Mattapoisett voters will decide Nov. 9 on a $3.96 million water and sewer building and $850,000 from free cash

MATTAPOISETT Mattapoisett voters will decide Monday, Nov. 9, whether to borrow up to $3,956,500 for a new Water and Sewer Department building on Industrial Drive and whether to spend $850,000 of the town's free cash, with $500,000 of that going to engineering and design for the planned rebuild of Main Street, Water Street, Beacon Street and Marion Road.

The Select Board signed the nine-article Special Town Meeting warrant on Oct. 20. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. in the Old Rochester Regional High School auditorium, 135 Marion Road. Mattapoisett runs an open town meeting, so any registered voter in town can attend and vote.

"I think the public should know that none of the items being presented will have any additional impact on the tax levy (IE: Property Taxes)," Town Administrator Michael Lorenco said in an email Monday. "The projects and costs presented are being paid for by free cash or through the movement of previously approved funding (apart from the water/sewer building project)."

"All articles were unanimously approved by each Board," Lorenco wrote of the Select Board and the Finance Committee. "Note, the Finance Committee does not recommend articles that have no monetary impact (such as Article 9)."

A new water and sewer building

Article 2, from the Board of Water and Sewer Commissioners, asks voters to "raise and appropriate, transfer from available funds, or borrow" $3,956,500 for "the design, planning, engineering, and new construction" of the Mattapoisett Water/Sewer Building. It would let the treasurer borrow the money with the Select Board's approval and let the board sign the contracts. The warrant marks the article as needing a two-thirds vote.

"This water/sewer project would be repaid through the water/sewer rates or water/sewer available funds," Lorenco wrote. "The Department currently works out of two different leased buildings (one on Baptist Street and one on County Road). The Town has no ownership of either building and is paying rent to occupy each facility."

The commissioners meet at 19 County Road, and the building has been on their agendas through the fall: their Sept. 30 and Oct. 21 agendas each listed a "Building Update." A Water and Sewer Department New Building Advisory Group posted agendas for four meetings between June 3 and Aug. 19. Its Aug. 19 agenda listed a permit status update, a zoning board update, a utility service update, a bid schedule and a "100% Building Plan Review."

Main Street and three more roads

Article 8 would take $500,000 from free cash for the Main Street, Water Street, Beacon Street and Marion Road Improvement Project, covering professional engineering, design, appraisals and surveys. The town's project page describes about 1.5 miles of reconstruction under the regional Transportation Improvement Program, scheduled for construction in 2028. It runs on Main Street from Depot Street to Pearl Street, Water Street from Pearl Street to Atkinson Way, Beacon Street from Atkinson Way to Marion Road, and Marion Road from Beacon Street to County Road. The page lists new drainage, curbing and sidewalks, accessible ramps, pedestrian and bicycle accommodations where practicable, utility relocation and street tree replacement. MassDOT held a public information meeting on the project on Dec. 4, 2025.

Article 5 would let the Select Board acquire road, slope, drainage, utility and temporary construction easements, by purchase, gift or eminent domain, for the Water Street culvert replacement and the Knollwood stormwater remediation project, as shown on a Dec. 9, 2025, Water Street culvert plan, as amended by Greenman-Pedersen Inc. It would also move $65,397.42 left from the Pearl and Oakland road reconstruction that voters funded at the Nov. 14, 2022, special town meeting to pay related costs.

Article 1, which also needs a two-thirds vote, would let the borrowing voters approved May 11 for the Water Street culvert replacement also pay for the Highway Building Renovation Project. The town's highway barn page says the first phase of a three-phase renovation is underway and that phases 2 and 3 won funding at the 2025 annual town meeting and election.

Lorenco said the town had asked the May annual town meeting for $2 million for the Water Street culvert, $1 million from free cash and $1 million in short-term borrowing. "The Town received a grant to cover the culvert project just after spring town meeting so that is the money we are moving," he wrote.

"The additional funding is being requested because the projected cost of the building renovation has increased since the original budget was established a little over a year ago," Lorenco wrote, pointing to changes in prevailing wage rates, federal tariffs on some building materials and equipment, and higher diesel and gasoline prices. "The Town now has an official bid for the project, which provides us with a more accurate and reliable understanding of the actual construction costs."

"The Town does not anticipate needing the entire additional $2 million. The current bid, including project contingency, is just under $5 million. This compares to the $4 million previously approved for the project in 2025," he wrote. Because the building dates to the 1950s, he added, the town wants the full amount authorized: "Our intention is to have the funding authorized and available if needed, while only borrowing the amount necessary to complete the project. It is highly likely the Town will not need the entire amount being moved."

Smaller projects from free cash

Article 6 would spend $300,000 of free cash in six pieces: $100,000 to replace a rooftop air conditioning unit at the Center School cafeteria that is more than 20 years old and whose parts are becoming scarce; $75,000 to digitize paper records in the building, conservation, planning and health offices, with grant money; $75,000 for online permitting software; $25,000 for building and grounds repairs; $15,000 for the Board of Health to hire an engineer to inspect the cap on the Tinkham Hill Lane landfill before work starts on an approved solar project; and $10,000 to make website documents accessible and improve cybersecurity.

Article 7 would put $50,000 of free cash back into the town's grant matching fund, which pays the town's match on grants it wins, with the approval of the Select Board and Finance Committee by majority vote.

The transfer station and a new public way

Article 9 would place the management, operation and regulation of the transfer station and its grounds "directly under the jurisdiction of the Select Board" and let the board adopt, change or repeal its rules, regulations and fee schedules. Article 4, from the Board of Health, would pay $1,342.82 in transfer station bills from earlier years out of the station's retained earnings and needs a nine-tenths vote. Article 3 would accept Cooper's Way as a public way.

How to take part

Registered Mattapoisett voters can speak and vote at the Nov. 9 meeting. Others, including the press, sit in a designated area and may speak if the moderator allows it. Select Board member Nicole Doyon Lynch holds office hours Wednesday, Nov. 4, from 10 a.m. to noon in the Marine Room at the Mattapoisett Library. Town offices are at 16 Main St., 508-758-4100, and questions about meeting procedure go to the town moderator at MattapoisettModerator@gmail.com.

Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.