First, good luck to the new Fillmore Senior Center Board come June 23rd. I think you will have great success from the calls I’ve received this week from SCAN, Assisted Home Hospice, and Ventura County Public Health. They’re lining up to get into the Fillmore Senior Center.
I also received a lot of feedback on my editorial last week concerning the Fillmore Senior Center. The majority agreed with my opinion of mismanagement by Community Services Supervisor Annette Cardona. Several people said the responsibility goes higher up the chain of command to City Manager Tom Ristau. Others said Facility Director Lori Nunez has neglected her duties in seeing that the center operates at the highest level possible. It would seem that there is enough culpability to go around. No one blamed the Board of Directors, since there wasn’t one operating.
Many expressed the opinion that Cardona and Nunez should be held accountable for their past neglect. Fewer thought the community should move beyond placing blame and just concentrate on rebuilding the center’s programs. I think both are in order.
Former Mayor Roger Campbell stands alone in his defense of the center’s management by the city from the responses I have received (see this week’s Letters to the Editor). He sites the importance of the firework’s sales in the funding of the center and Finance Director Barbara Smith and Cardona’s staffing of the booth which has facilitated that fundraiser. Those who attended the June 2 meeting at the center are aware of Smith and Cardona’s volunteerism for that week; they explained to the audience that the firework’s booth had been the target of thievery in the past; therefore they manned the cash register and were onsite to watch over the inventory. I admire anyone who sits in what is essentially a sweatbox during the month of July: I did it for Grad Night Live and worked the snack bar at little league for years. But reason ponders, does one week in July justify years of neglect which has brought us to this point?
Campbell writes that Smith and Cardona do not deserve the “distasteful comments that others are making.” Donna Smallwood pretty much writes the same thing in her letter this week. I agree. Personal attacks and wild rumor, particularly on local blogs, say more about the speaker than the subject. As I stated in my editorial last week, Smith does her job, which is city finance, and treated the audience at the senior center’s meetings with respect. I also gave due to the city for its financial support of the center through redevelopment monies.
As for Campbell’s remark that it is easy to criticize when showing no interest in the center, I say, who knew? I’ve received a slew of comments from the public saying they had no idea the center had diminished so much. And why would they? I found out through seeking information for my elderly mother. But, Tom Ristau, Annette Cardona and Lori Nunez knew because it is their job to know. My question is, will they now do their jobs—Manage, Supervise, Direct?
So let’s stay on course with center issues; three to four years of mismanagement including a non-existent board, minimum grants and funding sought, no center programs outside of lunches. Not fireworks booths and blogs.
And let’s all keep an eye on it this time.