ATHOL — Athol Bird and Nature Club President and acting Executive Director Dave Small last week brought selectmen up to speed on the accessibility project under way at the group’s headquarters at 100 Main St. Work includes the installation of a wheel chair lift, which will bring the historic former school house – now the Millers River Environmental Center – into compliance with the American with Disabilities Act. The four-room school was constructed in 1889.
Voters at Athol’s 2018 annual town meeting approved the expenditure of approximately $64,000 in municipal funds to help pay for the project.
“We finally have a signed contract,” Small told the board, “and a notice to proceed in our hands. Original estimates, of course, never are what you thought they would be, so we hit a little bit of a shortfall. But, because we did some fundraising last year and we did a Patronicity grant, which provides matching funds through MassWorks, they matched dollar-for-dollar what we raised. We projected we were going to raise $10,000 and the state would match that $10,000. We actually wound up with $17,000 that we raised and (the state) gave us $12,050.”
“So, we gave $15,000 to the town to get what we needed to get the lift finished,” Small said, “and another big chunk of that money is involved with doing some community art work.” Small said he had just left a meeting with a table full of artists who are working on panels that will go on the lower part, in the windows, at 100 Main St. “There seems to be enough art being produced that maybe we’re going to go beyond that,” he said, “It’s really exciting stuff. All the way from looking at our natural history, to also our Native American history and our industrial past. It’s to have the community and cultural tie-in. It’s not just nature; it’s how we work as a total. So, we’re pretty excited about that.”
Small said his goal is to have everything in place, with the lights turned on and running, by June 7, which would be the first Friday of June, and that it would coincide with the open house planned from 6 to 8 o’clock that evening.
“So,” Small continued, “barring anything that comes out of the blue, we’re hoping to have that accomplished. In the interim, we have volunteers at the center that are working on the rooms that are now going to be (handicap accessible). We’re actually working on upgrading some of those rooms and getting prepared to make exhibits for those areas. We have a lot more space, now, that’s going to be available in that building.”
“We thank the town and the townspeople for voting at the town meeting to support it, and all the people that donated, and the many that actually invested their sweat equity into the project.”