Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Community Center topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Selectmen table $75,000 request for community center cost estimate pending counsel opinion
Summary
The Selectmen heard a detailed presentation on a proposed community center (Firehouse/MED buildings) and agreed to table a request to withdraw $75,000 from the Firehouse Community Center Capital Reserve Fund for design and construction cost estimating until town counsel reviews whether the fund may be used for the broader study.
The Wolfeboro Board of Selectmen on Jan. 22 heard a detailed presentation from consultants and town volunteers about a proposed community center that would reuse two municipal properties — the former municipal electric department (MED) building and the old firehouse at 32 Lerner Street — and study site connections to adjacent recreation facilities.
The consultants (Ty and Bonn / Winter Holben team) presented a project scope that would include hazardous materials follow-up, conceptual designs for both buildings and the site, program planning (senior center, multipurpose community space, possible commercial kitchen) and an opinion of probable construction cost. Presenters said the work would produce graphics and a cost estimate usable for fundraising and a future warrant article.
Town staff and members of the community asked whether $75,000 could be taken now from the Firehouse Community Center Capital Reserve Fund to pay for the schematic/conceptual work. Several selectmen expressed concern that the capital reserve fund’s enabling language may limit use to the firehouse facility itself and not to work centered on the MED building or town-wide site improvements. The board asked town counsel to review whether the fund’s charter allows the requested expenditure.
The board voted to table the request until the town attorney issues an opinion; Selectmen said, if counsel determines the fund cannot be used for that scope, staff or petitioners may propose a warrant article next year to expand or re-purpose the reserve fund.
Supporters from the community — including representatives of the Wolfeboro Senior Club and members of the project subcommittee — spoke in favor of moving the study forward so the town could seek grants and private fundraising with more concrete cost estimates. Selectmen acknowledged the project ties to earlier downtown “charrette” planning and the town’s Capital Improvements Program, but emphasized fiscal and statutory constraints.
