County board disbands Council on Aging

County board disbands Council on Aging

PERE MARQUETTE TOWNSHIP — The Mason County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday morning, during its regular monthly meeting, to disband the Mason County Council on Aging. 

The decision, which was not on the board’s agenda, was a result of a proposal by three of the four area senior center directors to submit their annual budget proposals, related to county funding, directly to the county board’s Finance, Personnel, and Rules Committee, rather than through the Council on Aging. Those directors represented Scottville Area Senior Center, Tallman Senior Center and Free Soil Senior Center. The other senior center in Mason County is the Ludington Area Senior Center. 

The centers receive some of their funding through a countywide millage of .3 mill. They also rely on various other funding sources. The Scottville Area Senior Center is owned and operated by Mason County Central Schools. Free Soil and Tallman centers are operated by non-profit boards while the Ludington Area Senior Center is owned and operated by the City of Ludington. 

The Commission voted 6-1 to allow the centers to report directly to the Commission with Commissioner Nick Krieger opposing. 

After passing a resolution to allow the senior centers to report their county budgets directly to the county board, the commissioners then voted 5-2 to disband the council on aging, a committee that is appointed by the County Commission. The opposing votes were from commissioners Krieger and Dr. Lewis Squires.