Marblehead Midwatch*

What About Matty?

Still no word from the School Committee or School Administration on what if anything they will do in the aftermath of firing Mr. Matthews over the organic garden spillage mess at Bell School. Matty was fired even before the soil results came back from the lab indicating no contamination.

What are they waiting for? A law suit will be more expensive. Time for them to make this right.

Call the Superintendent if you want, I am told she is not accepting calls.

What’s The Rush?

We are nine months away from the next regularly scheduled Town Meeting yet the School Committee at the behest of Selectwoman, Ms. Belf-Becker passed, an article to transfer the so-far gone-that-it-can’t-be-repaired Gerry School to the Selectmen.

The rush may be because if the School Committee cedes ownership of the building then the group that wants to keep it a school will be out of luck once Selectmen take possession.

One need only look at the rapid decline of the old Eveleth school building, made obsolete by the Mega Glover School, and there is no urgency to unload this property on the Selectmen.

Why would the Selectmen be in a hurry to own a building in such bad shape?

Not So Fast, on the New Mega School

At last week’s School Committee meeting, Ben Crowninshield announced that he is undertaking a signature drive for a special town meeting to halt work on the new $53+ million Bell-Coffin-Gerry Mega School.

He wants to reinstate the three schools as neighborhood institutions, preserve the historic nature of the building, and to focus attention on properly maintaining these properties.

The town is already pushing back telling Mr. Crowinshield that even if he gets his meeting; no article can order the School Committee to do anything. But a special town meeting could cut the school budget with a simple vote; so their hubris could come back to bite them.

The School Committee is pursuing a plan developed over 20 years ago and the new Bell Mega School is the final phase of the plan. The folks who approved this plan no longer have any kids in school so maybe it is time to ask the parents of the current school children if they really want a big new school or if they’d prefer local schools; after all they are paying for it.

It Costs How Much?

Don’t be surprised if you see more furniture and mattresses dumped on the side of the road around town. I am sure everyone saw the couch by the Lead Mills property recently.

The Health Department has instituted a new $15 fee to dispose of a mattress at the dump. Now if you don’t have a dump sticker, then the fee to get rid of the mattress is 80 dollars; 65 for the sticker and 15 for the mattress. Seems to incentiv-ize the “It fell off the truck option”, does it not?

Pay to Throw - at the Pit

Although Pay-To-Throw was soundly defeated at a special town meeting several years ago, the Board of Health has instituted its own version at the dump.

The days of backing up to “the pit” and throwing away your old dresser or renovation waste are over.

Now you will have to weigh this refuse and pay a separate fee to use the pit. Household trash has been relegated to small dumpster in the back area.

It seems like the more we pay to use the dump the harder they make it for us to use.

Those Fees Add Up

A little research, via a Freedom of Information Request, shows that the town (not counting the Schools) collect over $1.5 million annually from fees. And while you may think that these fees go to keep the specific groups collecting the fees running, in fact they just go into that big fiscal washing machine called the General Fund where all traceability is lost.

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The Marblehead Midwatch will appear in the Patch from time to time as news items warrant. If you have an item for this column e-mail me at JackBubaPatch@aol.com confidentiality assured.

* Midwatch - A watch on a ship from midnight to 4 a.m.