The Marion Board of Health held an emergency meeting on December 12 to vote to condemn a Front Street house where police on Monday found animals suffering from neglect and unsanitary conditions in and around the home. In a memorandum written by Marion Health Director Karen Walega and read into the record, Walega said she […] Read more »
A West Coast cannabis dispensary company is considering opening a recreational adult-use marijuana dispensary in Marion, the town’s Board of Selectmen heard on December 17. Marion Town Administrator Jay McGrail made it clear before the appointment that the meeting with Lighthouse Dispensary was simply informational and an exchange of ideas rather than anything solid. To […] Read more »
Sippican School staff, administrators, and School Committee members honored the retiring “Queen of Kindergarten” during the meeting of the Marion School Committee on December 4. Karen Santos has been a kindergarten paraprofessional at Sippican School for 25 years. She will be stepping down at the end of December. To commemorate her years at Sippican School, […] Read more »
Thirty years ago, friends and business partners Steve Napolitano and Ralph Cotellesso purchased lots along Brandt Island Road. After developing one of the three lots with a single-family home now listed as 126 Brandt Island Road, Napolitano said soon after “the economy tanked.” Time passed and the partners tried again in the early 1990s to […] Read more »
On December 4, the Mattapoisett Council on Aging Board of Directors met with Grant King, director of Comprehensive Planning at the Southeast Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD) to learn of SRPEDD’s plan to prepare a study on affordable housing in the town. King explained that the town had applied for and received a grant […] Read more »
Rochester School Committee Chairman Sharon Hartley wasn’t as optimistic about the 2019 MCAS scores as Rochester Memorial School Principal Derek Medeiros was during his MCAS presentation on December 5, leading to a debate over what indicates progress and what indicates stagnation. Medeiros highlighted his “points of pride” with the school’s performance in the MCAS higher […] Read more »
The Mattapoisett Town Administrator Search Committee hopes to present the Board of Selectmen with finalists for the town administrator position by its January 21 meeting with the hope that the Board will choose its new town administrator before January’s end. After an unsuccessful search on its own, the search committee hired municipal employee recruiter Bernie […] Read more »
Mattapoisett property taxes will increase by 2.1 percent this year, rising from $13.21 in fiscal year 2019 to $13.49 this 2020 fiscal year. Add in the Community Preservation Act tax of an additional 1 percent, and the assessed average value home will see a 2.4-percent overall increase, or an annual tax bill of $6.627.93. As […] Read more »
One of the largest-scale* solar farms in Massachusetts is coming to Rochester in 2020, resulting in the clearing of 60 acres of forest for the 10-megawatt mega solar farm proposed by SunRaise Investments. This solar farm proposal is only one of five solar farm projects the solar developer has slated for Rochester that will encompass […] Read more »
Rates for Marion’s beach privilege sticker have been officially set at $10, members of Marion’s Board of Selectmen decided on Tuesday, December 3. The stickers, which cover access to (and parking at) Silvershell Beach, have been separated this year from transfer station stickers, which will be issued separately. One beach sticker per vehicle will be […] Read more »