A return visit in 2024 to the Tri-Town

As we look ahead to 2025, Tri-Town community leaders and residents can reflect on an eventful year filled with triumphs, losses, opportunities and new directions in a series of memorable events that made 2024 unique.

The year began with the Tri-Town Select Boards pledging to work more closely together to provide residents with improved public services for everyone from regional school district students to seniors to tourists.

The individual towns of Mattapoisett, Marion and Rochester had countless stories that contributed to their history and future.

In January, Rochester voters at a special city meeting rejected a proposal that would have given the special committee the authority to hire staff at the Council on Aging; Mattapoisett issued a new policy regarding which flags could be displayed on city buildings.

February began with a two-hour public hearing in Marion on proposed changes to city cemetery regulations as Rochester officials prepared for a tougher fiscal year. In Rochester, Matt’s Blackboard restaurant was sold and later became Costa’s Kitchen.

In March, the Old Rochester Regional School Committee passed a resolution in support of state legislation to abolish the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System

Also in March, Andre Arsenault, a former culinary teacher at Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School, was arrested in Wareham on charges of rape and battery on a person over 14 years old.

The Old Rochester boys’ basketball team made it to the state championship. Before the tournament final, a Bulldogs player was ejected from the team after spitting on an opposing player during the semifinals.

Meanwhile, Mattapoisett-based mixed martial artist Connor Matthews made his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut on March 30.

In Rochester, a Vietnam War veterans memorial plaque made by Old Colony students was unveiled at City Hall.

In April, after extensive public discussion and protests, new regulations for Marion cemeteries were passed.

That same month, the Old Rochester School Committee voted to withdraw an article for town meetings across the Tri-Town to approve a $12 million debt for facility improvements after opposition from some city officials.

Rochester City Manager Glenn Cannon resigned in May to take the same position in Carver. The Marion Select Board decided to delay a vote in town meeting to abandon the state’s stretch energy code, which would have withdrawn the town from the state’s Green Communities program.

At town meeting, Mattapoisett voters supported a citizen’s petition to form a committee to oversee a road improvement project in the town’s village area.

Also in May, Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll toured the construction site for the new harbor master building in Marion.

In June, nearly $300,000 in state funding was awarded for bike path projects in the Tri-Town; A subcommittee of the Old Rochester Regional School Committee was found to have violated the Open Meeting Law.

In July, Michael Assad Jr. was named Rochester’s next police chief; Mattapoisett’s Harbor Days set sales records.

In August, Rochester hired Cam Durant, the former human resources director in Fairhaven, as its next city manager; The Marion Town Party was canceled due to the presence of mosquito-borne viruses.

In September, data showed that Tri-Town students performed better than the state in most MCAS exam grades and subjects.

In October, “Good Morning America” aired a segment live from the Hartley Family Farm in Rochester. Also in Rochester, a renovation project at Gifford Park, funded in part by Tri-Town for Protecting Children, a local nonprofit, was approved by the city council.

In November, Tri-Town voters took part in the 2024 presidential election; the Buzzards Bay Coalition reopened the Mattapoisett Bogs property after a year-long restoration project; Nearly 250 seniors attended a Thanksgiving feast at Old Rochester Regional Junior High School.

In December, Mattapoisett imposed a moratorium on the use of public meeting spaces in city buildings. The moratorium came following a legal challenge by the city over a local church’s use of Ned’s Point and the Mattapoisett Free Public Library. Some time after the challenge was resolved, library director Colleen Tierney resigned after being hired in May.