Wellman officials accept a Washington County Riverboat Foundation grant December 6. Photo by Sam McIntosh.

Ten years ago an ice storm caused a five-day power outage in the City of Wellman.

Since then city officials have been seeking to purchase an emergency shelter backup generator for its citizens. The dream is now a reality with a $101,860 grant from the Washington County Riverboat Foundation.

Mayor Ryan Miller says the generator will be installed at the Parkside Activities Center, “Right now our emergency shelter is at the fire station which we used 10 years or so ago when we had the ice storm because they have a backup generator. But it’s something that it’s not really conducive to holding a lot of people in an emergency situation. And so we wanted to have a separate facility where we could house people and Parkside’s the perfect alternative with the Y there. They’ve got a lot of space with the gym and with the banquet room. They have bathrooms, showers, kitchen, and with the daycare there also there’s places for smaller kids, too.”

The city contributed $20,000 for the project, and they are seeking bids for a generator with anticipated installation by spring 2018.