Senior center committee member says many options on the table

Options are pretty wide open right now for the future of the two senior centers in La Crosse.

There are plenty of ideas out there, says La Crosse city council member Doug Happel, who also chairs the committee looking at the two centers.

And that’s why the committee is looking to a public survey to help come up with answers.

“Senior population is increasing,” Happel said. “We’re trying to get information on what people look for in a senior center, what they’re going to use it for.”

Surveys about future use of senior centers are available on the city’s website (click here). There are 13 questions and it only takes a few minutes to complete.

The city’s two current centers are each over 100 years old and in need of constant maintenance costing thousands of dollars per year.

Some major changes are likely in store for the buildings but not necessarily.

“There’s an ultimate fallback option which is just to renovate the existing ones but that’s a whole lot easier said than done,” Happel.