Cumberland Farms and Sippican Elementary School will team up for four weeks this upcoming school year in order to raise money for the school.  The fundraiser was approved at the Marion School Committee’s first meeting of the 2012-2013 school year on Wednesday, August 22 in the Sippican School library.

For every non-bottled beverage (coffee, Chill Zone, fountain soda) sold at Cumberland Farms over a four-week period, the store will donate 20 cents to the school with the hopes of raising at least $1,000.  Sippican School Principal Evelyn Rivet said the store’s only requirement is that she, along with 8-10 students, attend the store’s Grand Opening, which is scheduled for Wednesday, September 5.

“We think that it’s very generous,” said Marion School Committee Chairman Brad Gordon.

The fundraiser passed with a vote of 3-1.  The one opposed School Committee member was Vice Chair Christine Winters.

“I’m a little torn with it personally,” said Winters.  “There’s a disconnect with me.  I have an issue with it.”

Winters said that the fundraiser would send children mixed messages that when the students are in school, they are encouraged to eat healthy, however, when they leave school and go to Cumberland Farms, they are allowed to buy unhealthy beverages in order to raise money for the school.  Gordon said that when outside of school, the responsibility is on the parents to make healthy choices.

In other news, Food Service Director Caitlin Meagher informed the School Committee that the food budget for the upcoming school year is in $108.00 surplus, a vast improvement from last year’s $21,000 deficit.  Meagher said two main factors in the improvement were the 25-cent increase in lunch prices and the fact that food costs were down $10,000 from last year.

“We spent a lot of time shopping around,” said Meagher, who estimated that without the lunch price increase, the budget would be in an $8,000 deficit.

This year, Meagher is looking to save more money and build up the already existing surplus.  In order to do so, the schools will be seeing limited grains and the size of the lunch meal protein will be smaller.  Also, there will be fewer snacks and a la carte items and more meals.  The schools are revamping their salads and sandwich choices and trying to be creative with new recipes.

Ryan Magee, the district’s new Technology Director, formally introduced himself to the School Committee. Magee comes to the Old Rochester School District from Barnstable where he served as Technology Director for the Horace Mann Charter School.  With a background in IT, business and education, Magee said he is looking forward to improving all of the school’s technical support systems as well as the integration of technology into the curriculum.

“He brings a wealth of knowledge,” said Superintendent Dough White of Magee.

For the first time ever, the Sippican School will hold their Open House the night before the first day of school.  The Open House will be held on Monday, August 27 from 6:00 to 7:30 pm. Rivet said the idea behind holding it before school starts as opposed to shortly after the school year begins is to alleviate the students’ anxiety and stress and take away the fears of the first day of school.

“We hope it’s going to be a real meet and greet,” said Rivet.

The Marion School Committee will not meet in September.  The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 3 at 6:30 pm in the Marion Town House.

By Katy Fitzpatrick

A new Fireworks Committee will be forming in Marion in order to bring back the popular annual display next summer. Selectman Jody Dickerson recommended the idea at the Board’s regular meeting on Tuesday, August 21 at the Marion Police Department.

“The job cannot be handled by one person,” said Dickerson. “The fireworks are a major element of our town’s events.”

This summer the fireworks were canceled due to a lack of funding. The fireworks were originally supposed to be coordinated by the Recreation Department; however, there was no one to spearhead the project. Dickerson nominated himself to head the committee, but insisted on having a group of dedicated and capable volunteers to help raise funds. Dickerson also suggested starting the fundraising for the fireworks as soon as possible to make sure the proper amount of money is secured.

“It is my hope that the fireworks get the attention and management it deserves,” said Dickerson.

In other news, the Selectmen met with John Ludes, a member of the Sippican Historical Society, in order to discuss a possible solution to the funding of the line painting in the Marion General Store’s parking lot. According to Ludes, the parking lot is technically private; however, there are plenty of vehicles parked in the lot on a daily basis that are visiting the Marion Congregational Church and other public buildings in the area.

Since the lot is private, Ludes and the other stores that own the lot are responsible for funding the maintenance of the lot themselves. They pay for repaving, snow plowing and gardening. Ludes said the lines should be repainted every five years and that they currently need to be repainted. Ludes asked for help from the Selectmen to pay for the repainting.

“I feel from a safety standpoint, it would be very beneficial for someone from the town to draw some lines,” said Ludes. “We are part of the town and we’re just asking for a little help.”

The Selectmen agreed to allow Ludes to draft a proposal to explore the cost of the project.

“I would be interested in entertaining the idea,” said Chairman Stephen Cushing.

Town Administrator Paul Dawson proposed a new Energy Management Service company for the town that could help cut down electricity costs up to 35 percent for the town annually. Source One Energy Solutions is a company that researches electricity rates to help towns find the best value. According to Dawson, the three-year contract would cost $3,500 and the payment plan would be built into the town’s utility bills. The Board voted unanimously to allow Dawson to begin negotiations with the company.

Dawson also had an update on the Sprague Cove situation, where the Conservation Commission had hired an outside party to clean the area of evasive plant species without the proper permission. According to Dawson, he has met with the Conservation Commission to develop a scope of work that is necessary for the project. They are still working on finishing the rest of the paperwork so the town can pay the company.

“Things are going well,” said Dawson. “I’m very satisfied with the progress we’ve made.”

The Board also voted unanimously to pay $1,500 for an engineer to come in and assess the damages to the Marion Natural History Museum following the roof collapse a few weeks ago.  According to Dawson, insurance will cover the damages since they are estimated to be under $25,000; however, Selectman Jon Henry suggested bringing in an engineer to check out the structure of the building.

“We want to make sure something like this never happened again,” said Henry.

The Board selected Monday, November 26 to be the date of the Fall Special Town Meeting. The Selectmen’s next regular meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 4 at 7:00 pm in the Marion Police Department.

By Katy Fitzpatrick

The Rochester Conservation Commission met on the evening of Tuesday, August 16 for their regularly scheduled meeting. The first hearing of the night was in regard to a Notice of Intent filed by Timothy Perry for property located at 99 Wolf Island. Perry seeks approval to construct an enclosed three-season room over an existing deck area. According to the proposal, several sonotubes will be required for support and erosion control measures will be implemented.

“We will be digging the sonotubes by hand so there’s no machinery and no disturbance,” Perry said. “The erosion control would only go on the side of the first wetland. I’d assume we would wrap it around the deck.”

Laurell Farinon, Rochester’s conservation agent, said that the plan was brought before the Commission due to past additions to the property that were constructed without permits.

“This project can easily be done without any agitation of the wetland area,” Farinon said.  She added that she was not sure that erosion control would be necessary.

The Commission voted to approve the plans as presented.

A hearing for Robert Ferreira of Infinity Landscape Construction Co. was scheduled, but nobody involved with the project was able to come to the meeting and the Commission granted a request for a continuance to the meeting on September 4.

The Commission then held a meeting regarding a Request of Determination of Applicability filed by the City of New Bedford Water Department for property located on North Avenue on the Freetown town line. The city is proposing to install approximately 15,000 solar panels configured in strings to be located on an approximate 30-acre site, according to the filing.

Sam Moffett of TRC Environmental was present on behalf of the City of New Bedford and its partner, Con Ed, and Real Goods Solar, the company who would construct the solar panel array.

The array would serve to provide electricity for the municipal water systems of New Bedford and is designed to be able to provide enough electricity for the future projected growth of the energy needs of the water department. The city would not sell any of the electricity generated by the array.

“We’ve advanced the design significantly since last time the folks in the neighborhood saw it,” Moffett said. “We have gone out of our way to design the project in a way that stays entirely outside of resources areas and buffer zones. We felt that was a very important thing for us to do, to stay completely out of areas that were sensitive.”

He explained the property near Little Quitticas Pond is owned by New Bedford. The total scope of the site is now 28.5 acres due to the redesign.

“One of the characteristics of this site is that there are quite a few red pine trees that are diseased and are in need of removal,” he said, referring to it as the Dead Pine Site.

The project would generate about four megawatts using ground-mounted panels. There would be some regarding to smooth out the terrain and provide better drainage contours.

“All precipitation that falls on the site will stay on the site,” he said. He added that the whole site will be planted with grass.

“That’s intentional for several reasons. One is to hold the soil and another is to help retain the precipitation,” said Moffett.

They have included a sandy firebreak around the entire perimeter to keep fires from spreading to or from the site.

There are also two resources areas on the site, with a wetlands area in the northern section and a certified vernal pool in the southeast quadrant.

“We’ve maintained more than 200-foot separation from that so there’s no risk of interacting with that resource area,” Moffett said.

“Obvious concerns of this Commission with a project of this scope is storm water run-off,” said Farinon. “We’re also going to be looking very closely at the vernal pool.”

They scheduled a site visit for 6:00 pm on Tuesday, August 28.

The Commission then voted to continue the hearing until their next meeting on Tuesday, September 4.

Moffett, meanwhile, will make another presentation on the project to the Rochester Planning Board on Tuesday, August 28 at 7:00 pm.

In other business, the Commission discussed a request for Certificate of Compliance filed by Brenda Wolk for work done at 95 Mendell Road, including the re-grading of a foot area and the construction of a 10-foot by 20-foot horse barn and corral. In addition, the paved driveway was extended and a shed was moved farther away from the house.

Farinon concurred that the work performed was in compliance and the Commission voted unanimously to approve the certificate.

The next meeting of the Rochester Conservation Commission will be on Tuesday, September 4 at 7:00 pm at the Town Hall.

By Eric Tripoli