The Marion Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to approve the 2012 Town Meeting warrant during a special meeting on Tuesday, April 10. Town Administrator Paul Dawson said that there were virtually no changes to the warrant, which has 44 articles, since the last time it was revised a couple weeks ago. Here is a look at some of the largest articles:

Items 1-24 on the warrant are all financial articles. The first four articles give an overview of compensation for town officials, a breakdown of the town budget, and the costs for the water and sewer systems for the fiscal year 2013, respectively.

Several articles dealing with finances propose either repairing or replacing equipment and vehicles for public safety enterprises. Article 10 proposes $20,900 of free cash be used to purchase a new police cruiser for the Marion Police Department.

Articles 12 and 13 ask for a combined total of $51,800 to replace various elements in the Marion Fire Department. $35,000 of this figure would help the department with its air pack replacement program, while the remaining $16,800 would replace eight automatic external defibrillators for the rescue vehicles in the department.

Article 14 proposes $20,000 for a new Jaws of Life system for the rescue team, and Article 16 asks for an additional $12,500 to replace some of the department’s fire hoses.

Article 15 calls for $48,500 to upgrade the fire alarm system from top to bottom, replacing the DOS-based computers with Windows and purchasing a digital radio and telephone recording system for dispatch.

Article 11 also proposes a new telephone system. $50,000 of free cash is requested to replace the telephone system in the Marion Town House. Dawson said that the current system is failing, especially the voicemail program, and that the new system would be transferrable to a new building if the town offices ever relocated.

Article 31 proposes to amend the zoning bylaws for the Flood Hazard District that were issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Articles 32-34 also seek approval for zoning bylaws for other smaller areas around town.

Article 38 talks about the potential for alternative energy sources in Marion schools in order to save money in the long run for utilities.

In addition to approving the Town Meeting warrant unanimously, the Board of Selectmen also voted to allow Dawson to sign a contract with an engineering service called Tata & Howard. The organization will survey the east and west wells in town for 30 days in order to determine the source of perchlorate detected in wells last year. The business would sample each well at least four times as well as the other surrounding test wells. The price of the sampling project was listed as $12,500 in the contract.

The Marion Town Meeting will be held on Monday, May 21 at 7:00 pm at the Sippican School.

By Katy Fitzpatrick

The Mattapoisett Board of Selectmen held their regular meeting on Tuesday, April 10 and heard updates from several committees as the Annual Town Meeting quickly approaches.

Fire Chief Andrew Murray spoke to the Board about plans for the old fire engine, now retired thanks to the purchase and delivery of a new engine two weeks ago. The old engine is still in service for the next four to six weeks as the Fire Department trains and prepares the new one for use.

Mattapoisett Town Administrator Mike Gagne said that the town has been using a company called MuniciBid, which is an eBay style auction site for municipalities to sell used equipment of various kinds. He said they would determine a fair reserve price for the old engine by examining the selling prices of similar trucks on the site.

The Board then heard from Joseph Murray, President of the Mattapoisett Lions Club, who presented to them a chronological history of the different ways the Lions Club has supported the town, including the construction of the Shipyard Park Gazebo in 1954 and the purchase of playground equipment for Center School in 1975.

Next, Bonne DeSousa, President of the Friends of the Bike Path, details the plans for a fundraiser on June 24, in conjunction with the YMCA, where money collected would go to help complete the Mattapoisett Rail Trail.

The fundraiser would include a bike ride on the trail, a fitness challenge, and an information session at the YMCA for residents to learn more about local bike trails and how to be safer riders.

Safety was a big concern of Selectman Tyler Macallister, who voiced his worries about cyclists who don’t stop at stop signs at the intersection of Mattapoisett Neck Road and Brandt Island Road. He said bikers usually make a loop in the middle of the road in order to turn around to head back the opposite way, sometimes near 40-mph car traffic.

“I’ve seen too many people come too close too many times,” he said.  DeSousa believes that, since installing safety equipment, such as illuminated message signs at the intersection, would be a costly project. She said the best way to keep bikers safe is to keep promoting smart riding and safety habits.

The Board then heard from John DeCosta, from the Community Preservation Committee, who provided updates on funding for projects going before the Annual Town Meeting.

Some of the projects include $25,000 to begin preliminary studies for affordable housing for senior citizens.

“We all felt affordable senior housing was something Mattapoisett needs,” he said. The Committee also has had requests for $51,500 to fix the Center School clock tower.

The Coalition for Buzzards Bay also requested money to help purchase over 300 acres of land on the Fairhaven town line to be preserved for light recreational activity, such as picnics and hiking. They asked for $150,000 this year and the same amount next year be allocated to the purchase, but the CPC rejected their request.

We felt it was just too big a chunk,” said DeCosta.

Then Chuck McCullough of the Capital Planning Committee gave his update on the town’s five year Capital Plan, which includes allocations of $13,000 to replace a special breathing apparatus for the Fire Department and $35,000 to replace the town assessor’s maps.

“The time has come to get this done, to get them cleaned up and updated,” he said.

Town Administrator Mike Gagne then offered his report. He said the town is working on selling off some surplus equipment and vehicles, the money from which would go to the capital equipment stabilization fund.

“We’re getting rid of 11 pieces of equipment for a total of $16,000,” Gagne said. He also noted completion on the handicapped accessible sidewalk to the left of the main entrance of the Mattapoisett Town Hall, which was constructed by students from the vocational school. Gagne also said he would like to organize a group of writers to craft descriptions of various volunteer opportunities, to be posted on the town’s website.

“There are a lot of people willing to volunteer, but they don’t have a good idea as to what boards and commissions exist,” he said. The descriptions would detail the regular duties of the open positions, as well as any meetings that volunteers would be required to attend.

In other business, the Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to re-appoint Ray Andrews to the Old Colony School Committee.

The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Board of Selectmen will be on Tuesday, April 24 at the Town Hall.

By Eric Tripoli

The Rochester Planning Board introduced a new commission comprised of six men and women who are passionate about agriculture at their meeting on Tuesday, April 10.

“It’s so nice of you to volunteer you time,” said Planning Board Member Ben Bailey.

The Agricultural Commission came to fruition after years of planning with the ultimate goal of balancing small commercial agriculture while helping Rochester maintain its public safety and rights of its citizens.

The Planning Board said that they have been approached by several commercial agriculture businesses in recent years with official proposals to build enterprises in Rochester.  However, none of these ideas came to reality because there were no regulations set in place.  That’s where the Agricultural Commission will step in.

The commission will ideally create a set of regulations that commercial farmers must adhere to if they wish to start a business in Rochester. The purpose of setting the regulations would be to protect the abutters of the property where these businesses would be established.  With commercial farming comes loud equipment, traffic, etc. The Commission wants to know their citizens are protected and as content as possible with the addition of these businesses in town.

Both groups agree that the biggest challenge will be finding a balance of bringing new business into town and preserving Rochester’s rural culture and agricultural character.  On one hand, new business would help lower taxes, but the both committees think traffic would become a problem and residents would be upset with noise levels. The Planning Board also worries about the potential for growing storm water problems.

On the other hand, the Agricultural Commission wonders whether or not too many regulations would scare potential businesses off. Both groups recognized that it will be impossible to please all residents, and that they can’t keep businesses out just for the sake of a couple noise complaints. There needs to be a balance.

“We need to make it easier for the agricultural community to do things,” said Agricultural Committee member David Souza.

Since the Committee is in its initial stages, it agreed that the best step to take right now is to define the areas of concern and define what is not wanted in town. In order to draw these conclusions, they will interview local farmers and look to other towns as models. While there are no official dates set in place, the Planning Board said the Agricultural Committee’s first report could happen as soon as the Fall Town Meeting.

In other news, the Planning Board agreed to look into the potential of drafting solar bylaws for the town. The board will look at the towns of Kingston and Dartmouth as models for what they could be looking for, even though the majority of the board feels like solar energy is “unreliable and a waste of money.”

The Board compared solar energy to a phenomenon much like that of cell phone towers, and they worry that after the 20-year leasing period is up, what will happen to the land that was cleared to make the solar farm? If the solar phenomenon is over, irreversible damage could already have been done to the area.

“I don’t think we should get too carried away with it,” said Planning Board member Susan Teal.

The Planning Board also voted to send a letter to the Zoning Enforcement Offer reporting the owners of Sperry Tents are in violation of their site plan.  The business had until April 1 to make revisions that the Planning Board made to their original site plans, and they were unsuccessful in making the repairs.

Lastly, the Planning Board contemplated the idea of downsizing to a five-person board in order to better ensure attendance at all meetings. They will reevaluate after the Town Elections to make the best decision.

By Katy Fitzpatrick