Seniors: Foundation news update

At an emergency meeting held Saturday, July 9, a majority of the Board of Directors of the Senior Citizens Foundation of Shelter Island, Inc. voted to contribute $8,000 to the Town of Shelter Island toward the purchase of the kitchen items needed to bring the Senior Activity Center kitchen up to the Suffolk County Department of Health Services’ code.

Among the kitchen items needed are a high temperature dishwasher, a freezer, a refrigerator, a three-bay sink and a hand washing sink.

The total cost of all the kitchen items as detailed in a comprehensive memo prepared by the Office of the Superintendent of Highways, dated June 27, 2011, is $12,840.51.

The “rough cost” of the non-kitchen items listed in this memo is $43,400. They include, among other items, installing new septic systems, moving the fuel oil tank and installing a new well and trenching.

According to Town Council member Christine Lewis, with whom I spoke on Friday evening, the town still has $48,000 in accumulated Community Block Grant money (CBG).

If the “rough cost” estimate of the renovation is $56,240.51 and the town has $48,000 in CBG  money, the town needs $8,240.51 to bring the Senior Activity Center kitchen up to code.

The Foundation’s contribution of $8,000 should finally start the ball rolling.