<< Previous   of   Next >> Enterprise/CHRIS GOODENOW  (click to enlarge) Mill Creek Senior Center Director Bill Durham stands at the front desk of the senior center's new temporary location at the Mill Creek City Hall Annex. Enterprise/CHRIS GOODENOW  (click to enlarge) Computer instructors Don Healy (left) and Bill Flanagan move a table into place at the Mill Creek Senior Center's new temporary location at the Mill Creek City Hall Annex. The room will be the senior center's computer lab. Enterprise/CHRIS GOODENOW  (click to enlarge) Still full of energy after helping to move equipment to the Mill Creek Senior Center's new temporary location at the Mill Creek City Hall Annex, Katie Orwig (left), 11, and Autumn Cuddy, 7, of Everett, play around in what will be the senior center's computer lab.

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CONTACT THE ENTERPRISE Jocelyn Robinson, News editor jrobinson@heraldnet.com

Seniors make their move

By Oscar Halpert
Enterprise editor

Mill Creek Senior Program volunteers and employees the week of July 26 began moving from McCollum Park into their new offices adjacent to City Hall.

Their three-year, rent-free lease begins Aug. 1 and at least one senior says she's happy to be making the temporary relocation until a permanent senior center site is chosen.

“It's going to be great,” said volunteer Joan Buxton. “We can do a lot more stuff there than we can here.”

Seniors' new digs close to Town Center are in the City Hall Annex, a two-story building that used to be known as the Huntron Building. The lease, which ends in August 2012, includes options that could extend it to August 2015, if needed, said City Manager Tim Burns.

The city leases space in the 32,000-square-foot annex to eight tenants. Seniors will take up about 2,500 square feet of that space, Burns said. They'll also have access, if needed, to the city's community room.

“One advantage of having the seniors there is if they need to use a larger space, there's one right there they can rent on a space-available basis from the city,” he said.

In February, the City Council offered the Bothell-based Northshore Senior Center, which pays Mill Creek Senior Program Director Bill Durham's salary, the opportunity to move the center from its cramped, 11-year-old McCollum Park site to the Annex.

44th District state Rep. Mike Hope, R-Lake Stevens, and 44th District state Sen. Steven Hobbs, D-Everett, helped secure $30,000 for the renovation. The city kicked in the rest, an amount that cannot exceed $42,803.11.

Burns said the city estimated the value of the contribution to be $42,500 for the first year. The city will cover ongoing expenses as well.

Sharing space at McCollum Park has been beneficial to the Washington State University Snohomish County Extension, which donated space to the seniors, said extension director Curt Moulton.

“The seniors will be missed,” Moulton said. “Our partnership with the senior program originated where we felt we had to do a better job reaching the older population.”

The extension allowed seniors the use of a computer room they shared with the county's 4-H program, a second room plus a small office, about 300 square feet in all.

Moulton said the senior program pitched in about $6,000 annually to cover some overhead. Extension staff, who oversee the county's master gardener program, among others, will use the seniors' vacated office for a new green-focused program funded with federal stimulus dollars, Moulton said.

Durham said the new space, which has lots of outlets for computer work stations, provides some new freedom of movement.

“What's nice about it is (at McCollum) I'm in competition with everyone in the county to schedule,” he said. “Now, I can schedule on my own.”

Durham said most of the senior program activities will still be located away from their offices —at Merrill Gardens, North Creek Retirement Community and North Creek Presbyterian Church — because space is lacking for recreation and classroom programs. That's a small inconvenience, however, he added.

“It's gonna be nice,” he said. “We're thrilled.”