The Marion Special Fall Town Meeting Warrant was closed and approved by the Board of Selectmen on Friday, September 9, during a special morning meeting in the town administrator’s office.
The warrant features five articles, including one to accept the donation of the VFW building at 465 Mill Road, Route 6.
The article, if approved by Town Meeting voters, would authorize the selectmen, in the best interest of the Town of Marion, to take any and all necessary steps to acquire the building and the property on which it sits.
During a prior meeting of the Board of Selectmen, board members and Town Administrator Paul Dawson all agreed that the donation was a generous one. It would serve the town well as a senior center/community center and would continue to serve as the town’s polling station for future elections.
Dawson said that once the article is approved, it would be a “quick closing to turn it over to the town.”
Also on the warrant, Article 1 authorizes the transfer of $20,000 from the treasury (free cash) to the Planning Board for consulting services to assist in the Master Plan development.
Article 2 appropriates $475,976 for the Marion Town House Building Committee to complete the construction design of town house renovations.
Article 3 would allow the Board of Selectmen to enter into negotiations for a Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreement with Clean Energy Collective of Worcester, MA for the solar array located off Tucker Lane.
Selectmen stressed that this would not mean that the solar developer would pay any less in taxes to the town; it would, however, spread those payments out more evenly over the life of the project, making payment amounts more predictable.
Article 4 is the VFW building article, and Article 5 authorizes the Board of Selectmen to petition the General Court to allow half of the town’s receipts from the power purchase agreement with Future Generation Wind to be invested into the town’s OPEB (Other Post Employment Benefits) trust fund, with the other half of receipts going into an Energy Efficiency Account to support further efforts on behalf of the Town to conserve energy, reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and reduce the Town’s carbon footprint and impact on global climate change.
Dawson estimated that the annual amount in receipts from the wind project would be between $80,000 and $100,000.
The Marion Special Fall Town Meeting is scheduled for Monday, October 24 at 6:45 pm at Sippican School.
By Jean Perry