The Fall Special Town Meeting warrant has been signed, sealed, and delivered, and on September 26, the Rochester Board of Selectmen sat with the Finance Committee to say ‘yay’ or ‘nay’ on recommendations for the eight articles.
Both the selectmen and the Finance Committee voted to recommend Article 1 to appropriate $10,000 to cover the cost of contracting a company to tidy up and codify the town’s bylaws.
During discussion over the article, FinCom Chairman Kristian Stoltenberg said former Town Administrator Michael McCue first brought the matter up as a priority, but the article was skipped over at the last town meeting when the only company to bid on the project was prepared to offer the town far more services for a higher cost than the town needed or could budget for.
Planning Board Chairman Arnold Johnson, present that night, requested that a representative from the Planning Board and the ZBA be allowed in on the bid selection process, which Selectman Brad Norse concurred was the right way to go. Selectmen Chairman Naida Parker said the cheapest and simplest method was the way to go.
Article 2 to fund a new air-conditioning system for the police station passed with no issues, with Stoltenberg stating that although the FinCom had initially approved funding for temporary repairs to the current system, he acknowledged that the A/C would not last another summer. The amount of the article, which the FinCom along with the selectmen recommended, is $27,000.
Article 3 is for supplementing four separate department projects: $1,500 for the town clerk’s office to restore permanent record books from the 1800s; $4,800 for money already spent on police station A/C repairs; $3,100 for a fire protection system at Senior Center; and $17,725 to cover an unforeseen increase in town insurance rates. Selectmen and the FinCom both recommended the article.
As for Article 4, the Finance Committee chose to refrain from taking a vote to either recommend or oppose $20,000 to fund a town hall/town annex study, preferring instead to hear what residents on Town Meeting floor would have to say about it.
“I tend to agree with him,” said Parker, although she was overruled in her position by Morse and Selectman Richard Nunes, who voted to recommend the article, with Parker abstaining from the vote.
Article 5 sets aside $32,000 to cover potential contract settlements with the town’s union personnel – contracts that will soon be negotiated. Selectmen and Finance Committee members recommended the article, unanimously. Everyone also recommended Article 6 to restore $67,000 back into the stabilization fund, which comes from FEMA reimbursements that finally were paid to the town to cover the winter of 2014.
The Finance Committee abstained from voting on Articles 7 and 8 as both of them pertained to the personnel bylaw.
Selectmen recommended Article 7 to amend and simplify the language pertaining to the process in which employees can file grievances and Article 8 to prolong the employee probationary period from three to six months.
The Fall Special Town Meeting is on October 17 at 6:45 pm at Rochester Memorial School.
In other matters, Town Administrator Suzanne Szyndlar said progress towards securing the electric cars and charging stations via grants the town has received from the state has been slowed, as the town continues to seek affordable bids.
The next meeting of the Board of Selectmen is scheduled for Friday, September 30, at 10:00 am at the Rochester Town Hall meeting room for the tax classification hearing with the Board of Assessors.
By Jean Perry