By Per Peterson
Last week’s initial meeting of the Tracy Community Work Group struck numerous familiar chords.
The group, which consists of five community members and the Tracy city council, was assembled earlier this summer as part of an ongoing effort by the City to find a new home for the senior center, closed after the sale of the Multi-Purpose Center during the pandemic.
So far, that solution has been elusive, despite the City’s best efforts. A 14-member steering committee met multiple times in 2020, and two different surveys have been sent out to Tracy residents, the latest of which was completed just last Friday, with results to be unveiled at the new group’s next meeting on Oct. 14.
Last Thursday, the newly-assembled group gathered in the basement of the Tracy Public Library in a brainstorming exercise meant to be the impetus for the formation of a plan that will move the project forward.
The citizens are represented by Audrey Koopman, Ken Witt, Jeanine Vandendriessche, Tony Peterson and Shirley Anderson; the five were voted on by the council at a meeting earlier this summer.
Council member Seth Schmidt said last week he had hoped by now there would be more concrete direction on what the City is going to do to replace the MPC.
“I thought by this time we’d maybe be heading in a definite direction in remodeling something, or doing something, but like many things, things are more complicated than at first blush,” he said. “But I’m happy to be here … and I look on all of us as problem-solvers to come to something that’s best for the community.”
See this week’s Headlight Herald for more on this article.