GLOVERSVILLE — Gloversville Housing Authority officials detailed upcoming activities during Tuesday’s regular Board of Commissioners meeting before electing a new slate of officers during the subsequent annual meeting.
Resident Commissioner Diane Sauve reported to the board that she is currently working to organize services to benefit residents at each of the housing authority’s buildings and the community at large.
According to Sauve, flu shot clinics will be offered through Rite Aid pharmacy at each GHA property in October, open to both tenants and community members.
“Anybody can come,” Sauve said, noting that clinics will be scheduled at both Kingsboro and Forest Hill Towers on Oct. 1 with an additional clinic date to be scheduled at DuBois Garden Apartments.
Additionally, Sauve said that she is working with the Fulton County Office of the Aging to expand participation in the nutrition program meal site operated by the agency at Forest Hill Towers.
The Fulton County Office for the Aging currently operates eight meal sites across the county offering anyone 60 or older a prepared meal at a suggested contribution price of $3. Eligible seniors are welcome to bring their spouses regardless of age. Guests younger than 60 are charged $5 per meal. Some sites are open Monday through Friday and others operate on a rotating schedule.
The city-based meal site is located in Forest Hill Towers, but is accessible to any senior in the community. Reservations to participate in the meal program must be made through the Office of the Aging by 9 a.m. the day of the program.
“It really is a great program. It’s a very good thing for tenants and other people can come too, we’re an open site,” Sauve said. “So I’m working with them on that and hopefully we’ll have some more people signing up.”
Residents at each of the GHA’s buildings will have a chance to meet the authority’s new tenant relations assistant, Debora Ambrosino while enjoying snacks and a demonstration by an artist with Balloon Extravaganzas. Ambrosino replaced Linda Lizzio as tenant relations assistant following her retirement in June.
“This is just kind of a quick little meet and greet and we’re going to do it all three locations,” GHA Executive Director Heather Reynolds said.
Reynolds said the meet and greet activity for residents will begin at Forest Hill Towers at 1 p.m. on Friday, travelling to Kingsboro Towers at 2:30 p.m. and ending at DuBois Garden Apartments at 4 p.m. She added that an extended opportunity for residents to meet with Ambrosino to ask questions and offer comments will be scheduled sometime in October.
Following the brief regular meeting on Tuesday the Board of Commissioners conducted its annual meeting and elected a new slate of officers presented by the nominating committee comprised of Sauve and Commissioners Amanda Ossenfort and Gail Ryan.
The committee recommended John Poling be elected chairman, John Castiglione be elected vice chairman and Marcia Weiss be reelected as secretary.
Recommendations were reportedly informed by prior discussion among the board members who along with Castiglione, the chairman for roughly the past two and a half years, agreed that Poling, the vice chairman over the same period, should be given the opportunity to take the lead for the coming year.
“I think it’s a good thing when somebody who has held a position for a long time wants to give another person who has been prepping for the position as vice chair a chance to move up,” Weiss said.
No addition to the committee’s election recommendations were made and the slate of officers were elected unanimously.
“We thank John Castiglione for the service he has given us for the last two years as chairperson. He took it on when the GHA was a little bit in upheaval and we want to thank him, especially for everything he did to get the GHA back on its feet,” Weiss said on behalf of the board.
