Fayette County commissioners Greg Dunn and Harold Bost walked into the lion's den last week.

"I hate to be a politician standing in front of you and saying, 'Trust me,' but I'm going to say it anyway," Dunn told members of the Fayette Senior Services Inc. Board of Directors just a few days after he had voted to slow down the group's plans for a new service facility for Fayette's older population.

Dunn, Bost and Commissioner Linda Wells joined in a 3-2 vote the previous week to rescind the commission's commitment to donate a three-acre tract for the new senior center, putting a major crimp in the FSS plans. Without a piece of land identified, the group can't get preliminary architectural plans drawn, and without those plans they can't go to federal agencies in search of grants.

During last week's board meeting, the two commissioners assured the group that they will support donating land for the center when the time comes, but repeated earlier statements that a commitment to donate specific land is "premature."

Last December, the commission voted 4-1, with Bost opposed, to commit to three acres behind the current senior center on Lee Street in Fayetteville. The land is part of a 33-acre tract targeted for a new jail and judicial complex.

Wells and Dunn Jan. 6 agreed with Bost that a master plan for the property is needed before they can identify the best place for the senior center, and voted to rescind the commitment. "In our hearts, we didn't want to do it, but we did it because it has to be done," Dunn told the senior advocates at the FSS board meeting Wednesday.

Bost said he and Dunn wanted to "try to explain the reasoning behind that. In my view we need to have a master plan for that 33 acres before we start designating parts of it piecemeal."

A consultant already has drawn up plans showing where a new jail and judicial center might be located, but Bost said questions remain, not the least of which is whether the county might one day want to replace its Administrative Complex with a new one on the same site.

It's also important to consider whether the new jail can be built on the 13-acre site that now houses the jail and judicial complex, or whether more land should be purchased to link the two sites, creating a parcel big enough for any future need the county may have, Bost said.

"We have to start thinking in terms of our permanent home for the jail, for the judicial complex, for the administrative facility," said Bost. "What we have to do at this time is develop a master plan that will take us into our permanent home."

Consultants are working on plans now for facilities that can be expanded, not replaced, if they are outgrown, he said. A complex that will serve the county's needs through build-out is the goal, he added.

"This way, we don't put something in a location that is going to restrain us from doing the best, the cheapest thing five, ten years from now," Bost said. Once the plan is in place, he added, "We merely plug this [senior center] into the plan as it comes up.

"We have not backed off of our commitment to do something for the senior citizen facility," Bost continued, "but it could be a different three acres."

Members of the FSS board said they were somewhat reassured. "We're very appreciative that you've come, and for your commitment," said board member Wallace Kite, but he added pointedly, "We need this facility, for the services and the support of seniors in the county."

Board members also asked to be involved in the master planning process Bost spoke of. "We will get you involved," Bost promised. "We've got to know what your needs are and put that all into the equation as to what goes where."