Tabor Waiting on Town Officials

            Before the Marion Planning Board can get down to the nitty-gritty of voting to green-light Tabor Academy’s proposed Campus Center on the site of the present Hayden Library at 85 Spring Street, feedback is needed from town officials such as Chief of Police Richard Nighelli and Building Commissioner Scott Shippey.             Once again, Planning […] Read more »

Town Approves Steen’s Water Request

            Just when Fred Underhill felt as though Rochester’s Water Commission was being left out of an important water-related decision, Rochester Board of Selectmen member Woody Hartley assured him that the opposite was the case. “I was hoping you would open this as a meeting and vote on this as Water Commissioners,” said Hartley.             […] Read more »

FY22 Budget Process Underway

            Marion Finance Director Judy Mooney and Town Administrator Jay McGrail gave the Board of Selectmen an overview of the town’s budget for Fiscal Year 2022 during the February 2 selectmen’s meeting via Zoom.             McGrail said he asked the department heads in December to present level-services budgets with additional requests made separately and reported […] Read more »

Tackling Water-Sewer Problems

            The Town of Marion held its second quarterly meeting of the Water/Sewer Commissioners on January 28. The commissioners are made up of the Board of Selectmen: Randy Parker, Norm Hills, and John Waterman.             Considering the staggering costs the town is facing to repair, replace, upgrade, and update its antiquated water and sewer facilities […] Read more »

Ketchel Reports on Neck Resiliency Study

            During the February 1 meeting of the Mattapoisett Planning Board, board member Nathan Ketchel reported on the Mattapoisett Neck Road Resiliency Project. This study program is being funded by a grant the town received from the state’s Coastal Zone Management division of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. The town received $74,981 […] Read more »

Marion Vaccination Enters Phase 2, Age 85+ First in Line

            The state has approved the Town of Marion to receive 100 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccination for those eligible through Phase 2 of the state’s vaccination distribution plan, according to the Town’s latest press release.             “The big problem,” said Marion Board of Health Chairman Dr. Edward Hoffer on February 2, “is there […] Read more »

FinCom Expands Planning Process

            Even household budgets require data to be effective in managing expenses and how those expenses will be funded. Now consider the monumental task of building a budget for a town, any town, with its various cost centers, revenue streams, and, of course, contingency for the unexpected. Data is king in drilling down and in […] Read more »

MRC: Town Closing Gap on Magic Number

            The January 25 meeting of the Marion Energy Management Committee came with some encouraging news where it concerns the town’s progress in energy savings.             MRC member Bill Saltonstall submitted Marion’s Annual Report to Green Communities two months ago on time and heard back. The town thus far has achieved 16.5 percent of the […] Read more »

MOSAC Approves Revised Conservation Restriction

The Marion Open Space Acquisition Commission briefly met on January 25 to approve the revised version of the Conservation Restriction for the Hoff Property.             At the Board of Selectmen’s January 19 meeting, Selectmen Norm Hills and John Waterman voted to remove a sentence in the document connecting the Conservation Restriction to the denitrification of […] Read more »

Steen’s 40R Development Finally Approved

            After a lengthy review process that began over a year ago, the Cranberry Highway 40R Development received unanimous approval from the Rochester Planning Board in their meeting held on January 26.             The project’s applicant, Ken Steen, explained that the language in the most recent decision is agreeable to both the development’s needs and […] Read more »