ROCHESTER — The Regional Old Colony Communications Center intermunicipal agreement with Duxbury has been extended through July 2022. 

Under the agreement, Rochester’s 911 calls, Police, Fire, and EMS dispatching are handled by the ROCCC in Duxbury. 

Selectmen approved an extension of the agreement until July 2022 at a March 1 meeting. 

When the initial five-year agreement was made, it was set to expire in January 2022, right in the middle of the fiscal year. The decision to extend the agreement brings the negotiation period in line with the budgetary process. 

“Sort of an oversight, if you will, on my part,” ROCCC representative Michael Mahoney said. “We should have extended it to July. 

The extension of the agreement will follow the current terms, with renegotiations taking place in Fiscal Year 2023. 

In addition, Hanover will join Rochester, Duxbury, Plympton and Halifax in the intermunicipal agreement in Fiscal Year 2023.

With the extension of Rochester’s agreement, the negotiation process for the involved towns will be in line. 

“We’re doing all the towns at the same time to keep it equitable and transparent and open for everybody,” Mahoney said. 

When Hanover joins the agreement and Rochester and the other towns renegotiate, a rolling average of service usage and cost will be used to determine the terms of the renewed agreement. 

Mahoney said he expects the new agreement to last about two or three years.