Forum Informs Voters on Town Meeting, Election

            Courtesy of the League of Women Voters, Mattapoisett residents enjoyed the chance to meet some of their 2019 Annual Election candidates on April 27 – all running uncontested now, after Seth Hiller dropped out of the Board of Selectmen race earlier this month, essentially handing the election to incumbent Jordan Collyer for a sixth term in office. But don’t let that deter you from showing up to the polls on May 13 to cast your ballot! Pending all passes at Town Meeting, there will be two ballot questions: one to fund the Old Rochester Regional athletic field and auditorium upgrades, and one to fund a new fire station.

            During the event held Saturday at the library, town officials made one of their few remaining fire station pitches to voters ahead of the May 13 Annual Town Meeting, hoping the townspeople will approve the $9,275,000 project.

            “From a financial standpoint, this an excellent time for the community to look at advancing this project,” said Town Administrator Michael Gagne, who will attend the final town meeting of his career this month before his retirement this year. Within the next five years, 79.3 percent of current debt exclusion capital projects will have been paid off, dropping from $14.3 million to $2.75 million, he said. “I think you need to do this right now – the market is right to borrow.”

            Last year, Town Meeting voted to appropriate $250,000 towards the engineering and design of the new fire station to replace the outdated and safety non-compliant fire station that was built in the 1950s, and the Town formed a committee to explore options.

            According to Gagne, the owner of the average $444,000 home in Mattapoisett would experience a $13.38 annual tax increase to fund the project.

            “As you can see, it’s extremely reasonable,” Gagne said – with a minimal financial impact.

            “We spent a lot of time drilling down on the project,” said Gagne. “[The design engineers] trimmed about $1.1 million out of what they had estimated.”

            Fire Chief Andrew Murray said having a new fire station would attract new and highly-qualified candidates to the department, although he said that for now he is not looking to increase full-time day staff beyond the current two full-time firefighters. In addition to a contamination area and separate bathrooms for the three female employees is a fitness center, Murray said, “to motivate [staff] to stay healthy and stay fit.”

            “People say, ‘Wow, this is really big’,” said Collyer, an advocate for the project. When the Town first looked at a new station in the mid ‘80s, he said, the building was already insufficient in some ways. The last attempt to upgrade the station was in 2009, Collyer said, “It was certainly grossly deficient, and here we are in 2019 … [and] we’re actually building to catch up for the last 35 years and we’re trying to build ahead as well – We’re actually building a building for 65 years now.”

            The project’s scope has expanding more than the Town thought, Collyer added, but this latest look at a new station has “opened our eyes.” The cost to build was half the cost it is today, and not expected to decrease, ever.

            “I’m a strong advocate for the project for many reasons … the least of which is this has been going on for far too long.

            “We think we’re in a sweet spot at this point,” Collyer continued, “but we also don’t want to be overly ostentatious in our request [as if] we’re asking for too much, but allow ourselves the flexibility. … We feel comfortable, as a committee, that we’ll be able to grow into this space over time without having too much quote-unquote dead space.”

            “The price really is very good,” Gagne said.

            Gagne also gave a Town Meeting briefing, touching on some of the important town issues that will appear on the warrant rather than by reading each article line for line.

            Within the budget, Gagne pointed to employee health insurance as one of the leading financial burdens, with costs rising 8 percent this fiscal year, accounting for $2.3 million out of $25 million budget.

            Also driving the budget, Gagne pointed to an increase in tuition for Old Colony Regional Vocational technical High School, although the Town had prepared for such an increase for years via a regional school stabilization fund.

            “We have the money in that … fund so we don’t take a significant spike in the budget,” Gagne said.

            Solid waste collection and disposal is up some, but because the town is only in its sixth year of a ten-year contract, the town is protected form any major increases until then.

            The debt stabilization fund will allow the town to explore some new growth opportunities, he said, and voters will be asked to continue to transfer another $125,000 this year into the fund.

            Other post employment benefits (OPEB) liabilities continue to climb, but the town has been proactive, having set aside $450,000 every year for nine years, Gagne said.

            “That was an extremely prudent move because that situation has not been any better ,” with increasing insurance costs and more retirees,” said Gagne. “You have a situation where the liability has actually increased.” Three years ago Mattapoisett’s liability was $7 million, and now it’s up to $9.5 million.

            There will be two zoning articles on the warrant, Gagne pointed out – one to increase lot coverage within the industrial zone to stimulate growth, and one to allow medical marijuana marijuana cultivation facilities currently allowed in the industrial zone to provide cannabis for off-site adult-use marijuana companies.

            Gagne said some voters might misunderstand the intent of the bylaw, which is solely to allow cultivation of some adult-use marijuana, not the sale of adult-use marijuana in Mattapoisett.

            “That’s not the case,” Gagne emphasized. “It’s strictly for growing purposes. There will not be retail sales there.

            “We’ve looked at some preliminary host agreements based upon certain percentages,” Gagne continued, pointing out why Mattapoisett might want to consider this new bylaw. “You could be looking at annual revenue … anywhere north of $200,000 a year…. Substantial revenues that could be used for other capital projects further down.”

            The Annual Town Meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 13, at 6:30 pm in the Old Rochester Regional School auditorium.

            The Annual Town Election is on Tuesday, May 21, with polls open 8:00 am -8:00 pm at Old Hammondtown School.

By Jean Perry

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