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CRYSTAL FALLS -- The proverbial clock is ticking for officials at the Alpha Senior Center in Mastodon Township after the Iron County Board recently set a deadline to receive financial reports from the center or cut off funding.
At its regular meeting Oct. 12, commissioners voted 4-0, with Commissioner Mike Stafford absent, to authorize the board's civil counsel to notify center officials to submit requested financial information by Oct. 29 -- Friday -- or have funding from the county temporarily suspended.
All four of the county's senior centers are funded by a four-year, 0.27-mill levy Iron County voters renewed in November 2020.
"Hopefully, that will encourage them to come forth with the requested information," said Steven Tinti, the board's civil counsel.
Tinti added he not only sent the letter to the senior center but also the Village of Alpha and Mastodon Township.
The board's recent vote isn't the first time it has formally requested the information, with counsel sending a letter dated Sept. 20 to all four county senior centers. According to county officials, the other three centers -- in Iron River, Amasa and Crystal Falls -- had provided the information by the Oct. 12 board meeting.
At first, commissioners debated giving the Alpha Senior Center additional time but narrowed the time frame due to the fact it was a second notice.
"That's more than enough time," Commissioner Mark Stauber said of the Oct. 29 deadline. "They've already had a month."
Commissioner Jeff Ofsdahl said the delay in providing the financial statements wasn't his only concern regarding Alpha Senior Center operations. Ofsdahl said local residents have complained they can't access the site.
"People in the community are concerned they can't use a facility we're paying for," Ofsdahl said. "Not only do we need an audit, but there's other things going on at the center we need answers to."
Starr Adank, director of the Alpha Senior Center, said she has not yet responded to the county board's request.
"Not yet, but they will be handed in," Adank said. "They will get it.”
"That's not a problem," she added. "That way they can check with the bank, see what bills we paid."
Adank said the center stopped serving onsite meals on weekdays after having to close temporarily in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since reopening about a month later, the center has provided meals via a curbside program as well as through home delivery, she said.
The center also hosts a Friday fish fry and pizza on Saturdays, she said.
"We figured the other centers are open during the week; we'd be open on the weekend," she said, adding a misprint of the facility's meal schedule in a local publication might have caused some confusion. "We thought we'd corrected that."