Harwich Council on Aging Elects New Chair, Debates Senior Financial Outreach

Council on Aging · Meeting of July 22, 2026

Harwich's Council on Aging reorganized its board Wednesday and held a wide-ranging discussion on senior financial security amid rising costs and the town's coming wastewater mandate. The board unanimously elected a member identified as Jen as its new chair, Richard as vice chair, and Sheila as clerk, completing the annual reorganization required under the town charter — a process the outgoing chair, who said he has served on the board for more than 11 years, noted had not always been followed in prior years. Director Julie reported that the COA's website has been scanned for WCAG 2.0 accessibility compliance, with color-contrast and missing-caption issues being corrected, and that the COA newsletter has been reformatted to work with screen readers after testing by a contact at the Brooks Free Library.

Two new van drivers finished training and will be fully certified to operate all vehicles, including lift-equipped vans, after an August 10 CCRTA session. The bulk of the meeting focused on financial assistance: the board noted that the COA fields financial inquiries "a few times a week," ranging from SNAP eligibility and Caleb Chase Fund applications to home-care funding gaps, and discussed a knowledge gap around reverse mortgages — a tool two recent clients had turned to after exhausting other options, with a board member who is on the Cape Cod Five board of directors offering to facilitate an educational presentation on the topic.

In the full story:

• Background and stakes
• The question before the body
• Substantive content
• The deliberation
• Procedural steps and outcome
• Implications and what is next
• The complete report — 3,380 words

Source: the Council on Aging meeting of July 22, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.