Pictured is the exterior of the Dunkirk Senior Center building.

A volunteer at the Dunkirk Senior Center says City Hall is reducing its support of the facility.

Nancy Rankin contacted the OBSERVER last week to share her concerns.

First of all, “they did away with a cleaner (in the 2025 budget) and didn’t even inform us,” she said. “I told them, ‘You can’t expect 60-, 70-, 80-year-olds to be cleaning toilets.'”

Rankin cracked, “Don’t ask me to clean toilets or anything. I have to do that at home!”

She alleged the senior center recently had five windows broken by the juvenile vandal who terrorized Dunkirk last year and is back in town after a state facility released him.

However, “the city wouldn’t pay for the windows, they said their deductible is too high.” The senior center, on Franklin Avenue (aka Cliffstar Drive), is owned by the city but staffed by volunteers.

“It’s their duty to take care of this building,” Rankin said of City Hall. “Why are they going after the seniors, who pay the most taxes?”

She added that city workers used to regularly plow the parking lot, but had to be prodded to clean up a recent snow event. “We shouldn’t have to call a councilman or (Department of Public Works Director) Randy (Woodbury) to get it done,” she said.

Rankin said she has never met Mayor Kate Wdowiasz, who took office in January 2024. Rankin added that, to her knowledge, the mayor has never visited the center.

Rankin’s allegations come in the wake of news that City Hall has tripled the rent for the Office of the Aging’s space at the Senior Center. The Office for the Aging is a Chautauqua County entity, separate from the Dunkirk Senior Center.