Wrentham Town Meeting: Generator for Senior Center Approved

Wrentham citizens voted to approve a generator for the senior center as part of a capital spending article at Monday night's Special Town Meeting.

The generator is intended to keep power at the center in the event of an outage, like the ones experienced after Tropical Storm Irene and the Snowtober snowstorm.

Board of Selectmen Chairman Joseph Botaish made an amendment to remove the generator from the article, saying the town was looking to address its shelter needs more fully.

"We would like to get a facility to be used in the event of an overnight emergency," he said. "We're looking at converting the school to an emergency shelter."

Botaish suggested the town pay to wire the center for a generator, and simply rent a generator as needed. It was pointed out, though, that the amount required to rewire the center fell below the capital spending threshhold, and thus could not be approved at the meeting.

Janet Angelico, the senior center director, said the generator would help the town's seniors.

"The center has been working to get a generator every year — we request it every year," she said. "We fully support getting an overnight shelter at the schools but, in the meantime, we've watched this happen over and over again."

"It's always a runaround about how to get our most vulnerable citizens to a place that's safe and warm," she added.

The article passed on a voice vote.