EOB nixes reopening of center for senior citizens

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Tuesday, April 26, 2005 | 9:45 a.m.

A plan to reopen a center for senior citizens that closed in August was rejected Monday night during the monthly board meeting of the Economic Opportunity Board, the Las Vegas Valley's largest nonprofit organization.

Five of the organization's 10 board members voted down a plan that would have opened the doors of the center as early as November. After 17 years of service, the center, located at 380 N. Maryland Parkway, closed last summer under the weight of roof and floor problems and a six-figure debt.

"We don't have any up-front money to do the renovation," said Mary Twitty, interim executive director of the organization until June 30, in explaining the board's decision.

The future of the center, called Hollyhock, and the property on which its sits will now be in the hands of the Las Vegas Housing Authority, the owner. Twitty said housing authority officials have told her they don't want the property and will try to sell it.

The center had declined in recent years, going from serving as many as 80 senior citizens a day to about 25, with programs ranging from games to music therapy.

The center's building reached a state that board member Lawrence Weekly, who is also a Las Vegas council member, called "sickening."

The plan before the board Tuesday was prepared by Dianna Higgs, recently named administrator of the organization's adult and senior citizens division. The EOB is in a process of transition since a series of negative federal and private reviews last year, and is trying to regain integrity in its finances and programs.

The board also approved at the meeting a new senior management team, meaning four key positions -- including a director of finance -- are now filled for the first time in about a year. An executive director must be chosen by the end of May, Twitty said.

Higgs was not at the meeting, but her plan to save Hollyhock called for a $1.2 million budget, nearly $100,000 of which would have gone for capital expenditures and renovations.

The proposal itself, which the board voted against, was not discussed in any detail at the meeting. Twitty said afterward that board members had studied and discussed the proposal beforehand and only had to vote at the meeting.

"Hollyhock and its staff has been a strong force in our community ... and has provided care for thousands . . . who were not able to care for themselves," Higgs wrote in her pitch for the center.

Her proposal also said that nearly 41 percent of Clark County households "have at least one retiree," and the center's services were sorely needed.

Twitty agreed.

"If you look at the population, you see the need."

"It's unfortunate we didn't have the money to renovate the building."