Whitehall District Schools clarified this week that senior citizens
in the city will continue to be able to use the Viking Athletic Center
at no charge after the city council approved a reduction in the amount
of senior millage money allocated to the district at its March 25
meeting.
The council approved an allocation to the district of
$9,000 this year, down from the about $12,000 that has been typical
since the VAC opened in 2020. Council discussion then made it appear as
though seniors' costs would no longer be covered. Superintendent CJ Van
Wieren clarified this week that the district never planned to make that
change.
"We're happy to work with the city on this," Van Wieren said. "We're just trying to find something fair and sustainable."
Council
member Tanya Cabala, who led an ad hoc committee to gather feedback
from local seniors on how to spend this year's millage allocation of
$17,245, said that at the time she did not know if the district would
accept a $9,000 allocation - when asked by the city, the district
originally proposed a three-year contract of $10,000 annually -
which led to the council discussion.
Those committee discussions included, Cabala said, stakeholders from local
institutions providing senior services, including AgeWell and the White
Lake Senior Center. The committee was able to get a feel for senior
services other municipalities were providing.
"We had at least
12 meetings over numerous months," Cabala said. "We created a survey
and asked our seniors. We got (just under 100 responses) back after we
sent out the surveys in city water bills."
That resulted in a
recommendation to allocate $2,446 to AgeWell to provide Meals on Wheels
and some non-medical transportation for local seniors. An additional
$1,000 was allocated to the city for outreach and informational purposes
after some respondents reported being unaware of some current programs
available for seniors. The Senior Center was allocated $4,800 for
operations as well as the implementation of two community senior
dinners, which Cabala said was the result of "isolation" being among the
top issues seniors wanted addressed.
Due to these
allocations, the Whitehall school district was informed its allocation
would decrease, and Van Wieren said he supported the decision to address
a wider range of senior priorities. When the city asked the district
for a suggestion of how much to allocate, the district drew up a
potential three-year contract at $10,000 annually, but Cabala said she
didn't believe the council should approve multi-year deals for this
funding.
In a Monday public letter to the community clarifying
the issue, Van Wieren provided some data about seniors' usage of the
VAC. Of over 450 seniors in the city, he said, 257 regularly use the
VAC, and in all there were over 6,600 check-ins by seniors in the fiscal
year ending August 2024. (The district reported over 3,200 such
check-ins from Sept. 1 of last year through Feb. 5.) Use by non-seniors
is $5 per visit, so the district believes the city is receiving good
value for its allocation.
"I want to work with the city, and
all of our community governments, to create a school district that works
for everyone," Van Wieren said. "I hope in the future those
conversations can take place. In terms of this, they've determined (the
$9,000) is what they want to allocate to us. We'll review the data again
at the end of the year. It's ultimately their decision, but I hope we
can be more collaborative in figuring out what's best for all."
City
manager Scott Huebler said he expects the city and school district will
communicate about the matter going forward and noted that with Van
Wieren in his first year as superintendent and his own impending
retirement this summer, new faces will be helming that discussion.
"We want to
continue those conversations with the goal of still maintaining some
level of sponsorship for the senior membership there," Huebler said. "The bottom line is that the schools and the city
are going to continue to work together to provide that level of service
at the VAC."
