An Allens Point Road resident will have to find another way to pay his astronomical water bill of $72,227.62 after the Marion Board of Selectmen voted to deny the resident’s abatement request.  The decision was made during a special meeting with the Selectmen and members of the Department of Public Works on Thursday morning.

“In no way was this an easy thing to do,” said Selectman Jonathan Henry.  “I really feel for the guy.”

Homeowner Nicholas Grace, who is also a member of the Affordable Housing Trust, made the abatement request in early November.  The bill was so excessively high due to a crack in a water pipe and the location of the water meter on his property.

Instead of keeping the meter inside of his house, Grace keeps it in a five foot ditch about 150 yards from his house. The ditch was submerged with water causing the meter to malfunction during the reading.

“I’m still in shock of the bill,” said Selectman Stephen Cushing.  “I’m having a hard time putting myself in that spot.  It’s a staggering amount.”

Cushing initially proposed the town paying for half of the total bill amount, which would have been $36,616.02.  However, Henry and Selectman Jody Dickerson did not vote in favor of the that proposition.

Department of Public Works Superintendent Rob Zora believes this whole situation could have been prevented.

“You shouldn’t have had that water in the pit,” said Zora.  “That should have been a red flag.”

Furthermore, Zora and DPW Administrative Assistant Rebecca Carvalho confirmed that they sent Grace two letters regarding the location of the meter in the pit, but no action was ever taken to remove it.

“The pit has always been an issue,” said Carvalho.  “We’ve been a little bit concerned that this is going to keep happening.”

Prior to the meeting, Town Administrator Paul Dawson reached out to Wareham and Mattapoisett to see how if and how they handled similar situations in the past.  Both towns said they had never seen a bill higher than a few thousand dollars.

“In my experience, I have never had an amount like this,” he said.

“We’re treading in unknown territory, so to speak,” said Cushing.

While there are no specific rules regarding these types of situations, especially with a bill of this caliber, Zora said if the water passes through the meter, it is the homeowner’s responsibility to pay the bill.

Zora also wondered how other residents, who have applied for much smaller abatements in the past but were denied, would feel if a bill of this magnitude was abated.

The Selectmen did not offer any other abatement amounts during the meeting. Grace will have the opportunity to appeal the decision in District Court if he chooses to do so.

By Katy Fitzpatrick 

The Old Rochester Regional School Committee granted the Junior High cheerleaders permission to travel to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida for a national cheerleading competition, as well as to fundraise for the trip, at their regular meeting on Wednesday, December 12.

Members of the cheerleading team, which is largely composed of students from the Junior High but partially the High School varsity team, were attending the meeting along with parents and ORR Cheerleading Coach Patricia McArdle.

“They won a regional contest,” said Michael Devoll, Principal of ORRHS. “It’s a tremendous achievement. The intent is that this be at no cost to the student.”

The team hopes to raise $12,000 to fund the trip. Currently, the team is not sure which type of fundraiser they will pursue, which temporarily stalled the Committee from approving a blanket fundraising request.

“Our way of doing things in the past has been approving specific fundraisers,” Superintendent Douglas White advised the Committee, “but that doesn’t mean you couldn’t give some leeway.”

Committee Chairman Peter Bangs asked McArdle to list the fundraisers the team might pursue. McArdle suggested pancake breakfasts, dances, discounted legal services and an adults-only trip to Foxwoods.

Devoll informed the Committee that, if they approved fundraising, he would work with the team in refining their list.

“I know what you’ve approved before, I know what you didn’t approve,” Devoll said.

Ultimately, the Committee voted to approve the fundraisers mentioned by the team provided that any additional fundraisers are under the discretion of both White and Devoll and that the team works in respect to other school groups who might be fundraising.

The Committee also approved a fundraiser proposed by Kevin Brogioli, Principal of ORRJHS. The fundraiser would allow parents to order novelty items decorated with their child’s artwork. The funds raised by sales would directly pay for the school’s art supplies.

Elise Frangos, Director of Curriculum and Instruction for the district, introduced the district’s new English Language Learner instructor, Teah Mazzoni, to the Committee. After discussing her work for the district, in which Mazzoni teaches and monitors students who speak another language at home and are learning English, Mazzoni explained the new endorsement requirements for teacher licensure.

By 2016, Mazzoni said, core academic teachers may not teach ELL students without having an endorsement, which simply means the completion of ELL professional development.  Both Mazzoni and Frangos are working on professional development plans so that all district teachers will have the endorsement.

Committee members asked Brogioli if he had any comments about recent editorials that have appeared in local newspapers, including The Wanderer, regarding the school’s annual Thanksgiving dinner for senior citizens.

“The goal was not to create an adversarial relationship with teachers,” Brogioli said. “The kids did the right thing.”

Brogioli declined to say anything more on the subject.

Committee members also questioned Devoll about recent press coverage that indicated some teachers were fulfilling the bare minimum of their contract requirements. The chief concern was that some teachers might have been offering after-school extra help for only one hour on only one day of the week, which is the contract requirement.

“I hope that’s the minority of teachers,” Devoll said. “I’ve never heard a teacher say ‘I’ll stay one day’ and stick to the contract.”

Devoll added that all teachers in his building would not refuse to help a student who requested academic assistance.

According to the Superintendent’s report included in the meeting’s documents, “The agreements with the Old Rochester teachers, custodians/cafeteria workers as well as the Marion custodians/cafeteria workers are very close to being finalized.”

In his report, Devoll commended the new co-ed swim team for their first win, which was also their first meet.

Devoll also commended ORR English teacher Kathleen Brunelle, who has announced the publishing of her second book, which is entitled Cape Cod’s Highfield & Tanglewood: A Tale of Two Cottages. Brunelle’s first book, Bellamy’s Bride: The Search for Maria Hallett of Cape Cod, was published in 2010.

The School Committee closed the meeting by discussing the upcoming budget discussions, as it is nearing FY14 budgeting season. White said that he is working on streamlining the budgeting process and will have more information for the Committee at the next meeting on Wednesday, January 9 at 6:00 pm in the Conference Room of the Superintendent’s office.

By Anne Smith

The Marion Conservation Commission voted in favor of a project to eradicate the invasive phragmite plant at 32 Beach Street.  The plant has taken over much of the land and is encroaching on an intermittent stream as well as a wetland line that was delineated in the mid 1990s.  The applicants are Shay and Christine Assad.

“In that area you can see that it’s overgrown with phragmites.  In addition it’s gone over this historic wetland line from 1995. We’ve got about another 3,600 square feet inside the buffer zone that has an invasion,” said engineer Rick Charon on behalf of the Assad family.

All told, there is over 10,000 square feet that has been overrun by the species.  Once the phragmites have been removed, Charon said they plan to revegetate the area with non-invasive native species.

“We might put bayberry or winterberry. If there were other suitable species for that area, they would have to be salt-tolerable,” Charon said. “We’re like to get something in there to take the place of the phragmites and create a little more diversity there.”

The Commission was amenable to the project, but Ray Pickles, an abutter, said that he and some other neighbors support the plan but would like to see the new plants maintained at a maximum height of six feet.

“We would like to see it limited by the Conservation Commission in the velocity zone,” Pickles said.

Commission Clerk Norman Hills was not in favor of limiting the height of the new vegetation.

That sentiment was not shared by Vice Chairman Lawrence Dorman, who suggested it was out of the purview of the Commission to make that decision.

“I think it’s up to the home-owner to decide how high they should be,” said Dorman.

Commissioner Steve Gonsalves suggested creating a list of suitable plant species and allowing the applicants decide and confer with their neighbors.

Hills said before the work could begin, he would like to see the old wetland line re-established.

“I want permanent markers there so there’s no question,” he said.

Charon said that they would prefer to re-establish the line and was open to ideas on how to mark the area.

“Maybe a stone marker.  I’d like to put something in there that looks nice,” he said.

Dorman then offered an order of conditions that would require the wetland line be marked prior to the cutting of the phragmite.

“I think we’d like to see the markers done before the work, therefore, we’ll need to do a site visit before you start,” Dorman said.

The Commission unanimously voted in favor of the NOI.

In other business:

•The Conservation Commission issued a Certificate of Compliance for a garden shed constructed by A. Neil Pappalardo of 90 Moorings Road.

•The Commissioners held a brief informal discussion with Frank Cerkovitz regarding the conversion of a cranberry bog on Cross Neck Road to a conservation restricted wetland.  Cerkovitz is still investigating the process and had no plans to submit for the project at this time.

•A public hearing scheduled for Sanford Russell, Jr. of 5 Main Street was continued until the next meeting of the Marion Conservation Commission on January 9, 2013, per request of the applicant.

By Eric Tripoli