ROCHESTER — Starting July 15 Rochester residents or organizations will have two new spaces to meet in Town Hall. 

Selectmen received a request at their Monday meeting from the Rochester Eagle Scout Board to use the Town Hall Conference Room for a meeting. 

Town Administrator Suzanne Szyndlar said that she checked the request with Town Counsel, who had no issues with it. Selectmen voted to make the space where they meet open to all Rochester non-profits, if it is available on the dates they request. 

Selectmen also thanked Facilities Manager Andrew Daniel and his team for the work that they had done to renovate the Town Hall cellar. That space will now be available for smaller meetings, or private conferences. 

• Daniel said that the space was previously unusable because of moisture and water damage. A few years ago, he got approve Town Meeting approval to waterproof the space. 
• Recently he and a few others installed drainage and sub pump, then demolished and rebuilt the whole space. It is now a small meeting space with tile and trim.
• “Small meetings or private meetings can be held there with a little more privacy,” than in the main conference room or the Selectmen’s office, Daniel said.
• He said insurance money paid for most of the cost of the work. Daniel added that the space is not handicap accessible “— yet!,” and should anyone request handicap access for a meeting scheduled in the cellar, it would have to be moved upstairs.