Community Center repairs taking more time

Foundation work at the Springfield Community Center is taking longer than originally expected and will delay the reopening of the home of the town’s recreation department and senior center.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150620/NEWS02/706209933

Community Center repairs taking more time By Susan Smallheer Staff Writer | June 20,2015 Email Article Print Article PHOTO BY LEN EMERY All-Seasons Construction workers frame custom-made concrete forms for concrete that will replace disintegrating pilasters that are holding up the Springfield Community Center building on lower Main Street. SPRINGFIELD — Foundation work at the Springfield Community Center is taking longer than originally expected and will delay the reopening of the home of the town’s recreation department and senior center. Town Manager Thomas Yennerell said Thursday that he now expects the center will reopen the week of July 17 “at the latest,” which he said is two weeks later than the original plan of July 1. He said that the foundation work would be completed by July 6, but that the building wouldn’t reopen until the new sidewalk along the side of the building is completed. Yennerell said that despite the additional time required, the town’s contract with All Seasons Construction would not increase. The town signed a contract with All Seasons for $93,712 to complete the work. The Springfield Senior Center is probably the town department that is most affected by the building’s closing, the town manager said. The building also is home to the town’s parks and recreation department, and the town delayed the closure of the building to coincide with a mostly outdoor schedule. Yennerell said the various activities sponsored by the senior center had been dispersed to different locations all over town. “They’ve even had a couple of events here in the Town H02all this week,” Yennerell said. Springfield Senior Center Director Terri Emerson was away Tuesday chaperoning a trip to Maine and couldn’t be reached for comment. But Yennerell said that the work was “just taking longer” than the original estimate. It took longer than planned to lift the building in order to rebuild the pilasters that were holding up the Main Street side of the building, he said. “I think the method to hold the building in place after the new pilasters are in place is a little more elaborate than we thought,” he said. The senior center’s ceramics program had to be temporarily put on hold last fall because of falling debris from the pilasters and other parts of the foundation.