Howes House in West Tisbury, home base for the Up-Island Council on Aging, would be a better place for old folks if it also served younger people, West Tisbury resident Susan Silk told the town select board on August 17.

“There’s no need for this entire building to be seen as a facility for seniors,” said Ms. Silk, a volunteer with the survey subcommittee that will gather community input on the upcoming Howes House renovation.

“In fact, seniors need to spend time with younger people, rather than being surrounded only by the frailty and ills of aging, and I say that as almost 77 years old,” she added.

“What we really need is a broader, more accurate role for Howes House as a community center,” Ms. Silk told the board.

The building’s second floor has ample space for Council on Aging services, Ms. Silk said.

“The main floor and lower levels could offer a range of activities meeting the … intergenerational needs of the up island residents and visitors,” she continued.

“It’s time that building was used to attract younger residents and visitors, especially as … we intend the taxpayers to fund, to finance the building upgrades,” Ms. Silk said.

“If everybody is just simply looking at the notion of ‘What do we need to do to broaden the work of the council on aging?’ I think the town of West Tisbury is making a critical, critical mistake [that] needs to be revisited before more money is either committed or spent,” she said.

Voters at April’s West Tisbury town meeting approved $523,000 to hire an owner’s project manager and a designer for the Howes House renovation project.

Board member Skipper Manter, who chairs the Howes House feasibility study committee, said the committee’s charge from the select board was to renovate the building for the council on aging, and any change in that mission would also have to come from the board.

At the recommendation of chair Cynthia Mitchell and town administrator Jennifer Rand, the board agreed to place Ms. Silk’s suggestion on an upcoming agenda for formal discussion.

“This is a big conversation and it shouldn’t be held without notice on the agenda,” Ms. Rand said. “There may be a wide scope of opinion.”

The board also moved to change the name of the feasibility study committee, formed in 2018, to the Howes House Building Committee.

Among other business on August 17, the select board awarded Island Housing Trust the contract to develop affordable housing on town-owned land at 401 State Road. IHT was the project’s only bidder, Ms. Rand said.