Adams Council on Aging Hopes to Move to Memorial Building This Month
ADAMS, Mass. — As the renovation of the former Memorial School Building nears completion, the Adams Council on Aging hopes to start moving its operations into it by the end of the month.
"Right now, it's more just clean up to get us over there. So we are hopeful to be there by the end of January," said Council on Aging Director Sarah Fontaine during Monday's board meeting.
Fontaine said work in the former Memorial School building is ongoing and nearing a point where the COA can operate there. Selectmen Chairman John Duval, Vice Chairwoman Christine and Town Administrator Jay Green were in attendance.
Fontaine visited the building the week before Christmas and said new flooring was in the process of installation, with ductwork fully complete. While there is not a set date currently, she said the goal is to have this work done begin moving in during the month.
One thing which will not be complete before moving in, according to Fontaine, is all of the bathrooms for the facility. While there are several bathrooms throughout the facility, there is only one handicap-accessible bathroom, with more to be made later.
"The goal is to make the locker room area several stalls of bathrooms," she said. "That won't be done for us to move in, but that will be an ongoing project, probably when we need it. There are other bathrooms throughout the building for us to be able to use, but just the one handicap accessible one at the front of the building."
Fontaine said they need to spend some money on new furnishings and equipment. Despite this, she said much of the furniture used in the current COA space, located in the Adams Visitor Center at 3 Hoosac St., can be kept and moved to the new facility.
"I think a lot of our office furniture is still in good condition," she said. "We're just going to move it over to the new space as long as it fits and can get through the doors."
Two significant needs, Fontaine said, are cabinets and kitchen equipment like silverware and plates. She said there is donation money that was set aside explicitly for cabinets.
"We don't have a lot of storage cabinets," she said. "So we're gonna need a lot of cabinets for storage in the event spaces and round tables for the space for lunches and events."
Green said one advantage of the move to the Memorial Building could allow the COA to expand to help service more communities in the county. The COA entered a one-year Council on Aging agreement with Savoy in November.
"We'd love to crack a few other communities," he said. "That's one of the reasons why we like Memorial, is we think we've got the ability to host there down the road. So that's kind of a future goal."
Fontaine said she is hopeful the council can expand its programming in the new building. She explained the extent of new programming depends on how they can use the space.
"The goal is to get us in there with our existing programming first, see what the space is like and how we can use it," she said. "And then Barbara [Proper] and I can work together on additional programming."
Tags: COA, memorial building,
