Plympton solar purchasing talks begin with BlueWave Capital:

Bluewave Capital has developed other projects in the area, including this solar field in Plymouth. Courtesy photo.

Plympton Selectmen met Monday evening and tackled a wide-ranging agenda, including agreeing to sign a letter of intent to move forward with the latest BlueWave Solar power purchasing agreement, a proposal to name a street corner after four brothers who were veterans, fielding a request by the Board of Assessors to not have their meetings videotaped and a request from the Board of Health to meet with Town Counsel.

Solar agreement to be signed

The board agreed to move forward with a non-legally binding letter of intent to negotiate with BlueWave Capital, a solar development and investment company, to sell the town electricity credits from a facility being completed in Mattapoisett.

If the project and agreement do come to fruition, the town would expect to see significant savings on their electricity bills over the course of the twenty-year agreement.

Selectperson Christine Joy had some questions regarding an option that BlueWave has proposed for the town, called an escalator. If the town chose this option, the cost of energy purchased would be even lower than the 10.5 cents per KwH proposed, then would increase by a fixed percentage over the course of the agreement.

BlueWave Capital representatives did not discuss this option at their presentation to the board two weeks ago, leading to the questions. The board decided that they would have to do some math to figure out the best option for the town, but that they were ready to move forward with negotiations.

Tribute to Veterans?

Scott Baker came before the board to propose the idea of a tribute to four of the Benevides brothers, all veterans, who had grown up in the family home at 104 Main Street. The Benevides family is well established in Plympton and, according to Baker, would have passed the corner of Main Street and Palmer Road every day of their lives.

He enthusiastically provided with board with photographs and other documentation. His suggestion was to name the street corner after them.

While the board was excited about the idea, they agreed it needed some refinement, possibly to be more expansive and include all veterans, in a centralized location, perhaps near the gazebo. There was some concern of running out of street corners.

Veterans’ agent Roxanne Whitbeck agreed with the more expansive plan, so that no veteran is excluded from a memorial. She suggested something that could be expanded, with bricks or plaques, so that it could be added to in the future as necessary.

Joy suggested forming a committee to further look into the idea, suggesting that this could become a much larger project, possibly for the Boy Scouts and possibly could go along with rehabilitating the gazebo on the town green.

Board of Assessors doesn’t want cameras

The idea of filming the Board of Assessors meetings was floated, prompted by the e-mail of a concerned citizen who did not understand their tax bill and the abatement process.

According to the agreement with the tri-town studio, Area 58, Plympton receives 100 events and meetings filmed for free per year.

Ethan Stiles, a member of the Board of Assessors, objected to this proposition. According to Stiles, the board meets 15 times a year, often in executive session to protect privacy when making decisions about taxpayer abatements. As well as his expressed belief that filming the meetings would be un-substantive, he stated that the Board of Assessors office at Town House can supply guides and offer non-legal advice to taxpayers who have questions. “No one comes to the meetings to watch them for their own sake,” he said. “People are there to deal with their own specific problems.”

Selectperson Joy disagreed. She stated that as public boards, the public shouldn’t feel as if the town government has anything to hide. Her one concern was that filming meetings would have a “chilling-effect” on citizens who wish to address concerns to the board.

Selectman Colleen Thompson stated that she wished all meetings could be filmed, “but we’re not there, yet.”

The eventual consensus was that a public forum should be held by the Board of Assessors to address any questions from citizens, and that it be filmed. Possibly, a question and answer section could be added to the recording, or to the board’s website.

Questions for the town counsel

Ken Thompson, treasurer of the Board of Health, requested permission to consult town counsel to determine the proper course of action when the board is trying to enter a property and is being refused access.

“People are being denied access for trying to do their jobs,” he said.

Selectmen approved his request, but asked that the meeting be as general (and brief) as possible so that other boards and committees could use any useful information. Board Chairman Mark Russo asked that Thompson report back after meeting with town counsel.

Later in the evening, Selectperson Joy requested further clarification on how the town should move forward managing small parcels of town-owned land, such as those taken through tax-title.

Russo, an abutter to town-owned property, recused himself, but spoke as a private citizen, noting that he believes in being very cautious about selling off town property.

Joy countered that she intended to inquire about small, possibly useless properties to the public.

Selectman Colleen Thompson noted that the town treasurer had prepared a guide to managing such properties, but Joy received the permission of the two members voting to consult with town counsel.

Joy will also be inquiring with town counsel about personnel policies and CORI policies, at the same time as Town Coordinator Dale Pleau collects these from other towns for comparison.

Aidan Foley, of BlueWave Capital, presents to the Plympton Board of Selectmen Monday as colleague Mark Silvia looks on. Photo by Abram Neal

BlueWave Capital, a solar investment and developing company, presented Plympton selectmen a new power purchasing agreement (PPA) at the regularly scheduled selectmen’s meeting Monday night.

The two representatives from BlueWave were Aidan Foley and Mark Silvia.  Silvia is a former Plymouth Town Manager, and worked in the Patrick administration on energy issues. Foley did most of the presenting.

BlueWave is already developing a solar complex on Lake Street, but this project has been held up in litigation by an abutter. Although Foley stated that the company is still supporting the project and believes they will prevail in the court challenge, construction has not begun and therefore the company is offering the town a similar proposal using electricity from a nearly finished solar complex on Crystal Spring Road in Mattapoisett. The Crystal Spring Road project is five times larger than Lake Street and sited on 25 acres.

The pricing is similar to the Lake Street project, but the town would see savings much sooner if the board accepts the newest PPA.

Using a concept called “net metering”, BlueWave proposes selling “credits” to Plympton on whatever electricity accounts it chooses. Plympton would be able to change those accounts up to twice a month, resulting in lower bills from its energy distributor, Eversource. The town would also be billed for the cost of the credits from BlueWave, which would be defined in the PPA.

The net benefit to the town is much cheaper electricity. BlueWave proposes a rate of 10.5/cents a KwH. Over the life of a twenty-year contract, a conservative estimate of the savings according to Foley is $1 million to $1.3 million.

All three selectmen expressed enthusiasm for the concept, but asked careful questions of the representatives from BlueWave.

When asked what the downsides were to signing on, Foley didn’t mention many, other than it might be nicer to buy from a project in one’s own community, but encouraged the board to think of this as a “financial transaction.” He also mentioned the chance that electricity rates could fall below the rate the town would contract. He suggested that this is highly unlikely, though, as research provided by the company showed electricity rates rising for 22 of the last 30 years.

The contract would also include a clause ensuring that if the town does lose money over the term of the contract, they would get very low priced electricity for two years following the contract.

Selectmen Chairman Mark Russo wanted to ensure the board had the authority to enter into the agreement, and wished to know what the next steps would be if the board did decide to sign a PPA.

Town Coordinator Dale Pleau ensured Russo that this was an executive decision and that the board had the authority to enter into an agreement.

Foley noted that the next step would be a formal agreement, signed after town counsel and BlueWave’s attorneys reviewed the document, and that the process is “simple” and “quite straightforward.”

Selectperson Christine Joy also questioned the presenters, ensuring that the town would be able to get out of the agreement should BlueWave go bankrupt or otherwise fail.

Foley stated that the town could terminate the agreement in that situation, and sue for damages.

Although BlueWave expressed a desire to move quickly on a decision, Russo asked for a week for the board to think about its options and whether they need to recall BlueWave in front of the board before making a final decision.Ring Road Land

Preliminary paperwork to acquiring property donated to the town was again signed by selectmen.

Linda Leddy, representing both Open Space and the Conservation Committees, reminded the board that although they had already accepted and signed the deed acquisition paperwork for the parcel on Ring Road, providing access to Churchill Park and the Cato’s Ridge area of the park, because so much time had gone by and because the make-up of the board has changed, she felt it best that the paperwork be re-signed, “just to make sure everything is ship-shape.”

The 16+ acre parcel is on the northwest side of Ring Road, through which Plympton people have had temporary access and use thanks to Roger O’Neil, who agreed to the passageway two years ago. The land consists of the initial section of the Jones River Brook, which winds through the marsh. The whole parcel abuts the town’s Cato’s Ridge Conservation Area at the north end, which is part of the new Plympton Parks as of the 2012 town meeting vote.

Russo noted that this parcel is a key piece in the Plympton Parks project.

Plymouth County Livescan System

The board voted to accept the Morphotrak Livescan System (commonly called an automated fingerprint identification system, or AFIS) at no cost to the town on behalf of the police department. The machine uses a scanner to collect finger and palm prints, and electronically submits them to state and federal databases.

According to a letter from Police Chief Patrick Dillon to the board, Plympton has been selected to participate in this more modern way of collecting and submitting fingerprints, called the Plymouth County Live Scan Project.

Currently the police “roll prints” using ink, but they are often rejected because of the quality of the fingerprints, delaying the identification of individuals for a variety of criminal and civil matters, sex offender registration as well as firearms license applicants, according to Dillon.

The machine will reject poor scans, thus greatly increasing the quality of the prints, and decreasing the time police need to identify individuals.

The machine became available from the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security with funding from the Sex Offender Registry Notification Act and is valued at approximately $18,500.

In other news,

• The board accepted Town Accountant Barbara’s Gomez’s request to appoint an assistant town accountant to act in her absence. Christine Kelly was appointed to the already funded position.

• The Plymouth County Registry of Deeds will hold Plympton office hours Thursday, October 22, from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. in the Main Meeting Room at Plympton Town House, 5 Palmer Road. Register  John Buckley, Jr., and his staff will be available to answer questions and computers will be set up to print a Registry-recorded deed, confirm the status of a mortgage discharge or check on any filing. No appointments are needed.

From left are Sean Cronin, Senior Commissioner, Division of Local Services, Department of Revenue; Tom Milias, Selectman; Troy Garron, Selectman, Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito; Halifax Selectmen Chairman Kim Roy; and State Representative Tom Calter (D-12th Plymouth District.) Photo by Abram Neal.

Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito visited Halifax briefly Tuesday morning to personally sign a “Community Compact” with the town. The selectmen’s meeting room at Town Hall was filled with residents and town officials. Selectmen Chairman Kim Roy signed on behalf of the board.

Also present were the Senior Deputy Commissioner, Division of Local Services within the Department of Revenue Sean Cronin, State Representatives Tom Calter and Geoff Diehl and Selectmen Troy Garron and Tom Millias.

Democratic Representative Calter introduced Polito, a Republican, and said that the “Baker-Polito” administration were “problem solvers.”

Calter noted, as did Polito, that both she and Governor Charlie Baker were former selectmen and understood municipal issues at the local level.

Polito, explaining the program, noted that the “Community Compact” was not an unfunded mandate, but a program where the state gives resources, including advisors and grants, in up to three self-selected areas of best practices.

In the case of Halifax, these three areas are capital planning, financial transparency, and cyber-security. She noted as well that communities could come up with their own areas of focus. Twenty-five cities and towns are now participating in the program, according to Polito, and 100 applications have been received since June with 200 “best practices” already in place.

“I want to reach across the aisle and make things work,” she said.

Selectmen Chairman Roy spoke to what it meant to Halifax to be participating in the  program. Noting that she loves living in a small community, she then stated that one down-side is the frequent lack of resources, and getting caught up in the day-to-day operations of a cash-strapped town.

“It can be hard to see the big picture, sometimes,” said Roy.

Selectman Troy Garron added that he was thankful that the program was not an unfunded mandate, stating that he had seen very few in his 25 year career as a Halifax selectman. “It’s the first mandate that’s funded,” he joked.

Sean Cronin, a former Brookline Town Administrator, who now occupies the newly created position within the Department of Revenue that will implement the program spoke about some of the benefits Halifax will receive. For example, MassIT, a state agency, now has a school and municipal unit that can assist Halifax in its cyber-security focus area.

The “Community Compact” program, created via executive order at the beginning of Governor Baker’s term is supposed to “work towards mutual accountability, work to reduce red tape, promote best practices, and develop specific ‘community compacts’ with local governments,” thus “elevating municipal concerns directly to the Governor’s Office,” according to Polito.

The program put together is “an opportunity for cities and towns to enter into partnerships with the state to accomplish mutually agreed upon goals,” These “best practices” can be anything that a city or town might suggest. A city or town can apply for up to three grants.

“Community Compacts will create clear, mutual standards, expectations, and accountability for both the state and municipalities as we seek to create better government for our citizens,” according to Polito.