The Year 2023, as displayed this week with 49 of our 52 Wanderer covers, saw Mattapoisett residents and the town’s water-treatment plant survive an EF-1 tornado that left a spectacular damage path north of I-195.             The short-lived twister uprooted many trees, taking toolsheds (and at least one generator) with them and blocking roads. A […] Read more »

            Rochester’s Select Board on Tuesday night approved a Special Town Meeting warrant with a wider variety of articles than most annual town meetings have.             The first of the 10 articles on the January 22 warrant (7:00 pm at Rochester Memorial School, 16 Pine Street) will accept a law that mandates the town boost […] Read more »

            Rochester is updating its plans on two fronts and wants the public’s input.             Right now, a survey on the town website is seeking input on its Hazard Mitigation Plan, which, as Town Planner Nancy Durfee describes in a press release, “enables municipalities to identify risks and vulnerabilities associated with natural disasters and develop […] Read more »

            Dr. Allan Pineda’s filing for a Special Permit for property owned at 33 Church Street, across the street from his residence at 15 North Street, was finally heard by the Zoning Board of Appeals on December 21.             There had been a slight delay since the application was received due to processes that dealt […] Read more »

            While Chairman Shay Assad made it explicitly clear that every member of the Marion Finance Committee is invited to participate in every aspect of the town’s budget discussion, he introduced a strategy aimed at minimizing the possibility that the committee could miss something important.             In explaining the workings of the committee to four […] Read more »

            Stephen and Jane McCarthy were issued an Amended Order of Conditions for their proposed house reconstruction at 43 Dexter Road during the December 13 meeting of the Marion Conservation Commission.             The embankment at the site was a sticking point in the continued public hearing, when their representative, Dave Davignon of Schneider, Davignon & […] Read more »

            Rochester’s Historic District Commission on December 20 reviewed revisions to a plan to construct a hobby barn for collectible cars at 0 New Bedford Road and generally liked what they saw.             The original plan for the parcel, which is within the town’s historic district, was a single 100×200 square-foot, pre-engineered, metal building to […] Read more »

            The Rochester Select Board held a special meeting on Tuesday afternoon at Town Hall to vote in Ashling McLaughlin as the town’s new full-time treasurer effective Monday, January 8.             “We had number of candidates, and Ashling certainly showed herself to be the best. … She interviewed well, he references were outstanding,” said Town […] Read more »

            In a continued public hearing held November 30 in which applicants Benjamin and Elizabeth Frade had sought a Special Permit for an in-home, dog-training business at 16 Bishop Road, Rochester, Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman Dave Arancio read into the record a November 21 letter from Representative Richard Manning that the Frades have withdrawn […] Read more »

            Alignment across the Old Rochester Regional School District, it was agreed by the Mattapoisett School Committee, is essential to strengthening learning at the most local level.             The committee met on December 7 to review and vote to approve the 2023-24 School Improvement Plan, which was presented by local elementary school principals Dr. Linda […] Read more »