ORLEANS – With planning for downtown and Meetinghouse Pond sewer work now in the rearview, Orleans officials are now looking toward the future. The town's wastewater consultant, AECOM, presented its recommendations for the next eight phases of sewering to the select board May 11. At the top of the list are six properties bordering Uncle Harvey's Pond and two phases of work on Eldredge Park Way. In October, ...

ORLEANS – It was a clean sweep in Tuesday's annual town election, as Orleans voters passed all four override questions put before them on the ballot. Question 1 to approve $627,032 to cover the town's portion of the Nauset regional school budget for next year passed 705-182, according to preliminary results released Tuesday night. Voters also approved two questions on Meetinghouse Pond, one to fund the constru...

ORLEANS – They didn't pass quietly, but articles to secure construction funding for Meetinghouse Pond sewer work and adopt a new sewer assessment bylaw garnered voter approval during Monday night's annual town meeting. The bylaw, which calls for sewer costs downtown and in the area of Meetinghouse Pond to be split between the tax rate (80 percent) and users who will tie into the new sewer system (20 percent), ...

ORLEANS – They didn't pass quietly, but articles to secure construction funding for Meetinghouse Pond sewer work and adopt a new sewer assessment bylaw garnered voter approval during Monday night's annual town meeting. The bylaw, which calls for sewer costs downtown and in the area of Meetinghouse Pond to be split between the tax rate (80 percent) and users who will tie into the new sewer system (20 percent), ...

ORLEANS – There's no argument about the need to sewer Mill Pond. The question for the select board April 6 was when and how. The board discussed a petition last week directing the town to begin the process of planning for the Mill Pond area to be sewered. The article is set to go before voters at the annual town meeting on May 9. The town is nearing the point of construction on the second phase of sewering ...

ORLEANS – Annual town meeting is May 9, and there will be no shortage of articles for voters to work their way through. The select board on March 30 voted to place on the warrant and recommend a total of 85 articles, including 75 for the annual town meeting and an additional 10 for the warrant for special town meeting. The spring sessions are scheduled for 6 p.m. inside the Nauset Regional Middle School gymnas...

ORLEANS – Sewer rate projections were presented to the select board last week, but members questioned how those numbers will hold up once the town's new treatment plant and wastewater collection system is up and running. The 1,105 anticipated sewer users downtown are expected to begin tying into the system in September when the new plant on Overland Way goes online. Tom Daley, the town's public works director,...

ORLEANS – Can equity in sewer betterments be achieved for users downtown and in the area of Meetinghouse Pond? If the select board's public hearing on the matter March 9 is any indication, it doesn't seem likely. "I think what we can take away from all of this is there is no fair and equitable way to assess a betterment in this town," Finance Director Cathy Doane told the board at the conclusion of the two-hou...

ORLEANS -- The select board wants to find a way to lower betterment costs for users in the Meetinghouse Pond sewer area, but it remains to be seen if they can work out a plan in time for the annual town meeting this spring. Figures presented to the select board Nov. 10 show that Meetinghouse Pond users are currently slated to pay more than twice that of downtown users in betterments. Sewer use rules and reg...