For Bow Youth Center’s director Donna Morrison and her husband Tim, it was only right to offer their youth center to the town when they decided to retire.
“We always felt obligated to give the town first right of refusal,” Morrison said, referring to their decision to allow the town to be the first to bid on the property. Now that she and her husband are retiring, the town has indicated its interest in buying the Bow Youth Center, which offers before and after school activities right next to the town’s elementary and middle schools.
At the joint school and town budget hearing Monday night, the Bow Budget Committee introduced a warrant article that would allow the town to purchase the center for $1,250,000. The center, built in 2008 with about 7,700 square feet on a six acre lot, is assessed at $1,121,500, according to town tax records.
Morrison said her feeling of obligation came partly from the property’s proximity to the Bow Elementary School and Bow Memorial School, as well as the fact that it abuts town land. Retirement has been part of hers and her husband’s plan for two or three years, she said, and now “it’s time to slow down,” especially with the extra work that she said has been put in to keeping the youth center running to support local working parents through the pandemic.
“It’s a good town to work in, with good supportive people,” Morrison said. She plans to focus on her real estate work, after getting her license two years ago.
The town’s plan is to utilize the space to provide parks and recreation programming and before- and after-school care, similar to its current offerings. Selectmen Chris Nicolopoulos discussed the proposal in detail during the budget meeting earlier this week.
“This building has been used since it was built as the Bow Youth Center, which has provided before- and after-school programming for hundreds, if not a thousand, of Bow families,” Nicolopoulos said.
“I think the benefits of this…are numerous,” Nicolopoulos added. “It should allow for an enhanced sense of community, providing a hub for activity and interaction for all levels and ages in the community.”
Nicolopoulos said that the proposal the selectmen had put together would fund the sale with revenue in the land purchase capital reserve fund, savings from the budget for parks and recreation, a reduction in contribution to the facilities capital reserve fund, and fundraising. The plan is to fund the purchase over a two year period through those methods.
The rest of the town’s budget is $11,720,708, with warrant articles amounting to $1,859,000.
Also discussed was the Bow school district budget, which is proposed to be $31,313,422, which included salaries, school support, and other baseline obligations. Additionally, $941,820 is being appropriated from the HVAC capital reserve fund and the Bow school district buildings capital reserve fund to replace the HVAC roof units at Bow Elementary School. Other warrant articles include $559,600 to completely replace the Bow Elementary School roof, coming from the Bow school district buildings construction capital reserve fund, and $85,000 to replace a foyer skylight in the Bow High School, coming from the high school capital reserve fund.
The Bow School Board, Budget Committee, and selectmen all voted to support the warrant articles up for discussion.
Election day is March 9, when these warrant articles will be up for vote in addition to town positions. The annual Bow school district meeting is scheduled for March 12 in the Bow High School auditorium.