Ashland senior citizens trying to recall parks & rec commissioners

Ashland, Ore. — Earlier this year, Ashland’s Parks and Recreation commissioners approved changes to the Ashland Senior Center.

One of those changes went into effect this fall, when several employees were let go.

Now, a group of seniors are fighting for their center and working to recall three of the commissioners.

“We were all just laid off,” Dorothy Parsons said.

Dorothy Parsons has been working as a staff member at the Ashland Senior Center for 14 years.

But as of October 1st, she and four other staff members were let go.

“I was in shock. We were all pretty well shocked,” Parsons said.

Ashland Parks and Recreation Commissioners voted in August to move forward with changes to the senior program.

“They just said that they were gonna reorganize the senior center,” Parsons said.

Part of that process means laying off staff to fit the needs of the new program.

Parsons is still finding a way to spend time at the senior center, but it’s affected her routine.

“I knew what I was gonna do on a certain day on a certain hour and whatever, and that was taken away,” Parsons said.

Now she and other senior citizens are trying to get 1,600 signatures to recall three of the five commissioners.

“We feel like that they are not in our best interest,” Parsons said.

They feel the changes should have been put on hold until commissioners heard more public input.

Parsons says all they can do now is deal with the situation one step at a time.

“I don’t think we could ever go back to where we were, but we’d give it a shot if they’d let us,” Parsons said.

And they’re still finding a way to stay in good spirits.

The director of Ashland Parks and Recreation says the changes are necessary so more senior citizens can be included in the program.

He didn’t weigh in on the recall effort.

Meanwhile, Parsons says they have 80 more days to get the 1,600 signatures.