The senior center is being built within a building on Main Street in Ansonia that will primarily serve as the new police department.
ANSONIA-DERBY — A state-of-the-art senior center slated to be built downtown in the same building as a new Ansonia Police Department is on track to offer more than Bingo.
That’s what architects, engineers, construction managers and city officials told about 75 seniors from both Ansonia and Derby during a public forum held Wednesday on the possibility of both towns merging their senior centers into one.
The in-person forum took place at the Ansonia Armory and lasted about 90 minutes.
Both Ansonia Mayor David Cassetti and Derby Mayor Richard Dziekan spoke in favor of the positive impact regionalizing for one bigger and better senior center will have.
“This is a win/win for both communities,” Dziekan said. “I’m very excited about the opportunity we have here for our seniors to have more activities and more functions. Everything you will want to do will be in this building. And there will be significant savings to both cities (by regionalizing).”
Cassetti echoed similar sentiments.
“Since I was first elected in 2013, my mind has always gone to looking into opportunities to regionalize both our communities,” Cassetti said. “This is a great opportunity. This senior center will be renowned and will have all the amenities you can imagine.”
Ansonia is nearing the end of the design phase for a brand new senior slated for downtown at 65 Main St.. The center would boast some 22,000 square feet of space on the second floor, with the new police station located above, on the third floor.
Ansonia and Derby officials recently began talks to see if Derby would be interested in jumping onboard to regionalize. If Derby’s legislative body — the Board of Aldermen/Alderwomen —- agree it’s a good idea, Derby’s share of the approximately $700,000 senior center project would be about $300,000. Both cities would then split the operational costs of the combined senior going forward.
Dziekan had said the city would sell the building that currently houses Derby’s senior center at 293 Main St. to recoup some of the costs.
Derby Senior Center Director Christine Sonsini had said the current Derby senior center building is a challenge for seniors because it is multi-leveled. The layout of the building limits programming. In addition, seniors have to park at the Derby municipal parking garage up the road from the center and walk to Main Street.
Click here to read a previous Valley Indy story on the issue.
The regional center in Ansonia would be laid out on one floor, with a 3,000 square-foot Bingo hall/large community room, a kitchen, an arts and crafts room, a computer room, a card room, and several multi-purpose rooms. The seniors would also have full access to a 3,100 square-foot gym shared with the police.
But speaking of sharing space with the police, Ansonia Police Union President, Sgt. Vinnie Orlando raised some safety concerns about the senior center being located in the same building as police.
“The seniors are our most vulnerable population, and they will be sharing an elevator with anyone that has business at the police department. Suspects, families of suspects and if someone on that elevator (heading to the police department) presses the second floor button instead and gets off on the senior center floor, you’re going to have Ground Zero. It’s a great idea to have a senior center, but not in the same building that houses a prisoner holding cell.”
Project Architect Mike Marcinek said the spaces are totally separate, and prisoners would be transported via their own separate elevator, and not the same elevator used by seniors and the public needing to access the police station. He, along with Project Managers James Tenner and Stephen Spellman of Tenner Contracting, based out of New York, said the building has been designed with safety in mind, and having the police in the same building as the seniors is a plus.
Dziekan, a retired police officer who works part-time as a constable in Bethany, agreed that safety is paramount.
“Nobody would put the seniors in danger and I don’t see (sharing an elevator) as being an issue,” Dziekan said. “And really, what better place to put a senior center than next to law enforcement?”
Ansonia’s Economic Development Director Sheila O’Malley said with both cities being very small, and left with an inventory of old buildings, repurposing them for the highest, best possible use is the right thing to do.
“We have people coming in and out of City Hall at all times, and there are a number of municipal buildings across the state that have combined spaces with senior centers, police departments and other municipal offices. This isn’t a new concept we’re proposing,” O’Malley said, in addressing Orlando’s concerns.
One or two of the seniors in the audience agreed with Orlando in that putting the seniors in the same building as police would be a mistake, especially after Orlando, who handles risk/threat assessment, cited an example where 20 family members of an accused felon could swarm the police station, with seniors getting in the cross hairs of that anger.
Marcinek said a possible solution would be to create a key card access system just for seniors to access the second floor, and then have that floor locked to non-members.
Ray Sbrega, of Ansonia, and formerly of Derby, drew applause from the crowd when he spoke.
“This is a great idea for both towns to combine for a senior center, and make it as safe as possible for all of us,” he said.
Ansonia Alderman Dan King agreed.
“The biggest benefit would simply be more services,” he said. “Both communities are spending a lot of money on infrastructure alone, which eats up 80 percent of your funds and takes money away from programs. You’ll get the best of both worlds, with trips, guest speakers. This will be so much more than just weekly Bingo. I understand security issues, but police will be 30 seconds away. This new facility is what all our seniors deserve.”
Ansonia Alderwoman and Chairwoman of the city’s Elderly Services Commission Diane Stroman said there’s been talk of a new senior center for nearly a decade.
“There may be some issues we need to discuss further regarding security, and we’ll look at all of that, but we want to make this a premiere senior center and I hope we can all come together as one to make that happen,” she said.
Derby officials could vote later this month about a possible merger with Ansonia. O’Malley said the city is moving forward with plans, with a fall grand opening anticipated.
