Ten Sleep Senior Center hires new director

TEN SLEEP – The board of directors for the Ten Sleep Senior Center hired Randy Firnekas to be the new director for the Ten Sleep Senior Center. Having been the book keeper for the senior center for the last almost nine years, Firnekas is quite accustomed to the staff and the community members who utilize the center.

“I’m excited about the position and the new ideas that we will come up with,” Firnekas said.

For the moment Firnekas doesn’t have any major plans to change things at the center. “We’re going to continue on the path that we have been going on. I want to meet with the staff and get their ideas and meet with the seniors and get their ideas about what would be a good fit for this community before making any major plans,” he said. “Once the dust settles and I get my feet under me, I have a few ideas that I would like to implement to bring more people into the center, not just seniors but the whole community, we are not just the senior center we are also the community center as well,” he added.

While major decisions will be run through the board of directors, the day-to-day operations will be Firnekas’s responsibility. “My main responsibility is to oversee the center and make sure that everything is running correctly. Make sure that the staff is OK and be someone that the staff can come to if they have problems. I am also responsible for obtaining grants for the center and attending state and local meetings. Maybe I’m simplifying it too much but that’s it in a nut shell,” he said.

Firnekas is a native of Wyoming, born in Buffalo. “I was raised on a ranch between Kaycee and Casper. It was the middle of my junior year when we moved to Ten Sleep,” he said. “I graduated from Ten Sleep and received my associate’s degree in Casper and my bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas,” he added.

Firnekas replaces Sue Carey who was director of the Ten Sleep Senior Center of almost 10 years.