MUKILTEO — Musicians, wedding parties and community groups all compete for the chance to book their event at Rosehill Community Center.
In the four years since it’s opened, Rosehill has earned a reputation as a place with both great acoustics and, with a wall of water-facing windows, views ready made for photos. Whidbey Island and Puget Sound are the backdrop.
The community center also is home to a variety of classes, including quilt-making classes for older adults, art classes for youth and adults, and health and fitness classes such as yoga, karate and personal training.
Now, the city is seeking volunteers to serve on a new seven-member citizen group to focus on the community center’s future. The Rosehill Community Board will exist alongside the Parks and Arts Commission, said Jennifer Berner, the city’s recreation and cultural services director. The group can suggest services or classes they’d like to see offered at the community center, she said.
The city is looking for one member of the board to be 55 or older, one to be a young person and one person who is working in a parks or recreation department in another city or works for a YMCA or a Boys &Girls club, she said. All seven members must live within the Mukilteo School District boundaries.
The board members will be selected by Berner and Mayor Jennifer Gregerson.
City Council member Randy Lord said the council is scheduled to discuss the community’s center future at its March 23 meeting. Community centers typically don’t make money, he said. “The question is: How much does the city want to subsidize it?”
Berner said that Rosehill was never intended to be financially self-sustaining. “There is a subsidy that comes from the general fund, just like every other department of the city,” she said.
Recreation classes have priority on booking the rooms at Rosehill, she said. “Then we open it up to rentals,” which most frequently occur on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, she said.
City staff members are surveying local nonprofits, such as the YMCA, the Boys &Girls club, church groups and retirement centers, to see what services they provide, Berner said. The groups will be brought together at the end of March “so we as a community can see where are the gaps, overlaps and how we can meet the community’s needs,” she said.
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
A new board
Anyone interested in serving on the Rosehill Community Board can go to the city’s website to download an application at tinyurl.com/rosehillapplication.
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