Despite Rumors, Fairbury Senior Center Will Remain Open

By Gordon HopkinsDespite some rumors to the contrary, Jefferson County Commissioners insist there are no plans to close the Senior Center in Fairbury.The local rumor mill has been an ongoing source of frustration for local officials for years. The unfounded rumor that the Fairbury Senior Center would be closing was brought up at a meeting of the Blue Rivers Area Agency on Aging (BRAAA) on Monday, April 22, 2024. The following day, Jefferson County Commissioner Mark Schoenrock, who attended the meeting, gave an update to his fellow commissioners.“We did have a representative from Fairbury there. There were a number of concerns about our Fairbury Senior Center, that we will be closing the Fairbury Senior Center, which is not true,” said Schoenrock. “All 12 of us met with him for about half an hour.” When asked what led to the rumor, Schoenrock said it was well known that the budget was “tight.”“Rumors get out there occasionally,” said Schoenrock. “And that’s all I know about it. It’s not based in fact. We do not intend to close the Fairbury Senior Center.” One of the causes of BRAAA’s “tight” budget is the delayed reimbursements from the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), but Schoenrock indicated that is improving, “We want to thank Senator (Myron) Dorn for his assistance. It’s helping to improve the timely reimbursements for our bills. We’re still behind about six months. Don’t ask me how we managed to conduct our operations when you’re six months behind on your cash flow. But we have had some good communication with Steve Corsi, who is the new DHHS director up in Lincoln.”Schoenrock said, “We try really hard to make sure that we’re conducting our operations as efficiently as possible so we can make our dollars go as far as we can.” Schoenrock noted that the Fairbury Senior Center is the second most used center the BRAAA supports. Beatrice is number one and Nebraska City is number three.In an attempt to quell more rumors, Schoenrock emphasized BVAAA financial and operational data is public information, “We’re open. We’re transparent. Anytime you want to come and see the books, I mean, it’s all public information. We conduct our meetings in accordance with the same open meeting act that we do here. So, we’re not keeping anything in the dark.”

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