KEENE — The town of Keene’s community center expansion project is moving forward.

The Keene Town Board on Tuesday named AES Northeast of Plattsburgh as the contractor that will draw up plans for a possible expansion to the town’s Church Street building.

AES will be asked to draw up preliminary designs with a construction cost estimate, and to develop an operations plan, which would include a proposed financial strategy to ensure the services offered there are sustainable.

This planning process — specifically for the possible community center expansion — is being funded through a $100,000 grant from the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York. Less than half of that funding is earmarked for planning, with the rest to help the town get started with design and construction.

The town first released a request for proposals on Jan. 24, seeking a contractor to study the feasibility of and need for a community center expansion.

Because the town has multiple public buildings in different areas — like the town hall, Keene Public Library and the existing community center, which houses the Little Peaks Preschool — there’s been some talk of finding a way to combine them all for efficiency, and using this project as a way of updating the aging community center, according to town Supervisor Joe Pete Wilson Jr. The preschool has also needed more space for some time.

The idea of expanding the community center started being discussed prior to 2016, while Bill Ferebee was town supervisor.

The vision for the updated community center, according to the town’s RFP, is a place that provides “space for services identified in a countywide needs assessment; such as a library expansion, visitor center, training classrooms, employment services, meeting space, office rental space or other identified services.”

The challenge will be finding a way to solicit public input on the project before moving forward, Wilson said Thursday. As the coronavirus continues to spread, public health concerns and guidance against mass gatherings have made scheduling a typical in-person public hearing impossible.

“Originally we wanted the timing to be starting on this soon, and we’d get a finished product in the fall,” he said. “Right now, I think some of it can start — if AES can send one architect to measure stuff at the community center. It’s more the public input, the meeting with the Little Peaks board, the Youth Commission board, the town board. How are we going to do those things to get the public input we need?”

The town plans to discuss options with AES for getting that feedback soon, according to Wilson.