Adams Council on Aging Concerned About Move to Memorial Building
ADAMS, Mass. — As the Adams Council on Aging prepares to move its location to the Memorial Building in the coming months, several of the council's board members expressed concerns about the facility.
"I cannot envision that we can get anywhere near meeting the services in that facility," said Bruce Shepley, a member of the board of directors, at the council's board meeting on Monday, Nov. 1.
The Council on Aging is currently on the second floor of the Adams Visitor Center. Shepley said he visited the building last week and was concerned by its current state.
"Work is not ongoing, or wasn't that day, and it appeared that there was an awful lot to be done," he said. "This is an antiquated facility that will require hundreds of thousands of dollars to bring it up to what we would envision."
Christine Hoyt, vice chairman of the Board of Selectmen, was present at the meeting. She discussed the concerns of the board and explained that the council has to have at least some level of activity within the facility by the end of the year.
"Because we used CARES Act money [to fund renovations], we have to have some programming in Memorial Building by Dec. 31," she said.
Renovations of the Memorial Building will begin to wrap up at the end of this month, according to Hoyt, with hope the council will begin moving some operations there shortly after. Hoyt said the city is doing everything it can to make the Memorial Building a usable site for the Council on Aging.
"I will tell you that everybody has been trying to work very hard," she said. "This is a move in the making for the last three years that was put on the back burner because of the pandemic, but then it was also highlighted as being very important that we provide adequate space for our senior program. So we've had to get really creative with funding because we do know that that building needs upgrades we've known that for some time."
Mary Whitman, another member of the council's board of directors, said she got a tour of the facility three weeks ago.
"I was totally mind boggled," Whitman said. "I was thinking there's no way in six weeks we could move and continue with the success of facility safeness."
Hoyt said one of the major areas of the Memorial Building that needs to be changed is the bathroom facilities, which were designed when the building was used as a middle school and are not fit for the elderly.
"I can tell you that there have been several meetings with a potential funder to help with that to bring it up," she said. "Because we can't wait for grants and we can't wait for the next budget season. So we are trying to get creative with finding some private donation money to help with that aspect of it."
Board member Leona Meczywor said she has not been up to date on the facility's status despite being on the board.
"I had a lot of people asking me questions, and they want to know what's going on. And I can't tell them a darn thing because I don't know," she said.
In other business, the council discussed several vacancies on both the board and on staff. Currently, the council is looking to hire a new director and administrative assistant, while also searching for someone to fill the vacancy on the board of directors.
"We've got six applications for the director position so far. The interview panel will consist of Jay Green, Crystal Wojcik and Bruce Shepley," said Barbara Proper, interim director for the Council on Aging. "The admin assistant position has also been posted."
Proper previously served as the outreach coordinator for the council and had served as interim director in 2015. She is filling in former director Erica Girgenti, who left the position to become the executive director of Sugar Hill Assisted Living in Dalton.
"I've learned a lot since then," Proper said in an interview following the meeting. "I've worked side by side with Erica for the past six and a half years. I know probably 85 to 90 percent of her reports. Most of that stuff we all we did together, so I'm comfortable with it all."
Proper said she will have to be doing several jobs at once because of short staffing. The current administrative assistant, Elizabeth Chapman, will also be leaving soon for a different position.
"It's going to be a little overwhelming because I'm doing two jobs at this point and you know, our administrative assistant leaving I'll be doing three jobs," she said. "So our three man office is going down to one. So it's just gonna be a little busy."
Tags: Council on Aging,
