Panel Acts to Prevent Halt of Services to Elderly

A Los Angeles City Council committee acted on Tuesday to prevent the interruption of nutritional and social services to thousands of East San Fernando Valley elderly.

The committee ordered a one-month extension of the contract for the Wachs Senior Multipurpose Center in North Hollywood and 14 other such centers.

Thousands of the center’s elderly clients were warned by its operator last week that service would be suspended today because its contract had not been renewed. The contract expired Tuesday.

Under a federal grant administered by the city, the center serves meals to about 500 elderly people five days a week and provides such assistance as counseling, day care and legal and tax advice to about 5,000 others.

The awarding of a new contract was delayed when the operator, Valley Interfaith Council, appealed the recommendation of the city’s Department of Aging to grant the $512,000 contract to Jewish Family Service. The City Council was not scheduled to decide the appeal until July 7.

As an emergency measure, East Valley Councilman Joel Wachs introduced a motion last week requesting a one-month extension of the Interfaith Council’s contract to allow a smooth transition. His motion was to go before the council Tuesday.

Broader Solution

Before the council convened, however, two members of its grants committee voted a far more sweeping solution. The committee ordered the city’s Department of Aging to put a one-month extension on the contract for all of the city’s 15 senior nutrition and service centers.

The committee also ordered the department, which was recommending against renewal of existing contracts in three of those centers, to re-evaluate the bids for those contracts.

Chairman Robert C. Farrell said he wanted the department, which distributes federal grants for the elderly, to re-examine the process for reviewing bids and to provide for more comment from the public.

The contracts could be extended again if the re-evaluation takes longer than a month, Farrell said.

Mark Siegel, a Wachs aide, said he was surprised by the broad approach adopted by the committee but was satisfied that the problem was solved.

The Wachs Center “will continue to be open tomorrow and they will continue to be serving the people of North Hollywood,” Siegel said.

Siegel said Wachs withdrew his motion.