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Senior Services

BELMONT COUNTY commissioners are committed to good financial practices.

Belmont County senior citizens are deserving of quality services.

We hope those two mesh following the commissioners’ recent decision to have Belmont County Senior Services fall in with the Job and Family Services umbrella.

As expected, it was a move not embraced by the seniors. A major change such as the one being implemented by county commissioners would be hard to swallow at first glance.

Commissioners, however, have pledged that no services will be abolished and that all 10 senior centers throughout the county will remain open. We stress to commissioners that they must honor that promise.

Belmont County’s 70,000 population is heavily flavored with senior citizens. They are a segment of our society relying on the services they currently receive.

While the leadership is changing, we see no reason why anything else needs to, other than an opportunity to secure additional funding. Dwayne Pielech, who heads Jobs and Family Services, will now be the front man for senior services. He believes the transitioning will enable the department to attract more state and federal dollars for senior programs and centers.

Should such a scenario come to fruition, it would reinforce the commissioners’ decision as being a positive one. It would also prove a boon to senior citizens throughout the county.

The move was precipitated by a $900,000 projected Belmont County Senior Services deficit for fiscal year 2013. Making that number even more troubling is that it was a result of additional manpower and related administrative costs.

Nearly a million dollars is a much too excessive price tag for commissioners to supplement.

That, combined with a vow to maintain the same levels of efficiency that seniors have become accustomed to in Belmont County, we believe the commissioners are correct in their thinking.

The key, however, is making sure our seniors are not shortchanged. Time will provide the answer.

Senior Services

Dear Editor

Our county commissioners and Dwayne Pielech, director of Jobs and Family Services, may feel that they can offer the seniors of Belmont County better services, however as the chair of the Board of Trustees for Belmont Seniors Services it was a shock to read in the newspaper about these changes.

To date Belmont Senior Services, Inc. has not been notified that our Purchase for Service Contract was not going to be renewed. If the commissioners or Dwayne Pielech wanted to discuss changes because they felt there was a better way of providing services all they had to do is notify us. It was disheartening to read that Mr. Pielech has scheduled “town hall meeting” at our senior centers, and have scheduled a meeting at Department of Jobs and Family Services for our employees to discuss the “change over” without any notification or input from Belmont Senior Services.

Our board has done everything possible to satisfy the requests from the commissioners. Someone once said that “Belmont Senior Services” was the best-kept secret in Belmont County. Department of Jobs and Family Services stated that they can offer more services without really knowing what we offer.

Belmont Senior Services, Inc is a non-profit 501 (3) c organization that plans on continuing to service the seniors of Belmont County. No one has the right to make statements of dissolving our organization. The commissioners can cancel our Purchase of Service Contract but that doesn’t mean we go away. We will just look at offering other services and continue current services through our contract with Area Agency on Aging 9. Our Mission Statement states we will provide options that promotes the physical, intellectual, economic and social well being of adults sixty years and older, through a comprehensive continuum of care'” and that will continue.

We have currently finished the development of a four-year strategic plan with the support of Ohio University. The board has been meeting with an Advisory Board Committee made up of seniors from throughout the bounty. Our board has gone back to the basics and is developing programs and policies that our seniors have asked for.

We truly believe without giving the seniors a strong voice our organization would not be able to move forward. Our center directors are certified and re-certify each year through Ohio Senior Centers Commission. They are trained as professional Ohio Senior Health Insurance Information Program volunteers and connect seniors with services with Medicare and Medicaid. They work closely with Ohio Benefit Bank who does all the same referrals as Department of Job and Family Services but through the privacy of the senior’s home. Our Centers provide wellness programs and activities that benefit seniors in addition to the congregate meals and socialization. Our staff prepares 3250-3500 hot meals per week in addition to the 4200-4500 miles traveled to meet the transportation needs of our seniors. We provide confidentially to our seniors so that their personal information is not dropped into a database and sent off to Columbus to become a statistic.

Part of our Strategic Plan is to expand collaboration efforts with other Belmont County services and businesses. Belmont Senior Services has had a contractual agreement since 1972. Prior to the Levy funds the organization has struggled. The administrative staff took pay cuts to help make ends meet. Belmont Senior Services employees are loyal and dedicated to the seniors of our county. It is in the best interest of the seniors for us to work together to decide how this can be done. A statement was made that individuals will try to under mind the Department of Job and Family Services efforts.

This is neither the board nor the employee’s way of doing business. We feel that if this change would be in the best interest of our senior why didn’t anyone ask our seniors their opinion. We all had to read about it in the paper.

Our board met with the Senior Advisory Committee on Sunday and their voices were very clear that they never voted for their tax dollars to go to Department Job and Family Services and assured us that they did not want their centers to be run by Mr. Pielech and his staff. Since some of our centers are owned by their village or town they are confused on how they have that right. Bottom line is the seniors expressed feelings of betrayal by the commissioners.

We feel that we need to work together for the best interest of the seniors. Collaboration must come from all parties not through blindsiding our employees with articles in the paper. Demonstrating poor judgment does not make this a win-win for our seniors.

Peggy Hickenbottom,

Board of Trustee Chair

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