In August, a reader wrote to the Longmont Leader with concerns about the staffing changes at the Longmont Senior Center. The center was undergoing a leadership change and had several unfilled positions. Patrons of the senior center voiced their concerns in front of the Longmont City Council including fears that some programming would be impacted. Several months later, the Longmont Senior Center has added more staff and expanded its programming.
Ronnie Maynes, senior services manager at the Longmont Senior Center, took over the position in Dec. 2022. Before his current position, he ran the summer program for the city of Longmont for 10 years.
“I’m very invested in the city, I love being here, I love our community,” Maynes said.
When Maynes took over the role, he immediately identified the need for more staffing devoted to creating and running programming at the center. At the time, only one staff member was doing the job of two people, he said. He also saw that the position was too big for two people and asked to extend the city’s budget to include additional staff members for the position — an ask that required him to wait until the following year’s budget cycle.
According to Maynes, the programming at the senior center has become the “gold standard.” People in Longmont, are accustomed to a wide variety of programs and trips through the center. Maynes recognized this and sought to build a staff that would support the high expectations of patrons, he said.
For the first time since 2019, the Longmont Senior Center has filled all its 15 staffing positions after filling eight vacancies and adding a few more, Maynes said.
Despite the flux in staffing, the center offered 280 wellness programs and 138 trips in 2023 and served over 88,000 visitors, Maynes said.
Over the past year, Maynes has worked with several Longmont City Council members and Longmont Sister Cities on a new program that would offer an “elder exchange.” The exchange would work similarly to the youth Longmont Sister Cities exchange program, where elders from each community would share in each other’s culture for a short time, Maynes said. The program is still in the discussion and development stage but will hopefully be available soon.
Not only has the center offered more programs, it has streamlined its processes. Maynes is looking into integrating more technology into program registration to make it easier for community members who may not be able to visit the senior center on registration days.
Another big change the center made was to move the launch point for the senior center’s trips. The trips are a big draw for members of the community who like to travel. Before, patrons would have to park in the long parking lot at the senior center and walk some distance to the door. By moving the launch point to the annex center on Lashley Street, patrons now have a shorter walk to the door, Maynes said. He also plans to expand some of the classes to this center soon.
Maynes is looking to the future to continue to improve visitors’ experience a the senior center. He is exploring expanding the hours of operation of the center to allow those who are still working a chance to participate in activities.
With the expansion of Longmont’s population, more use of the senior center and the additional programming, Maynes identified that the current center will soon run out of space to offer more. He hopes to begin campaigning to the city council to expand the center to create more flexible rooms that will accommodate different size groups and office space for staff.
“Our community deserves to have the best, our staff deserves to be the best, we deserve to continue to evolve, so we are going to continue to strive for the best,” Maynes said.
