West Boulder Senior Center remodel begins as users decry lack of input

A remodeling project beginning Wednesday at the West Boulder Senior Center will do away with several of the meeting rooms at the back of the facility and replace them with human services offices.

The work, set to continue through March, will also include the application of fresh paint, lighting upgrades and the addition of soundproofing in efforts to improve the spaces available to seniors, according to the city.

Despite assurances that the project will not affect services such as Boulder Meals on Wheels, nor programs hosted by the center, 909 Arapahoe Ave., some local seniors are miffed that regular users were not consulted about the project. Furthermore, they are concerned about the lack of notice for the remodeling, formally announced in a news release Monday.

"They are doing this without consulting anybody or getting any senior input," Win Nolin, 83, said Tuesday.

Nolin, a former president of the Boulder Senior Advisory Committee, said he only heard about the remodeling project through word of mouth when attending a dinner event at the West Senior Center's Caf Classico last week. That led him to email the City Council on Saturday.

The message read, in part, "Our West Senior Center was built 35 years ago for serving the needs of our seniors and I think that our seniors need to have an input on any changes that are proposed to the center. Our seniors that have served others and helped build the community need to have a voice in these matters."

On Monday, Nolin said, he and some other seniors met with Betty Kilsdonk, Boulder's acting senior service manager, Human Services Director Karen Rahn and City Manager Jane Brautigam about their concerns. He described the meetings as "stalemates" that were not productive.

"They have decided what's best for the seniors, it seems to me," he said.

Kilsdonk on Tuesday acknowledged that public input was not sought on the remodeling work but said that is not uncommon for small-scale projects like this.

"This is a fairly routine remodel that the city does all the time," Kilsdonk said. "Though the press release came out earlier this week, city staff have been contacting customers since December who were using those (meeting) rooms and found new homes for their meetings."

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West Boulder Senior Center remodel begins as users decry lack of input