Senior center hoping HVAC upgrades are complete ahead of summer

By Riley Funk

The Joyce Raye Patterson 50+ Activity Center is working to make sure temperatures remain comfortable for seniors socializing and participating in programs this summer.

The center will be receiving upgrades to its heating, ventilating and air conditioning system. The Senior Center Foundation donated $18,310.42 to complete the project. This agreement was authorized after the city council passed an emergency ordinance on Monday night.

Repairs will happen in two places in the building. A new HVAC unit will be installed for the conference room. The second repair will be to a heat exchanger on another HVAC system that serves the building’s multipurpose room, which also holds its dining room and kitchen.

Manager Julie Noel said the building has been looking for this upgrade for a while.

“The heating units went out of two of our systems in December. Since that time we haven’t had the ability to use heat in those two parts of the building,” Noel said. “But we’ve managed to make it work, thank goodness. We’re concerned about the summer coming up because there’s cooling issues that we need to think about as well.”

Chuck Kempf, director of St. Joseph Parks, Recreation and Civic Facilities, said the age of the equipment and the severe bursts of cold weather that passed through the area led to the current, poor conditions of the units.

“Technicians came out to look at them and said they’ve actually become unsafe and we’re not going to try to attempt to fix them because of the deteriorating condition. So we started having to look at replacements,” Kempf said.

Currently, fans have been deployed throughout the building, and window blinds in those rooms have been closed to keep hot air from entering.

Even so, volunteers have been feeling the heat.

Jon Erickson helps out in the kitchen when the center serves meals during the week. Erickson also uses the workout facilities on-site.

He said with temperatures passing 80 degrees, it has been warmer than usual when serving food to patrons. He said as summer months approach, the need for getting proper cooling in the building only grows.

“You’ve got to make it a comfortable place to be. Otherwise, people won’t come no matter what’s inside. If it’s uncomfortable, people will stay away. So you need to make sure (the HVAC system) works,” Erickson said.

IHP Industrial, Inc. will provide the service and installation of the replacement system. The process has taken some time, but Noel said things are moving in the right direction. She said IHP has ordered the parts and the unit, and now they are waiting for them to arrive.

“It’s a huge relief to know that we’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. The supply issues are still a problem, and it’s difficult for contractors to get the supplies in. We also realize that they’re extremely busy,” Noel said.

Kempf thinks the project is already off to a good start, so it should be completed rather soon.

“Hopefully within the next three or four weeks we’re going to see those systems working again,” Kempf said.

Both Kempf and Noel credit the project to a great deal of help from the Senior Citizen Foundation.

“They’re actively involved in that facility,” Kempf said. “They help us make decisions, recommendations. In this particular case, they’re actually providing funding to support this project, which is, which is really beneficial to us because sometimes we don’t have those funds readily available to deal with this type of failure. It’s nice when others do step up and help.”