Rochester’s Capital Planning Committee on December 27 recommended all but two of the seven proposed capital improvement fund requests on the January 27 Special Town Meeting warrant.
Committee chair David Arancio began the meeting by noting these recommendations are needed in time for the Board of Selectmen’s meeting on December 30. Committee members Barry Patriko and Rick Monroe hesitated to lend their endorsement votes to the two proposals being advanced by the Police Department. The warrant asks for $120,000 for new, safer sliding cell room doors and $175,000 to renovate the station’s second floor to create additional, needed office, meeting, and storage space. To both spending articles, the two men said they want to see what’s there now first.
Patriko said he wanted first to see the condition of the current cell doors, which open swing open rather than slide open, to see if the expense is necessary. “I’d like to see the cells myself,” he said. “I don’t feel comfortable at this point.” He asked if the cell room wall could be retrofitted as a less expensive option. Facilities Manager Andrew Daniels said the station will need to remove the entire wall to install totally new doors.
Town administrator Cameron Durant noted Rochester’s cell doors swing into the room. Someone seated on the bench to the back of the cell could barricade the door shut with his or her feet or a prisoner could be injured by the way the door moves. Litigation against the town has already resulted from the way the doors are designed, he said. “Foremost, it’s needed for safety, of the public and the officers,” he said. “The second reason is professional accreditation that will earn us grants. The current door design is not up to standards. Not at best practices.”
Daniels added the sliding doors will allow the Rochester police to keep a person jailed longer. “To put this off would be more expensive later,” he said. Arancio said he disagreed with Patriko’s and Monroe’s stance on the issue. “This is a necessary evil,” he said. “What’s to be gained by delaying this? It’s been identified as a problem year after year as a top concern, and we are talking public safety.”
Daniels defended the plan to renovate the second floor of the police station as necessary because the facility’s basement is being over-utilized and has water issues. It houses the computer system server, the armory and records. The renovation would allow most of this to move out of the basement. Plus, the officers need more office and interrogation room space that this renovation would provide. The objective is to expand the under-utilized second floor to a habitable space consisting of office, climate control storage, and officer or patrolman desks and workspace and utilize the Facilities Manager as the general contractor.
Ultimately, the board’s vote on both items was No Action but also an appointment to visit the station. Daniels agreed to meet Patriko and Monroe at the station on December 31 at 9:00 am.
The committee then moved more swiftly to approve the warrant’s five other capital items. The Plumb Library requests $3,225 for the town’s share to purchase a new state-of-the-art library book depository with a hydraulic lift; the Friends of the Library donated 50 percent of the $6,500 cost for this item. Durant explained the floor of this new depository will rise up, so the book spines won’t break as they do now when they are dropped to the floor of the current box. The committee approved this item but noted it will be funded through free cash.
Also from available funds, the Council On Aging seeks $30,000 to install new commercial grade kitchen flooring and replace the in-floor grease trap at the senior center. Daniels noted the current grease trap has rotted out from years of use and the current kitchen tile is warping and needs to be replaced by more durable materials, a slip-resistant epoxy of the same kind in the senior center rest room. Durant noted the kitchen’s daily breakfasts raise money for the COA.
The Highway Departments seeks $100,000 to replace the 1999 Highway Department sander truck with a used model that Highway Surveyor Jeff Eldridge said he will outfit himself to make it more usable. An ask of $26,500 will fund engineering costs related to the landfill’s post-closure engineering and surveying work. Durant clarified these expenses are required of the DEP permit to do this work. Also, engineering funds totaling $55,000 are needed for site work at the former Rochester Country Fair grounds on Pine St. where the new fire station will be built. Durant noted the entire 18-acre parcel will be surveyed as a cost savings even though only a portion of the property will house the new station.
The Capital Planning Committee’s next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, January 15, 2025, at 5:30 pm at 1 Constitution Way.
Rochester Capital Planning Committee
By Michael J. DeCicco