HomeMy WebLinkAbout13.F.1. Congregate Dining /3.F 1.
City of Shakopee
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and City Council
Mark McNeill, City Administrator
FROM: Kris Wilson, Assistant City Administrator
SUBJECT: Congregate Dining
DATE: July 16, 2010
Introduction
Council is asked to consider the current status of the Congregate Dining site and provide initial
direction to staff regarding its future.
Background
In December of 1979 the City entered into a Tong -term lease for space inside the senior high -
rise at 200 Levee Drive in order to provide a site for a congregate dining program. The CAP
agency operates a congregate dining program in numerous Scott, Carver and Dakota County
communities. They pay for the food and staffing, but it is the host city's responsibility to
provide a physical space that includes a commercial kitchen.
In addition to making lease payments, the lease also obligates the City to pay the utilities and
provide maintenance and custodial service for the space. For 2010, the adopted budget for
Congregate Dining is $40,980, of which $23,640 is for direct rent payments. This is entirely a
General Fund expense.
The original lease agreement included provisions for multiple 5 -year extensions of the lease,
which have been exercised. However, all such extensions will have been exhausted as of
November of this year. Therefore, the City Council will need to make a decision regarding the
future of the site in the coming months.
Options include negotiating a new lease with the owner of the existing site, exploring
alternative sites within the community that have a commercial kitchen and meet the other
requirements of the CAP agency, or discontinuing the program and having current participants
who are interested register with the Mobile Meals program as an alternative. Staff from the
CAP agency and I have discussed the possibility of discontinuing the program at its current site
and then re- launching it at some date in the future if and when the City has its own senior
center with a commercial kitchen. It was their opinion that this could probably be achieved;
however, they cannot absolutely guarantee it.
Additionally, it should be noted that the Congregate Dining program has not been operational
since the first week of December, 2009 when the owner of the building embarked on an
extensive remodeling of the space that forced the program out. Staff from the CAP agency has
been delivering meals prepared at the Prior Lake site to residents of the building during the
remodeling. The remodeling of the site is now complete; however, we are having difficulty
obtaining access and consensus for reopening the program in the newly remodeled space.
Lastly, the number of individuals utilizing this service must be taken into account. The CAP
Agency reports that they regularly serve about 14 -17 individuals at this site and that
participants are almost exclusively residents of the 200 Levee Drive building. Seniors from
other areas of the City are not using the program, and this has been the case for years. In a City
of 34,000 residents, the questions must be asked as to whether or not it is an effective and
efficient use of taxpayer dollars to benefit such a small group.
Budget Impact
As noted above, the 2010 budget for leasing and maintaining this space is approximately
$41,000. A decision regarding how much, if any, funds should be budgeted for this purpose in
2011 will need to be made between now and adoption of the preliminary budget and levy on
September 7.
Requested Action
No formal action is requested at this time. However, the Council is asked to discuss and provide
staff with some general direction as to the desired future for this program.