Senior services RFP fails to garner a big response
By Nathan R. Huff
The shape of Los Gatos' future senior services remains in doubt, as town staff attempts to contract out a combined senior coordinator/case manager position have been unsuccessful.
According to Community Development director Regina Falkner, the department is waiting on any other responses to the town's request for proposals (RFP). In the meantime, Los Gatos has also begun taking applications for an in-house senior coordinator. The application deadline for the coordinator position, which would pay between $47,256 and $60,312 a year, is Nov. 22. Falkner said the application was sent to all the agencies that received RFP's, as well as to members of the now-disbanded senior task force.
The town received only one response to its RFP for senior services. The Live Oak Senior Nutritional and Service Center expressed an interest in providing case management services for the town, but stated that a senior coordinator would be most successful as a town employee.
"We recommend that the senior coordinator be a full-time employee of the town of Los Gatos, rather than provided by an existing agency," the response letter to the town stated. The letter was signed by the center's board of directors Chairwoman, Joanne Benjamin, Treasurer Eric Carlson and Executive Director Deborah Kranefuss. It went on to state that the agency would be willing to do case management for the town for $36,000 a year, $14,000 less than the amount the town budgeted.
Whether the town should hire its own senior coordinator or contract with an outside agency has been a bone of contention between town staff and the community services commission. In May, the town council appropriated $40,000 for a coordinator position, with the idea that the Los Gatos-Saratoga Department of Community Education and Recreation would provide the rest of the position funding.
The recreation department and the community services commission recommended that the town hire its own coordinator to maintain program control. Acting Town Manager Jim Piper asked the council to wait for the commission's recommendation until staff evaluated the possibility of contracting out for services. That idea was then expanded to combine the $40,000 for a coordinator and the $50,000 allocated for case management into one position.
The community services department developed an RFP for the combined position and sent it out to local senior service providers. Community service commissioners, upset that staff was not following their suggestion, requested the town give equal weight to the possibility of hiring a full-fledged town employee, and a job description was created.
Falkner, who will meet with the community services commission on Nov. 16, said that a final decision probably won't occur until early next year. The town had hoped to make a decision by December.
"The fact we're between town managers makes it that much more difficult," Falkner said, referring to the departure of Interim Town Manager Les White and the arrival of Debra Figone.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
