HADLEY — While it has been known for several months that the town’s senior center will have to vacate Hooker School when the building is razed this spring to make way for a new library, town officials are still trying to determine how the rent and other associated costs for temporary quarters will be covered.
The Select Board this week set a Feb. 6 deadline by which a plan will be in place, with financial assistance coming from the library project to pay for the senior center’s move to Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, where it is expected to remain until its own new $7.1 million building opens in late April 2020.
Town Administrator David Nixon presented to the board this week a contract with The Colebrook Group of Springfield in which the town would pay $67,800 rent to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield so the senior center can move by mid-March. The contract can also be extended on a monthly basis at $5,650 per month.
But before this contract can be signed, Select Board members on Wednesday told library trustees they need to be assured the town has the money to pay for at least 13 months of rent, as well as about $5,000 in taxes on the church property.
Select Board member Molly Keegan said the town doesn’t have the money available to enter into this contract until trustees pledge to provide money from its $8 million project.
The reason trustees are being asked for this contribution is that the project timeline is being sped up, with estimated savings of $7,000 per week, or $364,000 for the year, said Select Board member Christian Stanley. Stanley observes that these savings are hard to quantify and are based on costs going up over time.
Jo-Ann Konieczny, chairwoman of the trustees, said she saw this week’s meeting as the beginning of an amicable discussion that will lead to committing a set amount of money so that the library groundbreaking can happen by summer.
“We have agreed to pay for that (senior center) temporary space because it would save us so much money,” Konieczny said. “That’s why it’s worth it to us.”
The initial proposal from the trustees was to pay half of approximately $26,000, which was calculated as the additional rental costs and subtracting out what the town already pays for heat and utilities at the Hooker School.
But Keegan said the cost to the town is over $70,000 when factoring in rent, taxes, moving expenses, remodeling existing space and connecting new phone and Internet lines.
There are also additional expenses, not yet calculated, related to relocating the offices of the Planning Board, Hadley Media, Park and Recreation from Hooker School to both Town Hall and the Goodwin Library.
Select Board member David Fill said the town would likely need between $50,000 and $60,000 in new money to cover the costs of the expedited demolition of Hooker.
The senior center project remains on track to begin March 1, with bids for a general contractor to be opened Feb. 20, Nixon said. Bid specifications for the library are still being developed and will be advertised in the coming weeks.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
