Kenneth Frieze, vice president of the board for the Senior Center of Elk Grove, holds the mic for Elk Grove resident Chris Gruen who spoke at a Nov. 2 meeting about expanding the senior center.

 

ELK GROVE, CA (MPG) - Board members for the Senior Center of Elk Grove heard from dozens of people Nov. 2 about what the board should do to accommodate a growing membership.

Membership has grown by more than 300% in the last 10 years, from 800 to about 2,500 people.

The need to do something is apparent as space is limited at the center at District56.

“It’s not that we want to move,” Board President David Feinberg told those in attendance at the 3 p.m. meeting.

But the building the center is in has only so much room, he said.

“Space is the problem,” he said.

One suggestion from the audience was expanding the hours of the center, which is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday, excluding holidays.

Numerous people in attendance indicated they would participate on Saturdays if the center was open. Extending the hours past 4 p.m. was suggested, too.

Another option is a second facility.

“That could be one of our major solutions,” Feinberg said.

But any expansion will require an increase in staff for the center, he said, which means the cost to operate it would go up. 

That might be a problem. The center is now typically breaking even fiscally each month, taking in as much as it spends.

One suggestion was to raise the $60 membership fee to help pay for increased costs. Another suggested raising the $2 fee to take a class.

But the membership fee was raised recently, and Board Secretary-Treasurer Lisa Johnson said some seniors would be unable to pay another dollar for a class.

“We want everybody to attend,” she said.

Most of the audience at the meeting were senior center members, according to a raised-hand count. Several people urged the board members to attend City Council meetings to make the center’s need for an expansion known.

The board will have to be more aggressive regarding that, Feinberg said. Audience members said they are willing to go to City Council meetings, too, to make their needs known.

The Senior Center has about 2½ years left on a 10-year lease on its current space. And negotiations with the city have yet to begin on a new lease.

That leaves a short amount of time to decide how to accommodate the increased membership, Feinberg said.

“There’s just nowhere here,” Elk Grove resident Wanda Fox said.

The assumption needs to be made the center has outgrown its space and another space must be found, she said.