During a morning meeting on June 9, Mattapoisett Town Administrator Michael Gagne met with a group that included Brendan Annett, vice-president of Watershed Protection for the Buzzards Bay Coalition, Highway Surveyor Barry Denham, Conservation Agent Elizabeth Leidhold, Ken Motta of Field Engineering, and members of the Mattapoisett Historical Commission to discuss the status of the Acushnet Road culvert/dam replacement roadway project.

The site is the location of the Tubb Mill, commonly referred to as the Tinkham Sawmill. The culvert collapsed some months ago requiring emergency repairs; however, the regulations, documents, and levels of review necessitated primarily by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation have pushed the construction start date into October.

Gagne reported to the Mattapoisett Board of Selectmen the evening of June 9 what he learned during the earlier meeting. He shared that the state requires a stepped series of construction drawings with each step being reviewed by the DOT before approval to move further along in the process is given. In April 2014, Field Engineering, in partnership with Denham and Leidhold, reached the first DOT construction drawing milestone of 25 percent completion. In December 2014, the work was 75 percent completed, and now, finally, 100 percent has been completed in June 2015.

In December, Motta also began working with Annett on necessary conservation remediation to compensate for areas around the river that will be disturbed by the construction. Several options were debated.

On June 9, Annett signed off on plans that will allow the majority of the remaining mill stones – large granite stones placed along the river’s edge as it cascades over what remains of the mill works upstream – to stay in place. Some stones will be re-purposed for aesthetics in the culvert area. The Massachusetts Historical Commission, as well as Mattapoisett’s Historical Commission, were both required to review restoration plans to ensure that what historical assets remained in the area were treated in a manner they found reasonable. The plan also achieved those goals.

At this point, Gagne said, plans, specifications, and project estimates may be completed and released for public bidding in the near future. Timing will be critical, he said, for two reasons.

First, the concrete culvert will take up to 30 days to cure, and second, the asphalt plants shut down in December. Denham aims to get the culvert work completed sometime in October so that there is sufficient time to repave the majority of Acushnet Road before winter sets in. With that in mind, Gagne asked permission to release the culvert portion of the project once the specifications have been prepared, to which the selectmen agreed.

Gagne said he wants to give the residents a realistic picture of the process and where the project stands with the variety of approvals that were and continue to be required to get the road re-opened. He said that the Town’s website will have updated information for the public.

The road has been closed many long, frustrating months for residents. On this night, Board of Selectmen Chairman Jordan Collyer gave voice to his frustration.

“I think it is absolutely pathetic it takes this long to do an emergency repair.” He continued, “It seems incomprehensible…. In the private sector, this wouldn’t fly.”

In other business that night, the selectmen signed a bond for $1.4 million for the continuation of water and sewer upgrades.

Mattapoisett Police Chief Mary Lyons received a letter from Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security announcing recognition of Sergeant Jason King, Officer William McIlmail, Officer Dennis Tavares and Officer Turner Ryan for “going above and beyond their law enforcement duties in rendering medical assistance to a person in need.” An awards ceremony is planned for June 11 at 10:00 am at Bentley University.

The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Board of Selectmen is scheduled for June 23 at 7:00 pm in the Mattapoisett Town Hall conference room.

*Correspondent Marilou Newell is a member of the Mattapoisett Historical Commission and attended the June 9 morning meeting as a commission member.

By Marilou Newell

It wasn’t the smoothest Town Meeting on record, but Moderator Kirby Gilmore, selectmen, town administration, and the voters got the job done on June 8, passing the fiscal year 2016 budget, as well as the Planning Board’s limited commercial district zoning bylaw amendment, among other things during the roughly two hour-long Rochester Annual Town Meeting.

Voters did reject the Board of Selectmen’s proposed Article 10 – to slow the annual advancement of step rate increases for non-union town employees – in the form of an indefinite postponement of the article motioned by Highway Surveyor and Fire Department Captain Jeff Eldridge.

The intent of the article, said Board of Selectmen Chairman Richard Nunes, was to save the town money by stretching out the three-percent annual performance-based step rate that non-union employees get every year. Nunes said the article proposed a longer time frame for advancing in step rates, which stops at step 10, currently at 10 years. Eldridge, however, was already poised at the microphone to speak in opposition to the article before Nunes even began to speak.

Eldridge challenged selectmen to overhaul the entire Compensation Plan for the employees and “fix all the deficiencies” instead of amending just one piece of it. This was followed by some confusion over motions made to adopt and to indefinitely postpone and which one should be voted on first. The motion to indefinitely postpone the article passed.

Assessor Diana Knapp left the doors of Rochester Memorial School after Town Meeting adjourned angry over an article that was rejected by voters due to what she considered unclear explanations by selectmen and Town Counsel Blair Bailey, which she said was confusing to voters. She said the article was presented “in poor taste.”

Article 22 proposed allowing elected members of the Board of Assessors to serve in appointed positions under the direct supervision of the Board of Assessors. This article was prompted by the recent election of Debra Lalli, a clerk in the Assessors’ Office, to the Board of Assessors. Adoption would not have affected Lalli’s position; rather, it would have affected future assessors looking to fill appointed positions.

Knapp said the problem for voters was not in the article itself, but with the way the article was put on the warrant. Selectmen, during one of their meetings, decided to remove the article, and subsequently Knapp collected ten signatures to have the article placed back on the warrant, which selectmen did.

During Town Meeting, though, it was discovered that the clerk’s office never verified and certified the signatures on the petition, which caused doubt amongst the voters.

“The Board of Selectmen voted to put the article back on [the warrant],” said Knapp during a follow-up interview. “Naida [Parker] is the town clerk. I guess if you aren’t supporting it and you got your wish…”

However, Selectman Parker was on vacation during the meeting and the days following when selectmen voted to return the article to the warrant, acknowledged Knapp.

“It wasn’t a clean article,” said Knapp.

Lalli said, as a clerk in the Assessor’s Office, she ran for the Board of Assessors because nobody else was. Lalli ran unopposed.

Selectmen motioned to indefinitely postpone its Article 14 to allocate $9,900 for a consultant to codify the town bylaws, as well as its Article 16 to change the town election hours. Article 17 to establish a semi-annual preliminary tax payment system was also indefinitely postponed at the selectmen’s request.

The articles that were adopted were as follows:

Special Town Meeting Article 1 to transfer $85,000 from free cash to cover the snow and ice removal deficit; Special Town Meeting Article 2 to supplement the ORR transportation budget in the amount of $22,946;

Annual Town Meeting Article 1 to accept the annual report; Article 2 to fix the salaries of town elected officials; Article 3 to amend Part IV of the Personnel Bylaw; Article 4 to create a revolving account in connection to the Tax Title process; Article 5 to approve the FY16 budget of $19,593,758; Article 6 to authorize revolving accounts for certain town departments; Article 7 to allocate $300 for shellfish planting in Marion; Article 8 to appropriate $305,717 for infrastructure repair; Article 9 to fund the Open Space and Recreation Plan with $1,500; Article 11 to transfer $8,000 from free cash to fund the OPEB audit; Article 12 to appropriate $15,000,000 from free cash to future OPEB obligations; Article 13 to fund an irrigation pump at the Dexter Lane Fields for $5,000; Article 15 to amend the Fingerprinting Bylaw to include language referencing the FBI; Article 18 to dissolve the Industrial Development Financing Authority; Article 19 to amend the Flood Plain District affecting the New Bedford Waterworks area; and Article 20 to amend the Zoning Bylaw to add Mixed Use Development in a Limited Commercial District.

By Jean Perry

A complaint filed with the building inspector about Little League signs displayed at Gifford Park in Rochester brought the Old Rochester Little League before the Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals May 28 for an amendment to the original 1993 special permit allowing the signs.

The board did vote to amend the signs, but only after some discussion with abutters who said they had negative experiences with the signs that have hung during months when they were prohibited, with some blowing into neighboring yards.

Paul Moore, who lives beside the field on Mary’s Pond Road, said all signs currently at the field are not painted green on the back like the special permit requires, and some are even lying on the ground.

“They just blow around,” said Moore. “They sit in the dirt.”

The signs – paid for by advertisers that support the league – are displayed along two of the ball fields facing the interior ball field fence so as to remain unseen from the road. The 1993 special permit required the backs be painted green with advertisements facing infield, limited to 42 signs no larger than 32 feet by 48 feet, and only displayed from April 15 to August 7.

“The fact that the signs are not being well maintained is beyond the scope of what we’re trying to do this evening,” said ZBA member Kirby Gilmore. Other than the number and size of, and the time frame for displaying the signs, “We don’t have any control…”

Abutter Karen Audet said she has found some of the signs in her yard, especially over the winter with the storms.

“I’ve never complained, but I’ve just put them back in the fields,” said Audet, recommending the league take the signs down every year when the season ends. “That way they won’t blow all over the place.”

Altogether, there is currently 930 square feet of signage at the field.

“Green Monster,” said ZBA Chairman Richard Cutler.

Representing the ORLL, Dave Nelson, secretary for the league, said the league was seeking to increase the period of time signs could be displayed, making it April 1 to November 15, since the league added a fall baseball season. Nelson said he was also seeking to increase the maximum total of signs from 42 to 62 so that more sponsors could support the league.

“Sign display is a major source of revenue for our league,” said Nelson. It keeps registration costs down, he said.

The board agreed to the requested amended changes, but emphasized that as per the original special permit, sign backs need to be painted green and taken down after the baseball season is finished.

The next meeting of the Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals is scheduled for June 11 at 7:00 pm at the Rochester Town Hall.

By Jean Perry