“We can’t let Wareham beat us,” said Marion Finance Committee Chairman Alan Minard after telling Town Meeting voters May 11 that, for the first time in a long time, Wareham was able to make it through its town meeting in one night. Although the Sippican School all-purpose room slowly emptied as the hours passed, those who stayed for the entire time got through both warrants around 11:30 pm.
All articles passed during the Special Town Meeting and all articles passed at the Annual Town Meeting except for Article 19, which was passed over by the Board of Selectmen, and Article 43, which was indefinitely postponed.
Article 19 would have appropriated $237,000 for a new ambulance, but selectmen favored having the new fire chief be involved in the process. Article 43 was a citizen’s petition drafted by Ted North that would have limited commercial and retail building size to ten-percent maximum lot coverage or a max of 5,000 square feet. Without the support of the Planning Board, a voter motioned to indefinitely postpone the bylaw amendment.
The night started off with a hiccup of sorts when, during the listing of the line items of Fiscal Year 2016 in Article 2, one resident called out “hold” for each and every item, visibly annoying voters and Town Moderator David Titus who at one point refused to continue reading the list if Dr. Eric Radin meant to hold all of the line items.
Radin said he was only making a point, saying the budget should be completed and available for review by residents a month before the town meeting.
“I think we should have them ahead of time,” said Radin, calling it ludicrous. “I mean this is crazy.”
Well, we don’t, Titus replied.
“We should know what some of this money … is for. And we should have the ability to do that and we don’t,” said Radin.
Voters approved the budget after a few minutes of discussion.
The first article to raise eyebrows was the Planning Board’s Article 14, which would appropriate $20,000 towards the development of the Master Plan.
Resident Joe Zora said he remembers past master plans from years ago that were devised out of “fear of people coming in,” saying this was not the case anymore.
He said the lack of public interest show that residents don’t think a master plan is important.
“Why throw money at it?” asked Zora. Zora focused on open space land acquisitions and asked when has the Master Plan ever been used to do anything?
This article brought the first mention of CVS – out of a grand total of four – by resident Kerry Saltonstall who asked if the Master Plan would at all “protect against CVS.”
“I think if ever we needed a plan, it’s now,” said resident John Santos. “Because more changes are going to come to this town.” When he addressed voters, saying, “Folks, we need a plan to look ahead and do better for the next 21st century,” people cheered.
Following came Article 15 to appropriate $30,000 for a part-time town planner to help the Planning Board develop a new master plan. Some asked Planning Board Chairman Stephen Kokkins whether or not a town planner would even accomplish the feat. Kokkins said the town planner would monitor the progress and gather and provide feedback.
“I thought this was what the Planning Board was supposed to do,” said resident Jack Breitmeier. “To do the planning.” Kokkins said the board is busy performing routine tasks and does not have the knowledge to create a master plan on its own. Selectmen Chairman Jonathan Henry backed him up.
Even though Minard and the Finance Committee did not support the town planner position, the article did pass, although a hand count was required and the vote was 113-50.
Article 16 called for $455,000 for legal research and engineering related to the NPDES permit that could cost the town millions if forced to shut down its three wastewater lagoons, but $395,000 was the final amount requested at Town Meeting.
Article 21 was at a standstill for a period of time, with several arguing for and against the new fire pumper estimated at $540,000. The fire pumper was shot down last year during the annual, but selectmen and soon-to-retire Fire Chief Thomas Joyce made a solid case this year for replacing the current pumper, which Selectman Stephen Cushing called “a complete safety hazard.” FinCom supported the fire pumper this year, and the article easily passed by a significant margin.
The Community Preservation Commission’s Article 32 again stalled the warrant’s progression, with several residents questioning the appropriation of $500,000 toward the Marion Town House renovation project, citing fuzzy details as the reason.
Town Administrator Paul Dawson said the article was written to be all encompassing in order to be able to expend the funds based on the eventual findings of the study committee tasked with considering the best option for the future of the town house.
The discussion went on for quite a while over Article 34 to appropriate $300,000 towards the purchase of nine additional affordable housing units from the developer of the town’s new 40B development.
Opponents were the most vocal, which included Hamish Gravem of the Finance Committee. Gravem, recalling the several years of problems and protest over the affordable housing development, asked why the developer was being “so generous” by selling the 99-year affordable housing restrictions.
“So now we’ve been asked to play nice,” said Gavem.
The article passed after several others criticized the developer and the deal.
Article 37 was at a standstill for some time as voters and town officials argued over the $350,000 appropriation for the Marion Pathway.
“I’ve lived here 39 years, and I’ve been waiting for this bike path for 20 of them,” said one resident. “Please vote for this.” The voters obliged.
A full list of all the articles of the Annual and Special Town Meetings that passed is available at www.wanderer.com.
By Jean Perry
