The February 26 meeting of the Mattapoisett Select Board found its members not only reviewing several departmental budgets but also topics with far-reaching implications for the town and its residents.
Towards the end of the agenda, Town Administrator Mike Lorenco mentioned ongoing attempts to partner with the Town of Acushnet to hire a shared municipal planner. In a follow-up, board member Tyler Macallister stated that both communities had a need for a professional planner, however, “…there aren’t many planners out there.” The two towns have not given up, he noted, and will continue in that search.
On an entirely different track, Lorenco shared that the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s Wetlands Protection Act is currently being updated with new regulatory impacts for those owning property along jurisdictional areas. He said that public participation is open and urged people to visit websites providing details and how to participate. He said website links will be posted to the town’s website, Mattapoisett.net.
A quick look around the Mass.gov website, we found a December 23, 2023, press release from the governor’s office titled “Healy Driscoll Administration Proposes to Strengthen Resilience from Coastal and Inland Flooding.”
The public-comment clock has been ticking and ends on March 1, the website noted. The release quotes Bonnie Meiple, MassDEP commissioner, who said, “We cannot continue a business-as-usual approach if we want to build more resilient communities.” She said that the new requirements will integrate science and green infrastructure techniques to mitigate climate-change impacts. The message also detailed that the coastal floodplain hosts $55,000,000,000 in structures of which half represents living units for 2,500,000 people within 87 coastal cities and towns.
Coming before the board was Council on Aging Director Jacki Seney. Her commentary included statistics on number of people served by the agency. A stunning 1,209 individual, unduplicated contacts were made in 2023, she reported. While many of those are for social activities, many others represent either urgent, local need for services or longer-term support.
Seney asked the board to consider removing one part-time COA position, replacing it with one full-time position in order to maintain continuity of service or for greater outreach. As she has shared in the past, letting people know the types of services available through the local agency is an ongoing effort. The requested COA FY25 budget stands at $245,651.
American Recovery Program Act funds (also known as ARPA) were also discussed. Lorenco said that funds needed to be appropriated for infrastructure projects by the end of December 2024 and spent by 2026. The original sums received from state and local recovery funds was $1,820,122 with a remaining balance of $193,529. Since the beginning of the program, Mattapoisett has used or plans to use funding for such needs as the Oakland water line, purchase of water meters, radios and domain servers and computer servers.
Lorenco offered for the board’s consideration of some remaining ARPA funds, an allocation of $400,000 for a new Water-Sewer building and $120,000 to complete the new generator installation located at the HUD housing site.
The working draft FY25 general operating fund budget total is $33,167,521.
The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Select Board is scheduled for Monday, March 4, time to be announced.
Mattapoisett Select Board
By Marilou Newell