Marion Board of Health member Albin Johnson asked Marion Health Agent Shallyn Rodriguez if the board’s proposed regulation, including a one-time usage of pencils in body-art businesses resulted in “any blowback.”

            Rodriguez, reporting to the board during its March 21 public hearing on amendments to the regulation “Guidance for Body Art Establishments,” said she sent a draft of the regulation to area businesses but had yet to receive any reactions.

            Hoffer recommended one more tweak to require a hot-air hand dryer opposed to paper towels. “A lot of restaurants are using that now,” he said.

            With the town’s plan to schedule business permits for renewal at the end of the calendar year, Marion Health Director/Nurse Lori Desmarais asked if the Health Department should prorate permit renewals due to expire during 2024.

            Board Chairman Dr. Ed Hoffer agreed it would not be fair to charge a full year’s permit fee from a company with a permit needing renewal in June, for instance.

            With that, Hoffer and Johnson voted to approve the regulation as circulated by Rodriguez. Dr. John Howard, the third member of the board, was unable to attend on March 21.

            During the board’s review of correspondence, Health Director/Nurse Lori Desmarais reported that a follow-up letter to Lighthouse Liquors, 664 Mill Street, had resulted in the payment of one installment of a fine levied for serving a minor but that the second and third installments were past due as of the March 21 meeting.

            Johnson suggested a next step of asking the proprietor to “come in and explain.” Hoffer suggested Desmarais give it a week and then request an appearance at the board’s next meeting on April 11.

            The board took note of the Immediate Response Action (IRA) completion report and Permanent Solution with Conditions statement regarding an oil spill at 16 North Great Hill Drive. The spill was noted by Hoffer to be “above ground” and by Johnson to consist of an estimated “23 tons.”

            After sending a letter regarding a failed Title 5 septic system at 38 Rocky Knook Lane, Desmarais told the board she has heard from the installer following Monday’s percolation test. The property is unoccupied, and the home is being renovated by Designer Home Properties.

            Hoffer said that Eversource Energy has sent out a 2023-27 Five-Year Vegetation Management Plan (VMP) for eastern Massachusetts, an annual plan to remove trees.

            Desmarais let the new owner of property at 1121 Point Road know on February 12 that a Title 5 septic system would be required. The house was sold on January 5.

            In her update to the board, Rodriguez reported on Chapter 2 housing inspections and complaint updates, including a visit to 110 Old Knoll Road where a sump pump has failed. Rodriguez said excavators were present upon her visit and discussed the situation. She said an engineer was hired to put chambers in the back of the home to mitigate the escaping water and reported some improvement according to neighbors. The owner, reports Rodriguez, says he’s doing all he can to make sure the sump pump does not drain onto adjacent properties.

            In her update to the board, Desmarais reported on a failed Title 5 septic system at 2 West Drive, where she said no one is living. A plan submitted in July 2023 indicates that the property will connect to town sewer. Plans were sent to Weston & Sampson in December, and a revised plan was to be submitted on March 27. Other neighboring properties are looking to hook up. The building commissioner’s approval is waiting on clearance from the Board of Health.

            The town received two requests for COVID-19 vaccine on the morning of the March 21 meeting. The minimum order from the town is 10 doses. Southcoast Public Health Collaborative money can be used for vaccines, so Marion will seek reimbursement from the collaborative.

            In a Community EMS update, Desmarais reported on a recent presentation on allergies, and another one is in the works for May that will address dog bites.

            Hoffer noted that a hospital in Florida is besieged with hundreds of bats, after which Johnson recalled that the meeting room in the Town House Annex Building where the board sat on March 21 used to have a problem with bats.

            Johnson recalled that the upper floor of the adjacent Elizabeth Taber Library now occupied by the Marion Museum of Natural History “many years ago” sustained the collapse of its ceiling from the weight of the bats’ guano (partially decomposed excrement). Johnson said the town’s only cases of rabies in humans have been from bats.

            Thanks to the Public Health Excellence Grant, there will be a training scheduled in April and May for members of the collaborative, school nurses, EMT’s and other first responders.

            Desmarais suggested some of the $5,000 be appropriated to replace the department’s plotter (large printer). Desmarais reported that Town Administrator Geoff Gorman was quoted approximately $9,000 for a replacement of the equipment shared by other departments.

            Mosquitoes, if standing water, can apply for help on their own property.

            A new Plymouth County program scheduled for winter months will allow residents to call and request the county to remove up to 10 tires. Notification will go out to residents in October.

            Hoffer suggested that the board recommend that the Town of Marion withdraw from the Marion-Rochester Health District, which only exists at this point to administer the lone employee’s pension. Johnson said the district existed before the Marion Board of Health.

            The next meeting of the Marion Board of Health will be scheduled for Thursday, April 11, at 4:30 pm at the Town House Annex Building.

Marion Board of Health

By Mick Colageo

            Marion Conservation Agent Doug Guey-Lee received two, unrelated complaint calls on separate properties last month, both involving clearing activities in wetland areas.

            He addressed the Marion Conservation Commission during its March 13 public meeting to discuss a strategy on addressing the complaints, describing one of the properties as a vacant, rear lot.

            “You can see there’s quite a bit of wetlands there,” said Guey-Lee, locating it on the western side of Point Road near a basketball court.

            Guey-Lee said that some time ago David Pina met with him and Building Commissioner Bob Grillo with an eye on making a plan to either sell the lot or develop it.

            “It kind of fell off the radar … it’s not clear if they sold it. He’s not obligated to tell us,” said Guey-Lee, noting that an anonymous complaint call about land clearing came in during a time in February when he was out of the office with illness. “It’s not even clear who I would contact.”

            Member Shaun Walsh, an attorney, offered to help Guey-Lee with the process.

            “If the complaints that the office has received (are considered credible), I would reach out to Mr. Pina … and find out if he still owns the property,” suggested Walsh, recommending reaching out to the Plymouth County of Deeds.

            Guey-Lee says he has walked the property at least once but, without regular contact, the next step is complex.

            Another complaint also came in February, this one from the state Department of Environmental Protection regarding a property owner that had been clearing into a wetland area.

            Guey-Lee said that the driveway is the lowest point of that property, which made it difficult for him to get a vantage point to inspect the property. A neighbor told him no one had been at the property since November.

            “I would suggest just drilling down and reaching out to the owner, like the other property,” suggested Guey-Lee.

            Carlos and Jennifer Varnum were voted an Order of Conditions for the construction of an attached garage and living-room additions with a crushed-stone driveway extension (to the existing crushed-stone driveway) and associated grading and utilities.

            Nathan Chofay of Principe Engineering based in Tiverton, Rhode Island, presented on the applicants’ behalf, noting that portions of the work will be done in the 100-foot buffer zone to the bordering, vegetated wetland. There will be less than 1 acre of disturbance, and no variances are being requested. Chofay also noted that neither house addition nor the garage will be built in the flood zone or velocity zone.

            Vice Chairman Emil Assing, running the meeting in the absence of Chairman Jeff Doubrava, asked if the water-side addition to the house will include a foundation. Chofay said he believes the plan calls for the addition to lay on a slab.

            Walsh asked about roof runoff and discharge. Chofay said it would include downspouts. “I’m good, pretty straightforward project,” said Walsh.

            In response to comments requested by the Planning Board regarding the application of Johnson Family Investments LLC (Fieldstone Market) for an expansion project, Assing said that there is a small corner of wetland in the back corner, and Matt Schultz said there is work planned inside the 100-foot buffer zone.

            Assing said the case should file a Request for Determination of Applicability with the commission but nothing extensive.

            Carol Carson spoke to the commissioners about her work with the New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance and the importance of restoring the proper elevation for the nesting of turtles in the marsh (coastal dune). The commissioners said they would be happy to arrange site visits to areas of concern and discuss the interests of the NECWA.

            Sippican Holdings LLC, scheduled for a public hearing for its NOI for the redevelopment of an existing building and parking lot at 13 Barnabus Road into a self-storage facility requested a continuance, which was granted to the commission’s next meeting on March 27.

            The Marion Conservation Commission was scheduled to meet on Wednesday, and its next meeting is slated for Wednesday, April 10, at 7:00 pm at the Police Station on Route 6.

Marion Conservation Commission

By Mick Colageo

            Old Rochester Regional School Committee member Margaret McSweeny has the entire committee on her side of the MCAS debate, and a unanimous March 7 vote adopted the Thrive Act Resolution recommending that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) downgrade MCAS testing as the sole standard of public education and an essential hurdle to high school graduation.

            Appealing to data, local school districts have been arguing that MCAS is a biased test that unfairly divides students according to economic status.

            “This doesn’t eliminate MCAS, but it does move in the right direction of taking away … some of the power that it has over school districts and over students trying to graduate and who may not do well on this test for multiple reasons,” explained McSweeny before the vote. “The MTA fully supports this act. I want to make sure ORR is on that list of school committees who are in support of this bill and getting over the MCAS and onward.”

            McSweeny researched other participating municipalities’ drafts and liked Somerville’s resolution for its breadth and the potential she saw for agreement among ORR committee members “so that MCAS couldn’t hold the scores against it and also it couldn’t stop graduation. And those were the two things that I think the majority of us agreed on.”

            McSweeny said the matter will be discussed at the state house next month and encouraged committee members to write the state house as individuals. She later suggested that some of the money spent on MCAS testing could be more effectively be spent in other ways.

            Committee Chairperson Michelle Smith recommended the committee go with the Somerville version of the draft. Smith publicly thanked McSweeny for bringing forward the matter and spearheading the committee’s action.

            Committee member Matthew Monteiro stressed the importance of understanding that the measure does not remove accountability from the school system to establish academic standards but removes MCAS as the sole measure of those standards.

            “There’s plenty of other accountability for students and school systems,” he said.

            ORR has a transportation contract.

            The committee approved separate memorandums of agreement between the district and the local school system for the towns of Rochester, Marion and Mattapoisett for 2025 transportation.

            Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Howard Barber explained that bids came in higher due to the comprehensive nature of the bid package. The process was redone so that each town had its own bid process suited to its particular needs.

            McSweeny said she is grateful to Barber for his work on complex negotiations.

            The School Committee discussed the current status of the Facilities Condition Assessment, divided by Nelson into two pieces to address over the spring.

            Regarding the process, ORR Superintendent of Schools Mike Nelson said that during the 60-day window of the town meetings (May 13 in all three towns), the ORR School Committee would need to vote to authorize the towns to take on new debt. All three towns must approve at their respective annual town meetings to move the question to ballots that would allow voters to respond to those ballots.

            Regarding the goals, the ORR District wants to invest in the building, thus the Facilities Condition Assessment that is essentially complete. The next step would be to identify a set of priorities, most likely starting with safety, HVAC, etc.

            Nelson, in his report, said the FY25 budget negotiations have been among the most challenging of his tenure.

            At Barber’s recommendation, the committee approved the transfer of $100,000 from the operations budget to capital planning.

            The ORR School Committee voted to approve the continuation of the FY2024 Safe and Supportive Schools Grant, accepting a second $10,000 grant from the state. Nelson explained that the year-two amount will bring the total for the program to $20,000. He said the first $10,000 helped each of the Tri-Town school districts to build a building-based team that could identify areas of improvement that they could support in the second year.

            Nelson said the year-one effort confirmed the need to address the students’ social and emotional needs through explicit instruction. Year-two funds, he said, are meant to identify “what that would look like at the different levels.”

            Particularly at the elementary and junior high level, they have gone beyond a social-emotional curriculum to a character-strong focus at the junior high and high school, explained Nelson, who further noted that the goals of the program align with the ORR District’s Strategic Plan and the Superintendent’s Goals.

            “It’s nice when we have these three moving pieces tied together,” he said.

            The committee voted unanimously to approve a student trip to Portugal and Spain in April 2026. Mike Nailor was on hand to report on a successful trip to Italy and Greece and discuss the proposed trip to Lisbon, Portugal, for two nights and then to Seville and Madrid, Spain, ending with a bike tour.

            The committee was eager to publicly thank Marion resident John Menzel for his $4,000 donation to the high school for the purchase of two 3D printers in the engineering classroom (technology lab).

            In his report to the committee, ORRHS Principal Mike Devoll highlighted achievements and recommended public recognition at a future meeting for senior track athlete Tyler Young, who broke the school record in the 1,000 meters and junior Wesner Archelus, who won the MIAA Division 4 state championship in the 55-meter hurdles with a 7.91-second time in the preliminaries and a 7.77 time in the final.

            The committee entered executive session and only returned to adjourn the public meeting.

            The next meeting of the ORR School Committee will be held on Thursday, April 11, and the next meeting of the Joint School Committee will be held on Thursday, March 28. Both meetings will start at 6:30 pm and be held at the ORR Junior High Media Room, 133 Marion Road, Mattapoisett, MA 02739, and via live streaming.

ORR School Committee

By Mick Colageo