By GAYLE WEBER

gweber@dailynews.net

The Hays Senior Center received its needed funding from Ellis County commissioners Monday.

Commissioners approved $7,150 in additional 2008 funding for expenses related to the senior center's move from the Hadley Center to Frontier Bingo on East Eighth Street just outside the city limits.

Mike Sack, vice president of the senior center, said the facility would need $1,150 for December's rent at the Frontier Bingo location, along with $1,000 for utilities for the month. Sack estimated the center would need about $5,000 for remodeling costs in the new location.

"I think we gotta do it," Commissioner Perry Henman said. "Although, I think next year we need to press the city (of Hays) to pay half the utilities."

The city and the county each pay half of the senior center's rent, while the county foots the bill for all utilities. The county's mill levy is responsible for all services provided by the Ellis County Council on Aging, including the Hays Meal Site.

The estimated remodeling costs in Frontier Bingo account for the construction of an office for the center's director and a few minor changes to the kitchen to accommodate the senior center's equipment.

Two groups use the senior center in the Hadley Center on Monday afternoons and evenings. Sack said he anticipates those two groups continuing to use the center in the new location.

Sack said Weight Watchers already pays a stipend to the senior center for its use, but the Bridge Club does not.

"They should realize that since your rent's going up, they should be pitching in more," Commission Chairman Dennis Pfannenstiel said.

Meanwhile, Ken Braun, who represents a soon-to-be vacant building in the Eagle Business Plaza, addressed the commission concerning a future permanent location for the senior center.

Braun said he understood a lease had been agreed upon with Frontier Bingo, and he was not trying to change the commission's decision on the location.

"Down the line, I was wondering if that building might fit your needs," Braun said.

The building, being vacated by the FDIC, is 5,900 square feet. Senior center leaders looked at the building when reviewing a number of locations in the city, but, at the time, the building only would have had 4,000 square feet.

"I got the impression when they brought all those bids that they really liked that place best, it was just the price," Henman said.

Braun said he would be able to reduce the initial cost, which was proposed at $10 per square foot, because if the senior center used the building, he wouldn't need to section off the building or install additional heating or air-conditioning units.

Braun said he owns the vacant lot west of the Eagle Plaza on which a 20,000-square-foot building could be built.

"The Hadley Center was defeated. We can't seem to get that going, so I don't know what the consensus would be about building a building for the senior center," Pfannenstiel said.

Braun said if the county didn't want to use the available space for the senior center, he would be willing to work with the county to solve its space needs and house some administrative offices.