Seward council approves five-year lease moving food pantry to senior center

The Seward City Council unanimously approved a five-year lease Monday, Sept. 14, moving the He Will Provide Food Pantry from the cramped basement of the City Hall Annex to the lower level of the Seward senior center starting Jan. 1, 2027. No one testified at the public hearing. The senior center offers more space, better parking, and a better kitchen for the group's soup service, though electrical upgrades are needed since the pantry's freezers and refrigerators currently trip breakers. The lease includes two optional five-year extensions. Neither the rent nor the cost of that work appears in the record reviewed.

Councilmember Lori Draper said the move is one of several changes triggered by plans to convert the closed Seward Middle School into a community center, and asked whether the Teen and Youth Center would need to scramble for space if the school reopens in about four years. That conversion is not final: the council has approved its side and committed up to $233,000 through year's end. The borough assembly enacted Ordinance 2026-27, authorizing a long-term lease of the surplus school to the city, on Aug. 18. Mayor Sue McClure said the council will "figure out what's best for everyone at that time."