City Council struggles to relocate seniors

By Mason Callejas

The Maricopa City Council was unable to reach an actionable decision regarding the relocation of several Maricopa senior organizations after a lengthy discussion during their Oct. 18 meeting. [quote_box_right]“In this city, and this nation, we have a very bad habit of relegating seniors to that category with three headings: Discard, Disregard and Dismiss. We need to accommodate those seniors who will be displaced with the Copa Center.” — Vice Mayor Marvin Brown[/quote_box_right]

The Copa Center, the current meeting place for these organizations, is slated for demolition sometime early next year to make room for the imminent construction of the State Route 347 overpass. A relocation of the Age-Friendly Maricopa group and the Sisterhood of the Traveling Quilt group has been assessed by the council in the past, but, as the demolition nears, concerns about the relocation are mounting.

A solution most likely to gain traction is the proposal to utilize space at the Copper Sky Multigenerational Center and Recreation Center for senior organizations. Community Services Director Kristie Riester described the extent of the resources offered to seniors, including an activity room that is free to use by anyone in the community, pickleball and water aerobics.

There are rooms available for rent at the facility, but the rental agreements are unable to accommodate the senior groups. Currently the agreements limit rental of the spaces to three days per week. The Copa Center is occupied by one or more senior groups at least three days a week.

Despite being suggested so by its official name, Councilman Henry Wade, among others, was disappointed to see lack of senior resources and believes the facility has failed to meet its established goal.

“It was intended to be a multigenerational center, but it never became one,” Wade said during the work session. “It became Copper Sky.”

Councilwoman Nancy Smith said the initial philosophy behind Copper Sky was to be inclusive of all generations and this ideology should be adhered to. Though she said the city should fulfill its end of the deal, Smith said in such a young city there simply is not enough resources.

“When I think of the original goals and what I believed that to be, when I think of programming, I do think of seniors,” Smith said. “But, unless a miracle happens, there is just no way we are going to be able to replace everything they currently have available to them.”

Council members offered differing opinions on how the senior organizations should go about finding another location for their meetings. And though there was a sentiment that the city wanted to accommodate the groups’ relocation, the question of resources and space still persisted.

City Manager Gregory Rose said during the meeting the city was assessing the needs of these groups and the resources that are available to accommodate them. Currently the city is not willing to adjust the three-day limit to meeting-room rentals at Copper Sky out of concern that a preemptive change may affect the city’s assessments.

Vice Mayor Marvin Brown took issue with that form of fiscal responsibility.

“In this city, and this nation, we have a very bad habit of relegating seniors to that category with three headings: Discard, Disregard and Dismiss,” Brown said. “We need to accommodate those seniors who will be displaced with the Copa Center.”