'It’s not fair': Tecumseh seniors irate with forced club relocation
'It’s not fair': Tecumseh seniors irate with forced club relocation
The Golden Age Club has four weeks to pack up their belongings and vacate a municipally-owned building.
“We were shocked,” club president Dara Pfiefer O’Connor told CTV News Tuesday. “We’re just getting back our members and we're finally comfortable and we're gonna lose the place. It’s not fair.”
For the last 50 years, the Golden Age Club (GAC) has offered senior citizens a place to go for everything from organized card leagues to healthy weight loss classes, even a meeting location for Alcoholics Anonymous.
“Everything we've got is in this building. We need this building. This is a members building for seniors,” said Pfiefer O’Connor.Members of the Golden Age Club pack a public meeting with Town of Tecumseh officials in Tecumseh, Ont., on Tuesday, March 28, 2023. (Michelle Maluske/CTV News Windsor)
According to town councillor Rico Tonial however, the club has been operating in the building on Lanoue Street without a contract; a concern that was raised during a Clerks’ Review last fall.
“They were using the facility as they wish which is a liability to our taxpayers, which we must fix,” said Tonial.
Simultaneously, the town was in the negotiations with the Essex County Library board, about the need for $1 million in renovations to the Tecumseh-based Cada branch.
After exploring other possible buildings - both public and private - the town decided to move the library into the GAC building, temporarily.
“We're asking the Golden Age Club people to just move to the Optimist Club (at St. Clair Beach Community Centre) for a year,” says Tonial.
During that time, Tonial says the library will reopen in the Lanoue Street building and they will work on the next chapter for the GAC.
“We'll negotiate the contract with the Golden Age club people, to fine tune what they need. No program is changing for them for the next year. Nothing is changing except where they drive to have their facilities,” said Tonial. “The dates (and) times (of services) will be the same, just the location has changed.”
Town officials won’t say where the GAC will operate after the library moves back to the Cada building, which is expected to take a year to complete.
At a public meeting Tuesday members voiced their displeasure with being forced to move on short notice, with the perceived lack of parking at the new location and the lack of consultation before the decision was made.
“In my words, I think they're using this building as a crop out,” said Pfiefer O’Connor. “I have a feeling they've got something more to it. I know they're saying no. But we have not been given a choice to come back.”
Town officials say they repeatedly promised to work with the members to figure out what services they want and how they might help to grow the club, which currently has approximately 80 members.
“We're very cognizant that you know, we're dealing with seniors, we're dealing with people that might have some anxiety of this change. It's emotional because they’ve been there, we understand that (and) we feel for that,” said Tonial. “We have a whole team ready to help them move forward. And that's our goal is just to move it forward.”
Club members at the meeting were disappointed Mayor Gary McNamara had a previous commitment and couldn’t attend the public meeting.
But he did meet with Pfiefer O’Connor and two other club members Tuesday afternoon, in a meeting organized by former National President of the Canadian Auto Workers union, Ken Lewenza.
Essex County Library CEO Adam Craig, who attended Tuesday’s public meeting, says the $1-million renovation project will make the Cada building accessible for users.
The cost is being shared between the Town of Tecumseh and the library system.
In Alberta today, the United Conservative Party is looking to win a second consecutive majority government while the NDP is fighting to regain the office it lost in 2019.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is pushing for special rapporteur David Johnston to 'step aside' from his role examining the issue of foreign interference before he embarks on public hearings.
New Democrat MP Jenny Kwan said Monday that Canada's spy agency has confirmed her long-held belief she is being targeted by the Chinese government, as the prime minister granted the NDP's wish to allow more party members to review top-secret intelligence.
William Karlsson, William Carrier and Jonathan Marchessault are finally getting another chance in the Stanley Cup Final, after the first one that came so quick for the Vegas Golden Knights.
Eastern Conference finals Most Valuable Player Jimmy Butler scored 28 points, and Caleb Martin had 26 points and 10 rebounds to help the eighth-seeded Miami Heat beat the Celtics 103-84 in Game 7 on Monday night and advance to the NBA Finals for the second time in four seasons.
Canadian political leaders and parliamentarians are denouncing a new law passed in Uganda that imposes harsh penalties, including the death penalty, for certain cases involving homosexuality.
There's a heightened risk of wildfires across the country during what has been one of the earliest fire seasons on record. From British Columbia to Nova Scotia, here's where the risk is highest.
The rural Oxford County intersection where an OPP officer and a school bus driver were killed Monday was less than a month away from becoming a four-way stop when the deadly crash happened.
It was a night of indecision at Waterloo region's catholic school board as trustees went back and forth trying to find the best approach to fill a vacant seat.
The body of a Winnipeg boy who fell into Sturgeon Falls on Saturday has been found following a desperate underwater search that lasted more than a day.
The Sandy Hill Child Care Centre has an extra two weeks to get its new home up to code months after a fire destroyed its original site on Wilbrod Street.
Ottawa police are praising a local dad for quickly calling for help Sunday afternoon when he accidentally locked his keys in his car, and his infant child along with them.
Ontario Provincial Police say a driver from Augusta Township is facing an impaired driving charge after someone on Highway 416 spotted a vehicle moving erratically.
The union representing the majority of Quebec's daycare workers is criticizing the government's decision to launch a skimpy 90-hour training program for people who want to be daycare workers but have no prior experience.
A Quebec driver who caused the death of another motorist when he swerved his truck to avoid hitting a family of ducks on the road has been sentenced to eight months in jail and a three-year driving ban.
A Winnipeg family is asking for help to find their missing teenage son whom they haven't seen since he left for school in the Fort Richmond area last Wednesday morning.
The body of a Winnipeg boy who fell into Sturgeon Falls on Saturday has been found following a desperate underwater search that lasted more than a day.
In Alberta today, the United Conservative Party is looking to win a second consecutive majority government while the NDP is fighting to regain the office it lost in 2019.
One long-time electoral tradition came to an end on election day, when Postmedia announced there would be no printed newspaper announcing the winner in Calgary.
In Alberta today, the United Conservative Party is looking to win a second consecutive majority government while the NDP is fighting to regain the office it lost in 2019.
Over 170,000 elementary and high school students weighed in on the Alberta election and the NDP had to hope the real voters were listening, because they won the kids' vote.
On Monday, Fraser Health provided two senior leaders to address the latest letter outlining risks to patients, allegations of muzzling, and pleas for help from emergency physicians in the health authority's hospitals.
The president of the BC Trucking Association is issuing renewed calls for safety after a trailer truck smashed into an overhead pass Monday morning in Langley.
Members of the Golden Age Club pack a public meeting with Town of Tecumseh officials in Tecumseh, Ont., on Tuesday, March 28, 2023. (Michelle Maluske/CTV News Windsor)
