The Marion Board of Selectmen ever-so-casually called on its constituency to write letters to the governor on behalf of the town for a $2 million state grant that could help cover the costs of its wastewater treatment plant upgrades.
On April 2, State Representative Bill Straus paid the board another visit to discuss the town’s chances of being awarded the legislative-backed grant reserved specifically for wastewater and climate change resiliency capital projects in communities on Buzzards Bay. Straus had pledged his support in “lobbying” on behalf of Marion to receive the grant, but he returned that night to suggest the town take some important actions to further help Marion get the $2 million.
First, Straus cautioned the board that the lagoon 1 lining project, as presented to the state, would likely not receive the money, simply due to the fact that the project appears to be a one-year capital project that would be completed by a federally mandated deadline. The state, Straus said, prefers projects that span three to five years, simply because of a more favorable repayment schedule.
Marion’s internal schedules, the time sequences, Straus said, he cannot control. During a recent meeting with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) commissioner Straus attended with Town Administrator Paul Dawson and Selectmen Chairman Norm Hills, Straus said it was apparent that the state would find that project’s completion schedule problematic.
“A project like this doesn’t necessarily all get paid for on the day that the keys are turned over, so to speak,” Straus said.
Still Straus said, he is committed to advocating on behalf of Marion why the project is important and should be chosen for the grant.
“The more years the town can spread [the project] out, the better the project looks,” Straus said.
Selectman John Waterman asked if the town should market the project more of a longer-term project; after all, lining lagoon 1 is only just one phase of several phases of improvement projects slated for the sewer plant over the next five or so years. Only the lining of lagoon 1 has a deadline, he said.
“It’s really about the demand for the checks and when do the checks have to be written,” said Straus, suggesting that it is possible to repackage the grant proposal more favorably in the eyes of the state.
Straus told the board it should prepare a calculated repayment schedule for the money it must borrow to fund the project.
“The longer that schedule, the easier it is to sell this,” Straus said.
“Well,” said Waterman, “I suppose it’s better getting $2 mill over five years…”
“…Than zero over one year,” said Straus finishing Waterman’s sentence.
Waterman then asked Straus if it would help Marion if residents were to send their own letters to Governor Charlie Baker’s office requesting it to consider Marion for the grant.
“I think it would be,” said Straus. An old-fashioned, resident-written snail mail letter is, he said, a rather effective tool in getting the attention of the legislature.
Before Straus left, Dawson happily announced that, after years of negotiations, the DEP has finally issued a consent order for the town’s wastewater treatment plant.
In considering the final consent order, the DEP acknowledged the town’s recent misfortune with its engineering firm coming in way under in its cost estimate for the lagoon 1 lining project and granted the town an additional seven months to complete the project. The deadline is now June 30, 2020, instead of December 1, 2019.
“I’m very pleased with the way negotiations went,” Dawson said. “We have a really good amount of cooperation with the DEP – they really did get the issues that are facing Marion and they really worked hard with us to come up with what I call the best permit that we could have hoped for.”
In other matters, Dawson reaffirmed his promise to remain in the Town Administrator’s Office until the town finds his replacement, and with optimism he set his amended retirement date for May 3. Dawson was set to retire on March 15, but as town administrator candidates rescinded their resumes one after the next, the position remains unfilled.
The board has set a dog hearing for May 7 to determine whether an Olde Farm Road dog should be deemed a dangerous dog or a nuisance dog after an alleged March 3 dog attack that injured one woman and two canines.
In a letter to the board, Police Chief John Garcia recommended that the selectmen move ahead with a dog hearing, saying that the offending dog attacked another dog without provocation.
“…[T]he owners, in our opinion, have not acted responsibly with regard to the dog,” Garcia wrote. Furthermore, he stated, during the mandated quarantine following such an attack, “the conditions of the quarantine were violated on two occasions.”
The owner of the dog accused of the aggressive behavior belongs to Michael Devoll, the principal at Old Rochester Regional High School. Devoll was present for the meeting and asked the selectmen to clarify the dog hearing process, saying, “This is not just a small thing, it’s a…” he trailed off.
In a letter to the board dated March 14 written by Diane Kelly of 119 Old Knoll Road, Kelley alleges that the Devoll family dogs are left unsupervised, unrestrained, bark incessantly, and at least one of the dogs being aggressive and “who cannot distinguish between a predator and a neighbor.”
According to another neighbor, Jane Hathaway, “the Devolls should not have pets” because they are “not responsible pet owners.”
The board approved a $6,700 contract with Westona and Samson to assist the town in its in procurement process for soliciting curbside trash removal bids.
According to Dawson, the Town so far has received three bids in response to its request for proposal (RFP) for services.
“There may be others along the way, but we’ll wait to see,” Dawson said. “The deadline for submitting proposals is the seventeenth of April.”
Turning to the board’s prior request for three town committees and boards to begin televising their meetings, selectmen are now saying that all town boards, committees, and commissions will be televised, with Hills saying he has even approached ORCTV to give them notice that three other town entities will soon need video recording coverage.
The board back in January asked the Finance Committee, Zoning Board of Appeals, and Open Space Acquisition Commission to begin televising their meetings, but none of those boards have stating that they would be considering the suggestion.
Waterman pointed out that the ZBA expressed that it didn’t think it needed to be televised, to which Hills said, “That’s not the right answer.”
“Transparency is important,” said Waterman. “These may be open meetings, but people can’t always make it to these meetings … [to] see how the decisions were made.” Waterman continued, “It’s critically important that all three of these committees televise their meetings and we seem to be getting some resistance to that.”
“And it wasn’t a suggestion,” said Hills.
“This isn’t for us: this is for the public,” Waterman stated, “and they need to understand this.
Hills said televising the meetings is “non-negotiable.”
Also during the meeting, the selectmen appointed Police Chief John Garcia’s pick for the vacant full-time officer position, Jonathan Castro effective April 7.
In other business, the board signed off on a one-year bond anticipation note (BAN) renewal totaling $3,125,000. The BAN, which is renewed every year, was given a 2.05 percent interest rate, and consists of three different projects already approved for borrowing – $3,125,000 for a lagoon improvement project approved in 2016, $1.3 Million for the wastewater treatment plant reliability upgrade approved in 2017, $817,195 for the County Road water main project approved in 2018, and another $4250,000 for what Mooney called “ineligibles”.
The next meeting of the Marion Board of Selectmen is scheduled for April 16 at 7:00 pm at the Marion Town House.
Marion Board of Selectmen
By Jean Perry