Commission on Aging celebrates 50 years; director outlines staffing, wait‑list reductions and new housing/transportation pilots

Lana Payne, director of Grand Traverse County’s Commission on Aging, briefed the board on the department’s 50th anniversary, service volumes, budget posture and a set of new local initiatives.

Payne said the commission moved to new Park Drive offices in 2024, serves thousands of seniors through in‑home services (almost 18,000 in‑home visits annually in 2024) and relies primarily on the senior millage for operations. She reported an unrestricted fund balance of about $2.5 million and said the commission expects to use portions of that balance over time to expand outdoor services and staff the planned Commission on Aging operations in the county’s campus consolidation.

New local initiatives: Payne described two items the county will pilot this year: • Project Fresh paper coupon program: The state’s transition to an electronic Project Fresh system has been delayed and has not worked well for farmers or low‑income seniors; the Commission on Aging budgeted $10,000 in millage funds to run a paper coupon program for seniors this year and contracted with local markets to accept the coupons (seniors will receive $50 in coupons per participating recipient). Payne said the county will continue to coordinate with the state program if/when the electronic rollout stabilizes. • Home Share Network pilot: The commission has formed a Grand Traverse Senior Housing Collaborative with partners (area agency on aging, Community Action Agency, Housing North, Traverse City Housing Commission and PACE North) to explore shared‑housing models adapted from University of Michigan work; the county has applied for start‑up grant funding and may consider millage support for a host agency if the pilot scales.

Wait lists and service delivery: Payne said about 70–75% of clients receive services for free under the millage funding and reported progress reducing the homemaker wait list from over 300 to about 200. Outdoor services (lawn care, snow removal) currently serve several hundred clients and carry their own wait lists; the new facility planned under Project Alpha should expand capacity, Payne said.

Why it matters: Commissioners praised the presentation and asked staff to provide further budgetary detail about how Commission on Aging programs might be proportionately housed in the new facility and how millage funds could be applied to start‑up costs without impairing core services.

Selected quote: “We have now formed in Grand Traverse County the Grand Traverse Senior Housing Collaborative,” Payne said, describing the collaborative’s membership and its efforts to investigate shared housing and other locally adapted housing options.