Senior Center readies for move to new facility
By GAYLE WEBER
The Hays Senior Center has set a move-in date for its new location, pending approval of funding from the city of Hays and Ellis County.
Senior center directors requested an additional $2,170 from Hays city commissioners during a work session Thursday night. The same amount will be requested from the Ellis County Commission. The lease on the center's new facility at Frontier Bingo on East Eighth Street, would take effect Dec. 1, with a move-in date scheduled for Dec. 31.
"In December, we'll still be in the senior center, but we're also going to be in the bingo house because we'll be moving things and so we (have) double rent," said Alice Herrman, Hays Senior Center director.
Herrman and Mike Sack, vice president of the center's board of directors, requested $1,150 to help pay rent on the Frontier Bingo location for December. An additional $1,020 was requested for 2009 to cover the difference in what the center pays for rent at its existing Hadley Center location compared to the bingo facility.
"What I would suggest to the commission is (we) will get a hold of the (Ellis County) Care Council and see if they can absorb this," City Manager Toby Dougherty said. "I don't know how much discretionary funds they have if they can absorb this. If they say 'yes,' I think they could simply increase their distribution to (the senior center) on that."
If the council, which funds all county meal sites, cannot afford the additional requests of the Hays Senior Center, Dougherty said he would bring the issue back to the commission.
The senior center is set to sign a 3-year lease on the Frontier Bingo location after funding is approved, and Commissioner Chris Channell said he wouldn't want any longer term of lease.
"I don't see this as being a long-term solution," Channell said. "Hopefully, your numbers don't fall off with people going out that far."
Herrman said she advised patrons of the senior center of the move and said the Access van would travel to the location, despite it being outside city limits.
Commissioner Troy Hickman said he would have liked to have seen the senior center explore using established facilities such as the American Legion or VFW Hall, which potentially could have saved on the cost of a lease. However, Herrman said the state's regulations could have complicated that kind of use.
"When we move out to the bingo house, the state is going to come and inspect everything from the ceiling fans to the sinks," Herrman said. "So therefore, if we would go to another facility and try to use their facility, I do not think the state would go along with that."