DIRECTOR: PLAN REMOVES THE POLITICS

The director of the Southeast Missouri Area Agency on Aging said Friday a new formula for distributing federal nutrition funds to 38 sites in this area was devised to insure "fair, equitable distribution based on service provided."

Glenda Hood Hoffmeister, who has been director of the 18-county agency for more than six years, said the plan was approved in November after an extensive review first by an ad hoc committee of the board and then by the full board.

Staff and board members from some of the nutrition sites have expressed dissatisfaction with the new plan, which Hoffmeister said was anticipated.

"Any time you have to re-distribute money, some people won't be happy," she said.

"What the board said with this policy is we have more meals produced than we can afford to pay for," said Hoffmeister. "So the board attempted to equalize the funds distribution based on service.

"In the past when money was more plentiful, centers submitted budgets and if the board could afford it, the money they requested was allocated."

In developing the new distribution plan, each individual site was considered separately, based on meals served in Fiscal Year 1992, Hoffmeister said. Once the board realized that some centers would gain or lose large amounts of funding, they opted to phase it in over a three-year period.

"This was a hard decision for the board to make," said Hoffmeister, a 16-year employee of the agency. But she stressed that the issue was a matter of fairness because the nutrition funds are limited.

She points out that the formula does not even consider contributions for meals the centers collect and USDA commodity cash of about 58 cents per meal.

"In days of the crunch like we have now, everybody is going to have to be more responsible in their communities," said Hoffmeister.

She acknowledged that some nutrition centers will have to rely more on local fundraising and will face some hardships.

The old distribution formula had some serious inequities. For example, Marble Hill and Charleston were both averaging 96 meals served each day. Yet Charleston was receiving $40,039 and Marble Hill was receiving $16,159 for serving the same number of meals.

Jackson, serving an average of 94 meals a day, was receiving $28,723 and will drop to $26,304.

Flat River, serving an average of 166 meals, had been getting $43,668, while Sikeston, serving an average of 194 meals, was getting $35,167. Under the new formula, Flat River will ultimately get $34,471 and Sikeston, $38,215.

The Senior Center in Cape Girardeau, averaging 147 meals, now receives $34,909 and under the new plan will have its funds cut by $1,280.

Several area legislators and senior center board members have complained that the new formula is not fair and that SEMO AAA board members and staff are playing politics with the situation.

But Hoffmeister argues that this new plan takes the politics and personalities out of nutrition money distribution and prevents the board from playing favorites in allocating funds.

"They can't say I'm playing politics with this," said Hoffmeister. "In fact, this takes the politics and personalities out. This is an attempt by the board for the first time ever to have a fair and equitable distribution."

She said a center in the home county of board chairman Ruth Hill (of Reynolds County) was one of the hardest hit. The nutrition center in Ellington faces a $6,700 cut in funding.

The AAA office operates seven nutrition sites directly, and one of the sites hardest hit is Portageville which the office operates. Portageville faces a cut of about $8,400, which means it will be Hoffmeister's responsibility to find a way to make up the shortfall by raising funds in that community.

"We did not play favorites with this; we followed the formula," said Hoffmeister.

State Rep. Gene Copeland, D-New Madrid, is sponsoring legislation that would give the Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents the authority to appoint the area administrator, rather than the AAA board. Copeland admits he wants to see Hoffmeister ousted from her job.

Hoffmeister said she is concerned about Copeland's House Bill 713, not just because she is an apparent target of the bill, but because she is concerned about delivery of services to senior citizens.

"This issue is politically motivated and did not originate from the elderly population in this area," said Hoffmeister.

"I am very concerned about services for seniors all the services we provide in our 18 counties."

Hoffmeister said she received a letter from Southeast Missouri State President Kala Stroup advising her that the university did not write or propose the bill. Stroup indicated that at this point, the university did not have enough information to determine what the financial impact of the bill would be to Southeast.

"Please understand, we did not initiate this action," Stroup wrote.

Hoffmeister has drawn some criticism that she controls the board of the agency and that administrative costs are excessive.

But Hoffmeister said she has taken steps during her tenure to expand the role of the board and use ad hoc committees to help in the planning process.

"I feel the board is more involved in planning of programs and policies than it has ever been," said Hoffmeister. "I'm giving them more responsibilities to do work that they didn't do in the past."

Hoffmeister also contends that some people are misreading what are actual administrative costs and confusing those with program costs.

"We have a few disgruntled contractors out there and there are some people who have misinformation about what administrative things are," she said.

Hoffmeister added that some people don't realize that her agency is responsible for many more programs that just nutrition. Many of their programs are mandated by the federal Older Americans Act.

"We offer a wide range of services in our 18 counties that include transportation, nutrition, in home services, legal services, an ombudsman program, care coordination, counseling, information referral, public information, elder day care, and respite care," explained Hoffmeister. "We either have to provide these services or contract for them."

There are about 85,000 people, age 60 and over, living in the SEMO Area.

Hoffmeister said she would like to have a face-to-face meeting with Copeland and any other legislators who have concerns. "I would appreciate the chance to visit with Mr. Copeland to tell him how this agency operates and explain our administrative costs," said Hoffmeister.

"I'm prepared to meet with them and make this agency an open book. I certainly don't see myself as a powerful person. I would just like to come to work and do what I'm supposed to do. I don't want to be a politician."