Rochester is approaching the day when it will completely switch over its 911 emergency dispatch service to a regional service based in Duxbury, and on April 2 Town Administrator Suzanne Szyndlar told the Rochester Board of Selectmen that date could be as soon as May 15.

All infrastructure upgrades such as repeaters, transmitters, and generators have been installed, and training for Rochester’s emergency responders, as well as a tour of the Regional Old Colony Communications Center (ROCCC) headquarters in Duxbury, is imminent. ROCCC staff has already spent some time accompanying police in their cruisers to learn the “unique points of Rochester,” Szyndlar said, “to get everybody communicating and learning what the town is all about. So that should work out well.”

The $1.6 million grant provided by the Massachusetts State 911 department covered the costs of the infrastructure upgrades in Rochester, as well as some upgrades to the ROCCC headquarters, which includes new consoles on the dispatch floor, a renovation and redesign project, and a number of other equipment upgrades.

Selectmen first announced the possibility of switching to the regionalized service during a public forum event back in December of 2016. Residents and some emergency personnel were hesitant to make the switch, but the fire and police chiefs both supported the change, with Police Chief Paul Magee citing better technology and an overall benefit to the residents.

Rochester’s emergency dispatch will go dark once the ROCCC takes command of the service, but residents should not worry about the quality of the service despite the distance. During that public forum on December 13, 2016, Duxbury Fire Chief Kevin Nord said, “Regional centers are much better prepared for that because there’s multiple people in the room.”

For every call that comes in, two dispatchers respond – one to give immediate instructional support and the other to dispatch help, Nord said. As far as distance is concerned, technology is advanced enough to pinpoint the locations of callers – either at home or on their cell phones – using “NextGen 911,” a fusion between Google Maps and the Town’s GIS system. Houses will appear on the map with house numbers listed on the roofs, and cell phone pinpoint technology allows the dispatcher to find a caller anywhere they are and also follow their position until help finds them. The technology is better, and the service costs less to operate, saving significant taxpayer money.

During the feasibility study the ROCCC conducted, they found painfully outdated equipment, even some portable police radios that barely worked.

The May 15 date is a tentative date at this time, and service may take until June 5 to ultimately get online and operating.

In other matters, Szyndlar said Police Chief Magee will be looking into a safety improvement study for the intersection of Mary’s Pond Road and Walnut Plain Road. The Southeastern Regional Planning & Economic Development District (SRPEDD) will conduct the evaluation funded under the community technical assistance program, provided by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

Szyndlar also said the Finance Committee has approved all but four of the Town’s department budgets ahead of the May 21 Annual Town Meeting. The Town Clerk’s Office is being held after a request for a $2,000 increase, the library was put on hold after a $9,317 increase request, and the Park Department was held until further information on its budget could be received. The Board of Assessors budget, which is looking for a 6% increase of $11,716, was briefly discussed, with Selectmen Greenwood Hartley and Brad Morse expressing a bit of confusion, since the budget increase was accompanied by the Board of Assessors’ expressed interest in not renewing the three-year contract selectmen already signed last year with Principal Assessor Charles Shea. Instead, the Board of Assessors wants to sign a one-year contract.

“I just question how,” said Selectmen Chairman Brad Morse. “We signed a [three-year contract] with an individual (last year). We did not sign a contract with the Board of Assessors.” Morse continued, “They can’t just wave a flag and make it null and void.”

Szyndlar had already forwarded the matter to Town Counsel Blair Bailey to review and advise the board on how to proceed.

“They will explain at one point how this benefits…?” said Hartley. “There must be an endgame to this…. As long as it doesn’t affect the bottom line of their department [budget], it doesn’t bother me.”

Szyndlar passed around a summary prepared by the Board of Assessors comparing Rochester with Marion and Mattapoisett and their BOA budgets and costs to assess property, along with pertinent information on staffing and property value.

“The thing that jumps out to me,” said Hartley, “is the total budget for Mattapoisett and Rochester is almost identical (to Rochester), and Mattapoisett has thirty-percent more homes to assess … and they do it for less money than we’re doing, so this is interesting data.”

“[And] with less staff,” Morse added.

“And a lot less money,” said Hartley.

The board will wait to hear back from Bailey before further consideration, and expects to hold another joint meeting with the Finance Committee once budgets are settled in order to review the Town Meeting warrant articles and make recommendations.

The next meeting of the Rochester Board of Selectmen is scheduled for April 23 at 7:00 pm at the Rochester Town Hall, but a meeting for April 16 will be scheduled should any pressing matters arise.

Rochester Board of Selectmen

By Jean Perry

Spring Street, formerly known as Phase 4 of Marion’s Village Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan, was bumped up to be the next phase the town will tackle, putting Spring Street ahead of Main Street, formerly the very next phase of the plan.

Jennifer Francis, on behalf of the Planning Board’s Transportation and Circulation Task Force, asked the Marion Board of Selectmen on April 3 to consider revising the scheduled order of the village infrastructure plan in order to put to good use some grant money Francis says the Planning Board intends to pursue stemming from that board’s progress towards acceptance into the MassDOT Highway’s Complete Streets Funding Program.

With up to $400,000 in grant money, the plan for Spring Street is to install a “multi-use” path with a section of road carved out from the wider road of Spring Street, connecting Tabor Academy with Sippican School and the library, and eventually possibly all the way to the bike path slated for the other side of Route 6.

“There’s room to have a multi-use path,” said Francis, adding that it wouldn’t interfere with traffic or with parking. “[There are] a number of benefits that would make this project, I think, really attractive for the town.”

Francis proposed combining the Spring Street project with the Town’s existing infrastructure plan for the village, which could include further funding of up to $1 million at some point when the town is once again eligible for that particular grant after having received it three years ago.

“In addition to ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) related opportunities, we think that we can put a lot of money from a lot of different sources together to make this project work,” Francis said. “We think this project would benefit pretty much the entire town…. People would really enjoy it.”

Francis said this would be the first major transportation project resulting from the Town’s new Master Plan.

Board of Selectmen Chairman Jody Dickerson voiced some concern over further putting off Main Street, but he understood that the timing of the proposal would make sense.

Both selectmen approved the request.

In other matters, Town Administrator Paul Dawson said the Town would be submitting a proposal for a grant for $191,650 to establish a stormwater monitoring program, a regional effort with other area towns in the Buzzards Bay region.

The Town would have to locate all stormwater outfalls into the bay and conduct sampling tests to monitor water quality.

“We think we have a pretty comprehensive and good application here, and we’re hopeful that we’ll be invited into the next step,” Dawson said.

Dawson also reported that the FY19 budget would have to be adjusted to accommodate a $41,400 shortfall in the estimated payment on a new fire truck the Town purchased three years ago.

Dawson said the initial estimate in the budget was $31,000, but just that afternoon the real number came in: $75,500.

Dawson recommended simply adjusting the budget since the loan was a debt exclusion. Spreading the difference out another ten years to cover the discrepancy was less feasible than altering the budget to absorb the cost.

“It’s a simple fix,” Dawson said, before the selectmen voted to approve his request.

Also during the meeting, resident Sherman Briggs asked Dawson and the selectmen about construction debris that over time was allegedly illegally dumped at the transfer station on Benson Brook Road, a topic that had come up in past Carver, Marion, Wareham Regional Refuse Disposal District committee meetings and brought up this night during Dawson’s CMWRRDD update.

Briggs asked who owned that particular part of Benson Brook, and Dawson confirmed that it was the Town of Marion. Briggs then asked how much it would take to clean up the debris, and Dawson said he did not yet know.

“We’re just beginning to scratch the surface to that,” Dawson stated.

When Dawson again referred to the dumping as “illegal dumping,” Briggs argued that the dumping was not illegal, but allowed by the Town. Briggs said all the debris dumped at that site originated from various Town projects, including the Converse Road project and various water and sewer projects over ten years.

“That’s where it all came from,” said Briggs, “and those spoils were up to the contractor to own and dispose of,” Briggs continued. “We didn’t make a very good decision to take those spoils … and now take thousands of dollars to clean it up.”

Briggs suggested some transparency, adding, “The taxpayers are gonna have to pay for that. That’s transparency.”

In a follow-up after the meeting, Briggs claimed that the Town had actually received an estimate on the cost to clean up the contractor waste – for $115,000 – despite Dawson’s denial. Briggs asserted that contractors were “allowed” to dump the waste there, even though the waste disposal was part of the project bid.

During the meeting Briggs also asked the selectmen, who are also the Water Commissioners, what was happening with the Town’s water at Perry Hill. Dickerson said he wasn’t aware of any issues, and Briggs suggested the board look into any rumors about issues with the water and then bring it back in two weeks for discussion.

The next meeting of the Marion Board of Selectmen is scheduled for April 17 at 7:00 pm at the Marion Town House.

Marion Board of Selectmen

By Jean Perry

The Rochester Memorial School budget for fiscal year 2019 was approved during the March 29 meeting of the Rochester School Committee after a brief presentation by Superintendent Doug White and Business Administrator Patrick Spencer.

The budget was up this year by $180,000, or 2.96%, totaling $6,256,108.

“I think this budget provides the support necessary to continue the wonderful education for our students in Rochester,” said White. “I think as you go through this, you will see we’ve made some significant gains … to provide that quality education to our students.”

The budget, said White, supports the school’s developing technology needs, as well as evolving security needs, while maintaining optimum class sizes.

Driving the budget this year are various increases and decreases in different areas of the budget in staffing, regular education, and special education.

Staffing will see an $86,000 increase with contractual obligations, and some staff has been shifted and realigned according to student needs.

Also, said White, “Our grants for kindergarten are not as hefty as they once were, so we need to pick up some of those costs within our local budgets,” to the tune of a $66,000 increase.

“We’ve done a great job of offsetting some of the costs,” said White, not only in decreased utility costs, but also through the rental of space to outside entities. Furthermore, White said outsourcing custodial services will also save the district an additional $35,000.

Overall, by shifting staff within the school, the district was able to cut back $124,000.

Special education increased by $47,000 and regular education by $132,725.

The RMS student population has hovered between 450 and 475 students over the past several years with the exception of one year when student population reached 515. As of now, it stands at 507.

“We see a trend down a little bit, but we also know there’s growth in town and those numbers may continue to increase … which is the trend around the state,” White said.

The next meeting of the Rochester School Committee is scheduled for May 10 at 6:30 pm at the Rochester Town Hall.

Rochester School Committee

By Jean Perry