Manchester will soon have its own permanent senior/community senior. Photo courtesy of Pat Vailliencourt.

by Sara Swanson

Last November, Washtenaw County voters approved a millage to support services to the county seniors. City mayor and advocate for Manchester-area seniors Pat Vailliencourt has organized a Manchester Community Town Hall meeting on May 6 at 6pm at the Kingsley-Jenter House (located on the corner of Main Street and M-52) in order to give residents an opportunity to ask questions and provide input on senior millage funds distribution.

Of particular concern to Vailliencourt is through what agency the funds will be distributed. She explained that a draft proposal has been presented to the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners (BOC) recommending the creation of a new department, focused solely on the senior millage dollars. She supports instead the BOC designating the already existing Washtenaw Office for Community and Economic Development to oversee fund distribution. She stated, “I have supported OCED to keep admin costs at a very minimum; they are a well-established department that works daily to provide services to seniors and we have established contacts and direct Manchester support systems already in place.”

She explained that she is not worried that Manchester won’t receive its fair share of funding and that she expects the millage dollars will be distributed fairly regardless of how the system eventually gets set up. Her concerns are the time and money it will take to set up a new committee that could be used to help Manchester seniors now.

To illustrate the point, Vailliencourt explained that at a meeting on April 9, BOC members gave the goal of making an initial distribution of funds in early May. However, on April 23 another BOC member stated that there have been delays moving forward and that as of now they have no commitment on the timing of the decision of how to distribute funds.

She concluded, “It is critical that Manchester community residents attend this meeting and let our voices be heard. The Manchester community has about 3,000 seniors. Our tax dollars support this millage and our seniors deserve to benefit from them.”

We reached out to Commissioner Shannon Beeman for input but as of the time of publication have not heard back.