At a meeting on April 6, the Saratoga City Council voted 4-1 in favor of renewing the agreement for a year. Councilman Nick Streit voted against the motion.

Genie Dee, executive director of SASCC, had been working with city staff for more than a year to hammer out the details of the new operating guidelines.

The new agreement also specifies that SASCC will be allowed to use the community center multipurpose room twice a year for free. The senior center can also use the Saunders Room, located at the same center, once a week during weeknights without paying any rental fees to the city.

Streit spoke out against the new clauses in the agreement.

"We're at a stage where the recreation department is increasing its program fees by 10 percent or 20 percent very soon. I cannot understand why we should give our facility away to an outside agency for free," said Streit.

"We are cutting millions on one hand and subsidizing another agency on the other," he said. "It doesn't sit well with me."

Dee said that the new agreement was crucial because the senior center is in dire need of more space. "We want to serve the growing senior population in the city," she said.

Vice Mayor Norman Kline argued against signing a four-year agreement with SASCC, as stipulated in the operating guidelines prepared by city staff.

"We're changing budget issues every year. We're in too much of a crisis mode now," said Kline.