Seniors ask state for help

WASILLA — A vocal group of seniors still unhappy with the way things are being run at the Wasilla Senior Center appealed to the Alaska Commission on Aging Thursday. The Juneau-based board was in the Valley for a series of site visits and meetings at local senior facilities.

In conjunction with that, WASI member Lois Wier released to the Frontiersman a May 16 letter Alaska Legal Services Corp. sent to WASI Board President Mary Sears, directing her and the board to immediately rescind any actions taken in the last several months that were out of compliance with WASI bylaws.

Holding board meetings behind closed doors, changing bylaws without members’ consent and appointing two new board members without a vote by members are among the allegations facing WASI Executive Director Sondra Kaplan and the board of directors.

Alaska Legal Services Attorney Chelsea Hicks stated in her May 16 letter to Sears that “my client and the other senior members believe these issues can be resolved amicably; but the abovementioned actions must be reinitiated in a manner that allows for proper participation by the members as required by the bylaws.”

Kaplan said Thursday during a break in the ACOA meeting that she and Sears were surprised to receive the letter from Hicks because they thought relations with the members had improved over the last couple of months and that everyone was beginning to work together for the good of all 400 members.

“We have been working feverishly to try to meet members’ needs,” Kaplan said. “I think some of the members are a little confused because they’ll get the information and then they’ll forget that decisions were made and they’ll bring up the problem again. I think they’re just rotating through service heads to see who will actually take up their fight, and really there’s no fight. The issues have been resolved. So I can only assume or guess that perhaps they’re just not remembering.”

Kaplan had said she and Sears had a phone meeting with Hicks after receiving her letter and that it was her understanding Hicks is not threatening legal action against WASI — she just wants to talk directly to other members who feel disenfranchised so that she can try to help them resolve those issues.

To Wier, however, Kaplan and the board still have a long way to go.

“Some things have improved, but Sondra and the board are still committing major violations of the bylaws,” Wier said. “And they’re still having meetings behind closed doors, making decisions that aren’t being made during the open meetings where members are present. A few good things are happening, but it’s going way too slowly and the major issues aren’t being addressed.”

Commission on Aging board members made it clear to those hoping for ACOA’s assistance that they were only there to listen to concerns and pass them on to state officials. They do not have the power to address grievances directly nor to respond during the meeting.

With that said, WASI member Anne Kilkenny told the commissioners how nice it was that they could meet without Wasilla police present, referring to a past WASI board meeting when a Frontiersman reporter and its managing editor, Heather Resz, were escorted out of the building by a WPD officer after Resz claimed Kaplan assaulted her while she was trying to take pictures during the public meeting.

“When you read about these things in the paper, do something for us. That’s my first request,” Kilkenny told the commissioners before launching an attack on the lack of job qualifications Kaplan and board members have.

“We don’t get to see anybody’s resume. We don’t get to see the financial reports, though we ask and ask and ask. You do. When you see resumes, look at them,” Kilkenny said. “If you see something on a resume where it looks like the person doesn’t have the qualifications for the job, that should send up some red flags and somebody should do something.”

Kilkenny’s comments were followed by those of Wasilla Councilwoman and mayoral candidate Dianne Woodruff, who made it clear she was only there as a concerned resident and not in an official city capacity.

Woodruff, a certified public accountant, told commissioners she also has serious concerns about the way WASI is operated.

“We are out of compliance, it appears, with the articles of incorporation, the bylaws need amendments and there are serious financial concerns — not necessarily those presented by management,” Woodruff said. “Fortunately, there’s a group of seniors who have come forward … who are willing to be involved and who have raised concerns and brought forth potential solutions to those concerns. It has not been easy for them. They’ve been labeled troublemakers and they’ve been treated disrespectfully in my presence and otherwise, I’m sure.”

Woodruff said she hoped the ACOA could somehow help advocate for members’ needs by making sure WASI management and the board were doing what they needed to do to meet those needs.

WASI members Mary Hall, 93, and Vietnam veteran John Latta shared similar concerns, with Latta directly accusing Kaplan of single-handedly destroying the fitness program he and other seniors were enjoying before Fitness Trainer Karla Atwood was fired.

“We’re not in the minority. We’re in the majority, contrary to what (Kaplan) says,” Latta said. “And we need a forensic audit in this place immediately.”

WASI Activities Coordinator Pat Brown came to the defense of Kaplan and the board, saying many of the statements made were untrue.

“Of all these people I’ve heard speaking, I will not judge their comments, but I will judge their actions and I don’t see any of them involved here as volunteers or in the support groups to help anyone here,” he said. “The seniors are the great generation. We owe them that respect and that gratitude, and every day I go out there and try to administer that thankfulness.”

Kaplan then told the commission she does not want to focus on the negative and hopes everyone can simply move forward. She said she has 30 years of nonprofit experience and has been a guardian for her sister for the past 25 years as she has struggled with extreme disabilities.

“I do not have experience in senior services other than with my own parents and grandparents … and through our friends around the neighborhood,” she said. “But I love the seniors. I love the older generation. We’re doing the very best we can. If you have questions, don’t ask me, ask the seniors during lunch. But make sure you sit with people other than the Elder Watch members because the Elder Watch members were cut in half at the last members’ meeting. They told them they did not want what they were offering.”

Sears and fellow board member Carl Tinsley also spoke in Kaplan’s defense, with Sears telling ACOA Kaplan helped bring WASI out of a deep financial hole over the past two years.

Sears, a mother of seven who was a Palmer correctional officer for years, told commissioners her term is up in October and she won’t miss it.

“I’ve had more stress in this than in corrections where I worked with the meanest and the toughest,” Sears said.

Contact K.T. McKee at kate.mckee@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.