Selectmen Looking to Boost Revenue

As the town looks to avoid future substantial cutbacks to services, the Wrentham selectmen will be exploring new sources of revenue.

Selectman Robert Leclair said, at last week's meeting, the board must be more active on that front.

"We've been talking about new sources of revenue for years now," he said. "It's high time we took action."

He said there had been several ideas brought up over the years, and it was time for the town to take concerted effort to bring those ideas to fruition.

"We need to make a list and prioritize that list," he said. "When we prioritize, we need to see what things we can fast-track this year."

Board Chairman Joseph Botaish asked about the possibilities of cell towers on town land.

Town Administrator William Ketcham, though, said zoning made the placement of towers difficult.

"Practically all town land is zoned as conservation — something like a communications tower would not be a permitted use," he said. "Several years ago, there was a proposal to create an overlay district that would allow things like cell towers."

Ketcham said it might be a good idea to designate land where such towers could be placed.

"If the town does not permit towers anywhere, companies can use federal legislation to circumvent that," he said.