BERNARDSTON — The Selectboard has tapped a longtime housing manager with deep experience in event coordination to succeed its outgoing Senior Center director.

The board, in a special meeting Monday evening, appointed Pam Parmakian, former director of property and asset management at the Franklin County Regional Housing & Redevelopment Authority, to succeed Jennifer Reynolds, who is leaving the center on Jan. 3 after three years to take a job as director of the Ralph J. Froio Senior Center in Pittsfield.

Parmakian, a Greenfield resident who previously lived on Cape Cod, recently retired from the housing authority, but saw the opening in Bernardston and figured it was a chance to put her experience to use. Other experience includes event and business coordination on Cape Cod.

“My favorite population when I worked at the Franklin Regional Housing Authority were my seniors. … Now I’m a senior and when I saw this job, I applied,” she said, thanking the Bernardston Council on Aging, which ran the search for Reynolds’ successor, for its work. “With the help of the people that are here, I’m ready for the challenge.”

In taking the new role, Parmakian said the support she’s received from Town Hall and those at the Senior Center has been “stellar.” Once she settles in, she added she’s looking to build on the continued success of the Senior Center.

“I feel really lucky to have stepped into a position like this. … I’m really enjoying how many people I’ve met in the last few days and I felt incredibly welcome and felt really, really well-supported by the Council on Aging,” she said. “I’m looking forward to hearing what our seniors and visitors’ ideas are and seeing what we can make happen.”

As Reynolds wraps up her time with the center, Parmakian has been working alongside her for a few days to get up to speed. Parmakian said Reynolds is a tough act to follow, as the outgoing director used her time at the Bernardston Senior Center to introduce essential services and create new opportunities for seniors, including wellness programs, meals and other engaging activities.

“She has size 14 shoes — those are the shoes I’m trying to fill,” Parmakian said of Reynolds. “She is amazing, so I feel really, really lucky to not only have some overlap with her, but I’m also taking over a Senior Center that is so well-run.”

The Senior Center at 20 Church St. is open Mondays from 1 to 5:30 p.m., Fridays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

ARPA funding

In other business, the Bernardston Selectboard Monday night obligated the last of its American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money, as the deadline to designate the federal funds was Dec. 31.

Selectboard member Brian Keir said the town had roughly $13,000 left. The final large purchase for the town is replacing the sign outside Town Hall, which Keir said is in “rough shape.” The Selectboard also obligated the remaining amount to prepay the town’s municipal internet bill.

A few weeks ago, he added, the board approved using $12,000 in ARPA money to pay for a new sink for Bernardston Elementary School.

“We’re in pretty good shape,” Keir said of Bernardston heading into 2025.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.