The budget the Marion School Committee approved for fiscal year 2020 might only reflect a 1.48-percent increase, but a steady rise in the need for special education services for the students at Sippican School has resulted in some tough cuts in the regular education budget.

            The overall $196,134 or 10.22-percent increase in the special education budget is driven in large part by an increase in the learning support center line item, which Superintendent Doug White called “the big one” on March 28 during the meeting of the Marion School Committee, bumped up by $172,069 – a nearly 27 percent increase over last year’s budget.

            “That’s really one of the areas that we’ve found the needs within this budget, and the need for that offset was a significant hit to this budget,” White said, “but also one that is needed to meet the needs of all of the students across our pre-k to 6 school.”

            There was also a 19.29-percent increase in the special education administration budget.

            As a result, this year the central administration and school committee had to reassess how to spread out the available funding across all areas of the budget and found only one solution – a small increase in class size for next year’s grade 4.

            Currently, four sections service the third grade, a student population that was not only larger in size but also higher in needs in the areas of academic and social/emotional support. Next year as those students advance to grade 4, those four sections will be reduced to three, making it a class size average of about 19, a move that some educators present that evening vocally opposed.

            One educator pointed out that the needs of the students at Sippican School “have changed drastically”, and as school committee member Ronald Gerhart tried to assuage the educators’ concerns about 19-student class sizes still being a beneficial number for students – under 20 – another teacher commented, “You’re just looking at numbers, not personalities and needs. We’re looking at the children, we’re not looking at the number – we’re looking at the children that we’re working with. They’re more than a number.”

            “And we know that, and we respect that,” said committee Chairman Christine Marcolini.

            This budget, White said, is not one that will satisfy everybody, “But [it is] the best of what we have at this time.”

            “This particular budget is probably, I think, the hardest that we’ve ever done in a long time,” Marcolini said. This year, special education was a priority, she said. “The only way that we were able to make that happen was to increase the class size, unfortunately, at the grade 3 [level] going into grade 4. … We were just unable to find a solution to sustain four sections at that particular grade level, and we really tried – we really did.”

            Still, Marcolini said she feels good about the plan the administration came up with, referring to the reduction in grade 4 sections to account for the special education increase “to make sure that we’re still supporting that group of children as well as the professionals.” She added that, last year, the town was able to provide the funding to add a behavior specialist, and also two physical education positions.

            “It’s not perfect, as we keep saying,” said Marcolini. “The town doesn’t have more [money] to give us this year; they really, really don’t.

            “None of us feels wonderful about it, but I do feel like it’s the best that we can do and it’s a pretty good plan to meet the needs of everybody,” said Marcolini.

            “We truly are fighting for this budget,” said school committee member Michelle Smith. “We’re fighting for more, but they (the town) don’t have it to give to us, so we’re kind of stuck. … We see the needs … [but] I don’t think they (the town) truly get what’s happening.”

            Turning to the supplies budget that only accounts for 2 percent of the entire school budget, Marcolini said, “We’re barely buying pencils.”

            “This stinks,” school committee member April Rios conceded. “It stinks – there’s no other way to put it, but we are faced with what we’re faced with.”

            Sippican School population continues to hover between the 420 to 430 mark, with an additional 20 students in the Project Grow program, which will increase its tuition rate next year from $25 a day to $35 a day – a cost that is roughly in comparison with similar programs in the region.

            Business Administrator Paul Kitchen pointed out that the budget was offset in part by grants and awards totaling $104,360, $224,000 in Circuit Breaker money, and $20,000 from school revolving accounts. Director of Student Services Michael Nelson pointed out, however, that some grants that support additional paraprofessionals continue to shrink.

            The Sippican School total budget for FY20 is $6,148,701, which is an increase of $89,709 or 1.48 percent from FY19.

            The next meeting of the Marion School Committee is scheduled for May 8 at 6:30 pm at Sippican School.

Marion School Committee

By Jean Perry

The Marion Board of Selectmen ever-so-casually called on its constituency to write letters to the governor on behalf of the town for a $2 million state grant that could help cover the costs of its wastewater treatment plant upgrades.

            On April 2, State Representative Bill Straus paid the board another visit to discuss the town’s chances of being awarded the legislative-backed grant reserved specifically for wastewater and climate change resiliency capital projects in communities on Buzzards Bay. Straus had pledged his support in “lobbying” on behalf of Marion to receive the grant, but he returned that night to suggest the town take some important actions to further help Marion get the $2 million.

            First, Straus cautioned the board that the lagoon 1 lining project, as presented to the state, would likely not receive the money, simply due to the fact that the project appears to be a one-year capital project that would be completed by a federally mandated deadline. The state, Straus said, prefers projects that span three to five years, simply because of a more favorable repayment schedule.

            Marion’s internal schedules, the time sequences, Straus said, he cannot control. During a recent meeting with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) commissioner Straus attended with Town Administrator Paul Dawson and Selectmen Chairman Norm Hills, Straus said it was apparent that the state would find that project’s completion schedule problematic.

            “A project like this doesn’t necessarily all get paid for on the day that the keys are turned over, so to speak,” Straus said.

            Still Straus said, he is committed to advocating on behalf of Marion why the project is important and should be chosen for the grant.

            “The more years the town can spread [the project] out, the better the project looks,” Straus said.

            Selectman John Waterman asked if the town should market the project more of a longer-term project; after all, lining lagoon 1 is only just one phase of several phases of improvement projects slated for the sewer plant over the next five or so years. Only the lining of lagoon 1 has a deadline, he said.

            “It’s really about the demand for the checks and when do the checks have to be written,” said Straus, suggesting that it is possible to repackage the grant proposal more favorably in the eyes of the state.

            Straus told the board it should prepare a calculated repayment schedule for the money it must borrow to fund the project.

            “The longer that schedule, the easier it is to sell this,” Straus said.

            “Well,” said Waterman, “I suppose it’s better getting $2 mill over five years…”

            “…Than zero over one year,” said Straus finishing Waterman’s sentence.

            Waterman then asked Straus if it would help Marion if residents were to send their own letters to Governor Charlie Baker’s office requesting it to consider Marion for the grant.

            “I think it would be,” said Straus. An old-fashioned, resident-written snail mail letter is, he said, a rather effective tool in getting the attention of the legislature.

            Before Straus left, Dawson happily announced that, after years of negotiations, the DEP has finally issued a consent order for the town’s wastewater treatment plant.

            In considering the final consent order, the DEP acknowledged the town’s recent misfortune with its engineering firm coming in way under in its cost estimate for the lagoon 1 lining project and granted the town an additional seven months to complete the project. The deadline is now June 30, 2020, instead of December 1, 2019.

            “I’m very pleased with the way negotiations went,” Dawson said. “We have a really good amount of cooperation with the DEP – they really did get the issues that are facing Marion and they really worked hard with us to come up with what I call the best permit that we could have hoped for.”

            In other matters, Dawson reaffirmed his promise to remain in the Town Administrator’s Office until the town finds his replacement, and with optimism he set his amended retirement date for May 3. Dawson was set to retire on March 15, but as town administrator candidates rescinded their resumes one after the next, the position remains unfilled.

            The board has set a dog hearing for May 7 to determine whether an Olde Farm Road dog should be deemed a dangerous dog or a nuisance dog after an alleged March 3 dog attack that injured one woman and two canines.

            In a letter to the board, Police Chief John Garcia recommended that the selectmen move ahead with a dog hearing, saying that the offending dog attacked another dog without provocation.

            “…[T]he owners, in our opinion, have not acted responsibly with regard to the dog,” Garcia wrote. Furthermore, he stated, during the mandated quarantine following such an attack, “the conditions of the quarantine were violated on two occasions.”

            The owner of the dog accused of the aggressive behavior belongs to Michael Devoll, the principal at Old Rochester Regional High School. Devoll was present for the meeting and asked the selectmen to clarify the dog hearing process, saying, “This is not just a small thing, it’s a…” he trailed off.

            In a letter to the board dated March 14 written by Diane Kelly of 119 Old Knoll Road, Kelley alleges that the Devoll family dogs are left unsupervised, unrestrained, bark incessantly, and at least one of the dogs being aggressive and “who cannot distinguish between a predator and a neighbor.”

            According to another neighbor, Jane Hathaway, “the Devolls should not have pets” because they are “not responsible pet owners.”

            The board approved a $6,700 contract with Westona and Samson to assist the town in its in procurement process for soliciting curbside trash removal bids.

            According to Dawson, the Town so far has received three bids in response to its request for proposal (RFP) for services.

            “There may be others along the way, but we’ll wait to see,” Dawson said. “The deadline for submitting proposals is the seventeenth of April.”

            Turning to the board’s prior request for three town committees and boards to begin televising their meetings, selectmen are now saying that all town boards, committees, and commissions will be televised, with Hills saying he has even approached ORCTV to give them notice that three other town entities will soon need video recording coverage.

            The board back in January asked the Finance Committee, Zoning Board of Appeals, and Open Space Acquisition Commission to begin televising their meetings, but none of those boards have stating that they would be considering the suggestion.

            Waterman pointed out that the ZBA expressed that it didn’t think it needed to be televised, to which Hills said, “That’s not the right answer.”

            “Transparency is important,” said Waterman. “These may be open meetings, but people can’t always make it to these meetings … [to] see how the decisions were made.” Waterman continued, “It’s critically important that all three of these committees televise their meetings and we seem to be getting some resistance to that.”

            “And it wasn’t a suggestion,” said Hills.

            “This isn’t for us: this is for the public,” Waterman stated, “and they need to understand this.

            Hills said televising the meetings is “non-negotiable.”

            Also during the meeting, the selectmen appointed Police Chief John Garcia’s pick for the vacant full-time officer position, Jonathan Castro effective April 7.

            In other business, the board signed off on a one-year bond anticipation note (BAN) renewal totaling $3,125,000. The BAN, which is renewed every year, was given a 2.05 percent interest rate, and consists of three different projects already approved for borrowing – $3,125,000 for a lagoon improvement project approved in 2016, $1.3 Million for the wastewater treatment plant reliability upgrade approved in 2017, $817,195 for the County Road water main project approved in 2018, and another $4250,000 for what Mooney called “ineligibles”.

            The next meeting of the Marion Board of Selectmen is scheduled for April 16 at 7:00 pm at the Marion Town House.

Marion Board of Selectmen

By Jean Perry

With little fanfare, the Marion Planning Board on April 1 issued special permits for a village business, which included a reduction in the parking requirement, a point of contention in recent special permit applications before the board.

            Skin Med Spa, Inc. requested a special permit for a change of use for the second-floor office space of the building located at 154 Front Street, as well as a reduction in the parking requirement.

            The business, represented by Attorney John Mathieu, has operated for six years at 340 Front Street. Mathieu described the business as “not quite medical, but a bit more than a business use.” Skin Med Spa is a cosmetic skin business, including elective beauty treatments by appointment only. The owner is a nurse and nurse practitioner and has one employee who also is a nurse. There are approximately five customers per week, who stay no more than an hour.

            Currently the property, which includes eight units, has a common driveway and parking area, with the businesses sharing all the parking. Mathieu stated that his office measured the entire parking area using an overlay with the required 9-foot by 18-foot sized parking space, resulting in a total of 12 spaces when in full use.

            Based on the town bylaw, the applicant’s business would require six medical spots, or four business spots. With the business located in a Limited Business District, which reduces the required parking to 70 percent of the normal requirement, the parking requirement would be reduced to four medical spots, or three office spots.

            The employees will be employed full time and live in the village, so will often be walking to work. As other businesses in the village have asserted, Mathieu suggests that, if need be, the business could use Island Wharf for overflow parking. He also noted that in 2011, the Planning Board gave the dentist office in the same location a special permit for a reduction in parking.

            While the comparison was made with the recent application of the Mary Celeste Neighborhood Lounge for a reduction in parking, which drew significant pushback from residents and other businesses, board member Eileen Marum pointed out that this business is significantly different, in that cars are not staying long in the area and the number of people visiting the business is comparatively low.

            Board member Chris Collings noted that this was the second meeting in a row that the board had deferred parking to a public parking lot.

            “At what point,” Collings asked, “do we determine how oversold it is becoming? At what point are we creating an issue we have to address?”

            Chairman Will Saltonstall observed, “An applicant with more intense use, I can see that discussion happening.”

            Selectman and Planning Board member Norm Hills stated, “The general concept of parking in the village will need to be addressed,” and the board agreed it was an issue for the Master Plan Implementation Committee and the Transportation and Circulation Task Force in particular.

            With the current application, the board agreed the question was “straightforward” and the business would not have a significant impact on the village parking situation. After a unanimous vote to approve the special permits for a change in use and a reduction in parking, Administrator Terri Santos provided the board with the decision letter to be signed this evening.

            Also during the meeting, developer William Curley of SBS Partners on behalf of Sherman Briggs and Arnold Briggs, had a brief hearing with the board to determine the timeline for the construction of the three affordable housing units in the Residence E property on Spring Street.

            There will be three affordable units built on an adjacent lot, all located within the same building. Curley confirmed with the board that inclusionary zoning section 230-8.1.2 says the construction of 30 percent of the market units (nine units in this case) triggers the requirement to construct one affordable unit. After completion of another 30 percent of the market units, another affordable unit would be built, with the final market and affordable units being completed simultaneously.

            Curley suggested he would pour the foundation, frame the building, and install associated walkways and railings at the affordable unit building, and complete the interior of each affordable unit one at a time.

            “I can live with the town bylaw – a third, a third, and a third is fair, with everyone acting in good faith,” Curley said.

            In other business, Town Planner Gil Hilario presented the board with the report of the summary findings of the Municipal Vulnerability (MVP) Workshop held by SRPEDD last June.

            Marion had applied for and received a grant to become a certified Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Community; this workshop was part of the process to receive that certification.

            Numerous stakeholders attended, including Hilario, Hills, and Marum, as well as other town and state employees, business owners, and residents. In addition, Massachusetts Audubon Society, the Nature Conservancy, and Sippican Lands Trust participated.

            During the workshop, the groups split in two to identify specific vulnerabilities to climate change within Marion. Hilario pointed out that, interestingly, the two groups identified similar top actions the town should take to improve resilience, which included: Enhance communication systems, elevate the pump stations, ensure shelter preparedness and evacuation planning, and create a forest management plan.

            Hilario said, once the town is MVP certified, it could apply for grants to address the action items. Hills reminded the group that the whole town is subject to inundation during a major storm event, with town residents possibly cut off from hospitals and other services.

            Planning Board member Steve Kokkins suggested it is important to determine what kind of resilience the town is planning for – immediate hazards or long-term effects, as well as the source of funds associated with those plans.

            The next meeting of the Marion Planning Board is scheduled for April 16 at 5:00 pm in the Marion Town House.

Marion Planning Board

By Sarah French Storer