Rockland Advances Fire Station Project, Considers Charter Updates
Key Votes Scheduled for 2025 as Town Explores Modernizing 54-Year-Old Charter
ROCKLAND - December 17 - Rockland officials are moving forward with plans for a new fire station and considering updates to the town's charter. The Select Board discussed these and other matters at their recent meeting.
The Rockland Fire Station Building Project is progressing with two crucial votes scheduled for 2025. "We'll have the Annual Town Election Debt Exclusion Ballot Vote on April 12th, 2025, and the Annual Town Meeting Vote on May 5th, 2025," announced Assistant Town Administrator Courtney Bjorgaard.
In addition to the fire station project, the board discussed potential amendments to Rockland's 54-year-old town charter. Rich Penny, former chair of the Charter Review Committee, presented insights on modernizing the document without altering elected positions.
"We have a town charter that's 54 years old," Penny said. "When we did the review, we compared it with 10 other towns throughout the Commonwealth. We tried to match it up that the towns were in a comparison to Rockland, meaning socioeconomic, population, the type of government they have."
Penny emphasized the need for updates, stating, "We are antiquated. And it hand ties the officials."
The proposed changes aim to update language, clarify responsibilities, and improve efficiency in town operations. Key areas for potential revision include standardizing the duties of elected and appointed boards, clarifying management of town property and buildings, and updating the recall process for elected officials.
"We can leave the elected positions. We can address that at another time or just leave it as elected, but we can still do some things," Penny suggested, addressing concerns that led to the rejection of a comprehensive charter update at a previous town meeting.
The board discussed reconvening the Charter Review Committee to develop targeted amendments for the upcoming town meeting. Town Counsel John Clifford recommended gathering the former committee members to discuss options.
"If all of the members or most of the members are willing to reconvene and try to present you with different options to put on this year's town meeting warrant, I think that makes sense," Clifford advised.
In other business, Fire Chief Scott Duffey announced progress in removing the fire department from civil service. A recent state economic development bill includes provisions allowing towns with existing home rule petitions to exit the civil service system.
"Fingers crossed that all goes well with this and that as of March 1st, 2025, we'll finally be out of civil service and be able to do things the way we need to do to get a more diverse and better hiring and promotional process for the fire department," Duffey said.
The board unanimously approved sending a required letter to state officials to complete the process.
Town Administrator Doug Lapp provided updates on various town matters, including the approval of a new tax rate of $13.67 and the completion of a police station move and HVAC project.
Lapp also mentioned ongoing discussions with the Town of Whitman regarding potential land acquisition near McCarthy Farm for open space purposes. Whitman’s meeting discussing that can be found here.
As the meeting concluded, board members exchanged holiday greetings and well-wishes for the new year.
The Select Board's next meeting is scheduled for January 2, 2025, when Lapp is expected to return to the office following medical leave.