SPRINGDALE -- The four senior citizens sat around a table with very intent looks on their faces. Alice Taylor, Jim Gideon, Martha Tankersley and Katherine Whitlow were engaged in a game of dominoes Tuesday morning at the Springdale Senior Center.
In another area of the center, 20 seniors sat in chairs, stretching and dancing with brightly colored balls for exercise. A billiard room provided three pool tables for about 14 daily players. Art classes were staged in another room. And boxes and boxes of produce and baked goods donated by Harps Food Stores filled tables to be taken home by seniors to supplement their incomes.
Council action
Springdale’s City Council approved Tuesday night:
• Selling $188 million in bonds at 3.7 percent interest. The money collected will be used for street improvement, a new criminal justice and city administration building, new fire stations and equipment, a new animal shelter, and construction of the Shaw Family Park and renovatios to the Randal Tyson Park. Springdale voters approved the bond issue in February.
• Hiring Milestone Construction of Springdale as construction manager for Fire Station 7 to be built on Har-Ber Avenue with money from the bonds.
• The cost of moving four utility poles — $280,000 — by Ozarks Electric Cooperative for the extension of Gene George Boulevard north from Bleux Avenue, another project paid for by bond money.
Source: Staff Report
The City Council approved a needs assessment for the center in a 7-0 vote Tuesday night. Architectural firm Wittenberg, Delony and Davidson in Fayetteville will do the study for $54,000. The money comes from the senior center's budget paid for by undesignated donations, said Wyman Morgan, the city's director of administration and finance.
The domino players reported the food is great, the activities are great, the directors are great and the friendships are great at the center.
"But we need more room," Taylor said.
"Especially more parking," Tankersly added. "Our parking lot is always full."
The senior center accommodates about 200 people daily, who come for free activities or lunch, said Lori Proud, center director. And about 170 additional meals a day are cooked at the center and delivered through the Meals on Wheels program. The center also provides free transportation in the city for clients.
"We're outgrowing our current space," said Proud, who was constantly interrupted by friendly seniors wanting to buy tickets to the center's April 28 Spring Fling dance.
"Studies show that seniors who are out of the house, who are more active and engaged in a diversity of activities have less health problems," she said. "We are the youth center for the over-60 crowd. We are a party waiting to happen."
"I think the needs assessment will help us plan for the senior center's future," Mayor Doug Sprouse said. "There's a good chance it might move."
He explained the center's clients and directors want it to stay downtown. "But according to the Downtown Master Plan, that might not be the highest, the best use of that piece of property."
The assessment should give ideas as to what size of building is needed, what type of amenities might be important and even scout other locations for the center.
"And as Springdale grows, the needs of the seniors and the senior center will grow," Sprouse said.
Initial surveys of the assessment have started, Proud said. The process might take up to six months, Sprouse said.
NW News on 04/11/2018