On January 10th, the City of Valparaiso Commission discussed the future of the Senior Center, as it is in need of $18,000-20,000 in repairs.
During the meeting, Mayor Brent Smith started the discussion by stating that the Senior Center has been closed since the pandemic started two years ago, and that when it was open, they would see 2-3 seniors show up each week.
The 1921 building is a historical landmark for the city and was originally a schoolhouse from Eglin Air Force Base. Now over 100 years old, some of the needed repairs include:
- Plumbing
- Electrical
- Wood rot
- New roof
“I don’t think we have enough Senior citizen activity there to spend taxpayer’s money on that when they can go to the Niceville one that offers shuttles,” said Smith.
Smith went on to say that, at one time, there was a discussion about possibly tearing the building down and selling the parcels for residential homes.
- “That would be a tax base for the city,” said Smith.
“I don’t see the benefit to the city to keep putting money into this building,” added Smith. “It’s in a pretty bad state of affairs right now.”
As for the Niceville Senior Center, the county’s EC Rider transportation shuttle does have a route that would take seniors from Valparaiso to Niceville’s center. However, Niceville’s Senior center is not free to residents not residing within the city limits.
After additional discussion, the commission voted to hire a structural engineer to go through the building to determine if it is worth saving or not. Next steps will be discussed at the February 14th meeting.
