Wellesley Council on Aging (COA) has gone through the interview process for a new director a couple of times in recent months but has yet to hire one.

Robert Connors was selected over the summer to be director, but the 2 parties couldn’t come to a contract agreement. More recently, director selection Eric Poulin decided to stay on with the Rochester, Mass. Council on Aging after leveraging the Wellesley offer for a big raise, according to The Wanderer, a news site in that region.

In addition, the Council’s assistant director just left for another job (the COA job has been posted), and health and social services administrator Kate Burnham has stepped up as acting director.

The Council continues to offer an array of in-person and online programs to seniors, and sign-ups are up. It held a 5-year anniversary party for the Tolles Parsons Center, and smoothly handled voting at the center during the fall election. But staff is being stretched thin, and the COA seeks its third director since the center opened.

Rolling out expanded offerings and hours has been a challenge. That’s been a disappointment for those who would like to see offerings at night and on weekends as well as more programs that might attract those on the lower end of the senior scale. A working group is exploring ways to expand hours.

More help could soon be on the way. Council on Aging Board Chair Tony Parker told us last week there were numerous good candidates during the most recent search interviews, and fresh discussions are underway. The COA was holding its regular monthly meeting on Nov. 17, where an update on this topic was on the agenda (after this post published).

Update (11/18/22): During the COA Board’s Nov. 17 meeting (see Wellesley Media recording about 16 minutes in), Parker shared an update that 3 possible candidates being pursued all decided that they would be doing something else. “We are now at the edge of doing a new search, which we can kick into gear very soon,” he said. With Burnham becoming the acting director, the COA is looking for someone to handle the social work she has been overseeing.

“Our situation is not dissimilar to other people in finding staff both in town and everywhere,” Parker says, citing Brookline and Newton as other communities that have conducted director searches. “The pandemic wore some directors out.”

The pandemic also led to the exits of many from the healthcare industry, some of whom are now focusing on jobs working with seniors. But it is an employee’s market right now, and organizations have been shown to be willing to boost pay to keep good people.

tolles parsons — Photo credit: Tolles Parsons Center

Wellesley Council on Aging Director Heather Munroe left in April after a little more than two years on the job. The Council knew from the start that she at some point would head back to being a town administrator.

During its director search, the Wellesley Council on Aging has had dozens of candidates and whittled the pool down to a manageable number for more intense interviews.

The town seeks a director who has an interest in making the lives of seniors full, and who generally enjoys being around people, Parker says. A job posting cited Wellesley as having about 6,500 of its 29,000 residents aged 60 and over.

Getting a director in place is important for numerous reasons beyond day-to-day leadership and operations. The Council seeks to develop a new strategic plan and it’s important to have a strong director in place for that process, Parker says.

Kitchen catch-up

The shortcomings of the Tolles Parsons Center‘s kitchen have been an issue ever since the Council on Aging headquarters opened in 2017.

Discussion of that kitchen—home to commercial-grade appliances the COA doesn’t have town permission to use—heated up earlier this year because of a COA capital budget request for $50K to study how to optimize the kitchen (and to study possible safety changes at the facility).

Wellesley’s Facilities Management Department (FMD) recently conducted a feasibility study on the kitchen to determine the best way to move forward and get the kitchen licensed for use.

COA reps, FMD, an outside consultant, and Town Executive Director Meghan Jop met earlier in the month to discuss the situation, and in particular, the COA’s priorities (hot lunches are big).

Next steps include the consultant putting forth recommendations based on the study and other input. Considerations for the COA will be operational costs, such as those related to personnel preparing food, as well as scheduling, said Greg Wilson, assistant director of senior services at the time.

Board member Marlene Allen stressed not locking down a schedule at this point to allow COA flexibility to adjust to changing needs.