A round of applause broke out at Monday night’s Hermiston City Council meeting when Hermiston City Manager Byron Smith announced the city had received a $2 million grant to build a new senior center.
Hermiston Parks and Recreation Director Larry Fetter applied for the Community Development Block Grant to help pay for a new center. The current senior center is located on the Umatilla County Fairgrounds. The fairgrounds – and Farm-City Pro Rodeo – will move to the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center on S. Ott Road in 2016. The existing property has been sold to the Hermiston School District, creating the need for a new senior center.
“This will be an exciting project over the next 18 months,” Smith said.
The location for the new senior center has not been picked out.