The addition of a full-time Facilities Manager in Marion could become a reality after issues and concerns were raised regarding the maintenance of several buildings in town.  A discussion was held at the Marion Board of Selectmen’s regular meeting on Tuesday, December 18.

In the fall, Selectman Jody Dickerson, along with Capital Improvement Planning Committee Member Norm Hills, toured 11 buildings around town that are in need or several repairs. Both are concerned with the lack of a plan to maintain these buildings and feel it is urgent to get a plan into place.

“We believe this is something the town has to address shortly before these minor repairs turn into major repairs,” said Dickerson.  “We wanted to bring it to your attention.”

“It is probably in the best interest of the town to hire someone who is in charge of all of the buildings so moving forward, you don’t end up with crisis situations,” said Hills.

Town Administrator Paul Dawson suggested the possibility of hiring a Facilities Manager who would be able to oversee all of the buildings in town. He said it might be a good idea to compare salaries of other Facilities Managers in neighboring towns and bring it up to the Financial Committee for consideration.  A decision could be made as soon as the Spring Town Meeting.

“With the number of buildings we have and the value of them, it really calls for someone with a specific training and background to handle that,” Dawson said.

In other news, Dawson also informed the Selectmen that the Marion History Museum repair project might have to go out to bid again.  According to Dawson, the bid in which the town had originally selected in the initial bidding process failed to include the price of carpet labor and installation costs in his proposal.

“We’ve run into a snag,” he said.

Dawson had originally mandated that all interested candidates include that figure in their bids, however, this particular candidate did not. There were only two bids made on the project, and the other candidate’s figure exceeded the town’s budget and was therefore discarded. The original candidate has time to rework his bid and resubmit it to Dawson before going back out to bid.

Grant King of SRPEDD informed the Selectmen of a project that they will be conducting in the coming months. SRPEDD will be reviewing the land use component in each of its 27 towns as it pertains to the South Coast Rail.  Every five years, the maps are reviewed in order to determine which areas of town should be deemed as Area for Priority Development or Areas for Priority Protection. A public workshop will be held in January for all residents who would like to see the boundaries on the map changed.

“We hope that the workshop will be attended by all interested citizens and relevant boards,” said King.

The Selectmen agreed to endorse a letter in support of the residents of Little Neck Village, who are planning to reach out to State Representative William Straus and Senator Marc Pacheco to see if a road study can be conducted on Route 6 near the development.  Residents are complaining that there is both increased traffic and speeding in their vicinity and are interested in pursuing traffic calming opportunities.

The Marion Board of Selectmen will meet again on Tuesday, January 8 at 7:00 pm in the Marion Town House.

By Katy Fitzpatrick

A new, state-of-the-art waste management facility could be in Rochester’s future after a group of planners presented a preliminary plan outlining the entire project.  The presentation was made at the Rochester Board of Selectmen’s regular meeting on Monday, December 17.

ABC Disposal, a New Bedford-based disposal service company, bought a processing facility in the Rochester Industrial Park at 50 Cranberry Highway at the beginning of 2012.  Now, they plan to demolish the existing building and replace it with and 89,000 square foot building that will handle the town’s recyclable and consolidated waste utilizing the most sophisticated technology.

‘There will be nothing like it in the world,” said Michael Camara, Vice President and General Manager of ABC.

The technology inside of the building will make it easier for residents to recycle.  Instead of having to separate recyclables from non-recycleables, residents will be given a 108-gallon bin in which they can throw everything they care to discard.  The technology will do all of the separating.

The machine will process an impressive 35-ton gallons per hour.  The building will also be powered by 36,000 square feet of solar panels, making it even more environmentally-friendly. The developers will completely revamp the storm water disposal system.

This style of building has been increasingly popular in Europe in California, but has yet to become prominent on the East Coast.  After construction, the facility is expected to create 35 jobs initially and will increase over time.  Camara said Rochester residents will have priority over those jobs.

Camara, as well as Greg Wirsen of Green Seal Environmental and William Rhatigan of EcoTac,who are helping plan the project, have met with the Conservation Commission for some preliminary discussions of the project.

“We just want everyone to know what’s going on,” said Wirsen.

The three men will return in January with more specific project plans to present to the Board.

“This sounds like it has a lot of potential,” said Selectman Naida Parker.

In other news, the Marion Board of Selectmen and members of both the Marion and Rochester Boards of Health discussed possible changes to the join Health District status. As it stands right now, the towns are in a Regional Health District, but the Selectmen and Town Administrators from both towns feel like the towns could save money by becoming a joint district. By making the change, the towns could see $10,000 in savings annually.

But the Boards of Health in both towns are concerned that becoming a joint district, or an Intermunicipal Agreement (IMA), would not be a wise decision. Jim Perry, an attorney representing the Board of Health, explained that a Health Agent who works in a Regional Health District, reports to both town separately and is unrestricted.  Under the IMA, she would have to be an employee of one town or the other, giving one town the upper hand on service and making one town pay more for salary.

The Town Administrators argue that with the IMA, they could save a lot of money on Liability Insurance and Workman’s Compensation.  Furthermore, LaCamera stated that Rochester shares a variety of its employees with other towns and it has never posed a problem.

“We are spending all of this extra money we wouldn’t have to pay with an IMA,” he said.

While the current Regional Health District has been in place for 30 years, the Boards and Town Administrators are open-minded to saving money during the trying economic times.

“If there’s an opportunity for us to save money, we need to explore it,” said Marion Selectman Stephen Cushing.

“We just want to take something that is working well and reorganize it,” said Marion Town Administrator Paul Dawson.

These groups will meet again in January to further discuss the issue.  A vote at the Spring Town Meeting is needed to complete the transition.

“Look very carefully at what you have before you throw it all away,” said Dr. John Howard of the Marion Board of Health.

LaCamera updated the Board on the project to renovate the exterior of Town Hall. LaCamera decided to discard the bid for the lowest amount of money.

“I was not happy with the references,” he said.

Instead, he went with the second lowest bid from Southeast Construction. The company will begin their repairs to the roof this week and will continue into next week before replacing the trim.

The Rochester Board of Selectmen will meet again on Monday, January 7 at 7:00 pm in Rochester Town Hall.

By Katy Fitzpatrick

“There has been plenty of time to discuss these issues,” said Rochester Town Administrator Richard LaCamera.

 Developer David Nicolosi was back before the Mattapoisett Planning Board on Monday night to continue discussing his plan for a new subdivision in town.

The proposal is for an eight-home development off Deerfield Road to be named Deer Woods.  A portion of the road would be expanded and a common driveway will be laid down for five of the homes.  A large centralized portion of open land has been issued a conservation restriction, prohibiting development of that area of the subdivision.

The hearing was continued from the meeting on December 3 so the town could arrange for a peer review study of the proposal.

Nicolosi said that since the last meeting, he received a message from Mary Lyons, Chief of Mattapoisett Police Department.  She wrote that she had no issues with the proposed plan and found the project acceptable.

But Nicolosi said he did not leave the last meeting with confidence he had the support of the Board and wanted to present some new options for the development.

“When I had originally purchased this property, my initial intent was to try to develop it for my own personal use, but that never happened.  In light of that, I decided I would try to make a project I felt would have minimal impact, that would be looked upon favorably by the Board,” Nicolosi said.

He said that his potential buyers were interested in larger lots with greater space between properties.

“When I made my initial presentation to you, there were some issues,” Nicolosi said, citing potential issues with parking and fire safety concerns.

He said he contacted his engineering firm to try to address the issues in a productive way.  As a result, he had a couple newer preliminary plans that take into account the problems raised by the Planning Board two weeks ago.

 “My intentions would be to eliminate the driveway so there will be no issues for parking.  I’m going to be providing emergency egress out through Nicky’s Lane.”

His second idea, for which he had no written plan, would split two lots, and Nicolosi would renovate an existing ancient way, but would not turn it into a road.

 “I wouldn’t be requesting any consideration that hasn’t already been granted,” he said.  “I’d be willing to improve this ancient way to increase mobility.”

The roadway would be reduced by 50% from the original plan and would not require any special storm water drainage systems.

“I think that’s a great compromise,” said Chairman Thomas Tucker.

Board Member John Mathieu was not as supportive.

“Nicky’s Lane is only 15 feet wide and you want to add four houses?” Mathieu said.  “I can’t sit here if that comes through this Board.”

He felt the original plan was more workable and agreeable than the new alternatives Nicolosi presented. Nicolosi has not yet withdrawn his original proposal in case the Board was amenable to the newer options he presented.

“I think you jumped the gun here in bringing these to us,” Mathieu said.

Nicolosi said he was concerned about comments made by the Board at the last public hearing and that the project had potential to be a financial hardship..  He also said that if either of the new plans were implemented, his out-of-pocket cost would increase.  A traffic study, which the Board could require, costs about $7,000, according to Nicolosi, and would not be justified for a subdivision consisting of so few homes.

 “In terms of development, I agree with John.  It’s a good development and we want to make sure we’re comfortable with it.  That’s why we’re here tonight discussing it,” said Planning Board member Ron Merlo.

Nicolosi then requested a continuance for the hearing so that he may consult further with his engineering company on their options.  He did not request a specific date for the continuance.

The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Planning Board will be on Monday, January 7, 2013 at 7:00 pm.

By Eric Tripoli

A driveway at 584 Delano Road was disused at the Marion Planning Board meeting on Monday evening.  Minutes from a 1993 meeting stated that drainage was an issue at the site.

Board member Patricia McArdle said that she researched the property at the Registry of Deeds and found no restristricion regarding drainage. Jon Kirk, owner of the Delano property addressed the board and said that paving had started but was stopped, due to a lack of a permit by the town.

Kirk and  Smith had hired Plymouth County Paving to pave the driveway at the location.

“Meeting minutes don’t present a legal issue,” said Board member Tom Magauran. “Marion passed, in 2005-2006, that impervious surfaces…from a non-impervious surface to another impervious surface was acceptable..so from a gravel driveway to an asphalt surface…that is within the by-law.”

The board approved the asphalt paving at 584 Delano Road.

The board announced that in 2013, the January 22 meeting will be held at the Marion Police Station at 5:00 pm, due to the holiday weekend.

In other business, Board Member Steve Gonsalves addressed Chairman Jay Ryder who is recovering from a health issue.

“Hope you are watching, Jay, we are saving the past minutes for you to approve…he loves editing the minutes,” said  Gonsalves.

Board member Steve Kokkins arrived on crutches, recovering from a knee replacement. The Board clapped upon his arrival and welcomed him back to service.

By Joan Hartnett-Barry