When will Oak Lawn do the right thing for its senior citizens?

When will the Village of Oak Lawn do the right thing for its senior citizens?

On Tuesday, May 17, 2022 I attended the Oak Lawn Public Library Board meeting. The Library Board voted to approve an intergovernmental agreement with the Village of Oak Lawn to share costs to renovate the north lobby of the library, a project referred to as the “Encore Center”.

At previous Village Board meetings, Village Manager Tom Phelan and Mayor Terry Vorderer touted this space as the new “Senior Center”. Let’s look at that claim.

The "Encore Center" is NOT a senior center.
The renovated space in the Library would be a multipurpose area that would not be dedicated to senior citizens. Other organizations could reserve the space with seniors receiving no preference for specific days and times. Our seniors have voiced concerns at multiple board meetings about lack of accessible parking, limited space for large events, lack of storage space for equipment, very limited accessible bathrooms available on the first floor, and noise from senior events disrupting the library environment. The Encore Center project might fulfill needs for the Library, but it does not meet the needs of our seniors.

The Oak Lawn Public Library has not committed to paying for senior programming.
Remember the Village and the Library are two separate taxing bodies. Currently, the Village pays Genesis Center $110,000 annually to facilitate and manage senior programming at McGugan. Which taxing body now takes that financial responsibility?

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Basically, the Village of Oak Lawn is paying half of the renovation costs for a multipurpose room in a non-Village facility. This is like having your neighbor draw up plans to build a pool in your backyard and offer to pay half of the costs. This neighbor, however, will not pay for upkeep of the pool, increased insurance costs, and salary for a lifeguard. And anyone can use the pool at any time, even if your family has plans to use it.

The space as currently envisioned would not be a dedicated senior space and the Library Board made no commitment to providing programming for seniors. The Village has put the Library Board in an impossible position. If the lobby renovation did not get approved, the seniors would have no space to meet should the Village fail to continue the rent at McGugan School. By voting to approve the renovation, the Library has allowed the Village to wash their hands of the Senior Center issue by insisting the new space will be adequate. As one senior noted at the Library Board meeting, this renovation allows the Village to renege on a promise made 10 years ago to build a new Senior Center that would meet the needs of our citizens.

The seniors who attend the Senior Center at McGugan School have reportedly been told that they will no longer have use of that space after June 2022.

The Senior Center could remain in its current space indefinitely.
The Oak Lawn Senior Center currently meets in the old McGugan school building. The lease between the Village and Oak Lawn-Hometown District 123 began in 2015 as a two year lease. Since 2017, this agreement has become a month-to-month lease. Per my FOIA request for a copy of the agreement, D123 communicated, “We have not heard any information from the Village regarding a renewal or cancellation of the lease agreement as of today (5/18/22). The Senior Center space at McGugan School is still available for lease.” The annual rental fee for the Senior Center at McGuggan is $16,800 per year. D123 has made improvements to the facility and parking to meet the needs of the seniors.

The Village of Oak Lawn may still receive $900,000 in state monies for senior center infrastructure.
Money was budgeted by the 101st General Assembly in 2019 specifically for the Oak Lawn Senior Center. I did some research and found the Public Act which mentions those funds: Public Act 101-0029 (eff. 7-1-2019). On page 87, Section 530 funds $400,000 for Oak Lawn Senior Center infrastructure improvements. On page 211, Section 180 funds $500,000 for the Oak Lawn Senior Center.

I spoke with Illinois State Senator Bill Cunningham at a town hall meeting on Saturday, April 30 to get clarification about this $900,000 worth of grants earmarked by the state for the Oak Lawn Senior Center. Per Senator Cunningham, the funding from 2019 was dependent on gaming revenue which clearly did not materialize. He was hopeful that this funding, for which a budget still exists, would be available in the next year or two. He invited me to contact him directly to discuss this further. It seemed clear that Senator Cunningham and the Village of Oak Lawn had not been in communication about this funding.

The cost of running the Senior Center at McGugan, including the consultant fees for management and programming for seniors, is less than $150,000 per year. The Village of Oak Lawn has an operating budget of $200 million per year. It would cost the Village 0.00075% of the budget to continue to operate the current Senior Center. Heck, Fall on the Green profited $132,000 last year, almost enough to cover the entire costs for the Senior Center. We as a Village need time for a program review of senior services and facilities in Oak Lawn with input from residents.

Our seniors have been misled, lied to and ignored by many of the same Village Trustees or former trustees for the past 10 years regarding a Senior Center And they deserve better.