Along with a presentation by the co-founder of UR Community Cares (see related story), the Commission on Aging (COA) covered a number of additional items during its July 17 meeting.

COA Chair Anne Rothstein reminded the commission that it will not meet in August, “based on past practice. We will resume meeting again in September.”

Human Resources Director Natalie Jackson opened her brief report by highlighting the Newtown Senior Center Open House & Health Expo planned for July 20 (coverage of that event will be offered in next week’s paper).

It will be, she reminded commissioners and attendees, the first open house of the senior center since its move into and initial open house at 8 Simpson Street four years ago.

“We’re really excited about this,” Jackson said. “It’s going to mirror, a little bit, of the Town’s traditional annual health fair, but with more of a senior focus. We’ve got some great vendors and professionals who will be here. We’re hoping it will bring new people through our doors, especially those who haven’t seen the new center.”

Jackson reported that as of the new membership year on July 1, 309 Newtown residents and 58 non-residents have renewed their membership or joined the center.

“Those are very good numbers,” she said.

Online registration for classes and programs, and the new fee schedule that charges a few additional dollars for non-residents taking health and fitness classes, “also kicked off July 1,” she noted.

“So far, we’ve had a few glitches with learning the system, but the program itself has been incredibly helpful. We’ll work out a few kinks there, but I think it’s going very smoothly,” Jackson said.

Rothstein then said the Treasurer’s Report was unchanged from the previous meeting, so a motion to accept the report was moved and passed.

Returning to a subject from June’s meeting, Rothstein then said she had been in contact with First Selectman Dan Rosenthal over whether the COA, the senior center, and Friends of Newtown Seniors could share space at the upcoming Newtown Arts Festival without creating conflict or confusion.

“We can share a table at the arts festival,” she said, before making a motion to do so. The decision passed without further comment.

During the public comment portion of the agenda, Rothstein opened the floor to Anne Micklus.

A Sandy Hook resident, Micklus read a prepared statement addressing the recent increase of fees for non-residents who attend fitness classes at Newtown Senior Center. She opened by saying she moved to town recently, to be closer to family, and has already learned that “Newtown residents are already paying some of the highest taxes in Connecticut.”

“It is unfair for them to subsidize out-of-towners who are not taxpayers. Absolutely outrageous,” she added. She has a grandson in town, she then noted.

“If nonresidents get a free ride, are his teachers supposed to agree to a lesser raise than they deserve to keep the budget balanced?” Micklus asked, before referencing “GE funding” that extends to 2024, “and eventually everyone will have to pay fees.”

She asserted that if people are traveling into Newtown to take classes at the senior center here, “then the services provided by the Newtown Senior Center are valuable.”

Dance classes at professional studios, she said, “can easily add up to hundreds, so senior center fees are quite modest in comparison.”

Micklus maintains a membership at The Raymond E. Baldwin Center in Stratford, which serves as that city’s senior center, she said. “I know what it’s like to be an out-of-towner,” she said.

Micklus outlined the fee scale for the Baldwin center, which includes federal funding, grants and — like Newtown as of July 1 — a slightly higher fee for some classes for non-residents. According to Micklus, the Baldwin center, however, charges a fee for all classes taught by a professional instructor, whether a student lives in town or not.

“Other classes are free, so there is a choice,” she said. “If people are having financial difficulty, they need to see a social worker and document their needs, as is done for energy assistance. If it is more want than need, they should pay the fee or get a DVD and dance and exercise in their own living room.”

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Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.