ORANGE — The Orange Select Board voted unanimously on August 6, 2025, to terminate the town’s lease at 62 Cheney Street, citing a lack of funding and the property owner’s plans to sell the building. The decision will force the relocation of municipal offices and senior services currently housed there.
The board agreed to provide written notice to the Mission Covenant Church, the building’s owner, that the town will vacate the premises by October 31, 2025.
The Cheney Street Offices at 62 Cheney Street in Orange are home to the town’s Building Department, Board of Health, Community Development, Planning Board, and Council on Aging.
According to Town Administrator Matthew Fortier, the town originally requested $40,000 to fund operations at Cheney Street for FY26 but received only $10,500 from the town.
“We have enough money to be there approximately 90 days from today,” Foriter told the board. Later adding, “I recommend that we take some type of action relatively soon. We do have a plan to install all Cheney Street employees at Town Hall. It would be a very tight space, but we could accommodate staff there.”
Compounding the issue, Select Board member Jane Peirce said the building’s owners recently informed the town that the property is being listed for sale.
“So that’s sort of like we’re all breaking the lease. We’re breaking it because we don’t have money,” said Peirce. “They’re breaking it because they’re selling the building.”
The board discussed the investments the town had previously made in the building and whether any adjustments could be made. Fortier said the improvements had already been credited toward past rent.
“The way it worked was any cash improvements that were put into the building were returned as a rent credit,” Fortier said.
Select Board member Julie Davis sought clarification, noting her understanding that there was no penalty for ending the lease and that it allowed for early termination. Fortier responded, “It does say [for] a termination, which is in Section 21 of the lease, you may terminate the agreement by giving 30 days’ notice.”
The board then moved forward with a motion to terminate the lease between the Mission Covenant Church and the Town of Orange for the 62 Cheney Street building, effective October 31, 2025.
The motion passed unanimously.
Impact on Senior Services
The Cheney Street location currently hosts several services, including the senior center, which will be displaced. Fortier acknowledged the disruption but said staff were already exploring alternatives.
“Keep in mind the Town Hall doesn’t have room for the senior center. You’re not going to be able to replicate the senior center,” he said. “There is space available upstairs [at Town Hall], there is an elevator to get upstairs it is not as accessible as Cheney Street but there is space available and I think there may be other venues in town that could accommodate the seniors for events…various churches, the library just reopened their community room downstairs, and Tracy [local Council on Aging representative] has been in talks with the Legion, for example.”
Davis then stressed the importance of maintaining continuity of service: “It’s vitally important that we don’t interrupt those services for those folks. For some folks, that’s their time out of the house.”
Davis added, “It’s going to be different and it’s going to be an adjustment. But having had a bunch of these conversations, it’s really heartening to hear how people are going to make it work.”
No Funds for a Professional Move
Due to the town’s budget constraints, the move will rely heavily on town staff and volunteers. “The move itself will have to be done as economically as possible,” Fortier said. “We don’t have money to hire movers like we did for the armory. We are talking about a situation where town staff and volunteers will need to step up.”
Long-Term Infrastructure Planning
The board also discussed the broader implications of Orange’s limited resources and aging municipal infrastructure.
“The library in town hasn’t remodeled in a long time. It’s an outlier in the state,” Fortier said. He floated the idea of eventually expanding the library to serve as a senior center and noted that Orange may become an early partner in a state-funded revolving fund for municipal buildings.
“We’re one of the poorest towns in Massachusetts and we have a few building needs that we can pinpoint,” he said.
Davis praised town staff for doing more with less:
“I think everybody here in Town Hall and in our various places that are going to start to be in very close quarters deserve some recognition for the creative thinking you guys are doing to make as much continuity of service happen as possible,” Davis said.
