Mattapoisett Town Meeting voters in a positive mood

May 13, 2014

Aside from a request for a sewer tie-in, Mattapoisett Town Meeting voters gave a thumbs up to every article and were finished before 9:30 p.m. on Monday night.

In addition to housekeeping items, residents approved the proposed $22,538,028 budget for fiscal year 2015, a $638,901 increase over 2014.

Funds to push forward the engineering and design for the next phase of the Mattapoisett Rail Trail, a bike path that currently runs from Mattapoisett Neck Road to Fairhaven were approved.

Voters also approved revised FEMA maps as it was discovered that there was a typo on those voted on at Special Town Meeting in November.

Before taking the vote, residents wanted to know if approving the maps would affect the ongoing investigation into map inaccuracies.

Resident Ray Andrews said certain sections could have been challenged.

Town Administrator Mike Gagne said without approval on the maps from the townspeople everyone in Mattapoisett would become ineligible for flood insurance.

“They have you over a barrel,” Gagne said of FEMA.

Without approval, he said the town would not receive any financial assistance in the event of a hurricane.

Gagne also said Selectmen have appointed a three-person committee to investigate the maps.

“We’re not out of the woods yet, but we certainly have some issues that we’re looking at,” he said.

Voters also approved a number of articles brought by the Community Preservation Committee, including $16,000 in funding for the preservation of historic records at the Mattapoisett Historical Society.

President Jennifer MacIntire said the society has more than 30,000 town records and artifacts that include deeds and assessor maps.

“We’re asking you to help preserve our past for the benefit of our future,” said MacIntire.