At the 2024 Town Meeting, as the culmination of decades of discussion and planning, the citizens of Lincoln resoundingly approved a project to build a new community center designed specifically to meet the needs of the Council on Aging & Human Services (COA&HS), Lincoln Extended-day Activities Program (LEAP), and the Parks and Recreation Department.
Since then, architects, site planners, designers, along with the Community Center Building Committee (CCBC), the Conservation Commission, and other town boards and committees have worked diligently to turn the vision of a community center into reality. Throughout the process, they made a number of cuts to the original design to reduce costs. Even so, when bids for construction came in, the lowest bid exceeded the original budget by $2.3 million due to tariffs, supply chain issues, and overall economic conditions.
The CCBC has requested the additional $2.3 million from the town in order to proceed with the construction of the community center on the current schedule.
The Friends of the Lincoln Council on Aging has been a strong proponent of the community center project from the beginning. We contributed $1 million to the community center project in order to reduce the amount the town needed to borrow to fund it. In addition, we helped raise $345,000 through private contributions to reduce the cost of the project to the taxpayers.
We strongly support the CCBC’s request that the town contribute $2.3 million from the stabilization fund to the community venter project. The town has managed its affairs prudently so that the requested funds are available without requiring additional borrowing. This project, at this time, still represents a generationally unique opportunity for the residents of Lincoln to build an asset that will continue to serve the town’s residents, of all ages, for years to come.
Please join us at the Special Town Meeting on June 25 at 6:30pm. We hope you’ll vote in favor of Article 1 to provide the community center project with the funding it needs.
Sincerely,
Rhonda Swain (143 South Great Rd.)
President, Friends of the Lincoln Council on Aging
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