The Tracy City Council on Monday took two big steps in finding a home — both temporary and permanent — for Tracy area seniors.
Choosing from three previously-determined options, the Council voted unanimously to use the Tracy Eagles Club on 4th St. as a temporary place for seniors to gather for a few hours five days a week. The Council also voted 6-1 to authorize the city administrator to hire a professional group to give the City feedback and guidance on moving forward with a permanent location for a senior center.
Temporary solution
Other options included the basement of the Tracy Public Library and Tracy United Methodist Church. The Caboose was, for a time, being considered, but ultimately did not want to be considered, Tracy City Administrator Erik Hansen said.
All three options had pros and cons. The library basement, while nice, was turned down because it wasn’t on the main floor, and seniors have made their voice clear that they did not want to be on either a second floor or in a basement. That option, however, would’ve come at no cost to the City.
“It’s new and it’s free,” Hansen said. “The disadvantage as has been outlined earlier is that it is in the basement, and it would require the wheelchair lift for some people to go up and down.”
Council member Jeri Schons appreciated the fact that there would be no cost to the City to use the library basement, but stressed the importance of respecting the seniors’ wishes of staying on the main floor, no matter where they were placed.
“I really don’t know if we want to go that route just because of money,” she said. “I personally want to remove that out of consideration.”
Council member Seth Schmidt, however, said no options should be taken off the table and said the library basement would be a nice place to use as a temporary location for the seniors.
“It’s really nice down there; I think it would be a suitable location temporarily — I think that it would be worth trying for 30 days, 60 days, to see how it works out. I realize not everyone is thrilled with the lower level, and I heard some comments about the lift being slow, but I think (the lift) would be acceptable to them.”
See this week’s Headlight Herald for more on this article.