Members of the Highway Department, Financial Committee and Board of Selectmen are looking into replacing the Highway Department’s loader in the near future after the current one suffered severe maintenance problems last week. The new loader was discussed at the Selectmen’s regular meeting on Tuesday, December 11.

According to Highway Supervisor Barry Denham, the loader was spewing water out of its cooling system. Upon a mechanical investigation, the diagnosis is a potential blown head gasket, which would require major maintenance to replace costing around $22,000. Right now, the current loader is only valued at about $18,000.

“The loader is the biggest piece of equipment we’ve got,” said Denham.

The loader truck is used for a variety of tasks around town including plowing snow, loading sand trucks, loading sand and gravel, grading dirt roads and pulling the floats out of the water at the wharf. Denham estimates the loader sees approximately 600 work hours per year, averaging a nearly daily use. The maximum amount of hours for a loader’s life is 10,000.

“We really need a machine of this capacity because of its component in snow-related activities,” said Town Administrator Michael Gagne.

Denham researched three possible replacements for the loader which ranged in price from $144,700 to $154,570. The recommended truck was the Caterpillar model, which has a price tag of $147,000.

A piece of equipment with such a large price tag usually requires a vote at Spring Town Meeting. However, due to the timeliness of the situation with an impending winter, the committees want to act on replacing the truck quickly.

“Soon came sooner than we had expected,” said Gagne. “We thought we were going to have to do this at the May Town Meeting.”

It is not feasible to buy a new machine right now, as the money would have to come from the Reserve Fund. As it stands, there is $61,000 in the Reserve Fund that could be used for leasing a truck. Denham said a five-year lease with the Caterpillar truck would cost $31,301.76 per year. A monthly lease would cost $2,700.

Representatives from all three committees will meet on Tuesday, December 18 to further discuss the best options for this investment.

In other news, the Board met with Police Chief Mary Lyons and Town Treasurer Brenda Herbeck to further discuss the privilege sticker situation for the upcoming summer. Two weeks ago, the Board rejected a plan that would mandate town residents to purchase a dual placard that would be valid for both beach parking and landfill parking. The Board rejected it because they felt it was unfair and unnecessary to mandate residents to pay for both facilities if they are not used.

Herbeck informed the Selectmen that the Board of Health has declined to join in on this project for fear that they would be losing money.

“We are back to square one with just coming up with a new way to do the parking,” said Herbeck.

The Board revisited the dual-permit and Selectman Paul Silva estimated that nearly 1,000 residents would have to pay for the use of the landfill when they wouldn’t normally be paying for it. The Board agreed making the dual-permit was not the best decision.

“What we’re looking for here is some clear-cut rules,” said Herbeck.

Selectman Jordan Collyer suggested meeting with the Board of Health to get them back on board with the project. Then, the three groups would sit down and discuss fair pricing options. Collyer hopes to make a ruling on this by the end of January, with an announcement in the town excise tax mailings to follow.

Grant King, a representative from the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD) met with the Board of Selectmen to discuss possible changes to the maps for the South Coast Rail Community Priority Area.

Five years ago, the maps were created in order to define the development and protection areas for each of the 27 cities in town in SRPEDD’s coverage area.

“Five years is a fairly long time, especially with fiscal terms,” said King. “We want to allow you to make adjustments.”

SRPEDD will be holding a public workshop in town in the winter for a day to be determined, and is inviting the public to come out and share their input as to whether or not the maps should be changed.

“It’s classical top-down planning, so it’s up to us to make sure the map is the way we want it and not the way that the state creates it,” said Conservation Commission member and SRPEDD Commissioner Bob Rogers.

Residents can review the SRPEDD maps on the town’s website prior to the public workshop. The maps are available at www.mattapoisett.net. After the public workshop, SRPEDD will revisit the town at the end of the fiscal year on June 30 to review any changes. After all changes are made, the town will be asked to endorse the map.

The Mattapoisett Board of Selectmen will meet again Tuesday, January 8 in Mattapoisett Town Hall.

By Katy Fitzpatrick

The representatives for the Little Quittacas solar farm were back before the Rochester Planning Board on Tuesday night. At their last meeting on November 27, the Board and engineers discussed the independent peer review results conducted by Field Engineering.

The engineers of the project were hesitant at the last meeting to accept the idea of putting up a bond for the berm.

“I’ve been talking to Blair [Bailey] and Town Council and what we need to be most concerned about is the construction of the berm. The City of New Bedford has the authority to come in and clear-cut that forest. But it’s a concern that we should have some funds, a bond, for the construction of that berm,” said Planning Board Chairman Arnold Johnson.

He said the berm should be a priority so that residents abutting the property would not have to see the construction and as a safety precaution. The bond would be put up by the City of New Bedford and would be held liable by the Town of Rochester.

Johnson also said that the Board would like some financial assurance attached to the planting and maintenance of the vegetation on and around the berm. He recommended the monetary backup plan in case the new plants do not survive the two-year warranty sought by the engineers.

“There’s no guarantee to the town that they would go back in there and replant it. There’s no other mechanism other than holding some kind of surety in case they don’t make it past the second growing season,” Johnson said.

At the last meeting, the Board requested the engineers include provisions for an annual report on the condition of the vegetation until the two-year window is closed. The Board added a condition to the draft proposal that would require Planning Board members to visit the area on or before June 1, 2015 in order to determine the condition and projected longevity of the vegetation.

Johnson was also concerned at last meeting that there was no representative from ConEd Solutions, the company that would maintain the solar panel site.

“The other issue we discussed two weeks ago was to have a representative from ConEd Solutions to speak to the Board to assure them that ConEd is aware of the process,” said Sam Moffett of TRC Engineering.

Ian Diamond from ConEd Solutions agreed with the Board that a financial surety of some kind placed on the vegetation on the berm was reasonable, though they do not have a solid cost estimate yet.

According to the current draft proposal, the cost of planting the berm was estimated at $96,000, which includes a 50 percent surety.

Johnson said he was amenable to the engineers submitting revised landscaping numbers for consideration, but any figures would be cross-checked by the town’s engineer.

“We could entertain that and put a contingency on top of that,” said Johnson.

He reiterated that the berm was the Board’s first priority and once completed, the town would release the money related to the bond for its construction.

The public hearing was continued until the next meeting in January. If both the Board and engineers find the final draft of the proposal acceptable, the Planning Board could finally hold a vote on the project, which has been in the application process for months.

In other business, the Planning Board voted to recommend the Board of Selectmen not exercise the right of first refusal regarding the acquisition of land on Alley Road, currently owned by Thomas Gayoski. They voted to give the same recommendation for land owned by cranberry grower A.D. Makepeace.

The Planning Board also signed off on an Approval Not Required application to split an existing lot at 265 Hartley Road in order to create another house lot.

“The proposal here is to separate out a two-acre lot for new construction,” said engineer Rick Charon who represented the applicants, Andrea Meunier, Eileen Manley and Sara Doane.

The current lot is about five acres in size and each lot would maintain more than adequate frontage after the split.

The Planning Board also held an informal discussion with engineer Tim Higgins, who has proposed the construction of a mailbox kiosk at Connet Woods.

“Back in ’06 and ’07 we were not anticipating mail delivery to anything but individual homes,” said Tim Higgins. Over the years, the United States Postal Service has had to change their delivery service, resulting in the increase in residential mailbox kiosks around the country.

Connet Woods has over 100 individual addresses today.

Much of the land is protected by a conservation restriction, which prohibits any development whatsoever. The new proposal would place the kiosk closer to the drainage lots.

“The only place we can really put it is on a building lot. It would be a non-conforming lot,” Higgins said. He indicated that the proposed location of the kiosk was less than 1,000 square feet.

Johnson said that he walked the site recently and concurred that the drainage lot would be ideal for the construction of the kiosk, but Higgins would have to go through the appeals process because the Planning Board cannot create non-conforming lots.

Higgins requested another informal discussion at the next meeting of the Rochester Planning Board, scheduled for Tuesday, January 8 at 7:00 pm at the Town Hall.

By Eric Tripoli

School Choice, a state program currently in place at the ORR Junior and Senior High Schools, was discussed as an option at the elementary school level at the Mattapoisett School Committee meeting on Monday evening.

School Choice is a program whereby school districts can vote to allow out-of-town students to attend district schools for an annual fee. The collected fees support the annual school budget. The elementary schools in the state have until May 1 to decide if they will participate in the program for fiscal year 2014.

“Some towns determine what their optimum class size is, and work with that,” said Elise Frangos, Curriculum Director for the district.

A lively discussion regarding ideal class size ensued.

“25 students is what is in the [teacher] contract,” said committee member Gerry Johnson. Johnson said that the ideal would be to keep class size around 20.

“If you look at some of our surrounding communities, they are doing it because they need the revenue … we must look out for our residents’ children first … and class size could be impacted,” said committee member Grace Knox.

Superintendent Doug White provided a handout with every town in Massachusetts which showed participation in the School Choice program. Roughly one half of the towns in the state participated.

Another issue raised was whether the elementary school and the junior and senior high schools could coordinate the effort.

“I would think that if we allow this at the elementary level … what is the opportunity for this child to continue … with teachers they trust … friends they know … to continue to the junior and senior high?” commented Frangos.

In other business, the Committee discussed adding carbon monoxide detectors at both Center School and Old Hammondtown School after a parent asked about the detectors after an incident in Atlanta, GA.

“They are not legally required, but we asked our Facilities Director, Gene Jones, to look into it,” said Superintendent White.

White estimated the cost at Center School, with 21 Carbon Monoxide detectors, to be approximately $970, and at Old Hammondtown School, with 18 detectors, to be $850.

“Why don’t we just have a couple right where the leak might be?” asked committee member Charles Motta. “Put them in the furnace room and in the cafeteria … let’s look at common sense and not put them all over the building.”

In other business, the Committee thanked Eileen Brooks, a retired Center School teacher who held a fundraiser for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. Brooks was raised on Long Island, NY.

“We raised and collected over $1,200 … with $1,000 in gift cards so that families could decide what they needed,” said Brooks.

In other news, English as a Second Language specialist Teah Mazzoni addressed the Committee and spoke about the 2016 requirement that all teachers and staff interacting with students whose primary language is not English must receive training.

Mazzoni provided a list of the various languages that students in the Tri-Town speak at home, including Arabic, Ethiopian, Portuguese, Spanish, Indonesian, Chinese, Hindi, Creole and Vietnamese. Special training in working with the students will soon be mandatory so that children of other cultures who speak other languages can assimilate into American culture smoothly.

Center School’s production of ‘Flakes,’ performed by grades one through three, will occur on Thursday, December 20 at 9:30 am.  Parents and the community are welcome to attend. The event will be recorded on CD and will be available for purchase by parents or community members for $10 at the event.

By Joan Hartnett-Barry

On December 26, it will have been five months since the ceiling collapsed at the Marion Natural History Museum.  The accident, which happened in the middle of the night, left no one injured but damaged a significant portion of the interior of the museum.

Since then, the Town of Marion had been in the process of accepting bids for the required repairs.  Only two bids were offered, one for about $34,000 and one for $96,000.  The town opted for the former bid, put out by Dimitrios C. Contracting, but the project recently hit a snag when it became apparent that the estimate would not cover all the work.

“Within his price bid, he did not include the carpeting, which is clearly called out for in the plans,” said Marion Town Administrator Paul Dawson.

The carpeting in the museum had to be stripped due to the amount of plaster dust that remained after the main clean up of the room was completed.

Dawson also said he was not completely sure what the contractor’s next move would be, as Dawson has been unable to get in contact with the company.

“Most likely, he’s going to have to withdraw his bid.  Then we’d have to start over and get rebids,” said Charlie Van Voorhis, who’s architectural firm devised the repair plan.

Dimitrios C. Contracting was unable to be reached for comment for this story.

Museum Director, Elizabeth Leidhold, is frustrated that the progress on repairs has been so protracted.

“We’ve been waiting for months to finally see the project move forward and to come so close and have it sidetracked at this late date is very difficult,” she said.  “We have provided after-school programming and education for adults for decades.”

Once the repairs are underway, Van Voorhis estimated it would take six to eight weeks for completion.  For Leidhold, that’s cutting things a bit close.

“I just hope we can get things rolling in 2013 in time to open for the spring,” she said.

By Eric Tripoli