Wilmington Town Meeting: Free Cash Articles

WILMINGTON, MA — Town meeting voters will decide Saturday on four articles that would use millions in free cash on town building projects.

Two of the articles, put forward by the Board of Selectmen, would spend $1.6 million on two feasibility studies: #14 would spend $650,000 for a replacement of the Buzzell Senior Center, and #15 would spend $955,000 for a Town Hall/School Administration building.

Two other articles were petitioned by citizens, including former Selectmen Michael McCoy. Articles 61 and 62 both would use $12,650,000 of free cash to build a new senior center on town land. #61 would use the current Town Hall site, while the other would use land adjacent to St. Dorothy's.

McCoy said he prefers the St. Dorothy's site but preferred to let voters choose between the two.

The Finance Committee voted to disapprove the two citizen petition Senior Center articles.

At an October meeting on the Facilities Master Plan, residents asked town officials to prioritize the Senior Center, and they would go on to push a vote from the Selectmen on sponsoring a warrant article. The Board ultimately voted against it, saying they wanted to have a clear plan before asking voters to allocate the money.

Town Manager Jeffrey Hull recommended splitting the project into phases, which resulted in the $650,000 feasibility study article.

Town meeting is 9 a.m. Saturday on the high school softball field.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.