Helping seniors learn to use the internet will be focus when Butler Senior Center opens
When the Butler Senior Center opens at 215 N. Duffy Road in Butler Township, efforts are underway to help senior citizens to learn how to use the internet at the venue.
At a Wednesday, July 23, county commissioner meeting, Leslie Osche, chairman for the board of commissioners, said 125 laptop computers will be placed in the Butler Senior Center.
The county was awarded the laptops Tuesday in a grant from the Pennsylvania Broadband Authority.
The commissioners also approved four more change orders for the space that will be the home of the new Butler Senior Center, and the offices of Area Agency on Aging and Veterans Affairs, when it opens at the end of this year or early next year.
“I know our seniors are anxiously awaiting its opening,” Osche said.
The four change orders totaled about $67,536 and are the latest in numerous change orders the commissioners have approved for the renovation project.
She said the laptops will help people, especially senior citizens, learn to use the internet. The units are tied to last week’s launch of the $12 million broadband service expansion in the Slippery Rock Area and Moniteau school districts.
“If people don’t actually adopt and use it, it’s a lost investment,” Osche said. “This is part of a process to help people learn, adopt and use the broadband services as they’re intended to be used.”
Learning to use the internet can help seniors stay in homes longer and avoid the cost of long term care, she said.
In unrelated business, commissioners approved a $79,901 change order for the Allegheny-Clarion Valley Business Park sewer and water systems replacement project. The project will increase sewage treatment capacity from 22,500 to 37,776 gallons per day by adding two additional tanks. The Allegheny-Clarion Valley Authority is paying for the change order.
Commissioners also approved a three-year agreement for a new phone system for all county buildings with Total Communication Solution, of New Jersey. The system will cost $202,629 in the first year and $168,865 for the second and third years.
