Tina Gorman, executive director of the Westfield COuncil on Aging, center, and Westfield Mayor Daniel Knapik, right, presented “All Things New Senior Center” during a meeting at the Senior Center last fall. Architects and project management were on hand to answer questions. (File photo by Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – Council On Aging Executive Director Tina Gorman spoke to the City Council members Thursday night to explain what services the agencies provides to the city’s 8,000 senior citizens and how the delivery of those services will be enhanced when a new senior center is constructed.
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik submitted a $7. 5 million bond request to the City Council to finance the construction of a new 20,000-square-foot facility on Noble Street, replacing the current 5,000-square-foot Main Street center.
An overview drawing of the proposed Westfield Senior Center that will be located on Noble Street. (File photo by Frederick Gore)
The city received 10 bids for the senior center construction project which included a base bid and “alternatives” included as add-ons to the base bid. The contract was structured with the lower cost options to ensure that the construction cost would fall below $7 million. The alternatives replace less expensive materials with better material, such as replacing concrete curbing with granite.
The apparent low bid was submitted by Forish Construction of Mainline Drive with a base price of $6,184,541 and a combined price of $6,324,625 for the construction and six alternates.
The Purchasing Department completed the vetting process of the contract submissions Friday. Purchasing Director Tammy Tefft said this morning that the Forish bid is the apparent low “responsible and eligible” bidder.
“Forish will be notified, contingent upon approval of the bond, that they are the general contractor,” Tefft said. “But I can’t award the contract until the second reading (and final approval) of the bond order by the City Council.”
Typically the actual construction is financed through bond anticipation notes (BANs) and the bond actually sold following competition of the project when the exact dollar amount is known.
Gorman said that the original push to construct a new senior center was initiated in 1996 by senior citizens themselves in letters to then Mayor Richard K. Sullivan Jr., City Council members and the Community Development Department.
The bond financing for the center construction was estimated in a 2009 five-year capital planning package at between $6 and $7 million and given an assessment as a high priority project. The $7.5 million bond before the City Council contains an 8 percent contingency, about $500,000, money which would not be used except to address unanticipated problems during construction.
“As you consider this bond request, let me be very clear about who we are and what we do,” Gorman said. “We serve as the city’s social service agency for its 8,000 older adults. Often the Council On Aging is the initial access point for information and referral by the city’s seniors and their family members. If we cannot meet all of the programmatic or service needs of the client, we work in collaboration with other community, state, and federal agencies.”
“Unlike other social service agencies,” she said. “the Council On Aging does not maintain a waiting list. We assist older adults and their families to the best of our ability regardless of whether they have limited income or a generous pension. We pick up the pieces when other agencies limit access to services because of stringent guidelines.”
“The Senior Center is not a recreation center,” Gorman said. “Do we offer recreational programming? Yes we do. We also offer educational programming, benefits counseling, wellness checks, support groups, medical equipment loans, tax preparation assistance, medical transportation, companionship services, telephone reassurance, information and referrals, brown bag food distribution, and crisis management. And the new Senior Center will also house Veterans Affairs so that our two departments can collaborate, maximizing resources for our mutual clients, from across the hall instead five blocks away in different buildings.
“Last fiscal year, we provided services to 2,000 older adults living in the city,” she said. “On the one hand, that is just 25 percent of Westfield’s seniors. We could do so much more with accessible rooms, private office space, and adequate parking. On the other hand, the fact that we were able to meet the diverse needs of 2,000 seniors is nothing short of miraculous.”
“In the coming weeks, members of various City Council subcommittees will recommend the fate of this 7.5 million dollar bond request,” she said. “As you do so, rest assured that the new Senior Center Building Committee has done its due diligence. We have visited new senior centers across the Commonwealth, sought input from other cities and towns who have gone through this process, and weighed initial cost factors against the expenses of maintenance and upkeep. We have considered the unique needs of the population who will be utilizing the building, the neighborhood in which the building will be built, as well as parking, safety, accessibility, and cost factors.”
The council members voted to refer the $7.5 million bond request to the Finance Committee for further review.
The Finance Committee is meeting Thursday to discuss the bond request and other city financial matters.
