East Side Area Annex urges Penfield to extend Mack Building lease for 12‑step meetings

Barry Howard, liaison for East Side Area Annex Incorporated, told the Penfield Town Board on June 24 that the volunteer nonprofit has used town facilities for 35 years and now runs about 38 Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12‑step meetings each week out of the town‑owned Mack Building.

“My name is Barry Howard. I am the liaison from the East Side Area Annex Incorporated,” Howard said, and described a long relationship with the town that included leasehold improvements in 2012 (about $13,000 plus $4,000 paid to the town) and roughly $20,000 in painting and carpet work done in 2020. He said the group’s current lease runs through Dec. 31, 2026, and asked the town to renew the agreement or provide enough advance notice to relocate the large number of weekly meetings.

Howard told the board the Mack Building hosts nearly 880 attendees weekly and roughly 3,800 people per month, and he warned that losing the venue would make relocating 38 weekly meetings “a huge task” for organizers and local churches or other community facilities.

Howard asked the board to consider a lease extension of at least five years and offered to share additional utilization data if the town requests it. He emphasized the public‑health and recovery benefits of in‑person peer support that the Annex provides.

The board did not take an immediate vote during the presentation. Howard said staff had been responsive and that the Annex is willing to work with town personnel on security and facility issues if the lease is renewed. No formal timeline or board direction on the lease renewal was recorded in the meeting transcript; Howard requested notice if the town decides not to renew.