Marion works to finalize agenda ahead of Spring Town Meeting

MARION — One large sum sticks out with Spring Town Meeting on the horizon. A $2.2 million renovation to the Marion Town House was among the items confirmed for the May 12 Town Meeting agenda by the Select Board on Tuesday, March 18.

The finalized agenda will be posted on Wednesday, April 2, but prior to that, the Select Board will hold a meeting Monday, March 24 at 6 p.m. that will be open to comments from the public regarding the draft agenda. On April 30 at 6 p.m., another meeting will be held, which will review each item set to be requested.

At the Select Board meeting, Town Administrator Geoffrey Gorman said that none of the money set for the Town House renovation would be going toward cosmetics and the funding would be completed through a debt service.

“$2.2 million — this with $500,000 of free cash, plus approximately $1 million in grants and existing funds would allow us to do a significant amount of required upgrades,” he said.

What was once individual projects became pricey when taken to bid. Gorman said that combining them into one big project would make it a stronger competitor for construction bidding, and would limit the number of necessary funding requests. 

Among the planned renovations are a fire suppression, Americans with Disabilities Act compliance work and upgrades to heating, ventilation and air conditioning. 

The Town House has a multitude of existing issues for those with disabilities. The renovation would include a wheelchair lift, new door knobs, accessible help desks and braille. Other major needs like a new boiler and generator cannot be completed due to Town House being out of compliance.

In the summer months the Town House requires window and portable air conditioning units. 

“The air conditioning in the summer time is extremely inefficient,” Gorman said.

There is an available office space in Marion that the Town House staff could move operations to when renovations occur.

“If that office space is not available in a couple of years, we would have to rent trailers with internet, electricity, water and sewage,” Gorman said.

A few notable items on the Town Meeting agenda confirmed so far include the proposal to establish a historic district in Marion and accompanying bylaw, which aims to preserve the character of the town’s village.

Under the proposed bylaw, certain properties in the proposed district would abide by specific guidelines for exterior construction, additions, new construction and demolition in order to maintain a sense of harmony with the original historic structures. An updated historic district map has been provided by the Historic District Study Commission.

Another proposed bylaw, which aims to provide guidelines on short-term rentals in Marion, will also appear on the agenda.

In an effort to close a $400,000 revenue and expenses gap, Gorman went through the entire list of capital requests from department heads and ranked them by priority. In doing this, $1.5 million in capital requests have been taken down to $612,000.