Aging agency to get $5K monthly

Negotiations have been going on since January.
WARREN -- Trumbull County commissioners are expected to approve a contract between themselves and the District XI Area Agency on Aging today that one commissioner says will allow the Senior Services Advisory Council to fulfill its mandate "pretty quickly."
At their meeting at the Trumbull County Fair, commissioners will vote on a contract that will pay the agency $5,000 per month for 18 months effective July 1.
Commissioner Paul Heltzel said Jason Earnhart, an assistant county prosecutor, has been negotiating the contract since January.
"We had to have this document," Heltzel said. "I think things will move forward pretty quickly now."
Heltzel noted that some officials have complained about various aspects of the spending so far for the $2.5 million in revenue being generated annually from the senior citizens levy approved by voters in November.
Commissioners have approved funding the county's Office of Elderly Affairs and the prescription drug program at the Niles SCOPE center, saying they needed to act on behalf of the advisory council in some matters until the council has all of its procedures in place.
Central to those procedures, officials have said, is the agreement with the Area Agency on Aging, which will carry out administrative functions such as providing consulting services and preparing bid specifications for the levy spending, Earnhart said.