Town Pauses on ORR Fiscal Audit Article

Mattapoisett and Rochester are in full agreement on spending $5,000 on a forensic financial spending audit for Old Rochester Regional School District, but both the Rochester Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee refrained from recommending that article on the Town Meeting Warrant for the time being.

During an April 24 joint meeting of the BOS and the FinCom to review and make recommendations on Town Meeting Warrant articles, Finance Committee Chairman Kristian Stoltenberg said ‘nay’ to spending $5,000 for such a forensic audit, and the Finance Committee would not recommend the article.

Right after, Board of Selectmen Chairman Brad Morse recommended keeping the article on the warrant; however, with an upcoming Tri-Town Boards of Selectmen meeting in three days, during which the topic of the forensic financial spending audit would be discussed, Morse suggested the selectmen refrain from taking any position on an article recommendation that night.

Knowing that a subsequent Tri-Town selectmen meeting was imminent, Stoltenberg said to the selectmen, “I’m hoping you’re going to be able to convince them to drop it.”

The Finance Committee also voted to not recommend another article to appropriate $6,800 for a fence on the property line between Rochester Memorial School and the Morgado residence next door to address the Morgados’ privacy and safety concerns.

The selectmen had been working with the Morgados and the Rochester facilities manager to find quotes for a fence that would satisfy the Morgados’ request. During this meeting, the selectmen withheld a vote on whether to make the recommendation or not.

The Finance Committee also held off on a recommendation of the FY2018 budget pending further review.

A final draft of the Annual Town Meeting Warrant is still under development.

In other matters, there are some vacant seats on some Town appointed boards and committees: two on the Agricultural Commission; one on the Historic Commission; and one on the Tri-Town Rivers Commission. Interested parties may write a letter to the Board of Selectmen for consideration.

It was Greenwood “Woody” Hartley III’s first meeting as a member of the Board of Selectmen. Hartley brought up a number of “old business” matters, requesting that any ongoing unresolved topics be added to the agenda for ongoing discussion meeting to meeting until resolved, specifically mentioning upgrading the website, ADA compliance in town, and the removable filing system being considered for the Town Hall Annex.

The next meeting of the Rochester Board of Selectmen is scheduled for May 1 at 6:30 pm at the Rochester Town Hall.

By Jean Perry

 

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