The Democratic Town Committee will hold its caucus on Saturday, March 7 to elect delegates to the State Democratic Convention. The caucus will take place in the Rochester Town Hall from 11:00 to about 11:30 am.
Everyone may attend the political event but only registered Democrats may run for delegate or vote. Voter registration forms will be available for Rochester residents who would like to register that day.
Early Voting at the Marion Town Clerk’s office begins Monday, February 25 and ends Friday February 28 during regular business hours. In addition, there will be an Early Voting session (open to all voters registered in Marion) held on Thursday, February 27 between 11:00 am and 1:00 pm at the Benjamin D. Cushing Community Center at 465 Mill Street. For questions, please call Lissa Magauran at 508-748-3502.
The Elks of Wareham/New Bedford Lodge No. 1548 sponsors the Elks Student of the Month and Student of the Year Awards for students enrolled in local area high schools. The criteria used in nominating a student includes a student who excels in scholarship, citizenship, performing arts, fine arts, hobbies, athletics, church, school and community service, industry and farming.
We congratulate Senior Luke Couto of Mattapoisett for being selected as Student of the Month for January by the Old Rochester Regional High School Faculty and Staff. Luke has great character and consistently helps the students around him with tough material when the opportunity arises without being asked to do so. He also is a fantastic actor who has earned a lead in every single school play since he arrived at ORR. He is a great kid with a great future and a great representative of what a student at Old Rochester can and should be.
To the Editor:
No question, we live in an extraordinary town. How did it get that way, and how will it stay that way? By caring, dedicated residents like you stepping up to serve on boards!
In three months, the town will hold its annual elections. On Friday, May 15, Marionites need to fill: a three year term on the Board of Assessors, a one year term for Moderator, one three year term on the Board of Health, one three year term on the Select Board, two three year terms and a one year term on the Planning Board, two three year terms on the Marion School Committee, one three year term on the ORR School Committee, two three year terms on the Marion Open Space Acquisitions Commission, and one three year term on the Upper Cape School Committee. Thirteen positions for you to consider! SIX GOOD REASONS!
1. To keep Marion Great! 2. To give your kids something to brag about! 3. To save a sidewalk! 4. To start your training to run for governor, Senator, or President! 5. To Add to your Resumé 6. To indulge your sense of civic duty!
Election papers are now awaiting you at the Town Clerk’s Office in the Town Hall. You need to get twenty signatures and bring them back to Clerk Lissa Magauran by March 23 at 5 pm. Please give this serious consideration! Marion needs you to run for office! Looking ahead to the election season:
NOW – Candidates’ papers available – Town Clerk’s Office
March 23 – Candidates’ papers due -Town Clerk’s office, 5:00 pm
April 17 – Candidates’ Night – Music Hall, 7 pm
May 13 – Annual Town Meeting – Sippican School – 6:45 pm
May 17 – Town Elections – 8 – 8 – COA (Route 6)
For more information, contact the Clerk’s Office at 508-748-3502.
Tinker Saltonstall, Member, League of Women Voters
The views expressed in the “Letters to the Editor” column are not necessarily those of The Wanderer, its staff or advertisers. The Wanderer will gladly accept any and all correspondence relating to timely and pertinent issues in the great Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester area, provided they include the author’s name, address and phone number for verification. We cannot publish anonymous, unsigned or unconfirmed submissions. The Wanderer reserves the right to edit, condense and otherwise alter submissions for purposes of clarity and/or spacing considerations. The Wanderer may choose to not run letters that thank businesses, and The Wanderer has the right to edit letters to omit business names. The Wanderer also reserves the right to deny publication of any submitted correspondence.
David Willett, Department of Public Works Director, opened his presentation to the Marion Board of Selectmen at its February 18 meeting at the Marion Town House by introducing Megan Davis, the DPW’s new engineer.
From there, he delegated a presentation to Conrad Leger from Data Group, a full-service engineering firm. Leger made a PowerPoint presentation on capital infusion to maximize value when addressing the maintenance of Marion’s roads.
The so-called Pavement Management Plan is a five-step program aimed at helping the town efficiently maintain its 28.31 miles of town-managed roadway. There are more road miles than that in Marion, including approximately eight miles of either unaccepted or private roads, along with 14.42 miles of state roads.
“The goal,” said Leger, “is to put every pavement segment into a category.”
Every segment has a 0 to 100 maintenance-category rating, beginning with a zero rating where no maintenance is required at the time of the study.
Routine maintenance costs the town 50 cents per square yard, including crack sealing. Preventative maintenance, at $6 per square yard, includes chip-seal and microsurfacing overlay. Minor rehabilitation at $14 per square yard includes mill and overlay, and major rehabilitation at $40 per square yard means complete reconstruction.
Roads were graded on rideability rather than appearance, and Marion’s road-surface rating (RSR) is 75.54, which is average for the region.
Leger stated that there is a backlog of maintenance right now, and addressing the needs of each and every town-managed road would cost $2.15 million. These are curb-to-curb costs and do not address drainage, sidewalks or ramps.
“Roads are typically inspected every 3-5 years,” said Leger, whose program is meant to address what happens in between those inspections. “This program alters priority from worst repair to cost-benefit value.”
The bike path is not part of the program.
Marion’s Chapter 90 allotment of $170,000 is based on miles (66 percent), population, and number of business employees within the town.
Willett will present this program to the public during the 6:00 pm, February 24 Informational Meeting on trash and pavement management at the Music Hall.
Opening Tuesday’s meeting, Town Administrator Jay McGrail read a letter from Chief of Police John B. Garcia announcing Garcia’s retirement effective January 2, 2021. Garcia, who has been with the department for 34 years, thanked the board for its support. McGrail, Board of Selectmen Chairman Randy L. Parker, Vice Chairman John Waterman and clerk Norman A. Hills all voiced appreciation to Garcia.
Waterman said that, despite knowing Garcia just two years, “I appreciate what a great person you are and we’ll miss you.”
“Thirty-four years is a helluva commitment and we certainly appreciate it,” added Hills.
In spending matters, Paul Naiman spoke on behalf of the Capital Improvements Planning Committee, noting that Marion has 26 planned projects totaling $2.3 million.
Waterman credited the CIPC with bringing order to the projects the town considers and allows the Board of Selectmen to get a big picture.
“This team has been together. We hope you stay together,” he said.
In other business, the board voted to approved a Water/Sewer Commitment of $1,156,868 in quarterly water and sewer billing as of February 7.
The board voted to approve Water/Sewer commitments of $4,130.58 (for final readings and miscellaneous bill dated February 6), $2,348.78 (for final readings dated December 3, 2019), and $550 (for new service dated December 3, 2019.
The board voted to approve an update to Town Administrator’s contract.
The board voted to approve one-day, all-alcohol licenses to Marion Social Club for its chicken barbecue from noon to 4:00 pm March 1 and for the Marion Firefighters Association clamboil on March 28 from 4:00 to 8:00 pm.
The Board also approved the appointment of Jeff Oakes as Town of Marion representative to the South Coast Bikeway Alliance through June 30, 2021 and approved Marion Art Center’s annual request to use Bicentennial Park for Arts in the Park on July 11 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm with a rain date of July 12.
Marion Board of Selectmen
By Mick Colageo
Join the talented music students at Tabor Academy for their Winter Applied Music Recital on Monday, February 24 at 6:30 pm in Lyndon South, located at 242 Front Street in the Stroud Academic Center.
Kerry Saltonstall, Director of Communications said, “The recital provides a wonderful chance to see growth and change through this milestone event. The Applied Music students have been practicing all winter every day after school, as well as working with our private music instructors, to prepare and perfect a piece or two for this performance. It is an exciting and nerve-wracking process to prepare a performance piece for the public. A lot goes into deciding what to perform. The piece needs to be challenging enough to practice for many weeks, and it needs to be enjoyable for the audience. We welcome you, and hope you will come out and support the musicians and enjoy the variety of music presented.”
Marion (Old Rochester) is one of the oldest towns in the United States, and the Sippican Historical Society maintains an extensive collection of documentation on its historic buildings. In 1998, the Sippican Historical Society commissioned an architectural survey of Marion’s historic homes and buildings. Over 100 were cataloged and photographed. SHS will feature one building a week so that the residents of Marion can understand more about its unique historical architecture.
This installment features 182 Front Street. Situated near the northeastern edge of the Wharf Village area is a well-preserved 1790 cape at 182 Front Street, which has been lovingly preserved by the Ryder family. Walter Hellier owned this house at one time. The center entrance residence has a small, projecting, and enclosed entrance accessed by several heavy granite steps. Simply framed by narrow vertical and horizontal boards, its front door has a three-pane transom over it. Rising from the center of the roof is a substantial chimney.
The Old Rochester Regional High School Community Service Learning (CSL) Club has been busy.
The 2019-20 school year began with over 50 members joining the club, learning about volunteer opportunities to participate on their own, as well as sharing ideas for group projects to explore more during the year. The club meets once a week after school.
Under the leadership of sophomores Sally Butler and Maggie Brogioli, CSL collected 130 pairs of socks for their “Socktober” event in October. The socks were donated to the Women’s Center in New Bedford. As October came to a close, sophomore student leaders Maria Psichopaidas and Cameran Weaver inquired about collecting Halloween candy and donating it to troops abroad. Next year, they hope to raise money and send the candy from our school directly.
Interns at Gifts to Give in Acushnet, juniors Jordan Duarte and Jo Dumas also organize ORRHS CSL group visits for one Saturday each month. In November, students sorted comics and on other Saturdays they clean and organize toys, clothing, and books for local children in need.
Student leader junior Jill Langlois organized our first visit to the Happy Hope Factory in Bourne, MA in November, where students packaged special gift bags for children who are hospitalized. Students volunteered again on January 20, 2020, for the “Martin Luther King Day of Giving” event.
In December, Maria and Cameran organized our Toys for Tots collection with the special “Stuff a Cruiser” event held Friday, December 13. They were very happy to see two cruisers stuffed with toys for local children and appreciate the generosity of our Tri-Town residents in making these donations.
For our first half day of school at the high school (February 5), students volunteered for the afternoon with the Sippican Land Trust clearing brush on a trail connected to the high school. They also plan on volunteering with the Mattapoisett Land Trust on the next half-day in March.
The CSL club members and co-advisors Karen Browning and Andrea Moniz look forward to students volunteering all year long in new and on-going projects such as tutoring at the Junior High School and planning a beach clean up in the spring.
And finally, in June of 2019, we honored students who earned the “President’s Volunteer Service Award”. Thirty-one students volunteered for a total of 4,352 hours during the year (March 31, 2018 to April 1, 2019). This award, given at the national level, is based on the age of the student and the number of hours that they volunteered.
Teens: ages 11-15
Bronze (50 – 74 hours): Desmond Sinnott, Autumn Tilly
Silver (75 – 99 hours): Joseph Dumas, Emilia Pinhancos
Gold (100 or more hours): Abigail Forcier, Eddie Gonet, John Kassabian, Paige Long, Payton Lord, Victoria Perry (458 hours), Daphne Poirier, Julia Sheridan
Young Adults: ages 16-25
Bronze (100-175 hours): Brielle Correia, Carly Drew, Emily Humphrey, Ryu Huynh-Aoyama, Kaitlin Kelly, Alexa McLeod, Elise Mello, Christian Noble-Shriver
Silver (175-249 hours): Sara Campopiano, Emily Kirkham, Colin Mackin, Aidan Ridings, Claire Noble-Shriver, Geneva Smith
Gold (250 or more hours): Bethany Cabral (395 hours) Brianna Lynch (304 hours), Rachel Perry (742 hours), Mia Quinlan (332 hours), William Stark (251 hours)
Last season, Old Colony girls basketball did something that hasn’t happened often throughout Craig Lincoln’s tenure as the Cougars’ head coach. They did not qualify for the MIAA state tournament. Not only do the Cougars typically make the playoffs, they’re usually in contention for the league title.
Now Old Colony did not win this season’s Mayflower Athletic Conference Small Vocational Division title either, but the Cougars were able to finish second in the conference with a 7-2 record. More importantly, they’re playing in the state Vocational and MIAA state tournaments.
Setting the program back on the right footing was a major goal for Old Colony this year. There was a conversation about how the team underachieved in the 2018-19 season, but becoming the redemption team is no small feat. When the Cougars achieved their major preseason goal, it would’ve been easy to take their foot off the gas and breathe a sigh of relief, but that’s not what this team is about.
“The girls played hard. The chemistry was excellent this year,” Lincoln said. “Having two young freshmen step in and play large roles for us from Day 1 was nice to see, and the upperclassmen helping them fit in and be part of it right away was pretty key, too.”
Upperclassmen setting the tone starts with senior Kat Kirby. Although Savanna Halle (11.4 points per game) and Hailey Hathaway (12.6) are the team’s top scorers, Kirby plays a crucial role in every win.
“She’s doing all the other things,” Lincoln said of Kirby. “She was the point guard coming into the year and we moved her to off-guard because of Olivia Perry coming in. (Kirby) leads the team in rebounds, steals, deflections, assists — she’s doing all the other things because she wanted to win so badly.
“Between having a small (in stature) team and the maximum effort that these girls put out, I think is a tribute to Kat and what she has done for that team on and off the court this year.”
As Kirby has set the tone, Halle, a junior, has followed suit, playing down low despite being undersized. Still, Halle’s biggest contributions come on the offensive end. Even though she didn’t enter the final game of the regular season as Old Colony’s leading scorer for 2019-20, she is the focus of opposing defenses. This has allowed for the emergence of a second scorer, one who could help the program over the next few years.
“Everyone focuses on Savanna and I think that’s largely why Hailey has been able to have as much success as she has this year. It’s because Savanna plays against a box-and-one (defense) every night,” Lincoln said. “Savanna faces every team’s top defender every night, which allows Hailey to get some more open looks here and there. So, they complement each other very nicely.
“It’s nice to see a freshman step in and be willing to take big shots and be a part of something. We don’t have to focus on running something for just Savanna or just Hailey. We run our offense and we look for the next-best option at all times, making the extra pass. It’s been fun to watch — it’s been fun to coach.”
Following their regular season finale on Tuesday, the Cougars begin the state Vocational tournament on Thursday. Once that concludes, Old Colony will look toward the MIAA South tournament. In both cases, the Cougars have no intention of being a one-and-done team.
“They’re working hard every day to become better than what they were last week,” Lincoln said.
Old Colony boys basketball had a dramatic ending to its season. The Cougars capped off a 17-4 campaign with an 80-76, double-overtime win over Upper Cape Tech on Monday.
Hunter Soares led the Cougars with 22 points. Jarrett Taylor (19 points) and Jojo Cortes (15) each finished in double figures as well.
Like the Old Colony girls basketball team, the boys have the state Vocational and MIAA tournaments up next on their schedule.
Old Rochester
Old Rochester boys basketball clinched a playoff berth with its 62-54 win over Bourne on Friday. With the Bulldogs narrowly inching their way in, they will likely face one of the top-ranked opponents in the tournament on the road to open things up.
At 18-2, Old Rochester girls basketball will be one of the top-seeded teams in the MIAA Division 2 South sectional tournament. Home-court advantage should be the Bulldogs’ until they reach the neutral-site portion of the tournament.
High School Sports Update
By Nick Friar
Mattapoisett’s Finance Committee continued their budgetary journey on February 13 when they met with school superintendent Doug White and members of the Old Rochester Regional School District Committee as well as the Mattapoisett School Committee.
White framed the conversation by stating that the voluminous reports before the FinCom were only “draft” budgets and that further drilling down and pencil-sharpening would be taking place before a final set of documents could be submitted. He said that public hearings on the budget would take place in March.
White indicated that there was uncertainty regarding state funding percentages and that, “…we don’t have the same revenue sources as we’ve had in previous years.”
In the draft budget for ORR Schools, White said that increases in compensation to coaches had been overdue and had been a struggle to fund. But he noted that retirements and a shift in how the school resource officer position will be paid helped the bottom line. An agreement to share expenses related to the school resource officer spreading the expense across the tri-towns is now in place. Previously, Mattapoisett carried the entire cost because the school is located in the community.
On the matter of capital needs, White said that the district needed to build capital reserves. FinCom Chairman Pat Donoghue questioned this point saying, “We don’t even know what the needs are.” She said people have been asking about the schools’ needs but that the school committee had yet to provide clarity.
White said, “There is no funding mechanism to fund it… there’s a plan out there… until we get a regional agreement, we can’t get anything done.”
ORR District School Committee member Tina Rood said that it has been a struggle to get the three towns to sit down and draft a new tri-town agreement, concurring with White that until that happened capital needs could not be considered.
FinCom member Colby Rottler said, “We have not done our job putting money aside,” speaking of the town’s responsibly to provide adequate funding for capital needs for both the district and local schools. But he said a list of capital needs drafted by those institutions was critical in order to advise voters at town meeting what the capital expenses are and gaining support for funding. Rottler told the school representatives, “You need an engineer to look at it to make it credible to the towns.” He said fact-based study takes “special interests” out of the mix and that “…just a plan with a bunch of numbers on it” would not satisfy the public’s need for qualified data. Rottler said, “You need to be in our face,” with data and financial details.
The FY21 ORR District assessment summary showed Mattapoisett’s portion at approximately $6 million, Marion $5 million and Rochester $5 million for a total of $16 million versus FY20 at $14.8 million. ORR draft budget total for FY21 is $19.7 million versus FY20 $19.2 million.
Mattapoisett local school budgets were also discussed. Present was school principal Rose Bowman who provided additional insights.
Bowman said that a plan to consolidate classrooms would continue. The 2020-21 school year will find both Center School and Old Hammondtown School with three classes for each grade level from grades 1 through 6. Of those classes, she noted none would have more than 22 students.
The local schools’ FY21 budget draft proposes an overall total of $7.3 million versus FY20 which was $6.9 million.
Also coming before the Finance Committee was Henri Renauld, superintendent of the Water and Sewer departments. Renauld explained that the enterprise accounts would be experiencing a reduction in revenues by approximately 8 percent, prompting the need to increase water rates by $5 per household per month, and to explore once again expanding sewer lines north of Route 6 on North Street to the Route 195 overpass and in the Pico Beach neighborhood. He said letters would be mailed to impacted residents next week.
Of the water rates, he pointed out some additional costs in electrical expenses due to a new well and increases in payroll from overtime and longevity. While he said that growth in the community would contribute to revenues, operating increases for both departments were expected. Overall increases anticipated are Sewer Department $14,839 and Water Department $79,906, of which $40,603 represents a 7.88-percent increase in salaries. Renauld said, of the $40,603 sum, $14,410 represented salary increases from contracts, “…plus first-time charge for longevity and contracted benefits.”
Some board members seemed a bit stunned by the salary figures, prompting Renauld to state, “I don’t negotiate contracts, the Board of Selectmen do.”
Renauld spoke to the heavy costs associated with the licenses most of his staff are required to maintain. He said that line item will increase by $6,000 in FY21 to $21,000. Also mentioned was a projected line-item expense of $44,652, Mattapoisett’s share of operating costs for the Mattapoisett River Valley Water District.
Director of Inspectional Services Andy Bobola also met with FinCom. He told the board that for the first time in several years revenues showed a slowing trend between calendar year 2015 and 2019. He reported that in 2015 fees for building permits were $157,669 with another $90,370 for plumbing, gas and electrical permits for a total of $248,039 versus 2019 In which $128,537 in building permits and another $60,801 for plumbing, gas, and electrical totaled $189,338. Smoothing out that contrast, however, Bobola said that “January 2020 was an outstanding month,” with over $69,000 in fees for that singular time period. He added to the bright growth picture by saying that build-out at the Bay Club subdivision is projected with 16 duplexes and 11 single-family homes planned.
The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Finance Committee had not been posted as of press time.
Mattapoisett Finance Committee
By Marilou Newell