The town of Lanesborough is moving forward with planning for a 'seniors' park.

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The town's Senior Park Initiative is shaping up with four official members.

Last week, the Select Board voted to appoint Linda Pruyne, James Neureuther, William Cook, and Preston Repenning to the committee. The deadline for citizens' interest forms was extended to give more residents a chance to join the effort.

Pruyne told the board that they would love to start working on the project, which proposes the addition of senior-friendly activities to the underutilized Bridge Street Park.

"Just to keep it simple and have it available and start getting some use out of it," she said.

A couple of weeks prior, the board voted to form a Lanesborough Senior Park Initiative after being approached by Pruyne. Utilizing the existing infrastructure, the planners feel they may be able to install a small gazebo for shade, a pickle ball court, and a Whiffle ball field. It was also designed with easy accessibility with paths, nearby parking, and handicap-accessible tables.

The proposal is of no cost to the town and is planned to be paid through fundraising.

Members filled out citizens' interest forms in order to be appointed.

Selectman Timothy Sorrell emphasized the importance of communication with other town panels such as the Recreation Committee.

"I spoke to somebody from the Rec Committee and supposedly there is a planning stage at some point of when they start redoing that bridge to have them do some work down there at the same time," he said.

Pruyne said that is the intention. Reportedly, the committee would like to keep the T-ball on the site and the senior park plan's Whiffle ball field is the same size as a T-ball field.

Sorrell also asked if it would make sense for this to fall under the auspices of the Council on Aging and increase its budget for maintenance so that the park doesn't fall apart. Pruyne emphasized that the build is planned to be paid for with fundraising but said they would take money for the upkeep.

She recognized that the initiative's efforts are similar to the COA but instead of gathering in the community room, they will be gathering for outdoor recreation.

"It will definitely be a coordinated effort there," she said.

In other news, the board voted to increase the town collector to a 32-hour full-time week.

"There has been a lot of change in Town Hall over the past year or two and certainly since, I think, October last year, so it was 12 months, we did not have a full-time treasurer or collector we had some permutation and it is my view that at this point having observed the last seven months of that office, a part-time collector is not manageable," Town Administrator Gina Dario said.

"And that's not just because a part-time collector can't manage the time part time. What that means is that the treasurer, the treasurer collector, ends up dedicating half of their time doing the collection services."

The town has a contract with the water district to support it with collector services and Dario said the strain was making things fall by the wayside.

"The treasurer position really needs to have that focus on the fiscal policy, working very closely with the accountant, and the collector really has to have that more front-facing support but the redundancy is what we're building now," she said.

The board also voted to purchase four new automated external defibrillators that will be at Town Hall, the Department of Public Works building and Lanesborough Elementary School.

Emergency Medical Services Director Jen Weber explained that several of the town's AEDs are malfunctioning or not working at all. The board voted to purchase the life-saving devices and, during the months that it takes to obtain it, will look for funding.

"I will tell you that the two here are both not functioning at all," she said about the ones located at the town's offices.

The elementary school is required to have an AED and Weber explained that the EMS department will provide professional-level training on how to use them.

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