The Select Board met on October 6 at the Marion Police Conference Center to address routine water and sewer commission matters.
The board agreed to lift a moratorium on road-opening work on Water Street to help a homeowner seeking to increase the gas line size for a new home there.
Kenneth Michaels Jr. met with the Select Board and Department of Public Works (DPW) Director Jody Dickerson. Michaels said the new homeowners of 49 Water Street are looking to widen a portion of the line and connect it to a three-inch line, twice the size of the older line.
Michaels said the homeowners have requested a backup generator and the home, in general, will require more energy usage.
Select Board member Randy Parker met with Dickerson and Michaels before the October 6 meeting. He said that despite the moratorium on opening the road, this work will not be intrusive and will be similar to a road opening on Spring Street, which did not require road opening on the travel portion of the road.
Parker made a motion to approve it with conditions — the line, if necessary, should go 24 feet deep rather than the outdated 18-inch depth of the current line. Another stipulation requires Michaels to offer a one-year warranty on the work if something goes wrong after completion.
In other business, the board recovered money from several water meters that have been updated.
Town Administrator Geoffrey Gorman said that with new meters replacing outdated ones, some residents have been receiving higher but more accurate bills.
Gorman says he has discussed and reviewed the changes with some residents, and some have been put on payment plans.
At the meeting, the board appointed former Select Board member Norm Hills as Music Hall Advisor and DPW director Dickerson as the alternative tree warden.
The board also met with Finance Director Heather O’Brien, who gave a report, including that the new audit is available for the public.
She also announced good news: the Board of Assessors clerk, Cindy Visotski, was named Clerk of the Year. The board nominated her and recently received the news.
O’Brien said strong public relations skills are one of the criteria for receiving this award.
Marion Select Board
By Jeffrey Wagner