Construction could soon begin on a standalone senior center across the street from the police station in Wellesley if residents approve a nearly $5.5 million debt exclusion on May 10 during a Special Election.
Town Meeting members voted 157 to 42 in favor of appropriating funds for the $9M-plus project, which has its roots in an $825K gift to the town in 2005 from the late Billie Tolles. So yes, many who weren’t seniors at the time might now be in line to take advantage of such a facility, whose approval has been delayed due to concerns about cost, parking and more.
The Townsman recaps the history of the senior center project here.
As for the Special Election, the specific question voters will weigh in on is this:
Shall the Town of Wellesley be allowed to exempt from the provisions of Proposition two and one-half, so called, the amounts required to pay for the bonds issued in order to fund the plans and specifications, construction, equipping and furnishing of the Tolles Parsons Center building at 494-496 Washington Street?
The polls will be open 7 am – 8 pm at all regular polling locations in Wellesley. The last day for new voters to register for this election is Wednesday April 21. Town Clerk office will open until 8 pm for voter registration only. (Residents with a Massachusetts drivers license may register on line.)
Absentee ballots for this election will be available by mail or in person at the Town Clerk’s office after April 20, 2016. Eligible Voters may apply now or until May 9 at NOON. (Ballots to be mailed should be applied for by Friday May 6.)
The merits of the is particular project aside, this will be the third town-wide vote in less than two months. How is it that there has been little to no discussion of the wasted resources associated with holding a separate vote for each of these matters (presidential primary, etc., town government change, senior center)? At a bare minimum, the discussions about the government change and the senior center should have been conducted during the same town meeting (whether a STM or the ATM) and there should have been one voting day. Preferably, we would have had the foresight to have conducted all of the necessary town meeting actions in time to put both votes on for the same day as the presidential primary.
Some seniors were confused about what what they were voting for.