February – March 2013

HIGHLIGHTS – (* means we are following the strategic plan)

Administration

• Annual requests were submitted to all local governments for contributions for Bay Aging and match for Bay Transit and Housing Choice Voucher Program.  Requested opportunity to address all local government boards.
• Beginning July 1, 2013, a $10 rate increase for Adult Day Health Services (adult day care) will take effect.
• * 2013 Community Needs Assessment results were compiled into one document, included with this package, for your review and comments.
• * United Way grant applications submitted – 2 combined federal campaigns, 1 state campaign and 1 local governments and schools campaign.  As always, our applications cover a wide swath of eastern Virginia.
• General Assembly:  Medicaid expansion is on hold in Virginia pending further research and analysis.  Eligibility for waivers was restored to the full 300% SSI, the auxiliary grant rate was raised slightly, and money was added to the housing trust fund.
• Sequestration:  Impact update will be provided at the Board Meeting.  Summary was previously distributed to Board members.
• * Managed Care Organization negotiations are underway for Bay Aging to become a service provider for “dual eligibles” (Medicaid and Medicare).
• *  Bay Aging submitted a nomination to the Colonial Beach Chamber of Commerce nominating Bay Aging as Business of the Year.  The nomination is available on our website.  Winners will be announced at the Chamber’s annual dinner on March 28, 2013.
• *  Getting Active – Exercise Classes at the Mathews Active Lifestyle Center
• *  It’s All About Families – Partnership Project with Healthy Families
• * Meeting with Virginia Health and Human Services Secretary
• * Other Articles
• * Bay Aging’s VICAP program (Virginia Insurance Counseling and Assistance Program) welcomes two new volunteers, Bill and Ruth Sherman.  They will be assisting clients in the Peninsula area with Medicare issues, including comparing Medicare Supplemental and Medicare Part D plans as well as helping folks apply for benefit programs.  They will be based at the Parker View Apartments and will be helping the residents there as well as residents in the Williamsburg community.
•  * Bay Aging’s Ombudsman program also has two new volunteers, Joe Anselmo and Robin Sledge.  As Volunteer Ombudsmen they will work with residents of skilled nursing facilities and assisted living facilities to help resolve issues and to spread the word about Bay Aging’s Long Term Care Ombudsman program.

Positive Press!  See “Bay Aging in the News” –>

• * Getting Active – Exercise Classes at the Mathews Active Lifestyle Center
• * It’s All About Families – Partnership Project with Healthy Families
• * Meeting with Virginia Health and Human Services Secretary
• * Other Articles

Community Living

• * Bay Aging conducted the first Eastern Virginia Care Transitions Partnership training on February 11^th. The training was held in Williamsburg.  Those attending the training included Care Transitions staff from Bay Aging, Peninsula Agency on Aging, Eastern Shore and Senior Services of Southeastern Virginia.
• *Great News!   Virginia’s Senior Community Service Employment Program grant had one of the highest participant customer satisfaction scores among all grantees for FY 11 (07/01/11-06/30/12).  Virginia’s score was 88.2!  We were among the top three highest scorers nationwide. The national average for all grantees is 81.1.
•  *May is designated as Older Americans Month. The 2013 theme is “Unleash the Power of Age.”  Bay Aging is planning special events at each of our Active Lifestyle Centers to celebrate and recognize our seniors. Additional planned events will be announced.
•  *RSVP Volunteer recognitions will begin in March. Our first event will be held on March 21, 2013, Noon, at The Church of Nazarene in White Stone.  King & Queen and King William recognitions will be held on March 25, 2013.
•  Bay Aging staff attended the Peninsula Agency on Aging’s annual Community Forum on Aging held on Tuesday, March 5th.
•  *Bay Aging was notified by National Senior Corp (NSC) that our application for funding ($24,097) was approved for the upcoming grant period. This was the first time NSC required grantees to re-compete for funding.
•  The Senior Employment Program is preparing for the annual data validation and documentation review the week of April ^3rd.
•  *Mrs. Wilson, Senior Employment Coordinator, and her staff are working with volunteers and clients on the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program again this year in preparation for the April 15^th deadline. 
• * As part of its community action initiative, Bay Aging partnered with Healthy Families to teach young, low-income families how to cook healthy meals in a crock pot and to learn financial management skills.  Funds they received from Bay Aging were used to purchase the crock pots and educational materials.  In addition to Bay Aging, sponsors included the Virginia Food Bank and Virginia Cooperative Extension.  The women of Central United Methodist Church conducted the “pre-cooking” activities and demonstrations.  The program was very well received.  Healthy Families is interested in presenting this type of program again.  See press release.
  
• * Submitted a request for determination to the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Hampton Office.  The VA is seeking to contract with organizations that can provide quality, professional services for authorized beneficiaries for personal care aides, health aides and homemaker aides.  No response as yet.
• * Request for $2,000 in funding was submitted to the Mathews Community Foundation to help offset the cost of purchasing Emergency Shelf Stable Meals for the homebound frail and elderly in Mathews County.

Transit

• * Bay Transit Compliance Review Report yielded no findings.  Congratulations to Bay
  Transit and Fiscal staff for a successful review!
• * New Freedom Mobility Management – transportation for seniors and people with
  disabilities – for February is over 100% increase in volume vs. last year.  Plans are
  under development to expand the program to New Kent and Charles City this year.
• The Governor’s Transportation bill will bring an estimated $88 million in new funding
  for public transit.  We do not know yet how this will be distributed but it will be based
  on performance measures.
• Bids were opened on March 5 for the General Contractor for the Gloucester facility.
  The lowest bid came in nearly $350,000 over budget.  We are looking at value
  engineering to cut costs.
• * Stakeholder meetings were held in early March – one meeting in each planning district,
  to receive input from the counties and people who utilize Bay Transit.  The information
  will be included in Bay Transit’s Transportation Development Plan and will also be used
  to enhance and expand transit services.
• The newly implemented RouteMatch Notification Module, which asks riders to confirm
  or cancel their ride over the phone the night before, resulted in a decrease in “no-
  shows.”  Specific information on the number of decreases will be available in March.

Finance

• * The Bay Aging and Bay Aging Foundation audits and 990s are completed.  Draft copies
  will be vetted by the Finance Committee on March 22, 2013.  Electronic copies have
  been provided and hard copies are available upon request and at the meeting.  After
  Board approval, audit reports will be distributed to our state department
  partners, counties and placed on the Bay Aging website.
• Participated in a webinar presented by Kaufman & Canoles addressing Department of
  Labor audits of Bay Aging Health and Welfare plans and effects of the Health Reform
  Act.

Information Technology

• Acquired ten (10) 3 year old Dell Tower systems that were donated by Valley Bank in
  Roanoke, Virginia.  In many cases these donated systems will be used to replace
  systems in our agency that are several years older and half as powerful.
• * Working on upgrading RouteMatch Transit Software to the latest version that will
  provide much improved reporting capabilities.
• Continue to work on the EVCTP/Care Transitions project with particular focus on
  searching for database software that will provide HIPPA compliant recordkeeping
  functionality from origination to final billing.

Website – www.bayaging.org

• The latest website report shows an average of 89 visits per day with the Employment
  Opportunities page receiving the most hits.  Significant numbers of referrals to our
  website are coming in from Gloucester County’s site and the Virginia Department of
  Aging and Rehabilitative Services.
• * A Paypal account has been set up with a “Donate” button on the homepage as well as
  the donations page.  Spread the word that Bay Aging can now accept donations online!
• Installed “Slide Deck 2,” a program that allows for easy uploading of sets of pictures
  into slideshows has additional uses in that it can make slideshows out of pretty much
  any set of media (powerpoint).
• The Bay Transit site is averaging 52 visits per day.
• * Updates and improvements are ongoing activities.  We urge everyone to visit the site
  often, not only for service information but also to learn more about the abundance of
  resource information we have available.
• * Exploring tools that will aid us in developing and sending e-newsletters.

Weatherization

• * Vincent Smith, Bay Aging Construction Specialist, has recently passed both classes and
  both exams that are required to become a Licensed Lead Risk Assessor.
• * Antonio Harris, Weatherization Energy Auditor & Crew Supervisor, has completed the
  series of classes necessary to become a Virginia Weatherization Assistance Program
  Certified Auditor.
• * Vincent Smith and Darrell Norris (Weatherization Crew Technician) recently
  completed training to begin the process for becoming certified as Weatherization Work
  Quality Control Inspectors.   This is a new certification that will be required of
  Weatherization Assistance Programs beginning July 2013.

Indoor Plumbing Rehabilitation

• * The first two jobs for this program year’s Bay Aging IPR are under contract.  We are
  hopeful that two more houses will be bid and ready to go by the end of April.
• * Bay Aging is providing Rehabilitation Specialist Services on two houses as part of the
  Lancaster County IPR program.

Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)

•  * Bay Aging is under contract with Lancaster County to provide Rehabilitation Specialist Services for the County’s Scattered-Site CDBG and the Greentown-Gaskins Road CDBG.  The first three rehabilitation jobs should be under contract by the end of March.
•  * Work is being completed on the 11th and 12th houses at the Light Street CDBG project in Northumberland County.  The contract on the 13th house will be signed this month; and work will begin on this home shortly thereafter.

Senior Apartments

•  Thus far, the March 1^st federal budget Sequestration has not impacted the 10
  operating apartment properties and HUD staff in Richmond is still unsure about what changes will be made.  However, some industry experts have speculated that
  HUD might approve Project Rental Assistance Contracts (PRAC) renewals for a period
  of time less than the standard 12 months.  Another possibility is for HUD to mandate
  that owners use residual receipts (excess funds from previous fiscal years that can
  only be accessed with HUD approval) for any projected operating deficit.  We have a
  contingency plan in place that identifies immediate cost saving/covering strategies.
•  On March 1, 2013, the apartments received from HUD the “Housing Assistance Payments” in their entirety without any sequestration deductions.
•  Virginia Housing and Development Authority performed a semi-annual program compliance audit in late January.  Tenant-based voucher client files were reviewed to confirm that documentation is appropriate, accurate and complete.  We received an Agency Review Rating of 88% (“Standard Performer”) and a SEMAP Audit Rating of 90% (“High Performer”) for a total combined score of 89% (“Standard Performer”).

Housing Choice Voucher Program

• Sequestration has forced the Virginia Housing Development Authority (VHDA) to stop
  issuing new vouchers to agencies statewide.  VHDA will bring the leasing rate (affects
  number of tenant-based vouchers in circulation) down to 94% through voucher
  attrition.  Bay Family Housing is currently at 96% leasing.  VHDA is covering (not passing
  on to local administrators) the immediate reduction in administration fee from HUD
  but this may only last until the next program year beginning July 1.  At that time, our
  administrative fee may be reduced again.  The full impact of Sequestration is not yet
  known but VHDA does a very good job notifying us of changes.

Multi-Family Housing Production

• * The Woda Group, LLC, based in Westerville, Ohio, and Bay Aging (Board approval) are
  formally partnering on two VHDA Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) 9%
  competitive funding applications due March 15^th.  The projects are Brennan Pointe in
  Newport News and Hunt 1903 in Norfolk.  Bay Aging will take a 10% non-profit
  ownership position in the respective projects’ Limited Partnerships.

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