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Council raises safety, access and layout concerns ahead of phase‑2 construction at Lynn senior center
Summary
Members of the Lynn City Council on Aging rehearsed safety and layout concerns before a phase‑2 meeting on upstairs construction, urging planners to consider removing interior walls, adding an office and ensuring supervised access when the second floor reopens.
Chair Jakudas and members of the Lynn City Council on Aging spent a portion of the meeting discussing phase 2 of construction for the senior center’s upstairs space and the operational implications of reopening the second floor.
Tanya, the senior center director, told the board she will attend a phase‑2 meeting with city staff and additional stakeholders and will report back after that meeting. Board members urged planners to consider fewer small rooms and more open, flexible space that could accommodate a meeting room; Debbie said she “hopes that in the budget they can figure out some area where if needed for walls to come down, that they would be able to do that.”
Why it matters: the upstairs layout and access control affect daily operations, privacy for case management, emergency response and whether classes will run if staff are not present. Board members highlighted the need for at least one administrative office upstairs and better communications between floors before allowing unsupervised activities.
Discussion highlights: Debbie and other members raised safety concerns about staffing the second floor. Tanya and Director Best said they would not staff the second floor with only volunteers and emphasized that the building has multiple access points that need to be controlled. Board members pressed for clarity about stair and elevator convergence points and asked staff to verify which access doors are locked and what emergency egress would allow.
Other board members recommended surveying how nearby centers operate. One member said the Salem center’s second floor is staffed and noted that administrative offices upstairs create a constant staff presence. The council also discussed possible technical measures such as incident reporting and cameras, but Tanya said those would be budget items requiring further review.
Next steps captured in the meeting: Tanya will raise the board’s concerns — floor plan flexibility, a dedicated office upstairs, communication systems and access control — at her phase‑2 meeting with city staff the following day and will email council members with updates.
