Finance officials OK funds for center

The board of finance has authorized the payment of up to $25,000 for planning and design funds to study senior center options.

Town Finance Director Thomas Pesce said this morning the funding would come from a capital improvement account and would go toward planning, design and developing cost estimates.

It is to “see what they need,” Pesce explained.

Back in September, finance board members suggested to the senior center building committee that they would appropriate funding to hire an architect to evaluate the merits and possible costs of development for a site.

They voted on the appropriation at their regular meeting last week.

“It’s a big step in the right direction,” Windham First Selectman Jean de Smet said, adding the architect can study building a new senior center or utilize existing space for a senior center.

She said the town will likely develop an RFP for architectural services and send it out as the next step in the project.

Senior center building committee officials have considered a number of sites, though four options have been discussed publicly.

Those options include sharing space at the VFW - 1415 Main St., while others are the old Walgreens building at 1315 Main St., the old Willimantic Lumber and Coal Co. building at 87 Church St. and the Major Parcel at Jillson Square, though some seniors have voiced opposition to the Jillson site.

Senior center building officials said other parcels in Willimantic were considered, including the former Jillson Square movie theater, but the asking price was too high.

The costs to build a new senior center are unknown, but senior center and town officials had previously set a spending threshold of $5 million, but hoped to spend less on the project.

Selectmen were originally hoping to include a funding question on this fall’s ballot for the November election.

The ballot question would have asked if citizens wanted to fund a senior center, which would likely be paid for by bonded funds.

Because the town didn’t have a firm plan for the senior center, the finance board voted against sending the funding question to a November vote.

The McSweeney Regional Senior Center - located at 47 Crescent St. - has been home to seniors in the Windham area for the last 29 years, but officials are looking to relocate the site because the present center is too small, difficult to get to and doesn’t meet their needs.