Rochester’s Select Board Monday postponed the Special Town Meeting, previously scheduled for October 21, to January 6, 2025, because of the interim town administrator’s workload.
Suzanne Szyndlar, who is also the town’s finance director, noted that because of her dual role for the town, she hasn’t had adequate time to put to together a Town Meeting. “I’ve been behind the eight ball of late,” she said.
Cameron Durant, the human resources director for the Town of Fairhaven, was unanimously chosen last week by the Select Board after he and two other finalists conducted final interviews for the job of town administrator. As of Monday night, Durant’s contract had not yet been finalized.
The Select Board granted Szyndlar’s request to postpone the Special Town Meeting and also extended the deadline for submitting warrant articles to November 1.
“Luckily, there’s not a lot of warrant articles yet,” said Select Board Chairman Brad Morse.
Next, the board eliminated the need for one of the articles already proposed for the Special Town Meeting by using the town’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.
To build a new children’s playground at Gifford Park, the town’s Park Commission had planned to ask voters in October that the town contribute $40,940.85 to the town’s share of the $81,881.70 construction cost. The other half of that price tag will be borne by the local nonprofit Tri-Town for Protecting Children.
On Monday, the board approved spending $60,803 of the town’s ARPA funds to include the $40,940 for the playground. The rest of that money will go toward an Assessors Department mapping and imaging project ($7,500) and Police Station HVAC upgrades ($12,362).
Park Commission Chairman David Hughes thanked the board for spending ARPA funds for the playground, eliminating the need for Town Meeting action.
The board’s other important move was to officially sign the contract for new Police Chief Michael A. Assad Jr., whose contract will be valid until June 30, 2027.
“I’ve been waiting for this for a while,” Select Board member Paul Ciaburri said with a smile, as Assad shook the board members’ hands. Assad will be the full-time replacement for Robert Small, who retired as chief on June 28.
In other action, the board continued until September 9 its public hearing into plans for 29 new Eversource and Verizon utility poles in the area of 280 North Avenue and on Snipatuit Road between numbers 722 and 865, 655 and 694, 500 and 610. The Eversource representative attending the meeting said he has not yet spoken to Highway Surveyor Jeff Eldridge about the plan.
The Select Board instructed him to do so before the next meeting.
The board announced the resignation of Mary Bessey as a member of the Council on Aging and accepted the COA Board of Directors’ recommendation to appoint Johann Forand as her replacement.
The next meeting of the Rochester Select Board will be held on Monday, September 9, at 6:00 pm at the Rochester Council on Aging, 67 Dexter Lane.
Rochester Select Board
By Michael J. DeCicco