MONROE - Green County is sourcing food for its meals-on-wheels program locally again after more than two decades of having the meals delivered in from Janesville and Belleville.
Pleasant View Nursing Home, the county-owned facility located just north of Monroe on Wisconsin 81, was approved for a $214,657 meals-on-wheels contract at the Green County Board of Supervisors monthly meeting this week.
The contract was one of 13 approved on Tuesday, Feb. 14 for human services in 2012. The county requires a review and approval process for any purchase or contract of more than $75,000.
In all, the board gave the green light for contracts totaling almost $2.5 million.
Among the approved contracts is $439,902 to the Grant County Center of Aging for regional services, $353,054 to Lutheran Social Services for a family partner initiative and staffing and $91,320 to the Wisconsin Education Association Council for autism-related services.
Pleasant View prepares about 520 meals in a week, with daily averages this week of 65 home-delivered and 30 served at dining centers in Monroe, Brodhead and Albany, according to Penny Baker, a cook at Pleasant View. The meals go out five days a week, with an additional 50-plus frozen meals delivered two days during the week for weekend consumption.
The program is intended for elderly people who are homebound or have difficulty shopping for groceries.
The added workload has made the kitchen busier, Baker said, but the cooking staff isn't working more hours. Instead, the morning and afternoon shifts are rearranging their schedules.
"Both shifts are working together to get them all out," she said.
On the menu for Thursday was pork loin, mashed potatoes and gravy, cauliflower with a cheese sauce, bread and, for dessert, an Oreo pudding.
For the majority of the past 20 years, the county has been paying Hoffman House Catering to prepare and deliver meals from Janesville. The only exception was a two-year interim in 2008 and 2009, when a company in Belleville provided the service.
Contracting with a local, county-run company will be convenient, said Greg Holcomb, department head at Green County Human Services.
"It's always nice when you can keep your business in-house," he said. "That's not taking anything away from Hoffman House. They provided a great service. The consumers liked the food."
But, he added, the switch to Pleasant View makes sense. "We are paying slightly less than the other providers that bid on this service. Things all fell into place."
In other business at Tuesday's meeting, the board approved matching funds for the construction of three municipal bridges. The bridges are planned to be built on Elmer Road in Brooklyn, on Bagley Road in Jefferson and on Hermes Lane in York.
Pleasant View Nursing Home, the county-owned facility located just north of Monroe on Wisconsin 81, was approved for a $214,657 meals-on-wheels contract at the Green County Board of Supervisors monthly meeting this week.
The contract was one of 13 approved on Tuesday, Feb. 14 for human services in 2012. The county requires a review and approval process for any purchase or contract of more than $75,000.
In all, the board gave the green light for contracts totaling almost $2.5 million.
Among the approved contracts is $439,902 to the Grant County Center of Aging for regional services, $353,054 to Lutheran Social Services for a family partner initiative and staffing and $91,320 to the Wisconsin Education Association Council for autism-related services.
Pleasant View prepares about 520 meals in a week, with daily averages this week of 65 home-delivered and 30 served at dining centers in Monroe, Brodhead and Albany, according to Penny Baker, a cook at Pleasant View. The meals go out five days a week, with an additional 50-plus frozen meals delivered two days during the week for weekend consumption.
The program is intended for elderly people who are homebound or have difficulty shopping for groceries.
The added workload has made the kitchen busier, Baker said, but the cooking staff isn't working more hours. Instead, the morning and afternoon shifts are rearranging their schedules.
"Both shifts are working together to get them all out," she said.
On the menu for Thursday was pork loin, mashed potatoes and gravy, cauliflower with a cheese sauce, bread and, for dessert, an Oreo pudding.
For the majority of the past 20 years, the county has been paying Hoffman House Catering to prepare and deliver meals from Janesville. The only exception was a two-year interim in 2008 and 2009, when a company in Belleville provided the service.
Contracting with a local, county-run company will be convenient, said Greg Holcomb, department head at Green County Human Services.
"It's always nice when you can keep your business in-house," he said. "That's not taking anything away from Hoffman House. They provided a great service. The consumers liked the food."
But, he added, the switch to Pleasant View makes sense. "We are paying slightly less than the other providers that bid on this service. Things all fell into place."
In other business at Tuesday's meeting, the board approved matching funds for the construction of three municipal bridges. The bridges are planned to be built on Elmer Road in Brooklyn, on Bagley Road in Jefferson and on Hermes Lane in York.