#1 2011-01-20 17:54:13

from the WAREHAM COURIER...

WAREHAM — Wareham may soon be in the market again for a new town planner.

Stressing that the idea was only in its infancy, current part-time Rochester/Wareham Town Planner John Charbonneau addressed the potential need of upgrading his position to full-time somewhere in the future if the Planning Board saw the need.

Charbonneau, hired in August 2010, currently splits his planning duties between Wareham, where he works Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and Rochester, where he reports Tuesdays and Thursdays. Rochester pays 40 percent of his $60,000 salary, which is $24,000.

Former Town Planner Randall H. Kunz, who retired Oct. 30, 2009, was the first full-time town planner in the town, but when he left, officials had taken more than nine months to find a replacement. During the search process, town officials questioned the validity of the town even needing a full-time planner, especially in the height of a recession and building slowdown, and opted instead to share a full-time planner with Wareham. But Charbonneau said the two days a week he works in the town does not afford him the time to sink his teeth into the many areas a town planner is needed.

“Coming in two days a week allows me to do administrative and paper work, not allowing me to get into any of the planning issues,” Charbonneau said. “That’s why I am directing the board to look into the possibility of the position eventually becoming full time. I enjoy my work here, and if there’s a possibility of working full time, I would like that.”

Planning Board member Ben Bailey said there are a lot of projects going before the town these days that need attention, something that wasn’t the case at this time last year.

“The town administrator and Board of Selectmen are the ones that control the budget,” Planning Board Chairman Arnie Johnson said. “We have been starting to see more projects in town that involve dealing with the Zoning Board of Appeals, site plan work and more.”

Charbonneau said he simply wanted to bring this to the board’s attention to gauge their opinion of it. He stressed that commencing discussions on it now will allow people to begin mulling it for the future, so that when and if it comes up again, Charbonneau said, it won’t be like something that “was thrown in their laps.”

“If the Planning Board was into this, then I would be amendable to it, but the financial climate may not be that good for it right now, and it may not be this year, but it may be something to explore next year,” he said. “If things stay the way they are (working between both towns), I am happy with that. I am happy with the way things are right now, but if there’s a possibility of becoming full time here in Rochester, I will be willing to listen.”

Charbonneau would be seeking a salary of $60,000, which is what he gets paid now between both towns. When asked of the chance of seeing the town planner’s full-time status being brought up at this years annual Town Meeting as part of the 2012 fiscal year budget, Charbonneau said he was “unsure.”

“The needs in the town are growing, and the organization and materials that we get from John are certainly enough to justify the two days,” Planning Board member Dan McGaffrey, who along with the entire board, voted unanimously to look into the matter of the planner’s position becoming full time more in depth in the future, said.

“I think the town needs a full-time planner,” Planning Board member Susan Peterson said.

Planning Board member Gary Florido, who is the chairman of the town’s Soil Committee, said that the former town planner was involved in many departments and projects in town, many of those activities that have been sacrificed with the planners current part-time status.

“He (the town planner) covers many things in this town –and not just the Planning Board,” Florido said. “He fills the shoes in many areas.”

Copyright 2011

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#2 2011-01-20 19:05:13

WOW....I wonder how that one day a week Chief of Police thing is working out for ya'...

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#3 2011-01-21 08:58:46

Please Notice He Wants To Go To Rochester And Not Wareham As Our Goverment Is Spactic At Best.

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#4 2011-01-21 09:03:34

Paretime Police Chiefs  .part Time Planners , Full Time Wages , Wareham Oh Poor Wareham  We Sure Are Screwd Up Badley

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