The Rochester Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, April 19, rescheduled its Annual Town Meeting due to a scheduling conflict with Town Counsel Blair Bailey.
Bailey requested that the selectmen move the scheduled date from June 6 to the following Monday, June 13, which selectmen were willing to do, pending availability of the Rochester Memorial School cafetorium and the availability of Town Moderator Kirby Gilmore. They will vote at the next selectmen’s meeting next week.
Also during the meeting, Selectmen Chairman Naida Parker brought up the new Old Rochester Regional High School Bulldogs signs that have popped up at the entrances to the town over the past week, wondering how the signs could simply go up without going through the proper sign bylaw process.
Parker said before Highway Surveyor Jeff Eldridge installs signs like this, the sponsor of the sign should apply and request approval before putting them up.
“It’s not that I don’t like them. I don’t have a problem with them,” said Parker. “But if we do not follow the bylaws … if we follow the bylaws selectively … and we turn around and look the other way without following the process … how do we hold someone to following the rules if we ourselves don’t follow the rules?”
Selectman Richard Nunes said the sign made him do a double take.
“Me, too,” said Selectman Brad Morse.
Signs must meet certain criteria before being allowed to be installed, and selectmen received no notice of the signs before they were put up.
“There was no request, no description of the sign,” said Nunes.
“Nothing,” agreed Parker. “We all just discovered it as we drove down the road.”
Selectmen agreed that it would not make sense to ask Eldridge to take down the signs in the meantime, but the sponsor of the sign, whether it be ORR or a state entity, must file the proper application.
“It’s a technicality,” said Morse. “Let’s just get it done right.”
In other matters, Morse stressed the urgency of posting an advertisement for a new town administrator as soon as possible, and the board agreed to authorize resigning Town Administrator Michael McCue to post the advertisement in all the appropriate locations.
Also during the meeting, the board appointed Police Chief Paul Magee’s selection for part-time police officer after a brief introduction to the board.
Scott Smith of Plymouth will fill one of the part-time officer positions left vacant when two part-timers recently advanced to fill full-time positions.
Smith is a retired officer of the MBTA with 26 years of experience in the position.
“He’s got a really good, well-suited background for the Police Department,” said Magee. “I think he’s going to be a real asset.
In other news, Nunes brought up the town’s EMS Department and requested to look further into the expenses the town accrues on an annual basis since it first began in fiscal year 2014.
Parker and Morse disagreed with Nunes’ interpretation of the numbers and seemed apprehensive about investigating other privatized EMS services to serve the town, such as one in particular out of Dartmouth, which Nunes requested.
“I just simply want to see from this company what proposal they would make as far as costs, as far as response time…” said Nunes. “I’m just looking for options.”
It doesn’t hurt to ask, said Parker; however, she added, “My concern is that we are a small town … I don’t want that response time to be a half-hour until they can get an ambulance out here.” She said the town would still need to maintain a basic local service that would still be a cost to the town.
Morse, having emergency response experience himself, said, “The towns that switched to privatized ambulances wished they didn’t. We have a system that’s working really well.” He said he was uncomfortable discussing the EMS Department without the fire chief present to defend the numbers and the town’s EMS services.
Selectmen agreed to place the fire chief on the agenda to discuss the matter, and Nunes requested that he have a spreadsheet available for review that will give the board an idea of how many and what types of incidents occur on a monthly basis, including how many paid EMS workers arrive at the scene. Nunes was concerned about the caliber of incidents and the number of workers present, which collect a four-hour pay minimum, he said.
The next meeting of the Rochester Board of Selectmen is scheduled for Monday, April 25 at 6:30 pm at the Rochester Town Hall.
By Jean Perry