$825,000 gift comes with a catch
Wellesley officials seem to be in an enviable position: They've been offered an $825,000 bequest to address the needs of the town's growing senior population.
The problem is that there are conditions attached to the gift.
If the town accepts the money from the estate of longtime Wellesley resident Mary "Billie" Tolles, her will stipulates that the money be used for the "founding, constructing and equipping [of] a senior center . . . on land or in a building provided for that purpose by the Town."
On April 15, the last night of Town Meeting, a vocal minority opposed a proposal to have the town spend $25,000 to study the feasibility of accepting the gift. One said it was an unnecessary expense because seniors don't use the space they have now at the Wellesley Community Center. Others said the town should not be looking to assume responsibility for yet another building.
"The study presupposes a separate, stand-alone building needs to be constructed," said Town Meeting member Andrew Knowland Jr. "The town is already struggling to maintain the buildings it already has."
Knowland and others urged the town to consider the use of existing buildings such as the town's recreation center, or the Wellesley Community Center, which is privately owned.
Selectwoman Harriet Warshaw, a member of a committee studying the gift, reminded Town Meeting that the Council on Aging rents about 1,000 square feet of space at the Community Center, and discussed an idea that some officials have pursued: using the bequest to renovate the center to establish a permanent designated space for seniors. To do so, the town would have to turn down the bequest, and the Tolles estate trustees could then give the money to the center. But after six months of negotiations with the center have failed to reach an agreement on the proposal, she said, "It's time for us to move on and explore other options."
Wellesley Community Center president David Walsh last week declined to discuss the negotiations, and expressed hope that the his facility might still serve as a center for seniors.
Gail Kingsley, a trustee of the Tolles estate, told Town Meeting that the trustees had hoped the Community Center would agree to give seniors one floor of the Washington Street building, but the request was turned down.
Tolles died in July 2005, leaving everything she had, said Kingsley, to the idea of creating a senior center in Wellesley. She said Tolles was concerned that the town provided no place to "prevent, combat, and treat profound loneliness" in seniors.
Kingsley said Tolles was not thinking of more programs or a "yoga class for people who are 80," but an actual place to go.
A number of senior Town Meeting members echoed that there is such a need. Barbara Peacock-Coady said the town is facing a "major tsunami of people over 50." Mary Bowers said the Community Center space suffers from a "very cold atmosphere."
Surrounding communities have different approaches to meeting the various needs of their senior populations. Towns both smaller and larger than Wellesley have stand-alone senior centers - including Weston, Belmont, Natick, and Newton. But Wayland, Concord, and Needham operate their senior services in buildings that also serve other functions.
Needham has 6,400 square feet for its seniors, within a building that houses condominiums, said Jamie Brenner Gutner, executive director of the town's Council on Aging, but she estimates it needs 15,000 square feet, with more than 20 percent of Needham's population over 60.
According to Wellesley's Council on Aging director, Gayle Thieme, about 19 percent of the town's population is over 60.
Just eight years ago, the US Census estimated that Wellesley's residents age 65 and older represented about 14 percent of its total population.
Warshaw said the study committee will survey Wellesley's senior population to determine needs and assess potential sites for a senior center. One site that is getting considerable attention, she said, is the American Legion building on Washington Street. The Legion just this month turned the building over to the town.
The study committee is expected to bring a proposal to Town Meeting in the fall, and request funding for preliminary designs. Then, said Warshaw, the committee hopes to put a specific recommendation before Town Meeting members and Wellesley's voters next year.
