Shuffled around for two years, a seniors’ group next month returns to a renovated former Gorham school, but the Town Council Tuesday did not grant the group dedicated space.

The Lakes Region Senior Center had called the old Little Falls School on Acorn Street its home until September 2013 when the town closed the building for extensive repairs. Rehabbed as the Activity Center at Little Falls, the building re-opened last month.

Town officials welcome the return of the group, but the seniors could wind up someday sharing space in the renovated building with another group.

The Town Council on Tuesday shot down a measure with a 2-5 vote that would have dedicated a classroom for exclusive use by the seniors group. Town Council Vice Chairman Bruce Roullard and Councilor Sherrie Benner backed the dedicated space proposal.

But, the board’s action this week did not deny seniors meeting in the former school.

“I’m happy they’re going to be in there,” Roullard said during a meeting recess.

In a statement echoed by Benner, Roullard said, “We support seniors in Gorham.”

Town Council opposition worried that dedicating space would establish a precedent and that Gorham taxpayers would be subsidizing other communities, as the Lakes Region Senior Center membership includes residents of other towns.

The seniors have been nomadic since the old school building closed for repairs. This winter, the group had a roof over its head at the United Church of Christ at North Gorham after previously meeting at a golf course clubhouse and then last summer at the White Rock Grange hall, which is not winterized.

In April, the Lakes Region Senior Center returns to the refurbished Little Falls building where the group began meeting in 2011.

“I personally hope that the council’s action last evening will be perceived as positive because they almost unanimously spoke in favor of granting LRSC what they wanted, return to what was made available previously,” David Alexander, a seniors’ member, said in an email to the American Journal on Wednesday.

Extensive repairs at the old school cost nearly $500,000. Voters in 2012 had approved borrowing money to upgrade the building, but the referendum ballot item did not specify a reuse for the facility.

After voters in 2013 rejected building a $6.3 million public safety complex at the school site, the town earmarked the old school for activities. The Gorham Recreation Department schedules community groups requesting use of the renovated building.

Several from the Lakes Region Senior Center attended Tuesday’s Town Council meeting. Blanche Alexander of White Rock, president of the group, presented a petition with 37 signatures supporting her group’s quest for dedicated space.

Alexander said the group’s programs offer seniors a place to socialize.

“Our common interest is to keep the juices flowing,” she said.

Backing the seniors, Marla Stelk of Johnson Road favored dedicated space.

“Seniors are a tremendous asset to our community,” Stelk said. “I’m fully in support of this.”

Michael Phinney, Town Council chairman, said he had concerns about a group given space at taxpayers’ expense.

“We’ve done a lot to support seniors and the Lakes Region Senior Center,” Phinney said.

Phinney and Town Councilor Matthew Robinson voiced concern about creating a precedent. Phinney indicated that, if a space problem developed, the seniors’ group could return to the Town Council to seek help.

An amendment proposed by Town Councilor Benjamin Hartwell would have granted dedicated space in a Little Falls classroom for a senior center instead of specifically for the Lakes Region Senior Center. But the Town Council rejected Hartwell’s suggestion.

During the Town Council recess, Roullard thought it might be time to open discussions on a formal senior center in Gorham.

Copy the Story Link