Flora to take over Senior Center
Susan Scholl Editor

Beginning May 5, the Town of Flora and Midland Meals will take over operation of the Flora Senior Center.

"It's just the right thing to do," said Flora Clerk-Treasurer Joretta Tinsman. "Jeff (Sieber, Carroll County Council on Aging director) said he was considering closing our site and the town council is not willing to let that happen."

Sieber said recently on a Lafayette television station that the Flora site is the most costly of the Council on Aging's two senior centers - Delphi and Flora - to operate and money is tight with the county's current financial situation.

Sieber said that the Council on Aging pays a part-time employee and provides a telephone at the Flora site. Delphi does not incur these expenses. The Delphi site worker is employed through Experience Works, a government program that pays the worker. There is no telephone at that site; radio communication is used instead.

Flora already provides the building, the insurance, maintenance and utilities for the site, said Tinsman.

And until the center gets a van, she said, the town "won't have a lot more expenses than we already have."

The town has applied for a grant to purchase a van and if the request is denied this year, Tinsman indicated the town will reapply for the grant.

Sieber said whether or not Flora secures a van, the Council on Aging will continue to provide transportation services to Flora because it is contracted to do so as a Medicaid provider through Area IV Agency on Aging and Community Action Programs Inc.

To qualify for programming through Area IV, Flora will need to create a board of directors, said Tinsman. Anyone interested in serving on the board from Flora or Monroe Township should call or inquire at the town office.

Currently, the Town of Flora and Midland Meals are advertising to hire a director to work five hours a day, five days a week at the Flora site. The director will be responsible for the meal program and senior activities. Deadline to apply is April 11.

"We want this to be a good, amicable transition," said Sieber. "We want this to be a win-win for everyone concerned."

Flora will receive its share of the Title 3 funds for operation of its senior center, according to Sieber.

Monroe Township Trustee Kenneth Fife said the township is under contract this year with Area IV to provide $5,400 for Carroll County's transportation program. With Flora taking over its own site and possibly securing a van, Fife said his township board will review the contract for 2009 with regard to where to designate funding.

"Because of our name, Carroll County Council on Aging, there is a misconception," said Sieber, "that Camden and Burlington have senior centers, too."

"These are meal sites only," he said. "The sites provide some activities, but they are volunteer run, not through the Council on Aging. However, the Council on Aging does provide county-wide transportation services."