Adams COA Director Confident of Move to Memorial Building Despite Delays
ADAMS, Mass. — While there is still no date set for the Council on Aging's move to the former Memorial School Building, COA Director Sarah Fontaine said she is confident in the building's progress.
"It's exciting," she said. "Things are starting to happen. And I have a feeling once they start, it's going to go quickly."
Fontaine updated the council on the project's status on Monday and said work on the kitchen is picking up. Fontaine said last month that work on the kitchen facilities, among other things, has caused a delay in the COA's move to the building.
COA outreach coordinator Barbara Proper and Fontaine worked with Scott's Inside-Out in Pittsfield for consultation on cabinets and plan on ordering them this week. Electrical, plumbing and other work-related needs for the kitchen, Proper said, are also in the works.
"She came up, she measured, and it's so detailed. It's going to be beautiful," Proper said.
Fontaine said the bathrooms, which she previously said might not be complete in time for the move, are now planned to be finished beforehand. While this may shift the timing for moving back further, Fontaine said it is worth it.
"I would rather push our timeline back and have multiple fully functioning bathrooms than working with what's there currently."
Aside from the significant work still left to be done in the building, Fontaine said the facilities staff is still working on smaller projects.
"They're ticking away at our work list of stuff that needs to get done ... they're doing a great job," she said. "Their staff is limited as well. So whenever they get some time, they head over there and start doing stuff on the list. When we went over, it was looking pretty good."
Fontaine said council members and others should get a chance to see the building before the COA entirely moves its operations there.
"I believe they are going to be holding the town elections there the first week of May, so that's kind of like an open house. And I plan on being there," she said.
In other business, the COA plans on hosting several events for its volunteers in honor of national volunteer month. The first is scheduled for April 26 for volunteers at the COA's mobile food bank and will immediately follow the mobile food bank event.
The second event, set for April 28, is a buffet luncheon at the McCann Technical School tea room.
"Those invitations should be going out this week," she said. "And that's going to be for more of our daily operations; our lunch program volunteers, our drivers, our boards; COA and friend, everyone who helps run our day-to-day operations."
Fontaine said the council's touch screen scanner, which COA volunteers used before the COVID-19 pandemic to log their hours, is operational again. Fontaine said this should help the COA keep more accurate data on volunteer hours.
"We're in the process of trying to complete a lot of reports for 2021. And I know our volunteer hours are down because not everyone's reporting them to us," she said.
Tags: COA,
