Thanks to all who attended our meeting last evening.  We had a good turnout of residents, employees and “friends”.  The home rule petition has been filed and we will continue to monitor its progress.   

The Friends of McFadden  have been invited to participate in the annual Harvest Festival sponsored by the Oak Grove Improvement Association.  The festival will take place September 20 from 11-4 at Fellsmere Pond.  Last year this festival drew over 1000 people!     This will be a good opportunity to educate more citizens about McFadden Manor and the Geriatric Authority.  We urge all friends to attend.      Alice C.  of Friends of McFadden is spearheading the event for us and is working with a group to make this a profitable and informative endeavor.  Details will be shared at the September 8 meeting.  The meeting starts at 6:30PM and will be at McFadden Manor in the main meeting room.

So continue to contact your congressmen, Senator Tisei, Representative Fallon and Representative Donato.  Let them know you support the Geriatric Authority and appreciate their support for filing the bill and helping us move one step closer to keeping the doors of McFadden open for the residents.  Thank you!

Val

The home rule petition for the Geriatric Authority was filed on July 28 and has been referred to the Committee on Municipal and Regional Government.  Send your thanks to Senator Tisei, Representative Fallon and Representative Donato, and ask them to continue their support.  We are trying to get an update and will keep you posted.  See you at tonight’s meeting!!!! 

To the best of our knowledge, the Geriatric Authority home rule petition has not been filed.   On June 10 the City Council approved the document and it was submitted to Representative Fallon.  Soon thereafter his office received calls from some of the employees that they were not in support of the petition.  We were told it was because the document did not spell out whether medical coverage was included with the pension package.  Both Gary and I researched it and learned the medical coverage is part of the State pension plan and does not need to be spelled out in the Geriatric Authority document.  We wre told that was the only issue. 

Then last week we read the article in the Malden News that stated the union was still not supportive of the Geriatric Authority petition.  It took until now to learn the union attorney is addressing other issues we were not aware of.  So where do we stand????

It’s hard to say.  No members of the Geriatric Authority Board nor Friends of McFadden have been part of this whole process.  At our last meeting (June 30), Council President Gary Christianson volunteered to meet with employees and/or any union reps to discuss any issues.  No one has taken him up on this.   

We will continue to try to learn more about the real issues and see what we can do and how we can work to resolve them.  We feel we must postpone any plans of a fund raiser since the community is probably concerned the Authority may not happen.   To that end….please remember that the residents are our number one priority, and as we have said on every occasion, the employees are also a priority.  So do what you can to let Representative Fallon know how important the Geriatric Authority home rule petition is.  The last thing we want is to see the doors to McFadden close. 

Come to our meeting Monday, August 18 at 6:30PM.  Hopefully we will have some better news!  Call any one of us if you have any insights to share or any ideas to convey.  Many thanks,  Valerie