Rochester’s Select Board Monday endorsed the town’s Public Safety Building Committee’s July 8 vote to hire Catalyst Architecture, Yarmouth Port, to design plans for a new main Fire Station on Pine Street, utilizing $28,000 of unused funds from the town’s Feasibility Study account.
A Feasibility Study Committee organized last year by the Select Board looked into a potentially three-pronged upgrade to the town’s public-safety facilities consisting of a new main Fire Station, a significant renovation/expansion of the Police Department’s headquarters on Dexter Lane and if it could be funded, a Fire Department substation on the east side of town to shorten response times to a Route 28 area experiencing impact business and residential growth.
Post-COVID related cost increases, however, have forced officials to whittle these plans down to a single project, building a new fire station on the former Rochester Country Fair, Pine Street property. To that end, Rochester Select Board and Building Committee member (and Marion Harbormaster) Adam Murphy invited the same architect that designed the new Marion Harbormaster headquarters now under construction to speak to Rochester officials about providing the same service for the new Pine Street Fire Station design.
The Select Board’s vote Monday came after it met with Public Safety Building Committee members and Catalyst representative Timothy Sawyer. Sawyer said his firm will create a Phase I design and budget plan, “a much clearer vision and design and budget that you can build public interest around.”
Interim Town Administrator Suzanne Szyndlar expressed concern that this phase of the project could trigger requirements of adherence to state procurement laws, which mandates putting projects over a certain cost to go out to bid. Sawyer said this phase will not trigger that because of the amount involved. Subsequent phases will need the bidding process, he acknowledged.
The approval vote specifically motioned to allow the town to enter into an agreement with Catalyst after review of the contract by Town Counsel and authorizing Szyndlar to sign said agreement.
The Select Board also moved forward on another big project, hiring a new police chief, by setting interviews with applicants for Monday, July 22, at 2:00 pm at Town Hall.
Appearing on Zoom, Public Safety Consultants, Inc., Representative Russ Stevens reported he has given the board the assessment scores of the applicants for the chief’s position, rankings that highlight the top four candidates. He told the Select Board members that it is now up to them to interview the four candidates, or only three if they wish, with questions he has forwarded to them at a meeting where that will be the only agenda item.
The board appointed Stevens and Szyndlar to notify the candidates and arrange the appointments. Stevens cautioned that some of the applicants may be out of state and one week out might be too soon.
After the vote, Interim Police Chief Don Kemmet said he knows he is not one of the finalists, as he did not apply for the permanent chief’s position.
In other important business, Szyndlar announced the Rochester Council on Aging is now the town’s official “cooling center” for all residents during the season’s excessive heat.
Szyndlar also announced the Police Department has earned a grant to acquire low-cost car seats that it and the Fire Department will assist in installing. Details on how this program will work are still being worked out, she said.
In other action, the board continued until its next (August 18) meeting the public hearings to approve new Verizon utility poles on Snipatuit Road between 722 and 765, 655 and 694, 500 and 610 and at 280 North Avenue.
An Eversource representative stated these new poles are needed due to an upgrade to the Rochester substation. More midspan poles are needed to support heavier equipment, he said. The hearing had to be postponed because there was no representation from Verizon.
The board approved a one-day liquor license for the Friends of the Rochester COA’s “Garden Party” to be held at the Senior Center on Thursday, August 22, from 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm.
The next Rochester Select Board meeting will be held on Monday, August 19, at 6:00 pm at the Rochester Council on Aging, 67 Dexter Lane.
Rochester Select Board
By Michael J. DeCicco