Hinderyckx, Pratt New Rochester Selex, All Articles Passed
By Martha Slater

Rochester’s Town Meeting 2007 took place Monday, March 5, with about half of the seats in the Rochester High School Auditorium filled when the meeting began at 7 p.m. Following tradition, Marvin Harvey led the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, and Rev. Greg Homan gave an opening prayer

Rep. Sandy Haas gave a brief report on her work in the legislature, and explained the process of introducing a bill in that body, urging folks to check out the legislature’s web site and also fill out the Doyle Poll. She also spoke about the state’s current budget problems, including the under-funding of the education budget.

Selectboard chair Larry Straus thanked Charlie Biederman for stepping in to fill the vacancy created when Heather Masterton resigned last summer. He also expressed appreciation to Danny McIntyre for his many years on the board and his work as road commissioner, and to Homer Brown and Phyllis Deering, who were retiring from their work as auditors; and thanked the town highways crew for its hard work after recent blizzard.

Moderator Ethan Bowen was re-elected, as was Joanne McDonnell as both town clerk and town treasurer.

There will be two new faces on the selectboard. Doon Hinderyckx was elected to a three-year term and Norm Pratt was elected to fill the remaining one-year term of Heather Masterton, who resigned.

Other town officials elected include Patty Harvey to three-year terms as both a lister and an auditor, and Lisa B. Steventon as collector of delinquent taxes. Jolanta Labejsza, Nancy Maston, and Barbara Shenton were elected as library trustees. Sandy Pierce was re-elected as a trustee of public funds, as was Java Hubbard as cemetery commissioner, and Sandy Haas and Susan Disbrow as grand jurors. Disbrow was also elected as agent to prosecute and defend suits. Erik Baier was elected as the town’s agent to convey real estate.

During discussion of reports from town officers Marvin Harvey asked questions about the location of the town’s investment funds and the interest rate they were receiving, which were answered by McDonnell. Straus explained the use of the revolving loan fund.

In response to a question from Lois Bond about the statement from the auditors on the inside cover of the town report, Homer Brown said he felt he had not seen enough information about the town’s purchase of the Riverbend Farm property. Straus replied that the transaction took place in 2004 and to the best of his knowledge Brown’s statement was not applying to the current year.

Franklin Sanders said he felt the town should consider abolishing the board of auditors and suggested hiring outside professional auditors to monitor the town’s books.

Money Matters

The proposed town budget of $767,339 (with $487,449 of that to be raised from property taxes) was approved on a unanimous voice vote.

Article 8 asked for approval of appropriation requests totaling $119,269 from 13 different agencies. Alvina Harvey recommended reducing that amount by $300 to $118,969, since she had discovered that the petitioned amount was off by $300 due to a clerical error in transcribing the request from the Visiting Nurse Assoc. An amendment to add back the $300 for the VNA passed and the original amount warned was approved on a voice vote.

Voters approved Article 9, asking for $10,000 to continue funding the Rochester Fire Department’s Building Reserve Fund; and also Article 10, establishing a Reappraisal Reserve Fund, amending the article slightly by removing the wording "state-mandated" (referring to the reappraisal). They then voted to add $10,000 to the Reappraisal Reserve Fund.

Article 12, asking $10,000 for the Rochester Fire Dept. Equipment Fund was approved, as was Article 13, requesting $45,000 for the Highway Equipment Reserve Fund. Voters also okayed Articles 14 and 15, appropriating $5,000 to establish a Cemetery Reserve Fund, and $1,000 for the Emergency Management Reserve Fund.

Following a lengthy discussion about an article asking voters to approve $16,000 for the purpose of hiring a part-time town administrator to assist the selectboard in administrative matters and grant acquisition, that article was approved on a voice vote. The final financial article, requesting $8,000 to establish a Records Preservation Reserve Fund to continue preserving the town’s property and vital statistics records; was also approved.

Article 19, placed on the ballot by petition and the only one not pertaining specifically to Rochester town business, caused some controversy. It asked voters to adopt a resolution to be sent to the state legislature calling for "the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney and their removal from office under Article 2, Section 4 of the United States Constitution."

A standing vote of 65 "yes" to 52 "no" to pass over the article did not have a two-thirds majority to do so. Thus, a discussion began, with the petitioner Bruce Marshall explaining why he felt President Bush had abused his power and Marvin Harvey speaking in rebuttal. A paper ballot was called for, which resulted in the article winning approval by a vote of 57-53.

New selectboard member Norm Pratt, who served for many years as town moderator, brought the meeting to a close by calling for everyone to work together and put an end to any divisiveness. "People like Charlie and Danny who step forward and serve their community should be commended and emulated," he said.

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