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DENISON, Iowa — The Crawford County Senior Center, at 201 S. Main St., is now in the hands of the City of Denison.
Earlier this week the council voted to accept the deed for the property from the Crawford County Council on Aging.
The transfer of the deed has been in the works for several months, ever since the board for Denison Municipal Utilities revisited its policy of providing free utility services for city-owned buildings and discovered that the senior center was, in fact, owned by the nonprofit council on aging.
According to DMU’s policy, the nonprofit entity would have to pay utilities, so in May, Ron Songer, treasurer of the Crawford County Council on Aging, approached the city about taking ownership of the building. As a guarantee that the senior center could use the building, he suggested a long-term lease be granted.
However, City Attorney Rick Franck said that under a lease agreement, the council still would be responsible for utilities. The same type of arrangement exists at the Boulders Conference Center, where the Majestic Hills Golf Course pays utilities for the part of the building it leases.
Under the agreement approved by the City Council Monday night, the city will own the building while ensuring that the seniors can use the building.
The city had already been removing snow from the center’s parking lot during the winter and paying for repairs and equipment replacements.
“Up until six months ago, we thought it (the building) was ours,” Mayor Nathan Mahrt said.
Council member Cecil Blum wanted to make sure the city didn’t take over the building and then face a $25,000 expense item right away, such as a new parking lot.
Dave Nemitz, Denison’s street superintendent, said the facility has been pretty much overhauled. City Manager Kevin Flanagan thought the parking lot would last as long as it would take the city to find another facility, if needed, to use as a senior center.
“If we were to decide the location of the service should be elsewhere, they (the Council on Aging) are OK with that,” said Flanagan.
“They were concerned the city was going to find another use for the building and would not have a facility for them.”
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