Editor’s Note: This transcript begins shortly after the meeting commenced. The recording started in progress due to overflow attendance; the Center for Active Aging parking lot was at full capacity, with overflow parking extending up and down the street in front of the library. The transcript was created using AI transcription software using an MP4 audio recording of the meeting.
Meeting Details
Event: Mayor’s Roundtable – Open Forum
Date: December 3, 2025
Time: 1:30 PM
Location: Wake Forest Center for Active Aging (WFCAA)
Meeting Participants
Elected Officials
Mayor Vivian Jones: Current Mayor of Wake Forest
Commissioner Faith Cross: Town Commissioner (and Registered Nurse)
Town Administration & Moderators
Candace Davis: Assistant Town Manager (Moderator)
Town Staff & Panelists
Monica Lileton: CAA Interim Director / Recreation Program Manager
Samantha “Sam” Sanchez: Finance Director
Benjamin Naprstek: Safety and Risk Manager
Mitzi Williams-Franklin: Assistant HR Director
Mickey Rochelle: Public Facilities Director / ADA Coordinator
Bill Crabtree: Communications & Public Affairs Director
Zoe Taylor: Community Engagement Manager (Clarifying registration procedures from the floor)
Community Voices
Jerry Flynn, Tom Hunt, Jenny (last name not given), and other residents/members of the Center for Active Aging.
Mayor Vivian Jones: …board the staff of the center to the table. You have to understand that a non-profit organization like Resources for Seniors works differently than a municipal government. We are subject to laws and regulations that non-profits sometimes do not have to follow. When certain staff, volunteers, and instructors decided not to work with the town, we had to step back and figure out what to do. This required us to make some changes. When things change, we have to change with them, whether we like it or not.
We are going to try to address your questions and share with you, listen to you today. You may not like everything that you hear today, but I can promise you one thing: everything you hear today will be the truth. One thing we’ve learned in recent weeks is that there is a lot of misinformation that is repeated time and again as truth when it is not.
Moving forward, I encourage you, at any time when you have a question, please go to staff to get an answer. We have given you a list of staff that you can contact. Please don’t ask someone who is taking a class with you because they may not know the true answer. Once again, I thank you for being here. There are so many good things going on here. We want this to continue to be a great place for seniors to come and interact with others and do all of the things that you enjoy doing.
Now I’m going to turn it over to Commissioner Cross who will talk about the purpose of this forum, and I really appreciate Faith being part of this and sharing her expertise of many years as a nurse working with seniors and others. So thank you, Faith.
Commissioner Faith Cross: Okay. Can y’all hear me? Okay. So I’m Faith Cross. I’ve been a Commissioner here for two years in Wake Forest, but I’ve been a resident of Wake Forest for 17 years. My husband and I are raising our four teens… send help now. But I’ve also been a registered nurse for 25 years, and more than half of my career has been spent working with the older adult population. It’s very near and dear to my heart. I’ve worked in home health, occupational health… I currently work in independent living, so I really just love the community and love what you guys do this morning.
So when the Mayor approached me and we were discussing talking with you guys together, I was really excited about the opportunity. In saying that, the purpose that we have today… the Mayor and I discussed the many concerns that were brought to us, the many valid concerns and confusion that has been raised to us over the past month. In talking about all of that, we realized there was a lot of missing information. And that’s what we’ve been really focusing on in the past weeks is gathering all the information so that everybody can have accurate answers.
In my experience in work as a nurse over many years, I have found that the best form of communication where we reach solutions, where we get the information we need and we reach solutions, is through kind, compassionate, respectful conversation. Open dialogue, good questions. We’ve received all of the questions. We know what needs to be addressed today, and that’s why we have the staff here that we do. So I also think a big piece of this is assuming the best for the other side. Assuming the intentions are the best on both sides. And so I do believe that we’re really going to have some solutions here today. After the meeting is finished, the staff will—and the Mayor and I—will also be staying up here for a little while to answer any individual questions that you have as well. So if you don’t hear your question or comment addressed in the information time, just plan on sticking around afterwards and we can address it then. Okay? Thank you so much for taking your time to come out and be with us this afternoon. We really, really appreciate it. I’ve been looking forward to this.
Candace Davis (Asst. Town Manager): Thank you Commissioner Cross and Mayor Jones for kicking this session off. My name is Candace Davis, and I’m one of the Assistant Town Managers here with the Town of Wake Forest, and I have the pleasure of leading the Quality of Life Department, which the Center for Active Aging is now a part of. Yes. So, before we move forward, I do want to share that we want to acknowledge that initially during the transition we messaged “there will be no changes for the first four years.” That was honestly our initial goal and intent for this, but despite that, over the past six months, you’ve been a witness just as we have to unexpected circumstances. So we’ve had staffing changes, HVAC challenges, process adjustment, and operational needs that required us to react or act sooner than we anticipated. And we recognize this probably brought a lot of confusion and frustration to you as members, and we apologize.
So now let’s move into our panel discussion. Again, Mayor Jones has introduced our panel members. And so we want you to know that in addition to the comments and questions that you submitted over the past few weeks, we also incorporated things that you asked or made comment about in that program survey. So let’s get started. I want to summarize the top five things that we heard from you.
Number 1: The desire for more programming variety, including expanded fitness, arts, wellness, and educational classes.
Number 2: Interest in drop-in options, particularly for fitness and dance classes.
Number 3: Clear communication about schedules, program changes, and what’s coming next.
Number 4: Questions about membership fees, non-resident access, and the rollout of RecDesk.
Number 5: Concerns about staffing, new processes impacting instructors, volunteers, and payment procedures. And lastly, general concerns about this facility.
So our goal today is to address each of those areas directly and provide clarity. We have our experts here, and I’ll do my best to keep us on track. So let’s get started with Monica.
Monica Lileton (Interim Director): Thank you so much. My name is Monica Lileton, and I am currently the Recreation Program Manager for the Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Resources Department. I have been with the town for 11 years, and most of my professional career has been in programming. So it’s been a pleasure hanging out with the Senior Center as Interim Director for the past two months. And so we’re going to address some of your questions that you’ve had regarding that.
So in regards to instructors: We are actively recruiting additional instructors, and our hopes are to expand the offerings, offering more of the popular classes that you love, and also offering evening and weekend opportunities. So, we have sought out instructors via social media and cold calls from other directories that we have found online. If you know someone that’s interested in teaching some of these classes, please send them our way. We are happy to talk to them and consider having them join the Town of Wake Forest.
One of the suggestions from the Mayor’s Roundtable was for us to offer class and instructor surveys, and we plan to do that coinciding with the January through March programming. So at the conclusion of each session, we will be sending out an electronic survey to all participants so that we can get feedback that we can pass along to our staff and instructors.
We’ve also had some requests for some of your programs and events, so just so you know that we are planning to offer dances and movie afternoons and holiday-themed celebrations, so some of those are already in the works, starting with a holiday celebration this month.
The Mayor’s Roundtable also recommended member and volunteer appreciation events, and we have scheduled those as well. Next, I want to speak to the RecCard. I know that we have rolled that out last week during the week of Thanksgiving. You guys were extremely patient with us while we get adjusted to this new software. The software that you previously used was Schedules Plus, and our contract with Schedules Plus will conclude at the end of this month, and we will officially transition to RecDesk in January. RecDesk is the program registration software that is currently used by our Parks and Recreation Department as well as the Renaissance Centre. So for sake of consistency, the Senior Center will be using that software as well. The RecCard will replace the option that you currently use to enter your phone number. So you will use that barcoded key tag that you’ve been receiving over the past couple weeks to scan in starting in January.
Next, I would like to speak to the resident versus non-resident fees. We’ve gotten a lot of feedback about that as well. But there is a lot that I wanted to say, so forgive me as I read from my notes. In 2017, the Town contracted Ballard King & Associates to conduct a cost recovery study. This took into consideration our service area, alternative service providers—which include organizations like the YMCA, other recreation departments, and private gyms. It also took into consideration the age and the household income of the surrounding Wake Forest area. The median household income of Wake Forest was 28% higher than the national average, and it was determined that it is a significant level of disposable income for discretionary spending in Wake Forest. Program and facility discounts were based on volume, but they should not exceed 25% of the full fee. Which is why our residents of Wake Forest currently receive a 25% discount for programs.
I would also like to speak to some of the surrounding areas. The City of Raleigh, in comparison to what we are doing with our 25% increase: The City of Raleigh, if you are not a resident of the City of Raleigh, you have a $15 resident fee added to classes that cost $15 or more. Which results in a 50% to 100% increase in program fees for non-residents. If you participate with the Town of Garner, there is a 40% increase for non-residents. So, we have a much lower percent increase for our non-residents.
Our priority registration—I know that we’ve gotten a lot of feedback about our residents being allowed to register three days before our non-residents. That stemmed from resident feedback. An overwhelming percentage of non-residents occupied spots for athletics, programs, camps, rentals, and events, which just goes to show that people want to travel to come to our quality programs and events. There is also a need to serve the community whose tax dollars help fund our operating budget. While we’ve heard concerns and complaints about priority registration, we’ve heard even more positive responses from our residents who now have the opportunity to register for classes that they had trouble getting into. As of noon today, not a single class has been filled with residents. And many of our classes are at 25% or less capacity. One of the huge concerns from our non-residents was that they weren’t going to be able to get into classes because the residents were going to take all the spots. That is not the case.
There is a $25 annual fee for non-residents that is going to be effective as of January 1st, 2026? No, I apologize. It is January. I missed the year. There’s also been concerns about the affordability of programs. Beginning in the new year, there will be a scholarship program where we will be accepting applications for those who may not be able to fiscally afford some of these classes. So in doing so, being a Wake Forest resident, you will provide documentation stating your need, and we never want to turn anybody away for the inability to pay to attend these programs. So the Town of Wake Forest will do everything that we can to make sure that everybody can participate in the programs that they love.
Candace Davis: Thank you, Monica. So in the event that classes fill up, how does our waitlist work and how is that communicated to a member participant?
Monica Lileton: So if you go to sign up for a class and there’s no more space left, you will be prompted to be added to a waitlist. And if someone drops out or cancels, you will be called in the order that that waitlist was created.
Candace Davis: There’s also some concern around the new registration system itself. Are there any how-to videos or is staff available to assist people with registration?
Monica Lileton: Yes, both. The Communications Department did a fantastic job creating how-to videos that show you step-by-step how to register for programs, how to create a profile, and then we also have designated times available for staff to assist. The Parks and Recreation team will be here on December 9th and December 11th for four hours each of those days. My entire team will be coming over with their laptops to assist anybody that needs help. The staff that are currently here at the Center for Active Aging have been assisting anybody that walks in through the door. We’ve been pulling people into our offices, coming out into the lobby… we have been helping people over the phone. There should be no instance where you cannot receive help from us.
Candace Davis: Awesome. All right, we will shift now and move to Instructor Policies. That will be answered by both Ben Naprstek and Sam Sanchez. So starting with Ben. For insurance requirements, Ben, can you explain why instructors are required to carry insurance and how it protects them and staff?
Benjamin Naprstek (Safety & Risk Manager): Hello, I’m Ben Naprstek, Safety and Risk Manager. Can we stand up? Just so we can see who they are. Do we have questions? So that we can get through all of the questions that you submitted, we’ll get through our panel this way, and at the end we will be here to answer other questions.
So with respect to our contracts and insurance requirements: Again, the Town of Wake Forest—this isn’t anything new. The expectation for the town is that our vendors, contractors, instructors carry insurance appropriate to the activities that you guys will be conducting and getting paid for. With that being said, if it becomes a situation where it’s unaffordable, it’s unobtainable to secure that insurance, our policy does accept waivers. So the initiation of that waiver process would be a discussion between you and the Program Manager. This is if I’m talking to the instructors. The instructors initiate that request to the Program Manager or to the Director to request that waiver of insurance requirements.
Typically in a business, it’s going to be carried by statute, required by statute, workers’ comp insurance. You’re only required to have workers’ comp if you have three or more employees. Most of you all would not fall under that category to be required by state statute to carry workers’ compensation. So there is one process there where we waive the requirement to carry workers’ compensation. That is separate and distinct from the waiver of general liability insurance. The town maintains commercial general liability insurance with limits of up to 5 million in property damage and bodily injury, with an additional 5 million in excess liability insurance. So the town carries a total of 10 million dollars in liability insurance. That insurance protects the Town of Wake Forest. It does not protect the instructors, contractors, vendors who work for the Town of Wake Forest. So it is in the best interest of you as an instructor to carry insurance that protects your personal assets in case there is a loss. So your request to carry insurance benefits both the town and you as an individual with personal assets.
Candace Davis: Sure. Um, so to follow up, there are types of risks that the insurance will mitigate. Could you speak to your levels of risk and how that’s determined with the waiver?
Benjamin Naprstek: Yes, ma’am. So we will look at each request on a case-by-case basis. Low-risk activities, you know, things like art instruction… Knitting? Knitting could be… but yeah, looking at each activity on a case-by-case basis. The low-risk categories, we will consider waivers more often, most likely be approved. Higher-risk level activities are going to be scrutinized a little heavier. Um, so anything that’s physical activity, you know, the dance, the physical fitness, the martial arts instructors, that type of thing carries a higher risk, and those requirements are not going to be waived.
Candace Davis: Okay. So this is probably a joint answer for responses from you and Sam. You both work closely with instructors on their contracts. Can you explain what’s included in a typical instructor contract and why it’s important? Sam is our Master.
Samantha “Sam” Sanchez (Finance Director): Can everybody hear me? Yes. Great. So… I want to kind of just restate, when it comes to those waivers of insurance requirements, you have to request the waiver. We’re not going to automatically give it to you. We’re not going to automatically assess what type of risk you have. If you need a waiver or you would like to get a waiver, you’ve got to actually fill out a form to request that. So I just wanted to follow up on that.
So, I wanted to also just kind of talk a little bit about what it takes to be a contractor or a program instructor with the town. As you recall, back in June… we had sent out this nice-looking infographic that Communications put together for us. This infographic has all of the information that you need to become a vendor for the town. Nothing on this has changed. In order to become a vendor for the town, you need to fill out the vendor forms, got to do the background check, you have to submit a W9, submit give us your certificate of insurance OR request a waiver. Good news about that, once you’ve done that part, you don’t ever have to do it again. That’s a one, once-and-done task for you.
Now, after that, you’ve got to get a contract in place with the town. The contract needs to specify how much you’re going to be paid and what you’re going to be paid for. It also is date specific. So for example, it has a one-year term or it is specific to this one course. Okay? So once that course or once that contract is complete, you need to get a new updated contract in place. Active Aging staff are going to be your point of contact for vendor paperwork and getting those contracts in place.
I also do want to let you know that next month you will be receiving 1099s from town staff. What you do with your 1099, that’s up to you, but it is our requirement by the IRS to send those to you. So just a heads up, those are on your, on the way to you. Um, yeah, does that answer that question?
Candace Davis: I believe so. Um, there have been questions about how instructors are paid. So can you clarify the difference between the 70/30 split and if the town provides reimbursement for mileage and supplies, how does that work?
Samantha Sanchez: The vast majority of our paid instructors are going to be a 70/30 split. So if there is a fee for participants to participate in the class, you will be a 70/30. What that means is: We take the Resident Rate times the Number of Participants times 70%. And that is how much you will be paid. We understand that you might need to miss a class or, you know, something like that. If that is the case, the amount that you will be paid will be prorated based on the number of classes that you are able to actually teach.
When we get into discussion about will there be or will there not be an additional cost to non-residents, any additional charge for non-residents, all of that piece of it goes to the town. So it’s a 70/30 based on the Resident Rate.
If you request to be reimbursed for materials, mileage, things like that, it’s got to be in your contract. Okay? So we’re not going to be able to reimburse for materials after the fact if it’s not stated in the contract. In fact, it is the town’s preference that if there are materials or supplies that you need in order to do your class, that the town actually purchases those sets.
Now, if you are a paid instructor that you’re teaching a class for which there is no fee—which we have some of those—we do offer an hourly rate option. Kind of rare. So keep in mind, if you are paid an hourly rate, you are only going to pay instruction hours. So we cannot pay for prep time or things like that. It’s only the hours that you spend on the instruction.
This has come up a time, few times. We don’t offer, for example, volunteer instructors a material fee. If you’re going to request a charge of material fee, then that means you become a paid contractor for the town and into a 70/30 split. So we don’t have, it’s just not an option that we do at this time.
If you are going to provide your own materials, like I said, and you want to be reimbursed for any materials, it’s got to be stated in your contract. Mileage is not typically a thing that we reimburse for. That’s usually kind of a special case. Um, usually for like a large company who might be coming and doing a seminar or something like that. That’s not typically what we do for paid instructors. This is also true for volunteer instructors. If you want to be reimbursed for any materials, you’ve got to get pre-approval and it has to be in your agreement.
I also want to talk a little bit about how do you get paid. So Active Aging staff are going to handle, this is really the easy part. They are going to be the ones to handle requesting payments on your behalf from the Finance Department. If you’re going to be reimbursed for any materials, you’ve got to submit to Active Aging staff detailed receipts for all the materials that you purchased. Typically, you’re going to be paid one big check once your course, once that entire course is complete. There may be some nuances but as a general rule that’s how we pay. And we do pay by paper check for the most part. We do bi-weekly checks. And typically the checks we send those out in the mail. We don’t really usually allow vendors to pick up checks. If you change your address or anything like that, contact information, please let us know as soon as possible because we don’t, we want to make sure that check does not get lost in the mail. If there is any sort of issue whatsoever with a payment, say you did not receive a payment, anything like that, please contact Active Aging staff. They’re going to be your point of contact and they will work with us to get the issue resolved.
Candace Davis: Okay. I think one last question and you and Monica may be in attack. Um, who sets the fee for a class? Is it the town?
Samantha Sanchez: So actually the program instructors have a lot of leeway in being able to set your own rates. So.
I do actually want to bring up something that did not come up in the questions, but it’s something that we have noticed. I want to talk about refunds. Um, participant refunds. So because we’ve had some issues with that. So I realize that we’re in the beginning of the transition, timeliness of us being able to issue participant refunds, um, we were really slow in getting that done. So I do want to just extend an apology. Um, I think we pretty much gotten that resolved for the most part. Um, and now that we have moved to RecDesk, it’s going to be even better as far as the timeliness of getting refunds issued.
With that said, so one of the issues that we have noticed with refunds is just the sheer high volume of refunds that we’re having to process. So I understand, we understand that things come up and sometimes you just need to, you know, you can’t make it to a class. And we also understand that you want to be able to reserve your space in that class. Um, but we’re asking just to be cognizant, if you don’t think that you’re going to be able to make it to the class or if you’re not sure, um, maybe not register for that class. Until you are sure that you’re going to be able to. So just hold up space for others to be able to register and if we end up having to refund, you know, refund, it just kind of clogs up the process.
So if you do have a problem with a refund or anything of that nature, please contact Active Aging staff and they will be your first point of contact. Um, they will work with us to, you know, look into whatever is going on. We have also noticed there have been a few cases now where folks have gone, have, rather than request a refund or for whatever issue, they have gone a bank dispute route. So in other words they’ve gone through their bank and disputed a charge rather than simply like request a refund or perhaps reach out to Active Aging staff for more information. So I wanted to let you know that’s probably not the best way. It can take up to 90 days um to get one of those bank disputes resolved just because of how long it takes on the bank’s side. So if you see a charge on your bank account that says Town of Wake Forest, CFAA, PRCR—which is Parks and Rec—Active Aging… and you’re not sure what it is, reach out to an Active Aging staff member to look into it first, because they may be able to help you faster than submitting a bank dispute.
Candace Davis: Thank you Sam. All right, we gotta move into Staffing and Department Structure. If you pass the mic to Ms. Mitzi…
Mitzi Williams-Franklin (Asst. HR Director): Good afternoon. How are you guys doing? Thank you so much as the Mayor said for taking time out of your day to come and speak with us. So I wanted to start with a little bit of a history about the CAA Department, talk about what we’re doing now, and what the future looks like. So back in January, Candace along with the members of the transition team worked with Resources for Seniors to figure out what the current staffing situation and department structure was and how we could fit that into the framework of the town. When we did that, we created an organizational chart and found out ways that we thought would work best for allowing us to move forward in the best way for the entire center. Every part-time and full-time staff member that was with Resources for Seniors was offered the opportunity to continue on with the Town of Wake Forest after that July 1st date. And obviously some people elected to move forward, so after that happened, the town did what the town does best: we pivoted. Um, and fortunately for us we had the opportunity to put in Monica Lileton as our Interim Director. I think she’s doing a wonderful job and from some of the smiles I see on your faces I would tend to think you agree with that as well.
Um, so what our focus is right now is the Program Manager and Guest Services or Guest Relations positions. We have made an offer to someone for the Program Manager, that was the position that was previously held by Nancy. So we do have someone that’s going to be able to start at the beginning of the new year with that, so we’re very excited for that. Once we have those positions in place, then we’ll focus on finding a permanent director for the center. On the handout that you guys received on the back, it has a who-to-call list. As we fill those positions, we will send out updated information. The Communications Department is good to put it in the Wink, will give you handouts, whatever you need, whatever form of communication you prefer so that you know as of those positions shift who now answers those questions for you. If there are things on that list that you see that um are missing, please let us know. We’re more than happy to kind of fill that in. But that’s where we were, that’s where we are now, and where we’re going in the future.
I wanted to speak to also what the hiring process looks like for the Town of Wake Forest. It is a very thorough process. For the director position in particular, we have a written assessment, we have a role play, we have um just the traditional questions. We also allow those candidates to meet with the current staff because we want to make sure it’s a good fit not just for the town but for the current staff in that department as well. I have been with the town for over 18, 18 years now. I’m very proud to be a town employee and I’m very invested in the town. So anything that you guys think that is something that we need to include, I’m more than happy to address any of those needs. I won’t be after, um as was stated, I’m more than happy and again I’m Mitzi, I have my nametag and I’ll be here as long as I need to to answer those questions.
Candace Davis: Did you have something else?
Mitzi Williams-Franklin: Sure, you actually covered a lot of the things I was gonna ask you. But, so in the future, if a Center for Active Aging member has a question about hiring, should they approach one of our existing staff or should they contact HR?
Mitzi Williams-Franklin: I’m more than happy to field those questions. If you want to contact a member of the current staff cause I realize you guys have easy access to them, where you feel more comfortable, you can do it either way, but I’m more than happy to field those questions as well.
Candace Davis: Thank you so much. Awesome. All right. Mickey Rochelle, I have a few um questions. So can you provide an update on the HVAC repairs, replacing the compressor, and how needing to replace a sensor and all those things so our members can be reassured that we are working on the HVAC issues?
Mickey Rochelle (Public Facilities Director): I sure can. The compressor was repaired and, I had told them originally, we fix the compressor, we might find another issue, we hope we do not. Uh, the compressor was delayed for a long time because something actually ended up ordering three cause one got lost in Chattanooga. So we finally got the compressor fixed, it worked two or three days, wasn’t doing, operating properly, found a bad sensor. It was ordered Monday. I called her 10 minutes before arriving here. She said they tell her three to five days for shipping, so she’s very good about that. It’s not related to gas, so that shouldn’t be a problem. So we’re expecting it between Tuesday and Friday. As soon as it arrives, she says she’ll have someone out here, they get it put in, and we’ll give it another shot. So that that’s where we’re at on that update.
Candace Davis: So, temperature can be challenging in a large building like this. Can you please explain why it’s so difficult to maintain perfect temperature consistency especially in a facility with different types of active spaces?
Mickey Rochelle: Yes. Uh, well let me start from the beginning. Whenever we started doing our renovation, we actually had a team of users of the facility—I think Jerry, you was on the committee with us and several others that’s not here—and we went through everything in the building from furniture to equipment, layouts, trying to make sure that we kept what was best for the end users. Not necessarily the town or Resources for Seniors, but those of you that use it. Uh, one of the things that was asked was also temperatures. Well some of the classes, uh something called hot yoga, I don’t know what it is… they wanted temperatures high. Then some other classes, they wanted it low. Well you know we can’t have it hot for an hour, cold for an hour, so they picked a happy medium. They said they know it’s going to be just right for some, it’s going to be cool for some, and it’s going to be warm for others. And then with 20 odd doors opening and leaving doors open different rooms, but each room has its own thermostat so it can be set to a certain temperature. If you leave the doors open, it’s pulling air from other areas, you just can’t keep it consistent. So that’s a lot of the problem with those temperatures.
Audience Member (Jenny): I’m sorry, I interrupt. We had AC problems, we had heat problems, this has been ongoing for a while. What you’re saying doesn’t make sense. Why hasn’t this been controlled from the beginning?
Mickey Rochelle: Unfortunately we can’t control breakdowns. We did the best we could to control when it breaks… that we have to control that week. When we put the system in, they said it’s the best system available. So that that’s where it comes from.
Jenny: There’s something wrong with that. If you can’t control a building, there’s something wrong.
Mickey Rochelle: Yeah, we working on that. We replaced the compressor, now hopefully this sensor will be the next thing we need.
Candace Davis: What’s the next question Candace?
Candace Davis: So, you’ve been leading the ongoing renovation efforts at the Center. Can you speak to the current improvements underway and how they fit into the town’s long-term commitment to this facility?
Mickey Rochelle: Yes, uh working with Meals on Wheels and other staff, they plan on adding additional staff to help the end users so we have converted an office in the back from just a Meals on Wheels space to a shared space. Meals on Wheels and the Center for Active Aging will share that office. But we put access from this side. We had a large storage room, which only Jacob worked there… it’s going to house multiple staff members for uh the center. And the only part that I know that has been questioned was the body shop is being converted to office for I think the programs manager and the future director. And they going to space the equipment in different locations. Uh the only other things we’re working on that I know was a complaint was the computer lab. Several people go to watch Ms. Frieda’s hands in the immense room, you could not hear. Jerry said you had to stop class. So we went through several hand dryers, ordering them, getting them in house, hooking them up, checking the decibels til we found something low. We did find one, we replaced it, he said it’s much better. So that’s been done and he just mentioned about coat hooks in the restrooms so we’ll be getting those this week. He said to hang your stuff up in there.
Audience Member: I got an option. Paper towels.
Mickey Rochelle: Yes. Yes.
Audience Member: We had that very quiet.
Mickey Rochelle: We had that. Uh years ago we went to hand dryers so in keep in part of that is for cost savings because we have a lot of paper towels. We do have individual classrooms, we do have individual dispensers in each room with hand towels… but the big use…
Audience Member: But the mics are sitting in the bathroom.
Mickey Rochelle: It’s a good point. You get a lot of women in the bathroom after a class, those dryers take a long time to dry and everybody standing there in line with their hands dripping wet cause there’s not enough dryers for 50 women.
Mickey Rochelle: We will have a discussion on that with the with staff.
Candace Davis: Thank you Mickey. If you don’t mind passing it to Bill Crabtree…
Bill Crabtree (Communications Director): Good afternoon. I’m Bill Crabtree. Um, much like Mitzi, I’ve been invested with the town for 20 years now. So um, nothing makes me happier than to see a full room because that means some of you at least must be reading the information that we sent out about today’s meeting. So thank you for doing that. Who found out about today’s meeting in the Wednesday Wink? Don’t don’t be shy. Okay I love it. How about the Active Aging Advocate, our monthly newsletter? Okay. Fantastic. All right. That makes me happy because one thing I want to congratulate you all for, uh I checked the open rates every week and you guys open the Wednesday Wink at a higher rate than any other newsletter we send out. We send out a ton of them, but the Wednesday Wink gets opened by about 66% of the people that we send it to and that’s over 5,000 members. So thank you all for doing that very much.
And look, let’s thank Jacob back in the back. Jacob and the and the team here do a fantastic job getting the information together every week for the Wednesday Wink. So thank you for taking advantage uh and reading that information. And just so you know, um that information is also provided each week on Facebook. How many of you follow the Center for Active Aging on Facebook? I love all three of you. That’s fantastic. Okay. So look, I would strongly encourage you, if you haven’t, go to the Center for Active Aging Facebook page and start to follow it because not only do we post information that’s in the Wednesday Wink and other places, but we also post pictures and other things about activities that are happening here at the center and it’s just a great way, it’s another great way to keep up with everything that’s going on.
Um, I wanted to give you just a couple of updates on some communications efforts that we have going on. How many of you have been to a Town of Wake Forest website and gone to the Center for Active Aging webpages? Okay, fantastic. So just so you know, we have done made some updates in recent days to try to provide even more information. So that Who to Contact list that you have in that packet, we’ve added that information to the Staff Directory page. So that’s an easy reference point for you there. And as it was mentioned as, you know, positions get filled and changed or whatever, we’ll update that uh as those changes take place. So be sure to check that out.
We talked about RecDesk and those RecDesk tutorials. They’re available on the website too. And so they’re very easy to follow, very easy to use. So if you ever have questions about RecDesk, certainly ask the staff but also check out those uh tutorials uh on the website.
Um, good news that we have coming in uh fall of ‘26, we’re going to be publishing a program guide that will list the programs that you can sign up for. Um so uh that’s something to look forward to. It’s actually going to be a booklet uh that we’ll make available here for you, uh we’ll make plenty of copies available but that will list be a very good and comprehensive listing uh of the programs that are available.
The last thing I wanted to mention and do not throw anything at me. I’m just going to ask you a simple question. Who likes the name Center for Active Aging? Raise your hand. All three of us. Okay. Who preferred Senior Center? Wow. Is that why you all came today to talk about… we should be… Here is a spoiler alert. Does anybody know where the Center for Active Aging name came from? Bill Crabtree, anyone? Who thinks Bill Crabtree came up with that name? Thank you all. Mickey Rochelle, who thinks Mickey Rochelle came up with that name? Okay. Honest to goodness, the truth is the former Director and Program Manager proposed the name Wake Forest Center for Active Aging. So that was not a town decision, um we had a meeting, it was proposed, we thought that there was this overwhelming push for that name. And so, honest to goodness, uh I wouldn’t tell you anything wrong, it it came from somewhere else. So again, um we love the logo, we love the name, I think it turned out great but I just wanted to make sure that you understood because we have gotten some emails from various people, you know, complaining about the name change but that that actually came from somewhere else. Anything else?
Candace Davis: You hit everything. So I was gonna ask you what’s to come and you mentioned the program guide in the fall. Um and the name where it derived. So thank you Bill. Thank you.
Candace Davis: All right. Before the Mayor comes up, we’ll go until about 4:03. Um some of you had some additional questions. If you don’t mind raising your hand and I will acknowledge you and then you may ask your question. Zoe wants a spot.
Candace Davis I don’t know if you can project if you can.
Audience Member (Unidentified Female): Thank you. Thank you so much. Uh there are almost two generations of people that use this building now. One is 55 to 75. One is 75 and up. 95. And um I don’t feel like that first younger group is going to get this. They’re going to figure out RecDesk, they’re going to figure out how to pay a few extra dollars for classes. I am concerned about the older group. And I can say that because I’m one of the older group. Uh and the other thing that I’m very concerned about is there is a lady here comes every day at 9 o’clock and it’s Meals on Wheels. Mitzi mentioned it and in the meeting before last week our mayor-elect mentioned it. Uh that group will feed anybody age 60 and up. No questions asked. No figure out investments or uh the money you have. There’s there’s nothing like that. You have to be 60 and up and if you’re under 60 you can be disabled. And they feed you free every single day a lunch here. And it has never been in a Wednesday Wink. I’ve I’ve never seen that Meals on Wheels is in the Wednesday Wink. And it is never even on the sign in this building. This is the room where they have it, it’s called Friendship Cafe. And I know Ben has brought up senior food insecurity and this is a perfect way to get people who have food insecurities a hot nourishing meal every day free of charge in this building. So I checked with, I’m your eyes, Meals on Wheels is in here from 9 to 12. So maybe… I do have other things…
Candace Davis: Oh, we have an active partnership with Meals on Wheels. We have their schedule so we know they’re here from 9 to 12 every day. We will make arrangements to add the reminders about when Meals on Wheels will offer their uh food service.
Audience Member (Unidentified Female): Yeah. I’ve got Wednesday Wink every day for the last two years and it has never, never been in a Wednesday Wink. And there could be a sign in this building right here. Because you can fit uh there was a sign that says 50 people can eat in this building every single day. And maybe if we had some kind of advertisement right in this building, right in this room, we would note it and it will be added. But thank you.
Candace Davis: Thank you. I believe… Okay. If you bring it back up. This gentleman.
Audience Member (Jerry Flynn): Uh I have three questions. One: You uh you called out your uh 2017 study. Did that focus on senior households? Did you guys do a subset of senior households and make sure that it fit along?
Monica Lileton: Seniors were included in that study although the Senior Center was not linked to the Parks and Recreation Department which it focused on at the time. Uh seniors who utilized the Rec Center, all of those demographics were included. So yes.
Jerry Flynn: Understood. I thank you. Uh two: For communications. Do you have a channel other than Facebook? Because some people don’t use Facebook.
Bill Crabtree: Yes sir. We have well we have all the email notifi- notifier options, we have the information on the website, so…
Jerry Flynn: Nice. The web page for the Senior Center, I can get to this by searching for the Active Center. I cannot find it on either the mobile app or or going to the departments.
Bill Crabtree: We’ll talk about that after this. I’ll show you how to get there.
Jerry Flynn: Okay. And Sam. For uh the instructors. All instructors volunteer or not have to be under contract?
Samantha Sanchez: Yes. Contract or agreement.
Jerry Flynn: Okay.
Candace Davis: Thank you. Next person.
Audience Member (Unidentified Female): I just have a question about the equipment. And the need for more offices. When we got the information about the uh equipment being destroyed to create more offices, I wasn’t sure how that benefits the uh seniors. Uh there’s plenty of room out in the front there and now we’re going to exercise behind panels? Or the uh so I find that very frightening for me. And a lot of people. And one other thing about you turn 70 and you kind of disappear. Um our being here for us over 70 uh is our uh socializing in this place. Uh internet is awesome and cell phones are terrific. I just got rid of my flip phone so… I think it’s all awesome. But it’s very difficult for us 70 and up to 90 to still love to come here and just be with each other. This has been a wonderful thing for all of us uh growing up and growing older and being alone. So uh I thank you for listening to my babble. But I’m just curious about the machinery uh and everything being behind while people are eating which is kind of creepy.
Candace Davis: So thank you for the question. So the staff will expand because there’s… Your community is like a little city. So there will be a need for additional staff and they need to be able to have somewhere to land and sit. And so unfortunately we had to move the exercise equipment out here but that would offer more visibility for it and more of you will use it. Only a few of you were using it when it was in the um space. But give us time in the future and the future CIP, we would love to have the second facility so we can grow and make room. Do you want… you want to add to that Mickey or anything?
Mickey Rochelle: No.
Candace Davis: Okay.
Audience Member: I have a couple questions. So recently I had to renew my Parks and Rec RecCard over at Joyner Park, which I did. Then I start getting the communications I have to get a RecCard here. Why do we have to have two? If we already have a Parks and Rec card, why can’t we use that card?
Monica Lileton: You won’t be… You won’t be able to use your Center for Active Aging card at a Parks and Rec facility.
Zoe Taylor: Yes you can. We checked it.
Monica Lileton: So let me let one of the staff here answer it. I don’t want to misspeak.
Zoe Taylor: Community Engagement Manager: Yep. It is it’s one card. So if you have a Parks and Rec membership and a membership here, we have tested it and the gray card works at all facilities. So you won’t need your green card.
Audience Member: But we still have to get the one for here.
Zoe Taylor: Yes. You’ll just get a brand new card but it’ll be universal if you have the Parks and Rec membership.
Audience Member: Okay. Thank you. Second question. And I agree with reading the newsletters as I’m sure a lot of us do. But telling us about the sign up period that started on the first or today. It didn’t give us a website to go just said use your RecCard. Well I’ve never signed up for anything with my RecCard. I just go up to the desk up there and sign up at Joyner Park. So so I need to know spell it out for me. Where’s the website? What are the steps I take? What card do I need? And when do I need to do it by? Because it’s now half past noon on the third day and I haven’t signed up for anything cause I can’t figure that out. And maybe I need but maybe I don’t have the the information.
Zoe Taylor (Community Engagement Manager): I can speak to that. We have step-by-step instructions with the website up at the front desk, both for registering for programs and how to sign up. There are also notices on every single door letting everybody know the changes, the upcoming dates, and all of that. We also had step-by-step guides in the Wednesday Wink.
Audience Member: Well I got the Wednesday Wink and I didn’t see that. So it’s true. But we do have step-by-step…
Audience Member: Final question. And this is calling a thing so I went through the list of classes that you could sign up for. I did not see the dance fusion class with Linda. Is that going to be returning?
Staff Member: Yes. Yes it is. So.
Audience Member (Zoe): When can we sign up for it?
Staff Member: If you are a resident you can sign up now. If you are a non-resident you start tomorrow morning at 8 a.m.
Audience Member (Zoe): It wasn’t listed in the list that I could find.
Staff Member: You have to filter it by month. So if you use the search bar or grab the step-by-step up at the front, it shows you how to do that. If you just search by JAN or FEB it’ll filter all of that.
Candace Davis: Again if you need assistance registering the staff here is willing to assist you. Um next question.
Audience Member (Unidentified Male): So I just wanted to ask a question. Uh I I have several questions for you. Please bear with me. First of all how many of you are Wake Forest residents raise your hands. Okay so I can see right here that there is a good bit but not all people are residents of Wake Forest that are attending this meeting. So we’re non-residents. Including myself and my wife. We have no problem with paying $25 for a card if that means we get access to the the Senior Center. What I do have an issue with is how can a community have 28% disposable income if I’m wrong please tell me. And receive scholarships? I just I’m trying to figure that out. I’m just curious if that… So just hold on to that for just a second. So also volunteer instructors. Do volunteer instructors have to have insurance? Yes? No? Volunteer instructors do not. So why does the volunteer form have it that we’re responsible as volunteer instructors for any injury or otherwise that was that is part of the class? I’m trying I guess I’m curious. Hold on to that for just one second. The third question I have is Mayor Mayor-elect Ben Clapsaddle. Are you on board with the current path of the WFCAA? Not taking away from you Mayor Jones. You’ve been there for 24 years I get it. But are you okay with everything that’s been said here and are you willing to support the WFCAA that’s everything that’s promised here today? I just want to hear that.
Mayor-Elect Ben Clapsaddle: Ha. No pressure. Uh. Sir. You’re lucky you got it. I understand. And and yes. But I will give you this caveat: is that it will some things will adjust because of the input that we have from not only this audience but others who couldn’t be here today. So yes.
Audience Member (Unidentified Male): And that that’s very fair. Just wanted to make sure sir and thank you so much for showing up today. Oh I’m sorry. So um so how can a community have 28% disposable income and receive scholarships? So give scholarships to Wake Forest people but not non-residents. So I just I heard 28% disposable income to give scholarships. I I didn’t mean you know I’m just I’m just curious. Got it. Yeah. Got it. Okay. And um anything else for me?
Candace Davis: Thank you. Next.
Audience Member (Unidentified Female): I’m trying to get to everybody. I kind of wanted to address what she was talking about with this technology. Um the the beautiful thing about the Senior Center here is that when you step through the front door you step back into the 1970s. And the music is playing and it’s you know genuine is here and she was a large part of it. I’m looking at a table full of people who probably wouldn’t qualify to be members cause you’re not old enough. Um but we’re we we registered for college classes by standing in line with our paper and pencil and index cards. And this is the world we’re used to. The technology can be overwhelming for some of the older people. And I would suggest that like two years ago when we started coming here we literally signed up on paper and pencil just to get into classes that were dropping. You signed up. This is our world. I I would suggest that we go back to the paper and pencil that everybody’s comfortable with rather than trying to ask very old people to learn new technology and hire somebody to then input the data.
Candace Davis: Okay. Next. Mr. Jerry.
Jerry Flynn: Hi my name is Jerry Flynn. I first of all would like to compliment everybody from the staff being here from Wake Forest. And appreciate your input. But I also want to address something that is dear to me has to do with the capacity. And do what is the capacity of this building as to the number of seniors that we have registered. Mayor I’m gonna hold you to something that you told me about. And I hope the new elected mayor follows through on a promise that we are going to have a second senior center in Wake Forest. Is that gonna happen? And I thank you all for being here. Appreciate it.
Mayor Jones: Can I answer that?
Jerry Flynn: Yes, ma’am.
Mayor Jones: The second senior center is in the Capital Improvements Plan (CIP) for the town. It is pushed out a few years, but it is in the plan. And as you know, with capital improvement plans, things get moved around depending on funding and what have you. But it is definitely in the plan to have a second senior center. As far as the capacity of this building, I’m going to let Mickey or somebody answer that… or Monica.
Monica Lileton: So, based on fire code, the capacity is significantly higher than what we would comfortably have in here for programming. But functionally, for the types of programs we have, we are looking at—depending on the room setup—anywhere from 15 to 50 people per room. But as far as the total building capacity, we are well within the safe limits of the fire code.
Jerry Flynn: Thank you.
Mayor-Elect Ben Clapsaddle: And Jerry, to answer your question specifically about the promise: Yes. I am committed to the Capital Improvements Plan. We have to look at the budget every year, but I am very supportive of our senior population and making sure that we have the facilities to support you. As the Mayor said, it is in the plan, and I intend to keep it there.
Candace Davis: All right. I think that brings us to the end of our questions. I want to thank the panel—Monica, Ben, Sam, Mickey, Mitzi, and Bill—for your transparency and for answering these hard questions. And I want to turn it back over to Mayor Jones for some final words.
Mayor Jones: Thank you, Candace. And thank you all again for being here. I know this has been a difficult transition. Change is never easy. I’ve been here a long time, and I’ve seen a lot of changes in Wake Forest. But I truly believe that we are on the right path. We want this center to be vibrant; we want it to be active. We want it to be a place where you feel welcome and safe. Please, if you have questions, use the staff. Don’t listen to the rumors. Go to the source. We are here for you. We work for you. And we want to make sure that you are happy with the services that you are receiving. So, thank you for your patience. Thank you for your passion—because I know you are passionate about this place—and thank you for being residents and participants here in Wake Forest.
Candace Davis: Thank you, Mayor. This concludes our Mayors’ Round Table. Staff will be available around the room if you have individual questions regarding registration or specific concerns. Thank you for coming.
