J.O.Y. Center’s Closing Opens Pandora’s Box of Questions

Hopes were high at the J.O.Y. Center meeting on August 19, 2014. The seniors, and their supporters, were confident Millcreek’s supervisors would grant a three-month extension to Meca’s contract. This would allow the non-profit to continue running the center, and there would be time to find a solution to the senior-center issue. Unfortunately, at the August 26 supervisors’ meeting, the three men sat through a dozen citizens’ impassioned pleas, and after the last speaker finished, they adjourned the meeting with no new motion made, nor vote taken.

Listed below are some of the points made by the citizens at the August 26 meeting:

• A family has been created at the J.O.Y. center, and the closing of it is tearing the family apart.
• The seniors have learned about computers, taken fitness classes, and forged new friendships.
• The Erie Times-News reported that Supervisor Figaski said the seniors rejected the offer to use the clubhouse at the Millcreek Golf & Learning Center, because it was too small. One of the seniors suggested an adding an addition to the building, but that suggestion seems to be forgotten.
• The supervisors have decided to reopen the Millcreek Golf & Learning Center and will seek private funding and grants to fund it. The seniors want to know why the same can’t be done for them. [It should also be asked why the golf center was built at all when the airport had a long-term plan to extend its runway onto the property, resulting in the destruction of most of the golf course.]
• It would be easy to extend the contract to the end of the year because the money is in the budget for Meca, and the rent must be paid on the building anyway.
• The J.O.Y. center contains 24 offices that were supposed to be leased to help defray the center’s costs. Why were the offices never leased?
• One office in the J.O.Y. center is occupied by an insurance agent who is not paying rent. Will the office stay open for this individual? If that is the case, why couldn’t it stay open for the seniors? And why isn’t the agent paying rent?
• Why not amend the Meca contract instead of cancelling it?

Now that it appears the J.O.Y. center will be closed, a suggestion has been made that a fund, independent of Millcreek Township, be established for a senior center. This brings to mind a plethora of new questions:

• Wasn’t there already a senior-center organization that raised funds for 20 years?
• Was a 501(c)(3) corporation formed for this fundraising? Were IRS 990 tax forms filed?
• What was the total revenue raised by the seniors over the 20-year period prior to the J.O.Y. center’s creation?
• What were the expenses?
• How much money was contributed by the seniors to Millcreek Township for the J.O.Y. center?
• How were these funds disbursed to Millcreek Township?
• Was there an agreement made between the seniors and the supervisors when the funds were handed over to Millcreek Township?
• If so, has Millcreek Township breached this agreement? If not, were the seniors taken advantage of?
• Should Millcreek Township refund some of the seniors’ money that was used to open the center since the Township has pulled out of the project?
• Can legal action be taken to bring the Township in line with its obligations to its citizens?
• The supervisors say they are not abandoning the senior citizens of Millcreek. They are just terminating the contract with Meca and working on alternatives. Then, why aren’t they working with the seniors in an open fashion to create a plan? Why does the “dust need to settle?”

Time is very important for our seniors. Many, including my mother, who helped fund the dream, are already gone. For her efforts, there is a brick with my parents’ name on it painted onto a wall at the J.O.Y. center. When the offices are repurposed, even that will be gone.

Perhaps the seniors should proceed without Millcreek Township assistance, but they will have a very difficult time raising money unless the questions above are answered. In fact, there are many questions unanswered on both sides of this debacle, and I hope they are answered soon, so our seniors are served and Millcreek remains strong.

Ann Silverthorn (Twitter: @annsilverthorn) is a blogger who also writes about a wide variety of topics in numerous genres, including non-fiction, fiction, poetry, travel, and grant writing.