The Mattapoisett Fall Special Town Meeting will take place on Monday, November 6, at 6:30 pm at Old Rochester Regional High School Auditorium. At that time, voters will be asked to transfer and spend revenue included in 11 warrant articles.
On Monday, the Mattapoisett Select Board unanimously moved each article for voters’ consideration. Before the meeting began, member Tyler Macallister quipped that the warrant didn’t spark any surprises. The only article the board believed would be problematic for voters is Article 11, Fairhaven Sewer Treatment Plant Upgrades, weighing in at $8,000,000, Mattapoisett’s 16% share of a total project estimated at $70,000,000.
“Sewer rates will increase,” stated Town Administrator Mike Lorenco, who confirmed when asked that Mattapoisett sewer fees will pay for the town’s portion over time. Lorenco noted that Water and Sewer Superintendent Henri Renauld is seeking to find ways to level off increases in sewer rates rather than asking the users to pony up large sums. “But there will be increases,” he concluded.
Article 7 will address the need for additional financing over and above the Coastal Zone Management grant of $585,000 to cover any easement or confirmatory taking fees associated with the rehabilitation of Old Slough Road.
Long discussed as an important, albeit necessary evacuation route off Angelica Point in the event of a flood emergency, Old Slough Road, it is believed, was once used as a logging road and later a bootleggers’ route to open water.
The road appears on local mapping dated 1810 but has basically been abandoned for decades, informally absorbed into private backyards. New mapping completed late 2022 performed by Ken Motta of Field Engineering, the town’s consulting engineer, displays a roadway capable of offering an escape route should flood waters cut off existing, paved roadways. Approximately 140 structures could be serviced with Old Slough Road’s reopening.
Working in partnership with the Mattapoisett Land Trust, which has considerable open space holdings in the neighborhood and along Old Slough Road, the town received a CZM grant in the amount of $585,000. An additional $235,000 will be needed as the town’s portion for engineering fees. “The construction estimates came in higher than expected,” Lorenco told the Wanderer, at $646,000. “There were permitting costs, engineering and survey expenses not part of the estimate.”
Lorenco also stated that the town is satisfied with the current mapping of Old Slough Road, and that wetlands were an issue when planning rehabilitation of the ancient way.
At the beginning of Monday’s Select Board meeting, Lorenco confirmed that the state audit certified Free Cash at $3,005,426, “…a healthy number…” and that several stabilization and other funds will benefit from a transfer of free-cash funds. But Lorenco also pointed out that if Town Meeting moves all the articles, there will remain, “approximately $1,000,000 going into the Spring Town Meeting.”
Article 1 will transfer $575,000 to the Debt Stabilization Fund, and Article 2 $335,000 to the Mattapoisett Capital Stabilization Fund, both from free cash.
Article 3 will appropriate $330,000 for Public Works projects such as roadways and sidewalks.
Article 4 would appropriate $37,000 for a sewer connection to land along Industrial Drive, formerly a town dump site. Select Board member Jodi Bauer questioned the wisdom of spending taxpayer money on property that cannot be developed due to the subterrain dump site. Macillister and Lorenco advised her that the property could be developed by bringing in fresh fill material and no breaching of the former dump location. The article was moved for inclusion. Free cash would be tapped for this article.
Also coming from free cash, $350,000 via Article 5, to be used for the Highway Building renovations.
Amendments to the FY24 Annual Budget are included in Article 6. Those are $24,394 (part-time personnel, treasurer/collector), $100,000 (local schools) and $10,000 for the Transfer Station.
Article 8, Confirmatory Takings Tinkham Forest $1,000, will come from free cash, and Article 9 will allow the town to establish a Stabilization Fund and to appropriate funds from the opioid settlement. Article 10 will move the proceeds from the sale of the former Water Department Building on Church Street ($353,590) from free cash to the Water Department Reserve Fund.
The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Select Board was not announced before adjournment.
Mattapoisett Select Board
By Marilou Newell