According to the Marion Board of Health on April 20, Animal Control Officer Sue Connor has received a record number of resident phone calls reporting wild animal sightings.
The discussion over the impending annual oral rabies vaccine distribution kicked off the conversation.
Public Health Nurse Lori Desmarais said that during this spring season, two raccoons had been captured and euthanized, ultimately yielding negative results for rabies, although residents reported their behavior as atypical or suspicious. She said there had been several sightings of “quite a few sick raccoons” around Marion, including a call about a raccoon spotted at Silvershell Beach over the weekend.
According to Desmarais, Connor says she had received more calls this season than she in any other season “in the last 20 to 30 years.”
Desmarais suggested disseminating a “wildlife tips for spring” flyer to residents via email and on the town’s Facebook page and website. She also said Connor is willing to come to speak to the BOH and the public at the board’s next meeting.
The oral rabies vaccine distribution will occur throughout the region between May 3 to June 4 via low-flying aircraft.
Also during the meeting, Recreation Director Scott Tavares spoke about guidelines concerning coastal and inland beach COVID-19 safety and commented that he is confident he and Desmarais can work together to meet all the guidelines as the pandemic continues into summer.
Those guidelines will include at least 12 feet between towels along the sand, hand sanitizer stations, lidless trash receptacles, and one-way entry and exit into restroom facilities.
The food concession will be run by Fieldstone Farm Market and will be a grab-and-go service with no dining tables available for seating.
Beachgoers will be handed a list of rules for visiting the beach, and guidelines will also be posted at the property. Face masks will be required, but someone other than the lifeguards will be tasked with mask enforcement.
On the COVID-19 front, Marion has 11 active cases; Sippican School reports eight people in quarantine with one positive case currently in isolation.
Tabor Academy has reported “a few positives in isolations,” said Desmarais, with an unstated number of others in quarantine awaiting test results. On-campus testing of staff and students is ongoing.
Sippican Healthcare Center reports no new COVID-19 cases and has gone 72 days since its last confirmed positive.
The Town held its final COVID-19 vaccine clinic on April 15, completing two rounds of doses for 1,200 recipients.
The town first began Phase 1 vaccination of first responders before it served the age 75-plus population of Marion, of which is now 90 percent vaccinated, Desmarais stated. She said 60 percent of Marionites have been fully vaccinated so far.
In other business, Eileen and J. Thomas Bowler of 17 Moorings Road formally withdrew their request for a septic system upgrade variance after the board expressed its disinclination to grant the variance during its April 6 meeting.
As the Bowlers seek permission to tie into Marion’s municipal sewer system, they had hoped the board would waive the town’s new regulation calling for a denitrification septic system and allow the older system to stand in order to gain the proper building permits to start construction. Board member Dot Brown opposed deviating from the regulation so soon after its adoption, especially without a “Plan B” of sorts if the town denies the sewer hookup.
The board accepted the withdrawal but was not inclined to approve the proposed 2,000-gallon denitrification septic system because none of the board members had seen it, although engineer David Davignon stated that he submitted the plan last week.
The next meeting of the Marion Board of Health will be on held on Tuesday, May 4, at 4:00 pm.
Marion Board of Health
By Jean Perry