Ayer Council on Aging Compiles Accreditation Action List, Votes to Send CDBG Grant Letter

AYER -- March 10, 2026, Ayer's Council on Aging voted unanimously to send a letter of support for a Community Development Block Grant application and worked through a National Council on Aging accreditation self-assessment, generating a prioritized to-do list tied to the town's new senior center project. The board, meeting Tuesday at the Air Senior Center, compiled action items across nine accreditation standards including drafting a senior center mission statement, creating a formal program evaluation plan, and developing a rental policy for the new building that must comply with CDBG grant restrictions on non-senior use. Senior Center Director Katie reported submitting a $170,000 CompAct IT grant and a $122,000 grant to the Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts for a fitness room, with roughly nine additional grant opportunities under review. The Building Committee is scheduled to meet remotely March 19 to finalize value engineering before moving into construction documents, with permitting identified as the primary schedule driver. The board also laid out a draft annual calendar to systematize recurring business and discussed proactive outreach to fill two expiring seats, held by Cheryl and Bobby Gardener, ahead of the town's official June timeline.