The Marion Marine Resource Commission (MRC) met on Wednesday, March 19 and following the correction of a formatting error on the minutes from their last meeting, February 24, the commission began discussions on harbor management, capital projects, and the FY26 budget.
The group began by talking about the citizens’ petition to remove the Harbormaster from the Police Department, though the Marine Resource Commission stated they were unaware of the exact reasoning for this petition. Said petition made it by the deadline and will therefore appear on the Town Meeting Warrant. Chair Vincent J. Malkoski, Jr. spoke on the history of this, saying, “the decision was made to move the harbormaster onto the police department because they are acting as police officers, and they’re armed. So, the decision was made to consolidate all the folks carrying weapons under one department.” He mentioned the possibility of the two departments re-separating, though he did state the harbormaster would lose some of their enforcement abilities, saying “nobody’s gonna pay attention to them.” Malkoski also said should the warrant pass, a large-scale restructuring would be necessary.
Next to be discussed was the proposed dingy fees and harbor fee changes. Said proposed changes were withdrawn, though the commission will still circle back and discuss possible changes to be presented at a later date, as specified at the original time of withdrawal. In term of the new Harbor Plan, the chair said, in tandem with fees, the commission must “roll everything into the plan and look at everything.” He stated more analysis and research must be done, but the process for a new Harbor Plan is “a public one.” Meaning MRC will make the recommendation for the public to comment on and for the Select Board to decide.
Shell fishing and the degradation of the harbor and possible over-collection of resources was also cited as a concern for the Harbor Plan, with the chair saying, “I’s a public process. I don’t know how far we’re going to get, but these are the things that need to be looked at. It’s a finite resource and that’s what everybody has to understand.”
The last topic for discussion was the upcoming MRC elections, where Vincent j. Malkoski, Jr. was recommended to run again, with current member Cheryl Souza looking into running as Vice Chair. Member Michael Moore was nominated as Secretary, or “scribe.” The slate of officers was approved unanimously by the commission.
The next meeting of the Marion Marine Resource Commission is currently scheduled for Wednesday, April 16 in the Marion Marine Center Conference Room.
Marion Marine Resource Commission
By Sam Bishop