Plans to restructure Grand Traverse County’s Commission on Aging (COA) are raising questions over whether county administrators or COA board members have final say over the department.

County Administrator Tom Menzel plans to make several changes to COA based on recommendations from a quality assessment panel assembled to audit the department’s operations. The panel consists of several county department heads, COA Deputy Director Laura Green and COA board chair Rodetta Harrand. As with audits of other county departments, Menzel calls the review “a diagnostic process” to “evaluate what’s been done well and what can be improved on” in COA. The self-funded department has a $2.7 million budget and provides services such as healthcare, housecleaning and heating assistance for county residents 60 years and older.

“(The audit) shouldn’t be seen as threatening,” Menzel says. “It’s a very healthy process to see where we can improve things and make them even better.”

But the panel’s initial set of recommendations – focused on the healthcare side of COA’s services – involve several significant department changes, prompting some COA board members to question why they weren’t involved in the decision-making process. The recommendations – some of which are already being implemented – include entering into a contract with an outside staffing company to provide oversight of CNA and LPN services, hiring two RN supervisor positions, and rewriting the job description for COA director.

The rewritten job description focuses on a medical instead of programming background for the director position. It would preclude Green – who has overseen COA as deputy director since former director Georgia Durga retired – from leading the department.

“It’s obviously a priority of the administration to have someone with that expertise to supervise the medical services,” says Green. “I don’t have that. So as to where I fit into the future organization, or what the rest of the department will look like, we haven’t gotten to that yet. I anticipate I'll play a role (elsewhere) in the department."

Of the COA board membership, only Harrand was permitted to attend the closed-door panel meetings. Panel participants were asked not to discuss the meetings with COA staff or board members until formal recommendations came forward. Menzel says the audit was deliberately focused on a fresh outside perspective, and says board members “shouldn’t be involved in the process. It should be an objective analysis from people looking at it with a clear set of eyes.”

County Deputy Administrator Jennifer DeHaan also points out the panel was able to identify potential liabilities that had long been overlooked in the department. “(COA) didn’t have a continuous level of (RN) supervision that provided the best coverage for clients and staff,” she says. “It wasn’t known, so it didn’t come to light, because we didn’t have that training and expertise.”

But COA board member Carl Kucera questions the county’s decision to begin implementing recommendations without consulting with the board. “I’m very upset, because we should have input on who our director is,” he says. “We can take action as a board (on COA decisions). We were appointed by county commissioners to oversee the Commission on Aging. (Administrators) aren’t taking our ideas and input, and the process is one-sided.”

Board bylaws describe the COA board as the “governing body” over the Commission on Aging, one that is “responsible for setting policy and procedure,” is “authorized to enter into contracts,” and “may develop and recommend staffing plans to carry out its function of providing services to seniors.” Hiring and firing decisions are made by the COA director, the bylaws further stipulate.

The county board of commissioners can override decisions by the COA board, but the bylaws do not address the county administrator’s role with COA. Menzel has administrative power over most county departments, but COA is one of the few departments with a board (Parks and Recreation is another), and its members are “more than advisory, in that the board of commissioners has delegated certain powers to (them),” according to a memo from County Prosecuting Attorney Bob Cooney.

Menzel says the confusion about authority over COA could be something the quality assessment panel addresses next. He believes the department’s board is a “recommending body, not an administrative body” and says it’s key for administrators to be able to implement structural changes for the good of the department.

“If there’s a need for clarity about that process, we’ll address that,” he says. “I think it’s critical going forward that people know what their boundaries and responsibilities are."