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West Windsor senior center faces bus-driver vacancy and seeks better outreach as budget stays flat
Summary
Senior center manager Adeline Paul told council the center kept a flat operating budget for 2025, serves about 34 regular riders, and faces an immediate staff gap after a driver resigned. Councilors discussed expanding outreach and reopening the multipurpose room evenings but noted staffing and overtime costs.
Adeline Paul, manager of the West Windsor Senior Center, summarized 2024 services and 2025 goals at the council's March 11 budget work session, telling council the senior center remains open Monday through Friday and offers programs for residents age 55 and older. The center provides transportation, education, fitness, social services and other programming.
Paul said roughly 34 residents currently use the center's transportation service and that the center receives assistance from Mercer County for a second vehicle; a county-ordered new bus is expected to be delivered in about six to nine months. She also said the township's longtime bus driver resigned at the end of the prior week, and the center had posted the opening and asked residents to refer candidates with a commercial driver's license (CDL) to human resources.
The senior center operates a semiannual and annual community survey process, sends quarterly newsletters and monthly updates to residents, and uses email blasts and mailed notices for residents without internet access. Paul said staff also use a senior-center advisory council and local partners (senior housing managers, churches and community organizations) to expand outreach.
Councilmembers and staff discussed ways to reach older residents who are not on the center's mailing list, including distributing materials to leasing offices in 55+ communities, informal outreach through the advisory council and using the township's website and newsletter. Council members suggested partnering with the police and recreation departments and the 'Friends of West Windsor Senior Citizens' to broaden outreach.
Members also raised whether the senior center multipurpose room could again be made available for evening community use. Paul and other staff said limited facilities maintenance and custodial staffing and setup/breakdown needs have constrained evenings use since the COVID-era restrictions were lifted; reopening evenings would require either new staffing or a contractual approach that shifts setup and cleanup responsibilities to renters.
Paul said the senior center's operating budget is flat for 2025 and that about $20,000 is available in a senior-center trust fund for center-only expenses. The council agreed to consider community outreach funding and possible administrative support to expand awareness of center programs.
