Rapidly filling fitness classes have pushed Harwich Community Center to its capacity, prompting Council on Aging (COA) officials to explore finishing the building's basement to accommodate demand. During the board's February 18 meeting, Director Julie Wieleba-Milne reported that the popularity of low-cost programming has created a bottleneck for residents, with some classes reaching their limits almost immediately after registration opens.

I've had to add second sessions for things like chair yoga because the 30 slots fill up in an hour, Wieleba-Milne said, noting that larger rooms would allow the department to pay instructors for a single hour rather than two. Board member Angie Chilaka suggested the facility’s lower level could offer a solution, stating, Space is the biggest thing. We were thinking about looking at the basement as an option. However, the Chair cautioned that the Select Board remains hesitant to take on new capital projects amid current town-wide financial pressures, suggesting the COA may need to find creative ways to finance such an expansion.

The board also reviewed the launch of its independent website, harwichcoa.com, a move designed to bypass municipal IT constraints and provide more frequent updates to seniors. Wieleba-Milne confirmed the site is live with high-level security protocols and has already seen hundreds of unique visitors. Addressing the need for better outreach, Jen Anderson suggested using the site's blog to showcase the social side of the center. I wondered if you could take pictures of events like the Valentine's Day party to highlight the cool stuff happening, Anderson said, leading to a discussion on balancing promotion with privacy consents.

Budgetary constraints are steering the board away from traditional mass mailings, which can cost upwards of $2,400 for 5,000 residents. The board reached a consensus to prioritize "rack cards"—compact, QR-code-enabled resource cards—to be distributed at the Chamber of Commerce and local medical offices. John Batchelder expressed skepticism toward more expensive alternatives, noting, I'm leery of mass mailing; it often just gets tossed as junk mail. He suggested that reaching out through church bulletins and the Garden Club might yield better engagement for Harwich’s 4.7 percent budget growth limit.

A proposal from Friends of the COA President Bob Hamilton to create a "handyman list" for seniors sparked a debate over municipal liability. While the town administration is open to a distance-based list of tradespeople, the board expressed concern about being held responsible for poor contractor performance. The Chair noted that while the department must be shielded from liability, as long as it's clearly a list provided by the Friends and not the town department, the resource could safely move forward. Earlier in the meeting, the board approved the records of their prior session. Motion Made by an unidentified member to approve the minutes from the previous meeting. Motion Passed (Unanimous).

Legal preparedness also took center stage as Wieleba-Milne announced her attendance at an upcoming state-hosted guardianship workshop. The initiative aims to help participants identify preferred guardians early in a diagnosis. The Chair, sharing personal perspective on the complexity of the legal system, remarked, I went through the guardianship process about three years ago and it was onerous. Members of the public were also given an opportunity to speak, though Caleb, the lone audience member representing local media, simply stated he had nothing to add to the discussion. The board concluded by offering condolences to long-standing member Ralph Smith, who recently lost his wife after years of dedicated service to the town's facilities and senior committees.