Senior Center board attempts to smooth concerns

The Fallbrook Senior Center board of trustees has been working hard to smooth feelings regarding the way the non-profit is being run, and while the board has taken strides, there are still a few concerns that members would like to see addressed.

“One of my concerns is that the board made changes to the bylaws since the beginning of the calendar year,” said a center member who asked to remain anonymous. “I want to know why they were not brought before the membership, and that is a very legitimate question.”

According to Senior Center president Manny Ortega, the revisions to bylaws were made to give members greater ability to vote in and remove board members.

“We revised the bylaws that needed to get revised,” said Ortega. “The changes will give stock holders some voice in ratifications made to bylaws. Now they’ve got mechanisms to recall directors. Also, when changes are enacted, they have to be ratified by the membership.”

One of the other concerns brought up by members was a claim that Ortega and other board members may not have been a member for a full year before being elected to office.

“If it was a genuine mistake, then out of respect for members, he <and the other board members> should have stepped down,” said a member.

“I have been with [the Senior Center] for about 13 years, and have been doing their taxes for AARP, serving the seniors ever since I moved into Fallbrook,” said Ortega, who claims he has been a member since beginning his work with the center.

Ortega was elected into the board president position in March.

“I was selected by the board of directors, and the term I filled expired in December. I was up for election and re-elected,” said Ortega. “We had three board positions also come up for election and were filled.”

Members also brought up the concern that the results from previous audits of the center’s budget had not been finalized and presented to the membership, and funds were not being fully disclosed.

“The center apparently has a sizeable endowment and they sold some stocks and moved things around, and only one signature was needed to do anything with those accounts,” said a member. “It makes people ill at ease that the board is not being open.”

Ortega said the board is working on communicating better with its membership.

“Communication is improving, and we have a communication committee that is working to improve both internal and external communications so we can better communicate between ourselves,” said Ortega. “In regards to the budget, we are taking a look at everything, and trying to cut back here and there.”

According to Ortega, the main goal of the senior center is to feed seniors, disadvantaged seniors specifically.

“Consequently, they cannot afford to pay the donation for food,” said Ortega. “We have to be able to come up with the moneys to cover that. We are trying to come up with fundraisers, such as a bingo night every two weeks. We are struggling, but we are fighting. Even if we are struggling, we are doing okay. We will find the right solutions.”

Margaret Singleton-O’Leary, the senior center’s treasurer, stated that there is a deficit of approximately $4,000 each month from the home delivery meal program.

“We lose quite a bit – about $50,000 a year – in home [meal] deliveries and nutrition program,” said Singleton-O’Leary. “We have been working on getting grants and asking for outright gifts to help us with paying for the 60 to 70 home-delivered meals taken to people who are unable to get to the center every day.”

Individuals who take advantage of the home delivery program are ones who have been certified as homebound.

“Even the suggested donation does not cover the costs, even with the county subsidy,” said Singleton-O’Leary. “We are working on solving the problem, and hope that accommodations and grants will help us with the financial support we need. The board members are financially supporting [the effort] as well, putting money down to put together brochures to solicit funds.”

According to Virginia Cook, executive director of the center, everyday operations are going smoothly.

“Everything is coming together, and the center is a happier place,” said Cook. “People are getting along, and the membership is growing. We have about 750 members this year.”

Cook also stated that a new Zumba class has been added to the center’s offerings, in addition to another book discussion group.

“The Zumba has brought a lot of energy into the mornings,” she said. “We have activities every day. Our lunch program is also going very well. We have added a salad bar, and everyone seems to love that.”

Cook believes the board is doing a good job in addressing membership concerns.

“They’ve been very sensitive to the needs of the membership,” she said. “Everything has been very positive, and we are on the right track to being much happier.”

To answer concerns regarding the previous audit made on the center’s budgets for previous years, Singleton-O’Leary stated that a new special auditor has been hired to clarify any rumors of discrepancies in previous budgets.

“We need to go back a few years with a trained CPA,” said Singleton-O’Leary. “We don’t want to smear people’s reputations, and we feel it is important to know if there was something wrong somewhere along the line. If there is no wrongdoing, we will learn we need to manage our money more carefully.”

The audit will cost the center approximately $35,000, said Singleton-O’Leary.

“We felt it was necessary to gain confidence in the community,” she said. “We are trying to settle issues, and personally, I have not seen evidence of any discrepancies. We have a trained forensic auditor from Escondido working with us under client-attorney privilege.”

Singleton-O’Leary believes it will be six to eight months before the outcome is released.

“In the meantime, we have hired a new regular auditor,” she said. “In the last year, we have really tightened the cash management, and now we are lean as a whistle. We are quite pleased with where we’ve come from; we are in a confident, good position. We are under a new management, and the board has been substantially turned over. We are using our money well, and we are trying to conserve. We deserve the confidence of the community now.”

However, Ortega is aware that not everyone will be appeased with the board’s work.

“This is one of those things; we cannot make everyone happy, but we can make more people less unhappy,” he said. “We are trying to promote a happy, healthy and pleasant environment, and we have a lot of things going on. That’s the one thing we are going to get across.”

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