Last week, the St. John’s Retirement Village Board of Directors held a special meeting that concluded with all five members resigning and seven new board members elected to take their place.

Following the resignation of the five members during the Wednesday, May 17 Board of Directors meeting over Zoom, seven new directors were named, including former board members Bob Nakken, Chuck Santoni, Debbie Bruno and Stan Levers, along with Peter Faye, former Mayor of Woodland Dan Parrish and former President of the Yolo Food BankTom Muller.

Levers mentions the former board decided it would be in the best interest of St. Johns to turn control over to a new group of concerned local citizens. St. Johns Retirement Village, located at 135 Woodland Ave, has been closed to seniors in the Woodland and Yolo County area since February 2022.

At the time, the former St. John’s board decided to close the facility citing difficulties from the COVID-19 pandemic and growing operation costs as reasons for the closure.

“I compare it to a relay race,” Levers said. “You run around a track with one team doing the best they can, and then they hand the baton off to the next team, and off they run.”

“The new directors are well-known members of the community,” he continued. “They are people that everyone knows, and I thought it was important to have that kind of group. Community support to get this back on its feet will be crucial. The support is there, but we need to collect it all.”

Levers mentions the plan is to reopen St. Johns in the near future, but first, a laundry list of tasks, including getting the facility license back from the Department of Social Services, staffing, clean up, marketing and raising working capital, must be done.

“It’s not going to happen in thirty days, but we are looking at more than a few months,” Levers assured.

Following the announcement that St. Johns would close in February 2022, Yolo County staff were approached by facility leaders and St. Johns board members with an opportunity to acquire the property.

The county had planned to use the property for low-income housing for CalWorks families and seniors, hospice and conservator placements, opportunities for intergenerational spaces, and adult day health care but ultimately terminated the purchase and sale agreement after conditions for closing, including the resolution of the pending litigation involving the property, could not be met.

“I’m hoping we can get this place open because this is where I would like to end my days as I need more care,” said a now-retired former nurse at the facility Roz Stone. “The reopening would be really important to our community. It’s the only multi-level care facility of its kind around here. There is no other place with the same feeling of community and atmosphere.”

Levers mentioned there will be a community clean-up day at St. Johns Village, on Saturday, June 17, from 8:00 a.m. to noon with free lunch for all who help out.

“We need all the community support we can get,” Levers argued. “For years, people have taken St. Johns for granted. It was always there. St. Johns is a treasure, but it is fragile. People that have had family or friends there always mention to me that St. Johns is where they want to go when they get to that point in thier life.”

I want the community to understand it takes work and money to keep the facility up, and that’s what we want to do.”

On Thursday, St. John’s hosted a booth during the city of Woodland Commission on Aging’s annual Senior Resource Fair, which highlighted programs, services, and products for adults 50-plus at the Woodland Community & Senior Center located at 2001 East Street.

“I want people to understand St. Johns is reopening and that we have a new board,” Levers stated at the event. “I have no interest in looking backward. “It is very delicate, and people need to support it, not just with money but with attending events and encouraging family members to stay involved with it whether you need to go live there or just to support it.”