What is the job of a police matron, you may be asking right now.
Matrons are on-call female employees whose responsibility is to supervise female prisoners, and assist with other procedures such as the patting down and searching of the body of a female in police custody.
As per the request of Police Chief Paul Magee, selectmen appointed Ashley Daniel and Kelly Massey as matrons to the Police Department on March 17, the only two applicants for the two openings.
Daniel is currently a part time dispatcher for the department, and Massey is an animal control officer for the Town of Mattapoisett.
Chief Magee described the position as “very, very part time,” and the two women will only be called when a female is taken into custody. The two new employees will attend training for the position later this month.
In other matters, Selectman Richard Nunes motioned to hold a joint meeting of the three Tri-Town Boards of Selectmen, the Finance Committees, and the ORR School Committee to discuss the recently disclosed cyber hacking, which led to the theft of over $100,000.
A date was not scheduled, but Parker said she would provide some possible dates for the other towns to consider. The vote to hold the meeting was unanimous.
Also during the brief meeting, there was some good news and some bad news.
Town Administrator Richard LaCamera began with the bad news, telling selectmen that the snow and ice removal budget is now at a $40,000 deficit as of today.
“I thought it might have been a little worse than that,” said LaCamera. “Hopefully it stops snowing soon,” he added, while Selectman Naida Parker crossed her fingers.
LaCamera then knocked on wood.
Unfortunately, reported LaCamera, the Town will not be receiving as much Chapter 70 money from the state this year to supplement the school budget.
LaCamera said they were all disappointed — they were hoping for more money this year in reimbursements. Alas, the house and the senate have already voted unanimously to accept the state aid numbers and, as Parker pointed out, “They’re not gonna back down” when it comes to the governor signing the budget.
Keeping with budget talks, selectmen were glad to hear that the ORR School Committee approved their FY15 budget, acquiescing to Rochester’s requested number for their assessment for the junior and high school. LaCamera added that Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School also approved their budget, keeping with the assessment Rochester was hoping for.
There was more good news for selectmen during the meeting, and LaCamera called it “absolutely amazing” that, for a third year in a row, health insurance rates for town employees is not going up at all, despite the three-percent “Obamacare” increase.
“They’ve (Mayflower Municipal Health Group) managed to absorb that,” said LaCamera.
NSTAR sent selectmen a memorandum announcing that workers will be spraying herbicides along the high-tension wires as part of their “Five Year Vegetation Management Plan.”
Nunes got excited about killing off poison ivy, while Parker exercised more caution toward the matter.
“As long as it doesn’t adversely affect anyone’s wells,” said Parker.
The next Board of Selectmen meeting is March 24 at 6:30 pm at Town Hall.
By Jean Perry
