The Kalispell Senior Citizens have voted overwhelmingly to relocate their center to Flathead County’s South Campus Building scheduled to be built next year.

The Kalispell Senior Center will share space on the ground floor with the Agency on Aging.

Dick Reedquist, chairman of a committee that studied the move, said the vote was taken in November following a series of meetings with county officials.

“We’re anxious to get to a building where everything is on the same level,” Reedquist said. “What we have is not designed for the elderly.”

The Kalispell Senior Center is located at 403 Second Ave. W. in a county-owned former church building. Maintenance of the century-old building and accessibility have been ongoing challenges for the seniors.

Agency on Aging Director Lisa Sheppard said she, along with Commissioner Cal Scott, County Administrator Mike Pence and CTA Architects Engineer Principal David Mitchell met with the group to explain how the senior organization would fit into the new building.

“When we got to the point where we were talking to architects and plans for the building were coming together conceptually, the idea was we’d put space into the building concept for the senior center, knowing they would need to vote as an association,” Sheppard said.

“The big thing was to help them understand that even though there’s a multipurpose space [in the South Campus Building], they’re welcome to use the whole space,” she said, noting amenities such as a lounge area with a fireplace and plenty of space for activities.

Relocation plans for the Kalispell Senior Center have been mulled for several years. In 2009 a plan surfaced to move both the senior center and Agency on Aging to the Gateway Community Center. That plan never materialized.

In 2012 there was talk of including the Kalispell Senior Center in a proposed new building at the Flathead County Fairgrounds, but that plan also failed.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.