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Date: 8/15/2022
LUDLOW – The Ludlow Community Center/Randall Boys and Girls Club will have some new activities to offer residents in the near future after receiving approval from the Board of Selectmen to move forward with several capital projects.
The list of projects includes building a new commercial kitchen inside the club, improving and updating the baseball field, replacing flooring throughout the building, building a new outdoor multi-sport complex behind the club and installing water bottle filling stations.
Chile Salazar, the president and CEO of the Boys and Girls Club, said the club started with a large list of projects before meeting with the community to get feedback on what projects would be important to the community.
“I think it’s important to share the projects ultimately came down to our incredible team and the time we vetted in thinking about – not just what the latest crazes that our staff want to execute – but we really put a lot of thought into the focus group the club held a couple of months ago, where we had a variety of different stakeholders from town come together and share thoughts on what are the current assets in town and what are some of the gaps, some of the needs and some of the improvements,” she said.
Salazar said the idea for the kitchen was a direct result of the focus group meetings.
“There was a lot of talk around the access to food in town for some of our residents, so that quickly led to our team wanting to make a commitment to help address that. That way there would be an opportunity for us to partner with an organization like the survival center and maybe help to distribute resources to residents who might not be able to get across the bridge,” she said.
With the kitchen, Salazar said the hope is the club would also be able to host cooking classes and nutrition programs along with helping the community.
The cost for the kitchen includes $60,000 to cover the framework and building out of the area while the equipment will cost an additional $45,000.
When it came to the baseball field upgrades, Salazar said the club received a restrictive grant for the purpose of renovating the field.
“In addition to converting it to a regulation-sized softball field and laying down clay for longer, better maintenance, installing bleachers and building out two dugouts, we are also proposing that we build a concession stand with two ADA [American Disabilities Act]-compliant bathrooms,” she said.
As part of the improvements, there will be improved lighting at the pavilion to allow families to host barbecues and other activities in that area. The improved lighting will also allow for night games on the field. The new floodlights will be installed by Eversource, and the cost is included in the grant for installation along with the monthly use fee. Overall, this project comes in at about $160,000.
In terms of the flooring replacements, Salazar said the club will be investing $45,000 in grant funding to replace the flooring in the three preschool classrooms as well as in the club’s administrative office area.
Salazar said the idea for the new outdoor sports complex came from the fact that the club learned from the coronavirus pandemic that its members want to have a space to spend more time outside.
“It would include a basketball court, a pickleball court and a four-square court, so that way it meets all ages. It would include a gated fence with doorways so that it would be protected. We will also be investing in additional security cameras, and it also allows us to have all of our activity spaces in close proximity for better management and monitoring,” she said.
Salazar added that the complex will cost $100,000.
The idea behind replacing the water fountains with water-bottle filling stations came from a heightened sanitary awareness following COVID-19.
“If you’ve ever watched a five-year-old drink out of it, they dive into it and lick around the whole thing, it just doesn’t work for us, and we want to keep everyone as healthy as possible. No longer will any mouths be allowed near them, you can just stick your bottle underneath,” Salazar said.
While Salazar did not specify the price to install the stations, she said the costs would primarily be for plumbing work.
Because the town owns the building, the Board of Selectmen was required to vote to approve the projects and did so unanimously during its Aug. 9 meeting. However, the projects come at no cost to the town.