Retirement News : Seniors : Windham town hall project will displace children, seniors

Windham town hall project will displace children, seniors

Date Added: 23-06-2005

Windham officials hope that an expansion of office space at the municipal center doesn't leave early childhood development and senior programs without a home.

The town is making plans to renovate the annex building connected to the municipal center to make new space for the town clerk, Planning Department and other offices.

The annex houses a Head Start program and a meal service for area senior citizens.

Windham's annual budget for next year included $295,000 for the project, which would cover around 7,000 square feet.

The construction work is slated to begin late this year, so planners are using the time to find a space for both programs.

Town officials hope to keep the services in Windham because of their impact on residents.

"Senior meal nights and Head Start have a great deal of value to the community and we want them to stay," said Town Manager Tony Plante.

Since the late 1990s, Windham has been assessing its space issues as the need for town services has grown along with the town's population.

The annex, which opened in the 1950s, has seen many uses, including a kindergarten center before the Windham Primary School was built, Plante said.

Planners are now working on designs for the inside of the annex, Plante said. They hope to put the services that see the most use, including tax collection, motor vehicle registration and the town clerk, in the renovated wing.

Both commercial and town-owned spaces are being looked at for the displaced programs, said Tom Bartell, former Windham town councilor and director of facilities and technology at the People's Regional Opportunity Program.

PROP has been operating the Head Start program in Windham for around six years. The Southern Maine Area Agency on Aging runs the senior meal service.

Bartell, who took part in discussions on the project before leaving the Town Council this summer, said it would be good to keep the two programs together in any new space.

"You need a nice comfortable place for seniors to come and a place they can call their own," he said. "And you need a sense of permanence for the Head Start program and the children there."

Bartell said the two worked well in the annex, with the senior meal service providing food for Head Start at times. Bartell and others hope to find a place as centrally located and easily accessible as the annex building.

Councilor David Tobin said it won't be an easy decision to break up the two groups.

For More Information: http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/local/050622renovate.shtml