August 19 was originally scheduled to be the last day on the job for Marion Public Health Nurse Kathy Downey, but her retirement is on hold until the second weekend of September so she can assist her newly-appointed replacement, Lori Desmarais, who will start on September 8.             In reporting to the Board of Health on […] Read more »

            All the while concocting three distinct scenarios for a 2020-21 return to school, Old Rochester Regional Superintendent of Schools Mike Nelson has also been leading a small hiring committee to find the right person to function in the role he had held six years as Doug White’s assistant.             On the same day that the ORR […] Read more »

            Rochester Selectmen Woody Hartley and Brad Morse were in fundamental disagreement during Monday’s public meeting whether negotiations with the First Congregational Church of Rochester over two acres of land between the church building and Town Hall should be kept under the wraps of executive session or be brought out into the open.             “This isn’t the […] Read more »

            The weather could not have been finer, the arrangements were perfection, and the decisive manner in which Mattapoisett’s first outdoor Town Meeting conducted the business at hand was brisk.    August 17 will go down in the town’s history for not only being the first time Town Meeting was held outdoors, but also for the need to […] Read more »

Girlie the mule and Tick the horse nearly drowned in mud on Sunday at Merrow Farm on Converse Road before the Marion Fire Department and a host of rescue assistants came onto the scene.             “We are pleased to report that both animals are recovering and doing well at this time,” said Marion Fire Chief Brian […] Read more »

            Words could not describe the destruction to wetlands along parts of Buzzards Bay and all of Mattapoisett Harbor, should the Eel Pond forced main become compromised. That possibility has been discussed for years when considering what can be done to improve the infrastructure for flow of sewage from Mattapoisett to the Fairhaven treatment facility via […] Read more »

            The reopening of a Notice of Intent filing by Craig Bovaird, 26R Pine Island Road, generated a request by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection for an “alternatives analysis” to determine if the future residential dwelling could be situated somewhere else on the lot.             Representing the applicant was Brandon Faneuf of Ecosystem Solutions. Faneuf confirmed […] Read more »

            In the Rochester Planning Board meeting held on August 11, Phil Cordeiro of Allen and Major Associates Inc. came before the board to provide updates on the planned developments on Cranberry Highway. Cordeiro joined the hybrid meeting via Zoom to represent the application filed by Steen Realty and Development.             After a meeting with the Rochester […] Read more »

            The Rochester Board of Selectmen met on Zoom for a specially called session on August 7 to execute the amendment of the town’s water agreement with the Town of Wareham.             Two weeks prior, the Rochester selectmen had signed the water agreement that included a sentence saying where the funds from a 15 percent user fee […] Read more »

            While a heatwave outside was tempered only by a sea breeze, the Marion Board of Selectmen met on Tuesday afternoon inside the air-conditioned Music Hall with a busy agenda, including a pair of appointments to discuss a landscaping project at the Community Center and the need to improve maintenance of the town’s cemeteries.             In the […] Read more »