Rochester’s Select Board Monday expressed a lot of concerns as it reviewed the soon-to-be-renewed Inter-Municipal Agreement with the Regional Old Colony Communications Center (ROCCC) that, since 2017, has placed the town’s public safety dispatching services in Duxbury.
What would the Rochester Police and Fire departments do without ROCCC’s services, given that Rochester does not have its own dispatching equipment? That was the main concern as Town Administrator Cameron Durant and the board discussed new language regarding the town’s responsibilities should the regional system go down or lose funding.
That language says the town must be responsible for its own dispatching system if the ROCCC system goes down. “Where do we dispatch from if ROCCC is down?” Select Board member Paul Ciaburri responded. “We need a Plan B?”
“It would be a logistical nightmare,” Police Chief Michael Assad said. He noted the town police station no longer has dispatching equipment. The department has a “shift phone” that allows an officer to communicate with ROCCC in an emergency but explained that would not be an efficient second plan. He speculated that Marion or Mattapoisett could be where Rochester’s dispatching calls go. But then the town would need its own agreement(s) with those neighboring towns.
A greater problem would be having trained personnel to man town dispatching equipment, Chair Adam Murphy pointed out. Murphy noted another clause in the agreement stating that the town should have dispatching equipment from grant funding it received. “We never got that console or that funding,” he complained.
“We’d have to budget it if we had to have it,” Durant said. The board ended discussion by agreeing to set up a meeting with ROCCC officials to discuss these concerns.
The Duxbury-based ROCCC handles the 911 calls, police, fire, and EMS dispatching for the towns of Duxbury, Plympton, Halifax, Rochester, Hanson, and Hanover. Rochester joined the center in January 2017.
In other action, the board signed the contract for the construction of the new Police Department jail cell. Kneeland Construction of Medford was the winning low bidder at $139,000. Durant reported, however, that a Town Meeting appropriation put aside only $129,000 for the project. He said he is considering using $20,000 appropriated at Town Meeting to establish a Facilities Management reserve account for this shortfall but will look at other ways within the FY25 budget as well.
The board approved changes to the town’s Senior Work-Off Program proposed by Council on Aging Director Eric Poulin.
Seniors unable to pay their property-tax levy will be eligible for the program if their earnings are 80% of median household income and they are among the first 25 to apply. First come, first served. All applications will be handled by the COA.
Durant proposed a staff liaison be appointed to the Park Commission. “Someone to respond to the day-to-day responsibilities of the Commission,” he explained. He said what the commission oversees daily, such as fees and rentals maintains, needs some oversight. The board concluded it would set up a meeting with the new commission to discuss this idea.
The board accepted the resignation of Rochester Police Department officer Elijah Vicente-Roberts.
The board appointed Dennis McCarthy, a Zoning Board of Appeals associate member, to the Public Safety Facility Building Committee.
The board announced the town has received the SEMASS Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT) amount of $343,082 for this month.
The next meeting of the Rochester Select Board is scheduled for Monday, July 7 at 6:00 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.
Rochester Select Board
By Michael J. DeCicco