Clark County to sell Neillsville Senior Center

By Valorie Brecht Clark County will sell the Neillsville Senior Center at 602 Oak St., it was decided at the county board’s February meeting. The board voted almost unanimously in favor of selling the property, with Randy Sebesta casting the sole nay vote. The vote came after the board had previously discussed and approved repurposing the building as a homeless shelter, but legal concerns prevented that, say members of the Clark County Housing Coalition.

The question of what to do with the senior center has been an ongoing point of discussion for the past few years. The senior center had been used as a congregate meal site for the Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC) of Clark County but had seen fewer and fewer participants. In recent years, theADRC pivoted from serving meals at the senior center to utilizing the Café 60 program, which provides vouchers for seniors to receive meals at local restaurants. For the past five years, the senior center has been used one day a week for about four hours for people to play cards, but the rest of the time has sat empty. The card group is continuing to use the building until a closing date is set.

“This was a hard decision. The Neillsville Senior Center has been an asset to the community for many many years,” wrote Lynne McDonald, Clark County ADRC director and Clark County Housing Coalition chairperson, in an email Friday.

There is no revenue being generated from the center, but it has cost the county in utilities and maintenance. In 2023, the ADRC turned the building back over to the county, after running a deficit of $11,802.71 in 2021, $2,043.79 in 2022 and $1,735.90 in 2023. That August, the county board passed Resolution 22-8-23: Approving the Repurposing of the Neillsville Senior Center. At that time, the plan was to repurpose the building into a homeless shelter or resource center. The resolution stated, “Whereas, Clark County,

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through the Clark County Housing Coalition, desires to provide assistance to County residents experiencing homelessness by repurposing the aforementioned building and property to be used by the Clark County Housing Coalition to address homelessness.”

The plan was for Clark County to retain ownership of the property but contract with an organization such as Catholic Charities, C.C. We Adapt, or the American Red Cross to provide services, whether it was emergency shelter, transitional living, or a resource center if the county couldn’t get the proper zoning for people to live there. At the August 2023 board meeting, McDonald said she wanted to see the county retain ownership because it would allow the county to maintain a level of control, especially when “probably $75,000” of grant and county money had already been invested into the property. It was estimated at that time that it would cost $50,000 to $60,000 to remodel the center to make it fit for a homeless shelter, but McDonald said there were numerous grants available from the state homeless coalition, so the goal would be for no county money to be used.

After the county passed its resolution, the Clark County Housing Coalition took over the project. They checked with the City of Neillsville and determined the property met zoning requirements and talked with the surrounding neighbors to make them aware of the project. They also talked with David Carlson about him renting the property. Carlson is the founder of C.C. We Adapt and co-founder of Next Generation Mentors and Next Generation Properties. Carlson’s programs emphasize peer mentorship, in which individuals who have faced mental health and/or substance use challenges who have successfully gone through recovery turn around and help those who are struggling with the same challenges. Carlson oversees an independent living skills development center in Eau Claire, geared toward emergency and short-term housing up to six months.

On Feb. 15, 2024, Carlson presented to the Clark County Board about bringing that type of center to Clark County. He proposed turning the old senior center into a skills center and the county leasing it to him for $1 a month, with the idea that Carlson’s business would operate the services but the county would retain ownership and oversight. C.C. We Adapt would pay utilities for the property. The county board did not take action at that point but the housing coalition planned to look into it further.

However, after consulting with the county attorney, the housing coalition ran into some concerns.

“The main thing was Clark County is a nonprofit, and we couldn’t work with a for-profit (C.C. We Adapt). Statutorily, we can’t use a for-profit. I really admire what he (Carlson) does; it just wouldn’t work for what the county would allow,” said Joe Waichulis, previous chair of the Clark County Housing Coalition.

McDonald said that if the county did want to rent to a for-profit organization, it would need to charge fair market value.

“After consulting with our corporation counsel, we determined that the building could not be used for this purpose (a homeless shelter). As a county entity, renting the property would require charging fair market value, and the combined costs of rent and necessary renovations made the project financially unfeasible,” said McDonald.

In August 2024, Carlson said it would not work for him to rent the senior center at fair market value, according to housing coalition minutes. In October 2024, Sue Voigt of the housing coalition made a a motion to turn the property over to public property committee for possible sale, seconded by Carlson. That motion was unanimously approved.

At the November 2024 public property committee meeting, Jim Smagacz made a motion, seconded by Tom Wilcox, to sell the senior center after getting rid of the equipment in the building. The motion passed 3-2. In January 2025, the public property committee decided to proceed with selling the building. They unanimously approved a resolution for sale and forwarded it to the county board for approval.

Other factors in the decision to sell Setting the statutory requirements aside, Waichulis said there were a couple of other factors that made the senior center not the best fit for a homeless shelter. He explained that some of the individuals who end up homeless are those who have been living in jail, finally have their case adjudicated, their sentence is withheld, and they are placed on probation; or they complete their jail sentence and are released. When they are released, they have nowhere to go. A lot of these individuals have sex offenses on their record, so they cannot stay in Neillsville per city ordinance.

“Neillsville’s ordinance allows no sex pedophiles, so we had restrictions with the city ordinance that limited what we could do,” said Waichulis.

“The property itself has limitations,” he added. “The property next to it has stuff right up to the property line. We would also have only 50 percent use of the driveway. I believe it’s an easement, so the only parking is in the street. For a senior center, it’s kind of awkward because it does have a handicap entrance but the only parking is in the street.”

Although the housing coalition is no longer considering the senior center property for a shelter, they are looking at other options. Clark County is especially in need of a men’s shelter. The county’s only public shelter, the House of Mercy in Loyal, is for women and children only.

“We’re still looking for somewhere,” said Waichulis. “There are people living under bridges; they’re living at the dump. So they’re already in our community. We’ve also had law enforcement from other counties bring people to the county line or bring them to Neillsville and drop them off.”

More about the Clark County Housing Coalition The Clark County Housing Coalition was formed as an interagency coalition with a purpose of ensuring community access to adequate and affordable housing options. Multiple county departments saw people in their departments with housing needs, and they came together to look for solutions and share resources.

Recently, the coalition was reconfigured, going from nine voting members to six voting members, with goals of greater “efficiency and accountability,” per McDonald.

Waichulis also stepped down as chairperson and McDonald became chairperson. The other four members are: Jill Hoff, county board supervisor; Curtiss Lindner, forestry and parks department director; Shauna O’Keefe, director of social services; and Tina Schoengarth, Department of Corrections representative and Clark County probation and parole agent.

“The newly formed committee has convened just twice, taking a step back to carefully define our goals. Our focus includes several key areas: identifying funding opportunities, enhancing transition services to connect individuals with sustainable programs, and evaluating housing options across various areas. Additionally, we are reviewing our crisis response strategies to ensure efficiency and responsiveness. Strengthening our partnership with the Department of Corrections is crucial as we support successful community re-entry. Lastly, outreach efforts aim to educate and empower our community amidst the current homeless crisis,” said McDonald.

More information on the housing coalition, including a list of resources, is available at clarkcountywi.gov/housingcoalition.