March 28, 2024

From the Town Clerk

Posted

Hello All ~ I hope this article finds you all healthy and safe along with having an enjoyable Thanksgiving Holiday.  It was certainly nice to have an in-person Thanksgiving this year thanks to COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters.  I wish you all a healthy and happy holiday season with your family and friends.

NEW TOWN HALL
Exciting News . . . We are moving from 148 Peck Street to our New Town Hall at 340 Anawan Street, which is the brick building located next to the Police, Fire and Ambulance stations on Route 118 and across from Highway and the large salt shed.  The move is tentatively scheduled for the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve (December 27-31, 2021).  As a result, the Board of Selectmen will be closing Town Offices to the public the last week of December so we can move all offices into the new Town Hall.  We will reopen on Tuesday, January 4th at 340 Anawan Street (Route 118).  No town business will be conducted at Town Hall during the week of December 27-31.  Please plan accordingly and thank you for your understanding during our move to our new Town Hall. 

ANNUAL TOWN CENSUS
Our Annual Town Census Forms for year 2022 will be mailed to all households in Rehoboth during the last week of December/first week of January.  The Board of Registrars is required to conduct an annual listing of residents as of the first of January each year. In addition to the name, address, telephone number, date of birth, occupation, veteran status, and number of dogs, the form includes a section for school information required by the school department.  Please Note: a section for e-mail addresses and cell phone numbers is included on your 2022 Town Census form.  If you no longer have a home phone and use a cell phone, please let us know your new number so we can update our records.  Please also provide your e-mail address ~ thank you.

As a reminder, failure to return the completed Town Census form may result in voters being placed on an “inactive” voting list or being removed from the voting list.  Please do not let this happen to you; please return your census as soon as you receive it in January.  Simply review the pre-printed Census Form, make corrections, sign it, and return it no later than January 31st. You may choose to return the Census Form via the U.S. Postal Service, or utilize the Census drop box at Town Hall. Additionally, you may scan your signed and completed census forms and email them to us at TownClerk@RehobothMA.GOV.  This year we will also be reestablishing the Census drop boxes around town now that the COVID-19 State of Emergency has been lifted.  Look for a census box at the new Town Hall, Francis Farm COA Senior Center (when opened), Blanding Library and the Bristol Savings Bank lobby.  The Clerk’s Office is looking forward to hearing from you in January.

PLEASE NOTE:  This year’s census form will come with a return mailing envelope to the Clerk’s Office at 148 Peck Street.  To save the Town of Rehoboth money, we had a surplus of return envelopes and large white mailing envelopes with the 148 Peck Street address preprinted.  As a result, we chose to use the old stock envelopes, which will be forwarded to the new Town Hall at 340 Anawan Street.  The census form itself will have both addresses this year as we were unsure of our “move date” when the documents went to print.

New residents may receive blank forms, which they are asked to complete and return. If you do not receive a Census Form, please contact the Town Clerk’s Office 508-252-6502 X-3112, X-3109 or X-3110.  Blank Census forms are also available on the town website @

http://www.town.rehoboth.ma.us/town-clerk/pages/census-information

For your information, results of the Town Census are used to prove residency for a variety of reasons. The data is also used for state college entrance applications, veterans’ benefits, amending and establishing birth records, locating missing persons, establishing precinct lines, predicting future school enrollment, state and federal funding to the town, police and fire protection, updating the voting list, and other legal purposes.  Please return your town census as soon as possible, but no later than January 31, 2022 ~ thank you.

For the convenience of dog owners, we will again include with the 2022 Census, an application for the 2022 Dog License(s). This gives dog owners the opportunity to license their dogs well before the annual April 1st due date should they want to license their dogs early.  Dog license applications must be accompanied by a current rabies certificate (with a vaccination date of May 1, 2022 or later) and proof of spay or neuter, unless we already have it on file in the Clerk’s Office (if applying for the $10 licensing fee).  If you are unsure, please give the office a call and we can let you know what we have in our database.  Dog owners should note that the license(s) will not be returned unless a stamped, self-addressed envelope is included (the current postage will be printed on the dog license application).  For your information, we are hopeful that we will be able to hold our Annual Rabies Vaccination Clinic again this year; however, we are awaiting direction from the State and local veterinarians to see when and where the rabies vaccination clinic can be conducted.  For scheduling purposes, we hope the Rabies Clinic date will be Saturday, March 12th, 2022; however, that is dependent on the current pandemic situation and veterinarian availability.  We will let you know once the date, location and time is set.  Details will hopefully be printed in the 2022 Town Census mailer.  If not, we will send out a mailer to all registered dog owners informing them of the 2022 Rabies Clinic date and location once determined.

Reminder, all residents 70-years old or over do not need to pay the $10 or $20 yearly dog licensing fee. As I’m sure you remember, I submitted an article at the May 8, 2017 Annual Town Meeting (Article 15) requesting Town Meeting vote to accept MGL CHAPTER 140 SECTION 139(c), which states “No fee shall be charged for a license issued under this section for a service animal as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act or regulations promulgated thereunder. No fee shall be charged for a license for a dog owned by a person aged 70 years or over in a city or town that accepts this provision”.  Town meeting did approve the acceptance of MGL Chapter 140 Section 139 (c), which permits the Town Clerk’s Office to waive dog licensing fees for service animals and for dogs owned by any Rehoboth resident 70 years of age and older.  Proof of rabies vaccinations for each dog and proof of the dog owner’s age (70 or older) is required.  As per Town Counsel, this does not include Kennel Fees.

If you are returning your dog tag application, as well as your census forms, residents are asked to return their completed forms via mail, e-mail, drop off in census bins around town or place their form in the Town Hall drop box at 148 Peck Street (soon to be 340 Anawan Street).

PLEASE NOTE:  In 2022, we are moving our dog licensing program to an online database program, similar to the Building Permitting process, which can be accessed from the comfort of your home computer, tablet or smartphone.  Complete details of the Dog Licensing Program were not available from the vendor at the time of the 2022 Census; therefore, we will update all dog owners on the new Town Clerk’s Dog Licensing process on the Town website @ https://www.rehobothma.gov/town-clerk/pages/dog-licenses .  You may also continue to use the mail-in/drop-off process or simply stop by to register your dog if you do not have access to a computer or don’t wish to process your dog’s license online. 

Residents are requested to please send in their census forms as quickly as possible regardless of whether or not they license their dogs at this time.

REPRECINCTING
Every ten years, after each federal census, State law (MGL 54 § 2) requires each city and town to create new precinct boundaries.  The law requires that voting precincts established by a city or town must meet the following requirements:

  • Each new precinct must be “composed of compact and contiguous territory”.
  • Precincts must be bounded by the center-line of streets or other well-defined boundaries such as streams or other bodies of water, railroad tracks, power lines or other clearly visible geographic figures.
  • No precinct may contain more than 4,000 residents (not voters).
  • Every precinct’s population must be within five percent of the average precinct population for that town.

After the 2020 US Census we learned that Rehoboth would need to move from three to four precincts as all three precincts were over the 4,000-maximum allowed (Precinct 1=4,155; Precinct 2=4,136 and Precinct 3=4,678).  Precincts can only be changed every ten years and must incorporate future growth projections for the next ten years.  Linda Greaves (Assessors) along with Daniel Roach (Planning Board) worked with the Clerk’s Office to update our 2022 precinct lines incorporating future growth.   I would personally like to thank both Linda and Daniel along with Lynn and Odete for their help with this tedious, time-consuming process.  On October 12, 2021 the Board of Selectmen voted to approve the Reprecincting lines and on October 27, 2021 the State also approved our new Precinct 4 Map and Legal Descriptions.  Therefore, Rehoboth’s Precincts and Precinct Lines have changed, effective December 31, 2021.  The precincts have been manually updated by the Clerk’s Office for the printing of the 2022 Census documents.  During the first two weeks of January 2022 State Elections will be updating our State database with the precinct changes and all voters effected by the reprecincting changes will be sent a postcard mailer sometime mid-late January.  When you receive your 2022 Census forms and calendar, please check your Precinct number on the top right of the form to see which precinct you are now assigned to.  If you are interested in reviewing the new precinct lines and legal descriptions we submitted, they can be found on the Town Clerk’s website at:   https://www.rehobothma.gov/town-clerk/pages/reprecincting-2021-2022

To avoid any “precinct” confusion on Election Day, the Board of Selectmen voted on November 1, 2021 to designate the Francis Farm Museum (27 Francis Farm Road - Rehoboth) as Rehoboth's Centralized Voting Location.  All four precincts will be voting at the same location. The new precinct alignment will be in effect for the next ten years.

ANNUAL TOWN ELECTION – APRIL 5, 2022
The Annual Town Election for the Town of Rehoboth is scheduled to be held on Tuesday, April 5, 2022 at the Francis Farm Museum (27 Francis Farm Road).

For those who do not participate in a political party’s caucus process, nomination papers will be available as of January 4, 2022 for any registered voter in Rehoboth wishing to run for election on the Town ballot.  The nomination papers may be picked up by prospective candidates, at the Town Clerk’s office. All nomination papers must be returned, signed by a minimum of 50* registered Rehoboth voters, to the Board of Registrars at the Town Clerk’s Office (148 Peck Street-soon to be 340 Anawan Street) by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, February 15th.

* The signature minimum changes after each gubernatorial election as per MGL Chapter 53 – Section 6.  The 11-6-18 election changed our minimum signature requirement for nomination papers from 38 to 50 (1% of the entire votes cast for governor at the preceding biennial state election ~ 5,154 x 1% = 52 ~ MGL 53:6 = maximum of 50 signatures for nominations of town office or regional district school elected positions).  

Positions to be elected on the ballot for 2022 are Moderator (one for 1 year), Board of Selectmen (one position for 3 years), Treasurer (TBD-possibly one for 3 years), Assessor (one for 3 years), School Committee (one for 3 years), Planning Board (two for 5 years), Park Commission (one for 5 years), Constable (three for 3 years) and Water Commissioner (two for 3 years).

The final voter registration date, to be eligible to vote in the Annual Town Election, is scheduled for Wednesday, March 16th from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Town Clerk’s Office.

Prospective voters are reminded that they may also register to vote online at www.RegisterToVoteMA.com , by calling the Town Clerk’s Office to request a Mail-In voter registration form, or download a form @ http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/elepdf/Voter-reg-mail-in.pdf

ABSENTEE BALLOT REQUESTS
Applications for absentee ballots are available as of January 4th and may be obtained from the Town Clerk’s Office or online @ https://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/elepdf/absentee/English-Absentee-Ballot-Application.pdf .   An absentee ballot may only be obtained by written request and with the voter’s original signature.   Filing deadline for an absentee ballot request for the April Annual Town Election is 12:00 p.m. on Monday, April 4, 2022.

URGENT ALERTS – NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Over the past several months, there has been very important information provided to those residents who have signed up for the Town’s “Urgent Alerts” and “Subscribe to News”.  The Town’s “Official” notification site is Rehoboth’s town website @ https://www.rehobothma.gov/ .  If important information needs to get to the residents of the Town, we use the front page of the Town’s website; either under “News and Announcements” or “Urgent Alerts” to notify our residents.  Once the information is posted to the website, we send those residents, who have “Subscribed to News”, an e-mail alerting them of the updated important information.  Also, on the front of the Town website is a current listing of all public meetings under the “Meetings” tab, which is next to the “News” tab, in the center of the Town’s homepage.  If you would like to be notified of upcoming meetings, urgent alerts, or news and announcements posted on the Town website, simply click on the “Subscribe to News” under the “Citizen Action Center” on the left side of the home page ( https://www.rehobothma.gov/ ) and complete all the requested information.  For step-by-step directions on how to subscribe, please either click on “How to Subscribe to News & Alerts” under “Subscribe to News” in the “Citizen Action Center” or follow this link:

https://www.town.rehoboth.ma.us/sites/g/files/vyhlif4911/f/uploads/rehoboth-urgent_alert_-_flyer-final.pdf

Please do not rely solely on social media or rumors regarding important Town matters.  All “Official” Town of Rehoboth alerts, meetings, and news are posted on the Town Website and sent to all subscribers to News and Alerts via the e-mail address they provide.  Please “be in the know” by signing up for Subscribe to News & Alerts ~ thank you.

VACCINATION UPDATES
The Town continues the Public-Private Partnership with Anawan Pharmacy to make COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters available to the public. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are available at the Vaccination Center and offered at no cost. The Vaccination Center also offers the pediatric vaccine as approved by the CDC.

To schedule an appointment, visit www.anawanpharmacy.com . If you do not have access to a computer, or need help making an appointment, call (774) 565-8111 and leave your name and telephone number on the recording. A staff member will return your call Monday – Friday to assist you in making an appointment. 

TOWN OFFICES CLOSED
The Town Offices will be closed on Thursday, December 23rd and Friday, December 24th, 2021, in observance of the Christmas Holiday.  Offices will also close at Noon (12:00 p.m.) on Friday, December 31st for New Year’s Eve and January 3, 2022 for New Year’s Day due to the first being a Saturday.  REMINDER:  As per the Board of Selectmen, Town Offices will be closed for business during the week between Christmas and New Years (December 27-31) so Town Offices can relocate to 340 Anawan Street from 148 Peck Street.  We will reopen for business at our new Town Hall on Tuesday, January 4, 2022.  Should the move be delayed, we will notify the residents during the Board of Selectmen’s Meetings and through the Town Website and Urgent Alerts/News & Announcements. 

January 29, 2022 Bristol-Plymouth Regional Technical School District Building Project Vote
At the December 1, 2021 Bristol-Plymouth Regional District Technical School Committee meeting and confirmed in a meeting of Municipal Clerks with the Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Alexandre M. Magalhaes, on December 2nd, the City of Taunton and Towns of Berkeley, Bridgewater, Dighton, Middleborough, Raynham and Rehoboth will be holding a District-Wide Special Election for the $305,000,000 new Bristol-Plymouth Technical School Building Project on Saturday, January 29, 2022 between the hours of 10:00 AM-2:00 PM.  Rehoboth’s new centralized polling location was designated by the Board of Selectmen on November 1, 2021 as the Museum of Francis Farm (27 Francis Farm Road).  If you would like to learn more about the building project, please either visit the Bristol Plymouth Regional Technical School website @ https://www.bptech.org/msba or attend the upcoming informational meeting at Francis Farm on Tuesday, December 14, 2021 at 6:30 PM – Francis Hall.  As space is limited, the meeting will be taped for future viewing.  Please Note:  The 12-14-2021 6:30 PM meeting is unable to be streamed live from Francis Hall at this time.  More details regarding voter registration, building project, etc. will be posted under “News and Announcements” on the Town of Rehoboth’s website:  https://www.rehobothma.gov/ .  Please remember to subscribe to news and alerts on the Town Website to receive updates on this very important election. 

THANK YOU REHOBOTH GARDEN CLUB
Thank you, Rehoboth Garden Club, for another beautifully decorated wreath for our Town Hall.  This year is even more beautiful with the hand-crafted ornaments.  Thank you for all you do for so many.  You truly made our holidays more special with your beautiful wreath.  Below is a photo of this year’s Rehoboth Garden Club wreath.  I will make sure the 2021-2022 wreath is moved to the new Town Offices when we move if prior to January 2, 2022 (wreath collection date)!!  Happy Holidays to you all!!

Lynn, Odete and I would like to wish you all a safe, happy, and healthy holiday season!  We wish peace, HEALTH and prosperity to all Rehoboth residents for the New Year.  It is truly an honor to serve as your Town Clerk for the past eight years ~ thank you all for enriching my life every day!!!  Thank you all for an unforgettable 2021, which will permanently be marked as a continued year of unpredictable situations due to the COVID Pandemic in Rehoboth’s and our Nation’s archives.  Even though 2020 and 2021 have been a bit scary, unpredictable and incredibly sad years due to so many losses, I thank the record number of Rehoboth voters, who valued and participated in the voting process (whether by mail, in-person early or in-person election day), during the pandemic, safely and socially distant from each other, as mandated by the Governor and State Health Officials.  Prayerfully 2022 will be a much better year for us all.  Please stay healthy and safe.  Happy Holidays ~ I look forward to talking with you again in January.

Sincerely,
Laura

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