After Five Years, Gracedale Has Generators

Gracedale on a July afternoon

When Superstorm Sandy hit in late 2012, most of us were without power for several days. Unfortunately, that included Gracedale, the County's nursing home. Though there are back-up generators, they failed, too. Fortunately, the National Guard came through with power supplies, but not enough to generate heat. The following year (June 2013), Council included $4 million in a bond issue for five new generators. But over the next five years, they just never came. By 2015, following what seemed like a million presentations, Council member Bob Werner was frustrated. "Let's just get the damn generators up and get the people safe," he told County administrators. "We've been dealing with this for way too long." Though promised they would be here by the end of 2016, that never happened.

The long wait is finally over. Deputy public works Director Scott Parsons reports that the long-awaited generators are finally on site. He predicts they will be operational by October 1.