Issaquah has been operating the city’s senior center since 2017, but the city council recently received a report describing possible options for running the center in future.
At the meeting where the report was presented, Jeff Watling, the director of Parks and Recreation, gave a talk on the options for the city to consider. There appear to be two choices: either look for a third party to operate the center, or have the city take over operations permanently. Officials considering matters like this can use flyer printing to create a form to request feedback from the community.
The city requested that interested parties submit letters of intent if they wanted to consider running the center, and received a reply from the Eastside Friends of Seniors (EFS), a volunteer organization that could provide such services as transportation to seniors in the area. Currently, EFS is partnered with Issaquah to provide these services to the center. However, Watling notes that the organization has little experience in running such a facility, and would need to receive support from the city for such matters as maintenance.
The second option is for the city to officially take over running the center. The cost would be about $318,000 annually, and includes increasing the staff to three full-time employees. Public comments was unanimously in favor of having the city take over, though no decision has been made.
