LAKEPORT, Calif. – The board for the Area Agency on Aging of Lake and Mendocino Counties voted Thursday morning to terminate its provider contract with the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center after state officials concluded the center's nutrition program presented a risk to public safety.
The unanimous vote followed a report presented by Program Coordinator Mike Parkinson that included a warning that the entire Area Agency on Aging was at risk due to the conditions in Lucerne, which he said a state official called the worst senior food program in the state.
The California Department of Aging analysis – based on a monitoring visit on Feb. 5 – found serious food safety issues and concluded that the center was a “high risk” service provider, with no improvement in the program seen since 2008.
In cases where there is a threat to life, health and safety, or where fiscal irregularity exists, Parkinson said the agency's policies allowed for contract termination to take place immediately. That was the action that he and AAA staff proposed.
Parkinson told Lake County News after the meeting that the Area Agency on Aging's fiscal year 2012-13 contract with Lucerne Alpine Senior Center is for $66,084. Of that amount, $60,805 is for nutrition programs, with $5,279 for outreach, information and assistance programs.
The AAA report on the center for the Thursday meeting also pointed to concerns about payroll taxes not being paid regularly and other outstanding bills, which as of last September totaled just under $19,000.
With the action taken Thursday, the termination will take place in 30 days. The Lucerne center and its board may now appeal, with the matter going to a separate appeal board.
However, without the food contract, the future of the center and what it can offer under its current organizational structure is in question. The senior center's nine member board only has five members, four of whom were reportedly preparing to step down in June.
Parkinson said AAA must send a plan to the state within 15 days that would outline how the impacted seniors would be transitioned to other nutrition service providers.
Jonathan Crooks, executive director for the Lakeport Senior Center, and Pat Grabham, executive director of the Live Oaks Senior Center in Clearlake Oaks, both were on hand and said they were prepared to help cover the seniors whose nutrition needs previously were being met by Lucerne.
Robert Clifton, the center's executive director, and members of his board were present to ask AAA board members not to take the step.
If the center wants to try to get the contract back, they were told they could reapply in the next round of requests for proposals at the end of this fiscal year.
Parkinson reported to the board that, since July 1, 2012, the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center had served 156 individuals 2,658 congregate meals during lunches at the center, with another 102 people receiving 15,813 meals delivered to their homes.
AAA Board Member Bekkie Emery called that a “substantial number” of people served, and asked if there would be a seamless transition.
Parkinson acknowledged that those seniors are at risk in the process, but said other senior centers are willing to step up to handle the extra load. “It would be as seamless, I think, as possible.”
Clifton told the board he hadn't seen the complaint, adding that he didn't understand the “high risk” designation given to the center. He said there had been no hospitalizations or deaths based on the center's food service.
He said the center has followed US Department of Agriculture food guidelines, makes fresh food and has passed county inspections.
The last inspection the center had by the Lake County Environmental Health Department, which according to county records was in November 2011, listed only one noncritical issue relating to food storage.
Parkinson, however, said that the state dietitian's review found expired and undated food in the center refrigerator, and food on the floor. He added that the center needed to adhere to food guidelines set out under the Older Americans Acts, not those established by the USDA.
He also explained at the meeting that during the state's Feb. 5 audit visit center staff was unable to locate a binder that contained information on food safety, training and other policies, and Parkinson said the auditor took that to mean there was no evidence for those measures.
County Supervisor Rob Brown, who was filling in for Supervisor Denise Rushing, asked for Parkinson's opinion of the matter. Parkinson referred them to previous noncompliance issues with the center.
“It's not just about the food?” Brown asked.
“There are other issues as well,” Parkinson said, explaining that the state's auditors had concluded that there had been no improvements in the program since 2008.
One of the officials who had spoken with Parkinson, and who monitors about 17 area agencies on aging around the state, told him during an exit interview that the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center's food program “was the worst program she had ever seen,” he said.
Ted Shimizu, Lucerne Alpine Senior Center's board president, told the AAA board that the center has “astronomical” expenses, and he was planning to resign because he could no longer afford the cost of volunteering.
Another Lucerne senior center board member, Jerry Morehouse, asked, “Is there any solution to this other than terminating the contract?”
Parkinson said AAA has tried to help fix the problems, but the state also was looking at the agency and how it monitored the senior center.
“Our program in the two counties is at risk because of the noncompliance of a single contractor,” he said, noting that they had to make a hard decision or risk everyone else.
Crooks said his center had the capacity “to meet any need that is put forward to us,” both in delivered and congregate meals.
“We will do what's needed to make sure no client goes hungry,” he said, adding that the services can continue without interruption.
AAA members acknowledged that the center is vital to the Lucerne community, but there also were concerns that community members were continuing to loan the center money to keep going.
Morehouse asked if any other local senior centers had been visited by the state. Parkinson said Middletown was visited Feb. 6 and had no issues.
Brown pointed out, “Terminating the contract seems terminal, but it's not.”
AAA members said there was an appeal process, although Carol Huchingson – the AAA chair and Lake County's Social Services Department director – said it has only been used once before, many years ago.
“Noncompliance by a single contractor threatens all, and that's what we have to take seriously,” said Carre Brown, a Mendocino County supervisor serving on the AAA board. “I believe we cannot risk all the other contracts.”
Huchingson said a viable senior center is needed in Lucerne, and that she hoped the AAA board action would finally prompt a rebirth and reorganization at the center.
Rob Brown, who said he had spoken at length with Rushing in preparation for the meeting, said he believed Rushing would support the termination, adding that it was more of an opportunity than a sanction.
AAA Board Member Jerry Chaney said the struggling center was “a very sad thing,” explaining that the board previously had warned the center about getting behind on payroll taxes. He said they had to protect the rest of their contractors.
Carre Brown moved to terminate the contract, with Chaney seconding. The board approved it unanimously.
Huchingson said there is $15,000 set aside in Lake County's budget to assist in the kind of transition between service providers that the vote set in motion.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.