Council to work on senior center

After winning the Measure T vote by a narrow margin of 1,313 votes, Huntington Beach City Council members voted to appoint the Council on Aging — the group that campaigned hard for building a new senior center at the Central Park site — as the official body to work with city staff on the center.

The council item was proposed by outgoing Mayor Dave Sullivan.

“I would hope it is the city’s No. 1 priority that the voters approved,” he said. “This was something that registered voters had an opportunity to vote on, and the answer was yes.”

Huntington Beach voters approved Measure T in November by 51.1%. The Measure T opponents put up a spirited fight, receiving 29,028 votes, or 48.9%.

The Council on Aging is set to give input to city staff on design aspects and other features of the project.

The Council on Aging was selected because it knows the needs of seniors best, Sullivan said. “They are the logical body to use in planning of a senior center.”

However, final design approval would be overseen by the Community Services Commission.

Other project reviews would proceed normally through city departments such as the Planning Commission and finally to the council.

Councilwomen Debbie Cook and Jill Hardy had opposed building a senior center at the Central Park site.

Cook hoped that the Council on Aging would not exclude other people interested in participating in the senior center project. Councilman Don Hansen agreed.

“Given where we have come from, we need as much transparency in the process as we can,” Hansen said.

The Measure T campaign was an ugly one, an issue that divided voters in the city, and was marked by campaign signs of both sides being stolen or defaced.

The Council on Aging was asked to notify the public of its meetings so people could participate.