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Dear Gov. Justice,
It has come to our attention that Pendleton Senior and Family Services has been the topic of discussion over the last several months. Apparently, the closing of our North Fork satellite nutrition site has caused some stir among individuals in a bordering county. It seems that there is confusion as to how our closure will affect other nutrition sites around the state.
When I became executive director of Pendleton Senior and Family Services, Inc., four years ago, our centers were in a troubled place. We had a large amount of debt and both buildings needed maintenance.
The only way we have turned this agency around is by cutting costs across the board including, but not limited to, bringing down utility costs by replacing the rotting windows in our building and controlling thermostats. The administrative staff endured a 20% pay reduction for a while, and when employees resigned, the positions were not filled.
Our Board has been considering closing our North Fork site since before my tenure. After much consideration, our board of directors and myself saw that the possibility of continuing to operate that site with only eight to 10 individuals returning to the center after COVID was slim.
My board of directors made the unanimous decision to close the North Fork nutrition site as of Oct. 1, 2022, which coincided with our new fiscal year.
Last week I was contacted by Commissioner Robert Roswall and told the Bureau of Senior Services was considering contracting with a local restaurant on our behalf to provide meals to the regular participants. It seems that if that worked out, then he would try to force our local area agency to take funds from our current allocation to provide these meals. This would ultimately affect the meals that we are currently providing to the rest of our county.
Last week, we were also contacted by the UPAAA, and it was suggested that we consider providing transportation from North Fork to Franklin (15 miles) for those "regular" participants that are currently being provided curbside meals. We are considering this because we have been asked to, not because we think it is feasible.
There have been other satellite nutrition sites that have closed across the state. Why are we being singled out for this treatment? We have done the absolute best we can for our agency with the funding we have without jeopardizing the entire agency for a few individual participants that we have done everything we can to reach a compromise with them.
And furthermore, according to what I have been told, this is stemming from a concerned citizen in a neighboring county who thinks the closure of our satellite nutrition site is going to somehow affect a site in their county. Those who understand our network, would know that all counties receive different levels of funding based on a funding formula. Senior centers do not all operate the same exact programs and do not all receive the same level of local funding.
Our board and I made what we felt was the best decision that we could based on the funding that we know we are going to be able to secure in these uncertain times, with the high cost of fuel and raw food rising every day, to ensure that we would be serving the most we possibly can of the at-risk senior population across our entire county.
In closing, I hope that this would be our way the UPAAA, the Bureau of Senior Services and you, as governor of our great state, would expect all of your senior centers to function and operate.
Janice Lantz,
Executive Director,
Pendleton Senior &
Family Services