A moratorium on marijuana retail sales, a screening fence for an RMS abutter … Voters during the Rochester Annual Town Meeting on May 22 gave approval for all 18 of the warrant’s articles, and all within an hour and a half.
Article 1 to accept the annual report of all town officers and committees passed, Article 2 to fix the salaries of the elected officials passed, and Article 3 to amend Part IV of the Classification and Compensation Plan to fix minimum and maximum amounts for employee steps also passed.
When it came to the budget, a few residents shouted out “question” to hold certain line items of the budget for further discussion, including the treasurer’s salary line items, the administrative assistant line item in town hall expenses, the fire department, communications dispatch, and the building inspector’s budget, but in the end the $20.8 million fiscal year 2018 budget passed.
One resident asked why the budget still contained a fully-funded emergency dispatch budget when the Town had already decided to regionalize its 911 dispatch system beginning this year.
Finance Committee Chairman Kristian Stoltenberg explained that the Town needed to keep a level-funded dispatch budget intact for FY2018 because there is no guarantee as to when the system will switch to regionalization, and if it even will this year, although Stoltenberg emphasized that the switch should occur sometime this summer.
”If, for some reason it doesn’t happen, in order to be on the safe side we need to fund the emergency dispatch … while it still resides in town,” Stoltenberg said. “We simply took last year’s budget and put it into this year’s, not knowing when the change takes place. Until any of this happens,” said Stoltenberg, “we need to have a funded emergency dispatch budget.”
Voters approved Article 5 to establish various revolving funds: library materials, $10,000; recycling program, $20,000; hazardous waste recovery, $10,000; Rochester Country Fair, $65,000; Local Cultural Council, $6,000; COA programs and activities, $10,000; flu and medical clinics, $25,000; tax title, $2,500; and Fire/EMS equipment, $50,000. Also passing were Article 6 to fund $300 for the planting of shellfish in Marion, Article 7 to authorize the Board of Selectmen to appropriate Chapter 90 funds from the State for road repairs, Article 8 to compensate assessors for becoming “certified” to their office, and Article 9 for $15,000 for the Town’s OPEB (other post-employment benefits) fund.
Resident Hal Rood questioned whether this amount was enough to cover the Town’s OPEB liability, and Stoltenberg told him it was not, and not by a long shot.
“Fifteen-thousand dollars is a start, it’s not an end,” Stoltenberg said. “You do what you can…. It’s a good faith attempt on this town’s part to address that we know what’s out there.”
Town Meeting approved Article 10 to put $50,000 back into the Special Education Cost Stabilization Fund, money that was used this fiscal year to cover unexpected special education costs.
Article 11 established a School Assessment Stabilization Fund to moderate annual fluctuations in costs associated with the town’s assessment based on student enrollment.
Article 12 transferred $50,000 into the newly established School Assessment Stabilization Fund, and Article 13 transferred $67,000 into the Stabilization Fund. Selectmen Chairman Brad Morse said that $67,000 was used to cover the cost of snow and ice removal for the prior fiscal year, and was now being returned after FEMA reimbursements.
Article 14 established a Special Injury Leave Indemnity Fund to appropriate funds for the payment of injury leave compensation or medical bills for injuries to firefighters or police officers in the future.
Article 15 amended the Town Bylaw to delete restrictive language to allow for more timely collection of past due taxes by withholding issuance or renewal of permits and licenses from various town departments until the taxpayer is in good standing.
The phrase “annually” was replaced by “a twelve-month period.”
The moratorium on marijuana retail sale (Article 16) passed with minimal discussion, although one resident wanted to confirm that the bylaw would not affect the private use and personal cultivation of marijuana.
Town Counsel Blair Bailey emphasized that the moratorium was only to allow the Town ample time to craft an effective zoning bylaw to restrict marijuana retail sale locations. Municipalities in the state are adopting similar moratoriums until the state can provide some legislative guidance.
Article 17 amended the bylaw regulating water withdrawal to a fine of $100 for the first violation and $300 for each additional violation. The bylaw that Town Meeting had passed last year included a fine of $500 for subsequent offenses, which the Attorney General’s Office found excessive.
Article 18 to appropriate $6,800 for a fence was the most discussed article of the evening.
Kelly Morgado, a Pine Street abutter to the Rochester Memorial School parking lot, said she was promised a screening fence long ago by the Town, and even had a letter from former Town Administrator Richard LaCamera guaranteeing Morgado a proper fence.
Stoltenberg said the Finance Committee would not support the article, believing that it was the school’s responsibility to address the matter with Morgado, and any fence should come from the school’s budget.
Other town residents took to the microphone to support Morgado, saying it was a Town project overseen by the Town; therefore, the Town should make good on its promise.
Planning Board member Ben Bailey said that if it were a private project such as a solar farm developer, one could bet that the Planning Board would have made sure proper screening was provided.
“It’s a shame that it hasn’t been done as of this date,” said resident Sean Crook. “I think we should give what’s due.”
Rochester Annual Town Meeting
By Jean Perry