Allen Ingram
Express correspondent
The Kingston School Committee held an emergency meeting Monday night, July 15, to reorganize and discuss filling a vacancy after the unexpected resignation of member Tim Lewis last Friday, July 12.
“It was very unexpected. I’m not sure why; I haven’t spoken to him,” said newly-elected Chairperson Megan Cannon about Lewis’s sudden departure.
With only four members remaining, the committee grappled with how to fill the vacancy. Superintendent Dr. Jill Proulx explained they should follow town procedures, which involve the Board of Selectmen.
“It’s always ideal to fill the position as quickly as possible because you want to have a full slate of representatives for the School Committee,” Proulx said. “I think the more difficult part of this will be finding a time when the Board of Selectmen and members of the School Committee can meet in the summer.”
Committee member Jeanne Coleman stressed the need for a clear, fair application process, citing issues with past appointments.
“I just hope the posting is clearer than the last time, that if there’s a deadline that it’s honored, so that it’s fair for everyone that is interested,” Coleman said.
The committee elected new leadership, with Megan Cannon as Chairperson, Tricia Arieta as Vice-Chair, and Michael Shekane as Secretary. They also reassigned subcommittee roles, strategically leaving some positions open for the future appointee.
“Should we continue going through the rest of these subcommittees, or should we wait for the fifth member?” Shekane asked. “Because right now they don’t have anything at this point. They might be eager to go do something.”
Ultimately, the committee filled most positions but left openings on the Pilgrim Area Collaborative, Safety Subcommittee, and Technology Subcommittee.
The timing of Lewis’s resignation added complexity, as a vote on a new Assistant Superintendent’s contract was scheduled for later that evening. The committee ensured Kingston would have proper representation for that vote.
As the emergency session wrapped up, Cannon thanked her colleagues for their flexibility:
“Thank you very much, everybody, for your time. Tricia, thank you. I know you’re away, so I really appreciate you being available this evening.”

Town Clerk Tara Shaw told Selectmen Monday afternoon, July 8, that she will be taking balloting in Plympton into the 21st century, retiring the old oaken ballot box, the hand-counted paper ballots and the old hands that counted them, to get a new electronic counting machine, by one of two vendors approved by the state, to take its place.
Selectman chairman John Traynor asked if there was any way possible to continue with the antique “Perfection” brand mechanical ballot box. Shaw took a deep breath, sighed, and said, “No.” She then told of the changes in election law and its complexities, including early voting, “paper balloting has become a lot trickier to manage,” she said.
There are two state approved manufacturers of these electronic tabulators and the vendor that Shaw favors has more than 600 of these machines in the state. Shaw said that pre-election preparations are very time-consuming and the tabulator manufacturer will prepare the tabulators before they are even delivered, pre-programmed with information specific to Plympton, so they are ready to go. Shaw said that she has confidence in this vendor.
She spoke of the cost-saving aspect of moving away from paper ballots, including police details and ballot counters. The accuracy of the tabulator count has been verified in many towns that use this machine and “there has never been a change in doing a recount.” As for security, “There’s a lot more security with the ballots themselves … We have to store them for 22 months and we were just using cardboard boxes and labeling them. We do put seals on them but these are election-approved seals that go on the ballot boxes.” Shaw said that she has been able to purchase from the company new secure ballot boxes using funds from the end of the fiscal year budget that have the proper seals – like zip ties. “In terms of efficiency and cost savings it’s so much different.”
Shaw said she would like to bring the ballot box itself to the school at the beginning of the school year and have children be exposed to the election process and let them actually use the ballot box.
The Perfection brand ballot box was manufactured in 1926, and is serviced regularly by a horologist, or watch repairman, to keep it running. There’s just so much more efficiency with the tabulator, Shaw said she is looking to purchase two machines, one that would be set up for early election votes, and the other for election day votes. Once early voting is complete, that tabulator would become a back-up for election day.
Traynor asked, “What kind of money are we talking about?” Shaw said she has $12,879 in grant funds and would need $785.25 to cover two complete machines. Shaw said she expects to receive an additional $1400 more from the state that covered mandatory election hours in March. “So it’s completely covered.” Traynor asked about a maintenance contract, and Shaw answered that once the 2-year warranty on each machine has passed, there is an annual maintenance fee of $350.
Selectman Mark Russo asked for a cost comparison and Shaw said that it’s hard to quantify, but last election in March the town paid $1900 to the counters. “We wouldn’t have counters anymore.” If there’s a write-in on a ballot, the machine kicks that ballot into a separate compartment and all they have to do is count just the write-in. “The rest of the ballot is counted by the LHS DVA 110 image cast vote tabulator.”
Russo continued that he doesn’t want to be a stick in the mud, and supposed that “we’re going to have to go ahead with this, assuming my colleagues want to, I sort of hate that we’re gong to lose the ooo and people that see that old machine for the first time invariably are like, “Wow!” Shaw said that she would keep it out there so people can see it. “You can do whatever you want with it. What do you want to do with it?” Russo continued, “You know it’s one small piece but another piece of Plympton’s kind of oldness and traditionalness and uniqueness that I hate to lose.” Shaw answered that she’d still try to keep it as traditional as possible, and would still ring the bell for first-time voters.
The Perfection ballot machine is 98 years old and Shaw spoke about having a “retirement party” for the machine.
Traynor said he would like to bring back the Projects and Priorities list, originally called the “Parking Lot”. As things came forward, they would be put on the list.
The Affordable Housing Plan, developed by Rihanna Duggan of the Old Colony Planning Council, will be addressed at the 10-Minute Briefing at the Library on Saturday, July 20. Town Administrator Liz Dennehy told selectmen, “They are looking to come to one of Plympton’s August meetings to present the final draft of the plan and it’s significant mainly because aside from setting out goals for creating affordable housing opportunities, it also keeps us eligible for certain types of state grant funds.
Traynor said he had just gotten an opportunity to glance at the proposal, but it’s very professional looking. He also said he had seen some of the flyers they are going to have for the meeting July 20 at the Library, and they look good.
Traynor said he has been looking into town-owned land possibilities for affordable housing. So far, there hasn’t been anything that would work but would like to go forward with something if we can find a piece of land that the town owns that makes sense. Russo joined in saying that the ideal would be a “large chunk of land that could be multi-use affordable housing, farming, open space preservation, a public well, and we’re keeping our eye out for that. Sooner or later something like that will show up, there is grant money available for that kind of stuff. There’s CPA money; so we keep looking and kind of keeping our powder dry because someday that opportunity is going to arise. There’s actually one thing in the fire now and we’ll see how that goes over the next few months.”
Next on the agenda was to explore the process for registering accessory dwelling units. Traynor continued saying that the topic came up at the affordable housing meeting – the past meeting with Rihanna of OCPC where it wasn’t clear whether or not accessory dwelling units would qualify as low income housing. “Do they count towards the 10% that we’re supposed to get to? I think this is something we need the assessors to take a look at.” Dennehy said that she would look into it. On the surface, she said, that she didn’t think they would make it as defined by what the sate calls SHI or Subsidized Housing Inventory. “Kind of an interesting question. Maybe we can pass it on to the assessors.”
Russo stated that he wants the town to do a better job of making folks aware of the benefits of the Accessory Dwelling Units that can be used for children, parents, in-laws, or other people in need of housing. Russo continued that we have about $150,000 dedicated to housing. He furthered that he knows there are people out there – architects of small houses of ADU-type units, and builders who have stock plans to do this. He also questioned whether we could leverage CPA money for other grants and/or making connections with these guys so town folk could have some support in using the ADU by-law to the best benefit.
Traynor agreed, and said he favors using the library to reach people.
He also brought up the number of committees – 120-130 positions on committees. He is looking for a way to included photos of the members on the town website, a picture of each member. Traynor has put that on his agenda.