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Date: 12/28/2022
WILBRAHAM – Two members of the Wilbraham Finance Committee have taken to social media with concerns about the cost and transparency of the senior center project, which is in the initial stages. Board of Selectmen Chair Carolyn Brennan told Reminder Publishing that the information shared on Facebook varies from inaccurate to “way off.”
With the preparation of the site for the new senior center at the rear of 240 Springfield St., a strip of trees will separate the future building from its abutter, the Country Club of Wilbraham’s golf course.
Finance Committee Vice Chair Marc Ducey stated on a Facebook community forum, “Apparently, where the new Senior Center is being placed will infringe upon the golf course.” According to Brennan, however, that is not accurate.
Brennan said the concern is that golf balls from the course’s fifth hole may fly through the wooded area between the two properties and strike the building, a car or a person. To address this, the Board of Selectmen and the country club have been negotiating a solution throughout the late fall and early winter.
In the end, the parties agreed to alter the golf course in exchange for a period in which the country club will not pay the lease on the town owned land it is located upon. While nets between the properties were considered, Brennan said the cost was slightly higher than the cost of changing the course. “This is cost effective and beneficial for the town and the country club. When the Country Club of Wilbraham flourishes, the town benefits,” Brennan said.
The negotiations were “very thoughtfully” carried out with “careful” consideration, Brennan told Reminder Publishing, adding “We certainly wouldn’t have made this [decision] if it were going to hurt the town.”
Transparency
Brennan said she was “very discouraged as an elected official” that Ducey and Finance Committee member Todd Schneider both commented on the topic on Facebook before the executive session minutes had been finalized.
In his social media post, Ducey stated, “There is no requirement [that] these discussions had to be conducted in executive session and kept the public in the dark.”
Brennan disagreed, however. She explained that anytime there is a contract or negotiation on the table, it is discussed in executive session to ensure strategies are not shared prematurely or otherwise adversely affect the town’s bargaining position.
Massachusetts Genral Law Chapter 30A, Section 21 states that executive session is appropriate, “To consider the purchase, exchange, lease or value of real property if the chair declares that an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the negotiating position of the public body.”
Cost
Transparency was not the only issue Ducey and Schneider expressed about the senior center. Ducey stated that the agreement between the board and the country club was to cease lease payments of $10,000 for 25 years and that this was a part of construction costs. Brennan clarified that the payments were $25,000 over 10 years. The total loss of income, $250,000, equals the cost of changing the golf course and stretches out the impact to the town.
This was not the first time Ducey expressed hesitation about the senior center project’s cost. When the lowest bidder for the project pulled out and more funding was discussed during an Oct. 17 joint meeting between the Finance Committee and the Board of Selectmen, Ducey said the increases in the project costs were great enough that a new Town Meeting should be conducted, and the new figures should be put to a vote by taxpayers. Because bids for the project had already been received and were only valid for 30 days, a Town Meeting could not be scheduled to consider the bid.
Schneider also took issue with the cost of the senior center project. In a comment related to Ducey’s Facebook post, Schneider said the original cost of the project passed at the Oct. 2021 Special Town Meeting was $11 million, and there was an estimated $790,000 of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding slated to be spent on water and sewer, as well as $2.2 million in ARPA funds to adress being “over budget.”
Additionally, Schneider said the decision made at an Oct. 31 joint Finance Committee and Board of Selectmen meeting to eliminate fixtures, furniture and equipment from the building to fund it later would cost $2 million. He also stated $750,000 was a “a placeholder amount” for a generator. Schneider estimated the total for the project at $16.5 million.
Schneider told Reminder Publishing that the figures he used came from the Board of Selectmen’s ARPA funding spreadsheet and discussions that have been had during Finance Committee and Board of Selectmen meetings.
Brennan disputed the figures Schneider posted, calling them “way off.”
At the Special Town Meeting in October 2021, voters approved $10.9 million for the new senior center. The Board of Selectmen and Finance Committee met before the Special Town Meeting on Oct. 17 of this year and approved $1,804,151 in ARPA funding to address the discrepancy between the bidder that had pulled out of the project and the next highest bidder, D.A. Sullivan & Sons. At the Oct. 31 meeting, an additional $380,000 in ARPA funds was added to the budget to meet the bid from P&P General Contractors after D.A. Sullivan & Sons also retracted its bid. This brings the town funding to $13,084,151.
Director of Elder Affairs Paula Dubord explained that the town funding number includes $607,805 in “contingencies.” She also said the sewer system is “being pursued using ARPA funds” and will supplement the “town hall aging septic system.” Further, she said the “new senior center will save [the] town money by hooking up to Town Hall sewer system.”
Dubord said the Friends of Wilbraham Seniors have pledged $230,000 to cover the costs of fixtures, furniture and equipment that were removed from the budget to meet the P&P General Contractors bid.
She quoted the cost of a generator at $163,700, however, a $50,000 earmark grant from the state has been received by the town toward this cost. With five other alternatives that had been considered for the project, totaling $151,000, Dubord said the total comes to $13,465,151. Brennan agreed with that figure.
If residents have questions or concerns, Brennan urged them to contact the Board of Selectmen or Dubord.
Reminder Publishing reached out to The Country Club of Wilbraham for comment but did not hear back by press time.