Township senior center renovations approved
By Dana Casadei
Multiple renovation and replacement projects for the Bloomfield Township Senior Center were unanimously approved by the Bloomfield Township Board of Trustees at their meeting on Monday, October 28.
First up was the resurfacing of the pool at the senior center, something that hasn’t been done in over 15 years, according to Christine Tvaroha, director of Senior Services.
“It’s a great pool. I’m glad to see it getting resurfaced,” said trustee Valerie Murray.
Although there have been two prior patching projects, a full replacement is now needed after a regular inspection noted chipping, cracking, and areas of delimitation. Repairs are essential for the senior center to not only be able to continue providing the 25 aquatic classes each week that they do, but to do so safely with no serious problems.
This project will also help the senior center maintain its public swimming pool license.
The board voted 7-0 to go with Tvaroha’s recommendation of awarding the resurfacing project to Advanced Pool Services for $40,250, which was the lowest of the five bids they received.
Tvaroha also noted that Advanced Pool Services has worked on large projects with Huron/Clinton Metro Parks and Oakland County, leading to full confidence that they’ll do an excellent job with the pool resurface. They do have availability in December too, which is the time period the senior center was hoping to complete this project during because their attendance tends to slow down during the holidays.
The pool resurfacing is the first project for the senior center that will be funded through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant funding awarded to the township. The funds from ARPA for this project have already been approved.
The ARPA fund will also be used for the second project that Tvaroha brought before the board at the meeting: obtaining new fitness equipment for the senior center, and out of the 20 machines they currently have, replacing nine pieces of gym equipment that are 24 years old.
One hundred and fifty thousand dollars will be used from the ARPA fund for this replacement.
The gym equipment they are planning to buy is HUR pneumatic strength training equipment, and is designed to target less impact on joints and comes with straightforward use for people of all abilities.
The senior center plans to purchase a variety of strength training machines, such as leg extension/curl rehab analog and chest press rehab analog. Within the proposal is also the purchase of a pulldown grip-wide pulldown bar.
Because the senior center is a current HUR member, they will be providing free installation, which will save them nearly $1,800; a 10 percent discount on all machines; and the $500 haul away fee for the current machines being used has been waived.
“I’ll be sure to invite you all to the ribbon cuttings when the machines come,” Tvaroha said.
The third renovation for the senior center – which also passed unanimously – will be the largest project that was proposed, a complete replacement of the senior center parking lot, with the work to start in the spring of 2025.
Proposed as a two-month-long project, the parking lot is in a desperate need of a replacement, something that was emphasized while Noah Mehalski, director of public works, spoke to the board. Mehalski’s team thus far has worked diligently with the senior center to figure out the best time to make this project happen.
Mehalski mentioned that they’ve received calls from those who work at the senior center about parking lot concerns, and said that they can no longer just patch the parking lot considering there’s not only groundwater release and pavement failing in multiple stops that causes two to three inches of pavement being lost, but the parking lot is no longer up to date with the new stormwater standards.
The bid was awarded to T&M Asphalt Paving for the replacement of the parking lot, which was built in 2009. T&M Asphalt Paving was one of six bidders on the project and have worked with many communities that neighbor Bloomfield Township prior to this.
While the project is only projected to cost $939,980 the amount being allocated from ARPA funding is $1 million. This adjustment to the higher allocation was made due to the construction engineering oversight for the project that will be $104,700.
