To the Editor
What a great ten days for the Town of Mattapoisett. At the November 6th Town Meeting we brought closure to matters surrounding Tinkham Forest – following twenty years of discussion, debate and votes dealing with the preservation of the Forest and access to the Forest. Town meeting also approved significant funds to finally begin to address in a major way the substantial work that needs occur at our Town Barn on Mendell Road. We have known for years of the hazards at this building from a public safety perspective and from an EPA regulatory viewpoint – and we are now on track for meaningful improvements. Bringing Old Slough Road up to acceptable, usable standards has been a topic of public safety conversation since at least Hurricane Bob in 1991 – and numerous times since when Point Connett and Crescent Beach have been cut off from Route 6 resulting from storm flooding and road damage – Town Meeting approval to proceed with this project is much appreciated by many. Eight years ago, the Town kicked off an effort to update the roads and sidewalks on Main Street, Water Street, Beacon Street and surrounding areas. At the most recent Select Board Meeting, the Board voted to proceed with the design offered by the Town Consultant – putting the Town on the path to secure $8 million of State funds towards this effort.
Positive movement on all four projects is certainly good news for all of us. There is still lots of work to be done around Town – but getting four long-time lingering projects off the field is Big. It is important that we recognize the hard work done to get us to this point. In each case, our Town Administrator Mike Lorenco along with our Assistant Administrator Katie Stephanian picked the ball off the field and managed the plays to get the ball to the goal line – for Town Meeting and Select Board action to score the play. On top of this, Mike has given us a new look at Town Finances – not just a healthy Balance Sheet to look at, but a very clear understanding of the evolution of the dollars and cents that we look at and more importantly, Mikes financial presentations provides us all with a story of where we are and we’re going as a community – always with options to shift course if we all agree is the prudent thing to do. We are fortunate to have Mike Lorenco as the Town’s quarterback. (Mike is free on Sunday’s – could be an opportunity for Bill Belichick)
Chuck McCullough, Mattapoisett
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