Comparing district leaders to ducks appearing calm above the surface while furiously moving underneath, Old Rochester Regional School Committee member Frances Kearns recognized the effort that went into the Tiered Focus Monitoring Audit recently completed.

            In the January 26 public meeting of the committee, Superintendent of Schools Mike Nelson thanked Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Dr. Jannell Pearson-Campbell and Director of Student Services Craig Davidson for their work on what he called “a cumbersome project.”

            ORR was not found to be out of compliance in any of the prescribed areas. Most of the areas were found to be in full compliance, and Nelson said that only partial implementation was evident on some of the forms.

            The second such audit in the past two years, according to Nelson, the Tiered Focus Monitoring Audit is conducted by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and looks at the implementation of English language learners, Special Education and Civil Rights regulations. DESE examines relevant documentation and student records, interviews staff members and solicits parent/guardian feedback.

            Detailing a result that scored ORR’s English language learners’ documentation against 12 criteria, Pearson-Campbell reported DESE considered ORR to have fully implemented eight of the 12 criteria and four more with partial implementation. Pearson-Campbell said the ORR Central Office is working with Early Childhood Coordinator Doreen Lopes to ensure that proper documentation is in place.

            Committee member Margaret McSweeny recognized the importance of making the school’s website accessible to all families regardless of English fluency and applauded the effort as presented by Pearson-Campbell, who would conclude by noting that ORR faces another audit.

            Director of Student Services Craig Davidson reviewed the past year, beginning with the self-assessment phase including two internal reviews before the self-assessment was submitted to the Tiered Focus Monitoring Department. DESE visited ORR for verification.

            Davidson credited administrative assistants Donna Kirk and Debra Threlfall for their preparation work. Summarizing extensive work on Special Education at ORR, Davidson said the DESE found no areas out of compliance.

            Pearson-Campbell thanked her secretary Kim Read and ORR District ELL Specialist Kathy Dranchak.

            ORR Junior High Principal Silas Coellner told the committee that the school will conduct an eight-week test run to see if one consolidated day of advisory time on a weekly basis is more efficient than spending half the time twice a week. Under the new arrangement, a weekly academic goal will be set and emailed from the student to the student, advisor and to the parent/guardian. The idea, said Coellner, is to promote family engagement with the student’s weekly academic plan.

            The junior high, said Coellner, will then plan for anti-racism and anti-bias learning in the advisory portion of the week.

            In other junior high news, Coellner reported that Tech Education teacher Brian Almeida received a grant to obtain robotic kits from Worcester Polytechnical Institute and has them now in his classes. Amanda Tomasso qualified to participate in the Southeast Districts Chorus in March.

            The committee voted unanimously to approve a new implementation of courses at the high school for the 2022-23 academic year.

            The High School Program of Studies approval vote authorized ORR High School Principal Mike Devoll to make what he called “necessary changes in studies.”

            New offerings for 2022-23 include Portuguese II and Thematic 12th Grade English courses, a graduation requirement that will change the traditional curriculum and offer seniors a variety of options including: Multicultural Literature; Monsters, Murder and Madness, Creative English and Media Literacy.

            Devoll said the rebranding of the 12th-grade, college prep English courses will focus more on 21st century literacy and skills needed for post-high school. A member of the ORR staff is seeking certification in Portuguese, he said, and given strong student response, it is likely Portuguese will eventually expand to all four grades.

            ORR School Committee Chair Heather Burke said her vote hinged on Devoll’s outlook to ultimately expand Portuguese to Grades 9-12. Burke also recommended ORR consider codifying course override procedure so parents can understand how to apply for an override.

            Advanced Placement Psychology, Honors Economics and Honors Forensics all have new prerequisites. Advanced Placement Studio Art will now be called AP Art & Design to match with the College Board. Devoll said other course descriptions are being changed to more accurately reflect what transpires in those courses.

            In his report, Devoll said that the high school has been conducting weekly personal finance sessions through Junior Achievement, maintaining the same instructor.

            Nelson told the ORR School Committee that the administration has come to an agreement with the Budget Subcommittee on priorities for the FY23 budget.

            The most-noteworthy inclusion is the possibility of the addition of a director of Guidance position. Nelson based the discussions on work done by the committee and feedback from a contracted consultancy group. He also told the committee about upgrades to the technology in the Science Department.

            State aid information was released to local school districts on January 26, and Nelson said that Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Howie Barber spent his day examining the allocations. The next step, said Nelson, will be bringing the budget before the ORR School Committee.

            In her Chairperson’s Report, Burke told the committee that contract negotiations and the superintendent’s evaluation, along with policy and budget work, will intensify.

            In his report, Nelson updated the Covid status, telling the committee that the mask requirement has been extended by DESE through February 28. ORR is considering opting into the new testing (at home) program, which would discontinue contact tracing in school and put full reliance on the local boards of health. Nelson sent out a survey to parents, guardians, caretakers and faculty, and said he would decide on the direction of the testing program.

            Nelson said he was also surveying families on the feasibility of a math camp during school vacations.

            Nelson told the committee that the Regional Agreement has been approved. “I think the big piece for us is we’re getting used to the weighted vote,” said Nelson, noting that the ORR District is using its new assessment for the sake of the operating and capital budgets.

            Barber gave the committee an overview of the approximate $20,000,000 operating budget and said ORR has just under $400,000 of unencumbered funds in the budget.

            In Food Services, Barber pointed out that while lunch counts steadily rise, breakfast counts are down even lower than in 2020-21 when ORR was operating on a four-day week based on the hybrid learning model so that students were in the building two days per week instead of five. Barber asked the membership to spread the word that ORR is offering free breakfast throughout the school district.

            During the committee reports, Kearns reported on the January 25 Anti-Racism Subcommittee meeting, which she said will henceforth meet on a bimonthly basis. Kearns said that a name change was discussed and that the committee’s core values would be used to drive the subcommittee’s goals and objectives.

            Student Representative Eddie Gonet told the committee that the Student Council was preparing for Kindness Week, which would precede the February vacation. The Class Olympics, he said, is being postponed to the spring so it can be held outdoors in warm conditions. A Spirit Week was being considered, said Gonet, “because school spirit’s been very low this year, and we need to do something to drive that back up.”

            The senior class is going through with its prom plans, and Senior Superlative Night (i.e. “most likely to …” for the yearbook) will be held on March 9 at 6:30 pm in the ORR auditorium.

            The ORR School Committee will meet twice in March, on March 1 for the public hearing on the FY23 budget and on March 23 for a regular meeting. The committee entered executive session and only returned to public session to adjourn.

ORR School Committee

By Mick Colageo

            When students in Old Rochester Regional District schools return from their vacation week on Monday, February 28, they will only be required to wear a facemask in two locations: on the bus and in school offices.

            On the athletic fields, the campus at large, the parking lots and, yes, even in the classrooms, cafeteria and gymnasium, masks will no longer be required after the Joint School Committee/Superintendency Union #55 achieved agreement at the end of a three-hour, emergency public meeting on Tuesday night.

            A union-side vote saw Robin Rounseville as the sole dissenting vote against the February 28 lifting of the mandate. Nichole Daniel, April Nye, Tiffini Reedy, Karin Barrows, Anne Fernandes, Carly Lavin and Chairperson Sharon Hartley all voted in the affirmative.

            The district side provided most of the opposition, as Suzanne Tseki and Joe Pires were alone in their approval the first time the vote was taken. Michelle Smith, Jim Muse, Jason Chisholm, Margaret McSweeny, Mark Monteiro, Frances Kearns and Chairperson Heather Burke all rejected the motion as presented.

            Lengthy discussion ensued including procedural matters, but the motion never changed so it was with a renewed sense of options going forward that a second vote saw Burke and Smith hold back their approval.

            A painstaking debate and vote was not only protracted by passionate disagreement as to the timing of the state’s lifting of the mask mandate following a vacation week, but the process was wrought with confusion.

            The JSC has taken many a vote since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, but none had caused so much pause as this one. Until Superintendent of Schools Mike Nelson, given the floor by the respective chairpersons, urged the sides to find common ground, there was a realistic chance that the union side would rescind the preexisting masking policy as permitted by the state and that the region side would not.

            Attempts to amend the existing policy to be rescinded at a later date such as March 14, presumably for the purposes of bearing out a lack of spike in positive cases coming back from the traditional, week-long winter vacation were abandoned for the sake of progress.

            The other concern shared by several hesitant members was ensuring that a mechanism is in place should there be a spike in cases, be it immediately out of the February vacation or at any time in the future.

            As of Tuesday night, the ORR School District is without a masking policy beyond February 28.

            Nelson made sure to emphasize an ongoing diligence on his part to continue absorbing and posting data, meeting with local health officials on a regular basis and being on the ready should the trend reverse.

            While Nye, Reedy, Barrows and Pires were among those committee members arguing that the data supplied by the state all through the pandemic has been followed so why ignore it now that the data suggests it is time to stop requiring facemasks, other members such as Burke and Jim Muse insisted there is more to the decision.

            Beyond concerns over the timing juxtaposed on the heels of a school vacation week, Burke said that families that might reconsider vaccinations have no time to respond to the lifting of the mandate while Muse said the only data point offered by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education had been an 80-percent vaccination rate that ORR Schools do not have.

            Nelson offered the committee a breakdown of vaccination rates among staff and students in ORR Schools. When pooled together, the building vaccination rates are as follows: Center School 40 percent, Old Hammondtown 62 percent, Rochester Memorial 40 percent, Sippican 47 percent, ORR Junior High 64 percent and the high school at 75 percent.

            Covid-19 positives at district schools are at an all-time low with only four active cases, including two at the junior high and one each at RMS and the high school.

            ORR Director of Student Services Craig Davidson shared the results of a survey indicating that the overwhelming majority of the parents/guardians of students in all six district schools wished for the mandate to be lifted. Staff preferences were closer to a balance, but the majority in all six schools was in favor of lifting the mandate.

            Nearly every member of the public who sought to speak in the open-forum portion of the meeting said it is time to take the masks off. Some went beyond that, referencing expert opinions and personal observations that masking especially on small children is actually detrimental toward their health.

            Others focused on the masks themselves and insist that only the N95 mask functions as intended, and that model is largely unavailable in the schools.

            On the other side of the ledger, there were those who hoped that ORR would delay the lifting of the mandate closer to when children will be spending the majority of their playtime outdoors.

            Once the union and region sides finally agreed with the region’s vote to rescind the policy at 9:55 pm, Muse said, “The policy requires a lot of care, and I’m sure that the superintendent will continue to advise us …” He noted ongoing attention to case counts and Nelson’s Covid-19 dashboard. “If there is an uptick, we should consider calling a special meeting if necessary to propose a policy change. Hopefully we don’t have to because of the fears that I have or anyone else has wouldn’t come to fruition.”

            Before adjournment, Nelson strove to maintain the committee’s confidence in his due diligence. “To me, this was not about to mask or not to mask but being flexible for others’ decisions,” he said. “I will not hesitate to call on this school committee if I have any doubt.”

            The next meeting of the Joint School Committee is scheduled for Thursday, April 28, at 6:30 pm.

Joint School Committee/Superintendency Union #55

By Mick Colageo

            The Mattapoisett Select Board met with David Riquinha, the current candidate for the position of director of Inspectional Services, on Tuesday night. Previously, several candidates were vetted with the Select Board offering the job to Acushnet Building Commissioner James Marot last November, but Marot subsequently declined. The position was reposted with two candidates coming forward. While Riquinha was the sole candidate remaining as of February 15, he was also the candidate most highly regarded by the board members.

            Riquinha currently works for the Town of Wareham and said that he has been in the construction industry since he was a high school student, including ownership of his own business at that early age. After a tour of duty in the Marines, Riquinha returned home, picking up where he left off as an independent businessman.

            In 2011, he joined the City of Brookline’s building inspection department, quickly rising through the ranks to become a commissioner in the first year, a feat he was obviously proud to share. When asked why he wanted to come to Mattapoisett, he stated, “I’m looking for a place to retire.” Riquinha said that he plans to work at least another 20 years in the field but could not see himself doing so in his current position.

            When quizzed on a wide-ranging number of points, Riquinha said that he is very familiar with the G.I.S. system used in Mattapoisett as well as various types of electronic permitting platforms and said he has created several permitting platforms himself. He was asked how he would get people on board with the use of such systems. While noting some people would resist, once acclimated to them, usually things go smoothly, he said.

            Riquinha confirmed his depth of knowledge with respect to FEMA regulations and his ability to work closely and cooperatively with other town departments.

            On the issue of human resource-related matters, Riquinha said that he always tries to work things out with an employee when things aren’t right, to get them on board with doing their job, handling their responsibilities so others would not have to carry the burden, but failing that, “I’d go through the process and write them up.”

            Public relations were also touched upon with Riquinha saying, if someone was disgruntled by a decision he made, he tried to educate them as to why it was made and generally that works to solve the impasse. “Give them everything you can … they usually understand,” he said.

            Board member Jodi Bauer asked how he felt about working with students on town projects. It was noted that Riquinha is a graduate of Greater New Bedford Vocational-Technical High School. He said, “That would be great … no better way to get into the field than getting out into it.”

            Later in the meeting, the board members unanimously agreed to have Town Administrator Mike Lorenco reach out to Riquinha with an offer. Bauer said, “He’s everything we need.” Board member Tyler Macallister said he has known the candidate for a number of years, saying, “I think he is perfect for the job.” Board Chairman Jordan Collyer said, “I did my homework – he comes highly recommended.”

            The board then spent the majority of the meeting in a working session with Fire Chief Andrew Murray and Harbormaster Jamie McIntosh, discussing FY23 operating budgets and capital plans.

            Murray explained that things were going well at the new station but that there were a few bugs being worked out. The FY23 operating budget shows an 8.39 percent overall increase from a FY22 figure of $753,015 to $816,214. Wages account for some of that increase with a full-time clerical-staff position up by $8,920 and on-call firefighters up $26,112. Lorenco explained that the clerical position had not been correctly accounted for in the past.

            Murray explained that the Fire Department had in past years only had a few on-call personnel show up but that now the average is 10 trained members of the department arriving for duty, accounting for the increase in that line item. Macallister said, “This what we wanted, to get you the help you need.” Murray said there are 35 on-call firefighters, two full-time staff firefighters and one part-time staff firefighter.

            The Fire Department’s capital expense list contains a singular line item: $50,000 for a new support vehicle. Murray restated his previously expressed rationale for a new SUV for the department as necessary not only for local matters but also for transporting trainees to the fire academy.

            Bauer wondered aloud why the Fire Department trainees are receiving transportation when other departments with staff members requiring training are using their own vehicles. Murry explained that equipment used in training is dirty and possibly contaminated. He further emphasized, “Most fire departments have three or four support vehicles. In 20 years, we’ve never asked for a support vehicle.”

            McIntosh came before the board with a capital expense plan listing $941,382 of need for the Waterfront Enterprise Fund.

            Long Wharf repair estimate stands at an initial sum of $794,947 in FY23 with additional financing through FY28 in the amount of $537,500, annually paid via debt exclusion. The Harbor Management Plan, which both McIntosh and the Marine Advisory Board believe is a necessary document in planning and grant applications for the coming decade, is listed at $30,000. And $18,456 is listed for the Patrol Boat debt service, a sum repeated annually through FY28.

            McIntosh said a plan for $70,000 worth of new docks and floats would be paid for from the Enterprise Fund and recouped over 10 years.

            Regarding seasonal wages, MacIntosh said that an additional $7,000 would be needed to secure qualified help and that boat-fuel increases warrant an increase of $4,000 in that line item. The FY23 budget is planned to increase 5.21 percent, totaling $332,958 for that period. FY22 will stand at $316,458.

            In other business, the board denied a request to accept a paper road, Naushon Street, for town services. Highway Surveyor Garrett Bauer noted that there are only two abutters to the roadway, and approval might open the way for more requests heretofore not found to be acceptable.

            The board voted to approve deficit spending for road salt if needed before the season ends. Bauer said that salt prices are now $67 per ton, an increase of 40 percent over last winter.

            The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Select Board is scheduled for Tuesday, March 8, at 6:30 pm.

Mattapoisett Select Board

By Marilou Newell

            The Marion Finance Committee met jointly with the Select Board on February 2 to hear Finance Director Judy Mooney and Town Administrator Jay McGrail make a preliminary presentation of the FY23 budget.

            McGrail thanked Mooney for her hard work and said that without her he could not have produced the budget proposal. “I can tell you from where we are today, a ton of work had been done,” he said.

            In December, explained McGrail, department heads were asked to submit level-service budgets with additional requests made separately. “Some of the cuts that Judy and I had to propose to the department heads to get tonight’s budget where it is were really hard to swallow,” said McGrail. “I really appreciate they saw the bigger picture as they always do and helped us get to where we need to be (as of February 2.”)

            McGrail told the Finance Committee and Select Board that as of the February 2 joint meeting, Marion was still facing a $100,000 budget deficit. He said that the Covid pandemic is still causing stress in the town’s budget from sick employees to replacement staffing costs and supply issues and new practices leveraged by safety standards.

            Financial impacts were made in the fall by the boil order of late October and the severe Nor’easter. McGrail said that the water event has changed the town’s capital planning, probably “forever.”

            If there is an upside to Marion’s outlook, it is an unprecedented $3,700,000 in the town’s free cash account. The result is a rare opportunity to lower debt and fund projects that otherwise never would have reached the construction stage, and Marion’s AAA bond rating will remain intact.

            Capital Planning, town officials hope, will see $1,000,000 of that money in FY23; $300,000 is earmarked for the operating budget and $220,000 for the Sewer Enterprise Fund, as Marion continues to face the ramifications of the nearly completed $10,000,000 lagoon project at the Wastewater Treatment Plant. The town is also committed to funding OPEB with free cash but has yet to determine at what amount.

            Marion’s major municipal construction projects will also benefit: $1,500,000 in free cash to lower its borrowing toward the new $4,500,000 Department of Public Works headquarters. The remaining $3,000,000 will be on the warrant for Town Meeting.

            In line for $2,000,000 of state-level support from the Seaport Economic Council toward the new Maritime Center (also on the warrant,) will request appropriation of up to $700,000 from the town’s Waterways Account as the matching funds for the grant.

            The $300,000-$350,000 balance will be in an article asking voters to support partially offset property-tax increases on a one-time basis. The excess levy capacity would lower the average Marion home’s taxes by $70-$90 in FY23.

            The FY23 budget is expected to increase by 3.5 percent. McGrail told the joint meeting of the Finance Committee and Select Board that Marion’s average budget increase is 3.34 percent.

            Thanks to state-level, police-reform measures, Marion would incur more police overtime and is proposing mitigation of those effects by proposing the addition of the new, full-time police officer and an increase in hours for the department’s administrative assistant.

            “The problem with all police departments is that the Police Reform Bill eliminated the reserve-officer component, where a lot of small towns got their weekend and night work. They basically have to go through the regular academy if they’re young enough or they have to get out,” said Finance Committee member Peter Winters. “I think that time has passed so it’s pretty much going to be the regular, professional officers that are going to be staffing all police details, all shifts for all of Massachusetts.”

            Winters recommended offline discussion with Chief Richard Nighelli to discuss recruitment.

            Two outside drivers raising Marion’s FY23 budget are a $65,000 preliminary-estimated increase (21 percent) in the assessment from Upper Cape Tech where four Marion students attend and a $102,528 increase (nearly 8 percent) in the annual pension assessment from Plymouth County.

            Internally, Marion has incurred increased costs in Public Works, which manages the Benson Brook Transfer Station and the curbside collection program. After leaving the Carver, Marion, Wareham (CMW) refuse district effective January 2021, Marion began using town employees to operate Benson Brook.

            According to McGrail, the town broke even over FY21 and is tracking toward at least that successful a result through FY22, but curbside collection costs have grown by approximately $50,000 due to an unforeseen increase in usage necessitating an amendment to the contract with the waste-management company.

            McGrail told the Finance Committee that two capital projects, the Creek Road Pump Station and Front Street Force-Main, are being pulled from Town Meeting. In lieu of budget requests, the projects are hoping to use ARPA funding and grant opportunities. Should those pathways fail, McGrail said the projects will come back before the Finance Committee.

            The Recreation Department, affected by the DPW overhaul, was budgeted in FY22 for $158,000. With only a part-time director (Scott Tavares,) the FY23 budget proposal is for $134,000. Lifeguards will be paid more competitively.

            Included in the financial package given to the committee was the results of the Capital Improvement Planning Committee.

            In an effort to run a more-efficient Town Meeting, non-debt CIPC articles will be consolidated into one vote to recommend (or not) by FinCom, while debt-related articles such as the proposed DPW and Harbormaster facilities will be voted separately. McGrail stipulated that all articles will be up for discussion. The CIPC report will be attached as a supplement to the warrant.

            Mooney followed McGrail’s presentation, laying out the basics of the annual budget. Total General Fund revenues of $26,082,850 are projected for FY23. General Fund debt for FY23 is $744,000. The FY23 proposed budget figure is $26,189,671. Given the fact Massachusetts will have a new governor in FY23, Mooney said it is difficult to project state aid.

            After Mooney went through the Old Rochester Regional School District aspect of the budget, Finance Committee Chairman Shay Assad said he intends to meet with Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Howie Barber to find out “precisely” how the budget process works.

            “I think I understand it now, but I’m going to sit down with him again. The reality is our enrollment is such that we get an equal vote in the baseline, and that kind of drives part of this calculation,” said Assad. “I’ll put together a paper so that you can all understand it – A, B, C, D, E. Very simply, this is how it works, and this is why the Marion assessment is what it is.”

            Two years ago, the Marion Finance Committee was frustrated with what its inability to decipher the process, but since ORR Superintendent Mike Nelson was hired and brought in Barber, the Finance Committee has been much more hopeful that regular communication will reveal the inner workings of the school budget. Even so, it has taken Marion’s leadership to get to this point on the road to making the process discernible to the membership.

            “Right now several people feel – and I agree with them – that it’s a little bit of a mystery, and we’ve got to take the mystery out of it so that we all understand it perfectly,” said Assad.

            “I’d love to go with you, Shay,” said Mooney. Assad welcomed the idea.

            Select Board member John Waterman said the Marion pays more per student that Mattapoisett and Rochester due to higher assessed value of the town’s real estate.

            FinCom member Bill Marvel presided over a summary of the CIPC’s prioritized list of capital requests.

            Assad said that “there’s something wrong” is the Finance Committee is looking at capital projects in a substantially less-detailed manner than what is done at the department and CIPC levels.

            Winters asked for information on CARES Act, ARPA and Chapter 90 money.

            The Finance Committee was to meet with the Police and Fire departments on Wednesday and follow up with the Harbormaster, Recreation and Taber Library on February 16, ORR on March 2, and finally DPW on March 9.

Marion Finance Committee/Select Board

By Mick Colageo

            The hour and 15 minutes it took the Marion Community Preservation Committee to officially understand and acknowledge receipt of 10 pitches for FY23 Community Preservation Act funding will be dwarfed by the time it takes to fully scrutinize each application.

            “Pack a lunch, maybe a breakfast,” said CPC Chairman Jeff Doubrava only half-jokingly. Doubrava told the committee members to be prepared to spend at least three hours when the formal presentations are made in a public hearing to be held on Friday, February 18, at 5:00 pm. The CPC will continue the public hearing and vote on the requests on Friday, March 4, at 5:00 pm.

            The February 4 meeting that acquainted the committee with the applicants and their projects needed one peculiar vote to decide whether to accept an application that failed to meet the 4:00 pm deadline on the day of the meeting.

            That application, submitted by the National History Museum for $41,500 to be used by June 1, 2023, arrived at 3:55 pm but lacked basic information such as the project summary and the amount of funding requested. Notified of the missing elements, the completed application was received at 4:15 pm.

            In light of the immediate effort to correct the oversight, CPC members Deb Ewing, Will Tifft and Alanna Nelson voiced support for the application’s consideration, and a unanimous vote entered it among the other nine requests.

            FY23 requests totaled $595,761, and Doubrava said the CPC has the money to fund all the projects. That doesn’t mean it will or fully in the amounts requested. That will be determined after the public hearing.

            Marion Facilities Manager Shaun Cormier made two requests, one for $124,000 (to be spent by the end of 2022) for design and bidding documents for the installation of a sprinkler system and ADA upgrades to the Town House and the second for completion of the annex building’s Main Street Entrance at $240,000.

            Cormier told the committee that Marion is prohibited from continuing any further work on the Town House until it has achieved ADA compliance in public-access areas. “We’ve invested way too much money in this building over the last few years to leave it unprotected,” he said.

            The CPC has a bone to pick with projects that drag out, leaving awards stagnant and unspent. To that end, a regulation was recently added, putting a time limit on applicants to spend awarded funds or else they return them to the CPC. With this at the forefront of his mind, Doubrava asked for an update on an unspent $268,000 that was allocated for Town House restoration two years ago.

            Noting that $40,000 has been spent on the Town House basement, Cormier said, “This is a two-phase project. … In order to save the town a half-million dollars, we have to do a lot of the work in-house.”

            The means by which much of the work is being carried out has slowed the timeframe. “Each project will take about a year,” said Cormier, comparing the situation to that of the Music Hall. “Things that need to be contracted out have to be scheduled. I’m having a hard time finding labor.” Cormier said he has a plan to finish the work by the end of the summer.

            “This is why we have a time limit on CPA funds,” said Doubrava.

            The Main Street Entrance, recently shored up with steel platforms and beams as a short-term solution, will be torn down, its circa 1940 granite steps to be reused in a reconstruction meant to ease the climb while eliminating the side bulkheads that were added much earlier in the building’s life for Tabor Academy students’ access to shop class.

            Making a point to note that the Main Street entrance is not original to the building, Marion Historical Commission Chair Meg Steinberg said that the redesign is in keeping with what the commission considers appropriate. “It will look a lot nicer than it does right now and will be easy to navigate,” she said.

            The Historical Commission’s own application for $30,000 in CPA funding for its next phase of survey work on properties on Delano Road, Converse Road, Spring Street, West Avenue, Point Road and Planting Island was met with a philosophical question.

            Citing use of the phrase “in perpetuity” during the initial presentation, Doubrava suggested the effort be incorporated in the town’s operating budget. “As a townsperson, if it’s an ongoing every-year (project,) I think it should be a line item in the budget,” he said.

            The application’s work phase is scheduled to begin in spring 2023 and to be completed by December 31, 2024. Meantime, Steinberg explained that the Historical Commission still has $30,000 from its last CPC award and expects information on February 18 that will aid in completing the spending of the former award.

            Nelson and CPC member Margie Baldwin agreed that the commission’s survey work should not be a line item.

            Leslie Piper, the executive director and archivist for the Sippican Historical Society, was on hand to introduce her application for $25,000 (to be spent by June 30, 2023) to contract a professional archivist to preserve, digitize and professionally store two collections of 19th century letters she considers to be “at risk,” along with two and possibly three collections of family photographs. The unprotected letters are in cursive handwriting.

            Piper told the CPC that the $35,000 in past grants will be spent by June on current archival efforts. She said she had not been aware of separate funding of $18,400 and $17,000. “This is something we will follow up on and have an answer for at the next meeting,” said Tifft, who also serves as SHS president and on the town’s Historical Commission.

            Other applications came in from the Marion Garden Group ($75,000 for irrigation systems at five locations,) the Town of Marion Cushing Community Center Working Group Subsector 3 ($26,811 for fencing, benches and litter/recycling receptacles for the walking path,) the Marion Pathways Committee ($18,000 for eight easements including temporary construction easements and permanent easements) and two from the town’s Open Space Acquisition Commission. MOSAC applied for $8,600 to update its resiliency criteria for the first time since 1995 and for $1,850 to enact its Great Swamp forestry plan.

            In other business, the committee voted to pay a $1,750 invoice for CPA membership dues.

            The next meeting of the Marion Community Preservation Committee will be held on Friday, February 18, at 5:00 pm.

Marion Community Preservation Committee

By Mick Colageo

            The owner of the Cilantro restaurant faces a complex task should he choose to go through the vetting process for relocation at 325 Front Street.

            Bill Knight represented potential applicant Varut Phimolmas in a presubmission conference with the Marion Planning Board to explore the possibility of modifying a very old house at that location for the purpose of reopening the restaurant formerly located at 374 Front Street.

            During Monday night’s public meeting, Knight told the Planning Board that it is likely the former building will be razed. The plan for the new location is not to expand the footprint but offer a site plan that would satisfy the concerns of Marion’s vetting boards.

            Planning Board Chairman Will Saltonstall acknowledged that being in a marine-business zone, a restaurant is a by-right use at the proposed location and therefore would not require a special permit.

            Usable space would be under 2,000 square feet, and Knight has Dave Davignon working on a parking plan limited to 10 spaces, putting the facility short of the threshold that triggers a major site-plan review. But, as Saltonstall noted, even a minor site-plan review has teeth, beginning with the one-to-two ratio requirements of parking spaces to building occupancy including customers.

            Knight said that all demolition will be internal except for a modification to a chamfered corner in the back of the building to more efficiently fit kitchen appliances.

            Planning Board member Norm Hills pointed out that part of the proposed location is in the velocity zone. Knight said he is aware and has contacted the Woods Hole Group to discuss the matter. He also said he hopes the building can be designated as an historic structure to gain some leniency, but Marion Historical Commission Chair Meg Steinberg is viewing that from the opposite lens.

            Acknowledging that the proposed location does not qualify for an historic exemption because it is not located within a local historic district nor is it listed on a national register, Steinberg admitted concern.

            “(The proposed modifications) would greatly change the character of the whole area,” she said. “Raising this (building) up would change the height, it would change the massing. We’re not complaining about the use so much as that the building retains its integrity.”

            Bryan McSweeny, who also serves on the Historical Commission, said that Old Landing in general may soon be declared an historical area. He said that the building has been identified as having been built around 1810. “It could be one of the oldest houses in town,” he said, citing the saltbox roof. “We would like to see this house remain as a residential house.”

            Given the location, elevation of the structure was discussed. Knight indicated that the requirement to elevate the structure might be a dealbreaker for the applicant.

            “This is not an insignificant thing you’re trying to do,” said Saltonstall, reiterating the 50-percent rule. “You’ve got some real challenges to do this project for under $80,000. To change a designation like that can be a year-long process.” Hills cautioned that it could take longer.

            The board voted to waive a traffic-impact study. Member Jon Henry was the lone dissenting vote against that waiver. The board also voted to require the applicant to open a 53G account and make an initial down payment of $2,000 to spend as needed on peer review.

            Member Eileen Marum articulated concern with an increase in water on that property. “We need something in place … an environmental assessment to see that everything is done properly. We’re in the middle of climate change right now,” she said.

            Member Chris Collings pointed out on Page 12 of the packet showing a berm in the back and a catch basin. “I would advise them to ask for a waiver later. We’ve already given this guy a worksheet three pages long,” he said.

            Saltonstall told Knight that if after some homework the applicant feels like this plan still makes sense, he can choose either to engage the board in further informal discussion or file a Notice of Intent. The board issued Knight a Form B, acknowledging receipt of the presubmission conference. Saltonstall encouraged Knight to make the application comprehensive and make sure it answers to the bylaw.

            “I personally want to see these guys succeed and get back in operation as fast as possible,” said Saltonstall, who encouraged Knight to keep an open dialogue with Town Planner/Conservation Agent Doug Guey-Lee.

            McSweeny and Steinberg had their own item on the agenda, asking for a letter of support from the Planning Board for the work that the Historical Commission does in surveying Marion properties to determine historical value.

            The commission has asked the Community Preservation Committee for $35,000 in Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds for its ongoing architectural survey. “I would love to have a letter from the PB in support of our application,” said Steinberg.

            Saltonstall noted that the board wrote such a letter in support of the commission’s work last year and sent it to CPC Chairman Jeff Doubrava. The board voted again to send the letter this year.

            Under Old Business, Hills told the Planning Board that he had met with the Police and Fire departments in hopes of resolving recent changes to rules and regulations. Shortly after a regulation was amended to favor a hammerhead design instead of a circle, Department of Public Works Director Nathaniel Munafo said that the hammerhead design at the end of Fieldstone Lane was problematic for emergency access. Hills said he will bring the matter back to the board.

            Given the floor during the Community Outreach segment, Zoning Board of Appeals Chair Cynthia Callow told Planning Board members that the next training on bylaws is scheduled for March 14.

            Planning Board member Alanna Nelson thanked Hills and Marum for their work on Marion’s Hazard Mitigation Plan.

            Having been asked by the ZBA for comment regarding MRF Nominee Trust c/o Patrick Fischoeder and Allison O’Neil at 498B Point Road, the Planning Board made no recommendation.

            The next meeting of the Marion Planning Board is scheduled for Tuesday, February 22, at 7:00 pm.

Marion Planning Board

By Mick Colageo