Old Rochester Regional Superintendent of Schools Mike Nelson presented the Rochester Select Board during its meeting Monday night a plan for a Town Meeting borrowing article to fund safety-related upgrades to ORR School District facilities.

            The plan would be to upgrade the HVAC system and the water and heating systems, replace the entry doors and align the public-address systems in all the campus buildings so they can communicate to faculty and students as one.

            Nelson noted after the presentation that the school district is looking for an approximate $20,000,000 borrowing bond to last 20 to 22 years at a cost that would be spread between all three ORR district towns. During the presentation, Nelson explained the school district’s current debt is expiring next year, but it needs to start the process for taking on any new debt now.

            The preliminary results of a recently completed facilities study revealed the district’s facilities needs that have been whittled down to the few items that are the most important to address. ORR Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Howie Barber said all the items being proposed will address the students’ and the faculty’s safety needs.

            “We are not looking for a major renovation,” Nelson said. “These are items that have reached the end of their expiration date.”

            Select Board member Adam Murphy asked if the public will be able to read the draft report. Nelson said yes, when the executive summary is ready. “That will be important at Town Meeting to explain all this to them,” Murphy said.

            Nelson and Barber said the mandated process for this type of proposal means final language won’t be ready until late March. The Select Board concluded the discussion by asking the pair “to keep them informed.”

            In other action, the board referred several zoning articles proposed for the May 13 Annual Town Meeting to the Planning Board for it to review. These include regulation changes to the Agricultural-Residential District, the Ground-Mounted Solar Installation District and solar-facility battery storage.

            The Select Board revealed that Police Chief Robert Small, Jr. announced in a recent letter that he is retiring effective June 28 at 4:00 pm. According to the Rochester Police Department webpage, Small has been a member of the town’s police force since 1988.

            The board received Personnel Board Chairperson Kristine Nash’s update on her panel’s proposed new Classification and Compensation Plan. Nash explained that one of the main goals of the Personnel Board’s review was to line up job classifications for noncontract employees with Personnel Bylaw contract employees.

            The first goal was to develop job descriptions for the 21, noncontract, town employees not covered by the Personnel Bylaw, which have been completed. The next step will be the Personnel Board’s proposal for a new FY25 Classification and Compensation Plan, which will become an article on the Town Meeting warrant.

            The board approved the Annual Tour de Creme Bike Race’s use of town roads on May 19 from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm.

            The board signed the proposed Transfer Station’s Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection permit application.

            The board noted the resignation of Dale Barrows from the Board of Health and agreed to send him a letter thanking him for his years of service.

            Town Administrator Glenn Cannon reported that SEMASS’s PILOT program payment to the town in January was $409,726. In February, the payment was $359,010. Cannon also reported the town recently received a Chapter 90 payment of $308,386. Cannon also announced that the Request for Proposals for the salt shed has been posted.

            During a March 14 special meeting, the Select Board voted to transfer the wine and malt license from Matt’s Blackboard to Costa’s Kitchen located at 565 Rounseville Road. Michael Costa is the new manager. The board also voted a 2.5% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for town employees for the FY25 Budget in response to the Finance Committee’s recommendation.

            The Rochester Select Board scheduled its next two meetings for Monday, April 1, and Tuesday, April 16, both to be held at 6:00 pm at the Senior Center, 67 Dexter Lane.

Rochester Select Board

By Michael J. DeCicco

            The days of no longer needing an all-terrain vehicle to navigate the Silvershell Beach parking lot are being imagined on a scale that saw the Marion Community Preservation Committee unanimously vote during its annual public hearing to recommend a $77,000 investment in an engineering study.

            “For years and years and years, we’ve been trying to do something with Silvershell Beach,” said Select Board representative Randy Parker, citing the “opportunity to set up a transit … get some elevations … get a plan. … We don’t have to implement the plan right away, (but this measure would) get some of that money in return back to the taxpayers.”

            “If any of you have been around the parking lot over the past three storms since November,” said Town Administrator Geoff Gorman, pointing to “puddles and significant erosion damage. … We’ve had a lot of internal discussion … the entire parking lot needs to be regraded.”

            The reason the project does not fall under basic operational-budget commitments is because the state’s Community Preservation Act takes 2% on the town tax roll after a project’s first $100,000. Parker says under the CPA funding scenario, a vote at the May 13 Annual Town Meeting “saves the Marion taxpayer a bundle of money to enjoy the beach.”

            That task has fallen largely on the Department of Public Works on a Band-Aid basis.

            “There would be no parking lot at all if not for the DPW,” said Gorman, calling the new effort a “once-in-a-generation improvement for the beach. Because it’s owned by the Recreation Department, it’s a good ask.”

            The 100-car parking lot is surrounded by jurisdictional waterways. There is “a lot more red tape,” said Gorman, presenting on behalf of the Recreation Department. The goal, he said, is to “get the cost of the entire upgrade and figure out how to pay for it.”

            The $77,000 engineering project would come out of the open space reserve, and the remaining approved CPA projects would come from the undesignated CPC balance ($652,000). As in the case of most of the CPA projects recommended by the committee, the completion date will be no later than June 30, 2025.

            A notable exception to the 2025 timeline is the $120,000 that the CPC voted to recommend for right-of-way easements to the Marion Shared Use (bike) Path. Because of the nature of how municipal easements work, Parker recommended the committee stipulate that the funding deadline be extended out to June 30, 2026.

            The town-designed bike path is at a 100% design stage and was submitted to MassDOT last November. The state agency has made comments, and the town is presently working off of those comments. The next big step after the 100% design is acquisition of the temporary and permanent easements. There are six temporary and multiple permanent easements not yet acquired that must be appraised and either purchased or received by donation from the owners.

            The committee chaired by Jeff Doubrava and including Parker, Ellen Bruzelius, Alanna Nelson, Debbie Ewing, Toby Ast, Brian McSweeny and Andrew Daniel voted to recommend six other CPA-funded projects, all with a June 30, 2025, spending deadline.

            The smallest CPA request, $5,470 for installation of an irrigation system for the children’s garden next to Sippican Elementary School, happened to be the one identified by the committee as a model project for CPA funding. “I think this is a great example of CPA funding,” said Doubrava, and Ewing called it a “no-brainer.”

            “We hope to get this done this summer,” said project representative Margie Baldwin, describing an “old, antiquated system there” in an “area enjoyed by the public.”

            The Marion Shared Use Bike Path Engineering Update was voted a $75,000 boost in CPA funding that combined with a $47,000 payment would make whole the engineering group for completed engineering work based on an original bid of $349,000 in 2016.

            State-related delays out of the engineers’ control cost them $224,000 in excess expenditures. Nonetheless, Gorman said the town anticipates no more requests from the outside. Gorman also noted that he requested a Mass Trails grant that, if awarded, would cut the CPC grant-match request down to $15,000.

            The Boatyard Park Boundary Survey and Sign Posting will be recommending $11,750 in CPA funding, the amended pitch made by Marion Conservation Commission member Shaun Walsh, who explained the bump from the original $7,100 request based on the need for more permanent boundary markers. An engineering firm provided a revised estimate.

            The goal of the project is to protect visitors from unintentionally trespassing on private properties bordering the Boatyard Park property off Point Road.

            The committee voted to recommend $28,925 to the Bird Island Lighthouse Engineering project. The lighthouse has not been restored since 1997 and situated amidst harsh elements is in need of a professional assessment. The landmark is on the National Historic Registry and contains much in the way of custom work. The town hopes to realize some of that funding via private donations.

            DPW Cemetery Records Management Software was recommended $16,744.

            The one project voted a recommendation that did not come from a town agency was $30,000 from the Sippican Historical Society for “blue plaque” historical markers on sites, all on public property. The original $45,000 request, explained SHS representative Alanna Nelson, was revised to not include curriculum development.

            No vote was needed for the CPC to accept the withdrawal of a previous town request for the digitization of town records, a project that Gorman reported will be grant funded. During the process, Doubrava learned that digitization of town records is categorically ineligible for CPA funding. Gorman noted that the town can designate historic files and apply on that basis but not in general.

            Doubrava reported that Open Space Acquisition Commission Chairman John Rockwell requested an extension of another year of previously approved funding, but since the March 8 agenda had already been posted, CPC action would require an additional public meeting.

            The next meeting of the Marion Community Preservation Committee is scheduled remotely for Friday, March 15, at 5:00 pm via Microsoft Teams.

Marion Community Preservation Committee

By Mick Colageo

            During Tuesday night’s rather short Mattapoisett Select Board meeting, the members checked calendars and selected dates for a few of the moving parts associated with the Spring Town Meeting.

            First and foremost is the actual meeting itself, scheduled for Monday, May 13, at Old Rochester Regional High School auditorium. Although the time was not confirmed, historically Mattapoisett Town Meeting has begun at 6:00 pm.

            The warrant will be opened on March 26 and closed on April 9. Information on the process for submitting an article for the warrant is available at the Select Board office.

            Town Administrator Mike Lorenco said that he knows there will be an article coming from Old Rochester Regional Junior and Senior high schools for capital improvements. He said that in 2025 old debt incurred by the school will be “rolling off,” allowing new debt to be considered. Lorenco said that this plan has already been approved.

            On April 23, the board will meet with the Finance Committee to review the draft warrant, and on April 26 at 3:30 pm, the board will meet to accept the document.

            In other business, the board approved the transfer of entertainment and lodging licenses to the new owners of the Inn at Shipyard Park. The board also approved renewal of aquaculture licenses for Robert Field of Copper Farm and Mike Ward of Blue Street. The approvals were for two licenses for each business. The board signed an agreement with Eversource for charging stations to be installed at the Police Station.

            The board also met briefly with Highway Surveyor Garrett Bauer to approve a list of obsolete equipment for auction. Those items are: 1995 Ford Super Duty; 1989 Ford 655C backhoe; 2008 Ford F-650;

2011 6-yard Torwell Sander; and a 2008 McConnell Boom Mower.

            The board approved the appointment of Nancy Souza to the Old Colony Regional Vocational-Technical High School District Committee, as well as the resignation of William Wennerberg from the Tree Committee.

            The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Select Board is scheduled for Tuesday, March 26, at 6:00 pm.

Mattapoisett Select Board

By Marilou Newell