By VERNON ROBISON
Moapa Valley Progress
The members of the United Seniors organization in Overton are preparing for some major changes in how the senior center facility will be run.
The Overton Senior Center building near the corner of Moapa Valley Blvd. and Cooper Street was built by Clark County for the United Seniors and opened in March of 2009. Since that time, the organization has been responsible for managing, and paying for, most of the day-to-day maintenance and programming of the building.
But the organization has struggled in recent years with budget woes. It has seen much of its grant funding dwindle. And its main fundraising vehicle, the Senior Center Thrift store, has brought expenses of its own. The old building on the south end of Overton needed a new roof last year and has required a major fundraising effort to finally get it. Thus, the seniors group has been working with a budget stretched thin.
Into this dilemma, entered Clark County Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick at the end of last month. On May 31, Kirkpatrick met with United Seniors officials to propose an ambitious new plan for the building. She reminded the seniors that the Memorandum of Understanding with the county over their use of the building was up for renewal at the end of June. She then gave notice that the new agreement would involve more than just a rubber stamp renewal of the long-standing terms that they had seen before. She had plans for a change.
First off, Kirkpatrick had noticed that the senior center building was somewhat under-utilized. Of course, the seniors had activities scheduled in the early part of the day. But in afternoons and evenings, there was rarely anything taking place in the building.
At the same time, Kirkpatrick had noted a need for additional recreational facilities in the Moapa Valley community. She had heard from local residents who wanted a community recreation center where more programming could take place to keep local kids busy.
So Kirkpatrick told the seniors that she wanted to broaden the use of the senior center building to accommodate more general programming and fill a greater need for the community.
To conclude the May 31 meeting, Kirkpatrick promised to put a proposal in place. She said that she would be back to officially roll out her plans for the building.
Of course, the meeting was unsettling to many United Seniors members. They were afraid of what the possible changes would bring. They feared the loss of control and worried that their programs would be sidelined. In the weeks following the meeting the rumor mill among United Senior members went into overdrive.
But last week, some of those fears were allayed. On Tuesday, June 20, United Seniors director Chris Trombley called a membership meeting to communicate the substance of the Commissioner’s plan to the public.
Trombley said that she had met a few days before with Kirkpatrick what had formally laid out a vision. It had been a positive meeting, she said.
“She answered a lot of questions for me; and I had a lot,” Trombley said at Tuesday’s meeting. “But at the end, I could see where she was coming from and I felt like an agreement could be reached that would help everyone.”
Trombley acknowledged that the rumor mill had ground out a lot of misinformation in the preceding weeks. A lot of hysteria had resulted, she said.
“I am going to give you some information today that I hope that you will put into the rumor mill and get it out there to people,” Trombley said. “This will be good and reliable information.”
First of all, Trombley confirmed that the county would be taking over management of the senior center building.
“This always was a county-owned building,” Trombley said. “The county built it and paid for it. They have always owned it.”
On the brighter side, however, Trombley noted that this change would save United Seniors a good deal of money. The county would take on the liability for the building which would relieve the seniors of the huge expense of carrying liability insurance. In addition, the county would foot the bill for the upkeep and acquisition of equipment and supplies for the building.
Trombley mentioned that the senior center’s custodian had just given notice that he would no longer be working there. “I asked Marilyn (Kirkpatrick) whether we needed to hire another one,” Trombley said. “She said that we shouldn’t have to pay for that. The county will be taking care of that from now on.”
Trombley said that these items would relieve United Seniors of a significant expense. “We may actually end up with money left over in our budget,” Trombley said. “And as a community non-profit, think of all the good that we might do in and for the community with those funds. All of a sudden we are not just having to think about what we need; or what we have to take in support; but rather where we can turn things around and begin to give back to this great community.”
Trombley said that Kirkpatrick had been adamant about not taking programming away from the seniors. All of the current senior center programming would remain in place, she said. These included the daily lunch service and the staff who prepares and serves it. It included the center’s Meals on Wheels program which would stay wholly in tact. And it would also include all of the activities currently in place.
“You will see very little, if any, impact to our activities in the changes that (Kirkpatrick) wants to make,” Trombley said.
But Trombley acknowledged the fact that all of the seniors’ programming ends at around 1:00 pm every day.
“Come round about 1:15 in the afternoon, this place becomes deserted,” Trombley said. “There is no one here. That is when she would to add community programming.”
That programming would include after school programs for youth. Kirkpatrick had proposed to hire a full time parks and rec staffer to be responsible for these programs, watch over the facility and to keep kids on task.
Kirkpatrick had also suggested that the county could provide a boxed evening meal to needy local children who might otherwise go to bed hungry. “This would be a county funded program,” Trombley said. “It would not have a cost borne by United Seniors.”
In addition there would be more family programming offered, Trombley explained. These would be classes and activities that could bring kids, parents and even seniors together.
Kirkpatrick had also envisioned a robust Cooperative Extension and 4H programming going on in the building.
Kirkpatrick had also offered to help expand the programming geared solely to seniors, Trombley said. “In Las Vegas, the seniors actually go places on field trips,” Trombley said. “She wants to help us to be able to offer trips like that.”
Trombley added that the Commissioner was eager to hear feedback from local seniors on what programs they would like to see offered through the center. Once she knows what the seniors want to do, Kirkpatrick could begin working on bringing it to the center, Trombley said.
“Hey, make the sky the limit on what you’d like to see!” Trombley said. “She won’t know what you want, unless you tell her.”
She directed the seniors’ attention to a suggestion box set up in the dining hall where they were meeting. There, senior center members could write down and place their suggestions.
Trombley said that Kirkpatrick was arranging for the June 30 deadline to be extended so that a new agreement could be put together between United Seniors and the county. Everything in the agreement would stay status quo for as much as four months if necessary while the new agreement was being reached, she said.
Trombley pledged to continue to work with Kirkpatrick until the agreement was reached. Trombley had planned to retire in August. But she said she had agreed to stay longer if necessary to guide the process.
In a telephone interview last week Kirkpatrick said that she was pleased that everyone was working together for a positive outcome.
“I think it is important for everyone to know that I am not trying to take things away,” Kirkpatrick said. “Rather I am trying to add to what is already there; and bring in the rest of the community.”
Kirkpatrick shared her longer term vision of making the senior center building part of an overall community center complex,. She hoped that this would make the area a more vibrant place and bring more people to downtown Overton.
The reality is that funding would probably not be available to build a $30 million rec center, she said. But there was a better chance to bring smaller sums of money together to expand the senior center facility and make it better able to accommodate community needs, she said.
Additions could include more classrooms, activity space and media equipment for youth and community programs. They might someday even include athletic facilities, fitness equipment and gymnasium space, she said.
“It is so much cheaper and better if we are building on to existing facilities as a complex,” Kirkpatrick said. “But it is important to me that whatever we do, we build it to what the community wants. So I am always willing to listen to what people out there want. And if I can get it, I will do it.”
