTHERS PRESENT: Lloyd Henderson, Mary Jo Stover, Barbara McClary,
Bob McClary, Bill Rice, Betty Rice, Jan Roche,
Anna Elsey, Gary Lake, J. P. Hampton,
R. D. Mollahan, Vera Mollahan, "Babe" Mabel
Watkins, Eunice Gray, Dorothy Thompson, Nancy
Hribar, Harold Easley, Daniel L. Hribar,
Craig Waggoner, Herbert Arledge, and Howard
Ashcraf t .
Mayor Armstrong declared the meeting open, gave the invocation,
and led the pledge to the flag.
Due to the absence of three council embers regular business
could not be disposed of for lack of a quorum.
Mayor Armstrong apologized to those present and waiting for
action to be taken on their items of concern.
Items requiring no action from council were discussed.
6. Bids were opened on the pickup for the Electric Department.
Four bids were received and are as follows:
(1) Al McNatt 10,414.13
(2) Hilz-Snider 11,310.00
(3) Walker Chev. 119076.93
(4) Bill Utter Ford 10,616.00
Bids to lay over until the next meeting. Warranties were
discussed and staff was asked to check them carefully since
the warranty could make quite a difference in the bid amounts.
8. Mrs. Dorothy Thompson, Director of SPAN, requested council
to reconsider SPAN's request to use the Community Center on
Wednesday's. Her address to the council is as follows:
Mayor Armstrong, Mr. Henderson, Members of Council, thank
you for the privilege of speaking before you tonite.
As Director of the Sanger Span Program, I am here to ask that
you reconsider your decision to deny Span's request for the
use of the Sanger Community Center on Wednesdays; and, also,
to question the recommendation made by the Community Center
Committee that the Sanger senior citizens who attend the SPAN
Program held at the Center, seek other quarters for their
activities in the future.
Following the local paper's report about the action of Council
and the recommendation of the Community Center Committee,
many comments and reactions have been brought to me and,
listening to them, I have discovered that there are some who
hold misconceptions about SPAN - its purposes and its methods
of operation. Therefore, I will speak briefly on SPAN's
background and how and why it came into existence.
First: SPAN is not a social club. The name SPAN is an acronym
standing for Service Programs for Aging Needs and the program
was instituted ten years ago by concerned private citizens
from Denton who recognized that many of the elderly had
needs that were being overlooked. The program was established
as a private agency and its purpose is to provide senior
citizens those services which are most needed to permit them
to live independently and to remain an active part of the
community. With a fleet of nine vehicles, including four
equipped with wheel chair lifts, SPAN provides more than
3,000 trips to citizens of Denton County every month. This
service enables them to shop, to go to the doctor, and, in
some cases, allows them the opportunity to work as volunteers.
Also, from its satellite kitchen located in Heritage Oaks,
SPAN delivers hot noon meals to the Denton Senior Center,
Lewisville Senior Center, Phoenix Apartments Center, Pilot
Point Senior Center, and Sanger Community Center. And also
serves these meals to the people from the Heritage Oaks
Center. Another service of Span is the deliverance of meals
to the homebound: those too ill or too infirm to come to the
Centers.
Second: Some people hold the
Federal Program. It is not.
organization. Fifty percent
Older American Act. The rest
from clubs and organizations
$8,000 to the program during
It receives>_=support from the
from the cities of Lewisville
misconception that SPAN is a
It is a voluntary non-profit
of its funding comes from the
comes from private sources and
- the Denton Kiwanians donated
SPAN's first year of existence.
United Fund, as well as funding
and Denton and each year the
county has contributed. A considerable portion of SPAN's
funding comes from money donated by the senior citizen who
uses SPAN's services.
Third: SPAN is not charity. Most of those who use SPAN's
services donate towards them; however, there are some who find
this impossible because of limited incomes but this is no
deterrant - they still qualify. Span's purpose is to aid all
the elderly - regardless of their ability to pay.
As people age, their needs change and one of their prime
needs is that for companionship and association with others.
Family structures have often changed - children have married
and moved away, friends have passed on and, sadly, and all too
frequently, many are left alone and lonely following the loss
of a husband or wife, and loneliness is one of the cruelest
hardships that the elderly are forced to endure. SPAN
Centers help to counteract this. Many who attend the centers
do so as much for the fellowship they find in them as they
do to partake of the norishing noon meals.
Our Sanger SPAN membership is not one of organization - as
I mentioned earlier, we are not a club. We have neither
offices or officers. We have no planned activities such as
Arts and Crafts programs sponsored by Senior Citizen Centers
in other areas - the Sanger Community Center is not set up
for such things, but the people do enjoy quiet entertainment
through their conversations with each other and by playing
the ongoing table games. One of our members, Babe Watkins,
a talented pianist, plays for us daily and often the members
join her in group singing. Sometimes I sing, too - alone -
but so far this has caused no problem with the membership.
We're still continuing to grow. We have taken field trips,
with transportation furnished by SPAN, and have visited
spots such as the Gainesville Zoo where we held a picnic
on the park grounds, and we have travelled to other SPAN
Centers where we met their members and joined them in a
luncheon. We hold monthly birthday parties to honor
members born on each particular month and last December we
sponsored a Christmas bazaar, held at the Center, which
offered SPAN members, and other senior citizens from the
community, an opportunity to display and sell their crafts.
The Center had been decorated at that time by SPAN members
who used the beautiful trimmings furnished by the city and
it truly reflected the spirit of the season. Friendships have
developed among the members and we have come to share much
with each other; both joys and sorrows alike.
I have found the people who attend Sanger's SPAN to be gentle,
kind, and caring and my life`has been enriched through my
association with them.
In order that the elderly receive the benefits of SPAN as
much as possible, the SPAN Centers have been asked to operate
on a five day weekly schedule. With the exception of Sanger,
all the other Centers in Denton County are now functioning
in this manner. Since the other programs are located in
Senior Citizen Centers, no problems exist regarding the
weekly use of the buildings; however, since Sanger`s is
located in the city's Community Center, the request for
increased usage was denied. The reason, I understand, is
that others in the Community might desire to use the open
Wednesday date.
It is not our wish to monopolize the building, "hog it" is
the term that I have heard, nor do we wish to deny its use
to others at any time. We recognize that the building is a
Community Center -not a Senior Center -and, as such, should be
available to all citizens whenever they have a need for it.
Our time at the Center is in the early part of the day -
from 9*30 in the morning to 1*30 in the afternoon -hours when
most people have no need to use the Center. As far as I can
recall, there has been but one request for early morning use
of the building and that was from the group which was serving
breakfast to the members of Sanger High School's graduating
class. Those participants were gone, and the building cleared
by the time our program began. However, if there ever would
be a need for it during the time of our occupancy, we'd be
most willing to relinquish our time - be it a Wednesday or
any other day that we're open. We're flexible -all we ask
is that we be notified early enough in order for us to re-
arrange our schedules and to make other plans for that day -
such as arrangements for a field trip or a visit to another
Center.
The WICS people will be using the Center's facilities every
Thursday afternoon from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. and we'll have no
problem with this scheduling. Our program ends at 1:30 so
by 2*00 p.m. the building will be cleared and all of SPAN's
materials removed by the time the WIC's group will be meeting.
Since the Wednesday Study Club will hold only a limited number
of meetings at the Center, couldn't SPAN be given permission
to use those Wednesdays that will be left open? If this would
be granted, everyone from the Center would be most grateful
to Council for its consideration of its Senior Citizen's
needs.
If I was disappointed by Councils refusal to grant SPAN's
request, I was stunned when I read that the Community Center
Committee had made the recommendation that the senior citizens
search for other quarters in the future. Since none from the
Committee ever visited our Center or consulted with me before
making its recommendation, I can only hope that its action
was based or misinformation. I would like now to invite the
committee members to visit with us -at any time -and to share in
our delicious meals, in order that they become more fully
informed about our operation.
Should the senior citizens be forced to leave the Center, this
most probably would mean the end of the SPAN Program in Sanger.
As far as I know, there are no suitable places available, and,
even if there were, the program would still have to close
for SPAN does not have the funding to refurbish and to equip
a new area in order to make it useable.
I am asking that Council not take any action on the Committee's
recommendation and, also, that Council reconsider Span's
request for an extended week.
Mayor Armstrong pointed out to Mrs. Thompson when the City
Council has a committee that comes before them they must
listen. She informed Mrs. Thompson of a meeting on Thursday
night (Oct. 4th) which several groups are to meet and try to
iron out some problems regarding the Community Center.
11. Mayor Armstrong volunteered to represent the City at the
Sheriff's Sale of property at 4th and Willow Streets.
Mayor Armstrong declared the meeting closed.
City Secretary
yor