The VFW building has officially been designated for the Marion Council on Aging. It has also been renamed the Benjamin D. Cushing Senior and Community Center.

COA Chair Joanne Mahoney spoke to the Selectmen on Tuesday to honor the VFW members’ wishes and ask the board for the official designation.

“At Town Meeting, the commander of the VFW suggested it would be a senior center, and certainly the citizens of the town at the meeting were very much in favor,” Mahoney said. “Marion is the only town in the area without a senior center.”

Currently, the COA uses the Music Hall on Front Street for its programs, but the busy street and unreliable elevator have made the location less than ideal.

“The Music Hall is very nice, but it’s not senior center appropriate,” Mahoney said. “Our programs keep growing and growing and we need space.”

Select Chair Jody Dickerson said he wanted to keep to the VFW members’ wishes of providing the town with not only a senior center, but also a community center.

Mahoney said that Monday-Friday from 9-4 p.m., the building would operate as a senior center, but all other times, including for elections, it would be open for community use.

The estimated cost of bringing the building up to code is $90,000, but Mahoney said not all of the renovations need to be done immediately.

“It doesn’t need to be perfect,” she said.

Chair of the Finance Committee Alan Minard said the town could afford to complete the repairs in phases.

“We can probably find the money in reserve funds and other places in the budget to get those handicap bathrooms underway and done,” he said.

He also said the electrical work could probably be done right away.

In other news:

The Selectmen approved Harbormaster Isaac Perry’s request to increase transient mooring fees from $200 to $400.

The board announced that Jan. 8 will be Al’s Yankee Clipper Barbershop Day to celebrate Al Hamer’s retirement.