Transfer station stickers will cost Marion residents $40 in 2020, members of the Marion Board of Selectmen officially ruled on November 19.

            The cost of a transfer sticker, which allows residents access to the transfer stations at Benson Brook in Marion, as well as the Route 58 transfer station in Rochester, has been debated in recent months. While the $40 figure has been presented as aligning with fellow towns in the Carver Marion Wareham Regional Refuse Disposal District (CMWRRDD), Marion’s selectmen were hesitant to charge residents so much for a sticker that had previously cost $10.

            Selectmen Chairman Randy Parker requested further information from Town Administrator Jay McGrail before making a final decision; information that McGrail brought to Monday night’s meeting.

            “The Benson Brook facility will remain open through December 31, 2020,” McGrail said. “What’s less clear is who will run it. The [CMWRRDD] has committed to running it through the end of calendar year 2020, but things are slightly up in the air, since Marion is considering an exit from the district. What we’re hoping to do is keep the Benson Brook facility open in 2021 and longer, by making it pay for itself via through the sticker fees,” he explained. “Well, at least as best as we possibly can.”

            McGrail explained that costs to keep the Benson Brook facility would rise if Marion exits the district; the town will need to replace any equipment at the facility that currently belongs to the CMWRRDD. In addition, the town will need to find ways to fund overtime accrued by workers who staff the transfer facility on the weekend. The overtime costs are currently subsidized by Covanta.

            McGrail said the plan is to open the Benson Brook facility only two days per week once Marion leaves the CMWRRDD, to cut down on costs: one weekday and one weekend day. The $40 sticker price tag will be per car, and there will be no discount for multiple vehicles. Military veterans and seniors aged 70 and older will receive a $10 discount on stickers.

            McGrail is hoping that offering more waste services to Marion residents will help mitigate the sticker shock. During the meeting, he threw out a few different ideas to consider.

            “I’ve heard consistently from residents that they want a place to put yard waste, like brush and branches, on a regular basis,” McGrail said. “I think we should take that at the transfer station. It will all be taken by our loaders and brought to a pile behind the sewer plant lagoons. Twice a year we’d rent a grinder and grind all the waste into mulch, and then offer the mulch to residents.” 

            McGrail admitted that renting the grinder on a day-by-day basis might cost as much as $5,000 per day.

            “I don’t know for sure; I’ve never rented one,” he joked. “But I can definitely look into the cost further.”

            McGrail also brought up the idea of bringing back Benson Brook’s swap shop. The swap shop was closed in 2018 after liability concerns involving non-employees near heavy machinery came to the attention of town officials.

            Selectman John Waterman said he would be interested in seeing the swap shop re-opened, but only if certain rules and guidelines were set down first.

            Parker agreed with Waterman, noting previous discord at the swap shop site.

            “People were setting up lawn chairs over there and just sitting and waiting all day,” said Parker. He presented the idea of possibly placing time limits on visits to the swap shop as he’d seen at other transfer facility swap shops in the area. “Ten minutes,” he mused. “It’s a good idea to think about.”

            The next meeting of the Board of Selectmen will be on December 3 at 7:00 pm at the Marion Town House.

Marion Board of Selectmen

By Andrea Ray

            The Rochester Fall Special Town Meeting on November 18 was over in less than 20 minutes with voters quickly adopted seven articles and the sponsor of a citizen’s petition withdrawing his.

            The only discussion from voters on the floor arose during the introduction of Article 5 to authorize the Board of Selectmen to enter into an agreement for payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) with the developer of a solar farm at 61 Mendell Road.

            Planning Board member Ben Bailey approached the microphone and asked, “Could somebody explain exactly what we are giving up in terms of tax dollars and what we’re getting for it?”

            Town Counsel Blair Bailey told him that the town wasn’t giving up anything and explained that a PILOT was simply a way for the Board of Assessors and the solar developer to “set in stone” a payment from the developer to the Town, based on the full and fair cash value of the solar energy facility for the 20-year life of the project, rather than a fluctuating tax payment.

            “[The solar developer] can’t file for an abatement,” Attorney Bailey continued. “It’s a contract, essentially, between the town and the solar company [to] pay a fixed amount. It eliminates the guesswork… [and] no matter what [legislators] change in the law, [the developer] still has to make the payments, so it gives us that certainty.”

            One other resident was reassured that the PILOT would bring in more revenue than the property currently does as Chapter 61A land.

            The very next article, Article 6, was for another PILOT agreement with the developer of a roof-mounted solar photovoltaic system atop Rochester Memorial School.

            The sponsor of a citizen’s petition asking for $20,000 on behalf of the ORR Athletic Booster Club “respectfully” withdrew Article 8 from the warrant.

            Justin Shay had presented this article to the three Old Rochester towns at prior town meetings, but this time Rochester Town Administrator Suzanne Szyndlar’s research into the matter concluded that the article could not legally be adopted because municipalities are prohibited from using public money to fund private organizations.

            Shay had hoped to ultimately receive $20,000 from each of the three towns to build a handicap accessible press box at the Old Rochester High School’s main field. The original press box was razed when the school was renovated in 2002 and was never rebuilt.

            During an October 7 meeting of the Board of Selectmen, Szyndlar determined that Shay would have to seek the funding for the project within the school budget.

            In other business, voters adopted Article 1 for $5,000 for the Parks Department to complete a concrete carport pad, install a handicap sidewalk, and purchase two picnic tables.

            Voters also adopted Article 2 requesting $50,000 for a used dump sander truck for the Highway Department; Article 3 for $8,000 for a tax map layout, alignment, and improvement as a result of a conversion to GIS format; Article 4 for $17,000 to fund site work on town-owned land located on Dexter Lane for an overflow parking area; and Article 7 authorizing the Board of Selectmen to transfer 16.8 acres of town-owned land, known as the “Dexter Lane Recreation Area”, to the Rochester Park Commission to hold as open space, parks, and recreational uses.

Rochester Fall Special Town Meeting

By Jean Perry