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Residents press county to expand senior center space, caregiver training and Job Corps site reuse
Summary
Speakers asked Baltimore County to fund Liberty Senior Center expansion and interim funding while urging repurposing of a vacant Job Corps site for workforce and emergency services training and to expand caregiver training and provider grants for long‑term care.
Multiple District 4 residents urged the county to address senior center space limits, sidewalk safety for older adults, caregiver training and repurposing of a vacant federally owned Job Corps site for workforce training.
Shirley Cathern, president of the Liberty Senior Center, said the center is the smallest in county inventory, has no recent upgrades and faces space constraints that strain programming. She said the center operates with four staff and 63 volunteers, membership grew from 1,346 to an active 1,608 and the center runs out of classroom space. Cathern asked the county to set aside $20,000 in FY26 to begin planning and subsequent allocations to reach a new building or expansion options.
Wallace Lastram of the Liberty Road Senior Center Council asked for funding to relocate a Medicare unit currently housed in the building to free classroom space, to fund furniture and to repair sidewalks used by seniors — citing a fall earlier the same morning that required ambulance transport.
Linda Dorsey Walker urged repurposing the vacant Job Corps site (federally owned) for training young people for careers that the county needs, including firefighters and code enforcement, saying the county workforce is aging and training pipelines are necessary.
Christina Fitz, a long‑term care home operator, urged stronger training for long‑term care providers and creation of a County “center of excellence” for provider training and a grant program to help providers meet standards, citing the importance of an adequately trained eldercare workforce.
Why it matters: speakers tied senior programming, facility safety and workforce development to long‑term care availability and community safety; several requested specific, near‑term budget actions or planning funds.
Details and clarifications: Cathern requested $20,000 to begin trajectory planning; Lastram requested sidewalk repairs and relocation of the Medicare unit to free space; Dorsey Walker described the Job Corps site as federally owned and available for reuse but did not provide a specific plan or cost estimate.
Ending: county staff present were asked to follow up on space planning, sidewalk repairs and the feasibility of repurposing the Job Corps site.
