Senior Center plans moving forward

Date: 2/8/2012

Feb. 8, 2012

By Debbie Gardner

debbieg@thereminder.com

WESTFIELD — Planning for the new Westfield Senor Center is inching toward phase two

Council on Aging (COA) Executive Director Tina Gorman told Reminder Publications that the center’s selection committee had received proposals from eight architectural firms regarding the project, and had conducted second interviews with three – Reinhardt Associates, Inc. of Agawam, designers of the Agawam Senior Center, Catlin Architecture, of Quincy, designers of the Holyoke Senior Center, and Dietz & Company Architects of Springfield.

She said the committee was “in the process of deciding” which of the three firms would receive the design contract.

She said the committee is also in the process of working through a legal glitch regarding the previously selected Noble Street site for the new Senior Center.

“That piece of property was willed to the Westfield Housing Authority by Mary Noble, and because of the provisions of the will, we need to get the permission of the Probate Court to use the site for the center,” Gorman explained.

She said the committee was working with the city’s Law Department to find a solution to this problem.

According to Gorman, during the exploratory phase for the new center, the committee hired Diversified Property Management to act as project manager. Initial money to fund this phase of the project came from a senior center building account that had previously been established [by the COA]. Funding for the actual construction of the center would require the city to authorize a bond.

“The mayor will request a bond through the City Council,” Gorman said, adding that she would like to “get the schematic design done first and then submit the proposal to the City Council” for bond approval.

Gorman added that the Friends of the Westfield Senior Center are actively fund-raising to purchase the furniture for the new center when the building is completed.