Weeks of delays in achieving quorums necessary to hold a joint meeting of the Mattapoisett Select Board and Mattapoisett Board of Health ended when, on October 30, the boards came together. They met to ostensively make a final decision on who would temporarily fill the vacant seat on the Board of Health. A seat became vacant when Alexandra Nicolosi was compelled to resign due to her relocation to another town.

            As has been the custom, when an elected seat of this board is vacated, the Select Board makes a temporary appointment after conferring with the remaining members of the Board of Health and accepting letters of interest from the public.

            When the boards attempted to meet, the Board of Health failed to produce a quorum. There was some discussion about Douglas Schneider and Kathleen Eckland, the two residents who had expressed written interest in temporarily filling the seat.

            Long-time Board of Health member and Chairman Carmello Nicolosi declined voting on a replacement and instead said, “take it to the ballot.” He said he wanted to have the slot voted on rather than a temporary appointment being made.

            Board of Health member Michelle Bernier wanted to discuss the choices, but Select Board Chairman Tyler McAllister said that was not the point of the meeting; that discussion had previously taken place, and they were moving on to pick between Eckland and Schneider. Bernier said that discussion had not taken place. But with Nicolosi declining to vote, opting instead to put it on a ballot, an impasse ensued.

            In a follow-up with Town Administrator Mike Lorenco, he said that the Select Board could call for a special election, but that no decision had been made.

Mattapoisett Select Board

Mattapoisett Board of Health

By Marilou Newell

            The former Country Fair Grounds on Pine Street became the focus of two important issues at the Rochester Select Board meeting on Monday.

            Town Administrator Cameron Durant gave the Finance Committee an update on the plans for the new fire station proposed for 65 Pine Street that included news of an approximate $1,000,000 projected cost reduction. He said a cost estimate of $20,500,000 in the initial design rendering stage has been shaved down to $19,500,000 by eliminating parts of the design.

            An elevator has been deleted from the plan on the assumption fire fighters physically fit to rescue fire victims will not need ADA compatibility per state exemption. The cost to purchase the equipment the current station already has, such as washers suitable for cleaning and detoxifying turnout gear, has also been eliminated. More savings will be realized by downgrading from curbing to Cape Cod berm.

            Durant added, however, that additional engineering costs will come in the next step of the plan, the formal design phase. The next step will be the Public Safety Building Committee holding public hearings on the design, he said. The public’s input will be pulled into the final proposal that will go to a spring or fall Town Meeting. There, residents will be asked to approve funds for a formal design contractor.

            Finance Committee members’ questions focused on where more savings could be found. One FinCom member asked if solar panels could be part of the design. Select Board Chair Adam Murphy said the town does not have all the design and engineering details. That is for the next step, Murphy said. Another FinCom member asked if the costs for equipment and furniture are part the estimate. Murphy said all soft costs are built in.

            Also that evening, Durant announced New England Rodeo wants a license to continue its use of the former 18.6-acre Country Fair grounds at 65 Pine Street in 2026. He said the rodeos that the Pine Street property hosted from June to October of this year were very successful. The town earned a revenue of $41,000 from the events this year. New England Rodeo wants to hold more rodeos than last year, Durant said. In 2025, the company held an average of two events per month. He said he is negotiating a new licensing agreement with the organization and will bring the results of that to a public hearing before there is formal approval.

            The board’s next big agenda item was hearing an update from Old Colony Regional Vocational-Technical High School officials on the $288,900,000 plan to construct a new state-of-the-art facility on the North Avenue campus that could require a debt exclusion override to fund. Murphy asked for more data on how a new school will add to Old Colony’s operational costs and the town’s part of the Old Colony budget. Old Colony representatives answered it will cost the five-member district (Acushnet, Carver, Lakeville, Mattapoisett, and Rochester) $5,000,000 more between now and 2033. School Business Manager Sarah Griffith was quick to add that a lot of assumptions are being made with these calculations projected into a long-range future.

            The Massachusetts School Building Authority’s reimbursement for the new school’s price tag is projected to be $129,000,000. But the share of the remaining costs among district members is approximately $160,000,000, to be assessed according to each town’s annual student enrollment. As a result, in Rochester, two warrants will be up for a vote at the November 18 Special Town Election that will also be held on a district-wide basis. One warrant will ask all district voters to approve the new building plan. The other will be the town’s question seeking approval of a debt-exclusion override to fund its share of the new construction.

            In other action, the board appointed Daniel Girard as a new full-time Rochester Police Department patrol officer, as recommended by Police Chief Michael Assad, Jr. “I had the distinct honor of directly supervising then-Detective Girard during my previous tenure as detective sergeant with the Mashpee Police Department, and I can personally attest to his professionalism, integrity and unwavering commitment to excellence,” Assad said when introducing Girard to the board.

            The board approved a new Verizon New England utility pole on the west side of Vaughn Hill Road.

            The board designated grant writer Marcia Kessler as a special employee for the town; she is also on the Board of Assessors.

            The board approved the new road name: Arrowhead Lane (off County Road).

            The next meeting of the Rochester Select Board is scheduled for Monday, November 17 at 6:00 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.

Rochester Select Board

By Michael J. DeCicco