Senior services panel begins working to fulfill its promise

Trumbull joins around 50 other counties in Ohio with a senior citizens levy.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- It's time to fulfill the promises made in getting Trumbull County's senior citizens levy passed last November, those working with the fledgling Senior Services Advisory Council say.
The levy's handful of sponsors promised voters the money would provide transportation, meals and in-home services, among other things. The advisory council's first meeting was Thursday.
The levy, which 57 percent of voters approved, is expected to raise about $2.6 million annually for people age 60 and over.
Janet Schweitzer, executive director of SCOPE Inc. of Trumbull County, one of those levy sponsors, said her 45-year-old agency and others had run out of resources to serve the burgeoning seniors community.
She told the 11 committee members she is excited by the prospect of having the levy resources find their way into new hands. "We won't rely totally on the past," she said. "It is a wonderful opportunity for fresh eyes."
Representatives from two other sponsoring agencies, the county's Office of Elderly Affairs and the four-county District 11 Area Agency on Aging, also attended the meeting in the county commissioners' meeting room.
Committee member Jack O'Connell, another of the handful of levy organizers, and Commissioner Dan Polivka agreed that before providing services, the committee should review the promises made to voters.
The levy sponsors said senior citizen transportation was the No. 1 need, but they also listed priorities as $1,141,000 for in-home services for shut-ins, $650,000 for prescription assistance and community services, and $239,000 for protective services. It listed transportation around $460,000.
Commissioners Paul Heltzel and James Tsagaris also attended. The commissioners informed the committee it could use the former tourism office next to the county's Board of Elections office on Youngstown-Warren Road as its headquarters. The committee will hold its next meeting there at 3 p.m. Wednesday.
Heltzel told the committee members and sponsoring agencies the commissioners will rely on the expertise of the committee members to make recommendations.
As an advisory committee, the panel will only recommend expenditures; the commissioners will have final say.
Ashtabula has levy
Tom Klingeman of Warren, the city's representative on the Area Agency on Aging, said Trumbull becomes the second county in that agency's district with a seniors levy, after Ashtabula. There are some 50 counties in the state with such a levy, he said.
He said one of the more important jobs early on will be to establish the procedure for determining what corporations or agencies will be given service contracts.
Committee member Jack Foley, former Warren community development director, said he thinks one good place for the committee to start is to interview all agencies and corporations with services to offer.
The committee decided against electing a temporary slate of officers.
runyan@vindy.com