Nine-year Halifax Selectman and longtime town volunteer Kim Roy will complete her term as selectman and move to Hull in June. (Photo by Abram Neal)

HALIFAX — “When my term expires in May … so will my service to the town,” said Kim Roy, the nine-year Halifax Selectman and town volunteer. She told the Express on Tuesday, shortly after she made the stunning announcement to town department heads.

Roy, a Quincy native who came to Halifax in 1993, will move to Hull with her husband, Marc, in June. She said she is as surprised as many in town at the news, where she has become a fixture on numerous boards and committees.

“It’s only been two weeks since I made the decision,” she said, stifling back tears. “It’s happening so fast. I don’t even know the reason I’m doing it.”

Roy brought up her four sons in town. “It’s a wonderful town to raise a family. You know everyone in Halifax.”

Selectman Tom Millias joked that Marc lets her do whatever she wants whenever she wants.

Roy studied at UMass Boston but did not complete her degree. “It’s one of my biggest regrets. I think it’s the one thing that’s held me back from running for higher office.”

But she said she loved working and began as a teller at the former Boston Five Cents Savings Bank. She quickly moved her way up the corporate ladder, eventually becoming a vice president, overseeing collections operations for the bank with a staff of about 45 working for her.

Not wanting to be a typical collections agent, Roy worked to help people in financial trouble, she said, even developing budgets for them. “I once received flowers from someone in pre-foreclosure.”

She later went on to sell real estate, but, “I was a terrible real estate agent,” she said.

She and Marc next bought a home in the heart of Halifax, within walking distance of Town Hall and across from the elementary school. Her volunteer life began after she had her first son. She said that in a way it was a distraction from a busy home life.

Her service to both the town and committees and associations for the state is nothing short of prolific.

Before serving on the Board of Selectmen in Halifax, Roy served on the Finance Committee for eight years, and many search committees for staff, including superintendents and principals for Silver Lake and the Halifax Elementary School. She was also a member of a study committee that would have regionalized Silver Lake from K-12, which, in her own words, was, “an epic fail.”

She was a member of the Government Study Committee, the Fire Study Committee and is a current member of the Capital Planning Committee and Wage and Personnel Board. She has served as the selectmen’s emergency management liaison, planning for storms and working at the shelter during emergencies.

“I could write a book just on that,” Roy said. “Even though I was across the street from my house, I wasn’t with my family.”

“Kim does so much for our town. She’s on so many boards and committees, but what stands out to me is that we have a hard time finding volunteers for the shelter. Kim stays overnight, sometimes the only one there, serving meals, changing diapers and doing whatever it takes to get the job done,” said Fire Chief Jason Viveiros.

At the state level, Roy was on the board of directors for the Massachusetts Municipal Association for eight years, appointed by Governor Patrick to the Local Government Advisory Commission for six years, president of the Massachusetts Association of Town Finance Committees, president of the Massachusetts Selectmen’s Association and is currently on the board of directors of the Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Association, for the last five years.

As part of her statewide volunteering, she once had the opportunity to drive Governor Michael Dukakis home, a highlight to her, because “subway Mike” needed a ride.

Roy is a world traveler, having been everywhere from Iceland to Morocco, and shares her travels on social media.

She has never lived by the beach, she said, but is looking forward to it and has a healthy respect for the ocean. “Jaws changed my life. You won’t find me in the water deeper than my knees,” she said, half-seriously.

Roy has been no stranger to the ups and downs of life and exudes a “seize-the-day” attitude toward all of her undertakings. “People don’t understand how fleeting life is,” she said.

Whether talking about her struggles, or the latest news around Halifax, Roy said she finds the humor in everything in life, and her outlook and laugh are infectious to those who know her.

“It’s constantly in play when she’s in the room. She’s going to missed. I’m going to miss her,” said Millias.

“I’m in tears,” said Selectman Troy Garron. “I’ll remember Kim most for dog hearings. She felt strongly about protecting the public. She was, and is, steadfast, and did her homework, never asking a question that she had the answer to. She’s good people, like family.”

Roy has a reputation of being cautious with the taxpayer’s dime, but she says she is an independent (unenrolled), who is neither a Democrat or a Republican and has brought an independent perspective to the job of selectman.

Roy said it frustrates her when people assume things.

“I want people to understand where I’m coming from,” she said.

Roy said she won’t get involved in politics in Hull, despite already getting encouragement in that direction from others in public life on the South Shore.

“I don’t think I could ever remake the magic [of Halifax],” she said, barely able to get the words out through tears.

“It’s been awesome … I got back more than I ever gave.”

A lawyer for Robert Tinkham, Jr. in Brockton Superior Court Monday, Jan. 14, 2019 argues for several civil charges against the Plympton Health Agent to be dismissed. (Photo by Abram Neal)

BROCKTON — Robert Tinkham, Jr., the current Plympton Health Agent, was in Brockton Superior Court Monday, Jan. 14, with his Plymouth and Brockton-based attorney, John Fink, of Sims & Sims, LLP, fighting to have five of nine counts of a civil lawsuit brought against him for an alleged 20-year fraud dismissed.  He also filed a request to dismiss a motion to compel turning over financial documents related to the lawsuit, citing the high cost of making copies.

Superior Court Judge Robert Cosgrove, who stood at the elevated dais throughout most of the proceedings and frequently asked questions of the four attorneys present, heard the motions and took them under advisement.

Fink’s arguments suggested that the complaint, which had been amended, was not properly filed and failed to state a claim. He also argued that SEMASS, a waste-to-energy recycling company that contracted with the district should have been named as a party in the lawsuit. Lawyers for the district, represented by public sector law firm KP Law, disagreed.

The attorneys also disagreed about the manner in which district financial records could be made available to Fink. Fink said he wanted the records delivered to his office as the cost, which he said was in the thousands of dollars for copying the five large “responsive” documents he seeks would be prohibitive to Tinkham.

Waste district attorneys argued that handing over the documents in this manner would be unprecedented, as they are public documents and need to be maintained in a “chain of custody.”

The waste district’s attorneys said they offered to make the documents available to Fink for his review at a public office so that he would not have to have them copied at great expense, something they say they offered as early as Sept. 14, 2018.

Cosgrove even hypothetically suggested ordering a copier to be “shipped down” to the public office for Fink’s use, as Fink argued that one wasn’t available for him to use. This did not satisfy Fink.

Tinkham, of Carver, is accused of misappropriating $838,458.22 from the Carver, Marion and Wareham Regional Refuse Disposal District along with two alleged co-conspirators, Ray Pickles, the former Executive Director of the district, and his wife Diane Bondi-Pickles, a licensed real-estate agent. Of that amount, the district accuses Tinkham individually of converting over $260,000 for personal use.

Tinkham, previously worked as the Carver Health Agent, and, in that capacity, served as Carver’s representative to, and, at times, chairman of the committee overseeing the waste district, according to court records.

“Defendant Robert Tinkham, former chairman of the District’s governing committee and duly appointed representative of the Town of Carver, participated in this scheme by conspiring with the other defendants to install co-defendant Ray E. Pickles as the District’s executive director and then by presenting Pickles with numerous fake-claims over many years for payment under the guise of providing landfill inspection and other services. Notwithstanding these claims, Defendant Tinkham did not provide any services to the District and instead he abused his position of trust and confidence to defraud the District, a public entity, of more than $260,000,” court records said.

While the matter is currently a civil action in which the waste district is attempting to recover money allegedly defrauded from the taxpayers of Carver, Marion and Wareham, the Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General, an agency which investigates suspected fraud, waste and abuse in the use of public funds and public property is investigating, according to records previously obtained by the Express.

The OIG is a non-prosecutorial agency that refers investigations to prosecutorial agencies at the state and federal level.

An attorney for Bondi-Pickles, who was not present, also argued a motion against her to dismiss the lawsuit in its entirety at the same hearing. Cosgrove took that motion under advisement, as well.

Russell Keirstead was before the Plympton Board of Selectmen attempting to sell property that the town has a right-of-first-refusal to. (Photo by Abram Neal)

PLYMPTON — Selectman Chairman John Traynor said he thinks that the town is operating too many vehicles and Town Administrator Elizabeth Dennehy disagreed. The at times tense discussion came up at the Monday, Jan. 7, Plympton Board of Selectmen’s meeting.

Two vehicles too many?

Two vehicles operated by the town, a 2011 Ford Taurus and a 2012 SUV, shared between the Town Administrator, Assessors and even at times the Police and Fire Departments are getting older and have significant number of miles on them, said Dennehy.

“I don’t see the need for the Taurus … two cars to repair, register, insure, it doesn’t make sense to me,” said Traynor.

At the times when there are competing needs for a vehicle, Traynor suggested employees put in for mileage on personal vehicles, a solution that Dennehy didn’t find tenable.

“I’m not going to nickel-and-dime the town [for miles],” she said, noting that putting in for mileage is an involved process involving filling out vendor forms, and expensive to the town.”

Traynor insisted that he sees the vehicles remain parked in front of the Town House, while Dennehy argued that they are in heavy use.

Dennehy explained that she did not believe that selling a vehicle, possibly the older Ford Taurus, would create much savings for the town, either through insurance because of the way rates are set for the town, or because the procurement process would take up so much time and the older vehicles would have such little value.

“So if we deleted that from our insurance policy the insurance policy wouldn’t go down one iota?” asked Traynor. The answer from Dennehy was no.

“So that’s where you and I have a difference of opinion,” said Dennehy. She added that all things considered, the town might get a few hundred dollars for working vehicles that are being used by the town.

“I don’t think that two vehicles are too many for a town the size of Plympton,” said Dennehy.

Russel Keirstead Right of First Refusal

The board, despite their best efforts to move the process along for Russell Keirstead, of Crescent Street, could not accommodate a Friday closing date on a parcel of his Chapter 61A property that he is attempting to sell as a 1.5-acre buildable lot. The town has the right of first refusal on the property because in order to be sold it must come out of the tax-saving state program.

Keirstead said he thought this would be a “three-minute” process before the board, but because of a strict protocol set up by the board for “chapter property,” a public hearing has to be advertised and scheduled so that the public has an opportunity to comment on the land sale. The hearing was set for the next Selectmen’s meeting, Jan. 28.

Keirstead was visibly disappointed that his deadlines would not be met, although he said he was eager to take whatever steps were necessary to properly sell the lot.

Budget Discussions

The board began to discuss their requests for the upcoming FY’20 budget, and Dennehy noted that the Finance Committee was asking boards and departments to estimate their budgetary needs very accurately, and not allow excess for unexpected items.  She said that the FinCom would rather deal with unexpected extras that come up on a case by case basis via the transfer request process.

Selectmen are asking for a legal budget of over $10,000 more than last year, citing ongoing litigation the town is engaged in, including at least one case in federal court where a Marshfield cellphone infrastructure company is suing the Zoning Board of Appeals for refusing them variances to build a cellphone tower on a parcel that is not zoned for the purpose.

In Other News

• Scott Varley was appointed Wiring Inspector to replace the late Robert Karling.

• The board will next meet Monday, Jan. 28, 2019, at 6 p.m. in the Large Meeting Room of Town House.

Supreme Judicial Court Justice Kimberly Budd (Courtesy photo)

Halifax attorney Thomas J. Yelverton was suspended from the practice of law for three months Nov. 5, 2018, by the Supreme Judicial Court for Suffolk County after a lengthy investigation by the Office of Bar Counsel (OBC), according to a summary of the order of the court available from the Board of Bar Overseers (BBO) of the Supreme Judicial Court and the order of the court itself.

The suspension stems from when Yelverton was retained in November 2016 to handle the estate of a client’s mother. The client provided Yelverton with a copy of a will and other information needed to handle the estate. In November or December 2016, the client wrote a check to Yelverton for $1,000 as a retainer. On Feb. 27, 2017, the client met with Yelverton, signed forms at his request, and gave the attorney an original will and a replacement check for $1,000, the report stated.

Yelverton never provided his client with a written contract for representing the client and for the fees and expenses the client would be responsible for, according to the BBO.

In early March 2017, Yelverton stopped communicating with the client despite receiving repeated requests for information, according to court documents. On April 18, 2017, the client requested an update and the return of all files if the attorney was unable to move forward with handling the estate.

Yelverton never responded and did not complete the work for which he was hired in any substantive way. When he was notified that the OBC was investigating in November 2017, Yelverton returned the original will to the client, stated the report.

Yelverton failed to respond to bar counsel’s requests for information in the matter.

On Jan. 29, 2018, Yelverton was served with a subpoena issued by the BBO requiring him to appear, testify and produce records at the OBC concerning the matter. He never appeared, according to the board.

Yelverton was administratively suspended from the practice of law Feb. 26, 2018, for his failure to cooperate with the investigation. He also failed to comply with the provisions of the administrative suspension.

The BBO asserted that Yelverton broke the rules of professional conduct for attorneys through his actions.

On May 29, 2018, an attorney for the OBC began disciplinary proceedings by filing a petition for discipline with BBO. Yelverton did not participate in the disciplinary proceedings and was defaulted.

Then, on Oct. 11, 2018, the BBO voted to recommend that Yelverton be suspended from the practice of law for three months, the report stated.

Finally, Judge Kimberly Budd, Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, agreed, ordering the three-month suspension.

According to her order, he is required to file notice of his suspension with each court he has a matter before, inform all clients he has been suspended, refund any unearned fees and resign appointments with which he has a fiduciary role (such as a guardian or executor).

The OBC, an independent administrative body, investigates reports of attorney misconduct. When the OBC concludes that an attorney has engaged in unethical conduct under the Massachusetts Rules of Professional Conduct, the office will bring charges before the BBO, another independent administrative body, for adjudication. When misconduct is found, the board either imposes discipline or, as in this case, recommends to the Supreme Judicial Court that it impose discipline.

Yelverton had no prior misconduct, stated the report. His suspension ends in February, and his return to the practice of law is conditional, according to the court order.