The Marion Select Board met on Tuesday and offered some important updates regarding town projects, fiscal year past performance and future predictions, and the upcoming town meetings, among other things.

            Following the pledge and approval of the last meeting’s minutes, the board moved to discuss future regulation of Island Wharf with talks mainly focused on parking and the lot between the Music Hall and Maritime Center.

Marion received custody of Island Wharf in 1901, with the board noting regulation passed by the Marine Resources Commission in 2009 has led to the current arrangement. The Select Board may seek to nullify the article from 2009 and make it so the Select Board itself is solely responsible for Island Wharf. Member Norm Hills said, “In 1901, the area was given to the town exclusively for a public purpose, not commercial,” referring to commercial vehicles or heavy equipment often parked in the area. He added, “parking should not be on the green space.” Vice Chair John Hoagland replied, “I think we need to be flexible on parking on the weekend,” mentioning he wants to keep incentives for people visiting and driving over from the Cape.

            Hills replied that he mostly had an issue with equipment and boats themselves taking up space. Hoagland said, “business is important and work still has to get done.”

            The Select Board wants to pass these comments and others to the MRC and to open up further discussion by way of getting Island Wharf on their meeting agenda to “come up with something that works, along with the merchants there. It’s important they have somewhere to park,” Chair Randy Parker affirmed. The board agreed to put in a rough deadline for the end of March for the discussion with MRC to take place. “Something needs to come back from the MRC on how to handle it,” Hoagland concluded, noting the creep of the busy summer season.

            Next, the board approved some changes and revisions to the Music Hall Regulations and Fees. One of the main changes was for the Music Hall’s closing time to be set earlier, from the current 1:00 am to 12:00 am (midnight).

            Next, the board moved on to decision regarding a new potential business eyeing up the town. There has been some questioning from a resident regarding the possibility of a fortune-teller business, though there is currently no store front or official application yet. Executive Assistant to the Town Administrator Donna Hemphill mentioned the proposal is a serious one.

            It was stressed that it must be a resident of Marion that submits such an application. Neither Mattapoisett nor Rochester has ever issued a license to a fortune teller, but Wareham gave one out in 2020. The Select Board requested the interested party come to their next meeting to further discuss the possibility with specifics.

            A letter from Department of Public Works Director Jody Dickerson was read, where he requested the DPW be permitted to go into a deficit for the removal of snow and ice. Town Administrator Geoff Gorman said this is a regular occurrence when there is heavy snowfall. Approval was granted. At the end of the meeting, Chair Parker said, referring to the DPW’s clearing of snow and ice, “They did an A-1, excellent job. Thank you to all of them.”

            There was then back-to-back presentations from Finance Committee Chair Sean Healy and Finance Director Heather O’Brien on the recap of Fiscal Year 2025, as well as predictions for the upcoming Fiscal Year 2027. For 2025, Marion had $29,900,000 in revenue, with 79% of that coming from property taxes. Town expenses were at $27,200,000, showing around $2,700,000 in surplus. There is currently around $38,397,000 of total debt being paid back, $25,000,000 of which is for the Sewer Enterprise Fund, $7,400,000 for water, and $5,900,000 for the General Fund.

            For FY27, health insurance costs for the town look to be rising between 8-14% every year, though work with an independent auditor identified “significant savings” in this area, Gorman said. It was also mentioned that Old Rochester Regional enrollment is dropping. For grades 7-12, around 285 from Marion.

            The town administrator then gave his report. There is a DPW open house scheduled for Friday, February 13 at 1:00 pm. He then moved to further talks regarding ORR. Gorman stated ORR is “significantly in the red” for healthcare costs. He said the ORR School Committee is working with a number of brokers to conduct numerous audits to determine root cause and recommended ways to remedy the currently $4,500,000 deficit.

“Town Meeting’s going to be a school discussion,” Hoagland said, adding that the “whistle had been blown” on the deficit on December 3 and “nothing has been done.”

            Gorman announced that the Special Town Meeting will be held on Monday, March 23 at 6:45 pm, but said he didn’t have the list of articles ready to present. Gorman stated the location for purchasing town stickers such as beach parking, shellfish permits, or other is at the town clerk’s office in the Town House Annex, 14 Barnabas Road. They will be distributed from there until they move back to Town House. Stickers became available for pick-up as of Wednesday at 8:00 am. Nomination papers are also available in the town clerk’s office for the upcoming election on May 15.

            Gorman stated the Maritime Center lift is “broken again.” Issues with it are resulting from the door getting jammed due to high winds.

            There was then an update on the long project of water-meter conversion, where all 2,900~ water meters in town needed to be replaced so they can be read remotely. Currently, there are still 35 residents who still have not responded to DPW requests to change. All the new water meters are available, and the swap can be made in around 30 minutes. Hoagland recommended sending a letter threatening to shut off water if a reply is not received.

Nomination papers are available in town clerk’s office.

            Finally, the town administrator offered an update on Town House renovations. Sheet rocking recently began, and Gorman added they should be ready to put the original granite back on soon. Front-step concrete pouring was also recently completed.

Marion Select Board

By Sam Bishop

            Budgetary issues and Island Wharf parking were some of the main topics discussed at the January 22 Marion Marine Resources Commission meeting in the Maritime Center conference room.

            Harbormaster Adam Murphy said that a key budgetary issue is two capital expenses that the department must spend – but choosing the right funding mechanism is in discussions with town officials.

            Murphy said that the Harbormaster Department is in need of a new forklift and general vehicle, which costs $230,000 in total.

            Murphy said he found a program in which the town can lease these vehicles and it would be paid for by the marine department Fiscal 2027 budget at a cheaper price. This process would negate a full purchase through capital improvement funds. It would also save money for the Fiscal 2027 budget, breaking up those expenses over a number of years.

            Murphy said his department has met with Finance Director Heather O’Brien for preliminary talks but mentioned that it is difficult for his department to meet the deadline set by the Finance Committee. That committee is asking the town department to finalize budgets in February or early March.

            Recently, the Finance Committee has set a deadline for making budget recommendations to the Select Board by around March 25. The Select Board will then make its final recommendations before the warrant is closed by the end of that month.

            Murphy and MRC Chair Vincent Malkoski Jr. said that the marine division is sending out invoices to different boating parties and early collection of these funds would help the process.

            “We do not have budget creation authority,” Malkoski said. “The Chief and Adam (Murphy) are working on it.” He added, “We are expediting the process of getting invoices out.”

            Malkoski said the MRC has decided not to raise fees because traditionally there must be a need for the fee to increase. Murphy said that the department has not been able to review its fee data, a long process.

            The department also recently launched a new patrol boat, a needed expense as it was stated the old one was in terrible condition. That expense alone has complicated finances for the MRC and right now, the department is trying to avoid a budget shortfall, which is presently the case.

            In other MRC news, Malkoski brought up how there has been no resolution about non-boaters parking at Island Wharf or the parking issues that plague that area of town during the summer months.

            He said many complain about non-boaters parking at Island Wharf during summer concerts, weddings and for other activities. Meanwhile, some people complain about boating equipment parked near the open space, town-owned grass area near the town bandstand.

            There were meetings about this issue last summer, but Malkoski said the conversation has to continue with more parties involved.

            “It’s not something a single group can vote on,” Malkoski said.

            The next meeting of the Marion Marine Resources Commission was not scheduled at adjournment.

Marion Marine Resources Commission

By Jeffrey D. Wagner