Board of Selectmen Chairman Paul Ciaburri recognizes the need for the Town of Rochester to modernize so it can preserve its past.
Ciaburri, whose term expires in 2021, was voted during the board’s September 21 hybrid meeting as the Selectmen’s representative to the MBTA Advisory Board. He is also in his 33rd year as Emergency Management director for the town and suggested a process to replace him begin. He has never been paid but has always volunteered to handle the job. “I’m no spring chicken,” he said.
Town Counsel Blair Bailey said that the job is absorbed in many towns by the fire or police chief. Vice Chairman Brad Morse asked Ciaburri to write down a description of the job and said, “It should absolutely be tied to another (job).”
Town Administrator Suzanne Szyndlar noted that the contract of Police Chief Robert Small will expire in June 2021.
One of Ciaburri’s concerns moving forward is the preservation of archives and documents and said he would like to see the town put $3,500 “back to into putting our ancient documents into these books so they won’t get lost… Some of the old ones are deteriorating and eventually we’re not going to have them.”
Bailey noted that in New Bedford the clerk’s office does both, making a digitized copy searchable online and also a safe hard-copy archive funded by grant money. Ciaburri suggests Rochester can archive “a little at a time and keep doing it until we’re caught up.”
Both Morse and Selectman Woody Hartley said that documents at the Annex building are not archived, and all boards contribute to the challenge.
“It’s come to a head with another problem… we’re slowly losing our institutional memory (people) so documents become more important,” said Bailey.
The Board of Selectmen addressed its goals as part of Monday’s agenda.
Hartley was pleased to note the professional codification of Rochester’s bylaws with an outside consultant. Bailey said that the zoning bylaws should be online soon. Hartley also hopes for a preliminary planning meeting on public safety. Morse agreed, and stressed the need to continue building up stabilization funds “so we’re ready for dealing with these things like COVID and who knows what else.”
Szyndlar reiterated the need to put some seed money in the town’s stabilization fund.
“We’re financing our own town, that’s a good thing,” said Hartley. “Better to do it this way,” agreed Morse. “Continue to set policy to meet the needs of the taxpayers, that’s our job as selectmen.”
Bailey cited the completion of the codification “so we know where we are with the bylaws” and discussed buildings, planning ahead for the Annex, and for fire and police. “Looking further down the road, we know we need a fire station,” he said.
Ciaburri reported that Rochester received a $2,700 grant from Mass. Emergency, an increase from $2,400 last year. The town is using the money to purchase a 6×10-foot box trailer to use for a dispensing site, be it a vaccine in a drive-through program. Ciaburri said the trailer will free up storage space at the Senior Center. A contract is due October 30.
In her Town Administrator’s Report, Szyndlar told the Board of Selectmen that Rochester is in Phase 4 of the CARES Act, the state reimbursement program for non-budgeted, pandemic-related expenditures. The Phase 4 reporting deadline was extended from October 1 to October 30.
“Schools are just getting open, there’s still a lot that needs to be done,” said Szyndlar, who referenced a new form that tells what towns can expect by October 30 and also by December 30. It is designed so that the state can reallocate CARES Act funds to more needy municipalities as necessary. The recovery process for any town is not on overnight delivery.
“I submitted for reimbursement in July, have not received it yet,” reported Szyndlar. She said the state had received 75 percent of its reports, has covered approximately 30 percent of them and has hired extra staff to help expedite the process. “It’s tedious… they question everything,” said Szyndlar, who was happy to note that the state responded positively Rochester answers. “They said everything’s good… Hopefully, we’ll get out first round (of reimbursements) soon.”
Rochester’s free cash coffers are certified normally around $1,100,000 or $1,200,000 and approximately $500,000 is put back into the town’s operating budget. This year Rochester is receiving $1,687,000. Szyndlar called the amount “a one-shot deal, not a pattern,” saying that free cash should be used to improve the town’s stabilization fund or for capital items not covered by the budget. “If we go to build a fire station, we’ll be in good shape with that bond rating,” she said.
Individual departments met their deadline last week to submit articles for the warrant for the Special Town Meeting scheduled for Monday, November 16. According to Szyndlar, there was little in the way of the draft. requests, including three from the Highway Department.
Szyndlar plans to meet with the Capital Planning Committee for its review of the departments’ first request. The Finance Committee will also review the first request.
On Monday, October 19, department heads will meet, the week following the town will post notice of the Special Town Meeting, and the Board of Selectmen will sign the warrant on October 19. “So (until then) we only have one (Board of Selectmen) meeting (Monday, October 6)… the timeclock is ticking,” said Szyndlar.
Szyndlar reported a pandemic-related delay with the state’s Department of Public Utilities where it concerns Rochester’s municipal aggregation plan that achieves lower electricity rates for the residents. The town sent letters to the DPU as well as the state Representative William Strauss and state Senator Michael Rodrigues, and both responded. The plan, originally scheduled for April 28, needs DPU approval. Szyndlar said the state anticipates holding public hearings in the fall.
Rochester has signed off on Right of Entry for repairs and upgrades that the Massachusetts Department of Transportation needs to perform on land owned in common by the tri-towns aka the “Herring Run Project” at the corner of River Road and Fairhaven Road in Mattapoisett.
Bailey explained that the parcel is a piece of land that belonged to Fairhaven, located off of Route 6 at a bridge near the end of Mattapoisett’s annual boat race. Fairhaven is no longer using the land, and Szyndlar was authorized by the selectmen to sign on behalf of Rochester for the sidewalk work that the DOT needs to do there.
Except for Morse, who abstained due to conflict, the selectmen signed the Connet Woods road acceptance.
The SEMASS Resource Recovery Facility (waste to energy) pilot payment to host town Rochester for August 2020 was $313,589.
The Rochester Democratic Committee’s request for the appointment of nine poll workers was approved.
The Park and Recreation Department’s Revolving Fund requested $10,000 to supplement its budget, primarily for irrigation.
In other business, Hartley addressed “tree trimming going on all over town” and said residents have questions as to whether the wood on their properties will be retrieved. Bailey said the work is being done by contractors for electric utilities and suggested calls to Eversource.
Hartley also said he was happy to see kids back in school, calling the 2020-21 year “much better organized.” Bailey noted the coordination with Fire and Police improving traffic patterns.
The next meeting of the Board of Selectmen is scheduled for Monday, October 6.
Rochester Board of Selectmen
By Mick Colageo