Senior center spared county chopping block

MILLERTON — Despite a county budget that forced big department cuts across the board, the Millerton Friendship Center, located in the same building as Village Hall, will remain open to local residents.

As explained by Betsy Brockway, acting commissioner of services for aging, veterans and youth, the Millerton, Pawling and Fishkill Friendship Centers were slated to be merged with other centers as part of the restructuring and realignment to meet the 2011 budget. In the local area, the Pawling and Millerton centers would have been absorbed by the South Amenia center. Brockway, who responded to requests for an interview via an e-mailed statement, said the decisions were based on geography and usage.

A few months earlier at a public hearing, Millerton’s seniors expressed the desire to have a van available to them for transportation purposes, which they had been without for the past year. During budget restructuring discussions, Brockway said, the office wanted to close the Millerton center and use the requested van to transport seniors down to the South Amenia Friendship Center.

But Brenda Millet, who runs the Millerton center, chose to have the Millerton site open after speaking with residents and forgo the van, Brockway said. Both options were comparable in cost, making it a decision left to the preference of the community.

Transporting to Amenia would have meant sacrificing a much larger part of the day. Instead of stopping in for a meal and staying as long as they wanted, seniors interested in the program would have had to set aside most of the day for the trip.

None of the seniors interviewed at the center earlier this week expressed any interest in traveling to South Amenia and felt that it would have been too big of a burden for most of the residents utilizing the current services.

“It would have been too long a trip,� said Harriet Selfridge. “It wouldn’t have worked, and it’s good that things stayed here.�

“I think it would have been very inconvenient,� added Kenneth Stevens, who said he would have had little choice but to stop coming. “I don’t think I would have had the time.�

Those gathered last Monday for lunch complimented the Village and Town boards for their assistance, saying their support was instrumental in keeping the center open.

“We talked about it as a board,� said North East Supervisor Dave Sherman. “We felt it was something that would discourage participation from our residents and make it more difficult to attend.�

Both the North East Town Board and the Millerton Village Board sent out letters of support early on, urging the county to reconsider its decision.

“I think a lot of people who come to the center like to be able to be right here in their home community,â€� Sherman continued. If the South Amenia center option had been enforced, “there would wind up being less participation.  [The center] is there not only for the purpose of meals but also for socialization, getting to sit and meet with friends and fellow seniors.â€�

At Village Hall, Mayor John Scutieri said that he met with county Legislator Gary Cooper about a month ago, shortly after hearing the news. The village charges the county $100 in rent per month to use the space, a nominal fee by the mayor’s standards. At the Village Board’s December business meeting, the board voted unanimously to eliminate that charge if the county agreed to keep the program in Millerton. Although the senior center will stay open, Scutieri said there has been no word as to whether the county will take the village up on its offer of free rent.

Out of the nine senior friendship centers operated by Dutchess County in 2010, three were in the Harlem Valley and all under-utilized, Brockway said. There are about 30 residents signed up for meals at the Millerton center, but the participation level varies from day to day.

“The Millerton center has been here forever,� said Selfridge, who was herself an assistant to Millet for nearly 30 years at the center. “Some of the people in the area depend on it, and it’s very important that it stays open.�