Most Scarborough senior citizens are not interested in being more involved with either local activities or other seniors.

The majority of seniors say they are not active in recreational activities in town or with other seniors, but that the most important services they’re looking for are informational and assistance-based, such as prescription drug advice and health care.

These are some of the results of a survey done for the Senior Needs Study Committee and presented to the Scarborough Town Council during its Sept. 20 meeting. While the figures suggest that support among seniors is weak for a senior center, town councilors signaled an interest in talking again about some type of senior center in the community.

Of the 4,000 residents 55 or older, 276 were randomly selected for the survey by Critical Insights, a Portland-based research firm that specializes in surveys, public opinion polls and focus groups. The Senior Needs Study Committee was formed last winter with a budget of $10,000 after voters turned down a proposal for a senior center.

Kevin Fay, the director of research at Critical Insights, said the number of seniors in the survey, conducted in July, was based both on the committee’s budget and the sample number needed to accurately project the results for all senior residents.

“We did enough surveys in their budget to give them an accurate study,” he said.

According to the study, exercise opportunities such as walking, swimming and classes were considered important. When the study was conducted, the Scarborough YMCA effort had not yet folded, and was included as one of the survey questions. Sixty-six percent said they would like more exercise opportunities to be available, but less than half said they would actually take advantage of them. Half of the seniors said they would use the YMCA and just under half said they would use a senior center.

Marty Crane, a senior resident and member of the committee, said that with the YMCA gone, there is a greater need for a senior center.

“I was very sorry to see the YMCA project go down, but when it went down it landed in your laps,” he told the council.

In a list of 10 choices, which included both recreational activities and social services, survey respondents listed crime prevention assistance and advice as most important, while a meeting and gathering place for seniors was last, though over half of those polled did say a center is important.

Despite the fact that a senior center was ranked the least important and many seniors said they are as involved as they’d like to be, Councilor Jeff Messer proposed a “senior center community challenge.”

While he said he would not support adding the senior center to another town referendum, he would like the council to appropriate $400,000 – the maximum the council can allocate without a town vote – and then have the community match that. Once the money is raised, said Messer, the next step would be to ask developers to donate time and money to see that it is built.

“The citizens spoke and we have to honor that,” said Messer. “I think the people didn’t vote for it because they thought the YMCA would pick up the slack. The time is ripe with the YMCA gone. There’s a lot of disappointment out there.”

The Rev. Dr. David Calhoun, who chaired the committee and presented the survey to the council, said that with a better understanding of what a senior center is, more people might get behind it.

“Some people see it as a step between me and the nursing home, and that’s just not true,” Calhoun said after the meeting. “It enhances life.”

Calhoun said that instead of a dedicated senior center, one of the committee’s ideas was a multi-generational center that would be available to the entire community, especially now that the YMCA is no longer an option.

“That’s what the YMCA would have provided, that multi-generational approach,” said Calhoun. A community center for more than seniors might be easier for the town to embrace, rather than a center for just seniors that already failed with voters.

“I hope we don’t go down that road again,” said Calhoun. “We’ve broadened our horizons. It would be a shame to then go down a narrow path.”

After the initial senior center vote, Councilor Sylvia Most said after the presentation, there was confusion and ill will surrounding what seniors needed and wanted when it came to the center.

“It was a difficult process, but one we had to go through,” said Most. “This is exactly the information we wanted.”

Councilor Carol Rancourt proposed that the council appoint an implementation committee at its next meeting on Oct. 4.

“I would like to validate their work by appointing that five-member committee,” she said.

Chairman Steve Ross assured both the council and the committee that the findings would not be pushed to the side.

“I think that this council has been really good at taking reports and implementing them,” said Ross. “I don’t think you need worry that your report will sit on a shelf and gather dust somewhere.”

There was also a disparity between citing a service as important and actually using it. Though 72 percent of seniors said they would like guidance on health care and prescription drugs, only 35 percent said they would be likely to seek it out.

According to Larry Gross, the director of the Southern Maine Agency on Aging, many services seniors said were important to them are offered at the Agency in Scarborough.

“A lot of Scarborough’s seniors said they are pretty satisfied with how active they are, and the remaining were more concerned with social and health services and finding out where to go for them,” said Gross, who was also involved with the senior needs committee.

According to the study, many seniors said they were not aware of what was offered in Scarborough. However, said Gross, the Agency can provide advice on issues from Medicare to property tax refund programs.

“Our services here are available and people can reach us very easily,” said Gross.