MILWAUKEE (AP) – There won’t be a gap in service at Milwaukee County’s five senior centers and 13 other senior dining locations after the ouster of a nonprofit contractor this month, according to county officials.
More than 1,300 meals are provided every weekday at the 18 sites. County Aging Department Executive Director Holly Davis said in a letter to participants that the department’s goal is to continue providing “uninterrupted, high-quality services,” The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported .
“We remain committed to providing the same valuable services that you have come to expect at these locations,” Davis said in the letter. “We are working quickly to minimize the impact on the services you receive as we make this transition.”
Davis said the county will contract with a new organization to offer meals and social, fitness and recreational programming at the senior centers starting in the new year. A staffing service will operate the dining sites on a temporary basis, and the county is looking at the qualifications of other groups that could step in permanently.
The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors this month eliminated contractor UNISON from over $1.9 million in 2019 contracts that included work with the senior centers and dining sites. The move came after UNISON’s now-suspended CEO was arrested on allegations of theft involving public funds.
A sheriff’s office inquiry found probable cause that the then-CEO committed “theft by fraud” when she requested and got $17,000 in grant funds for computers that were never bought. She hasn’t been charged.
