HUBBARD — The city’s senior citizen center, next to the municipal building, is used by residents for various activities a few days a week, and officials now are discussing expanding services and talking with SCOPE in Warren.

Mayor Ben Kyle said at Monday’s council meeting he has spoken to Mike Wilson, executive director of SCOPE, about possibly having the organization run the Hubbard senior center — just as it does in other communities such as Howland, Niles, Newton Falls and Warren.

“We are investigating an option of bringing in SCOPE for managing our center at no cost to the city or the residents. We want to expand the programs and activities for seniors. We are looking at different aspects and services that could be offered to seniors and possibly meal availability for seniors. It looks promising at being very beneficial to our senior population,” Kyle said.

The center now has a SilverSneakers program run by the Hubbard Community Pool, and card playing by the Hubbard Senior Citizen Club each Thursday. Kyle said those two programs are the only times the center is used each week.

He said the center is run by the Hubbard Senior Citizen Club. The center, which is part of the administration building, and Kyle said he would like to see SCOPE incorporating its services and structure at the center.

“We would like to have them work with our existing programs and offer more to the seniors,” he said.

Nothing has been finalized, officials said.

FIRE BOARD

Also, council has received six applicants interested in serving as the city’s citizen representative on the Eagle Joint Fire District board.

The applicants are Erin Burns, Jennifer Burton, Christopher Conway, Kyle English, Brandon Pierson and James Wess.

Hubbard Township and Hubbard city alternate on having a representative from each community serving on the fire board. The city’s turn for a representative is in 2023.

The applicants will meet with council 6 p.m. Dec. 19 during a work session to discuss why they want to be appointed.

Council also appointed Councilman Michael Mogg as its representative to the Eagle Joint Fire District board replacing Bill Williams effective in 2023. He will fill Williams’ unexpired term.

In other business, council approved extending for two more years the current contract with Republic Services for both trash and recycling pickup through 2024.

Kyle said the per- household cost will increase by 75 cents to $17.71 per month from February 2023 to January 2024 and increase to $18.59 per month from February 2024 to January 2025.

He said the contract allows for maintaining a senior discount, bulk pickup, branch pickup and large collection including 96-gallon units for recyclables.