By Mary Chassel, Neighb News Correspondent
At the Fairhven Board of Public Works meeting on Monday 4/24/23 superintendent Vinnie Furtado announced that notices have been going out for water flushing. He said there will be town-wide flushing to remove sediment that is in the pipes so that the town will not have dirty water. They need to flush to keep the water clean until the new plant upgrades are done.
Mr. Furtado said if a resident is notified that their area is being flushed at a certain time, they should not use their water. He said residents should not use hot water because it will get in the system. Residents should call if there are any issues.
Mr. Furtado said some flushing will take place during the day and some will happen overnight.
In another matter the board met with Karen Vilandry from the Hands Across the River Coalition about the archeological study that was done at Cooke Park. Ms Vilandry explained that in 2017 Thomas Urban conduced Ground Penetrating Radar (GPW),* and earlier this year Archaeological Laboratory (PAL) conducted an archeological survey and found a number of subsurface acoustic anomalies consistent with the profile of gravesites.
In the company’s summary of their survey they stated that the anomalies are most likely unmarked graves. Ms. Vilandry said due to their findings they believe Cooke Memorial Park is an historical burial ground and they should prevent any future ground disturbing work to the park unless they do further inspection of these potential gravesites.
Ms. Vilandry asked the board not to allow festivals or activities at Cooke Park out of respect .
BPW Chairperson Brian Wotton said he was trying to wrap his head around all the information because they had just received it. He said that he had been under the impression that nothing was found during that survey, so all the information was new to him.
Mr. Furtado said in his opinion he thought the board should digest this report and meet with the Historical Commission about it at a future meeting.
BPW Vice Chairperson Robert “Hoppy” Hobson said he agreed that they needed time to review it and that they should meet with the Historical Commission about it. He said if his parents were buried there and people were walking all over it he would not be very happy.
The board will address the matter in a joint meeting with the HC.
The board also met with Ann Richard, the Chairperson of the Sustainability Committee about a potential ban on plastic nip bottles.
There is an article on the Town Meeting Warrant, on 5/6.
The bottles are a hazard in a variety of ways and cannot be recycled. Several other Mass. communities have already banned nips and others are planning to.
After some discussion, the board agreed to support the measure.
*Fixes errors form previous versions. Urban conducted BPW in 2017; PAL conducted an archeological study.
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