New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Residents question senior center plan
Some voice concern over placing facility in building with police station
DERBY — Residents of both towns that attended a public meeting at Derby Middle School — and also streamed it virtually — expressed mostly support, but still some concerns Thursday about the proposed senior center that would serve Ansonia and Derby.
The meeting on Thursday came as the newly constructed Ansonia police station, which will house the proposed senior center, is scheduled to open next month.
While most attendees were supportive of the idea of having a combined center, others were wary of sharing space with a police station, where detained suspects would, at least in theory, be in close proximity to seniors. Still others lamented that Derby would be unable to construct a center of its own.
Joe DiMartino, a Derby alderman and Democratic candidate for mayor, who missed the previous meeting on the plans due to a prior commitment, said he was amazed at the strong opinions the attendees had on the senior center. At least 25 people joined the Zoom portion of the call while at least a few dozen were at the middle school.
“You guys are a fiery bunch. Holy cow. I love it. I wish I had half your energy,” DiMartino said.
Mike Marcinek, chief financial officer of AEPMI Designs & Building Consultants, spoke about the needs that the center would cover. He presented a powerpoint slideshow, showing the interior of the area which would have a hall for dining and activities. It would also include a gym and a kitchen. Partitions, he said, would be able to close off certain spaces if needed.
Marcinek said that the center would cost Derby $300,000 if the city decided to join Ansonia.
One attendee asked if the seniors would be in proximity to suspects detained at the station. Marcinek said that would not happen, since the elevator used by police to transport suspects would not be the same elevator used by seniors.
“They have a special elevator for their prisoners from the second garage level up to the PD straight; there's no intermediate stop, that has been blocked off at the third floor,” Marcinek said.
Others at the meeting also questioned the safety of placing seniors at a police station.
Ansonia Economic Development Director Sheila O’Malley said that combining a senior center wasn’t only safe, but it was the best option for both cities to save money. She pointed out that it cost $1.2 million for the project and that Derby would have decision-making power over the facility as well.
She also said that combining police stations with other uses was routine.
“Of all the municipalities in the state, almost half their police departments are co-located with other facilities,” O’Malley said.
While the center was supported by many at the school, at least one Derby resident was resigned to the center being in Ansonia. Rosemary Benanto Holzer said that Derby had a plan to make a senior center of its own but it didn’t materialize.
She rattled off complaints about Derby’s taxes and schools as she compared the city’s prospects for a senior center to nearby towns such as Shelton and Oxford.
“What do we have here? We have nothing. And I don't think we ever will have anything, not the way things are voted on,” Holzer said.
But Rob Hyder, a Derby alderman, said plans for the center would need to be carefully weighed before the alderman would come to a vote.
Many of the representatives from Ansonia and Derby, including Mayor Rich Dziekan, said that the center was the only viable way forward.