O'Connell heads advisory council for senior services in Trumbull Co.

WARREN -- Members of the newly formed Senior Services Advisory Council have elected Jack O'Connell chairman, Jennie H. Dennison-Budak vice chairman and Janet L. McGeough secretary.
The panel, with new offices in the Trumbull County Board of Elections building, will oversee spending of $2.6 million annually for the benefit of county residents age 60 and older. The funds come from a levy voters approved in November.
The council also has recommended to county commissioners a partnership with the District XI Area Agency on Aging.
The area agency would carry out management functions related to advertising for senior citizen services, and conducting follow-up on the companies and agencies receiving contracts.
The agency also will provide a secretary for the council's office, O'Connell said.
Don Medd, director of the area agency, said his agency administers roughly $21 million per year in state and federal funds in its four-county area. He said the partnership will require a contract with the county commissioners at some point fairly soon.
The council decided to hold meetings weekly. The next one will be at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, when the council will hear a presentation from Gary Engstrom, director of the county's Office of Elderly Affairs, about that office's services.
O'Connell is a former labor leader and former member of the Youngstown State University Board of Trustees. Dennison-Budak is an employee of Interfaith Home Maintenance Service and former executive director of the Trumbull County Office of Elderly Affairs, and McGeough is a retired social worker.