After a 40-year career, Town of Rochester Health Director Karen Walega is retiring in June.
That was the big revelation to come out of Rochester’s February 7 Board of Health meeting, in which Walega advised that it was time to start the search for her replacement now. She said the panel should not wait to decide where the job should be posted, and the board agreed to start the process.
After the announcement, Walega reflected on her retirement after a four-decade career as a municipal health director and inspector.
“I was very lucky,” she said. “I loved my job. But times are changing. I’m retirement age, and after COVID the state wanted all health directors recertified. I didn’t want to go through all of that again. It is time to move on.”
Walega was the Marion-Rochester Health District director from 1989 until retiring from that position in 2020, and she has served as Rochester’s health director since then. She was previously the health inspector for the Town of Bourne from 1986 to 1989 and the health inspector for the Town of Norwood from 1983 to 1986.
In other action, Walega announced that complaints against 515 Rounseville Road are being forwarded to state Assistant Attorney General Lizabeth Marshall, who will file a receivership to speed up cleaning the property. Walega said she recently inspected the property, which consists of an abandoned house and trailer, after complaints of odor and rodents from a next-door neighbor.
“The trailer inside is still a mess,” Walega said. “The main house is in better shape, but we’re turned it over to the AG’s office. I think rodents are coming from the property. And flies. We found a fly-trap strip in the bathroom and the electricity still on in the trailer, which is a fire hazard.”
Following the meeting, Walega said the two dwellings on the property were abandoned about a year ago when the mother, who lived in the trailer, passed away, and the daughter, who lived in the main house, relocated. The brother, who now owns the property though it is also under a reverse mortgage, also now lives outside of the area.
“We’ve been after them for a while to clean it up,” Walega said. “There’s an abandoned car and there was a large boat. They did remove the boat. But an AG receivership will look at what to do with the property.”
In other business, Matt Armendo, director of Public Health for the South Coast Health Collaborative that includes Westport, Marion, Freetown, Lakeville, Mattapoisett and Rochester, reported its newest health inspector, Gabriella Almeida, is making progress with her training and her first few months on the job; she began in the position in August.
Walega reported she will soon go before the Rochester Finance Committee with requests to boost the board clerk’s hours to 18. “She needs more hours,” Walega said.
The Board of Health did not schedule a future meeting date upon adjournment.
Rochester Board of Health
By Michael J. DeCicco