AFROC Board of Directors Meeting

8 March 2017

Admiral Timme called the meeting to order at 4:00pm and led the Board in the Pledge of Allegiance.

  1. Attendance:
  1. The following members were present: Steve Plummer, George Eichert, Mike Rossi, Ed Rodriguez, Lauren Lloyd, Scott Custer, Mary Pat Couig, and Ted Bowlds, Kevin Green.
  2. Others present: Barbara Brannon, President/CEO; HT Johnson, President of the Residents Council; Hardy Lister, CFO; Leah Daily, Marketing and Sales Director; Ande Burke, Assistant Secretary to the AFROC Board.
  1. Minutes from the January Board meeting:
  1. Secretary, Mary Pat Couig moved to approve the minutes from the January 2017 board meeting. George Eichert seconded the motion and the minutes were unanimously approved.

MOTION 03/08/17-01: Approve Board minutes from January 2017 Board meeting. Motion Passed.

  1. Chairman’s Report: – Bill Timme

1.Master planis going to be presented at the County Planning Commission Public Hearing on March 28, George Eichert, Steve Plummer and I plan to attend. This can be streamed online. We will have good Board representation.

2.Since the agenda was distributed,Bill Timme invited Jim Haynes and Dave Belden to join the Board meeting for a 10 minute discussion. Mr. Haynes’ had requested this and provided information to the Board via email prior to the meeting. The last email discussion Admiral Timme had with Mr. Haynes, he declined toparticipate. Admiral Timme restated that he was welcome to present his information to the Board. Mr. Haynes chose not attend the meeting.

3.Two board members’ termsexpire in June, Steve Plummer and Mike Rossi. With Steve’s Departure as the Vice Chair. Bill Timme will be looking for potential volunteers to become the Vice Chair.

  1. Report from the Falcons Landing Residents Council- HT Johnson

1.The Resident Council has been discussing HEARing comments regarding The Johnson Center and West Falls. They do not have many solutions yet. The other issues are not quite as big as those. We are active in all that goes on here.Interactive HEARings are going quite well.

2.The families of resident’s in Assisted Living and Nursing attend HEARings and often have more concerns than the residents.

  1. Senior Management Report:

1.President /CEO’s Update – Barbara Brannon

  1. Zoning Update
  2. The Planning Commission Public Hearing is March 28 at 6pm. Our application will be presented and the public may sign up to testify. Last Thursday, Barb sent an informational letter with information on the hearing to our Falcons Landing residents in advance of Mike Romeo sending a letter to the surrounding community. Barb alsosent a letter addressing some known concerns of neighbors outside our community to those in the zip codes that are adjacent to our property - just over 272 residences.
  3. Resident Zoning Survey
  4. In an attachment to Barb’s letter to residents about the Planning Commission Public Hearing, four questions were askedof each Falcons Landing resident: did they support the proposal, are they planning to attend the hearing, would they like to speak on behalf of the proposal and do they needed transportation to the hearing. Sent out 405 surveys and, as of today, 132 have been returned; 114 say they support it, more than 50 said they want to go to the hearing on the bus and 7 people offered to speak.Barb is working with Mike Romeo on speakers.Three responded they did not support but would like to ride the bus to the hearing. Sixteen did not indicatewhether they supported it or not, 2 or 3 were positive about the memory unit but did not support the rest of the proposal. Unfortunately, we did not ask the question “whois opposed to the proposal” and those who were opposed may not return have the survey. We will have to resurvey to know who does not support and who does.
  5. Zoning Meetings
  6. Barb and Mike Romeo met with Vice Chair of the Planning Commission. It went well and the Commissioner said it’s a pretty straight forward hearing. If our submission meets all the county’s requirements, the commission will approve it. If it does not, they will not. Residents, internally or externally who oppose, while they can speak, will not affect the outcome of this particular hearing.
  7. Next Tuesday, Barb and Mikeare scheduled to meetwith the Chair of the Planning Commission. We hope to meet with all 9 Commissioners before the hearing to present information about the application and give them an opportunity to ask questions.
  8. The individuals who oppose this in our community have met with the commissioners and others in the county.
  9. Baseball may be coming to Loudoun County.
  10. This is exciting for us and for our residents. There was an initiative a few years ago to bring a Triple A team to Loudoun. We talked about sponsoring them at that time, but the deal did not go through. Hardy was recently contacted by a group who hasa near-term planto bring a team to Loudoun to begin playing in 2018, no later than 2019. They have option to buy land and build a new $36 million dollar ball park at ONE Loudoun.They want to focus on honoring the military and are naming the team the Silver Stars. They hope to get residents engaged in the effort, not to donate money, but to work with them on the military link. Last Friday, Barb briefed the Resident Council who will talk with two residents who are very active attending baseball games to see if they want to spearhead the liaison effort.
  11. The team is affiliated in the Atlantic League on the East Coast and one team in Sugarland Texas. Double A pitching, Triple A hitting.
  12. Resident Annual Survey
  13. Our biennial resident satisfaction survey will be distributed on April 17 with return requested by May 1. For the fourth year, we are using Holleran, an independent research firm to conduct the survey. The survey is anonymous and goesdirectly back to them; they will tabulate the results and send us a report. Barb will present the resident survey report to the Board and Residentsin June if the information is back to us by then. It gives us a good idea how we are doing compared to prior years, and importantly Holleran surveys 308 communities with 95,000 independent living surveys and thereare 55 questions that they benchmark. This year, for the first time, residents can complete the survey online and 30% of our residents have signed up to do so. The others will get paper copies and mail them back to Holleran.
  14. Fitness
  15. We are resurfacing our pool and spa later in March. We were going to do this in February, but realized we needed to postpone allowingtime for the new logo design to be completed for the bottom of the pool. Several years ago we spent over $100,000 to refurbish the pool and tile the pool deck. At that time, a Diamond Brite finish was applied and it only lasts 6 years or so. It’snow rubbing off and the pool bottom is unsightly. While our pool is being redone, we have an arrangement with Loudoun Downs that allowsresidents to use their pool and our instructor will go there to teach classes. Every year we have to close the pool in the late winter to drain and refill it. This extends the closure by about a week.
  16. Facilities
  17. Private Dining Room is on trackfor the April 30th completion. They have completed the demolitionand sheetrock.
  18. Dining Services
  19. For the first time in 2 years our kitchen is fully staffed. Recruiting cooks in this area is very challenging so we launched a multipronged approach to make it a little more attractive to work at Falcons Landing. We had previously been a one shift operation; staff came in the morning and then had a breakmidafternoon, unpaid, and then had to return for the dinner time. There are now two shifts: 6:00am-2:30pm and the second shift is 2:30pmuntil 11:00 pm. Prep for the next day is now being done at night. We also upgraded one of our cook positions to Sous Chef,so we now have three. This will be very helpful in kitchen oversight andthe Sous Chefscan also join the production line when needed. We also increased salaries across the board, because we found we were a little below the salary rate for this area. Lastly, we added a $500 bonus for anemployee who refers a new employee and a $500 signing bonus for any cook we hire, which is paid after 30 days. The strategy has worked great so far. The new staffisexperienced and the salary increase was not a significant increase to the budget when you consider the volume of overtime we have been paying each year due to vacant positions. It was cost neutral to go to two shifts. We have to do salary surveys frequently to stay competitive for staffing in thekitchen and also in nursing.
  20. We have been having issues with our pizza hood ventilation for some timeand needed to replace the fan. We had replaced the fan last summer but unfortunately our vendor suggested the same capacity fan which did not solve the problem. The cost of replacement with a higher volume fan will likely be covered by the engineering firm since they determined the size needed initially and at the first replacement. Residents have noticed the difference – no more smoke odor in the Café or hallway. The drapes and ceiling tiles were also discolored with soot. Theceiling tiles were cleaned by Whiting Turner and we will send the drapes for cleaning.The pizza oven was down for a few weeks because the fanhad to be custom made; residents are pleased the pizza oven is operational again.
  21. We replaced all of the sprinkler heads in the kitchen and learned this month that they work great. One of the sprinkler heads is in front of a large production oven. The chef opened the door, the heat hit the sensor, it went off and the sprinklers flooded the kitchen. The old sprinkler head was apparently not as sensitive as the new so we will raise the temperature level at which it activates.
  22. The month before, we inadvertently tested the Ansel fire suppression system in the back kitchen. During the end of the dinner hour, one of our chefs put a pan down with a little oil in it on a burner and went to get something from another area. The pan heated up very fast and caught fire. The Ansel system immediatelydischarged the dry fire suppressant chemicals and the chef grabbed the pan and tried to rush it to the sink. He was splashed with some of the grease but sustained no injury. The kitchen was unusable at that point. Our Dining Services Director immediately contacted our kitchen cleaners who put on a second crew and arrived within two hours. Bob worked with the Fire Marshall to clear us to open and by 6am we were ready for breakfast service. The fire suppression worked just as it should and since then all kitchen staff have been trained to just get out of the way and let the Ansel system do its work. Wereceived great support from everyone.This hasn’t happen before in the 20 yearswe have been open and we hope we don’t ever activate the system again. The Dining Room, and residents there, were not affected at all.
  23. Health Services
  24. We laid new concrete around circle parking area at the Johnson Center and restriped it. We removed two dead trees and were able to add 4 regular parking spaces and 1 additional handicap space.
  25. Specialized dementia care units have become the standard of care over the last 15 years or so and we currentlydo not have a specialunit although we have some residents who would benefit from that level of care. This is why we want to construct the memory care facility as part of the current proposal.
  26. We recently purchased the iN2L (It is Never too Late) system, a wonderful interactive system, to engage those with dementia, and it has many different activities, games and visual presentations. Barb has seen videos where people diagnosed with significant dementia,who are normally withdrawn, will spontaneously engage for lengthy periods with iN2L.
  27. We have a small screen on a rolling stand that we can take to the bedside and a 70 inch screen we can use for group activities. We will be using the systemupstairs in nursing and downstairs in assisted living. Residents have already been askingif we will purchase one for West Falls Center. The technology cost for the current system was $22,000 plus a $5,000/ year recurring subscription fee. Before we invest in another system for West Falls, we elected to wait and make sure it was being used and providing support as advertised. In the past we invested in another “wonderful” cutting-edge Brain Health technology computer system that was not used.

2.Marketing Update – Leah Daily

  1. Inventory Report
  2. February 2017 ended with 92.33%occupancy. For March we have already had two move-ins and are looking at5 more before the end of the month. For the first half of the year that would then be 14 new move-ins if all who have reserved sign contracts.
  3. Occupancy Update:
  4. One Williamsburgis on the market which should be reserved quickly at 1800 square feet.
  5. We have one Alexandria left in inventory but it is on hold since it would be in Master Plan Phase 1 if the proposal is approved.
  6. The other Alexandria in the master plan has been taken. The couple is aware that they may need to relocate at some point because of the Phase one plan, but they wanted to move in any anyway.
  7. Last board meeting I reported that we would be looking at a new advertising agency. We have the 3 firms selected and I will be sending out a Request for Proposal to each. They will be invited to do a presentation to the Marketing and Membership Committee and I hope we will be able to select the right advertising partner from that meeting.
  8. We have a new Customer Relations Management database. The previous CRM was outdated and clunky. After thorough research, we opted for Enquire Solutions, a Colorado based company. Their reports are basic and seem to be intuitive. It has been set up not only for independent living but also for Yvonne Cullen, Admissions Coordinator for The Johnson Center and West Falls Center. It will provide better reporting and integration with the website. We have a secondary option to purchase a customized report. I’ll have some time over the next 6-7 months before we go to budget again to add on that customized reporting.

3.Falcons Landing Financial Report- Hardy Lister

  1. Financial Dashboard. Report is as of 31 January 2017. The financial reports are as of 31 December and the Census is as of 28 February.
  2. Independent living Occupancy – Decreased from 92.4% in January to 91.9% in February. Occupancy should increase significantly over the next few months with 8-10 projected move-ins during March and April.
  3. Nursing Occupancy – Increased from 87.7% in January to 90.2% in February. We won the appeal of our COPN which allows us to accept direct admissions on 23 January, so we should be able to achieve our 92% budgeted occupancy over the remainder of the year. Nursing occupancy was 86.3% in August 2016 when we lost our previous COPN, but remarkably remained stable at around 87% during the five months we could not accept direct admissions.
  4. Assisted Living Occupancy - Increased from 77.9% in January to 78.1% in February. Occupancy has fallen almost 10% since August 2016. Contract holder occupancy has been fairly stable, but we have lost a number of direct admissions with very few new direct admissions. This decrease in occupancy has resulted in a significant loss of revenue and we decreased the 2017 budget projections based on this.
  5. Cash Entry Fees (YTD) - Cash entry fees through the end of 2016 were $6.9M, $700K less than projected. 2017 cash entrance fees should exceed the projected amount for the first half of the year due to the large number of first and second quarter move-ins.
  6. Operating Revenue (YTD) - Actual operating revenue for 2016 was $24.9M. The actual operating revenue was $384 under budget as of the end of November but only $91K under budget as of the end of December. The improvement was due primarily to $500K of realized gains from mutual fund dividends in December. For the year, the largest negative impact was assisted living revenue which was $500K less than budget due to less than expected occupancy.
  7. Operating Expenses – Operating expenses were $474 (1.9%) under budget for the year, primarily due to higher than expected employee health insurance costs and maintenance contract expenses. Both of these areas have been addressed in the 2017 budget.
  8. Days Cash On Hand (DCOH)– 313 days as of the end of December versus a Minimum of 225 days. At the last Board Meeting, I stated that the 325 DCOH as of 30 September would probably be our peak number because we anticipatedless in entrance fees in 2017 with fewer outside admissions to cottages due to internal moves as we move into the project phase.