Finance Committee Endorses Senior Center Project With $250K Design Phase, Contractual Checkpoints
Finance Committee backs Senior Center project with phased design oversight. The panel unanimously recommended Article 6 for adaptive reuse of the former Masonic Lodge building, approving $250,000 in design services with enforceable checkpoints at 30 and 75 percent completion. Finance Committee
Finance Committee · Meeting of April 23, 2026
MANCHESTER BY THE SEA — Finance Committee backs Senior Center project with phased design oversight. The panel unanimously recommended Article 6 for adaptive reuse of the former Masonic Lodge building, approving $250,000 in design services with enforceable checkpoints at 30 and 75 percent completion. Finance Committee Chair Sarah Mellish and member Gar Morse, citing process concerns and a project cost escalation from $2.5 million to $6 million to $7 million, secured contractual language requiring Select Board and Finance Committee review before Phase 2 funding and construction documents proceed.
The committee also unanimously corrected Article 8, replacing a January Manchester Regional School Committee debt assessment figure of $2,590,239 with the corrected amount of $2,573,924.
In the full story:
- The complete report — 438 words
Source: the Finance Committee meeting of April 23, 2026, compiled from the official minutes.
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