Monday, April 7, 2025, at 6:30PM
Amey Tucker Spencer Trust Fund Meeting
(Town Council Sitting in their Capacity as Trustees)
Video: https://vimeo.com/showcase/9672722
Attachments can be found: https://clerkshq.com/barrington-ri
AMEY TUCKER SPENCER TRUST FUND MEETING
TOWN COUNCIL SITTING IN THEIR CAPACITY AS TRUSTEES
Present: (Town Council sitting as Trustees): President Jordan Jancosek, Vice President Liana Cassar, Trustee Braxton Cloutier, Trustee Kate Berard, and Trustee Kerry O’Neill.
Also, Present: Town Manager Phil Hervey, Assistant Town Solicitor Amy Goins, and Town Clerk Meredith J. DeSisto
President Jancosek called the AMEY TUCKER SPENCER TRUST FUND MEETING to order at 6:36P.M.
Motion by Vice President Cassar and seconded by Trustee Cloutier approved the minutes of the meeting of the Amey Tucker Spencer Trust Fund meeting on January 13, 2025. The motion passed in favor 5-0-0-0, President Jancosek, Vice President Cassar, Trustee Berard, Trustee Cloutier and Trustee O’Neill; no one opposed, no recusals and no abstentions.
Town Manager Hervey introduced the need for revisions to the Super Senior Financial Assistance Program criteria for applying and accessing these funds. He stated that Karen Griffith, Special Trust Administrator, recommended changes to address barriers identified. He said that the program received 64 applications, each granting $1,148, with criteria including age (80+), income limit, and liquid asset limit of $25,000. He said that you must meet a certain income limit. He said that one of the issues that the Spencer Trust Administrator encountered is liquid assets, shall not exceed $25,000 which is readily accessible funding, including cash and cash equivalents. A requirement is that you have had to resided in your home for at least the past 10 years. The proposed change would include launching a second round of applications using the balance of what is leftover. The terms of this new round would be that you could not have applied for the first round of funding. Secondly, we would amend the terms for the liquid assets and eliminate the liquid asset limit for households with income below certain thresholds. Where, if you have the household income of $47,220 for one person household, or $54,000 total for a two-person household and you would have no limit on liquid assets, and anything above that would still have to comply with the liquid asset limit. He said that we want to draw down on the $121,000 that was approved for this program. He said that we want to help more households qualify.
President Jancosek clarifies the new criteria: no income limit for liquid assets, and income limits of $47,220 for one person and $54,000 for two persons. She said that this second round with the new criteria could help 40-41 additional households.
President Jancosek opened public comment.
Geoff Grove, 14 Robbins Drive questioned how the money is allocated.
Town Manager Hervey explained that the total funding was approximately $121,000, with each grant being $1,148.
President Jancosek closed public comment.
President Jancosek emphasizes the importance of public outreach to ensure seniors are informed and can apply for the program. She commented that the Spencer Trust Administrator Karen Griffith has been doing her best to help those seniors with the funds to help each of them. She said that she and Vice President Cassar discussed public outreach and discussed a variety of ideas to make sure the seniors were getting information about this program from trusted sources and making sure that we were doing our part on behalf of the town. She discussed various outreach strategies, including partnerships with the Peck Center, Meals on Wheels and community faith organizations.
Vice President Cassar highlighted the need to build trust and use creative approaches to reach seniors because she said that we recognized that seniors are targeted with scams and extra phone calls.
President Jancosek suggested monthly check-ins to ensure the funds are being spent effectively.
Motion (1) by President Jancosek and seconded by Vice President Cassar to approve the modified super senior program criteria as presented by the Spencer Trust Administrator Karen Griffin in her April 1, 2025 memo. The motion passed in favor 5-0-0-0, President Jancosek, Vice President Cassar, Trustee Berard, Trustee Cloutier and Trustee O’Neill; no one opposed, no recusals and no abstentions.
Motion (2) by President Jancosek and seconded by Vice President Cassar to approve a second super senior financial assistance application round utilizing the balance remaining from the $121,000 allocation on a first come first serve basis. The motion passed in favor 5-0-0-0, President Jancosek, Vice President Cassar, Trustee Berard, Trustee Cloutier and Trustee O’Neill; no one opposed, no recusals and no abstentions.
No one wished to comment.
President Jancosek adjourned the meeting of the Spencer Trust at 6:50 PM. The motion passed in favor 5-0-0-0, President Jancosek, Vice President Cassar, Trustee Berard, Trustee Cloutier and Trustee O’Neill; no one opposed, no recusals and no abstentions.
Meredith J. DeSisto, CMC
Barrington Town Clerk