The Issaquah Senior Center will continue to be funded for the first six months of 2016.

A quorum of the Issaquah City Council voted unanimously Dec. 21 to authorize city administrators to renew its contract with nonprofit organization Issaquah Valley Seniors to operate the city senior center. The council’s approval preempted a vote on an alternative bill to establish city-operated senior services.

Council President Paul Winterstein said he was happy to arrive at an agreement that would not disrupt services to seniors, but that he continued to have doubts about Issaquah Valley Seniors’ leadership.

“I was ready to rip the Band-Aid off right now,” Winterstein said.

As previously reported [“Proceeding with caution,” Dec. 18, 2015] the city’s new deal with Issaquah Valley Seniors was developed with a number of conditions on their continued relationship.

The centerpiece of those conditions was the withholding of 60 percent of the senior center’s annual $99,000 grant, the receipt of which will be contingent on the center’s ability to act by June 30 on the findings of an audit. The council earmarked $65,000 to hire an outside auditor to review Issaquah Valley Seniors’ finances and management.

The Council Services and Safety Committee added further conditions requiring a review of current no-trespass orders against members and publication of the senior center’s most up-to-date bylaws.

The review, which will require the senior center to lift bans on members who are found neither to be guilty or under investigation of elder abuse, had been a contested issue in committee, with Councilmember Joshua Schaer voting against the requirement.

“We noted this is a more active requirement than the others,” said Councilmember Tola Marts, the chair of the Services and Safety Committee. “Most of the rest of these … were observation or oversight rather than direction.”

But Marts and Councilmember Eileen Barber approved the condition because they wanted Issaquah Valley Seniors to have free and open board elections, Marts said.

Councilmember Stacy Goodman proposed a final amendment, which passed, that will require Issaquah Valley Seniors to adopt a written policy for rejecting membership applications.

“I highly doubt there’s anything comprehensive,” she said.