By Joan F. Simoneau, Community Reporter
Marlborough – The City Council has approved a request from Mayor Arthur Vigeant to enter into a 25-year lease agreement with the Assabet Valley Collaborative (AVC) that will allow the organization to occupy the Bigelow School for the next 25 years. The decision was approved at the Nov. 5 council meeting, and follows an in-depth review by the council's Operations and Oversight Committee.
Committee Chairman and Ward 1 City Councilor Joseph Delano said he and Ward 3 City Councilor Matt Elder, who also served on the committee, were in full agreement with the proposal after several questions they had were answered Director of Public Facilities John Ghiloni and Vigeant. The city will receive $4.5 million in revenue from AVC throughout the duration of the contract.
In his proposal to the council several weeks ago, Vigeant said the agreement was reached after several meetings with Executive Director Cathy Cummins and the AVC administration. The alternative school, operating at 57 Orchard Street since 2008, is for students with emotional, learning and behavioral difficulties. In the letter of intent, Cummins stated AVC will be fully responsible for any and all maintenance and capital improvement expenses for the duration of the agreement and had requested access to the facility 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
In June, Vigeant sought and received approval from the School Committee to turn the Bigelow School over to the city for municipal use.? Before approving the lease agreement, council members accepted the transfer of the school building. The school had also been considered at one point a possible site for a new Senior Center.
In other business, councilors approved the reappointments of James Confrey, Brenda Costa and Sheila Brecken to the Council on Aging for a term of four years each. They also approved appointments of Stephen Zepf? to the Youth Commission and Shawn McCarthy to the Planning Board.