Senior Center lets contract to pave parking lot

At the Nodaway County Senior Citizens Senate meeting, June 21, Administrator Amie Firavich announced the senior center had a contract with Keller Construction, St. Joseph to mill the parking lot, put a two-inch asphalt overlay, paint the parking stripes and include the alley.

The bid is for $80,000 and the parking lot will be completed when Keller is working in Maryville. The senior center staff is negotiating with the Laura Street Baptist about using its parking lot when the resurfacing is being done.

Discussion was held on the by-laws pertaining to board members serving as officers. The by-laws state board members can only serve three consecutive one-year terms as an officer. Member Ray Courter said an exception could be written into the by-laws. The discussion will be continued at the July 19 meeting.

Board President Carolyn Franks said it was time to work on another long-term improvement list. The board had made a wish list before COVID but had then gone into survival mode to make meals available for seniors. Franks continued things are looking up with the remodels, new freezer and good employees.

Courter again urged the board to consider projects to improve energy efficiency in order to be ready to apply for the grants available through the federal 2022 infrastructure bill.

Recycling is progressing at the senior center with two cardboard bins provided by NOCOMO Sheltered Workshop.

The investments made with the Community Foundation of Northwest Missouri have slowly inched up. The Senior Citizens Senate Inc. Fund for April went from $202,311.21 to $203,424,98 by the end of April. Also in April, the Senior Center Fund went from $102,500.34 to $104,163.20. This also includes a direct transfer from Thomas Middleswart’s account to the senior center of a $1,099.50 gift.

On meal counts, the yearly totals are the highest for 2022-23 in the past five years. With one month to go, year-to-date meals are $29,617; 2021-22 totals were $29,083; 2020-21 totals were $30,179; 2019-20 totals were $27,960; $25,903 for 2018-19; and $28,893 for 2017-18.