The response of Old Hammondtown Elementary School students in neighboring Mattapoisett to an opportunity to participate in television production with Old Rochester Community Television caught ORCTV Executive Director Robert Chiarito off guard.
“Every single fifth grader tried to sign up,” Chiarito told the Marion Select Board during Tuesday night’s public meeting at the Police Station.
In attendance via appointment to present an Annual Report, Chiarito and Phil Sanborn, Marion’s liaison to and representative on ORCTV’s Board of Directors, brought the Select Board up to date on multiple matters of interest, including the spiking interest in student participation.
Chiarito said the junior reporter program has been so popular that students have been divided into two groups. He hopes that when they reach high school, they will still be interested. Students put together a half-hour news program about what’s going on at the school, including plays and concerts. They write, produce, direct, film the shows themselves. Chiarito said some of the work is done in the studio and some in the field.
“This year there’s more than twice as many kids as spots,” he said.
Along with the usual bookkeeping such as a third-party review (a draft of which Chiarito said he would have by November 6 to present to a Tri-Town Select Board meeting) and an audit, ORCTV is hoping to build a radio station. They have identified an in-school site, renovated and painted it. Now they’re only waiting on technology. The internet-based radio station will allow listeners to stream government meetings.
There is also a plan in the works to outfit a new press box at the high school. Chiarito said that ORCTV has donated money to the project and has been waiting six to seven years for it to become a reality. Chiarito said mounting such a structure atop existing bleachers is a complicated task.
A prefabricated construction such as a shipping container could be mounted, and Chiarito indicated that ORCTV wants to make it handicap accessible. There is no construction timeline because all the labor involved is volunteer based. ORCTV is not doing the building, just the wiring and installation of broadcasting equipment.
In his Town Administrator’s Report, Gorman said that procurement and project budgeting is completed for the new Harbormaster Building construction. Alluding to the informational meeting held on the subject an hour before the Select Board met in the same room, Gorman credited Marleigh Hemphill, the daughter of Executive Assistant Donna Hemphill, for a fine job putting together the pamphlet distributed to attendees. Gorman was told to anticipate a nine-month construction timeline.
As for the proposed Department of Public Works operations center at Benson Brook, a November 7 meeting has been scheduled to discuss procurement and a construction timeline.
Marion’s Swap Shed, aka the Boutique at Benson Brook, now has rules and regulations, after Donna Hemphill met with Randy Parker and other stakeholders. The plan is to open the Swap Shed from April to October on Wednesdays from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. The shed will be open to Marion and Rochester residents and will be staffed by volunteers. The town will hold the right to refuse any item.
The Marion Police Department has received a $46,000 grant to fund body cameras and received a letter from state officials congratulating the town for being selected. Body cameras were part of union contract negotiations. Gorman expects Marion will have them by July 2025.
Marion has received Best Practices grant funding of $35,000 to update the town website, achieve ADA compliance (January implementation), and another $15,000 to improve human-resources policies and procedures. Consultants have reached out, according to Gorman. The strategy is to create a template for an employee portal in a SharePoint site so that employees can access information.
The town is applying for an IT Best Practices grant to pay an Upper Cape Tech student whose full week of work has inventoried the Town House computers, an estimated eight or nine of which can no longer support software upgrades.
Marion has also applied for grant funding for a digitization effort at a maximum $200,000 that would cover 75% of costs; Gorman is waiting on a response.
The Marion Fire Department will host an Open House on Friday, October 20, at 6:00 pm at Fire Station No. 1.
The Special Town Meeting will be held on Monday, October 23, at 6:45 pm at Sippican Elementary School.
A Pumpkin Palooza will be held on Saturday, October 28, from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm at Cushing Community Center. Participants in pumpkin carving must preregister by Tuesday, October 24.
Marion will hold a Veterans Day ceremony on Saturday, November 11, at 11:00 am, followed by an 11:30 am lunch for veterans and their families at the Cushing Community Center.
Heather O’Brien started on Monday as the town’s new finance director. O’Brien, the unanimous choice of the Select Board members among three finalists for the job, visited for two or three hours three times to work with Judy Mooney prior to her official start date.
The abiding complications felt by the Marion Energy Management Committee in its quest to orchestrate some energy-saving solar installations in town landed in the lap of the Select Board, as it discussed a letter received from the EMC.
Most of the focus was on the longstanding effort to get a ground-mounted solar project at Benson Brook, an item now being stalled after Eversource recently declared the need to take a step back from all new projects while it reassesses all aspects of its operation.
Gorman participated in a virtual meeting with PowerOptions’ consultant and remains optimistic that the town will find a few solar projects it can complete. Per Select Board member Randy Parker’s request, he intends to set up a roundtable meeting.
“What our little committee is concerned about is Marion should do their part to try and reduce fossil fuels. Unless we do something, nothing’s going to happen,” said Ingerslev, who believes Eversource’s main concern is handling power already created. “Eversource has to have the infrastructure to take that power out.”
The new DPW building is being designed and positioned for roof solar.
In other action items, the Select Board granted a one-day Special Liquor License to ICJ Corporation for the Travers wedding scheduled for Saturday, October 21, from 1:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the Music Hall.
The board agreed upon 2024 meeting dates and approved the closure of Holmes Street for the annual Marion Cub Scout Pack 32 Soapbox Derby on Saturday, November 18, from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm (rain date Sunday, November 19.)
A sewer connection was approved at 3 Taunton Avenue, but a sewer abatement request at 5 Moorings Road was tabled after discussion.
The request to appoint Denise Schwartz as registrar was withdrawn.
Two people were voted onto the EMC as full, voting members for three-year terms, longtime associate member Jennifer Francis and newcomer Kimberly Holbrook. The decision brought the EMC to a maximum seven members with no alternates.
The board approved Water/Sewer commitments of $155 (sewer reconnection September 27) and $10,950 (new water and sewer service for 64 Lewis Street October 11.)
The next meeting of the Marion Select Board is scheduled for Monday night’s Special Town Meeting to be held at 6:45 pm inside Sippican Elementary School’s multipurpose room.
Marion Select Board
By Mick Colageo