The future of the Hermiston Senior Center is anything but clear. The center, located on the Umatilla County Fairgrounds, will lose its home when the fair moves to the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center property in 2016.
The center’s board of directors hopes to have a new facility at a new location before 2016. The board’s efforts got a boost Monday night when the Hermiston City Council voted to apply for a Community Development Block Grant to pay for a new center.
If the city’s application for a $1.7 million grant is approved, the city would own the new facility and make it available for senior programs exclusively for five years, after which the center would be available for senior center programs from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday. The center would be available for community uses during all other times.
Hermiston Parks and Recreation Director Larry Fetter said Monday that the location for a new center has yet to be determined.
Prior to Monday’s vote to apply for the grant, the council heard from Virginia Beebe, director of the senior center. Beebe urged the council to support the community’s senior citizens.
“Getting this grant is a major thing,” she said. “You really need to support your seniors because there’s a lot of them out there.” Only government entities are eligible to apply for Community Development Block Grants.
The council voted unanimously to partner with the senior center to apply for the grant.
Also at Monday’s meeting, the council voted to approve an intergovernmental agreement between the city and the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office for dispatch services for the Hermiston Police Department. The council approved a similar agreement last year, but a change to the agreement made a new vote necessary.
The change includes removing Hermiston Fire and Emergency Services from the original agreement because the sheriff’s office wants to enter into a separate contract with HFES. That change reduced the cost to the city by $40,000, bringing the new cost of the first year of dispatch services to $246,660.
More Stories From Northeast Oregon Now:
City Says It Will Oppose Proposed Medical Marijuana Facility
From Murder Suspect to Free Man in Just 2 Short Weeks
