Milan Calls Lease Proposal Final Offer, Creates New Senior Advisory Committee

Just a day after creating a senior advisory committee at its April 7 meeting—while saying lease negotiations with Milan Seniors for Healthy Living (MSHL) were ongoing—Milan City Attorney Steve Mann told MSHL attorney the city “will not entertain any material changes to the lease.”

Milan City sent a lease proposal March 11. MSHL returned it March 25 with what its attorney described as minor changes.

However, Mayor Ed Kolar said on Thursday April 9 the city is no longer open to negotiation.

“We gave them the best, most simple, consistent lease possible,” Kolar said. “It’s not negotiable at this point.”

A meeting between the city and MSHL remains scheduled for April 16.

The lease

MSHL attorney Guy Conti, who is working pro bono, said he has two main concerns:  1) performance requirements he fears could make MSHL function like a city employee; and 2) an indemnity clause requiring MSHL cover legal expenses for both itself and the city.

Conti said the parties had discussed handling performance requirements in a separate millage agreement and that MSHL remains willing to negotiate.

City Council

At the April 7 council meeting, the mayor said he anticipates the April 16 discussion.

“We’re going to meet next week,” Kolar said. “We’re going to go over the things we’ve been going over for four years.”

Earlier that day, MSHL Board President James Giordani told The Sun Times News he was looking forward to the meeting with the mayor. Giordani said MSHL was preparing for the worse-case scenario – that a contract could not be reached with the city and they had to leave the center – while working toward the best-case scenario.

“There’s been this mantra of doing what’s best for the seniors,” Giordani said. “To me it would be clear the best plan is to have the seniors stay in this building under the stewardship of a nonprofit organization.”

MSHL survey

A recent MSHL survey of 61 members found 52 preferred negotiating a lease to remain in the building, five preferred relocating, and none supported dissolving and moving under the city as their first choice.

“It seems like they want to stay in the building,” said former MSHL board member Josh Kofflin, who put together the initial survey. Kofflin says it offers a good snapshot of what seniors are thinking, but he agrees with a city criticism, saying he would like to see a larger sample size, including homebound seniors.

Moving to a new location won for second choice and dissolving and coming under the city came in third.

Public Comment and staffing

At the April 7 city council meeting, residents and several MSHL employees spoke in favor of a lease.

The city has spoken highly of MSHL employees and said that if MSHL leaves the building and the city creates its own senior program, they would seek to hire current MSHL staff.

However, some employees said during Tuesday’s council meeting they did not want to work under the city. Others in attendance spoke highly of the work being done by MSHL.

Finances

Councilmember Marie Gress thanked MSHL for attending and said seniors’ comments in January encouraged the city to try negotiating one more time. She said they were still waiting for more information from MSHL and that is what would be helpful moving forward.

City Manager Jim Lancaster and Gress say there are no concerns about fraud, but have requested audits and clearer reporting on how millage funds benefit Milan residents versus nonresidents. If the city leases the building to MSHL, they’d like the nonprofit to demonstrate they are willing to be collaborative partners with the city.

In February, the MSHL board approved a 2026 audit, to be completed after tax season, and will conduct either audits or financial reviews annually. 

At the March MSHL board meeting, Conti advised that even if it cost more to create detailed reports it was worth it because of the importance of MSHL’s relationship with the city.

MSHL Director Maryann Opal said the senior center again started documenting which attendees are Milan City residents and which are nonresidents in January. However, she said they have struggled with a request to go back to 2022, which is when Gress said MSHL stopped documenting that information. Gress has asked that they look at program attendance and estimate which attendees are city residents 60 and older.

Gress said before the March MSHL board meeting she was given a report that divided the usage of millage funds between residents and nonresidents amongst various programs, though she had concern about a discrepancy.

“The only report I have right now says one thing, then on Facebook they are saying something different and so it continues to add to the confusion of how they are using the funds and the impact that is having,” Gress said.

Gress has also asked for clear descriptions of accomplishments, detailing how the millage funds are benefitting Milan residents.

“It’s an accountability measure,” Gress told The Sun Times News. “If we go back for another millage, we would be able to say what has been accomplished.”

Other Council Remarks

Councilmember Shannon Wayne said she was glad for those who were at city council so everyone could be on the same page.

Wayne served as senior liaison for four years, through the end of 2025, working to negotiate a contract, which she said has been incredibly challenging.

“It’s the first issue in my life that I was not able to solve,” Wayne told The Sun Times News. “I always thought if you worked hard enough and long enough you could solve anything. I hope for resolution soon.”

Councilmember Jesse Nie said senior services are a priority to the entire council.

“Negotiations normally happen behind the scenes because there is a lot of dialogue that happens,” Nie said.

Nie also told residents that the senior advisory would be used to look at rebuilding sidewalks, renovations to the park, ways to make things better for seniors.

“It’s not designed to take over anything at the center,” Nie said.

Kolar said allegations that he and the city cannot be trusted are unfair, considering the hours he’s put into negotiations and improving the city.

“Every department we touched we’ve knocked it out of the park,” Kolar said, referencing the city’s fiscal management and work obtaining more than $8 million in grants. “…. We kick butt to do as much as we can.”

Senior Advisory Committee

The city has said the new senior advisory committee is to take a citywide look at issues effecting seniors, including ADA compliance, transportation, and supporting homebound seniors.

Giordani said Tuesday morning he was apprehensive about MSHL’s lack of a seat on the committee. The city has stated MSHL was not included because the committee could at some point determine how to allocate funding.

“My silver lining is that they can possibly be a nice go between between MSHL and Milan City,” Giordani said. “However, I’m worried it’s just a way to divert funds and resources away from MSHL, especially because whoever sits on that board is entirely chosen by the city. If we provide senior services we should have someone on that board and we are not allowed to have representation.”

The new senior advisory committee membership includes:

Pauline Carr (60+)

Ann Gee (60+)

Gary Bourdeau (60+)

Dennis Smallwood (60+)

Tom Faro (Milan Area Schools Board President)

Mary Ochalek (business owner)

Shannon Snyder (community member)

Denene Smith (community member)

Matt West (community member)

David Snyder (council member)

Matt Stafford (council member)

MSHL Board meeting

The MSHL board meeting for Wednesday April 15 has been canceled. The board plans to meet April 16 in a closed meeting, following MSHL attorney and board president’s meeting with the mayor and city attorney.