By Melanie Patterson

The North Jefferson News



KIMBERLY — Completion is in sight for the town of Kimberly’s newest addition.

The Kimberly Senior Center should be finished in about a week, according to Mayor Sammie Maze.

“People are excited about it,” said Maze. “It was on the drawing board for a long time.”

Maze said the first petition for the senior citizen was in 1999.

In about 2003, the town purchased four acres on Warrior Kimberly Road for the center.

“It’s a good location,” said Maze. “It’s convenient.”

He said traffic is heavy on Warrior Kimberly Road during rush hour, but otherwise was not likely to be a problem.

The center was funded by a community development block grant of $511,000 from the Jefferson County Office of Planning and Community Development, according to Dr. Frederick L. Hamilton, director of the organization.

He said the grant included site work and construction.

“The only thing the community development block grant did not cover was things like appliances,” Hamilton said.

That fact came as a surprise to Kimberly Town Council members.

At a recent council meeting, council members said they were told repeatedly that the senior center would cost the town of Kimberly nothing.

But it turns out that the town will have to pay at least $5,800 for appliances for the center, not including sinks, according to Maze.

In addition, window treatments will cost almost $1,000 and the property will have be seeded, Maze said.

“That really threw us back,” said Maze of the town having to buy appliances. “We could have planned for it.”

Since the center is a commercial building, Maze said the appliances must meet county health department standards.

However, he said, very little food will actually be prepared at the senior center. Instead, it will be brought in from elsewhere and served at the center.

“It will be more like a catering place,” he said. “We’re looking to have meals for seniors at lunch time every day.”

Funding for those meals will be provided by the Jefferson County Office of Senior Citizens Services (OSCS), according to Maze.

But the senior center will be used for more than just meals.

Maze said that a group of senior citizens hold a dance every Friday night at the Kimberly Community Center that adjoins the Town Hall. The dance will move to the senior center, he said.

The center will also possibly be a location for classes, meetings, musicians’ gatherings and other events.

The city council has scheduled a meeting next week with Hamilton and William M. Voigt, executive director of OSCS, to iron out last-minute issues. He hopes to meet with both men together.

“That way the council will know what’s expected of us,” he said.

Maze said the council is waiting for OSCS to submit a budget to the town to pay a senior center director and to fund meals.

In the meantime, Kimberly officials have said that several citizens have expressed an interest in being the center’s director. The council has not yet selected a director.