Navajo Council Committee Orders Review of Senior Center Spending

The Health, Education, and Human Services Committee met with the Division of Community Development and the Navajo Department of Health on December 2 to review progress on CO 43 24, the council resolution funding repairs, renovations, and new senior center construction across the Navajo Nation. Committee members raised concerns about discrepancies between the agencies presentation and the directives in the resolution, and they ordered a detailed accounting of work underway.

Committee leadership emphasized that planning alone was not sufficient. " ...Our elders deserve completed repairs, functioning facilities, and real progress, not new processes that slow everything down," HEHSC Chair Vince R. James said. Officials had provided an overview of planning efforts, conceptual construction timelines, and standardized design options for proposed 3,000 and 6,000 square foot facilities, but members pushed for contracts to be issued, equipment to be ordered, and repairs to proceed without further delay.

Several senior centers in McKinley County and surrounding chapters were identified as needing immediate action, including HVAC replacements, roof repairs, electrical upgrades, and parking lot improvements. Those conditions affect daily programs such as meal services, transportation staging, health screenings, and social activities that serve elderly residents who depend on stable local infrastructure.

The committee directed the Division of Community Development and the Navajo Department of Health to review CO 43 24 in full and to ensure that expenditures match the resolution exhibits. Agencies were ordered to prepare a supplemental report that lays out the status of each senior center, active contracts, how funding has been used, and clear next steps with timelines. The committee signaled that it will use that report to monitor compliance and to press for rapid implementation where work remains incomplete.

For McKinley County residents the outcome will be measured by visible repairs and resumed services at local centers. The committee action shifts the process from conceptual planning toward accountability and execution, and it creates a public benchmark for agencies to show when and how projects will restore safe, functional spaces for elders.