Commission chairman: Paul Dubois
Town Staff Pushes To Contract With Agency For Senior Coordinator's Job
Paul Dubois: Task force specified a staff position
Falkner: Issue is money
By Nathan R. Huff
Action on the town council's request to improve senior services will be delayed at least until December, as town staff and the community services commission struggle over how best to provide case management and senior coordinating services.
Following unsuccessful attempts by town staff to find an agency willing to supplement the $40,000 allocated by the council to hire a senior coordinator, staff recommended to the community services commission on Sept. 21, that the town contract out for services. The newest proposal is to combine the $50,000 allocated for case management with the funds earmarked for a coordinator and contract with an outside agency for both services.
The proposal met with mixed reviews at the community services commission meeting. According to commission chairman Paul Dubois, the town needs to recruit an employee of its own, as well as contracting out.
"The commission was unanimous in saying we want a balanced presentation," Dubois said.
The town council will probably see the commission's final recommendation in December, a year after it first appointed a task force to study senior services in Los Gatos. The task force presented its findings to the council in May, recommending, among other things, that the town hire a case manager and a senior coordinator, the latter as a shared position with the Los Gatos-Saratoga Department of Community Education and Recreation. During budget talks, the council followed through, allocating $50,000 for a case manager and $40,000 for a senior coordinator.
The community services commission then completed its own review of the task force suggestions, and recommended in July that the town hire a coordinator of its own to retain program control. Acting town manager Jim Piper asked the council to delay a decision on the commission's recommendation until he could research alternatives to hiring a full-time employee, including contracting out for services to a local, nonprofit agency.
Town staff's recent report to the community services commission takes Piper's idea a step further, combining both the case management and the senior coordinator positions and monies, and contracting out. Community services director Regina Falkner wrote the report that included a request for proposal (RFP) be submitted to local senior service providers describing the position responsibilities.
Falkner said, "There might be deals to be made with agencies already experienced in providing senior services." In addition, nonprofits have more depth, that could mean more reliable services. However, Falkner emphasized that the town would still provide "a face and a place," as asked for by the senior task force.
"We're absolutely clear we want one person who is going to be here on a daily basis," Falkner said.
However, Dubois said he is afraid the town would lose control over services by handing them over to another agency. "We actively have buy-in on this project [by hiring a town employee] and we're not losing control to another organization," Dubois said, "and that's what the senior task force asked for."
Dubois added that what the commission wanted most was a complete report that gave equal attention to both options. Without that, he said, the town's senior services were "not any farther along than they were before."
Falkner said she was aware of commission concerns, but stated that there were ways to set up town oversight and control within the language of a contract with an outside agency. But Falkner said she would work on a job description while the town waited on responses to its RFP. At the Nov. 16 meeting town staff will report to the commission on both options.
Falkner said that if staff research favored an outside agency for services, it would be difficult to recommend hiring a town employee. "If I know it's going to cost me $90,000 a year to hire a coordinator, but I know it can be done for, say, $40,000," Falkner said, "I'll be hard pressed to go with the town employee."
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
