The Rochester Board of Selectmen on July 10 authorized Town Administrator Suzanne Szyndlar to research a solar energy generating facility option for the capped landfill on High Street.
“We’re very limited in our income,” noted Selectman Greenwood Hartley. “A lot of different communities have utilized spaces that they have, and nothing can happen on a landfill except for that.”
It would not be a large energy production facility like SEMASS, Hartley specified.
“There is a possibility it could help pay for some of our electric bills,” said Hartley. “We do use quite a bit of electricity.”
Hartley said he finds the landfill an ideal location for a solar, since the site is not visible to residents for the most part.
Hartley emphasized that there would be public hearings before any such project is approved.
The board agreed that allowing Szyndlar to research what other municipalities in Massachusetts have done with solar farms atop capped landfills would be a step in the right direction.
“[It could] generate a little income, at least more like reduce the cost of power usage,” said Hartley, “and perhaps some savings.”
Also during the meeting, selectmen approved Matthew Monteiro’s request to renew the Town’s status as a Tree City USA, and also granted Monteiro permission to plan an Arbor Day ceremony at the Dexter Lane Ball Fields by the Town’s newly acquired ginkgo biloba tree, the one donated to the town by former Town Administrator Michael McCue.
McCue donated the ginkgo, which is a seedling cultivated from the seed of a 250-year-old ginkgo that survived the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima.
The October 6 ceremony will also commemorate the bombing of Hiroshima, as well as Arbor Day. A time has yet to be announced.
“I thought that would be a nice day to have a small ceremony around the tree,” said Monteiro. “Not just to honor Arbor Day, but also to honor the death of so many people.”
Monteiro also received the board’s blessing to attend various educational courses to assist the Town in achieving a Tree City USA Growth Award, which recognizes a higher level of tree care within a Tree City USA-designated municipality.
Monteiro said his goal is to see the Town receive this award for a cumulative total of ten years, making Rochester a Sterling Tree City USA, of which currently there are only four in the state.
“It’s good that we’re involved in this and we educate people on how important it is,” said Selectman Naida Parker.
In other matters, Water Commissioner Fred Underhill approached the board with a proposal to allow the Town of Middleboro to extend its water supply main to the Annie Maxim House, an assisted living community for senior citizens located at 706 North Avenue in Rochester.
Underhill said he and Rochester’s former town administrator had attended meetings with Middleboro officials and trustees of the Annie Maxim House, saying, “They all seemed to be positive toward the the proposal.”
The Town of Rochester could benefit from the extension in the future as an ancillary source of public water should Middleboro ever be granted a permit from the state to increase its water withdrawal volume.
After those initial meetings, however, Underhill said Middleboro had seen several town administrators come and go, and a water superintendent turnover also led to a stall in the process.
“And the thing just kind of sat,” Underhill said.
Recently, though, the team met with Representative William Straus and managed to get the project running again.
“It appears positive at this point,” said Underhill.
Rochester would likely request a new fire hydrant be installed near the road, at a cost to the Town, but Rochester would not be contributing to the actual water main extension.
Middleboro and Rochester will formulate an inter-municipal agreement, and Middleboro Town Meeting voters would approve the extension.
“We think in the long run this is a plus for us,” said Underhill.
In other business, Szyndlar said municipalities in Massachusetts have requested from the state a cumulative $45 million in grant money, the same grant monies the Town of Rochester has applied for to cover the costs of regionalizing its 911 dispatch service.
The problem is, Szyndlar pointed out, there is only $12 million available in the pot.
Officials from the Duxbury regionalized 911 dispatch center have asked the Town to prioritize its roughly $2 million list of infrastructure upgrades and associated costs to the 911 regionalization transition the Town initially requested the state fund through a grant.
Szyndlar met with emergency response officials and decided to place a number of portable radios for the fire and police departments lower on the priority list – items that are wanted, but not required for the regionalization transition.
“Basically, we could still run without them, but we really need the stuff that we need to make this happen,” said Szyndlar. “If that doesn’t get approved with funding,” added Szyndlar, “I’m going to recommend to the Town adding that to the Capital Plan…”
The next meeting of the Rochester Board of Selectmen is scheduled for July 24 at 6:30 pm at the Rochester Town Hall.
By Jean Perry