Dental offices were among inaccessible services during the months of April and May, as the coronavirus pandemic had Massachusetts at a commercial standstill. As a result, insurance premiums paid by town employees could not result in access to dental care. In response, Delta Dental has issued $6,336.40 in refunds to Rochester, which splits the cost with active town employees paying for dental coverage and those on a pension plan.
The refund, according to Town Treasurer Cynthia Mello, represents 30 percent of total premiums paid for April and May.
Mello asked the Rochester Board of Selectmen during its June 24 meeting, “Should we split this as a 50/50 or let the employees take the entire refund since they are more affected by it? We have an awful lot of people on dental (insurance) so I want you to realize what that means. If we only have the 50 percent, if you had an individual plan, you would be getting $9.25, which is a two-month payment so in other words, it’s $4.50 a month that you’re being refunded – period. That doesn’t sound like an awful lot to me; when you break it down at that level it’s kind of crazy so if we so if we gave them 100 percent on an individual plan they get $18.50. That would be their refund so it doesn’t seem like much when you break it down that way. The town would be giving up, however, $3,154.56.”
The board batted the matter around and then asked Town Administrator Suzanne Szyndlar for her thoughts on the matter.
“They get no benefit (for April or May), but they have the whole year to get their benefit,” observed Szyndlar. “I will refer it to the board… My thought is the town paid half and the employee paid half. It seems it should go back the way it was paid out, but that’s just my opinion… You still can go to a dentist; it just got delayed.”
Selectman Woody Hartley said, “The townspeople paid half, they should certainly get back their half. But I don’t think it’s right for us to be giving out everyone else’s taxes to a select few. I think it should stay in the general fund.”
Board Chairman Paul Ciaburri agreed, and so it was moved and approved that the employees would receive a refund in the amount of half of what was sent back by Delta Dental.
In her Town Administrator’s Report, Szyndlar said that Rochester is in the process of submitting grant-reimbursement requests for year-end (FY20) and that all reporting requirements are due July 1.
With Town Meeting delayed by a month to June 22, there is less time, she said, for acting and treasury departments to establish new rates and benefits for employees.
The Department of Local Services allows payments of invoices and payroll no later than July 15, said Szyndlar, who plans at the next Board of Selectmen meeting to have year-end transfers ready for the members’ approval.
Town Hall remains closed to the general public, but copies of the Town Report were to become available for residents to pick up by the lockbox, weather permitting, and also by curbside pickup.
On June 29, Rochester town buildings heated by forced hot air were scheduled to become equipped with in-duct purifiers that filter out microbial contaminates, reduce airborne particulates, and kill 99 percent of molds and viruses.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, & Economic Security (CARES) Act will cover the course. “This is all part of our plan to someday get all these buildings in compliance and open up (to the public),” said Szyndlar, noting that the Fire Department’s headquarters building has baseboard heating and will not be so treated.
In other business, the board approved the Fire Department’s borrowing anticipation note for the pumper tanker. The members of the board were to sign the note at Town Hall. Mello told the board that Rochester had achieved a 0.95 for the year, a “super low rate.”
Rochester has earned recognition from the Arbor Day Foundation with notification of its Tree City USA status for 2019. Rochester is one of more than 3,600 Tree City USA communities with a combined population of 155,000,000. Szyndlar said credit needs to go out to Matt Monteiro for his work helping the town with the reporting and coordination that led to the recognition that happened in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters.
Ciaburri thanked the people who orchestrated Rochester’s Town Meeting and election day. “I think it was better than we anticipated and it went so well (I’m) very happy, I thought that was a job well done by all.”
For the month of May, Rochester received $305,017 per its trash-processing agreement with SEMASS.
Hartley said he wanted to address the water problem at Rochester crossroads but would need to wait for Selectman Brad Morse, who did not attend the meeting. The reorganization of the Board of Selectmen is also being put off until Morse can attend.
Town Counsel Blair Bailey will act as the town’s negotiator in the purchase of property adjacent to town hall that is owned by the First Congregation Church.
Hartley and Town Planner Stephen Starrett will continue to represent Rochester to SRPEDD.
The board voted to reappoint Ciaburri as its representative to the Plymouth County Advisory Board. “I would be more than happy to do it,” said Ciaburri. “I really enjoy their meetings, and it’s even better to get more information with the CARES Act. It’s very well run and very nice people to be involved with.”
Hartley requested an executive session in the next Board of Selectmen meeting to discuss negotiations with vendors, and he said he would like to begin meeting in person.
Due to the constraints of space in Town Hall, the board may hold a hybrid meeting in its next session in which the members of the board and Szyndlar will be present with safe spacing and anyone else will be able to access the meeting via Zoom. Bailey said that he and Starrett are working on hooking a computer into the conference room’s whiteboard that acts as a monitor.
Friday, July 3, is the designated work-week holiday for July 4, so the board is looking to resume its traditional schedule of meetings on the first and third Mondays of the month. The next Board of Selectmen meeting is scheduled to be held on Monday, July 6, at 6:00 pm.
Rochester Board of Selectmen
By Mick Colageo