The Southbury Record

Less than two weeks into Southbury’s four-day workweek pilot program, some residents are urging the town to restore Friday hours at the Senior Center.

At the Thursday, June 12th, Board of Selectmen meeting, the topic was brought up during public comment and then discussed later amongst the board.

Under the summer pilot program, the Senior Center is now closed on Fridays – prompting frustration from some of its regulars.

Resident Diane Antezzo shared her concerns about the change in schedule at both last month’s and the most recent Board of Selectmen meeting. At the meeting, she presented a petition with 71 signatures garnered since her last appearance.

“I think it would have been respectful to ask for public opinion before this was put into place and the senior center closing for 13 Fridays this summer with no discussion,” Antezzo said at Thursday’s meeting.

Selectman Anne Armeno said that she thinks the town should reinstate the Senior Center back to five days a week.

“We have so many seniors in the whole town that would benefit if we did this,” Armeno said.

Selectman Tim O’Neil agreed that the Senior Center’s schedule should be reverted back.

“I think it’s important we talk about it,” O’Neil said. “It was instituted without any discussion with the Board of Selectmen.”

The senior center’s previous Friday hours were 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., and three classes had to be rescheduled to accommodate the pilot program. 

First Selectman Jeff Manville suggested inviting the Senior Services Director, Andrea Corcoran, to the next Board of Selectmen meeting to hear from her.

“I am under the understanding that it hasn’t really impacted…I’ve gotten letters from some people, and some of the letters are from people who aren’t members of the Senior Center,” Manville said. 

He noted that five town employees at the Senior Center have also been adjusting to the new schedule since the beginning of the month.

“They have rescheduled their classes so far, it would be a little disruptive to change it back,” Manville added.

Armeno replied, “Humans are a little bit more important than scheduling, I think.”

Selectman Jason Van Stone said he was sympathetic to the thought process, and brought up the possibility of holding a special meeting to address the issue.

“I’m also sensitive to the promise we made to our town employees who believe they have Fridays at their own discretion for the next couple of weeks,” Van Stone said.

He suggested inviting the Senior Services Director for an on-the-ground report and giving the concern a thorough review.

“I think that’s a way to make the decision thoughtfully, and not potentially hinder some of our town employees over the next week and a half,” he added.

The Board of Selectmen typically meets twice a month on Thursdays, but the summer schedule reduces those opportunities to once a month – adding urgency to schedule any special meeting.

The Senior Services Commission is scheduled to next meet on Wednesday, June 18, after their last scheduled meeting in May was canceled due to not having a quorum.

UPDATE: The Wednesday, June 18 Senior Services Commission has been canceled due to not having a quorum. This means that the commission will next hold a regular meeting in September – their last meeting having been held on Wednesday, April 9.

The following day, Thursday, June 19, is Juneteenth, a state holiday, meaning no town meetings can be scheduled on that day.

Before the pilot program was implemented, Town Hall would be open on Fridays, but historically, no town meetings took place on the last day of the week. Now, Town Hall is closed on Fridays, at least through the month of August.

Resident Michael Carrington said the Board of Selectmen should continue to meet twice a month during the summer, and also voiced concerns about the process of implementing the pilot program being done, “a little haphazardly.”

“I don’t have any opposition to the four-day work week, it’s a pilot program. I think it’s kind of good [that] we experiment. I do think that the town employees should ultimately have more input. It seems like this was kind of forced upon them, but it was really forced upon our seniors,” Carrington said. 

“We have a lot of people who chose to live here or chose to remain here because they relied on senior services five days a week. We took away 20 percent of that. That’s not cool,” he added.

Although no official action was taken by the board, First Selectman Manville said he would look into the scheduling of a possible special meeting with the Senior Services Director.

The Southbury Senior Center, located at 561 Main Street S., shares a building with the Parks and Recreation Department – one of two departments that are excluded from the pilot program. (Department of Public Works being the other.)

In announcing the rollout of the pilot program, the town’s Human Resource department cited other towns in the state, like Redding, that have successfully implemented similar schedules.

Having implemented its own four-day workweek in 2008, Redding still keeps their Heritage Senior Center open on Fridays from 9 a.m. to noon.

According to the 2022-2023 Town Report, residents aged 60-years or older made up 36 percent of the town’s total population.

“I don’t know why seniors were ignored, considering they are such a huge part of this town,” Carrington said. “I think we owe it to them to make it right.”