On January 6, the Mattapoisett Community Preservation Act Committee met for the first one-on-one interviews to be held with organizations and groups who have filed for grant consideration.
The members in attendance on this night were Michelle Hughes (elected), Margaret DeMello (representing the housing authority), Jim Pierson (elected), Karen Field (Planning Board representative), Bill Hall (recreation Department), and Bob Spooner (representing the Historical Commission). Chairman Chuck McCullough is also an elected member. This group of volunteers manages the CPA grant process including scoring or ranking of applications received to determine if grant money is available and if the grant has met various criterion. As McCullough framed it, “…the town (town meeting), will determine the outcome – our role is to vet the applications.”
Coming before the committee on this night was Ray Hanks chairman of the newly formed cemetery and monuments committee.
Hanks was seeking $50,000 for the restoration and preservation of Hammond Cemetery on River Road. He explained and provided visual evidence of the poor and even dangerous condition of the gravestones and surrounding stone wall. Hanks pointed out that the need is immediate and that more and more headstones are lost to the ravishes of time, “…the need is expedient.”
Drilling down through the documents submitted, Hanks said that an opportunity presented itself in the summer to honor those resting in the cemetery with an event memorializing the soldiers interned at Hammond Cemetery by the Sons of the American Revolution.
But questions were raised about the possibility of finding other grants possibly at the federal level. It was also raised that CPA grant monies will be tight for the 2025-2026 fiscal year.
In an e-mail sent to all grant applicants by McCullough prior to the commencement of one-on-one interviews he advised, “This year the CPA Committee has been presented with five requests for funds totaling $250,000. The five requests are seeking historical or open space/recreation funds. The fund balances for the historical and open space/recreation CPA categories now total approximately $85,000.
We do have undesignated funds available to backfill any shortfall of funds in other categories but the committee is very protective of the undesignated funds needing to ensure that we’re able to support emergency situations that may come before the committee. This is a very competitive year for CPA Funds and the committee’s focus will be to sort out the high priority needs from the lower priority wants. It will be important that you be prepared to breakout the priority needs and to be prepared to segment the project, if possible, over a period of years.”
It was suggested to Hanks that since it appeared the work at rehabilitating the cemetery can’t be completed quickly he might want to break-up the request into pieces that may be easier to manage through completion. The committee spent about an hour discussing Hanks’ immediate and longer range plans for the cemetery. While all appreciated and agreed work was needed funding the full scope in 2025 might prove difficult. Thqt extended discussion between the CPA and the applicant resulted in trimming the request down to $40,000.
In a follow-up with McCullough, he shared that the CPA committee will ask Hanks for clarification on several key points such as which is more urgent the stonewall or the headstones, in an effort to better assist the applicant and the town during the annual town meeting.
Mattapoisett Community Preservation Act Committee
By Marilou Newell