Although the meeting was for departmental fiscal year 2016 budget review, everyone at the Mattapoisett Finance Committee meeting on February 4 felt Highway Superintendent Barry Denham’s pain.

Fresh from many days of plowing and managing the snow removal activities of the Highway Department, Denham shared some of the backlash he has received. Specifically, he said the problem was with private roads that are not part of the Town’s private road maintenance program.

Of the approximately 60 miles of roadway in Mattapoisett, 16 miles fall into the category of private.

Town Administrator Michael Gagne said that in order for the Town to provide snow plowing and grading services to private roads, those roads must meet certain criteria established by both town bylaws and state regulations.

Many private roads in town do meet the requirements, and the residents living on those roads have submitted the necessary documents that allow the Highway Department to perform maintenance work; however, the scope of that work is limited.

“Private roads are driving us absolutely bonkers,” said Denham.

Denham’s office had received numerous calls and some emails from residents whose roads are not included in the program but who still demand that plowing be done. Several of those who have complained about lack of attention have insisted that they need the Town to plow for safety reasons.

Denham said in situations when the Police or Fire Department is dispatched to a residence on a private road that has not been plowed, the Highway Department is also dispatched to clear the road for the emergency vehicles. He said that many private roads are really nothing more than long private driveways with a single home at the end, clearly making it unacceptable to the private road maintenance program.

The program requires that the road have at least three people living on it and that the road remains open to the residents of the community, not just those residents living on the private way. A qualified private road also requires that the majority of the residents living on the road agree to the terms and conditions set by the Town, and the road must meet certain dimensions for accessibility by town vehicles.

Finance Committee member Pat Donoghue said that in several private beach areas – areas where the Town is providing road maintenance services – large signs declaring the area to be private seem to conflict with the rule that the road remain open to the public. Gagne said he would look into where those signs are located and find out what can be done about removing them.

“We simply don’t have the manpower or money,” Denham stated regarding the limitations of providing service to private roads. “They are relentless,” he said of private road residents demanding the service.

Denham said that of the $70,000 snow removal budget the Highway Department started with at the beginning of the season, only about $10,000 remains. Gagne and Denham both commented that snow removal was the one budgetary line item that may exceed its denoted figure.

In other matters, Chief Assessor Kathleen Costello, during her Assessor’s Office report, noted that the new GIS mapping system (geographical information system) has been useful to her office as well as other departments at Town Hall.

Used for mapping all the buildings in town among other things, it will also be used by the animal control officer, Highway and Sewer Departments, and harbormaster, thus making it an integral resource tool for diverse areas of responsibility.

Implementation of the GIS system will also allow residents to view maps on the Town’s website, including FEMA map overlays.

Costello applauded the work done by Highway Department employee Nick Nelson whose computer skills have aided in implementing the GIS program.

Earlier in the evening, Gagne praised the work done by Brenda Herbeck, treasurer/collector, in assisting the Town in tax title property sales garnering $300,000 in land sales. He said there would be another sale before the end of 2015, which he believes will have a value of approximately $150,000. Those funds will be earmarked for extensive roadwork that is being planned.

All departments meeting with FinCom on this night presented level-funded budgets, except where necessary to meet retirement packages or health care coverage.

Those budgets were: tax collector – $190,000; town accountant – $137,000; Highway Department $540,000; assessors – $154,700; Building Department/Inspectional Services and Zoning Board of Appeals – $207,000.

The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Finance Committee is scheduled for February 11 at 6:30 pm in the town administrator’s office.

By Marilou Newell

The ‘delayed start’ program might work well at the high school, but Marion School Committee members were not as receptive toward bringing delayed start to Sippican School.

Assistant Superintendent Dr. Elise Frangos on February 5 proposed delayed start at Sippican as a way to effectively and economically deliver professional development to its teachers, without having to cram it all into the two existing PD days or paying extra for outside time because of contractual requirements.

According to Frangos, the proposal formed by the TLC subgroup on professional development would save the districts “thousands upon thousands of dollars” by building PD time into the school day. She said the current method of extending the day for teachers to attend PD could cost around $3,000 extra to meet contractual agreements with teachers.

The TLC subgroup consists of Center School Principal Rose Bowman, ORRJHS Principal Kevin Brogioli, ORRHS Principal Mike Devoll, RMS Principal Derek Medeiros, Sippican School Principal Lyn Rivet, and Frangos.

Frangos added that delayed start, which would require teachers to attend school at the same time but have students arrive two hours later in the morning, would provide for more valuable PD and teacher interaction time to supplement the gaps in between currently scheduled PD dates that are months apart.

“We feel it’s money well spent, but when we drop off a cliff…” said Frangos, “What happens is we have this unfolding of great strategy and wisdom…” But, what educators need, added Frangos, is more time to digest the material and more cohesiveness in between PD days.

As a way to have less of an impact on families on the eight proposed delayed start dates, Frangos suggested low-cost morning activities for students arriving at the regular start time or a “morning daycare” could be introduced.

School Committee member Christine Marcolini identified the impact delayed start would have on families as her main concern.

Older students are more independent, said Marcolini. “My concern is that you are going to have a lot of elementary students who are going to need to come to school [at the regular time],” said Marcolini.

Marcolini asked how parents who have to work would manage on delayed start days, asking if they would need to rely on the Recreation Department or the YMCA program.

“That’s an expense that we’ll be putting on our families. I have a concern about that,” Marcolini said.

School Committee Chairman Joseph Scott pointed out that delayed start would provide for 16 more hours of PD during the school year, but that would mean 16 hours of missed instructional time for students – something else Marcolini did not support, although she expressed support for the high school program. High school students can take care of themselves, but younger students have higher needs, she stated.

Last year, the district moved away from early dismissal half-days to provide for more weeks of uninterrupted learning.

Scott acknowledged that Frangos’ proposal was only a draft, but said eight delayed start days was just too much. The committee then wondered what a fair balance would look like.

Marcolini suggested looking at staff meeting as a way to provide further PD, utilizing the ORR School District’s Google Docs program as an efficient way to disseminate information while using “pockets of time creatively.”

Rivet told the committee that staff meetings occur once a month for one hour, as per teacher contracts, and the time is devoted to social/emotional PD.

Marcolini suggested polling parents to see if they would support the proposed delayed start program.

“A 10:30 start, in my world, would be an absolute nightmare,” said Marcolini, as a parent, calling it “a tough sell for the community.”

Also during the meeting, Superintendent Doug White briefed the committee on the status of the fiscal year 2016 school budget, providing a level-funded budget and a second draft budget that would increase slightly to make the assistant principal a full-time position and reinstate the enrichment position from a .5 position to a 1.0.

The second draft budget shows a $166,000, or three-percent, increase from FY15. The level-funded budget draft proposes a $132,000, or 2.4-percent, increase overall.

“I think we’re covered very well no matter what happens,” said Scott regarding the response from the Marion Finance Committee. “I think it’s probably one of the easiest budgets we’ve ever had.”

The public hearing and presentation of the FY16 school budget to the public will be at the next scheduled Marion School Committee meeting on March 4 at 6:30 pm at the Marion Town House.

*During the Rochester School Committee meeting on February 5, Frangos introduced a new draft to her PD proposal, suggesting reinstating four half-days that were eliminated last year from the school calendar. The Rochester School Committee did not react with strong opposition to the proposal as did Marion toward delayed start.

By Jean Perry