MIDDLETOWN — Central Connections, a senior citizens and events center on Central Avenue, has terminated its contract with the Council on Aging of Southwestern Ohio as a way to save thousands of dollars a week, said Rick Fishbaugh, board president.
But a representative from the Council on Aging told the Journal-News the agency terminated the contract with the senior center due to its unstable finances and for not correcting several contract breaches.
“A number of concerns” was the reason for the termination that is effective today, said Paula Smith, director of communications for the council.
Central Connections is trying to reorganize its finances and may file for bankruptcy, Fishbaugh said.
The center was delivering 4,000 to 5,000 meals a week to area seniors and losing at least $1 per meal, according to Fishbaugh.
“We simply couldn’t sustain it,” he said of the program.
With no meal delivery services, the center will lay off about 50 employees, Fishbaugh said. He said those employees will be paid through Aug. 1.
“Not an easy day,” he told the Journal-News in an exclusive interview.
As part of the program, Fishbaugh said seniors were permitted to order congregate meals in the cafeteria and pay what they wanted. He said a large percentage paid nothing for the $4 meals. That service no longer will be permitted, he said.
Smith said the Council on Aging found a temporary place for seniors who typically ate congregate meals at Central Connections. She said First Presbyterian Church, 2910 Central Ave., will provide the free meals from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, starting Tuesday.
The plan is for COA to find a permanent place for the meals to be served within one week, Smith said.
Besides meal delivery and transportation, members will still be able to eat in the cafeteria and participate in all the facility’s programs, Fishbaugh said.
According to letters from the Council on Aging, obtained by the Journal-News, Central Connections has made the several breaches of the agreement, including:
- Providing no response for a financial sustainability plan that was originally requested on June 2 by COA, and again requested by COA as part of the subsequent quality action plan;
- Providing no response or an incomplete response to the following items requested as part of the quality action plan: results from the most recently completed audit, statements from vendors on their letterhead that Central Connections is in good standing, a complete list of employees who have resigned or are leaving in addition to who are staying;
- Providing inadequate meal production and was unable to deliver services on June 16 and 19, 2023 due to staff work stoppage and unscheduled closures; missed deliveries on June 14, 2023 and June 15, 2023 without notifying the case manager or COA.
In a July 5 letter sent by certified mail, the COA said “immediate and sustained resolution of these breaches is vital so that COA can resume a productive relationship with Central Connections to serve home delivered meals to homebound older adults in the region.”
Dated July 24 and signed by Suzanne Burke, CEO Council on Aging, the letter was a “notice of termination” of Elderly Services Program Agreement for the provision of home delivered meals by and between Council on Aging of Southwestern Ohio and Central Connections.
The letter said Central Connections had 10 days to correct the breaches and since it didn’t, the contract was terminated.
“COA has now concluded that Central Connections is unable to provide consistent, quality service at a level that meets COA’s requirements,” the letter read.
Last month, several employees contract the Journal-News saying they hadn’t been paid.
Diane Rodgers, hired as executive director in 2021, said a “banking error” caused numerous payroll checks to be returned for insufficient funds.
She said the Middletown senior center switched banks, and after the center made “a large deposit” of checks, the bank held the funds for a few days and that’s why some employee payroll checks were returned.
The error was quickly corrected and the eight employees were paid, Rodgers told the Journal-News.
“We should have known better,” she said when asked about the bank holding the funds until the checks cleared. “That’s our fault.”
Rodgers predicted 2024 will be “really good financially” for the center, 3907 Central Ave. She said most weekends at the event center are booked through June 2024 and the restaurant and bar are experiencing larger crowds. She said those businesses are operating in the black and they’re funding other projects and programs at the center.
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