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Date: 6/13/2022
LUDLOW – During the Ludlow Board of Selectmen’s June 6 meeting, the board met with representatives from the Ludlow Lions Club to discuss repairs to the gazebo in Memorial Park.
To begin the gazebo discussion, Lions Club President Maureen Beauregard said the gazebo was dedicated in honor of her father, Mack Donnelly and his community service work.
“In 1990 after my father died, they dedicated it to his name. My father was the type of person that he gave, gave, gave; he was on the finance board, the Boys and Girls Club, he did a lot of stuff. I think it’s a treasure of the town and I think he would too,” she said. “Bottom line is it’s for the town.”
Lions Club Treasurer Dennis Fountain detailed some of the required repairs for the gazebo.
“Two years ago, we went down and cleaned up the area; we pulled the weeds, picked up the trash and noticed the condition of the gazebo, which does need some attention. There is one board in the ceiling area that is rotting and needs to be replaced, it’s in serious need of paint stripping and repainting, we would like to do that as well. Our idea is to come in and pressure wash it and put tarps down so we can remove all of the paint that’s there, so it doesn’t seep into the ground, then repaint it,” he said.
Fountain also detailed damage to the plague and weeds infesting the gazebo.
“The dedication plaque is chipped and broken in some areas, we’d like to repair that and bring that back to its glory, we also want to continue with the weed process, there’s some flower beds we’ve been taking care of as well, we would like to continue with that,” he said.
Fountain said there was a plan in place to fix current issues with weeds, which would include removing the rocks and reinstalling a new weed barrier before putting the rocks back in place.
Along with the suggested repairs, Fountain said the club would like to take a yearly look at the gazebo to check on its condition. He added that members of the club have already signed waivers to do the work with the town. The town also would not be required to pay for the repairs.
Board member Bill Rosenblum said he was in favor of the repairs to the gazebo.
“It kind of goes hand in hand as Celebrate Ludlow is looking to go into that area also for this year, so sprucing it up – obviously, it needs to be done, it needs some work – thank you for doing it,” he said.
Fountain also clarified how the club would be pressure washing the boards and making sure that the times the gazebo would be taken apart would not interfere with any events in the park.
Board Chair Antonio Goncalves said currently the gazebo is off limits for events due to its condition.
“Maintenance as we know is a hot topic for a lot of areas in our town and to have a commitment from the Lions Club to do that for a treasure in this town is great. The only thing I would say is with the damage on it we have to make sure it is compliant with the standards once it’s all done,” he said.
The board unanimously agreed to allow the Lions Club to conduct renovations to the gazebo while also waiving any permitting fees for the work.
During the meeting, the board also agreed to create a temporary 25-hour administrative assistant position to float between town hall offices at the discretion of Town Administrator Marc Strange. The board also renamed one of the Police Department’s administrative assistant positions to an executive assistant because the position works closely with Chief Daniel Valadas on confidential matters.
The Ludlow Board of Selectmen next meets on June 21 and coverage of that meeting will appear in the June 30 edition of The Reminder.