Select Board asks legal review after White Birch pitches Cornerstone building for teen center

Mark McMurphy, representing White Birch, asked the Select Board to lease the Cornerstone building to the organization for a youth/teen center and said White Birch would cover custodial, utilities and basic repairs.

The proposal would move the food pantry and welfare agent out of the space and convert the building into community teen programming. "Turn it into a youth teen center in the community," McMurphy said, outlining outreach to high‑school students and focus groups that informed programming needs.

The board probed operational details, including where athletic equipment currently stored in the building’s basement and attic would go and which party would be responsible for larger capital projects such as painting or a new roof. McMurphy described a planned stewardship model and anticipated absorbing about $7,100 a year in routine costs (custodial, utilities and basic repairs), while acknowledging major capital work would need separate decisions.

Town staff said a temporary municipal lease could be drafted and that a long‑term arrangement would require a warrant article at town meeting. Select board members asked for legal review before any long‑term commitment.

Select board member Martin moved to "authorize the town administrator to research, with our legal counsel, the availability of a lease to be reviewed at the top of town meeting," a motion that was seconded by Morris and carried 5‑0.

The motion does not approve a final lease; it directs staff and legal counsel to draft options and return them to the board and, if appropriate, the town meeting for final action.