News
The area's only senior center could close as early as Dec. 1, according to Bette Worth, executive director at the Gold Country Community Center at the Nevada County Fairgrounds just west of Grass Valley.
The possible closure comes despite several attempts at securing financing for the monthly rent of $3,000.
The center, which uses a large fairgrounds building for meals and activities predominantly for seniors, does not have enough money to pay its rent past November, Worth told the county Board of Supervisors Tuesday.
Later, Worth said in an interview the center's council could dip into a $147,000 building fund for the rent, but would rather use it to refurbish a kitchen at a new location.
The center built the building 24 years ago for $100,000 and enjoyed the rent-free years in exchange for paying for the construction. That arrangement continued until the end of the center's agreement with the fair board, and the fair started charging $3,000 monthly rent in July.
In July 2006, Fair CEO Ed Scofield said his tight budget demanded he make money from the building. Scofield said the building was "a nightmare," and the fair had just paid $43,000 to repair a severe dry rot problem that threatened its structural integrity.
The lease agreement with the senior center started July 1 and called for a fully funded bank account of $36,000 to be established for the rent, Scofield said. If the rent were not paid by the 10th of the month, the account would kick out a check automatically, Scofield said.
The agreement is for one year, expiring in July 2008, Scofield said.
"It was made clear to them that July 1, 2008, would be the end of it," he added.
In the spring, Worth said $15,000 for the rent fund had been raised and that a loan would be secured for the rest.
But the loan was not obtained after the senior center's auditor told its board they could not use the building or endowment funds for collateral, Worth said Tuesday morning.
In April, the center board sent a letter to the fair board saying the center had raised $9,000 at a fundraiser and was going to cash in a certificate of deposit for the other $27,000 after it matured July 3 for a rent fund.
"In their eagerness to satisfy the fair board, (community center board members) issued the statement and then found out later they couldn't get the money," Worth said Tuesday afternoon.
The auditor told the center board it could not use the CD for rent because it was part of a $57,000 permanent endowment fund, which can't be used unless the center faces going out of business.
"If we (use the CD), we're still in business, but we have violated the endowment," Worth said. "It's a Catch-22."
The building fund holds $147,000 and could be used to meet the rent, Worth said, "But then there wouldn't be any money to rebuild the kitchen of the building we end up in."
Worth told county supervisors the center has not found an adequate replacement building because "everything is beyond our financial ability."
No one from the senior center has alerted the fair board there may be trouble with the fund, and there has been no contact with the center and the fair office in recent weeks, Scofield said.
Supervisors to seek solution
The center will try its best to at least save the nutrition program, which provides 200 weekday lunches, 100 of which are Meals on Wheels lunches for isolated seniors, Worth said.
Just as important as the food is the human contact the 100 isolated seniors get through the daily visits, Worth said.
Last week, a Meals on Wheels provider found a woman who had fallen and got her emergency help, Worth said. Center leaders hope to at least find a home where a kitchen for the meals can be established.
"There is concern for the nutrition program, and that may be an exception" to the one-year limit to the lease, Scofield said.
Supervisors Chairman John Spencer said he and Supervisor Ted Owens would sit down soon with Worth to see if they could help somehow.
"Short of writing them a check, I don't know if that will be the answer," Spencer said. "They have some big hurdles to get over. They need a new place to call home."
"It's dire," said senior center board Vice President Max Fenson. "It's a community resource that's done a great deal in the last 30 years and has a lot of potential.
"It's critical for those 200 people who get those meals," Fenson said.
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To contact Senior Staff Writer Dave Moller, e-mail davem@the union.com or call 477-4237.
The possible closure comes despite several attempts at securing financing for the monthly rent of $3,000.
The center, which uses a large fairgrounds building for meals and activities predominantly for seniors, does not have enough money to pay its rent past November, Worth told the county Board of Supervisors Tuesday.
Later, Worth said in an interview the center's council could dip into a $147,000 building fund for the rent, but would rather use it to refurbish a kitchen at a new location.
The center built the building 24 years ago for $100,000 and enjoyed the rent-free years in exchange for paying for the construction. That arrangement continued until the end of the center's agreement with the fair board, and the fair started charging $3,000 monthly rent in July.
In July 2006, Fair CEO Ed Scofield said his tight budget demanded he make money from the building. Scofield said the building was "a nightmare," and the fair had just paid $43,000 to repair a severe dry rot problem that threatened its structural integrity.
The lease agreement with the senior center started July 1 and called for a fully funded bank account of $36,000 to be established for the rent, Scofield said. If the rent were not paid by the 10th of the month, the account would kick out a check automatically, Scofield said.
The agreement is for one year, expiring in July 2008, Scofield said.
"It was made clear to them that July 1, 2008, would be the end of it," he added.
In the spring, Worth said $15,000 for the rent fund had been raised and that a loan would be secured for the rest.
But the loan was not obtained after the senior center's auditor told its board they could not use the building or endowment funds for collateral, Worth said Tuesday morning.
In April, the center board sent a letter to the fair board saying the center had raised $9,000 at a fundraiser and was going to cash in a certificate of deposit for the other $27,000 after it matured July 3 for a rent fund.
"In their eagerness to satisfy the fair board, (community center board members) issued the statement and then found out later they couldn't get the money," Worth said Tuesday afternoon.
The auditor told the center board it could not use the CD for rent because it was part of a $57,000 permanent endowment fund, which can't be used unless the center faces going out of business.
"If we (use the CD), we're still in business, but we have violated the endowment," Worth said. "It's a Catch-22."
The building fund holds $147,000 and could be used to meet the rent, Worth said, "But then there wouldn't be any money to rebuild the kitchen of the building we end up in."
Worth told county supervisors the center has not found an adequate replacement building because "everything is beyond our financial ability."
No one from the senior center has alerted the fair board there may be trouble with the fund, and there has been no contact with the center and the fair office in recent weeks, Scofield said.
Supervisors to seek solution
The center will try its best to at least save the nutrition program, which provides 200 weekday lunches, 100 of which are Meals on Wheels lunches for isolated seniors, Worth said.
Just as important as the food is the human contact the 100 isolated seniors get through the daily visits, Worth said.
Last week, a Meals on Wheels provider found a woman who had fallen and got her emergency help, Worth said. Center leaders hope to at least find a home where a kitchen for the meals can be established.
"There is concern for the nutrition program, and that may be an exception" to the one-year limit to the lease, Scofield said.
Supervisors Chairman John Spencer said he and Supervisor Ted Owens would sit down soon with Worth to see if they could help somehow.
"Short of writing them a check, I don't know if that will be the answer," Spencer said. "They have some big hurdles to get over. They need a new place to call home."
"It's dire," said senior center board Vice President Max Fenson. "It's a community resource that's done a great deal in the last 30 years and has a lot of potential.
"It's critical for those 200 people who get those meals," Fenson said.
ooo
To contact Senior Staff Writer Dave Moller, e-mail davem@the union.com or call 477-4237.
