Change to aging council’s bylaws draws complaints

Two Ford County Council on Aging members asked the Ford County Commission to repeal a change to the council's bylaws on Monday, saying the commission should have simply asked the organization to make the change.
    Council member and Dodge City Senior Center President Clair Conard also said council members were upset because they were not notified in advance of the proposed change.
    The commissioners acknowledged that notification could have been handled better, but they decided to let the change stand until the results of a senior services survey are compiled later this month. The commission will review the information and decide how to proceed.
    Commission Chairman Kim Goodnight said the commission often winds up heading in the wrong direction when it acts on an issue, then changes its mind.
    "What we can do, though, is make sure what we have here is something that will last the test of time and also be what we want to end up with," he said.
    On July 21, the commission amended the council's bylaws to add representatives of Friendship Meals, Meals on Wheels, the Silver Haired Legislature, the Southwest Kansas Area on Aging and the Retired Senior Volunteer Program to the board. The number of senior center representatives on the council was reduced to one per center.
    Eighteen organizations, including four at-large members, will be represented on the board after the change is implemented.
    The council distributes proceeds from the county's mill levy for senior services after the levy is set for the year. The levy for fiscal year 2008 was set at .733 of a mill.
    The amendment to the council's bylaws prompted complaints from Conard and his fellow council member, Blaine Venters of Dodge City.
    Conard said if the commissioners wanted to give senior service organizations more of a voice on the council, they could have simply asked the board to include those groups.
    "It's a win-win situation to just ignore or rescind your vote on what you did on July the 21st or whenever it was and just tell the Ford County Council, 'We want you to expand by five members,'" he said. "We would do it, and that all would happen. We'd all go home happy and feel like we accomplished something."
    Conard also said council members did not know about the proposed change to the bylaws until they read about it in the July 22 Daily Globe, and they were upset that they had not learned about it beforehand.
    Venters said he agreed that more organizations should be represented on the council, but he didn't think the county commission had handled the issue properly.
    Commissioner John Swayze, who serves on a task force studying ways to improve senior services, said the county should have notified the council about the change to the bylaws before taking action.
    "This could all have been handled in a better manner," he said.

Reach Eric Swanson at (620) 408-9917 or e-mail him at eric.swanson@dodgeglobe.com.