CHAD WARBINGTON: City declines contract with SOWEGA Council on Aging

A few weeks ago, it was announced that the SOWEGA Council on Aging was selling its 40,000-square-foot building at 335 W. Society Ave. to Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital.

With only the information presented by our local media outlets, it set off the typical firestorm of negative comments and conspiracy theories from many who only have a small piece of the total picture.

As the name indicates, SOWEGA is a regional agency serving not just Albany, but several surrounding counties in southwest Georgia. They receive federal and state funds to serve the senior adult population from basic nutritional needs to quality of life programming.

In 2006, Phoebe purchased the old Byne Church facility for $1.2 million. In 2008, Phoebe donated the property to SOWEGA Council on Aging. Emphasize “DONATED.”

Many local donors gave money, including the city of Albany, which gave $3.3 million in SPLOST funds to renovate the old Byne Church facility to be a center to serve Albany’s senior adult population.

In 2012, the renovation was complete and went into service, providing meals out of a new commercial kitchen and large spaces for senior adult programming. Fast forward 14 years to 2026. SOWEGA Council on Aging has strategically moved to an agency characterized “without walls” and needing to focus equally on all counties it serves, not just the large population of Albany

Hence, the large, 40,000-square-foot building is not part of their strategic future plans. I’m told programming in all aspects of senior adult services has doubled, if not tripled, with the without walls strategy versus focusing on everything being in one large building.

Phoebe now has a strategic need for the building, and thus the match was made for Phoebe to purchase the building that they had donated back in 2008. In a public meeting, it was stated that the purchase price is $8 million.

All of that information is simply context to how the city of Albany Commission recently got involved and single-handedly created a controversial “mountain out of a mole hill.”

The city of Albany Parks and its Recreation and Parks Department have multiple community centers in the city, where some programming is provided for senior adults. When the news broke about SOWEGA Council on Aging selling its building, recreation staff proactively reached out to see how the city could possibly partner with them to provide more programming for senior adults.

Quickly, a short-term need was shared with city staff that a large space was needed immediately to move SOWEGA Council on Aging programming due to the building being sold. Recreation staff identified Thornton Gym in East Albany as a site that could immediately accommodate the large number of senior adults who participate in regular daily programming from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday. A contract was written for a duration of three months, to end in May simply as a short-term solution while other long-term options were evaluated.

Obviously, there were hopes of a possible long-term partnership where both entities could provide senior adult programming in many of the city’s facilities in all areas of the city. SOWEGA Council on Aging is funded through federal and state funds, which means they could help reduce the financial burden on local city taxpayers.

Great ideas, right? Should pass through with flying colors, right? Not so fast.

So the next step was for staff to present the short-term contract to the City Commission for approval and, unfortunately, this is where the “wheels fell off.” The City Commission saw it differently after hours and hours of contentious debate in multiple meetings, dozens of emails berating staff behind the scenes, false accusations of breaking state laws, and many phone calls through the weekend.

The City Commission basically “snubbed our nose” at SOWEGA Council on Aging with a 4-3 vote to decline the short-term contract and not allow them to use Thornton Gym for three months and basically ended the hope for any long-term partnerships to serve our senior adult citizens.

Politics, division, blame, and egos all contributed to this failed policy that truly could have been the start of something great for senior adults in Albany. For SOWEGA Council of Aging, they have many other potential partners in the city to consider for future plans, like the YMCA, Phoebe, churches and faith-based organizations.

I’m sorry city officials wasted about three weeks of contract negotiations and negative public criticism. Unfortunately, the City Commission removed itself from the “future partner” list, and the cycle of working in “silos” separately instead of together in partnerships continues, to the detriment of the citizens of Albany.

And, in this case, to the detriment of our senior adult citizens.