Whatcom County provides a building that can be used by seniors.
The building is at 315 Halleck Street
Bellingham, WA 98225
Notice To All BSAC Members
On Thursday, August 5, 2010 a discussion with held with Mike McFarlane, Whatcom County Director of Parks and myself, Robert Knodt, member of the BSAC. At that meeting Mr. McFarlane explained that the Whatcom County Council on Aging, a nonprofit organization, can only accept donations. The Whatcom County Council on Aging CANNOT charge individuals any DUES or require that anyone pay any money to use the County owned Building. If you have been asked to pay DUES to belong to the BSAC you should understand that you were making a DONATION to the WCCOA and that the WCCOA does not have to use the DUES/DONATION for the BSAC.
Presently the WCCOA is using previously collected dues to pay a WCCOA employee to be the program director of the BSAC.
The members of the BSAC have no direct say in how the collected DUES/DONATION money is spent.
The WCCOA disbanded the Board that the members of the BSAC elected last year and in its place appointed an Advisory Commettee. They also prevented the members of the BSAC from electing a Board at the Annual Meeting.
The next time you are asked for DUES have the person explain to you that it is really a donation to the WCCOA. They must do this by State Law.
You can, of course, make the donation but you have a right to tell the WCCOA that you want that donation to only be spent for the BSAC and that you do not want any of the money paid as salaries or benefits to any employee of the WCCOA or used for any other programs of the WCCOA.
Make sure that the BSAC gets full benefit of the money you contribute in their name.
You can speak with the WCCOA Exectuive Director by calling 733-4030. Tell him you want a say in how the WCCOA spends the money collected in the name of the BSAC. He should be able to tell you how much money has previously been collected in the name of the BSAC and is presently held by the WCCOA. This money should only be spent to help members of the BSAC. The WCCOA should pay its employees and not expect the BSAC to pay any WCCOA employee that is not directly responsible to the BSAC.