Senior Center asks city to assume building

BREWSTER – Representatives of the Pateros-Brewster-Bridgeport Senior Center appeared before the regular monthly meeting of the city council on Wednesday, July 10, with a proposal for the city to step in and help with the center’s maintenance and operating costs.

Senior Center President Kathy Lowry, Vice President Matt Hesseltine, Treasurer Billie Monroe, Secretary Cindy Biddle and member Larry Bundy presented a two-page letter to council members outlining their needs and requests.

The letter asked if the city was interested in taking over the building, one of the options the two groups discussed during a private meeting last year. Lowry said the center is struggling with declining membership and is not bringing in enough revenue from its contract with Okanogan Transportation and Nutrition (OCTN) and rummage room sales to cover monthly costs of maintenance and operations.

“We’re in the hole about $400 to $500 every month,” Lowry said.
Part of the proposal called for the center to keep the $275 monthly payment it receives from OCTN plus any space rental revenues it might make.

The council referred the proposal to legal counsel Chuck Zimmerman to draft an agreement for further consideration.

In other business retail marijuana store owner Saranjit Bassi followed up his appearance at the previous June 12 council meeting where he asked the city to consider allowing him to open a store in Brewster similar to the one he operates in Okanogan.

Council member John Housden questioned whether there was even a business site within the city limits that would allow marijuana sales without violating existing required buffer zones. He suggested the city defer any action until that issue was clarified. At last week’s meeting Bassi presented the building occupied by The Land Company at 416 N. Bridge Street as a location that meets city ordinance guidelines.

Concern was voiced over suitable parking space at the Bridge Street site and disruptive traffic flow through the adjacent residential neighborhood with a one-way street. Concern was also expressed over the city’s ability to control related operations that it may not want within the city limits, so the matter was referred to Zimmerman for further research.

Mike Knox, representing the Rusty Relic antiques and collectibles store that opened April 4 on 400 W. Indian Avenue, asked the city for more designated parking space in front of the building. Knox complained that the adjacent Senior Center on Bridge Street takes up too much parking space and thereby discourages potential customers from patronizing his business. The council voted to allot one 16-foot space to the Rusty Relic along Bridge Street in front of the building.