After inspections sparked by complaints of rodents in the area, Rochester’s Board of Health is giving the owners of 373 and 375 County Street 30 days to clean up their litter-filled properties or face court-mandated penalties.

            Rochester Health Director Karen Walega reported to the board at its July 5 meeting that 373 County had a junk-filled yard that included 13 or emptier propane tanks. The owner of 375 County Street suffered from a similar problem but also included two pet rabbits that had to be taken away by the animal control officer.

            Walega said her department sent out 30-day notices on June 30. The Board of Health will determine the next step after 30 days have passed, at its August 2 meeting. If the cleaning does not happen by then, Walega said, we’ll have to go to Housing Court.”

            Health board member Sarah Tisdale Eby noted there is so much junk that it is blocking the entrance to the house.

            Referring to the owner of 373 County, board member Dale Barrows added, “He’s a junk man. But it’s a public-safety issue.”

            Next, the board discussed communication issues with town counsel during these kinds of cases. Walega said it has been difficult communicating with representatives of Mead, Talerman & Costa, LLC, which replaced Blair Bailey as the town’s legal counsel this year. She said that when she sends emails to the firm with documentation important to a case, she cannot be certain it has been received as it takes days to get a response. When she went to court on a case, the firm’s representative could not attend.

            “I’m not happy with the representation of this firm,” Walega said.

            Town Administrator Glenn Cannon agreed, saying he, too, has seen less response from Mead, Talerman & Costa, LLC, than the town’s prior legal counsel, who often worked within Town Hall. Cannon said he will speak to the law firm’s representatives about that. Our response times from them are unacceptable. We need our response times to be better,” he said.

            In other business, the board tabled action on a request to install a proposed compost toilet at Tree Talk Natives, a native tree and perennial nursery at 157 Vaughn Hill Road. Health board members said they need more information and that a better plan for the new business would be a porta-potty trailer costing $1,500 and up to rent.

            In other meetings with town boards, Tree Talk Natives owners Jennifer and Charles Anderson have expressed wanting to simplify their business plan as much as possible and not spend too much money. Health board members said they might be out of luck if they’re hoping to skimp on this detail of their plan. “For the public, for children visiting there, they will need working toilets,” board member Glenn Lawrence said.

            The board then discussed adding new provisions to the town’s tobacco regulations. Barrows said the board needs a conversation with Megan DeCosta, its consultant on tobacco regulations. The board agreed to invite DeCosta to its next meeting on August 2.

            The next meeting of the Rochester Board of Health is scheduled for Wednesday, August 2, at 4:00 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.

Rochester Board of Health

By Michael J. DeCicco

            In a river-monitoring data review that Tata & Howard engineer Jon Gregory provided the Mattapoisett River Valley Water Supply Protection Advisory Committee on Tuesday, a slide presentation illustrated that the 2022 drought, combined with high pumping time, had lasting effects on area water supply for six to eight weeks.

            It wasn’t until September when local rainfall finally picked up.

            Gregory displayed graphs showing that one of the two wells south of the Mattapoisett Water Treatment Plant stayed at the 25% level through the drought while the other well did not. In comparison to groundwater levels in the fall of 2020, there was a similar drought with similar reaction. In October 2021, unusually high rainfall affected the groundwater level. Gregory said the FY23 Annual Report is almost ready to get out to the committee members.

            MRV member David Pierce noted that Marion has a summer restriction on water usage, while member John Furtado said that member town Fairhaven held a voluntary ban. “We did okay, considering we didn’t get a lot of rain,” said member John Furtado.

            Vinnie Furtado, John’s brother and chairman of the MRV commission and committee, said that Fairhaven typically starts with a voluntary ban.

            The MRV is almost at the end of a flushing program that has been adding 250 to 350 hundred gallons to district usage. John Furtado estimates that the flushing will end in mid-August.

            Member Nick Nicholson asked Gregory about Well Number 1; the answer is that it came back to proper levels.

            Pierce asked if the recovery can be traced to seasonal visitors leaving the area and usage going down as a result. Gregory answered in the affirmative, noting that in mid-to-late September usage trails off. That and the increase of rainfall, he said, contributed to less pumping at the Water Treatment Plant.

            Customarily meeting 30 minutes before the MRV Water District Commission, the heavily overlapped Water Supply Protection Advisory Committee also heard from Gregory that he plans to go out with David Watling next week and download data and inspect level loggers.

            There are still a couple of original level loggers, maybe three or four, according to Gregory, who is close to swapping them all out for new ones. He said they are supposed to have a 10-year life.

            In his Treasurer’s Report to the committee, Mark Furtado reported $62.48 in interest from Rockland Trust, along with two months’ worth of paid invoices including for May: Watling $251.72, Blair Bailey $50, and Tata & Howard $2,684.78 for an ending balance of $149,399.30. For June, Watling $251.72, Bailey $50, and Tata & Howard $3,493.02. An encumbered $150,000 was taken out and left out for an ending balance of $145,667.05.

            Jeff Furtado told the committee he does not yet have a year-ending balance. When he receives notice of Rockland Trust interest for May and June, then the committee can close out FY23.

            In Renauld’s absence, the committee voted to authorize Vinnie and Jeff Furtado to sign invoices for this month so the committee can make its payments.

            Vinnie Furtado gained approval to pay the following invoices: Bailey $50, Tata & Howard $5,261.50, Watling $251.72, and for Meagan McCarthy’s graph work over two months (17 hours) $578.

            The Annual Calendar and assessment letters to member-town water officials will be addressed at the committee’s next meeting.

            The insurance overview that Vinnie Furtado was to give the commission will be on next month’s meeting agenda.

            During the District Water Commission meeting that immediately followed, Vinnie Furtado told the commissioners he had in his possession signed invoices including individual amounts of $6,300, $4,285 and $5,000. The commission voted to approve paying the invoices as signed by Water Treatment Plant Manager Henri Renauld, who could not attend Tuesday’s meeting.

            Marion representative Meghan Davis reported that she has received information that as a result of PFAS litigation, the MRV can participate in a nationwide Pollution Remedial Expenses case by registering for the cost-recovery program without any cost to participate.

            The ensuing discussion yielded no defects in Marion or Rochester. Davis said that Marion conducted sampling last year. The next round of sampling comes up later this month. No details on a timeline for recoveries were available; Davis will keep the commission up to date.

            Vinnie Furtado reported having met with Brian Murphy of HUB regarding Water Treatment Plant insurance and went over the imminent facility upgrade. He said HUB may wish to increase the premium. An invoice has been received on the new fiscal year.

            The commission approved a $21,000 amendment to the Engineering Agreement for the Water Treatment Plant Upgrade per out-of-scope work that Gregory reported, primarily in working with the emergency SRF funding, getting submittals to MassDEP, preparing the application, satisfying water requirements and related procurement matters.

            In his Water Treatment Plant Project Update, Gregory reported that procurement docs are currently out to bid. Tata & Howard is presently working through an addendum for exceptions and questions. Originally scheduled for July 12, the bid is opening scheduled for Wednesday, July 19, at 1:00 pm. Gregory said Tata & Howard is also working on the permitting piece.

            In his Tata & Howard Report, Gregory said the FY24 Water Treatment Plant chemical bid process yielded responses regarding citric acid and sodium hydroxide, but no bids were received for liquid oxygen or propane. Renauld will proceed with the awards.

            Pierce asked what happens if there are no bids. Gregory said it would become a negotiation with the vendor.

            The next meetings of the MRV Water Supply Protection Advisory Committee/District Commission are scheduled for Tuesday, August 8, at 3:30 pm and 4:00 pm, respectively.

MRV Water District Commission/Water Supply Protection Advisory Committee

By Mick Colageo

            Susan Miller brought an idea to the Marion Affordable Housing Trust on Tuesday night, and Terri Santos may have identified the missing link to make it work.

            During the public meeting held at the Police Station, the two AHT members expressed interest in a collaboration that would put free rain barrels in the hands of financially stressed Marion homeowners. They could use the water in their gardens and yards.

            Miller told the AHT that she contacted the Town of Mattapoisett, which had participated in Great American Rain Barrel project. Marion was late to that party, but Miller recommended meeting with the Marion Conservation Commission in February offering the program to the town. She said Mattapoisett distributed between 30 and 60 rain-catching barrels.

            In the meeting packet distributed on Tuesday were display advertisements from two big-box stores in neighboring Wareham. They featured different barrel designs and options with a price range from below $50 (collapse-able) to over $130.

            Imagining a process in which the AHT would contact residents and give them choices followed by their selections, Miller would go to one of the stores and place an order.

            Miller considered Community Preservation Act funding via the town’s Community Preservation Committee, but Santos said that cannot happen this year. She did, however, note that the AHT has approximately $8,000 in a cash account that could become a funding source for the barrels. She said such a program would necessarily be opened to everyone in town, and the AHT would not be allowed to confine availability to low-income housing.

            Miller said representatives of the Great American Rain Barrel program are willing to participate in a Zoom call.

            “If we’re using our own money, it doesn’t have to be deed restricted,” said Santos, noting that the CPC money would require research.

            AHT member Toby Ast suspects that projects qualifying for CPA funding are permanently fixed to the ground. He said he will look to confirm the rules with CPC Chairman Jeff Doubrava.

            “The real problem is getting the water into the rain barrel,” said AHT member Norm Hills, who has a rain barrel and said they are a challenge to operate.

            An update on this topic will be included on the AHT’s next meeting agenda.

            The other agenda item drawing substantial discussion is the AHT’s desire to revise the town’s bylaw on Accessory Apartments.

            As someone who has spent much of the last several years examining Marion’s bylaws, Hills recommended sifting out items that are addressed in other bylaws under different definitions.

            “They all need to be put together. They’ve all been added over years and they don’t work together,” said Hills, the chair of Marion’s Bylaw Codification Committee. He noted that any bylaw change must go through Town Counsel. “There’s always a legal aspect that may not be anything we talked about.”

            Hills described the problem with bylaw amendments as “boobytraps that have been there for years. … We need to make sure that the bylaws are enforceable by the Building commissioner (Bob Grillo.)”

            Hills said he will dig into the Accessory Apartment Bylaw and will propose an edit based on feedback from the AHT members.

            Santos would like to set a time to meet with Grillo and hopes to bring the bylaw to Fall Town Meeting.

            In other action, the members voted to recommend that the Select Board appoint Eileen Marum to the AHT.

            Hills will also field comments from members and propose an update to Santos’ first draft of a letter to former Select Board member and Water/Sewer commissioner John Waterman, who wrote the Planning Board to recommend that Marion scrap its Affordable/Inclusionary Housing Bylaw.

            The next meeting of the Marion Affordable Housing Trust is scheduled for Tuesday, August 15, at 6:00 pm.

Marion Affordable Housing Trust

By Mick Colageo