On Wednesday morning all three Tri-town Fire Departments responded to calls for service all within the same hour, and all unrelated.

Rochester was the first to be called when a fire alarm sounded at Old Colony High School just after 9am. The cause of the fire alarm was found to be an issue with a generator, which tripped when the school lost power. As soon as the hazard was found the students were brought into the gymnasium to stay warm while awaiting resolution. Power to the school was restored in short time but NSTAR Electric reported that some of the residential customers in the area might experience power losses while they work on the cause of the issue.

The Mattapoisett Fire Department was the next to be called just thirty minutes after Rochester’s call. The MFD was called to a home on Beacon Street where a contractor dug up a gas line to a home. The residents of the home were evacuated and NSTAR gas was called to the scene. Within fifteen minutes the gas to the home was shut off and the Fire Department then checked the home for residual gas levels.

While Mattapoisett was responding to their emergency the Marion Fire Department received a Fire Alarm activation from Taber’s Baxter Dorm on Front Street. The Marion Fire Department was on scene quickly and reported that the alarm was due to a system malfunction and there was no hazard on the scene. As the Marion Fire Department clearing the call on Front Street they were then called for a second fire alarm activation, this time at 41 Mill Street, Marconi Village. The caller who reported the call stated that they had a smell of smoke near one of the apartments on the first floor at that location. The Fire Department found that one of the residents had burnt food, which activated the alarm. The apartment was quickly vented and the alarm reset.

By Paul Lopes

The Marion Board of Selectmen voted to give Town Administrator Paul Dawson $3,500 for the architect in charge of drafting the plans for the Marion Natural History Museum repair project. The decision was made at the Board’s regular meeting on Tuesday, January 22 in the Marion Town House.

According to Dawson, when the project originally went out to bid a few months ago, the winning bid did not include the costs for carpeting installation labor and materials, which made it $60,000 cheaper than the other submitted bid. The other bid was extremely higher than the original estimate given by architects from Van Voorhis.

“There was never a full-blown construction cost estimate,” said Dawson. “It was a ballpark.”

The project will go out for bidding once again. However, this time Van Voorhis will conduct a more comprehensive analysis of how much an appropriate bid would be with all of the construction costs taken into consideration. Selectman Jonathan Henry considered that this new analysis could raise the estimate significantly.

In a document submitted to the Board, Van Voorhis stated that his original estimate could be doubled or tripled after it is re-evaluated. Dawson assured the Board that the increase in numbers wouldn’t be nearly as steep as it sounds.

“The only thing I expect to see different is labor and materials for carpeting,” he said.

“Then that’s an unfortunate choice of language,” said Henry with regards to the Van Voorhis report.

Included in the new evaluation would be the cost to replace the lights inside of the museum, an item that was previously overlooked but could potentially be very necessary. Once the new figure is drafted, it will go to the Selectmen for review and feedback before it goes out to bid again.

“We can’t stop at this point here,” said Selectman Stephen Cushing.

In other news, Dawson informed the Selectmen that the Marion Music Hall lighting project is well underway. All of the exterior work is complete, with the exception of some cement pouring, which will be completed when weather permits. Inside, the circuit work needs to be finished. The new lighting fixtures will arrive sometime in February and will be installed once the circuit work is finished.

Another project that is in progress is the mold remediation process for the Town House basement. Dawson commended Conservation Commissioner Norm Hills for his help in organizing and relocating items in the basement to a new location so the mold removal can be underway in the near future.

Upon working in the basement, however, Dawson said they uncovered a water leak that is attributed to window infiltration. According to Dawson, he believed the water only leaks in when there is a Southwest wind blowing.

The Marion Board of Selectmen will meet again on Tuesday, February 5 at 7:00 pm in the Town House.

By Katy Fitzpatrick

A $200,000 request from the Buzzards Bay Coalition to purchase 235 acres under a conservation easement was pushed away by the Mattapoisett Board of Selectmen at their meeting on Tuesday evening.

Brendan Annett, representing the Buzzards Bay Coalition presented the five million dollar proposal to purchase the acreage for conservation, which includes agricultural, recreational and coastal usage and preserve land for future generations.

The 245 acres includes land in both Mattapoisett and Fairhaven which includes benefits to wildlife, agriculture to continue farming and offer more access, by foot or bike to

Buzzards Bay for residents and visitors.

Annett said that three of the five million will come from the federal government and possibly one million from the Bouchard Transportation Trust and other monies from state funding, but that the grant funders need and require that the local towns support the massive effort.  Just last week, Fairhaven agreed to put the $200,000 funding on the town warrant for their next town meeting.

Siting concerns around the funding of local projects, including replacing the tennis courts near Center School, both Selectmen Jordan Collyer and Tyler Macallister said that the town doesn’t have the money to contribute to the BBC’s effort to purchase the land.

Selectmen also cited the deterioration of the town piers and that local projects must take precedence.

 “Taking 235 acres off the tax rolls is an issue,” said Collyer. “This drives up the cost of buildable lots.”

 Macallister and the other members sympathized with  Annett and said they felt the project was worthy, but wanted to know if a lower amount would show the federal and state funders that Mattapoisett was onboard and supported the project.

 “Would $25,000, $30,000, or $100,000, if we could find that somewhere in town…would that show that we supported this project,” asked Macallister.

Arnett said that this project was the number four promoted project in the United States by the United States Department of Agriculture, but that due to budget cuts, only the top two projects were funded.

Town Administrator Michael Gagne asked the board if he could look into alternative funding, whatever that might be.  The board agreed to have Gagne research the funding alternatives within the town and discuss it at a future meeting.  With a December 20, 2013 deadline, Arnett said that time was limited and that a decision to support or not needed to be forthcoming to keep the effort vital.

Police Chief Mary Lyons came before the board and asked for acceptance of a new bench with a concrete foundation, which stands in front of town hall.

“We were looking for a way to honor Detective Lt. Paul Silveira and saw this bench at town hall in desperate need of repair,” said Lyons.

Lyons, working with the Highway Department removed the existing bench and installed a new one with a plaque honoring the service of Detective Lt. Silveira.

Silveria passed away on January 21, 2011 and was a revered and beloved community member.  He was a mentor for  those serving in the police department.  Silveria was a 27-year veteran of the force who was to retire in August of 2011.

The Board voted to appoint 4 new members to the Council on Aging (COA), including Joan Flaherty, Claudia Richards, Judith Kennedy and Robert M. Walter.  This brings the COA board to a new total of 12 members.

In other business, Melody Pacheco, Assistant to the Town Administrator said that the Board of Appeals is seeking a new associate member.

Pacheco announced that it is now open burning season, which will last until May 1, 2013.  Permits from the fire department are required and size and volume criteria details can be discussed at the fire department.  Certain burning restrictions apply in the village.   Pacheco recommended that residents contact the fire department for more information.

By Joan Hartnett-Barry

The Rochester Planning Board heard a proposal Tuesday night that would substantially expand the size and capability of the 890-ton-per-day industrial waste receiving and transfer station at 50 Cranberry Highway.

The land and the building are owned by Shawmut Associates, LLC, but New Bedford Waste Services operates the recycling facility, which is specializes in receiving and transferring dry demolition debris and in some cases, converts it into alternate fuels, such as burnable briquettes that are shipped out-of-state.  The facility does not handle food or chemical waste.

According to the proposal, the existing facility, which measures 30,000 square feet, would be expanded to 90,000 square feet.  The tripling of the building area will allow for more space for the processing components, which are quite large.

“It’s a really long process.  It’s a big expansion. It’s the biggest infrastructure upgrade since the facility was first constructed in 1997,” said Greg Wirsen of Green Seal Environmental, the company that has designed the project.

“It’s a system of large conveyors and sorters.  The inside looks like a factory that processes waste,” he said.

The entire site will be run on solar power with panels flush-mounted on the roof.  Water will be brought in from Wareham.  Wirsen said they are waiting for the final numbers from the Wareham Water Department and Fire Department.

While the building will be expanded, the daily amount of waste received and recycled would not increase beyond 890 tons per day.

Wiresen said they are asking for various waivers for the project, including separate waivers to pave to the limit of the property line, to use mechanized methods of cleaning the property, and for the renovation and relocation of the septic system.

“They all seem to make sense, but we’ll see more as we go along,” said Planning Board chairman Arnold Johnson.

Wirsen also said the company issued a traffic study over two years ago, which did not report any potential problems with the increase in vehicle traffic at the site.

According to Ken Motta of Field Engineering, they may have to commission a new study as the Massachusetts Department of Transportation requires that submitted traffic studies are no more than two years old.

“Trying to get this shovel-ready before the opening of ‘municipal season’ is very important,” Wirsen said, pressing for the submittal process to being as soon as possible.

Wirsen said that they were waiting on the final storm water calculations and did not want to submit plans until he had all the paperwork in order. He has a goal of submitting for a site plan review before Valentine’s Day.

“We’ve had the benefit of meeting a couple times with these gentlemen,” said Planning Board chairman Arnold Johnson, who also said was confident in Wirsen and his knowledge of the project and the process.

“This is still the conceptual stage, so there will be time later for more information and public hearings,” said Johnson.

In other business, the Planning Board discussed a plan to address use of a residential field for storage of materials by a local business.

Harry Riggle owns a field on Route 28 across the street from Shea Concrete.  The business had been storing materials in the field with Riggle’s permission, but the Conservation Commission issued an order of conditions for various violations of riverfront protection laws.

“We didn’t know about that at the time,” said Riggle.  He added that they have since replanted a lot of the damaged area and moved storage of materials further away from the protected area.

Johnson said that he and the highway surveyor walked the site previous to Tuesday night’s meeting.  The surveyor said that he was concerned about the lack of asphalt paving at one entrance of the property.  Due to traffic entering and exiting the area, part of the road bed of Route 28 is breaking away.

“We have some concerns there and based on the amount of square footage up there it qualifies for a site plan review,” said Johnson, who suggested members of the Planning Board examine the site further once the weather gets warmer.

Riggle did install a gate across the entrance and said that the business no longer has access to the site.  He was amenable to the Planning Board’s site plan review, which was scheduled for February 9.

The next meeting of the Rochester Planning Board will be on Tuesday, February 12, 2013, at 7:00 pm at the Town Hall.

By Eric Tripoli