Rockport Select Board approves New Year's Eve plans with a midnight ball drop at Dock Square; residents press for dark sky lights at Town Hall

Rockport's New Year's Eve celebration has the town's go ahead. On Tuesday, Oct. 20, the Select Board approved the festival's plan for Dec. 31, from the first shows at 4 p.m. to the ball drop at midnight at Dock Square, with the police chief setting the road closures and parking.

Only three of the five members were on the Zoom call: Vice Chair Don Southard, who ran the meeting, Laura Evans and Dwight Valentine. Southard said Chair Paul F. Murphy was being honored that night by Action Inc., a Cape Ann nonprofit, for his work with young people. Ross C. Brackett was also absent. The meeting lasted 40 minutes.

What happened

• The board approved the New Year's Eve event plan, 3 to 0.
• Five residents asked the board to swap the outdoor light fixtures planned for the Town Hall renovation for ones that meet the town's dark sky rules. The board did not respond, as it said it would not during public comment.
• Police officer assignments for the Nov. 3 state election were ratified, 3 to 0.
• A consent agenda with a comfort dog donation, a Long Beach sale and training money for the Conservation Commission passed 3 to 0, and John Marshall was reappointed to the Rights of Way Committee.
• Town Administrator Mitchell Vieira said the water main work on upper Main Street has to be off the state road by the middle of November, and the next meeting will likely include the yearly tax classification hearing.

Residents ask for dark sky lights at Town Hall

Every speaker in the 15 minute public comment period talked about the outdoor light fixtures picked for the Town Hall renovation.

One resident said the fixture proposed by the design team does not meet the town's bylaw for residential outdoor lighting, which limits light that spills upward. He said a cheaper fixture from the same vendor looks more like the current ones and is on the Historical Commission's draft list of approved fixtures. Another said taxpayers gave $1.8 million toward the renovation and the details still matter.

A third resident asked the board to create a volunteer committee to plan the purchase, installation and upkeep of 2,200 kelvin "night sky approved" LED streetlights, with its recommendation placed on the warrant for the 2027 annual town meeting. Kelvin is the measure of how warm or cool a light looks; lower numbers are warmer and less blue.

A fourth read from an email she said came from a town staff member: the fixture choice would not be revisited, but the Select Board would decide the bulbs, including color temperature, wattage and style. She said a special bulb for only those lights would be replaced with whatever is on the shelf once the supply runs out. The last speaker said the fixtures on Town Hall now have frosted glass, so the bulb is not seen directly, while the proposed ones have clear glass and would cause glare.

Southard said at the start that the board takes no questions during public comment and that residents can email board members or drop a question at the Select Board office. The board did not discuss the lights after the comments ended.

The Historical Commission has already agreed to post a folder of fixtures that fit both historic buildings and the dark sky bylaw, and a town staff member told that commission on Oct. 1 that the Town Hall lights were a matter for the Select Board. (Read the Oct. 1 meeting notes.) The town's Government and By-Law Committee said on Oct. 26 that the Planning Board's rewrite of the lighting bylaw is not ready for town meeting. (Read what that committee said.)

New Year's Eve: shows from 4 p.m., ball drop at midnight

David Johnson, who presented the plan for the festival's volunteer board, said the format is the same as past years with small additions. The event is almost 30 years old, he said, and this year's schedule is as full as he has seen.

Shows run in downtown spaces including the renovated Shalin Liu Performance Center, Spiran Hall, the Rockport Art Association's Hibbard Gallery, the First Congregational Church, the Unitarian Universalist church, St. Mary's Episcopal Church and Brackett's restaurant, with the Baptist church back for one show from 6 to 8 p.m. Food trucks park in the Town Hall annex lot, and people eat in the St. Mary's hall. Children's activities fill the library's upstairs rooms, and children make parasols at the Art Association for a 6 p.m. parade from the library along Broadway to Harvey Park. If the sky is clear, the Gloucester Area Astronomy Club sets up around Dock Square.

The festival's headquarters, where buttons are sold, has been at the annex. Johnson said the annex may not be available this year, so the festival is looking at a downstairs space at the Congregational Church on School Street. Town Hall offices are expected to move into the annex and the old police station early next year during the renovation. (Read what the town administrator told the Finance Committee about the move.)

Attendees are directed to park at the Town Hall lot, T Wharf, on the street or at the Whistle Stop Mall, with CATA vans running between the mall and the town center. Button sales are capped by the total seating in the venues, and each venue gets a paid manager and volunteer greeters. The festival carries about $3 million in liability insurance.

Johnson asked for two road closures: Broadway between School Street and Mount Pleasant Street from 5:45 to 6:15 p.m. for the children's parade, and Dock Square and Main Street from Broadway to the Rockport Music parking lot from 11:45 p.m. to 12:15 a.m., when the fire department's ladder truck hoists the ball. He also asked for a few reserved spaces on Hale Street, School Street and Broadway for performers to unload.

Evans called it a thorough presentation. The board approved the event subject to the requirements of the police, fire, health, public works and inspectional services departments, with the police chief authorized to set parking and road closures, 3 to 0.

Police details, the consent agenda and a reappointment

Vieira said the board ratifies officer assignments for every election under the state VOTES Act. The police chief posts the slots, officers sign up and the chief can swap officers later with written notice to the town administrator and the town clerk. The board approved the assignments for Nov. 3 as submitted, 3 to 0.

The consent agenda passed 3 to 0 with no items held. It accepted a comfort dog donation, approved a sale of a Long Beach property and approved money from the local wetlands account for Conservation Commission training. Southard said no minutes were listed for approval.

The board also reappointed John Marshall to the Rights of Way Committee for a term ending June 30, 2027, 3 to 0. Vieira said the reappointment was missed in the earlier rounds. (Read the Oct. 6 meeting notes, where the board made its other reappointments.)

Budget season and the water project

Vieira's update covered the next budget and several public works projects.

• Department capital requests are under internal review and go to the Capital Improvement Planning Committee in a couple of weeks. Then the town waits for the state to certify its free cash, the money left over from past budgets that can be spent.
• The tax recap, the paperwork that sets the tax rate, is under way. The tax classification hearing with the Board of Assessors, where the board decides whether homes and businesses pay the same rate, will likely be at the next meeting. The fiscal 2028 operating budget process opens in a couple of weeks.
• Planning for the Town Hall office move continues. Nothing has moved yet.
• The temporary water lines along upper Main Street are part of the Great Hill water project, which creates a new pressure zone for a neighborhood that has had low water pressure for decades. The contractor has to be off the state road by the middle of November. Over the winter the booster pump and piping go in at the public works site. In spring and summer the work moves to side roads in the Hodgkins area, and the pressure station should come online with the work wrapped up around the end of summer.
• The same contract starts drainage work on Marmion Way, with a partial water main replacement there likely in the spring.
• The public works department is handling electrical and elevator problems at the Community House while Council on Aging programs continue.

Southard said he attended the Harvest Fest on Saturday, Oct. 17, which was well attended despite the cold and wind, and he credited the chamber of commerce for running it. No one spoke in the second public comment period.

What was decided

• Consent agenda (comfort dog donation, Long Beach sale, wetlands account withdrawal for Conservation Commission training): approved 3 to 0, from the meeting video.
• Police officer assignments for the Nov. 3 state election, with the chief able to substitute officers on written notice: approved 3 to 0, from the meeting video.
• Rockport New Year's Eve event for Dec. 31, 2026, subject to department requirements, with the police chief setting parking and road closures: approved 3 to 0, from the meeting video.
• John Marshall reappointed to the Rights of Way Committee through June 30, 2027: approved 3 to 0, from the meeting video.
• Adjourn: 3 to 0, from the meeting video.

What happens next

• The Select Board's next meeting is listed on the town's Agendas page for Tuesday, Nov. 3, at 6 p.m., the same day as the state election. The town administrator said the tax classification hearing will likely be on that agenda.
• Polls are open Tuesday, Nov. 3. Early voting ended Oct. 30.
• Rockport New Year's Eve runs Thursday, Dec. 31, from 4 p.m. to midnight, with road closures on Broadway from 5:45 to 6:15 p.m. and around Dock Square from 11:45 p.m. to 12:15 a.m., if the police chief approves them as proposed.
• Capital requests go to the Capital Improvement Planning Committee in early to mid November, and the fiscal 2028 budget process opens around the same time.

Where to find the records

• Agenda for the Oct. 20 meeting.
• Recorded Zoom meetings, where the town posts the recording. Minutes will be posted in the town's document portal once the board approves them.
• Select Board page with members and contact information, and the Agendas page for the Nov. 3 agenda when it is posted.

Earlier coverage: Tuesday meetings: the Oct. 20 agendas (Oct. 19), the preview. Rockport Select Board approves Christmas in Rockport dates, four public works contracts and a shared lawyer for Comcast talks (Oct. 20), the Oct. 6 meeting. Rockport Town Hall offices will move to the annex and the old police station early next year (Oct. 21), the Finance Committee's water and Town Hall update. Rockport historical panel approves new church doors on Broadway (Oct. 25), where the dark sky fixture list came up again.

How we did this: Cape Ann Current watched the meeting online on the town's recording. Votes are as heard on the recording and are labeled from the meeting video until the board's minutes confirm them. These are our meeting notes, not the board's minutes.