DEERFIELD — With a variety of projects slated to revitalize South Deerfield, the Select Board met with local legislators recently to update them on the town’s vision and talk about funding avenues.
Joined by Connecting Community Initiative Chair Denise Mason and Police Chief John Paciorek Jr., who serves as the committee’s vice chair, the Select Board briefed state Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, and Rep. Natalie Blais, D-Sunderland, on the town’s long-term goals and initial estimations on the projects.
Focused mainly on the South County Senior Center, the town updated Comerford and Blais on plans to rehabilitate the building, which has been shut down for nearly two years due to the pandemic as well as the discovery of mold and asbestos, and renovate it into a dual-use town hall and Community/Senior Center. The current Town Hall at 8 Conway St. would be torn down, but the Police Station would remain. The Senior Center is temporarily located at the Holy Family Roman Catholic Church.
According to Mason and Select Board member Carolyn Shores Ness, the town is looking at approximately $4 million to fully rehabilitate the building to prepare it for municipal use and another $7 million to renovate it, which would add an addition to the building and also install an elevator for increased accessibility.
In September, Paciorek said the rehabilitation process would cost anywhere from $1 million to $4 million. Shores Ness said the cost will most likely lean toward the higher end because the entire building is going to be addressed so that it will have more space for offices and storage.
“It’s a multi-story building and it doesn’t make sense to put money into a senior center,” Shores Ness said in a phone interview. She said a full rehabilitation and addition of a new center will help “reduce the square footage cost” of the building while maximizing the town’s benefit.
One challenge, Shores Ness told the legislators, is finding funding sources for these projects when so many other towns in Massachusetts are competing for similar money, but have professional grant writers on staff.
“We know there’s money coming, but honestly, we’re all volunteers and not paid professionals,” Shores Ness said at the meeting. “How do we access money for our shovel-ready projects?”
Mason added that Deerfield could be “a great pilot project for the state.” The other challenge is that the South County Senior Center is a three-town operation, but since Deerfield wants to combine it with town hall, Paciorek said it’d “be awkward asking Sunderland or Whately for a building in Deerfield.”
Comerford said there is $9.4 billion in infrastructure money coming to Massachusetts and there is a push for “state funding to fund municipal buildings.” To help facilitate Deerfield’s grant application process, Comerford suggested the town lay out a prioritized list of projects and what pools of money Deerfield wants to tap into. She also suggested the town contact her when it applies for a grant so she can advocate if necessary.
“Letting us know that you applied for a grant … is super important,” Comerford said. “There are instances where Deerfield says, ‘We can’t do that,’ and we can step in.”
The Select Board asked if Comerford would be able to independently earmark the $1 million for rehabilitation, but she said that is “out of reach for me,” noting she could only secure up to $500,000.
Blais said a “summit” between state and town officials could help Deerfield work through some funding avenues, but the town needs to be careful because resources like the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) are finite.
“We don’t want communities like Deerfield to rely on it,” Blais said about using ARPA money to establish huge municipal projects that towns may not be able to fund in the future.
However, she noted that with this money coming into the state, Deerfield should not miss the one-time chance to invest in infrastructure.
Paciorek said if “there’s billions pouring in, even a one-time injection would be massive” in helping the town get some of its projects underway.
“We’re in a generational position right now,” he said. “What better time to pounce on infrastructure in the western part of the state?”
Shores Ness said the town is seeking to leverage a variety of grants to get its projects rolling. She said officials are hoping they can get the biggest bang for their buck with each grant so the town can only pay approximately 20% of the total project cost.
“When you normally ask for grants, for every dollar you put in you get $3 or $4 if you’re lucky,” Shores Ness said, adding the town is seeking at least “$6 to $8 for every dollar we contribute.”
“It’s going to cost money, but hopefully green grants, municipal grants, ARPA money, all this stuff will add up,” she said. “If you don’t put it out, you won’t get it. We just have to keep hounding them.”
After the meeting, Mason told the Greenfield Recorder that the next steps are to lay out a comprehensive list on “all the projects and the grant funding we’re hoping to go for so (Blais and Comerford) can help us with that.”
“There’s a lot going on,” Mason said, “but I think Natalie and Jo are terrific and they’ll fight for us.”