Voters will consider vicious dogs, derelict moorings, sewer costs, three alternative energy projects, and requests to purchase defibrillators, cars, and more when Town Meeting convenes on October 22.

A committee charged with updating the town's bylaw for regulating dogs, which was established at Town Meeting in the spring after residents took issue with a proposed update that would have imposed strict regulations on the owners of dangerous and barking dogs, will ask Town Meeting voters to repeal the town's current dog bylaw, putting the responsibility for "dangerous dog" hearings in the hands of the Selectmen. For more about changes that could affect Fido, click here.

Here's what's else is on tap at Town Meeting.

Sewer business

Residents from the Oakdale and Cromesett neighborhoods are looking to cap the cost for a recent, controversial sewer expansion to those neighborhoods at $18,000. The projected cost per property is currently $22,000. For more, click here.

Voters will also be asked to establish a Board of Sewer Commissioners, effectively taking the oversight of the Water Pollution Control Facility out of the hands of the Selectmen.

Sound familiar? That's because Town Meeting approved changing the Town Charter to create an elected board of five sewer commissioners to oversee the sewer system and its finances back in October of 2010.

Voters argued that the dual role of Selectman and Sewer Commissioner was too much work for Selectmen. Sewer issues are among the hottest topics in Wareham: Expansion of the system and the $20,000+ "betterment fees" that are being imposed, and the annual sewer feeds paid by existing sewer users.

Because creating the Board of Sewer Commissioners requires a change to Town Charter, the article must be filed with the Massachusetts State Legislature for approval.

The approved Town Meeting article was not given to the state Senate until early 2011, and then proceeded to get tossed back and forth between Senate lawyers and town lawyers due to concerns about language.

Somewhere along the line, now-Selectman Alan Slavin, who had served on the Charter Review Committee that proposed the change, discovered that the bill was not formally filed with the state Senate, and due to the long delay, legislators were unable to act.

Slavin said at a recent meeting that the article before Town Meeting voters this fall reflects the language that lawyers had spent months fine-tuning.

School Department

The School Department will ask voters to earmark two separate chunks of funding from the state to the schools.

The school district will receive an additional $120,000 in state "Chapter 70" school aid, but unless Town Meeting allocates the funds to the schools, it will go in the town's general coffers, and could be used for school-related town expenses, such as healthcare, for example.

Wareham is also poised to receive an approximately $125,000 reimbursement from the state for expenses the district incurred from transporting homeless students last year.

The $125,000 will also simply be sent to the town -- not necessarily earmarked for school transportation expenses. The School Committee put off drastically cutting bus services in hopes that Town Meeting would allocate the funds to school transportation.

The School Department will also ask Town Meeting voters to transfer the control of the Ethel E. Hammond Elementary School in Onset back to the town. The building formerly housed kindergarten classrooms, but budget cuts necessitated that the building be shut down and the kindergartners be moved to Minot Forest Elementary.

Renewable energy

Voters will decide whether the town should buy power generated by out-of-town alternative energy projects, and whether to build a solar facility near Wareham's sewer plant. Click here for the story.

New rules for boaters

Boaters who fail to pay mooring and other fees will face new penalties if Town Meeting approves changes to Wareham's waterways bylaws.

“The penalty fees are for people who are abusing the system. … If their moorings have gone unpaid, uninspected, or they don’t pay their [boat] excise tax, those are the three biggest problems,” said Harbormaster Garry Buckminster.

The bylaws have not been updated since 1998, said Buckminster, noting that the books need to be updated with "the things that are facing us today as opposed to 14 years ago."

Boaters will be assessed a $25 late fee if they don’t pay all necessary fees by July 1. If the fees have still not been paid by August 1, boaters will be notified via certified letter that they have ten days to pay their fees. If the Harbormaster Department hears nothing by September 1, the mooring will be removed and its location given to the next person on the department's waiting list for moorings.

Boaters can have their moorings put back if they pay their fees, along with a $125 fine.

The existing bylaw does not have a clearly defined process for removing moorings due to non-payment of fees, Buckminster said.

"I feel that we're giving people sufficient time to rectify their problem with the proposed bylaw," he added.

The proposed bylaw changes also address derelict moorings.

"We're going to phase out concrete blocks in the mooring field," said Buckminster. "I’ve been here since 1994 and I’ve seen maybe two concrete blocks installed, and they’re just not practical. … You can’t easily remove them because they’re so immense.”

Instead of concrete blocks, boaters with vessels under 28 feet will have to choose either a mushroom, helix, or pyramid mooring.

If the bylaw changes are approved, boaters will have until 2017 to remove concrete blocks, or the mooring will be considered abandoned.

Another change to the bylaws will require boats in excess of 28 feet to use a helix mooring, but those boat-owners won’t have to run right out and buy that new mooring.

“Once the mooring itself fails, they will have to upgrade their system, and any new moorings will have to abide by the new laws,” Buckminster explained.

More money for recycling

The town's Wareham Recycling Drop-Off Center needs an additional $3,000, and without an increase in its annual funding, Recycling Coordinator Marilyn Russell says the center will likely have to shut down by spring, 2013.

The Recycling Committee, which oversees the center's operations, will ask Town Meeting voters to add $3,000 to its current budget of $5,000. Russell says the cost of running the center is actually approximately $11,000.

It is not clear where the additional money would come out of the current year's budget.

Russell works part-time running the recycling center, and reports how much trash is being recycled in Wareham to the Department of Environmental Protection. The center, which is open two days per week, is otherwise staffed by volunteers. There is no charge to residents to drop off recycling, except for certain items such as tires, appliances, and paint.

Russell estimated that her salary alone is about $8,400, approximately half of which is paid through the fees the center charges for the disposal of various items.

This year, if Town Meeting approves a $3,000 increase in the budget, the department will try to cover the additional $3,000 of the $11,000 cost of running the center from the deposits of bottles and cans that are dropped off at the center, and from fees.

“At one time we were able to operate under-budget because we have a grant from Walmart,” Russell explained. “There was a small balance left over, which we’ve been spending down each year because we’re underfunded by the town.”

The Recycling Drop-Off Center is located off of Plymouth Street in East Wareham (turn off of Maple Springs Road). It is open on Wednesdays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Town Meeting begins on Monday, October 22, at 7 p.m. in the Wareham High School auditorium. Download the entire agenda below this story!