The Old Rochester Regional School Committee applauded the work of Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Howie Barber for making the FY23 school budget the most digestible one that the members had ever been asked to consume.

            In a PowerPoint presentation that lasted less than an hour, Barber went through several slides breaking down and establishing the building blocks of the budgeting process, much of which is predetermined by state law. The nuances that affect the ORR School District’s three member towns are more complicated, but Barber charted the course and took questions to clarify.

            At the conclusion of open comment, the public hearing was closed, and the FY23 school budget was then unanimously approved by the committee.

            “You did such an amazing job with slides to make them digestible for somebody who doesn’t deal with numbers all day,” said committee member Margaret McSweeny. “In general, I just wanted to compliment you Howie for your work on this … we are very lucky to have you.”

            The foundational aspects of the district’s philosophy are: a zero-based budget; cost-effective programming and staffing based on enrollment; administration and department-based goals; and a continued all-funds budget approach.

            In outlining the budget, Barber began his summary report by highlighting the building blocks that establish the total, anticipated, operations budget of $22,119,995, an increase of $945,357 over the FY22 operating budget. Barber cautioned that this figure was not the subject of the committee’s vote at the conclusion of the public hearing, only a working figure.

            The assessment-based budget figure that the committee voted to approve is $20,845,272. That number was established by applying $1,274,723 in financial offsets to the operations budget of $22,119,995 resulting in a District budget of $20,424,272, then adding $421,000 in capital stabilization for contracted repair to ORR’s outdoor track.

            Committee member Matt Monteiro noted that a 4.77 percent increase across all of the towns in current dollars essentially asks people to pay less and asked Barber for confirmation. Barber didn’t characterize the situation that way, but he clarified that this (budget) year is capital assessment, as in ORR’s outdoor track.

            “It includes the track and the new guidance counselor. The track’s going to cost more if we don’t do it now. I just want to say how much I appreciate the fact that we’re not being asked to pay more,” said Monteiro.

            District union contracts comprise 56.54 percent of the budget.

            Besides personal-service financial impacts, ORR is looking at a $119,000 increase in department and organization costs including agreements on health benefits, $20,000 in general insurance, $10,000 in Plymouth County retirement and $40,000 in obligations towards unemployment and other benefits.

            The total funding offsets come from nine sources, most prominently school choice at $580,000. The total offsets cover ORR’s 11 paraprofessionals and two-and-one-third of teaching staff.

            The assessment-based $20,845,272 budget figure represents a $949,306 increase over FY22. In addition to the $421,000 for the repair to the ORR track, alocations inside of the assessment budget figure include $703,418 in regional debt and $617,000 in regional transportation costs.

            Determining district assessments is based on three- and five-year enrollment averages. In FY22, Mattapoisett has produced 36.9 percent of ORR District students, Rochester has had 32.85 percent and Marion 29.67 percent. These figures are purely residential and do not include school-choice students.

            Enrollment in all three towns has consistently trended downward over the past five years. The 2017-18 school year began with 1,139 ORR District students, and as of the start of the current academic year was down to 988.

            Minus Chapter 70 (state aid) and additional revenue-based assessment reductions totaling $3,434,440 and the minimum local contribution of $9,156,644, ORR’s proposed FY23 budget is $6,512,770 “above minimal local contribution.”

            The state-required minimal contribution is actually down by 1.725 percent from FY22, but Marion is up by 2 percent while Mattapoisett (minus 3.294 percent) and Rochester (minus 3.782 percent) are both down as determined by the state. Adding in the agreement ($15,669,414 total,) the assessments are as follows: Marion at $5,034,815, Mattapoisett at $5,891,917 and Rochester at $4,742,682.

            After the vote, ORR School Committee Chairperson Heather Burke thanked Jim Muse, Monteiro and Jason Chisholm for their work on the budget subcommittee.

            The next meeting of the ORR School Committee is scheduled for Wednesday, March 23, at 6:30 pm, and the next meeting of the Joint School Committee is scheduled for Thursday, April 28, at 6:30 pm.

ORR School Committee

By Mick Colageo

After many months of study, interviews, research and more interviews, the Mattapoisett Capital Planning Committee, an advisory board to the Select Board, voted on a list of 12 capital requests (needs of over $10,000) at its March 14 meeting.

            Prior to the vote, the committee members met once again with Old Rochester Regional School District Facilities Director Gene Jones to firm up understanding on a $96,651 request for mechanical systems (primarily ventilation) needed in Center School. Jones said that a $55,328 grant was received from CARES Act funding needed to replace obsolete controllers at Old Hammondtown School, but that the larger grant of $96,651 requested for Center School had not been awarded. Thus the late entry of the needed funds now appears on the capital list.

            Also attending was Town Administrator Mike Lorenco, who shed light on the school district’s plan to assess the Tri-Towns more than $100,000 each for repairs needed on the high school’s outdoor track with ORR’s plans to structure a capital stabilization fund. Lorenco said that issues with the school’s ability to raise the needed funds via borrowing was concerning and that in his discussion on the topic with Marion Town Administrator Jay McGrail there was consensus that it is better to fund the track than to borrow $500,000.

            Capital Planning Chairman Chuck McCullough asked each committee member to prioritize each request with a number 1 through 12, No. 1 being the highest priority item. When the tally was taken the list was: 1) $250,000 for roadway improvements; 2) $96,651 Center School mechanical systems; 3) $240,000 new hook-lift truck Highway Department; 4) $40,000 telephone systems at town hall and other locations; 5) $50,000 tasers for the Police Department; 6) $12,500 Center School master electronic clock (not to be confused with the clock tower); 7) $25,000 library exterior lighting; 8) $10,000 library security cameras; 9) $25,000 flooring Old Hammondtown School; 10) $25,000 Police Department motorcycle; 11) $55,000 police cruiser; and 12) $50,000 Fire Department inspector’s vehicle. The list totals $879,151 against an available $676,000 in free cash as noted by Lorenco.

            Before finalizing the prioritization with a vote, McCullough read from a prepared motion that clarified the capital spending vote. It read: to accept the priority ranking set by Committee members through individual ballots covering the identified Town of Mattapoisett Capital Needs for FY2023 that are to be funded through Free Cash. If the total of the FY2023 Capital Needs identified to be funded through Free Cash exceeds the available amount of Free Cash, it is understood that the Town’s Finance Committee and the Town’s Select Board will follow the Committee’s priority ranking and advance to Town Meeting only those needs that are able to be funded with no impact to operating funds or debt exclusion. Further, those FY2023 Capital Needs that are not advanced to Town Meeting for lack of available funds, will be moved on the Capital Plan to FY2024 for reconsideration during the planning for FY2024. The Capital Planning process cycle will coincide with the Town’s Annual Meeting cycle. Special Town Meeting Warrants may include out of cycle recommendations from the Capital Planning Committee for Capital Needs deemed by Town Leadership to be quantifiable emergencies where the health and safety of residents and/or Town staff is at risk.

            The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Capital Planning Committee was not set upon adjournment.

Mattapoisett Capital Planning Committee

By Marilou Newell

            On March 15, dog owner Thomas Hibbert, 26 Joanne Drive, came before the Marion Select Board to defend his position that “Finley,” an 80-pound, 9.5-year-old Rottweiler, should not be deemed a “dangerous” dog.

            An incident between Hibbert’s dog and neighbor Debra Cohen’s 20-pound “Archie” took place on December 12, 2021. Archie was attacked by Finley, causing several bite wounds that required medical treatment.

            The incident was reported to Animal Control Officer Susan Connor and followed up with a letter from Cohen to the Select Board on January 3 expressing her concerns.

            Hibbert did not deny that the attack had taken place, instead he offered a psychological report from a veterinarian that stated Cohen’s dog was a trigger for aggressive behavior by Finley. Hibbert asserted that his dog is not violent, saying, “You can come in my house.”

            Cohen said that she had not seen Finley outside the home since the incident and was not advocating that the animal be destroyed, but she feared Finley’s hurling herself against the windows whenever she walked by with Archie might result in the animal getting loose.

            Hibbert stated, “That day was an accident, the dog is always in the house.” But on the day in question, the Hibbert family was all outside the home and Finley was able to run out an open back door and into the street where Cohen was passing. “Archie is a trigger for her,” Hibbert repeated several times. He went on to say his dog is in constant pain, receiving several different types of medication and probably is at the end of her life. He said he was willing to keep her in the house and pleaded, “The dog is not dangerous, she hasn’t bitten before, it would be wrong to put her down.”

            Hibbert said that he immediately went to the aid of Cohen and her dog, paid for emergency medical care and has apologized profusely. Cohen said she didn’t feel safe in her neighborhood.

            Town Counsel Jon Witten said the Select Board had to decide if the dog was simply a nuisance or a dangerous dog. If they found Finley fell into the latter category, there was a number of measures they could impose upon Hibbert.

            After reviewing a variety of conditions from muzzling to leashing to restraining the animal in a humane manner, the board elected to require an interior, dog-proof doorway barrier, an exterior enclosure, and monitoring by the dog officer. In legal parlance, the dog will be “confined to the keeper of the dog.” If Hibbert fails to meet the conditions set out by the board, fines of up to $300 per day may be imposed.

            In other business, Matt Zuker of Zuker Development met with the board to informally discuss a revised plan to construct 48 units consisting of 36 detached homes and 12 townhouses on property located at 78 Wareham Road.

            Zuker acknowledged that earlier attempts to get a zoning bylaw change through Town Meeting that would allow the cluster development failed and that his team could have done better. Now he said they were ready to try again. A Planning Board meeting is scheduled for Monday, March 21.

            Part of Zuker’s presentation included drawings of the proposed homes’ aesthetics as coastal cottages in keeping with the town’s image, but the bigger news was an agreement crafted with the assistance of Town Administrator Jay McGrail that would benefit the community’s water and sewer systems.

            Several critical areas of proposed assistance that Zuker would lend to the town include: 1) payment of up to $1,265,630 to the town for the removal of extraneous infiltration and inflow (I/I); 2) payment of $123,000 to the town to contribute to the design and construction of a project to replace the existing Creek Road pump station; 3) payment of $37,000 to the town to perform a force main condition assessment to assess the pipeline integrity and determine the need for future actions for the Creek Road and Front Street pump station force main; 4) design and installation of a new sewer pump station and sewer mains along Wareham Road to connect to the existing 10-inch sewer on Wareham Road near Point Road consistent with the town’s plans for extending sewers to the River Road needs area (including sewer service to River Road and parts of Wareham Road,) including manholes and main stubs for intersecting streets and with service laterals for each fronted property fronted along the sewer line; 5) payment of all applicable sewer connection and permit fees as required by town policies and regulations and 6) replacement of portions of the existing water mains in the area leading to the development and increase in the size of the pipe to allow for adequate fire-flow capacity and inclusion of the proper interconnection of the new water main with the existing mains in the intersection of Point Road and Wareham Road, the transfer of service laterals for each fronted property along the new water main, and the proper abandonment of the existing 6-inch water main in the area.

            Earlier in the meeting, Gaelle Hyppolite was appointed to the Affordable Housing Trust. The board also approved the appointment of probationary police officers Randy Jacob and Stephen Dawson as full-time officers.

            The next meeting of the Marion Select Board is scheduled for Tuesday, April 5, at 6:00 pm.

Marion Select Board

By Marilou Newell

            On December 9, 2020, the Mattapoisett Master Plan Committee met for the first time to begin the two-year process of building a 10-year Master Plan.

            The short-range goal is to consider a variety of subject matter from school consolidation to sea-level rise, cultural enrichment and many other topics and then come up with lists of recommendations for each category in a living document with input from all sectors of the community.

            Over the past 15 months, the town’s Planning Board has striven to act as the moderator and appointed overseer of the many-handed effort to produce an updated Master Plan, but it has not been an easy task even with the expert assistance of a team from the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD.)

            Topics overlap one another. Conversations begin in one general direction and turn down unforeseen tributaries. The volunteers, a committee of 19 residents, have been participating more or less intact, attending regularly and contributing to the conversation. Probably the most delicate and difficult aspect of the committee’s work has been and will continue to be coming to a consensus, especially given the number of conversations that have yet to be concluded.

            And so, in an effort to circle back on topics that were not, thus far, fully vetted, on March 2 the group returned to sea-level rise and the associated impact on this coastline community, along with Route 6 as a barrier to future growth, opportunity and safety.

            Host and Planning Board member Nathan Ketchel opened the sea-level rise topic by sharing a FEMA map of just what might happen to Mattapoisett’s coastline neighborhoods by the year 2100. The map in brilliant color drew a dire picture of the village area completely underwater as far as 550 feet away from the current high-tide mark. Town Hall would be one of the causalities in that scenario.

            In considering school consolidation and where a new Town Hall facility might be located in the next few years, the group seemed to recognize that repairing the current Town Hall building is not fiscally prudent.

            Committee member Carlos DeSousa said that it isn’t practical to spend money on the current Town Hall building to bring it up to standard conditions. “There’s probably hazards in there we don’t want to talk about.” He believes that spending money to retrofit the town offices is fiscally ill advised. “It would cost more to renovate than to construct a new building.” DeSousa has been suggesting a new municipal complex located on town-owned property adjacent to the Police and Fire Departments.

            In discussing reuse of the Town Hall property, ideas included tearing the building down and using the space for a skateboard park or playground – sea-level rise aside.

            The conversations also touched on potential uses of the town-owned Holly Ghost Grounds including but not limited to rental for private events, outdoor sports venue, and rest area for those using the bike path proposed to traverse the acreage.

            In addressing the issue of Route 6 and the current limitations confronting residents looking to cross the busy state roadway, Committee member Mary Dermody said she has given the topic a slogan, “Let’s fix Route 6.” She asked what had become of an earlier Route 6 study that ended after SRPEDD produced several conceptual designs, all of which included a dedicated bike lane.

            It was determined that nothing more had come of that effort, but the committee left open the door to how a dedicated bike lane on Route 6 might impact current bike-path planning. Robin Lepore, committee member and member of the Friends of the Mattapoisett Bike Path, said that to her knowledge both Marion and Wareham are considering use of bike lanes along portions of Route 6 as it travels through those towns. She said she had no knowledge to plans for Route 6 in Mattapoisett.

            Dermody wondered if the town should take over ownership of Route 6 and, with it, complete latitude over its future design.

            Regarding other topics, the committee heard from SRPEDD’s Lizeth Gonzalez, who shared that the UMass Boston Collins Center, the group studying town facilities including the Transfer Station, Town Hall and public schools, had been in contact with her and that data sharing was taking place. She also said the Master Plan would include a full housing production plan.

            The next public meeting of the Mattapoisett Master Plan Committee is scheduled for Wednesday, April 6, at 7:00 pm.

Mattapoisett Master Plan Committee

By Marilou Newell