A large group of Cresco senior citizens, Park Board members and other community residents determined to gain approval to relocate the senior meal site exhaled a collective sigh of relief at the Cresco City Council meeting Jan. 5.
    The City Council’s approval to construct an addition onto the Kessel Park shelter to serve as the new senior meal site was met with applause by audience members.
    The City Hall was packed with seniors, community leaders, Park Board members and others who wanted to hear how the Council would vote on the project that a determined group of seniors had been working on getting approved for over a year. Several local seniors formed a fundraising committee last fall and raised $15,500 to construct the building and $750 for a gravel road, through community donations.
    “I may sleep again,” said fundraising committee leader and meal site regular Dick Wagoner following the meeting.
    The addition passed by a vote of three to one, with Council members James Daly, Dennis Blake and Duane Omar voting yes to allow the Parks and Recreation Board to begin the building process. Council member John Loveless was absent from the vote.
    Josh Moore voted against approving the new addition, citing concerns that at least a dozen local seniors had come to him privately to tell him they did not want to relocate to the Kessel shelter from their current meal site in Champlin Hall.
    “I have been approached by about 12 seniors. They are not happy with moving to the Kessel Lodge. They would like to move here [City Hall] when we move to the Fortress building,” Moore said at the Jan. 5 meeting. “What I would like to do is table this until the 19th.”
    [In an interview last week with the Times Plain Dealer, Moore said only one senior had approached him privately, but that the individual told him he or she was representing about 12 seniors.]
    “Number one is it’s seated for 60 people and if we do put an addition on there’s going to be more people going to the meal site,” Moore said. “The second thing is the acoustics.”
    Park Board President Linda Lienhard said the Board has addressed the acoustics issue, in part by adding shades to the facility that help subdue echoes.
    “We [the Park Board] are for it for them to go forward,” Lienhard said at the Council meeting.
    The Board has also discussed options to deal with capacity issues if they do crop up around heavy traffic times, such as Thanksgiving. Two shifts of food could be served if there is not enough seating available.
    “Very seldom do we ever get more than 60 a day,” said Paul Noordhoek, a member of the NorthLand Agency on Aging Board, the agency that provides meals to the senior dining site.
    The Cresco site averages about 20 to 25 seniors at both breakfast and lunch in the winter and about 35-40 during the warmer months, unless it’s a special occasion such as a holiday, according to senior dining site manager Deb Smith.
    Lienhard wondered why the group of seniors Moore referred to had not voiced their opinions publicly.
    “They have a fear of retribution,” Moore responded.
    “If they don’t want to show up, that doesn’t hold any water whatsoever,” Cresco resident Bud Billmyer, who sat in the audience, said later.
    Billmyer also said that the current City Hall building “is no place for a meal site.”
    “All these businesses [downtown] would be deprived of a place to park,” Billmyer said.
    Moore’s request to table the issue was met with groans and rebuttals from several members of the audience, including longtime community member Dale Turnmire.
    “This is a reasonable answer. The money is there, it’s a good place, it’s environmentally safe. The advantages outweigh the disadvantages,” Turnmire added, pressing for the Council to make a decision that night.
    Wagoner, who cited a survey he completed that found the majority of seniors asked would like to move out of Champlin Hall, also voiced dissent with Moore’s request to hold off on the vote.
    “Time is not on our side. We’ve investigated this and investigated this and investigated this,” Wagoner said.
    “If we commit tonight or two weeks from tonight, we’re still not going to start building until spring,” said Council member Dennis Blake. “The bid could be totally different. I’m not following what the sake of urgency tonight is.”
    “As representatives of the city ... we need to hear from everyone, not just the people who come and attack us – not attack us, poor term ... At least then we can sit back and say, ‘hey, we gave them the opportunity to speak up.,” Blake said.
    “This is the longest term of indecision I’ve ever seen in a project,” Turnmire said.
    Moore told the TPD his decision to vote against the addition came down to the original purpose for the park shelter being built.
    “It all boils down to that’s not what the building was originally built for. I feel that the seniors had their opportunity,” Moore said in an interview last week. “Any other place than where they’re at is better. I’ll have my reservations about it for now.”
    Before Council members voted on the addition, Mayor Ronda Hughes stated that she believes, in her opinion, the Park Board should go ahead with the project if they want to.
    “The Park Board has endorsed it. The funds have been raised,” Hughes said.
    After the vote passed, seniors working on the project congregated in the lobby of City Hall, excited about the outcome.
    “Democracy is an ugly thing, but I love it,” said a beaming Dick Wagoner.
    Mayor Hughes was happy the Park Board and seniors will be able to move forward with the addition.
    “I’m glad it’s resolved and I’m glad they can move forward with the project,” Hughes said. “I think it will be a positive whenever it gets done. I hope it’s a win-win for everybody.”
    The Park Board president agreed.
    “I think it’s about time it got passed and the Park Board is really excited to be helping out the seniors of our community,” Lienhard said in an interview after the meeting.
    Lienhard said she feels the seniors have given so much to the community and it’s time the city gives them something back.
    The Park Board plans to begin building the addition this spring.
    “As soon as we can break ground on it, we will,” said Park Board member Steve McCarville.
    Noordhoek, NorthLand Agency on Aging Board member, hopes relocating to the handicap-accessible Kessel shelter will boost attendance.
    “I was happy that it passed. I know some people don’t want to leave where they are. I think overall it’s the best thing we’re going to get,” he said. “I hope that everybody will keep coming and that it will bring more people in.”
    Smith, manager of the Cresco senior meal site for the past two and a half years, is looking forward to working at the new location.
    “I think it’s going to be a good thing,” Smith said. “Just to be on ground level so it’s more accessible to them is going to be a plus. We hope attendance will increase once we’re on ground level.”
    In addition to seniors who utilize the meal site, Smith said her volunteers who use the chair lift to transport meals down to Champlin Hall are also looking forward to the move.
    “It will be a good thing for us all,” Smith said.