Senior center expansion work to start next week

CELINA - Officials anticipate breaking ground in the next week or so to expand the Mercer County Council on Aging's senior center on Riley Street.

The project was planned to ease cramped conditions due to an influx of people using a growing number of services.

Executive director Sharon Green updated county commissioners on Tuesday morning on what has become a two-phase project. Phase one entails construction of a 110-by-56-square-foot, barn-like standalone building in the back of the senior center. It would be insulated with a foundation, metal siding, air-conditioning and heating, she said.

"We're building it for garage sales (fundraisers), but we're also building it as a multipurpose room so if we decide to have a really big event we can move people in there," Green said. "With this building being garage-sale focused we will be able to continue all of our activities during garage sale time."

Officials have tapped Coldwater Lumber as the contractor. The project is estimated to cost up to $200,000 and will be financed exclusively through revenue generated by the garage sales, Green said.

"We just started socking away when we knew we wanted to move forward," she added. "We're really excited we're not going to have to take out a loan."

Once the new building is up, two of the three garages will be used for vehicle storage.

Phase two of the project will entail adding onto the senior center main activities building, according to Green. That project will likely be undertaken within the next two years. She does not have a cost estimate at this point.

"We'll have classrooms in there so we can do our art projects but maybe also have a book club going on at the same time," she envisioned. "We'll expand our gym. We'll have a dedicated boardroom, and we'll have more space for offices."

Last year, roughly 1,200 people used some type of MCCoA service, among them senior center activities, transportation, chore services, homemaker services and meals.

Multiple agencies would like to partner with MCCoA to provide additional offerings, such as end-of-life directives, but officials have difficulty securing space with so many activities scheduled in advance, Green said.

With commissioners' permission, MCCoA in 2017 moved some of its overflowing operations next door into the former emergency medical services building. The county-owned EMS facility was vacated in late 2014 after the EMS and Emergency Management Agency consolidated into the former county engineer's office, also on Riley Street.

Yet even with that building, the center remains crowded.

Council on Aging centers and programs were created by the Older Americans Act of 1965 to respond to the needs of the elderly in their communities. The agencies are designed to provide advocates, planners and educators as well as supply information and referral services.

To seniors 60 and older, the center offers a plethora of services.

MCCoA is funded by a countywide levy, the Mercer County Health Care Foundations, the Mercer County Civic Foundation, client donations and garage sales hosted at the senior center.