Issaquah senior center board president rejects petition to donate remaining funds at final luncheon

A petition to donate remaining Issaquah Valley Seniors funds to the Issaquah Food and Clothing Bank was rejected by the IVS Board of Directors on Friday at the final luncheon before the city of Issaquah takes over on Jan. 3.

Senior center member David Waggoner had drawn up the petition a week before in an effort to keep funds in a nonprofit organization that serves Issaquah seniors. As of Dec. 30, the petition had 30 signatures.

Waggoner presented IVS Board President Craig Hansen with the petition, but Hansen pushed the documents away, asking to be left in peace while he ate his lunch.

“I’m not going to take it,” Hansen said. “I’m not going to look at it.”

“All we are asking is for you to consider sending the monies to the Issaquah Food and Clothing Bank,” Waggoner said.

Hansen said that he did not see why the Issaquah Food and Clothing Bank should be the recipient of the funds, since it already receives funding from the city of Issaquah.

Waggoner told the Reporter that he had been expecting such a response from the board.

“This was strictly to be a gesture on the part of the membership to give the money to a charity in Issaquah that serves our seniors,” he said.

The luncheon, paid for by IVS, was packed with seniors coming out to acknowledge the final day of IVS leadership.

Hansen began the luncheon by wishing the city of Issaquah “all the best in their endeavors” and thanking all of the volunteers who have served IVS over the years.

“When we had something that needed to be done, we had the volunteers to do it,” he said.

Hansen said that thanks to the help of the volunteers, the senior center’s annual Salmon Days bazaar was able to earn an “average of $7,000 to $8,000” per year and even raised $12,000 one year.

The senior center was a swirl of emotions ahead of the big changeover, with many seniors declaring their joy at the city coming in to take charge.

“I’m glad to see it happen,” senior center member Phyllis Laughlin said. “I can’t wait for the big changeover. There’s been a lot of turmoil.”

Ella Fay, who has been a senior center member since 1993 and called the center her “second home,” said she is very happy to see the city take charge of operations.

“I’m so sorry we didn’t have a good manager here. I’m glad the city is taking over,” Fay said. “It sounds like everything is going hunky-dory.”

However, other senior center members were a little more apprehensive about the city taking over.

“The senior center will not be the same as we knew it,” senior center member Marcia Poggemann said.

Senior center member Mary Jazayeri said that she is disappointed that the center’s program managers, Rachel Carlson and Lauren Pace, won’t be kept on by the city.

“The most important thing is that some of us have been in Issaquah over 40 years,” senior center member Joyce Nelson said. “We saw the birth of the senior center and we hope to see it continue in the same spirit.”

Other seniors, while glad that the days of IVS leadership will be over, expressed their disgust during the luncheon at the way that the senior center has been run.

Senior center member Theo Nassar said that the senior center of the past two years “should be a model for the country for how a senior center shouldn’t be run.”

“It’s unfortunate that it came to this,” senior center member and former Mayor of Issaquah Rowan Hinds said. “I would’ve much preferred that they resolved their issues in a way that this wouldn’t have been necessary.”

David Waggoner presents IVS Board President Craig Hansen with a petition signed by 30 senior center members to send remaining IVS funds to the Issaquah Food and Clothing Bank. Nicole Jennings/staff photo