Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 2/13/2023
SOUTHAMPTON – The Ad Hoc Senior Center Feasability Committee and Public Safety Building Committee (PSBC) met on Feb. 2 to see if either group had settled on any of over half-a-dozen possible sites in town for a new public safety complex or senior center.
The PSBC, being a building committee, suggests the planning and construction of a new public safety complex is further along in the process. True or not, the group hit snags in its efforts to find a design firm. Kristina Madsen, co-chair of the PSBC, offered the bad news about the latest solicitation: no takers.
Madsen said that at the committee’s meeting on Jan. 18, “We learned that there had again been no responses to our second RFQ (request for qualifications) by the Jan. 12 deadline.” The RFQ sought information from firms interested in designing the public safety complex that establishes their suitability to do the work.
“So we again revised that RFQ further, relaxing a few of the requirements, and replaced the fee limit with the fee to be negotiated.”
Town Administrator Ed Gibson told Madsen the third version of the RFQ would appear in the Daily Hampshire Gazette the following day, Feb. 10, and in the Central Registry on Feb. 15. Deadline for questions from interested designers are due by March 2, with a deadline for new submissions of March 16.
“We are, once again, waiting and hoping to receive some submissions for the RFQ,” Madsen said.
Andrew LaFosse, co-chair with Janet Cain of the ad hoc committee, summarized progress on the senior center. LaFosse voiced the ad hoc committee’s desire to work together with the PSBC toward a jointly satisfying choice of locations for both structures. Cain also pointed out that residents need to know the new senior center is being built not as a competing project, but because a generous donor bequeathed money to build a new center.
“We don’t want to be in competition,” Cain said. “We just have a deadline we need to meet…and we don’t have all the answers yet.”
The ad hoc committee is under time pressure. A feasibility study for the new senior center needs to be completed by May 17. That date marks the second anniversary of the death of resident David “Red” Parsons. Parsons left the town $2.5 million toward the construction of a new senior center, payable in total only if a feasibility study is completed by the May 17 deadline.
LaFosse told members of the PSBC that a consulting firm, Abacus Design and Build, evaluated seven sites. Abacus hosted an informational meeting with local seniors to learn what they want and need in a senior center. The consultants also fielded an online survey to see how many elderly used the current senior center and for what purposes.
“Given the constraints of some of the sites under consideration,” LaFosse said, “it’s good information to have. There’s a limitation to square footage” of a site, which cannot be too small. Ad hoc committee members also saw the need for long-range planning and sought the data on the senior population. “It would be good to not only plan for the next five years, but beyond that as well.”
Abacus created conceptual floor plans for a senior center on several of the sites. A company principal, David Eisen, offered to carry out additional surveys to help the PSBC better understand its options. Maureen Groden, representative of the Select Board, noted the RFQ was already in circulation.
Eisen offered insight into why the RFQ drew no responses. He reached out to a public safety design firm his company works with. The bad news, he said, is the industry is chock full of that kind of work.
“I reached out to one applicant, why didn’t he apply?” Eisen said. “Their answer was, we’re up to our eyeballs with public safety buildings. Everyone who does public safety buildings has a ton of them.”
Discussion also revealed that both committees see overlap. The same three or four properties are most suitable for both projects. Cain confirmed, after the discussion, that 210 College Hwy., 0 College Hwy., 79 Clark St. and 89 Clark St. are the four sites highest on the radar for a senior center. Among PSBC members, the consensus suggested those properties were also viewed as most suitable for the new public safety complex.
Discussion turned to the next public meeting about the senior center, scheduled for March 1, when Abacus consultants will meet with town seniors to talk about survey results. Further input on the senior center design from local seniors is also a primary goal for the meeting, a further preparation for completing the feasibility study by the May 17 target.
Madsen also announced the PSBC has a new member at large, Mark Manchino, who has a background in systems management. Madsen said, “We anticipate he will be a great addition to our committee.“