WESTFIELD -The Council on Aging is planning to return to its 40 Main Street facility later this month if demolition work next door at Rocky’s Hardware is complete.
The COA moved to temporary offices in City Hall and leased space at St. John Lutheran Church on Broad Street for senior programs last August when the Main Street reconstruction, which included installing new sidewalks in front of the COA, and construction of a new Rocky’s store, made access to the COA unsafe for its patrons.
The Main Street sidewalk work has been completed, but the demolition of the old Rocky’s building, which abuts the Senior Center, is still ongoing. The commercial project, which began late last summer, also greatly reduced the availability of parking next to the center, requiring seniors to park elsewhere and walk through the road construction area of torn up sidewalks and pavement.
COA Executive Director Tina Gorman, speaking to the COA Board members Tuesday afternoon, said the timetable for returning to the Senior Center is being coordinated with the demolition work of the old Rocky’s building.
“The optimistic goal is to wrap up that demolition by the third week of January,” Gorman said. “I’ve begun to make preparations to move back to the Senior Center within a month if the (Rocky’s) demolition is on schedule.
“It will be a scramble to clean the building (of dust from the demolition) and put the furniture back,” she said.
Gorman, at an earlier COA board meeting, said the move back to 40 Main St., is a priority because of the tax preparation services provided to senior citizens through the agency. Those services typically peak after the new year, as residents submit their tax forms. The issue, Gorman said, is that the computers and software, provided to the COA through a grant, cannot be moved to another location.
The COA is currently scheduling tax return appointments for seniors on Mondays and Thursdays between 9 a.m. and noon, but that effort may be effected by the demolition of the Rocky’s building.
A COA staff member said this morning that the free program “is huge. A lot of seniors take advantage that service. No other programs are taking place at the center.”
