City Council debates request to keep Senior Center open past 5

April 27, 2022 | Hannah Murphy
hmurphy@thereminder.com

AGAWAM — City councilors disagreed last week not only on whether the Senior Center should return to its pre-coronavirus pandemic schedule with later hours, but also on whether they should be making that decision at all.

Councilor George Bitzas proposed mandating that the 954 Main St. building stay open until 8 or 9 p.m. on weekdays, saying he’s heard requests from numerous seniors to return to longer hours. This would allow for longer use of the gym, billiards room and other Senior Center facilities, which currently close at 5 p.m.

“The Senior Center is important to the community as it is a good community space,” said Bitzas. “The center cannot operate with rigid business hours. This is a place of community service; these hours should be flexible. The activities that occur should not be urged to close or be shut off early.”

Though the center’s activities are designed for people aged 55 and older, councilors said in the past, with longer hours, seniors’ adult children were able to join them at the center after their work day ended.

“They have worked hard all their lives, paid their taxes, and gave back to the community, they deserve this,” added Bitzas. “We have to do the jobs that the people elected us to do, that’s why we got elected, that is what our job is to help the people, to answer the people.”

Councilor Rosemary Sandlin, however, said this shouldn’t be the council’s concern. If the council does anything, it should wait until it can hear from Mayor William Sapelli and Senior Center Director Michael Squindo, she said.

“The mayor knows the budget, and this is what is called meddling, this is an administrative issue,” Sandlin said. “An operative administrator should be a part of this decision, and I think we should table it, so we can include what the mayor and director thinks is best.”

Her colleague Paul Cavallo agreed.

“I would like to table this, and I will approve of this if the director agrees with this change,” he said.

Councilor Cecilia Calabrese said she isn’t looking to usurp the mayor’s authority, but only to communicate what her constituents have said.

“We are conveying the message from the seniors … and we need to send a message to administration our seniors have contacted us to request hours,” she said. “It is not a demand, it is a request that the Senior Center stays open ’til 8.”

Councilors agreed to postpone any action until their next meeting, which is expected to be May 2.

Share this: