By Julie Huss
jhuss@derrynews.com
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DERRY — Senior citizens will have to wait a bit longer to find out if and when they will have a place of their own.
The Town Council voted to table a discussion on the Nutfield Senior Center Tuesday night, choosing to wait until October to host a public workshop to hash out senior center details.
This comes after months of waiting for center supporters to come back before the Town Council with additional information about the proposed center. It's planned as a 5,000-square-foot addition to the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Derry, giving visitors a chance to use the club's existing 30,000 square-foot facility for activities and programs.
But councilors voted to wait a while longer to find out more about the plan.
"There are a number of questions we all have," Councilor Neil Wetherbee said. "I'd like to see us schedule a workshop with all the players involved to get down to the nitty-gritty."
Those players include Nutfield Senior Center Corp. president John Moody, who was absent from the meeting and had requested the Town Council table discussion of the proposal.
Moody appeared before councilors in March, asking for the town's help to finance the senior center. He sought $396,000 to help get the center off the ground. Approximately $1.2 million is needed to get the center built and to establish an operating reserve.
Council Chairman Brad Benson said Moody contacted him earlier Tuesday to ask councilors to postpone the senior center discussion.
In the meantime, talk around town is about where the Meals on Wheels program might end up, with a move to East Derry's Upper Village Hall a possibility.
Derry senior Roberta Robie said she never liked the idea of having a senior center at the Boys and Girls Club. She said she thinks Meals on Wheels should remain at the Marion Gerrish Community Center.
"Seniors are comfortable where they are," Robie said. "They are tired of all this racket about shuffling them around."
Councilors hopes to gather everyone with a stake in the plan for a workshop next month.
"There are people that don't want this to happen and we need to include them in the workshop," Councilor Kevin Coyle said.
Benson said he just wants information before councilors decide whether to provide financial support.
"It's just very confusing right now," Benson said. "There's a whole lot of different discussion of what we understand and what we don't understand."
Moody said it's past time for Derry seniors to have their own center and called the arrangement with the Boys and Girls Club "the best partnership anyone could hope for."
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