Thursday, September 23, 1999 Older Editions

Selectmen endorse senior center lease

By Neil Fater

Did selectmen's decision to support leasing Williams Hall for a new senior center lift a great weight from the shoulders of senior center advocates?

"If you use the word wait, W-A-I-T, instead of weight," says Dorothy Bresnahan, Council on Aging president. "It's been years and years and years."

But Andover took another step last Thursday to possibly creating its first stand-alone senior center, when selectmen voted, on a 3-2 split, to approve a proposed 30-year lease of Phillips Academy's Will Hall. The plan is for the town to renovate, expand and turn Will Hall into a senior center, using money raised by the private Friends of Andover fund-raising group.

As expected, selectmen Mary French, Brian Major and John Hess supported the lease, and selectmen Lori Becker and Larry Larsen opposed it.

Despite the presence of then-Tropical Storm Floyd whipping rain and wind outside, selectmen held a special session to consider the lease Thursday, Sept. 16. Some minor changes to the lease were made as a result of selectmen's questions.

Although she was against the lease option, Becker had the most questions about it.

"I think that's my responsibility. If I don't agree with it, it certainly doesn't restrict me from working on it," says Becker. "I feel I have every right to help the town get the best lease it can."

Now, senior center advocates only need to wait for two things before they see a ground-breaking ceremony:

o Phillips Academy's Board of Trustees must agree to the modifications in the lease selectmen have supported, and

o the Friends of the Andover Seniors must raise the more than $4 million needed to renovate and expand Williams Hall.

"We're very happy to have the vote passed, and have the politics behind us," says Doreen Correnti, Friends president.

Correnti said Monday she doesn't know exactly how much the Friends have raised to date, but says there are no longer any obstacles in the way of fund raising (see related story, at right).

The Friends, founded in 1993 specifically to raise funds for a new center, will have about 21 more months to raise the necessary money.

According to the lease supported by selectmen, the town must tell Phillips by July 1, 2000, how much the project will cost, and how much the Friends group has raised, or Phillips can terminate the lease as of Aug. 1, 2000.

By May 1, 2001 the town must let Phillips know it wants to go ahead with the lease and confirm that it has, "or in the immediate future expects to have, sufficient funds" for the job.

The estimated cost of the proposed Will Hall option is $4.2 million in 1999 dollars. Finance Committee chairman Don Schroeder says the proposed project may cost as much as $4.8 million because of the rising cost of construction.

Although Selectman Larry Larsen has said he doesn't believe the Friends can raise the necessary money, Friends and Council on Aging members such as Dorothy Bresnahan say there's no question they will.

"I think everyone is entitled to their opinion. I also know (Larsen) has said he has inside sources that say (the Friends) can't raise the money," says Correnti.

Correnti says the Will Hall option is the best of those in the downtown area. Yet she says she wishes residents wouldn't look at the Will Hall option as merely "a bricks-and-mortar sort of thing," because of the benefits a new center will bring to seniors.