Nonprofit Fights To Keep Health Dept. Out of Callahan Center

FRAMINGHAM, MA — The Friends of Callahan Senior Center, a nonprofit dedicated to raising money for local seniors, is fighting to keep their space at the Callahan Center. The city is planning on moving the Health Department from Fuller Middle School into the Callahan Center to make room for the construction company who is heading up the $98.3 million project to demolish and replace the school. The Health Department has 16 full and part-time employees. The move is planned for mid-June.

The nonprofit is seeking help from the state Attorney General to stop the city's plan. The organization's president, Mark Goldman, said he only found out about the plan on Wednesday and is outraged. He immediately asked for an injunction with the Non-Profit Organizations/Public Charities Division of the state Attorney General’s Office on Wednesday. Goldman said they are investigating.

With the Health Department planning on taking 1/3 of the building space, Goldman said the center will have to cut one of its most popular programs and lay-off two members of the staff. The Continuing Connections program works with people who have Alzheimers and Dementia. The planned move would give the Health Department the space where the program regularly functions, leaving the center no other choice but to discontinue it, Goldman said. "This is an award winning program, it's sad," Goldman said.

Kelly McFalls, spokeswoman for the city and mayor's office, said there would be no cuts to programs or staff made under the planned move.

Goldman said the Callahan building is already tight on program and parking space. "Parking is at a premium, we already have to limit some of our programs to accommodate for parking," he said. Handicap spaces are especially sparse.

He added that the move could also be a violation of a $1 million donation that helped buy the building for the center. Goldman said the donation specifically called for the building to be used for seniors only. "This is practically illegal," he said.

McFalls said the Callahan Center was chosen because "there's great synergy between the Board of Health and the seniors with all the services the board provides," she said. The Board of Health provides healthy aging programs and initiatives that support people suffering from dementia, among other duties.

McFalls said other options were considered including City Hall and the Perini building, but they were not feasible, McFalls said. "This is a temporary move, this is not a forever move," she said, but could not specify when the Health Department would be relocated out of Callahan. McFalls said the Director of the Callahan Center was informed about the move.

Goldman sees very little synergy between the Health Department and the center, and sees potential risks in the plan. The Health Department would run their child immunization program through the building, Goldman said, exposing the center's seniors to germs and illness.

The City Council has voiced concern over the move as well. Councilor-at-large Cheryl Tully Stoll called the decision a disgrace, "I am very troubled by the proposal to take space from the Callahan Center for the relocation the Health Department offices. Our senior population is growing rapidly and taking space from them is not only a short-sighted idea but, based on the donation restrictions placed on the money used to build the center, is possibly illegal," she said.

City Council chairman Dennis Giombetti said he and the council were blindsided by the decision, seeing very little synergy between the Health Department and the Callahan Center. "I was involved in the purchasing and opening of Callahan Senior Center as a member of the Town’s Finance Committee. I remember quite vividly our senior citizens fighting very hard for an exclusive center for senior programs," he said.

In an email to the Council on Aging Board, District 4 City Councilor Mike Cannon said he was stunned by the city's proposed move of the Board of Health. "I find this completely unacceptable and profoundly disappointing," the email reads, "I and a number of my colleagues on your City Council are actively working on correcting this matter ASAP."

The Council on Aging Board will hold a meeting on Tuesday April 9 at the Callahan Center, the move is scheduled to be discussed. "We will be there in force," Goldman said, hoping to have a solution in the next few weeks.