Thursday, August 17, 2000 Older Editions

Are selectmen game for this youth center?

By Rebecca Piro

While the Andover Youth Foundation has a nearly-complete game plan for a youth center, the Board of Selectmen hasn't decided yet whether it's ready to play that game.

Selectmen did not take any action after AYF's first formal presentation Monday night, choosing instead to mull over their options before deciding whether a center in back of West Andover Fire Station is the town's best option.

AYF outlined a plan where the town would lease the triangle of land behind the station to the foundation for $1. AYF would erect a youth center on the land with private funds, and then return the completed center and land back to the town, said member Jerry Silverman.

Tom Urbelis advised selectmen that if they wanted to write a Request For Proposal before a writing a warrant article, the board had to vote on it Monday night. According to state statute, an RFP must be left open for 30 days, allowing the community a chance to respond. The selectmen will not meet again until early September, which will be too late to write an RFP and complete a warrant article before the November warrant closes on Sept. 29, he said.

Having a completed RFP allow officials to write a more detailed warrant article. But selectmen felt it was premature to try to squeeze an RFP into the small window of time before the warrant closes.

"The board was not ready to take any action last night," said Major. "This was the first time that we were publicly discussing the concept with the foundation."

"There are questions to be answered, information that we don't have. If everything is in place by November, terrific. But if not, I would hate to rush something that is probably desirable for the town. Things that get rushed often don't have good outcomes," said Selectman Mary French.

The proposed center could still end up on November's warrant, if the board opts to write a generic article, said Major. Selectmen could write an article with limited details, not using the RFP, so that the youth center would be guaranteed a spot on the fall warrant.

But some residents argued that voters would be more inclined to reject a proposal with such sketchy details.

Selectmen set aside Sept. 5 to discuss youth-center issues and decide whether to put the center on the November warrant, said Major. At that work session, selectmen will start at the beginning, questioning whether a youth center is needed at all, and then ask whether the proposed "grandiose" building is excessive, as resident Mary Carbone argued.

AYF members said that they did not intend for selectmen to make a decision that same night. They say they realize that the board still needs to explore all the options before accepting any one plan.

It is not that the board is any less eager than AYF to see the youth center get rolling, said Major. Rather, selectmen want to make sure all options have been thoroughly investigated. And that track is not necessarily the fast track, he said.

"I'm very eager to have the town take a look at an option that provides private funding in order to accomplish this task," said Major. "What does that mean as to November versus April? I'm not sold either way yet."

Of course, selectmen could decide that creating an RFP before any warrant article is the best way to go, in which case the youth center would be pushed off to spring Town Meeting, said Major.

If the center is to secure a place on the special Town Meeting warrant, the board will have to make a decision by the Sept. 25 selectmen's meeting -- only four days before the warrant closes, said Selectman John Hess.

In addition to the Sept. 5 work session, the board will sponsor a public forum dedicated to youth center issues on Monday, Sept. 18, Major said.