Rochester residents passed a Special Town Meeting article to renovate town buildings and purchase equipment, but not before questioning town officials.

The $897,000 proposed in the article included $250,000 of renovations for the historic Town Hall, $40,000 each for a new roof on the police station and Council on Aging and $120,000 to refurbish two fire engines.

Regarding the building renovations, some residents questioned the wisdom of spending $250,000 on the Town Hall, which is already too small for the town’s employees.

“I don’t want to speak for the people of Rochester, but I don’t think the residents want to tear down that building,” said Town Administrator Richard LaCamera. “Even if we don’t use it, it could be used for other functions.”

LaCamera said he is looking at options to build a new Town Hall in the future, but for now the building needs to be repaired for historical and practical reasons.

“The roofs are leaking very badly. The wood is being deteriorated as we speak right now. Every time we get a bad rainstorm, we are putting buckets out,” he said.

Concerning the leaky roofs at the relatively new police station and Council on Aging, a few residents raised concern over the need to put on new shingles so soon.

“I understand that they are 10-year shingles, but the town spent $2.3 on the police station and they put on 10-year shingles?” said resident Sean Crook. “I can’t believe that. Did someone drop the ball when both of these buildings were being built?”

Michael Meunier, Facilities Manager, said the problem could be that specifications in the plans for the buildings were not worded correctly.

“Whatever is on the specs is on the specs. If there’s nobody to challenge that, they’re going to put it on,” said Meunier, who did not hold the position when the buildings were constructed.

“I’ll make sure they put it on right, just like I made sure they did the school right,” he said.

Resident Michael Blais got some applause when he questioned why officials waited to present the need for repairs.

“These are things I feel should have been gradually taken care of,” said Blais. “We’re in a recession. It’s time to look at parts of your budgets and start cutting back.”

“The reason we’re doing them all at once is because we’ve been putting them off for years because we didn’t have funds,” said Finance Committee member Peter Armanetti. “There’s not enough money to save in this town budget to pay for these capital improvements in one or two years.”

Armanetti explained that part of the funds would come from free cash, while the rest would be borrowed at a low rate and paid over several years.

Resident Rosemary Smith made a motion to vote on each item in the article individually; however, the audience voted the amendment down, 73 to 55.

The complete article passed with 94 in favor of it and 27 opposed.