On the eleventh day of the eleventh month on the eleventh hour, sirens and church bells will be sounding throughout the Town of Marion.

This Veterans Day, November 11, marks the 100^thanniversary of the end of World War I – “The war to end all wars,” Veterans Day Committee member Joe Napoli reminded the Marion Board of Selectmen on October 2.

“I suggest,” said Napoli, “in commemoration of that event that we, the Towns, allow [the police and fire departments] to sound whatever horns and sirens that they have if they’re not engaged in their official duties.”

Napoli, along with fellow Veterans Day Committee member Donna Hemphill, will also approach the churches in Marion to ring their church bells at 11:00 that morning. Napoli also said he would ask police and fire to place cruisers and trucks in various locations across town so the sirens will be heard throughout.

“You have our blessing to proceed,” said Board of Selectmen Chairman Norm Hills.

Marion’s Veterans Day observation will happen on Sunday, November 11, at 11:00 am at Sippican School in the multipurpose room, “and just continue the traditions that the VFW has always done,” added Hemphill.

Also during the meeting, the board approved a Bond Anticipatory Note (BAN) totaling $8,015,000, which includes $5,620,000 that was already borrowed in 2010. Another $2,395,000 was added to this BAN to combine them all and refinance the prior BAN, and through refinancing will save the town $368,800 in interest.

In other matters, before a quick meeting with three Marion School Committee members, the selectmen acknowledged the sudden and unexpected passing of School Business Administrator Patrick Spencer.

“It’s a huge loss for all of us,” said Marion School Committee Chairman Christine Marcolini.

The board then appointed James Bride to the Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School Committee.

The board also appointed Theresa Cederholm to the Marion Cultural Council.

A water/sewer abatement request for 428 Front Street was tabled at the last meeting until today in order to investigate why the sewer superintendent and acting Department of Public Works superintendent had opposing recommendations. After a lengthy debate, the selectmen approved the abatement request.

After, the board continued its discussion with Jon Henry from the DPW and Fire Chief Brian Jackvony about water main pressure for fire suppression in private neighborhoods.

The next meeting of the Marion Board of Selectmen is scheduled for October 16 at 7:00 pm at the Marion Town House.

Marion Board of Selectmen

By Jean Perry

The Rochester Country Fair did not amass any profits this year, Kelly Morgado from the Country fair Committee reported on October 1 to the Board of Selectmen. In fact, this year it lost money.

Providing the board with a recap of the 2018 country fair, Morgado reported, “It went extremely well, except for the horrific weather on Saturday evening, so we took a huge financial hit.”

Morgado said the festivities and entertainment planned for that Saturday cost the committee roughly $10,000, and due to the poor weather, there were no proceeds that evening from admissions fees.

“So we actually lost money this year versus what we started with,” said Morgado. “We have money in the account, but we did not make money this year.”

To mitigate the loss, Morgado proposed adding further fundraisers for the upcoming year, beyond the six the committee is allowed as per the committee’s agreement with the Town. She hopes to host a clambake and another antique tractor pull, among other things in 2019.

“That will help us recoup some of the money that we lost at the fair this year,” said Morgado.

Morgado reported on the country fair’s first beer garden, also, saying that, although there were no problems that resulted from serving beer and wine at the event, there were setbacks to how the beer garden was cordoned off from the rest of the fair.

“People were happy that it was there, [but] it was just very awkward how it was set up,” said Morgado. The beer garden had physical barriers with a police officer inside, sometimes with two, Morgado said. “We had absolutely no problems, except if somebody was there with their younger children the children couldn’t go in.”

Morgado has since spoken with police, “And our feedback was to open it up to the fairgrounds and not have a sectioned area,” said Morgado. “If that’s approved, then we can obviously put on more officers for details if that’s one of the requirements.”

The committee also presented a number of maintenance projects, including electrical work that will be done with the assistance of Old Colony students and staff, and some gate and fence work, as well as a well tank relocation.

One proposal for building a pavilion structure at the fairgrounds to save money on tent rentals was a mild concern for Board of Selectmen Chairman Greenwood “Woody” Hartley.

“I’m not sure about the [pavilion] building because that appears to be a permanent structure and I think one of the things we agreed was no permanent structures,” said Hartley.

Morgado said tent rental prices tripled this year to almost $7,000, and a pavilion, which would be built using mostly volunteer labor and donated materials, would bring tent rental needs down to just one tent.

“Many of these things … need to have, in my opinion, the approval and support of the neighbors before I personally would even consider them,” said Hartley.

Selectman Brad Morse sits on the Rochester Country fair Committee, and he suggested to Morgado that they discuss this list of requests at the committee’s next meeting.

“I’m looking at the hit we took this year and trying to figure out how we can make it better,” Morgado said, adding another request: “To not have this [discussion] drag on for months.

“We have got to figure out what were going do – probably now, which I know is not gonna happen,” Morgado said.

Police Chief Robert Small did comment that he would be willing to talk about opening the entire fair up to serving alcohol, saying, “Obviously, my suggestion would be the same thing – have a conversation and figure out what’s best for public safety, but I’m certainly willing to have a conversation.”

Also during the meeting, the board reviewed the seven-article warrant for the November 19 Fall Special Town Meeting taking place at RMS at 6:30 pm.

Article 1 codified the existing zoning bylaws with no change to the substance of the bylaws.

Article 2 pertains to the Green Communities Act: adding a solar energy overlay district to allow by-right use of the town’s capped landfill for a solar array project. Article 3 would provide another overlay district option for voters to consider relative to satisfying the Green Communities Act, this one for alternative energy research, development, or manufacturing limited to the existing industrial zone.

Article 4, another article related to Green Communities, adopts the new building Stretch Code, which Bailey said is already very close to the current building code, according to the building commissioner.

Article 5 is general housekeeping of zoning bylaws that will include multi-family conversion, relocating the table of accessory uses, addressing temporary storage container use on private property, referencing the preservation of agriculture within the Agricultural/Residention zone, and providing a waiver for the use of combustible engines on certain ponds, specifically reserving waivers for scientific survey or study.

Article 6 would appropriate a financial sum to upgrade to the Town’s property evaluation software that will cost at least $15,000, and Article 7 is for $10,000 to hire a grant writer to assist the Town is seeking new grant opportunities.

In other matters, the board will hold a dog nuisance hearing for Liberal and Melinda Teixeira of 368 North Avenue.

Town Counsel Blair Bailey informed the board that there have been several complaints from neighbors about the presence of dogs on the property barking, and the animal control officer has been to the site at least once.

The Teixeiras and their dogs have a history with dog nuisance complaints, first appearing before the Board of Selectmen in 2014 and given specific orders for licensing and a sound-proof kennel building to mitigate noise. Bailey said in 2015 the Teixeiras were found in violation and the matter was taken to court.

“They’re now back to breeding dogs and having dogs outside again barking,” said Bailey, and he requested a new dog nuisance hearing to take place at the next meeting.

According to Bailey, the Teixeiras currently do not have a license to operate a kennel at their residence.

The board will review the WasteZero curbside textile and “soft” recycling program contract and make a decision during a special meeting reserved specifically for WasteZero at 9:00 am Thursday, October 4.

The next regular meeting of the Rochester Board of Selectmen is scheduled for October 15 at 6:00 pm at the Rochester Town Hall.

Rochester Board of Selectmen

By Jean Perry

The consensus among residents was that the public forum the Marion Board of Selectmen held on September 20 was helpful and should take place more often; however, residents disputed Town Administrator Paul Dawson’s claim that the consensus among townspeople was to renovate the existing Town House instead of building a new one at the Community Center property.

Five discussion topics were chosen based on their imminence – all relevant and definitely important – but none rose to the top of the wastewater and water-related discussion with more vigor than the Town House renovation topic did.

Dawson broached the subject referring it as the “continuing saga of the Town House,” saying that, after considerable discussion and at the suggestion of the Board of Selectmen, the Town would be compartmentalizing the renovation, taking it in “smaller bites” and “more manageable chunks,” as Dawson put it, spreading out renovation projects over time.

“I think the board and I – and I think many, if not most people – I think there seems to be consensus gelling around this idea that the existing Town House is sort of the sentiment – the majority of sentiment – that that’s where the attention should be, so we’re looking at the preservation of our existing Town House through a number of different ways,” Dawson said.

Dawson said he reached out to two members of the original Town House Building Committee, Bob Raymond and Bill Saltonstall, along with the architect of the original Town House renovation project and the facilities director, to look at a “plan of attack” to start with the envelop of the building to seal out moisture and replace exterior features like the roof and gutters.

And once we’ve protected the building from potential leaks, we can then focus on how best to renovate and continue progress of updating the Town House,” said Dawson.

One resident asked why the ball field next to the Town House wasn’t explored for a possible “extended Town House,” to which Selectman Randy Parker replied, “We thought that we could garner some CPC funds … to do what we can do to preserve it.

“The select board doesn’t feel we can afford anything else right now,” continued Parker. “Fix what we got, try to do it right, and fix it for the future.”

Selectmen Chairman Norm Hills added, “Plus the fact that we can’t just keep doing nothing. It’s gonna fall down around us.”

Resident Vincent Malkoski questioned Dawson’s use of the word “consensus,” saying, “Consensus of whom, the selectmen?”

It was the voters at Town Meeting who appropriated funding for a study of the Community Center site for a new building, and then no presentation of the findings were given to the voters during Town Meeting, said Malkoski.

“That is unacceptable,” said Malkoski. “I don’t care what the costs are, and maybe it didn’t work out, but they’re telling us that, in a meeting amongst yourselves, you had the consensus and somehow that represented the will of the town? That is not acceptable.”

Dawson responded, “The consensus I was referring to was not the consensus of the Board of Selectmen, although I think it is, but I think it’s the consensus of the town – it’s a measurement of a number of different votes that happened over the course of time at Town Meeting.”

Hills addressed Malkoski’s assertion that the study’s findings were not presented to the voters, pointing out that the board held a public forum at Sippican School presenting both plans back in March.

“It was a consensus of that meeting of everyone that was there that it was to vote the Town House,” said Hills.

Selectman Jon Waterman defended the notion of the consensus, saying that while he was running for Board of Selectmen earlier this year, many people approached him about renovating the Town House, even going as far as saying Waterman would only receive their vote if he supported preserving the Town House.

“Not one person came up to me and said ‘I want the VFW,’” said Waterman. “Not one person said to me, ‘I want the VFW or I won’t vote for you.’”

It was during a July meeting that selectmen expressed their opinion that a piecemeal-type approach to renovating the Town House would be the direction the Town would take.

“So you did it in a selectmen’s meeting. How many people were there?” asked Malkoski. “It’s not right … it’s not the way to do business. Put it out front, let people discuss it, and then move forward with it.”

Malkoski called it “troubling,” suggesting the Town House renovation was “rammed through” in a non-transparent fashion.

“Town Meeting is where you present that stuff,” Malkoski said. “That’s when we vote – it should not be a backdoor deal.”

Dawson later added, “Never before in my time here have we gone to Town Meeting with choices for construction. It’s talked about; it’s vetted in a series of public meetings and it’s presented.” Referring to the police station project and the Sippican School expansion, Dawson continued, “Never were there competing articles at Town Meeting. It didn’t happen then, and it didn’t happen now, and that’s because it’s imprudent to bring multiple articles to Town Meeting for the same type of project.”

“It’s about the money,” said Waterman, “and this town can’t afford $8 million to go to renovate it, and it can’t afford $5 million to build at the VFW site.

“The most cost effective way to do it is to do it over time by gradually fixing the existing Town House and using CPC funds … which means we can do the renovation for the minimal cost to the taxpayer.”

On a different matter – the Carver, Marion, Wareham Regional Refuse Disposal District (CMWRRDD), the town’s regionalized trash service – some residents wanted to know who should have been watching over matters before mismanagement and mishandling of finances became an issue.

What is important to remember, said Dawson, is that the CMWRRDD is a “separate body politic” and not a part of the Town of Marion.

“And I think people think it is,” Dawson said. “They don’t answer to me, to the Town of Marion, or the selectmen. It’s a separate board and they do their own thing.”

Then who supervises them, the public wanted to know. Dawson explained that the CMWRRDD has its own committee, with each of the three towns’ board of selectmen appointing two members. Those members, said Dawson, relied on the information provided to it by former executive director Ray Pickles, whom the committee fired back in February.

“They can only be as good and effective as the information they receive, and if that information is either inaccurate or simply untrue then it’s difficult … to monitor that properly,” said Dawson.

Dawson recounted how earlier this year the three towns became suspicious after Pickles issued them each an assessment for trash disposal after years of no assessments. The town administrators then discovered that Pickles had not performed a single one of the required annual audits since 2012. Funds were missing, as well as supporting financial documents, leaving the district in financial turmoil.

But now, Dawson stated, with the institution of new practices and the hiring of a new executive director, “We hope that we will be able to right the ship and ensure that what we experienced there won’t happen again – can’t happen again – and we’ll continue to march forward.”

The board also discussed the wastewater treatment project and the ongoing efforts to meet the EPA’s stricter limits on phosphorus and nitrogen. Regionalizing wastewater services with Wareham, Bourne, and Massachusetts Maritime Academy was also discussed, but a study is ongoing and further information won’t be available until the two-year study is completed.

The residents also heard a bit about water infrastructure upgrades and well site restoration, and the board briefly described an exploration of fire safety enhancement by adding more hydrants.

Marion Board of Selectmen

By Jean Perry