Patrol boat funding up for vote at Marion Town Meeting

MARION – Town Meeting voters in Marion aren’t seeing double.

Two items on the Marion Town Meeting agenda, 16 and 16A, will ask voters to fund the purchase of a new $803,250 patrol boat for the Harbormaster Department.

The new vessel, a 33-foot 2023 “SAFE Boat,” will replace the 27-foot 2006 Boston Whaler currently in use by the Harbormaster Department.

The new vessel, which would take 18 months to build, “is built specifically to be a patrol boat,” said Marion Town Administrator Geoff Gorman. “Not only does it have some things that are great for harbormaster safety … it has built-in firefighting capabilities.”

According to Gorman, the Harbormaster Department’s current vessel has been in continuous use since 2006 and was “not built from the ground up to be a patrol boat, it’s upfitted to be a patrol boat.”

A survey conducted by Boston-based Marine Safety Consultants found the current vessel to have cracking on the port and starboard side of the wheelhouse, severe cracking at the dive door and other issues including water saturation and loose fuel tank brackets.

“The damage found is common in a vessel used in this service for over 15 years, and is not cost effective to repair,” read the survey.

Item 16 on the Town Meeting agenda would fund the purchase of the boat through $400,000 of Free Cash and $403,250 from the Waterways Fund. This item was recommended by the Marion Select Board and was not recommended by the Marion Finance Committee.

According to a statement from the Marion Finance Committee, the Committee voted unanimously not to recommend item 16 because it was “neither fiscally sound or responsible to use taxpayer funds and accounts” to fund the purchase of the boat.

Item 16A would authorize the town to finance the full cost of the boat, with the principal and interest to be paid for through money generated by the harbor. This item was recommended by the Select Board and the Finance Committee.

Several Marion residents who spoke at an April 25 Town Meeting information session said they preferred item 16, which would pay for the boat outright.

“It doesn’t make sense to me to spend all that money in interest … no matter who’s paying it when the other [item] will pay it off in full,” said Marion resident Helen Westergard.

Marion Select Board member Randy Parker added that Marion Police Chief Richard Nighelli and Marion Harbormaster Adam Murphy are “working on” securing grants to offset the cost of the boat. According to Parker, Nighelli and Murphy “feel pretty good” about their prospects for securing grant funding.

Grant funding can be used to offset the cost of the boat no matter which Town Meeting item voters choose. According to Gorman, “as with anything in the municipal world” the town needs to appropriate funds toward the boat “before we can even sign a contract ... if we get appropriation, sign the contract ... we have a year-plus to find grant funding and other sources of revenue.”

Marion’s Town Meeting will be held on Monday, May 13 in the Sippican School auditorium starting at 6:45 p.m. All registered voters in Marion are eligible and encouraged to attend.