This elections spells a little bit of change for Rochester, with two incumbents voted out and two new candidates elected in.

For Rochester Memorial School Committee, Jennifer Kulak was the big winner with 212 votes, followed by Meagan Bennett with 165 votes, beating out running incumbent Timothy Sholz who took in 159 votes, and Cheryl Hebert who had 127.

Board of Health incumbent Sandra Keese had 170 votes – not enough to beat William David Souza and his 185 votes.

Write-in candidate for Planning Board Lee Carr received 71 of the 93 write-in votes, turning his currently appointed seat on the Planning Board into an officially elected one.

Election volunteers were a bit rattled after 8:30 pm when one single ballot went missing. There were several painstaking recounts until the ballot was discovered in the darkest corner of the voting machine and proudly held up high by Town Clerk and Selectman Naida Parker as the others quickly put their jackets on to leave.

“We would be nothing if we weren’t thorough,” stated Parker, who maintained her uncontested position as Town Clerk, with 336 votes.

Voter turn-out was roughly 10%, with 402 out of the 4,092 registered Rochester voters exercising their right to vote on April 9.

By Jean Perry

Click here to see the complete results

The April 8 meeting of the Mattapoisett Board of Selectmen found an agenda full of upcoming summertime events and programs and the approaching Town Meeting.

Delighting all in attendance was an appointment with young Alex Craig who has spearheaded a memorial honoring Milton Silveria. Craig was back to report on his fundraising efforts. He reported a fund of $3110 to erect a plaque at Ned’s Point noting Silveria and his many accomplishments. Craig has also received a granite donation from Charles Dupont to which the bronze plaque will be affixed. He requested an appointment to meet with one or more of the selectmen to visit Ned’s Point and select the best location for the erection of the memorial. Chairman Tim Macallister will meet with Craig during school vacation week. Craig received a round of applause from all for his efforts to bring this project full circle.

Several organizations were on the agenda to receive approval for their upcoming events. They were: Healing Little Hearts Road Race scheduled for October 13; Jessica Webb with Yoga at Veterans Park June 7 through September 20 from 8:00 to 9:15 am; and the Lions Club with movies in Shipyard Park beginning at the end of June and continuing through August, Harbor Days, and the Triathlon.

Don Bamberger, King Lion, told the board that he has an opportunity to bring the World Series Trophy to Mattapoisett for a few hours during Harbor Days. Although the board felt this was a great chance for local people to see the trophy and have their picture taken with it, it also presented some challenges in terms of traffic and crowd control. It was decided that Town Administrator Mike Gagne will discuss this with Police Chief Mary Lyons, and report to the selectmen. They felt that challenge could be managed, but it required police input.

Next came John DeSousa, Chairman of the Community Preservation Committee, to review their work over the past year in bringing the committee into alignment, including the building of a master plan. He continued by sharing the list of funding requests they will present at town meeting. He noted that they received seven applications this year and will be able to fund them all either in full or in part. Those requests in order of their prioritization were: 1) repairs to town beach house; 2) bike path committee engineering needs; 3) recreation department tot lot at Center School; 4) repairs to town wharf; 5) tree warden work at Barlow Cemetery; 6) Mattapoisett Historical Society for catalog system; and 7) Buzzards Bay Coalition – Nasketucket Reservation land purchase.

DeSousa said, “We decided to take it all to town meeting and let the people decide where they want to spend the money.” The selectmen were pleased with the work of the committee and thanked them for their efforts. With the completion of this year’s funding requests, the committee will now suspend its work until next September when the cycle begins again.

Capital Planning was next to come before the board with the completion of their work leading up to Town Meeting. Chairman Chuck McCullough took them through the 2015 capital budget and their list of priorities that feature: (1) fire department’s Engine 4 repairs coming in at $15,000; (2) police utility vehicle – $35,000; (3) library window repairs – $7,000; (4) fire department Engine 2 refurbishment – $125,000; (5) new ambulance – $200,000; (6) local school combined computer infrastructure upgrades – $49,000; (7) local schools technology upgrades – $30,000; (8) Hammond Street parking – $18,500; (9) local schools playground repairs – $21,000; (10) beach raft repairs – $10,000; (11) office equipment (town hall) – $13,400; (12) road sign project – $22,000; (13) highway department building repairs – $40,000; (14) library generator – $50,000; (15) fire department station vehicle – $36,000; (16) highway department utility vehicle – $50,000; (17) new math curriculum – $49,000; and (18) new police cruiser – $32,500. Enterprise businesses will be processed independently from this group of capital needs.

Capital Planning will meet with Financial Committee on Wednesday, April 9 to review the plan in line-by-line detail and develop the final submissions for the town meeting warrant. Gagne praised the tireless work of the committee saying, “…back in October when Standard and Poor were here they were impressed with the town’s Capital Planning … having a 10-year plan … it is a credit to you and that you serve so well.”

MattSail’s prime-movers were last to meet with the selectmen. They gave a three-part presentation. First, John Mello gave an overview of the program features and the number of people served by the program annually (approximately 80 per year). Bob Goguen gave a review of their current financial and charity status highlighting the limitations of funds. And then Pat Donoghue put a fine point to it all, saying that the group hoped the town would continue support in the form of free use of the beach house. After some discussion, it was decided that MattSail would attempt to partner with the Recreation Department to determine if a full-day program between these two groups could be developed with the possibility of offering a few sailing slots to youths who otherwise would not have an opportunity to participate in the program. While there are a few scholarships available through MattSail, Gagne said there were other families who might also be served. Further conversations will ensue between the two organizations.

Gagne rounded out the evening with a very brief report saying that audio difficulties with the in-house transmissions will be reviewed with service providers to try and fix the poor quality of the audio from town hall meetings. He also said that the Tri-Town selectmen’s meeting is set for Thursday, April 10 at 7:00 pm at the media center at ORRHS. At that time, he said that the selectmen will be discussing the recent disclosure of electronic hacking and theft, what protocols might be put in place to keep all vested parties informed moving forward and how to assist with the recovery of funds still missing. “We all have to look out for each other’s back,” he said.

Spring Town Meeting is May 12, 13, and 14 (if needed) at ORRHS. The next selectmen’s meeting is April 22 at 7:00 pm.

By Marilou Newell

Shawmut Associates received swift approval for amendments made to its site plan for the Cranberry Highway trash and recycling center with little discussion required on April 8 after extensive discussions during prior meetings.

Changes include enlarging the building square-footage from 88,900 to 94,270 after enclosing all waste handling operations, and modifying the pavement limits in the area of the building expansion for traffic to travel around the building.

The board chitchatted a bit about the project status with Greg Wirsen of Green Environmental Engineering. He asked Chairman Arnold Johnson, “So, how’s the view from [Route] 495?”

Wirsen said thousands of yards of concrete have already been poured and some parts of the old structure have not yet been demolished.

Board Member Gary Florindo said he had recently visited the site himself and “it looked like a war zone.”

Needing a super-majority for the motion to pass, Wirsen took a gamble with only five members present, the sixth being the absent Michael Murphy. The motion passed, but not without Board Member Bendrix Bailey first objecting to the motion just to see what Wirsen’s face would look like.

The board also discussed the flood plain by-law amendment headed for the Annual Town Meeting warrant on May 19, but took no action on the matter.

Bailey expressed his disapproval of the FEMA flood maps, saying his own house was erroneously designated as being located within a flood zone. He specified that the FEMA map had his house marked at level with Snipatuit Pond, and he says his house is elevated 23 feet.

“The more I look into this, the more I see there are errors in the map,” said Bailey. “My house that is not in a flood plain is underwater on the FEMA map.”

Bailey said he would not vote to recommend the Town’s by-law to Town Meeting, and he vowed to oppose it on the Town Meeting floor.

“We’re really being bullied by a big government organization,” said Bailey. He said he would no longer be able to build an addition onto his house without a special permit because of the map. “Their map is wrong,” he stated. He said he would not support the by-law until FEMA corrected its maps. He also said his neighbors are affected and, quite possibly, other mistakes were made throughout the state.

After some discussion over the details of the by-law, Johnson suggested the board speak with Conservation Agent Laurell Farinon for more information.

The board continued the hearing for a request to rescind a Form C Subdivision Approval for King’s Highway until May 13 in order to straighten out a discrepancy between the assessor’s information and the plan previously approved by the board back in 2006.

The applicant’s representative said two existing buildings stand on one lot, according to the assessor; however, the chairman said the assessor was wrong and the plan reflects the two buildings each stand on two separate lots.

“We can only go by what we have approved,” said Johnson. “As far as this board is concerned, it’s sitting on two separate lots.”

In other business, the board talked about the Limited Commercial District amendment, although Johnson stated that the matter would not make it in time for either of the May 19 town meetings.

By the end of the discussion, board members agreed that language within the by-law should be changed to reflect the removal of the height restriction for buildings in order to address the plans on a case-by-case basis.

Johnson said it would be best to grant permits based on how the building would harmonize with other buildings in the area and keep with the character of the neighborhood.

The board also received a letter from the attorney general’s office informing the Town that a 2011 by-law passed by Town Meeting was rejected because of a clerical error in the delivery of notification for a hearing. The by-law pertained to the “sunset provision” for building plans.

According to Johnson, a letter requesting further information about the Town’s by-law was sent to Town Clerk and Selectman Naida Parker but was never passed along or followed through.

Johnson said, with the by-law, the Town was just trying to align itself with the new regulations of the State, doing away with the two-year expiration on building plans that were never developed.

“You know what?” said Johnson. “To heck with them.”

The next Rochester Planning Board meeting is scheduled for April 22 at 7:00 pm at Town Hall.

By Jean Perry