Senior Center Prioritizing Integrity, Community As New Board Takes Control

The new Sparta-White County Senior Center Board began its plans to rebuild and revitalize the center during its first meeting Wednesday.

Interim Director Jim Floyd said the center will likely remain closed until some point in February. Floyd said his number one priority is providing key services to the public such as food assistance before offering any extra programs like dancing or yoga.

“Are we going to get there overnight? Absolutely not,” Floyd said. “It’s going to probably take a year to get this thing going back in the right direction it needs to go. So you folks, us in the audience, are going to have to understand that. But it’s going to be done in the right way, or I’m going to walk away from it.”

The board agreed to work on creating a method to allow for people at the senior center to vote for two citizen representatives as those spots on the board are still unoccupied. Sparta Mayor Jerry Lowery said the city will look into paying for a private meeting with a lawyer who can teach the new board about its different roles and responsibilities.

“It would help us in all the legal things that we need to be aware of as we, as this center goes forward,” Lowery said.

The board also approved the formation of a smaller committee within the board meant to examine the by-laws surrounding the senior center and make a plan for how to update them.

“We all need to be doing it, but, you know, fewer heads looking at it and coming up with the ideas, the better I think,” Board Member Karen Lafever said.

The committee consists of the newly appointed Chairman James Douglas, Vice-Chairman Robert McCormick, Treasurer Amy Bailey, and Board Members Karen LaFever and Barbara Lancaster.

The board scheduled a meeting on January 10 at 3:00pm to interview the top three candidates chosen by Floyd for the role of senior center director.

“I don’t want to vote on someone I don’t even know,” Bailey said.

The board appointed Sheila Robinson as Secretary.

“You folks just don’t understand how much we’ve done to get to today,” Floyd said.