COA Director Debbie Thompson told the Press the move from Hildreth House to the new building is scheduled for May 25 or 26. On Tuesday, May 30, she is hoping to open the doors to Harvard’s seniors, welcoming them to the first lunch to be served in the new 90-seat dining room.
The building was originally scheduled to be move-in ready by last fall, but a steep increase in HVAC prices in the summer of 2022 caused bids to come in at nearly $400,000 more than the town voted for the project, delaying its scheduled start date. The Select Board eventually voted to cover the cost overrun with American Rescue Plan Act funds, and demolition began last July, but supply-chain problems caused the schedule to slip again, first to February, then to April.
Thompson said the building is now “99.9%” done, with only inspection paperwork and issuance of the certificate of occupancy remaining to be completed. She said she and her staff are busy packing, but not everything will be moving with them. Some furniture is too big for the new offices, which are much smaller than the offices in Hildreth House. “We lose some office space,” she said, “but we gain space to serve a lot of people in the new multipurpose room.”
In addition, the new senior center will have an outdoor patio, with awnings, at the rear of the building. Thompson said the Lions Club gave a generous donation for purchasing tables and chairs for the patio. Money from the COA’s gift account and a private donation is paying for the raised beds that Three Seasons Landscaping is building next to the patio, and a gift from the Friends of the Nashoba Valley Medical Center will provide the flowers, herbs, and vegetables that will be planted in those beds. “We want it to feel like an oasis,” Thompson said.
Hildreth House will remain open through Wednesday, May 24, and lunch will be served there as usual on Tuesday, May 23. The building will be closed May 25 and 26 if the move goes forward as scheduled. Thompson said she hopes the senior center will only have to miss one lunch, typically served every Tuesday and Thursday. “We know lunches are especially important to our seniors,” she added, and said everything in the new kitchen is “plugged in and ready to go.”
A new home for land use boards
Town Administrator Tim Bragan told the Press the facilities manager and the four town employees who work for the land use boards (Planning Board, Conservation Commission, Board of Health, and Zoning Board of Appeals) will move from Town Hall into Hildreth House’s vacated office space sometime in June. The large rooms downstairs will continue to be available for public meetings.
When the move from Town Hall to Hildreth House is complete, Bragan will move into the office currently occupied by Jeff Hays, the facilities manager and building commissioner. He said the office he is in now is basically a closet, and it will be used as a storage room. The veterans’ agent and the assessor, who are not in the office every day, will move into the land use offices. The current shortage of space in Town Hall means that one full-time employee must work from home when the assessor is in the office. The remainder of the land use area will be available for private meetings.
