1994 — The Platte County Senior Citizens Service Fund began serving residents who are 60 or older with services needed to keep them independent in their own homes. The history of the organization, however, began 12 years earlier when a diverse group of Platte County citizens formed a taskforce to secure a levy to fund those services.
1982 — At the request of the taskforce convened by then County Commissioner Sue Dance, State Representative John Birch introduced a bill in the Missouri Legislature to enable Missouri Counties to place the levy question on their ballots. State Senator Truman Wilson also endorsed it. Taskforce members wrote support letters and Robert L. Burns and Russel Jones, Sr. testified in Jefferson City. The proposed legislation was written and rewritten for seven years until finally passed and signed by the governor in 1989. The efforts of the taskforce benefit not just Platte County, but all Missouri Counties and the city of St. Louis.
The local taskforce (aka the SNAC committee) then switched to research mode in preparation for placing the levy in question on the ballot. A one-page two-sided survey was written by taskforce members Marge Bergman and John Miller. It was mailed with return postage paid to 6,400 Platte County registered voters age 60 or older. Purpose: to ascertain their current and future needs. An amazing 34% of the surveys were returned. The computer department of the Northland Career Center compiled the data. Northland United Way put the survey and data report in a booklet for distribution. Using survey results the taskforce researched the services available to meet the needs.
All of the taskforce work was funded by personal, business and in-kind donations to include the printing, the mailing, the paper and campaign materials. The time and generosity of the taskforce members were invaluable to the success of the mission. Having done due diligence for three years the taskforce literally to a collective deep breath before placing the levy question on the ballot in November 1992. Five cents per $100 of assessed valuation to support services for senior citizens in Platte County was the question. The taskforce then segued into campaign mode and the voters passed the question by a nice majority.
The levy was not assessed until the fall of 1993. The Platte County commission appointed the first seven-member board in February 1993 to establish the funds operations, rent an office and hire an executive director.