Plympton Fire Chief Warren Borsari met with Selectmen Monday night to present his new program to improve staffing at the fire station and on calls.

The meeting room was filled with citizens and many uniformed firefighters.

While Plympton will still operate as a completely call – or voluntary – fire department during the nighttime, Borsari explained that he is making more staff full-time to cover daytime shifts to increase “operational efficiency.”

Selectmen invited Borsari before them as this change has caused significant discussion around town and within the fire department, according to Selectmen Chairman Russo. While the forum was at times heated, it was largely civil. See related story for complete coverage of the forum.

Chairman of the Plympton Historical Commission Jon Wilhelmsen told Selectman that two demolition permit requests had come from owners of homes listed on Plympton’s historical homes inventory. He said that his Commission rarely dealt with such requests and has been working diligently with the homeowners to come to mutually agreeable solutions. He said he will report back to the Board. The structures are located at 3 Forest Street and 6 Cross Street.

The Board also discussed the ongoing work on their main projects for the upcoming year.

Selectman Colleen Thompson reported that she had only two people interested in volunteering for her Public Safety Building Committee and that one could only meet in the evening. The Police Chief and Fire Chief would necessarily sit in on the committee as well, and as they work during the day, scheduling has already become an issue.

Board of Health Chairman Art Morin volunteered, and Thompson realized she had the beginnings of a committee. An audience member suggested a 5 p.m. meeting time to accommodate the volunteer who could only meet in the evening.

In terms of siting the public safety building, there was some discussion when Town Coordinator Dale Pleau described parts of what had been discussed at past meetings with other town officials regarding various plans, including redesigning the current Town House campus and siting a police station there. Pleau defended the Town House campus as only hypothetical, but a logical plan.

Pleau questioned possible funding sources and whether to bring a warrant to the Annual Town Meeting next May or to call an earlier Special Town Meeting, perhaps in the fall.  Susan Ossoff, speaking as a private citizen as she is Chairman of Finance Committee, commented that any plan should go to the Annual Town Meeting for full discussion by townspeople and noted that funding mechanisms can be tricky should it go to a Special Town Meeting.  Ossoff was also concerned that even though an official committee has not been appointed, plans sound final without public input. Pleau and Thompson responded that this is the reason they are forming a committee.

Selectperson Christine Joy, who will be heading a committee to review and implement suggestions from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue report on Plympton’s finances and the manner in which it handles its money from this past Spring, said that she had only one volunteer for her committee. Joy had laid out a more than twenty point plan, and said, “We’ll divide and conquer and get moving on it…First meeting’s tomorrow at six.”

Russo told his board that he had not much yet to report on his area of focus, improving internal and external communication from and within Town House and reducing government vacancies.

Pleau told Selectmen he wants to implement a monthly department head meeting, as well as a financial team meeting. The Board is enthusiastic and will assign one selectman to attend these meetings on a rotating basis, thus avoiding an Open Meeting Law violation.

Finally, Russo reported that Plympton’s ascension to Area 58 Community Access Media is still in process, though at the final stages of the legal process. He didn’t specify any exact date for when the town will join the tri-town studio.

• The Board of Selectmen will meet at Town House in Plympton next July 27th at 6:00 p.m.

• There is an opening on the Zoning Board of Appeals. Contact Tara Morrison, Town Clerk, at (781) 585-3220 if you are interested in serving.

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Rich Goulart, Executive Director of Area 58 Community Access Media, excitedly talks about his plans for the new tri-town media studio that is set to officially come into being any day now. He bustles from room to room in his new studio, showing off the various bells and whistles of the newly renovated space.

All that is left are a few signatures and some legal loose ends as the final agreements are drawn up, according to Goulart, and the Carver-Halifax regionalized public access studio will become a three-town studio with Plympton as the third member.

Plympton will bring its public access cable money to Area 58, but it still represents only about 1/8th of the total operating budget. Carver pays about 50 percent, with Halifax representing the remainder.

As this transition occurs, the studio is transforming as well. Brand new equipment such as digital cameras, shiny Apple computers and large televisions have taken over ever corner of the (at the moment) sign-less building in North Carver.

Graphics are being finalized, signs ordered, and a new website and Facebook page developed, all in preparation.

Although by no means a shoe string operation with so much modern equipment and plenty of room, the staff of six, two full-time and four part-time workers (and several contract camera people) means that an enormous amount of work has to be done by everyone.

By law, cable companies must provide towns and cities public access television studios and equipment to the communities they serve. A surcharge for the service is collected on each cable bill, and this money must be used for public access television. As negotiated currently, the surcharge will be 4.5 percent, with .25 percent of that amount paid by Comcast.

This buys the three towns three stations each, a shared television studio, equipment, and access to the network. These resources are beyond what Plympton would normally be able to afford on its own, including recordings of meetings and events being uploaded to YouTube, and eventually live broadcasting. In the meantime, Goulart encourages the public to drop by the studio and check it out at 96 North Main Street, North Carver, 508-866-1019.  They are always willing to teach people all aspects of television production, from behind the camera to in front of it.

The Express looks forward to working with Area 58 and will keep readers up to date with on-going progress. Their online presence should be finished within a week or two. The next annual board meeting, open to the public for any questions or concerns, is  July 9 at 6:30 p.m. See photos the Plympton-Halifax Express Facebook page.

PLYMPTON – A Comcast deal that was three years in the making, was finally signed Monday night by Plympton selectmen on behalf of the town, allowing  funds which Comcast collects from its Plympton subscribers to be transferred to a Plympton cable access account and be spent to support Plympton’s share of the local access cable studio.

This action paves the way for Plympton to enter into a tri-town agreement with Carver and Halifax to join Area 58 Cable Access Media, formerly  CHAT.  At May’s annual town meeting, voters approved setting up the account.  Area 58 has been recording Plympton’s Selectmen’s and other meetings since the first of the year even though Plympton is not yet a member.

Selectmen voted to approve all appointees that were under their authority.  Chairman Mark Russo told the audience that technical issues related to computer networking and switching between different systems caused problems this year, and not miscommunication between Town House staff as was erroneously reported two weeks ago in the Express.

Russo stated that he did not want any lingering impressions to the contrary.

Linda Leddy and Rick Burnet of the Open Space Committee came before Selectmen this week.  In the beginning June, there were five votes from which Russo did not recuse himself, even though he is an abutter to the Maple Street property which has been under consideration as a possible site for a public safety building.  Both the Police Chief and Fire Chief do not like the site, but after speaking with a Commonwealth Ethics Commission attorney, out of an abundance of caution, Russo will recuse himself in future votes.  The five votes in question were rescinded and re-voted with Russo recusing himself.  None of the outcomes were changed, which were mostly related to tidying up small balances in accounts before the end of the fiscal year.

Selectmen continued to narrow their focus, defining the year’s upcoming goals and tasks.   Their newest member, Selectperson Christine Joy is especially looking for the public’s assistance in analyzing the Department of Revenue’s report on the Town’s handling of finances.  She has proposed an ad-hoc committee for that purpose and is seeking interested volunteers.

In other news:

•  Town Coordinator Dale Pleau reported he is looking at permitting software that would allow town departments and townspeople to better guide projects requiring permits from multiple departments through the process electronically.  He will report back to the board.

•  Selectmen gave the Open Space Committee permission to distribute informal questionnaires looking for “common knowledge” about the property owned by the USDA at 59 Parsonage Road. This is in addition to formal surveys that have already been completed. but this is standard according to Linda Leddy. The community at large and town departments will be solicited about what they generally know about the property.

• The Solar By-law Committee was dissolved with the thanks of the Board. Selectman Colleen Thompson was especially thanked by Russo for her hard work

Interviews, appointments and re-appointments took some some shuffling, but all were assigned by meeting’s close

Halifax Selectmen named Mel Conroy to the open position on the Finance Committee at their Tuesday night meeting.

After interviewing two candidates for the one FinCom open position at their meeting June 9, the Board interviewed its final candidate for that committee, William McAvoy, on Tuesday, June 23.

Derrick Bennet, one of the three candidates originally running for the one open position on the board, withdrew his candidacy after his interview at the June 9 meeting, leaving McAvoy and Conroy.

Selectmen seem to be working with a large talent pool for this year’s major appointed positions, and appear to be trying to find the right fit with each personality and position.

As Selectmen interviewed McAvoy, one concern was his ability to give the time necessary for a Finance Committee position. McAvoy is a busy businessman, and has numerous family obligations as well.

Conversely, he is extremely qualified, according to all members of the Board, for many committees in town and is very enthusiastic to serve. “I make time for all of my commitments,” said McAvoy.

FinCom requires members to serve the town on no other board or department, as they must recommend budgets for those boards and departments. 

Hoping that McAvoy would take the opportunity to serve the town in more than one way, for now, he was appointed to an opening on the Capital Planning Committee.

Mel Conroy was thus appointed to the open position on FinCom.

Also, the position of Building Inspector has been vacated by Selectman Thomas Millias, and the Board has hired Robert Piccirilli of Halifax as his replacement. Piccirilli is currently an assistant building inspector for the town. He has served as a Halifax employee for 15 years, and serves on several boards and committees.

Millias abstained from all interviewing or voting for this position, as his position as Building Inspector will not technically end until June 30, the end of the fiscal year.

While major appointments to committees and boards that keep the town functioning seem to be in place, the Beautification Committee, on the other hand, is in disarray. One previous member asked not to be reappointed and the committee has been expanded from three members to five, leaving three vacancies.

Furthermore, $476 left unspent from fiscal year 2015 will be transferred from the committee to the general fund if not spent by the end of fiscal year 2015, Tuesday, June 30, thus the Board acted quickly.

They interviewed Debra Scioscia for one of the new openings, and heard some ideas she had for an all-season garden that has been in the works for the front of Town Hall for some time. Scioscia was quickly appointed.

The Board also re-appointed Amy Troup Greely and Jessica Raduc as well to the committee, still leaving two vacancies available.

The final re-appointment was Maureen Rogers, to the Wage and Personnel Board.

All of the appointments and re-appointments mentioned above were unanimous.

Selectmen Troy Garron and Tom Millias wished to send a letter of encouragement to the owner of the Monponsett Street property who has made significant progress in reducing the amount of junk on the front lawn. Selectman Chairman Kim Roy agreed, if the letter wasn’t too thankful, as the property should have been kept properly in the first place, according to Roy.

Finally, the Board went into Executive Session.  The agenda listed the reason as ““Chief Broderick – ‘last drink reports,’”  yet when the Chairman called for the Executive Session with the Police Chief she stated it was for “discussions of the security of the Town.” Last drink reports, or, Place of Last Drink (PLD) reports are self-stated reports of where an individual was last served alcohol, given to police usually after being pulled over for suspected OUI.

The state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission (ABCC) keeps track of this data that is then disseminated to the various cities and towns in the Commonwealth and to the police. Selectman Garron, a retired police officer, has been vocal about the unreliability of such reports in past meetings.

It was not known at press time, after contacting the ABCC press office, the state Attorney General’s press office and the Halifax Police whether this information is considered public. It is also unknown at this time how it is related to the “security of the Town.”

Selectmen, without identifying individual offenders, but identifying individual establishments that over-served, have discussed PLD reports in the past at open meetings.

In other news:

• Debra Trotta, representing the Lyonville Tavern, was granted a weekday public entertainment license.

• The second round of treatments on both East and West Monponsett Ponds will begin on Tuesday, June 30.

Don’t forget  – because it does come a week early! –  to come out and celebrate the Fourth of July with the rest of Halifax at the 2015 edition of Halifax in Lights.

There will be plenty of fun for everyone.

On Saturday, June 27th, beginning at 6 p.m. at the HOPS playground located adjacent to the Halifax Elementary School, 464 Plymouth Street, Route 106, Halifax and surrounding towns will celebrate their patriotism with music, a balloon-animal artist, a juggler along with other vendors selling food and novelties. Raffles will also be held, promising plenty of fun for the whole family

At 9:15 p.m., the highlight of the show will begin when some of the most fabulous fireworks on the South Shore will be displayed.

Young and old alike and everybody in between are sure to enjoy this fun festival coming right up on Saturday (and again, don’t miss out– Halifax in Lights is a week before the actual Fourth of July!)

At Monday’s Selectmen’s meeting in Plympton, Debbie Grace, a Silver Lake Integrated Preschool Teacher’s Assistant who has been making rounds of the Silver Lake towns updated the Board on the progress of the privately funded regional playground conceived for the preschool.

Silver Lake Integrated Preschool (SLIP), located at Kingston Elementary School, was created in 1989 to serve the needs of the Silver Lake School District. The program has 107 students. made up of 17 families from Plympton, 17 from Halifax, and the remainder from Kingston. Many have special needs, making a safe place to play with their peers a necessity.

With students of all abilities from ages 2-5, and no proper playground for this age group on site, volunteers (both parents and teachers) recognized an opportunity to fill this need by forming a committee to raise the funds necessary to fund the project.

Approved by the Kingston Selectmen as well as the Silver Lake Regional School Board, the organizers started with a $12,000 grant from the Sampson Fund in Kingston. Originally setting a goal to raise $50,000, they raised nearly all of this in several days. The volunteers realized that they had incredible community support, as further grants and donations came in.

Setting their goals higher, they raised their budget to between $150,000-$200,000 in order to build a 2,900 square foot playground. It will be fully ADA compliant, including access ramps to the main structure and swings that can accommodate wheelchairs, even for paraplegics.

The “floor” of the playground will be made of a rubber-based material, allowing children with stability issues to use the playground– which is nearly as expensive as the playground structure itself, but necessary, according to Grace.

The latest grant the organizers applied for would add a sensory skill and dramatic play element to the structure, allowing teachers and therapists to bring lessons outside.

Although no public money is being used for the project, the playground will be open to the community outside of school hours. It will be located on the west side of Kingston Elementary School. The Selectmen enthusiastically have expressed support for the project in both Plympton and Halifax.

For more information, see “Do You Want To Build a Playground?” on Facebook, where you can find links to the project’s GoFundMe site. The playground will tentatively open Spring, 2016.

Plympton Selectmen met Monday, taking care of some new business, and tabling much of the old.

Notably, both Chairman John Russo and Selectperson Christine Joy addressed meeting decorum, as previous meetings in the past few weeks have become quite heated. Russo rarely reminds the audience of many ground rules other than encouraging a respectful environment. This night, he actually read from Massachusetts Open Meeting laws, stating outright that no one may interrupt a meeting, and that the chairperson must recognize anyone who wishes to address the board.

If someone is disruptive, the chairperson may ask that individual to leave, and if that person refuses the Chair can have him or her removed by a constable. Russo articulated that this was not optional, as this is stated explicitly in the Open Meeting law.

Russo explained that he did not want to create an environment where people were afraid to debate, but that meetings needed to be a safe setting for discussion.

Selectperson Joy reiterated much of this later on in the meeting.

Town Coordinator Dale Pleau reported to the board that he had unused sick days from Fiscal Year 2015, and that he did not want to take them now at the end of this fiscal year because he felt that he had a significant amount of work to finish up. He asked the Board to allow him to roll some or all of the days over to Fiscal Year 2016.

As he had made a similar request last year– and rolled four days into Fiscal Year 2015– the Board had not wanted to set a precedent then. The Board deliberated on what exactly to do. Pleau insisted he would take the days if the Board did not roll over some of the time, and this would amount to him working only one day over the next two weeks.

The Board allowed him to roll over three days in a 2-1 vote, over the objections of Joy, who wished to stick to Pleau’s contract with the Board– even asking Pleau why he hadn’t taken the days earlier, to which he responded that there was nowhere to go in the winter.

Russo made it clear that the Board would likely not accommodate him similarly again.

Although the Board was supposed to approve roughly 54 appointed positions at the meeting, a slight mix-up between the Town Clerk, Tara Wick, and the Selectmen’s Assistant, Kristen LaVangie required the appointments be delayed two weeks, until the next meeting on June 29, 2015.

Selectperson Joy expressed some frustration in not having more time to vet the appointees, since the current positions expire July 1, 2015. Russo affirmed that this was the first time during LaVangie’s initial year in her position that any issue had arose, and was not particularly concerned. He complimented her excellent job performance.

Joy, along with her concerns about decorum at meetings, brought some fresh thoughts to the board. One was regarding changing the agenda format into “old-business” and “new-business” sections, although Russo and Selectman Colleen Thompson did not feel very strongly about this. Russo was concerned that doing this implies that the meeting will go in the order of the agenda (which rarely happens.)

Joy also suggested adding a public forum at the end of the meeting, but Russo objected, saying that he already asks at the beginning if anyone would like to add anything to the agenda. Leaving public forums to the end may cause long discussions as the meeting is wrapping up, according to Russo.

Joy also wanted to explore changing the setup of the room, or moving rooms for the Selectmen’s meetings, as she does not like being on an elevated platform in the current meeting room and would rather be at eye-level with the rest of the audience. The Selectmen currently sit at an 8-inch raised dais. The Board agreed to try out a different setup or room during the summer to see how it works, but no vote was taken on Joy’s suggestions.

The Board approved a “micro-chip reader” to identify lost pets for the Animal Control Officer, which Russo, a practicing veterinarian, believed would cost about $300, and stated that the chip-readers are essential for finding out who pets belong to (animals can be injected with a chip under their skin to identify their owners to veterinarians and ACOs.) Joy added the stipulation that the ACO stay within the Fiscal Year 2015 budget, and the Selectmen unanimously approved the purchase.

The Selectmen continued to divide up future goals and assignments for the upcoming year, including increased regionalization, improving the Town’s website, and addressing the Department of Revenue report on Plympton’s finances.

In other news:

• Debbie Grace presented plans for the new Silver Lake Integrated Preschool playground project, which will be located in Kingston. It is entirely privately funded through grants and donations, but the project volunteers are going to each district town’s Selectmen to inform them of progress. See the article on page 1 for more information.

• The tentative hours for Town House and various boards this summer are as follows. These have changed several times; thus it may be best to call ahead if you have timely or pressing business with the Town:

Selectmen’s Meetings:

Every other Monday evening, 6 p.m. (General Schedule to follow through the Summer: June 29, July 13, July 27, August 10 and August 24 unless otherwise posted.)

Administrative Office Hours:

Assessors, Selectmen, Treasurer/Collector, and Town Clerk

Monday through Thursday 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Every other Monday evening from 6 to 8 p.m. (General Schedule to follow through the Summer: June 29, July 13, July 27, August 10 and August 24.)

Board of Health:

Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 2  p.m.

Monday Evening from 6 to 8 p.m. (General Schedule to follow through the Summer: June 29, July 13, July 27, August 10, and August 24.)

Building Department:

EVERY Monday evening 6 to 8 p.m. (including Building, Electrical, Plumbing Inspectors and Zoning Enforcement Officer.)

Tuesday through Thursday 2 to 5 p.m.

ALL OTHER COMMITTEES AND BOARDS POST MEETINGS ACCORDING TO THE STATE OPEN MEETING LAW REQUIREMENTS 48 HOURS NOTICE IN ADVANCE.

Tuesday, June 9, Halifax Health Agent Cathleen Drinan and Dan Daly, of the Plymouth County Mosquito Control Board, were guest speakers at the monthly TRIAD meeting chaired by Ken Vinton.

A perennial topic this time of year, the two speakers recommend a risk-averse, prevention-based approach for senior citizens when it comes to mosquitos.

As many as 52 species exist in Massachusetts, but only a dozen or so carry the deadly diseases Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) and West Nile Virus.

Both can be deadly, although EEE tends to make headlines as it makes all people sicker; West Nile Virus is something one could have had and never known it, but it can be much worse (or fatal) with older people and symptoms can be vague.

In order to fight mosquitos, the state does some aerial spraying. This is ineffective in swampy areas, though, and as mosquitos are attracted to standing water for breeding, residents can control their own properties by making sure any standing water areas, such as bird baths, outdoor furniture, any place where a puddle can sit for several days after rain, are emptied.

Another line of defense is using mosquito repellents. The first rule to using repellents properly is to follow the instructions on the label. It is important to look for an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registration number on the product, which means that it has been tested for efficacy. “Natural” products, if they have no registration number, may never been have tested scientifically.

Some common products, which can be applied to the skin or clothing, include as their main repellent ingredient DEET, permethrin, IR3535, picaridin, as well as oil of lemon eucalyptus. A few of these are effective against ticks as well, but read the labels well to be sure.

Wearing long sleeves in the evening, tucking your pants into your socks, even applying a product to a tube sock with the closed end cut off of the sock and pulling it over your clothes can be helpful.

One note: The federal EPA does not recommend mixing sunscreen with any mosquito repellant. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health does not issue any warning.

A presentation on ticks that occurred Tuesday at 2 p.m. will be repeated on Monday, June 15 at 6:30 p.m., at the Holmes Public Library, Route 106, Halifax.  That program is aimed at the general public, not just the senior population and is sponsored by the Halifax Board of Health and the Norwell Visiting Nurse Association.  All are encouraged to attend.