Retired Middleboro Town Manager, Jack Healey is credited with being the architect of a scheme to purchase Chapter 61 land to prevent a 40B subdivision from being constructed abutting the Town's Plumbing Inspector on Fuller St.
.Since the Town had no money, the land was purchased for $1 MILLION through the Water Department Enterprise Account on the pretext of a Town Well Site which, of course, failed to appear.
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Didn't they need DEP approval to do so?
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Since the Board of Selectmen is charged in the Town Charter as Water Commissioners, some might wonder about their fiduciary responsibility to water ratepayers.
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Little noticed by most was that ONLY the back land was in Chapter 61 and Town Counsel ruled that the Town could NOT purchase the street frontage or ACCESS.
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When the developer offered deeded access to the Town free of charge, it was declined.
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So, now the Town owns a landlocked parcel and is looking for a use to justify the cost and repay the Water Enterprise Account and the folly.
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Using a right of way, gravel removal is underway that Mr. Healey explained would generate $4 MILLION. Endangered turtles got in the way, but not to stop!
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This parcel was discussed at last night's BOS meeting yet again and continues to haunt: an expensive purchase in pursuit of a use.
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It's in the records: Selectmen's Meeting Minutes
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The following discussion about the gravel project pertains to the Fuller Street property:
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SELECTMEN’S MEETING
APRIL 17, 2007
APRIL 17, 2007
TOWN MANAGER’S REPORT
Gravel Project – Black Friday News – We May Have Box Turtles!
Mr. Healey informed the Board that the site of the proposed gravel project, athletic playing fields and future school site may also be the home of the Eastern Box Turtle according to the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program People.
We must hire an expert to see if they can find a turtle. Then we have to put a transmitter/locational device on the turtle and monitor his habitat area. Then maybe the State will allow us to hire someone to protect the turtle(s) we find from the heavy equipment while we mine the site and build the fields!
Life is good! (Especially if you are a turtle) LINK
Gravel Project – Black Friday News – We May Have Box Turtles!
Mr. Healey informed the Board that the site of the proposed gravel project, athletic playing fields and future school site may also be the home of the Eastern Box Turtle according to the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program People.
We must hire an expert to see if they can find a turtle. Then we have to put a transmitter/locational device on the turtle and monitor his habitat area. Then maybe the State will allow us to hire someone to protect the turtle(s) we find from the heavy equipment while we mine the site and build the fields!
Life is good! (Especially if you are a turtle) LINK
4 comments:
Have the waters of the Nemasket been analyzed? Could prove interesting.
1 MILLION DOLLARS for swampland? This was the stupidest thing he ever did.
The developer offered to GIVE the town a roadway but only spoke to Jack. Do you think he ever told anyone?
All you have to do is look at who was on the board of selectmen at that time to understand how Jack got away with what he did. It's all in the records.
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