Oconto County seeks partnerships for elderly services

The Oconto County Department of Health and Human Services is exploring partnerships with other counties as it separates itself from the Oconto County Commission on Aging.

The commission, a nonprofit agency, contracted with the county for many years to provide elderly benefit services, meals for seniors and transportation services for the elderly. Financial problems that have plagued the commission on and off since 2019 led the county board to seek other avenues starting with the 2025 budget.

The Health and Human Services Board on Nov. 6 approved a transportation contract with the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin, which is expected to help seniors get to medical and other appointments with regular bus routes and by appointment.

Health and Human Services Director Scott Shackelford told the HHS board that Menominee Transit already provides similar services in Menominee, Shawano and Langlade counties.

“They have a really good program for what they do,” Shackelford said.

Will Kline, director of New View Industries, said Menominee Transit is expected to run a regular route inside the City of Oconto as well as a rural route that will probably focus on a different region of the county each day, much like the Commission on Aging was providing.

Twenty percent of the state grant that funds the program will be retained by the county for transportation services for New View clients.

The Human Services Board heard a presentation from Olivia Cherry, director of Marinette Elderly Services, and authorized Shackelford to explore a proposal utilizing the Marinette agency to run senior meal sites and the home-delivered program.

Cherry presented preliminary estimated costs based on a figure of $10.74 per meal for meals on site and $14.53 for meals on wheels. The meal sites would generate an $8,663 surplus but the home-delivered program could run a deficit as high as $169,000 in 2025 and would need additional funding sources, she said.

“I think it’s very possible for Oconto County to run a great nutrition program, but there would have to be some changes in the way that it’s happening now,” she said.

Cherry explained that Marinette Elderly Services does a lot of fundraising to support its meal costs. A golf outing raises about $30,000 a year and a food-tasting event another $10,000 to help pay for meal costs.

The third piece of the puzzle is elderly benefit services, and Shackelford said he has begun conversations with Kim Wolfmeyer, director of the Aging and Disability Resources of the Wolf River Region, or ADRC, about contracting to provide those services.

ADRC recently agreed to provide elderly benefit services for Shawano County, and Shackelford said he has asked Wolfmeyer for a copy of the Shawano County Board resolution to adapt it for Oconto County.

The regional organization serves residents of Shawano, Oconto and Menominee counties, and the Stockbridge-Munsee Community and has an office in Oconto Falls, he said.

“We have a good relationship with the ADRC. They’re embedded within our community, and it would help having everything be in one stop,” Shackelford said. “That, of course, would have to be communicated out with special messaging that that would be in effect in 2025 … I think it’s a good idea.”

Board members were receptive to the proposals and asked Shackelford to bring more detailed plans to their December meeting.

“The ADRC has a well-oiled machine; Olivia has a well-oiled machine,” board member Kathy Gohr said. “If we can make it work, this will benefit Oconto County.”

wbluhm@newmedia-wi.com