I resent my tax money spent on small groups who represent a small fraction of this county. Ed Corsi
More than 100 residents, most of them senior citizens, filled the Building 8 meeting room at 470 Center St. last Thursday during the first Geauga County Commissioners’ evening meeting in many years.
The standing-room-only crowd listened intently as commissioners discussed their Jan. 30 decision to sign a one-year rental contract for the the West Geauga Senior Center at Orchard Hills in Chester Township.
During the Jan. 30 meeting, the new director of the GeaugaCounty Department on Aging, Jessica Boalt, recommended commissioners renew the contract for one year, which she said would give her time to research all the rental contracts and decide the best course of action for the department.
The DOA operates senior centers in Thompson, Middlefield, Munson, Chester and Chagrin Falls Park in Bainbridge Township. All except the Munson facility are rented.
The West Geauga site contract expired Jan. 31.
Many of the comments made by commissioners and audience members during that meeting led some residents to believe commissioners were considering consolidation of some of the sites.
“This has been a heavily discussed topic,” Commissioner Ralph Spidalieri said Thursday. “We had a situation approximately a month ago when our (DOA’s) new director discussed the renewal of the contract for the West Geauga Senior Center at Orchard Hills.”
Spidalieri said Boalt had brought up concerns about the center, including a 10-percent increase in the rent and utility costs.
He said he had received many emails from residents questioning the location of the center at the northwest corner of the county and decided to propose that commissioners look into other options for a more centralized location.
“Before I was a commissioner, I never realized the importance our (centers are to our seniors),” he said. “I didn’t get a full snapshot until we started interviewing for the new director.”
Spidalieri said he realizes the county’s senior population is growing and will continue to need such facilities.
“Our goal is not to take away service; it’s about quality,” he told the audience.
Chester resident Mary Ann Mazelski told Spidalieri she uses the West Geauga center and was upset about a recent Chesterland News article that said commissioners were considering consolidating the sites because only 20 people were using the West Geauga facility.
“Twenty people a day is totally inaccurate,” she told commissioners. “It upset me no end to see the misstatements in the paper. We don’t need fewer facilities; we need more facilities.”
Many in the crowd applauded.
Spidalieri said some of the comments stated in the article had come from the audience during the Jan.30 meeting, not from him.
Commissioner Mary Samide said she agreed with the resident, that the county needs an additional center in the Bainbridge/Auburn/Russell area.
She added when the county had to close the previous Chester center several years ago for environmental reasons, Orchard Hills appeared to be the best place to re-locate it because the county, paying for a $14.7 million jail, did not have the money to buy or build another center.
“You’re right,” she told Mazelski. “You don’t want to be driving 20 minutes to a center. There is a senior levy you all pay for. I looked it up and Chester residents pay $340,000 a year in taxes for that. That’s a lot of money. For $60,000 (per year for the West Geauga center), I think we’re getting a good deal.”
Samide said she had been bombarded with over 40 calls from seniors upset about the comments made at the Jan. 30 meeting.
“I don’t think we should upset the apple cart,” she said.
Commissioner Blake Rear added, “Jessica came into the situation late and she needs time to evaluate and come up to speed. Nobody’s going to do anything to move the center.”
Boalt said the West Geauga Center is open five days per week from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and has an average daily attendance of 45 and a yearly total of 1,047.
Some come for hot meals and others to socialize with friends or to take part in classes, exercise and other activities.
She told commissioners she had been in office only three weeks before the rental contract was set to expire and, because the DOA will have a levy on the ballot this year, she believed it was prudent to ask for a one-year contract to give her time to study all the related issues.
Former Chester Township Trustee Pat Mula took issue with Spidalieri’s statement that he had been misquoted after the Jan. 30 meeting.
“Mr. Spidalieri, you clearly said you’d like to combine and move the centers to Bainbridge or Russell; that’s why everyone is here tonight,” Mula said. “You need to apologize to us. The center has been a wonderful source for seniors, not just from Chester Township, but probably Russell and Munson.
“Please don’t pretend you didn’t say it, because you did,” Mula told Spidalieri.
Chester Township resident Norm Traffis said he was told about the Jan. 30 meeting and watched it on YouTube.
“I was shocked, not just about you, sir, but the audience and the comments from the (commissioners’) table about (how) most days, four people show up to play cards and that’s it,” he said.
Traffis presented commissioners with several photos taken recently at the center, showing many people having lunch and taking part in a variety of activities.
“The commissioners can’t control what somebody in the audience says,” Spidalieri replied. “There’s only so much stuff we can police. Sometimes emotions come into play. We can only control what we can control.”
Traffis told commissioners the Patterson family, owners of the property, provide maintenance, including frequent plowing of the parking lot and shoveling of the walks, to ensure the seniors can park and walk into the center safely.
Not everyone in the audience supported the West Geauga center, however.
Munson resident Jeff Klein told commissioners the Pattersons put a link to their farm market business on the Geauga County website.
Traffis said the Pattersons put the link on the website only to direct people to their farm market parking lot, which serves the senior center and also serves the nearby Orchard Hills Park.
“When the park got its own parking lot, that link was removed,” Traffis said.
Chardon resident Ed Corsi questioned the need for the county to provide services to senior citizens.
“How many seniors are in Geauga County?” Corsi asked.
County Administrator David Lair said approximately 20,900.
“And this is all that showed up tonight?” Corsi asked.
He told commissioners he is a senior citizen who exercises at home, socializes with his grandchildren and doesn’t use the senior centers.
He said when he was growing up, senior citizens played cards at each other’s houses and ate at home.
“I can’t see my tax money going so small groups can play cards and exercise,” Corsi said. “I don’t know where all this money is going. I resent my tax money spent on small groups who represent a small fraction of this county.”
Corsi added that, after the Patterson family sold Orchard Hills for $3.4 million, they could afford to donate the center to the county.
His comments were met with jeers and shouting from the audience, many of whom stood up to express their disagreement.
Spidalieri called several times for order. Corsi continued to protest spending taxes on seniors.
When order was restored, Chester resident Eloise Cavalier told commissioners the last four years have “been terrible” for her.
“My husband had a stroke and I was in a terrible accident,” she said. “After four months in rehab, my daughter signed me up at the senior center. I didn’t want to go at first, but the people there are lovely and we have good meals. We love each other. It’s not just that we play cards. We like to be together.”
After the meeting adjourned, many seniors remained to talk to commissioners and DOA officials.
“I thought it was a good meeting and showed that the people of Chester feel strongly about their senior center,” Samide said. “We don’t need to consolidate the centers. We need to add one in the Auburn/Bainbridge/South Russell area. I understand that.”
