The Rochester Select Board had much to say about the May 18 Annual Town Meeting when it met with the Finance Committee to review the meeting’s 33-article warrant on Thursday, April 16.
The first revelation of the night was about a donation meant to make voting easier that night. Town Administrator Cameron Durant reported an anonymous entity has donated 400 remote voting clickers for Town Meeting voters with a $1,800 grant. Durant said Rochester is one of three Massachusetts communities to receive this generous donation “and also the software, in perpetuity. No strings attached,” he said. “Unsolicited. No one at Town Hall applied.”
Durant added that representatives of the manufacturer, Meridia, will come to town the night of Town Meeting and walk officials through how the device will work. Select Board member Brad Morse liked the idea and said it will make voting simpler and easier for residents at Town Meeting. “No more holding up cards and taking hand counts,” he said. The board quickly approved acceptance of the donation.
When the Select Board and the Finance Committee began its review of the Town Meeting Warrant, three articles were placed on hold for further revision or discussion at a separate meeting in April.
Article 17 seeks to transfer $10,000 from free cash for the maintenance, repair and replacement of existing kitchen equipment at the Council on Aging Senior Center. The hold here is to add “qualifications” and controls on who will decide how this money is spent. The board agreed to hold off.
The other holds are for Article 19, which would transfer $250,000 from free cash to supplement the school system’s Special Education out-of-district tuition, a cost that has risen dramatically this year to $1,100,000, and Article 20, which would transfer from free cash $100,000 to establish a Special Education Fund that could be used for this type of future expense.
Resident David Eckhart argued that, because the town is expecting a state earmark of $250,000 to reimburse this cost, the town should influence how the money is spent should this amount be received. “All the financial squeezes on the town are due to squeezes from the schools,” he said. He noted with alarm that the student population has declined but school expenses are rising. The town should take control of how that earmark money is spent, he indicated.
Robin Rounseville and Katherine Duggan of the Rochester Memorial School Committee protested this suggestion, saying this money needs to go only to school Special Education. “We have 72 new students, but costs are not the same for every student. We have much greater needs. You are comparing apples and oranges,” Rounseville said.
Morse said the language could be changed for Article 19. Select Board Chair Adam Murphy recommended a meeting be scheduled to explain all the aspects of current, out-of-district, Special Education costs. Eckhart agreed to this meeting.
In other business, the board announced that long-time, Board of Assessors member Jana Cavanaugh recently passed away. In his written tribute, Durant noted, “she served with distinction as a long-time elected and Chairman of the Board of Assessors. She was also an educator at Rochester Memorial School, where she made a lasting impact on the lives of her students.”
The next meeting of the Rochester Select Board and the Finance Committee is scheduled for Wednesday, April 23 at 6:30 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.
Rochester Select Board & Finance Committee
By Michael J. DeCicco