Here’s what’s on the warrant for the Rochester Nov. 16 Town Meeting

Nov 11, 2020

ROCHESTER — With Mattapoisett foregoing its fall Town Meeting, Rochester is the only town left to have its residents vote on major town purchases and decisions.

The Rochester Town Meeting is set for Nov. 16 at 7 p.m., and includes nine warrants. 

Warrants one through four are all purchases of machinery and equipment for different departments. 

Voters will decide whether the town should allocate $90,000 for a used truck for the Highway Department, an additional $69,000 for a truck and plow for the Highway Department, $35,000 for a Highway Department tractor, and $51,000 for a truck and plow for the Facilities Department, to replace the currently in-use van.

Article five deals with the Principal Assessor position.

Town Meeting attendees will be asked to vote on using $8,000 to pay the town’s outgoing Principal Assessor during a transition period as he trains the incoming Principal Assessor. 

Article six is a $15,000 allocation to have a consultant codify, or organize, the town’s bylaws.

“The docs that we have on hand included most of the bylaws, but not all the bylaws,” Town Clerk Paul Dawson said at an Oct. 19 Selectmen’s meeting.
He said that a typical codification takes around two years or longer.

Article seven deals with an entrance into a pilot agreement with a solar photovoltaic facility on 139 Sarah Sherman Road to establish a steady income for the town, as well as a fixed yearly tax amount for the property.

Articles eight and nine will ask voters to decide on the allocation of $100,000 for the Public Safety Capital Fund and allocation of $200,000 for the Capital Improvements Fund.