Town Counsel Jonathan Witten advised the March 31 emergency meeting of the Marion Board of Selectmen that video-conferencing is not an adequate platform for public hearings.
The town is trying to work its regulatory boards back into business and, while Witten endorsed the use of Zoom conferencing for public meetings, public hearings are another matter.
“Our advice to cities and towns is to try to seek an extension of time for all public hearings to a date certain (and) leave it up to that board. We were thinking 30 days (before), now thinking 60 or 90… we just don’t – and this is just an opinion of mine – believe you can hold a fair hearing in a complicated manner in this technology.”
Therefore, Marion Conservation Commission, Planning Board, and Zoning Board of Appeals will be urging applicants who can apply for extensions of their cases to do so. If the applicant refuses, then the boards will have to determine a continuance to a “date certain.”
“Things change,” said Board Vice Chairman John Waterman, “so, if something new were to come out, I think we should reserve the right to change from 60 days.”
A motion to defer public hearings for 60 days, with the Board of Selectmen reserving the right to hold public hearings on an emergency basis, was approved.
Town Administrator Jay McGrail said he will reach out to committee chairs to start public meetings, not hearings, next week. Witten reminded the board that all public notice requirements are still in effect. With some items, the timeframe is exceedingly short so the town will urge the applicant to push back the case in question.
Witten stressed that “It is legal under the governor’s order to hold a public hearing under this technology, but I urge the board to refrain (from doing so).”
McGrail told the Board of Selectmen that he had purchased an account with Zoom starting Thursday, April 2, that will position Marion’s regulatory boards to hold live meetings via video conferencing. The goal, he said, is to get the boards up and running next week.
According to Witten, a decision to postpone Marion’s Town Meeting must be made very soon and to a safe date. “I don’t think anyone in the town is prepared to deal with a remote town meeting,” he told the board. “Marion is going to have to postpone its town meeting… now we just need to find a reasonable time to hold it.”
McGrail noted that there will be a vote on Thursday, April 9. He is waiting on Planning Board information, then there will be a vote to close the warrant and a plan to postpone Town Meeting no later than the end of June, with 20 days notice.
While the town house renovations are ongoing and the facility is slated to reopen on April 7, McGrail has assured his staff that the public would not be in the building until at least May 4. He also reported having acquired 250 bottles of hand sanitizer, distributing those to needed areas include two in each DPW vehicle. Board Chairperson Randy Parker noted that some staff had been mixing their own to work with greater safety.
Marion’s new ambulance is in, and McGrail expects work will be finished to get the new rescue vehicle up and running in the next couple of weeks.
In other business, the Board of Selectmen approved the buying out of police personnel’s unused vacation time. McGrail said that Police Chief John Garcia indicated that all police staff will take advantage of the provision. The board also approved Garcia’s request for an intercom outside the police station.
McGrail also reported that Eversource responded favorably to a gas line project planned for Route 6.
McGrail reported that Marion has begun looking into how the town would manage Sippican School as a location for town meeting and elections on the premise that social distancing can be maintained through remote participation via live video or with Town Meeting in a central location at Sippican with classrooms used for viewing and the proximity to be able to walk to the central location to participate, then return to the classroom. That way no more than 10 people (the state-advised limit for public gatherings) are in any room at the same time.
McGrail noted that the Board of Selectmen has a public hearing scheduled for April 7 for a liquor-license request. “My hope will be that would be the first public hearing,” said McGrail. “Later that week, if we’re successful, that the Conservation Commission and the (Zoning Board of Appeals) would use it as well.”
Clarification was made to the email blast regarding the bagging of trash. McGrail said that Waste Management is asking the public to please bag trash and then put it inside the containers.
At the Board’s March 26 meeting, David Willett of the Department of Public Works offered an update on several projects, noting only minor disruptions so far despite current working conditions. He noted that work was completed on two fire hydrants including one on Route 105. Willett praised the work of DPW Engineering Manager Meghan Davis. He also reported that the Mass Maritime Academy will assist Marion with intern support with the town’s outfall testing and sampling that has been postponed until mid-late April. Willett was hopeful that the state Department of Environmental Protection will cut the town some slack when permits are due in June.
A rehabilitation site near Mary’s Pond will need a video-conference bid process to meet the subcontractor bids package that was due March 31 and the general contracting bid due April 9.
Mill Street water main work is scheduled to begin in late May. “That’s a meeting that will probably be best done in person,” said Willett. “Hopefully we’ll get a window… if we don’t, we’ll do it by teleconference. It’s a pretty big set of plans…” The timeline is a concern with the potential of paving restrictions being closed.
The Sippican School egress has yet to be surveyed; Willett is hoping to lock up a probable cost before town meeting.
Willett reported adding locations for private lines to get a better handle hydraulically how Marion’s water system is working.
Two development projects, one at Plumb Corner and another at Oakdale Avenue, face challenges that Willett believes can be solved.
The 2021 fiscal year initialization program (INI) has drawn favorable bid prices, according to Willett, who is hopeful that much can be accomplished with the $190,000.
Another sewer project Willett hopes to get completed is the replacement over an 800-foot stretch of Mill Street based on the 2018 budget. Willett said there are 770 feet of “completely dilapidated” line and that manholes are “falling apart.”
Crossneck Road needs an alignment survey that Willett hopes to have back from GAF Engineering.
The Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan held its kickoff meeting on conference call. Wastewater Treatment Plan Improvements held construction meetings but were still in the submittal phase of the project.
Waterman suggested a second opinion on the village infrastructure project. Willett said the contractor is looking for $30,000 to $32,000 to get started on the project, and a second opinion will cost another $30,000 to $50,000.
McGrail said Marion can pay for a second opinion with Chapter 90 funds, pending an expected state approval.
“I think it’s really important we have another look at it, and the focus needs to be on stormwater and can we manage stormwater with the existing outfalls without having to get into building new outfalls,” said Waterman, who asked Willett for a cost estimate for the board to vote on.
The Marion Board of Selectmen continues to meet via Zoom video conferencing every Tuesday and Thursday at 3 pm.
Marion Board of Selectmen
By Mick Colageo