Politics & Government
Board of Selectmen Approve Funds for New Recreation Office
The construction of the new Recreation Department office is underway, with Selectmen giving approval of funds used at its meeting this week.
The Board of Selectmen recently approved roughly $42,000 of funds to be used for the creation of the new Recreation Department office and the pre-school program.
The Recreation Department currently has an office next to the pool area, and it has been deemed unfitting. To alleviate the problem, the Department will be switching to a room down the hall, with the pre-school program taking the current Recreation office. The current office will be cleared out and the door that leads to the pool area will be shut off.
“The preschool program is more appropriately sized for the other office,” Town Administrator Mike Jaillet said during this week’s meeting of the Board of Selectmen.
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Recreation Department Director David Burnes and Jaillet agree that the new office is better for the Recreation Department. It will allow for necessary meetings between chairs and coaches. The project will require the construction of some walls. It will cost roughly $17,000 for the new office and $25,000 for the preschool program, storage programs and furnishings.
Jaillet explained that there is $43,000 in a building capital account. However, he said that the Recreation Department also has a revolving account. The Board of Selectmen requested that about $5,000 comes from the revolving account. Jaillet said that he discussed this with Burnes this week.
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Construction in the office has begun, according to Jaillet. He said that the painting is already done and they are now onto electricity and utilities.
“We want it to be done over the course of the summer so everything is set for the fall,” said Jaillet. “We are hoping for both of the offices to be finished by the time school starts.”
The current office area will be converted to a pre-school program room, where programs are done for children from infant to six years old. Burnes, in an interview last month with Westwood Patch, said that it has been a long time coming, and that the summer is the optimal time to get this done.
The new Recreation office is located just down the hall from the current office, which is in the far wing of Westwood High School.
