A work in progress

AUDREY KOOPMAN makes a point at last Wednesday’s community center committee meeting. Photo / Per Peterson

Where will the seniors go? What’s the long-term plan for a community center? Another step in the process of addressing these pressing questions took place last week.

Community Center committee’s No. 1 priority is finding a temporary home for displaced seniors

By Per Peterson

The citizens’ committee charged with developing a short-term solution for a home for seniors and permanent plan for a possible community center in town narrowed its focus on the latter last Wednesday while making sure the former is taken care of as well.

By the end of last week’s meeting, the consensus was to zero in on three downtown ideas that could serve as the future home of some kind of community center: add on to the VMC/City Hall, renovate the former Ken’s Super Valu building on 3rd St., or invest in a new building, most likely at the former liquor store site on South St.

But first things first: The overriding theme of last week’s meeting was that the initial focus should be on finding a place for seniors to gather, even before developing concrete plans for a center that would serve the community as a whole.

“I think we should redirect our focus on the absolute need right now, and that is the senior center,” said committee member Jeremy Trulock.

Committee member Audrey Koopman, representing Tracy’s senior community, agreed, saying it’s important a temporary home is found for seniors sooner rather than later.

“I think it needs to be an independent place,” she said. “If we’re gonna try to work that into a community center, it could be years down the road before that becomes effective. Needless to say, we don’t have years, I don’t have years. Let’s try focusing on a senior center location and what we have to do to get that done.”

See this week’s Headlight Herald for more on this article.