The item will be on the board's regular meeting agenda at 11 a.m. on Tuesday. The meeting starts at 9 a.m. at the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
The Lucerne Alpine Senior Center, which offers important services to seniors as well as offering the community its primary meeting place, has struggled in recent years with finances and back taxes, which in turn have prevented center staff from pursuing much-needed maintenance and repair.
Kelly Cox, who is both the county's chief administrative officer and redevelopment executive director, is seeking the board's approval for the agency to provide the funds necessary to repair the building's roof.
No funding amount was included in Cox's memo, dated Jan. 15. Deputy Redevelopment Director Eric Seely has contacted local roofing contractors, said Cox, and will forward the bids to the board as soon as they arrive.
In the first week of January, Seely and Jennifer Hammond – who Cox said administers the county's contracts with the senior centers – toured the building to see how the Redevelopment Agency could help with making improvements.
“During the inspection many needed improvements were noted but the most pressing need, by far, is repair of the building's roof,” Cox wrote to the board. “The current condition of the roof is causing significant damage to the interior of this historic and very important community building.”
He added that the situation is so severe that the center's staff have indicated it needs attention “on an emergency basis.”
The roof hasn't been repaired, said Cox, because the center's administration has not had “the financial resources to move forward with such a project, regardless of the consequences.”
Hammond and Seely found during their visit that multiple roof leaks have saturated the plaster on the building's ceilings and walls, which has resulted in sections of plaster falling off and exposing bare lath boards, Cox reported.
The situation calls for immediate attention, Cox reported to the board, especially because of the center's use as a place for preparing and serving meals to seniors.
“Your Board is aware of the importance of this building to the community of Lucerne and in particular to the seniors living in the Lucerne area,” wrote Cox. “The building is structurally sound and of historic significance, being one of the oldest buildings in Lucerne.”
Cox said the county can use Redevelopment Agency funds to repair the buildings if it finds that the improvements are “consistent with the Agency’s goal of eliminating blight.”
He added, “We believe that such a finding can and should be made.”
Cox is suggesting that the board approve using funds currently budgeted for the Lucerne Clubhouse's repairs to instead repair the senior center.
The clubhouse project, Cox said, hasn't yet moved forward “due to uncertainties over what will ultimately be done with that building (i.e., remodeled in its present location, relocated, replaced with a new structure, demolished or other).”
With no final decision expected soon on the clubhouse, Cox told the board that funds for that project aren't expected to be needed until the 2008-09 fiscal year.
Last year, in an effort to help the center, the county purchase its thrift shop building for $150,000, funds used to pay off back taxes and bills that the center's administration said a previous executive director had failed to pay.
The Board of Supervisors' meeting will be broadcast on TV Channel 8.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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