A Monday, June 22, Town Meeting and Friday, June 26, election are not yet official in Marion, but details for both events took shape during the Board of Selectmen’s May 5, remote-access meeting.
After several weeks in which it seemed an alternate-format Town Meeting would only address budgetary articles, Tuesday’s meeting produced consideration of certain other articles and, finally, the possibility that the entire Town Meeting might be held.
Town Administrator Jay McGrail presented a scenario in which Sippican Elementary School would house 130 attendees and Tabor Academy’s fieldhouse another 70. All attendees would arrive wearing facemasks and line up standing 6 feet apart to be checked in by staff wearing masks and face shields. Then they would be seated 7 feet apart. The gymnasium, McGrail said, may seat couples together, increasing a safe capacity. In either scenario, live attendance accommodating 130-200 preregistered attendees would be vetted for participation.
The rest of the voters would watch via Zoom and be able to preregister with the town clerk for their own remote participation up until 6:00 pm for the 7:00 pm meeting. Remote attendees would be pre-vetted as residents of Marion.
In each location of the in-person meeting, a viewing screen would operate on a closed-circuit system managed by ORCTV, and remote participants would be able to use a chat feature to ask questions.
“I think we can pull it off,” said McGrail. “The biggest issue is the voting. What would make me comfortable about this scenario is as long as we have 50 (a quorum).”
In its May 19 meeting, the board will determine what articles it wants to run with. Town Planner Gil Hilario said Marion can hold a May 19 determination of the warrant, giving the town the required two weeks.
“The 19th (of May) is going to have to be our drop-dead date on articles,” said McGrail.
Once different members began batting around which articles could be added, Selectman John Waterman asked, “What would it take to do the whole thing?”
“If we’re not going to just do the monetary articles and start picking here and there, we either do 1-4 or the whole thing, that’s my opinion,” said Chairperson Randy Parker.
At the very least, voters will be asked if they approve plans to leave the Marion-Rochester Health District, opt out of the Carver-Marion-Wareham transfer-station agreement and approve the town’s water/sewer plan and INI funding. Because some warrant items require public hearings, discussion expanded and Parker insisted that the town has to open up all public hearings.
Town Clerk Lissa Magauran rolled out an election-day plan based on adjustments to a model being used in a western Massachusetts community.
Marion will slightly shorten poll hours from the traditional 8:00 am to 8:00 pm and open the polls from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm. Some towns are going with minimum-allowed, four-hour window, but Magauran believes that could lead to potentially unsafe crowding of the polls. Citizens are encouraged to vote by mail.
All precautions will be taken, including the hire of a younger group of poll workers and the distribution of kits in plastic bags with masks, gloves and pens. Voters are asked to bring their own, but the town plans to assemble 200 packets. If people refuse to wear a mask, McGrail said the Board of Health will need to give Chief of Police John Garcia the authority to impose fines.
Polling stations will be at least 6 feet apart and will be sanitized in between each vote. Staff will wear face shields in addition to masks. The floor will be marked and the staff will hold a dress rehearsal to see how many booths the Recreation Center can accommodate.
A mass mailing will solicit requests for absentee ballots.
Marion’s Memorial Day parade has been canceled, but the town has planned a quiet celebration limited to four participants that will be aired after the fact on ORCTV. Along with a virtual celebration planned to air on ORCTV on Memorial Day, a brief event will feature the reading of the names of deceased Marion veterans, the laying of a reef and the playing of “Taps” by trumpet player Chris Berg.
The time of the event is being withheld so as not to attract spectators. The ceremony will air later on ORCTV.
“Our mission here is to honor the nation’s war dead but not draw a crowd,” said Andrew Bonney, who joined the meeting from Hanscom Air Force Base while on active duty with the National Guard.
Citing the statistic of 1.7 percent of COVID-positive cases among ages 18 and younger, Waterman reasserted a position he took several weeks ago that towns need more autonomy and what might be the right safety practice for Boston, for instance, does not necessarily apply to Marion.
“We shouldn’t be requiring everyone to self-isolate just to protect older people,” he said with an eye on relaxing practices after May 18.
The Board of Selectmen will meet in joint session with the Board of Health on Tuesday, May 19.
Marion Board of Selectmen
By Mick Colageo