Wellesley COA Votes New Officers, Approves $4,725 for Summer Interns

WELLESLEY — June 18, 2026 — Wellesley Council on Aging installs new officers and approves summer intern funding amid patron anger over coffee cuts. The board voted unanimously Thursday to elect Patricia Decker as chair, Judy Gertler as vice chair, and Tina Wong as secretary for fiscal year 2027, adopting a slate developed by a three-member nominating subcommittee after brief debate over whether placing three third-year members in all officer roles leaves a gap in the leadership pipeline. The board also approved a request to draw $4,725 from the private Campana Fund to pay eight high school interns at $15 an hour for approximately nine weeks beginning July 6 — a shift from prior years when the youth department funded and placed COA interns at no cost to the center. The largest crowd of the evening gathered over a separate agenda item: a recent reduction to all-day coffee service at the Tolles Parsons Center cafe. Five residents spoke in opposition during a formal comment period, including 43-year resident Richard Kent, who called coffee "a social lubricant that brings people together," and longtime patron Tom Keely, who said the cafe "transformed the Council on Aging from something transactional to something community." Director Sahar, who is roughly six weeks into the role, read a prepared statement defending the change as an operational sustainability decision and pledged to continue monitoring the transition.