Tailwater is a water retention pond located downstream from hydraulic structures such as dams and connected bodies of water. A tailwater pond will be an integral part of bog construction planned by Decas Cranberry Company at their 109 Neck Road property in Rochester.

Brian Grady of G.A.F. Engineering returned to the Rochester Conservation Commission on September 15 to discuss in greater detail this aspect and others of the massive agricultural project.

The tailwater pond and associated bogs abut Long Pond that is contiguous to Snipatuit Pond, placing it within the jurisdiction of the commission. The scope of the project will require several meetings with the commission before they will be able to accept the project and provide construction conditions.

On this night, the 23-acre tailwater pond’s capability to retain and recycle bog water was discussed. Grady said, “The tailwater pond is a small project area, and we don’t feel it will have any impact to Snipatuit or Long Pond or to Mattapoisett’s River Valley.”

Grady said the total bog area will be decreased by 3.2 acres, which translates to decreased water consumption. He said this site has been consistently used for agricultural activities for nearly 100 years and a long history provides sufficient data on water consumption.

That simple statement didn’t quite sit well with several commission members as they probed Grady for more details on the volume of water the tailwater pond will hold and the manner in which it will interact with Long Pond. He said the tailwater pond would provide water conservation when completed and provided additional data.

Commission member Laurene Gerrior asked about the dye test data in the multi-page narrative G.A.F. had written for the commission. She learned that the dye test is used to measure flow speed, especially when assessing the movement of chemicals through the bog system.

Conservation Agent Laurell Farinon said the Mattapoisett River Valley Water Supply Protection Advisory committee had aired consistent concerns about the river valley’s headwaters, Snipatuit and Long Ponds. With that in mind, she listed the items G.A.F. needed to provide for the next meeting on the project. Those items are: a document detailing best practices; water management act permit; pulling back the grading on one corner of the site; linear footage of the tailwater pond; and relative volume of the pond.

Farinon also suggested a pre-construction meeting with all involved parties to ensure that all expectations are met saying, “Being more conservative from the start is better on projects like this.”

The commission approved a continuation until October 6.

On a different note, Gerrior asked the other members if it was time to put out a call to the public for associate members. The commissioners agreed it was prudent to have people ready to step in and that being an associate member gave a person the opportunity to learn the ropes and ease into full member status. Farinon said anyone interested in finding out more about becoming a commissioner should contact her directly.

Farinon also announced an Open Space meeting scheduled for October 5 at 7:00 pm in the Rochester Memorial School at which time SRPEDD will give a presentation that will include the results of surveys sent in by residents. She urged the commissioners to attend the meeting.

The next meeting of the Rochester Conservation Commission is scheduled for October 5 at 7:00 pm at Rochester Town Hall.

By Marilou Newell

It is no secret that the Town of Rochester website is a bit outdated when it comes to user-friendliness and accessibility of up-to-date information. Even some applicants for special permits and variances with the ZBA have received incorrect information from the website, said ZBA member Kirby Gilmore, which affects the efficiency of the application process.

But with a special fall town meeting in the sights of Town Hall administration, hopefully that will soon change with an article to request the funding to renovate the website and make anything from looking up meetings and events on calendars to checking local bylaws, even paying tax bills online, a reality for Rochester residents.

Town Administrator Michael McCue told the Rochester Board of Selectmen on September 14 that he intends to prepare an article requesting $7,000 to upgrade to the Virtual Town Hall model that surrounding towns, including Marion and Mattapoisett, currently use.

The topic had been one for discussion in the recent past, with selectmen wondering if anyone at Town Hall could possibly make occasional updates to the website, which McCue now determined is unfeasible.

“As it turns out, the website is actually, oddly enough, written in HTML,” said McCue. “It is not necessarily a user-friendly program.”

If upgraded to the Virtual Town Hall, McCue said he could manage the website, as well as the new administrative assistant.

“Any iPhone that we wanted to authorize could run it,” said McCue. “It’s pretty much plug and play.”

Currently the Town spends $250 per month for the current website service, with hourly rates for website updates and changes. McCue said, because of this, it is harder to make updated postings, which is predominantly why the Town does not.

“I think it would bring the town into the 21^st century,” said McCue.

McCue said the Town might also seek to add an article that would change the annual town meeting quorum of 100 back to 75, after the last annual town meeting took place without a quorum, unbeknownst to the town moderator or town clerk.

Also during the meeting, Board of Selectmen Chairman Richard Nunes, along with appointing authorities Town Moderator Kirby Gilmore and Finance Committee Chairman Kris Stoltenberg, appointed several applicants to the Personnel Board, including David Arancio, member of the ZBA, to serve as a non-voting town board representative member. The Personnel Board is now filled again.

The next meeting of the Rochester Board of Selectmen is scheduled for September 21 at 6:30 pm at the Rochester Town Hall.

By Jean Perry

The Old Rochester Regional High School sports program will now offer girls’ co-op ice hockey now that the Old Rochester Regional School Committee has granted ORR Athletic Director Bill Tilden’s request he made the night of September 9.

The team will be a cooperative with the Towns of Bourne, Mashpee, and Wareham, and when Tilden first polled female students, 32 showed an interest with eight of them already playing ice hockey. Tilden said he had no other viable option to offer incoming eighth grade girls who are interested in playing ice hockey at ORR.

“And it’s a crime to say, ‘hey, just jump on the boys’ hockey team’,” said Tilden, adding that the parents of only one of the eight girls currently playing sports would have actually allowed their daughter to join the boys’ ice hockey team.

Tilden said Bourne approached him because they were short on players and were looking for another school to join the co-op, and that was his reason for approaching the School Committee that night.

“We want to give them the opportunity to keep on playing, instead of saying just jump on the boys’ ice hockey team,” Tilden said.

ORR Principal Michael Devoll said ORR boys’ ice hockey already participates as a co-op with Fairhaven and he supported the idea of starting a girls’ ice hockey co-op.

“I get excited about this because for seven years I’ve been talking about attracting the best students to Old Rochester,” said Devoll. Now that the committee approved the new sport, girls won’t have to go elsewhere for the ice hockey experience, he added.

In other matters, ORR teacher Megan Hall presented the committee with her idea to form an ORR chapter of the running group Dreamfar Marathon to be funded by the $1,200 Lighthouse Foundation grant she won this year.

Dreamfar is Hall’s intent to get at-risk and otherwise average students who have never run a race in their life to join the group to marathon train with the mindset that they can do it and will succeed.

“It not only involves the school, but it also involves the community,” said Hall. Over 30 different community members, Hall said, have volunteered to participate with the students, with support from the New Bedford YMCA.

The grant will pay for the race fees, Hall said, and student runners would participate in a 5K in December, a 10K in January, the New Bedford Half-Marathon in March, followed by the big one – the Providence Marathon.

“What an incredible concept,” said Dr. Elise Frangos, assistant superintendent.

Devoll, who will be running the marathon with the students, added that the program is not particularly geared towards current runners or members of the soccer team. He said he wants to see students who otherwise would not ever think they could run a marathon to join – the student who says, “Wow, I can’t believe I was able to do that,” as Devoll put it.

The next meeting of the Old Rochester Regional School Committee is scheduled for October 14 at 6:00 pm at the ORR Junior High media room.

By Jean Perry