Politics & Government

Selectmen Mulling Ciarcia Field, Culvert and Environmental Remediation Projects

Doug Marmon, Chairman of the Board of Selectmen spoke on Monday night about the high school project, the Ciarcia Baseball Field adjacent to the high school, and a few more potential projects in town. 

The funding for the current high school project allows the town to move the baseball field and the parking lot and put it all back together, and will cover all of the environmental remediation needed. “That project will be done in 2017 whether we coordinate other pieces to go along with it or not,” Marmon said. “It is on it’s own track.”

This also ties into the $7 million dollar culvert plan at Skillings Field, including all of the cite restoration costs. “We would only have to restore the field once if we combined the projects,” Marmon said. “I think the savings here is around half a million dollars, but we will have that ironed out before we bring the question before the town.”

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The environmental remediation could potentially mean dealing with heavy metals found in the soil, but the town is not aware of any need to take action yet. These would be stand-alone projects conducted from the same funding.

“The High School project would take care of the baseball field restoration,” Marmon said. “There is no legal time limit on when we have to do the Skillings culvert. It’s a flood mitigation project with no legal requirements.”

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There is also a Bond Bill of $2.5 million coming to the town, which could be used for the culvert, the Scally Dam or the Mt Vernon St. Bridge. If the Board were to use this money, they would have to put forth a ballot question, which must be submitted by Feb 14. “If we did, we would want to hold a special town meeting to explain what we’re doing and get their approval,” Marmon said. The Board won’t be ready to make decisions until January 27. 


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