HALIFAX — Voters at Special Town Meeting on Tuesday Feb. 17 nixed a $619,000 capital improvement package for the Silver Lake campus, rejected a $121,250 request by cemetery commissioners to purchase 10 acres of farmland at Hayward and Franklin streets, and approved a $27,937 budget transfer to fund a collective bargaining agreement with the police patrolmen’s union.

By a voice vote, Halifax Special Town Meeting rejected the $619,000 Silver Lake plan, with some “yes” votes, but many more “no” votes.

On Jan. 8, the Silver Lake Regional School Committee voted to amend this fiscal year’s budget to fund the $619,000 capital plan, drawing on the district’s $1.1-million is excess and deficiency or free cash funds.

The measure would not alter assessments to Halifax, Kingston or Plympton. However, voters at Town Meeting in each town may vote to affirm, reduce or reject the budget amendment.

If Town Meeting in two of the three towns approve the measure, it stands. If Town Meeting does not act, the measure is deemed to be approved by that town.

Kingston did not schedule a Town Meeting to deal with the $619,000 Silver Lake plan, therefore it is deemed approved by that town. Special Town Meeting in Halifax on Tuesday rejected the measure. Voters at Special Town Meeting in Plympton Friday night, Feb. 20, will meet at 7 p.m. at the Town House to discuss the Silver Lake plan and cast the deciding vote.

A number of Halifax and Plympton firefighters will graduate from the Plymouth County Training Council Firefighter 1 and Firefighter 2 programs, during a ceremony to be held on Thursday, Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m. at the Duxbury Senior Center, 10 Mayflower Road in Duxbury.

The Halifax graduates are Adam Flaherty, Derek Coveney, Shamus Ricciarelli, Heather Littlefield, David Bradshaw, Richard Ferguson and Michael McDonald.

All seven graduates are trained EMTs who will be firefighter-EMTs in Halifax. Two of them are already on staff as EMTs, and the other five will fill new positions. Littlefield is a paramedic. All seven positions are on the call department, said Halifax Fire Chief Jason Viveiros.

“They’ve shown an incredible amount of dedication to it,” he said.

The Plympton graduates are Fire Lt. Robert Law and firefighter-EMT Brian Gray.

Gray is a promising young man who has been in EMS for five or six years and a Plympton call firefighter for more than three years. Law has 26 years of experience in EMS and has been a paramedic for 16 years. He is a full-time Plympton firefighter, the only full-timer in the fire department other than the chief, and is in his second year in Plympton, said Plympton Fire Chief Warren Borsari.

“This is a great program where these guys went to. I’m very proud of them,” he said.

Viveiros said the program started on Sept. 23 and ends Feb. 12.

“It covers all of the basic skills needed for firefighting,” he said.

Borsari said that for more than five months, firefighters took classes for two nights a week and on weekends.

The Firefighter 1 program covers the essentials of firefighting, and the Firefighter 2 program covers more advanced material, including hazardous materials response and motor vehicle extrications, he said.

“It’s the same as the Massachusetts Fire Academy in Stow. It’s the same syllabus, the same criteria. It’s done for call fire departments statewide,” he said. “It’s a huge course.”

PLYMPTON — Selectmen on Monday Feb. 2 voted 3-0 to call for a Special Town Meeting, to be held on Friday, Feb. 20 at the Plympton Town House at 7 p.m.

Voters will consider one warrant article, to affirm or deny a $619,000 capital needs package requested by the Silver Lake regional school district.

On Jan. 8, the regional school committee approved the measure, an amendment to this fiscal year’s budget that draws from the district’s $1.1-million in excess and deficiency or free cash funds in order to pay for long-term security, building, grounds and equipment needs.

The budget amendment does not affect assessments to the three towns. However, voters at Town Meeting sessions may vote to affirm or deny the measure. If Town Meeting in two of the three towns affirms the measure, it is passed. If Town Meeting takes no action within 45 days of the Jan. 8 School Committee vote, the budget amendment is deemed passed.

Special Town Meeting in Halifax will consider the measure on Tuesday Feb. 17.

Last July, Pembroke paid Silver Lake $917,000 to settle a dispute over retiree health care costs.

Plympton Selectman John Henry said Plympton, Halifax and Kingston paid to cover those costs, and the towns should be reimbursed now that Pembroke has settled.

“The controversy is over whose money it is, what should be done with the money we got from Pembroke for the settlement. We feel it should be the taxpayers who decide, not the School Committee,” he said.

Henry said there are other needs in Plympton that need funding.

“It’s our public safety building or buildings,” he said.

Henry said the Silver Lake school district is proposing a draft budget that would increase spending by 5.29-percent in the fiscal year that will start on July 1.

The Plympton School Committee has a draft budget that would increase spending by 8.4-percent, which includes increases in special education spending, he said.

“There’s a lot going on with the towns. We just can’t spend willy-nilly,” he said.

Town Coordinator Dale Pleau said selectmen had no choice but to schedule a Friday night Town Meeting session in order to satisfy the 45-day action deadline after the Jan. 8 School Committee vote, and a 14-day warrant posting limit before Town Meeting convenes.

“You really don’t have any alternative,” he said.

This past week’s blizzard dumped more than a foot of windswept snow, but the power stayed on for the most part and that kept people in their homes, Plympton and Halifax officials said.

Plympton Fire Chief Warren Borsari said that looking back Wednesday afternoon, the storm was fairly uneventful.

Borsari said there was a lot of snow, high winds, and a couple of small power outages. One of the outages affected the police and fire stations.

There were fewer than 10 calls during the storm, for medical calls, investigations, sparking wires and trees down, he said.

“It was a lot of snow, but nothing like the Nemo storm we had in ’13. That was bad news,” he said.

The storm in 2013 had most or all of the roads in Plympton blocked, and Plympton firefighters responded to a house fire during that storm, rushing up a hill and putting the fire out using hand tools. The driveway was unplowed, and blocked by thick pine trees that had fallen. Firefighters saved the house that day. “A big save. I’m proud of that,” Borsari said.

This past week, fire and police did wellness checks on residents and opened a warming center at the Plympton Town House at 7 a.m. on Tuesday, but closed it at 7 p.m. because nobody stopped by, he said.

“It’s a hardy bunch here in Plympton,” he said. “They’re pretty well self-sufficient, pretty well experienced.”

Borsari said a few people showed up at the regional shelter at Silver Lake Regional High School in Kingston, which was open for 24 hours.

Plympton sent personnel to help staff the shelter, and Kingston had some power outages for a few hours as well, he said.

“Not bad. We fared very well,” he said.

Borsari said people were good with respecting the travel ban put in place by Gov. Charlie Baker. In the past, people did not respect such bans, the chief said.

“That was very helpful to us. People get into trouble, then we have to go get them,” he said.

Halifax Selectman Kim Roy said shelter volunteers, retired police chief Michael Manoogian, Police Chief Edward Broderick and Fire Chief Jason Viveiros all did a good job with the storm response.

“They did a tremendous job just preparing,” she said.

Roy said there were not a lot of trees down and no power outages. Four people did visit the shelter, she said.

Walmart donated $260 worth of supplies and food for the shelter, and was generally available for the town, she said.

Broderick said the police department was not continuously plowed out during the storm, and as a result, it was hard getting in and out, a dispatcher got stuck in the snow, and police officers had to shovel and move cars around.

“Our driveway plowing has been an issue since I’ve been there,” he said.

All Halifax, Kingston, Plympton and Silver Lake schools were closed on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday due to unsafe road and sidewalk conditions.

The Silver Lake school board meeting scheduled for Thursday night was canceled.

Viveiros the storm was the first opportunity for Halifax to test at least past of the town’s emergency management plan.

In the past, Halifax tried to run a town shelter, but was not well suited to do so because of staffing issues, he said.

The town opened a warming center at the Halifax Elementary School, and worked with Halifax and Kingston to open, operate and staff a regional shelter at Silver Lake Regional High School.

The goal is to not house people for more than 12 to 24 hours in a warming center, but to transport them after a longer stay at the center to the regional shelter, he said.

Viveiros said Halifax took four elderly residents to the shelter, picking up some of them with the ambulance. They stayed at the Halifax Elementary School warming center Monday night, then were taken by bus Tuesday morning to the Silver Lake shelter. The shelter closed at 8 a.m. Wednesday, he said.

Halifax utilized the town’s CERT team. CERT stands for Community Emergency Response Team. CERT volunteers manned the warming center and shelter, provided transportation, and manned the emergency operations center at the police station, he said.

Viveiros said the manager of the Halifax Walmart called the town three times to let volunteers come into the store, take food and supplies for the warming center, and to consider it a donation.

Halifax Fire brought in extra staff. They responded to mostly routine calls. The chief said there is a concern during storms because ambulances take twice as long to take patients to the hospital and return to the station. Extra manpower is needed for medical calls during storms to help move someone from a house to a stretcher to an ambulance, and responders might need to shovel out snow, Viveiros said.

“I was glad we were able to test out our emergency management plan, our sheltering plan. Everything went very well. The cooperation between the three towns was great,” he said.

HALIFAX — Voters at a Special Town Meeting to be held Tuesday, Feb. 17 will be asked to affirm or deny a capital improvements package for the Silver Lake regional school district, and to purchase farmland at Hayward and Franklin streets to use as a cemetery.

Selectmen on Wednesday Jan. 28 voted 3-0 to call for Feb. 17 the Special Town Meeting, which will start at 7:30 p.m. at the Halifax Elementary School, insert five articles into the meeting warrant, and close the warrant.

On Jan. 8, the Silver Lake School Committee approved a $619,000 capital needs package, funding it in this year’s budget by drawing from the district’s $1.1-million in excess and deficiency or free cash funds.

“Perfectly legal,” said Town Administrator Charlie Seelig of the school board’s vote.

However, Seelig said, voters acting at Town Meeting sessions in Halifax, Kingston and Plympton may vote to affirm or deny the measure, under a state law that governs Town Meeting reatification of school board amendments made to current year budgets.

If two out of three towns vote to affirm the budget amendment, then it will stand. If two towns vote no, it will fail. If a town does not schedule a Town Meeting to take place within 45 days of a school board vote to amend a current year budget, the amendment is deemed to be approved, he said.

Selectman Kim Roy said voters at Town Meeting should get the opportunity to act on the amendment, which is just like any other appropriation.

“I feel like we’re obligated to do it,” she said.

Voters on Feb. 17 will also be asked to raise some $120,000 to purchase 10 acres of farmland at Hayward and Franklin streets.

There is a purchase and sale agreement for the property, which has been exempted from paying property taxes under a state law for agricultural use. Under the law, the town gets the first right of refusal to purchase the property.

Seelig said half of the property’s 10 acres are wetlands or in a wetlands buffer zone.

Halifax could draw from $114,000 in funds from the sale of lots and graves, he said.

Voters will also be asked to accept an additional $135,469 in state Chapter 90 highway aid, after Gov. Charlie Baker indicated he would release an additional $100-million in Chapter 90 aid that had been approved by the state Legislature but withheld by former governor Deval Patrick.

Special Town Meeting will also consider an article to approve a police patrolmen’s contract, which includes new provisions and an amount of money to be funded.

Voters will also be asked to consider using an administrative fee to fund a police detail account to avoid payment delays to detail officers.

Seelig said the measure would put money in the pot and establish a base. The practice now is for detail officers to be paid when the town gets paid by whoever orders a police detail.
Haliifax could put some $8,000 up front into the account to get it started, or let the administrative fees accumulate, he said.

“We’re going to have to prime the pump to do that,” he said.

HALIFAX — Selectmen, who act as the town’s licensing authority, voted to allow the Halifax Gold & Silver Coin Shop to continue to do business at 272 Plymouth St. until the business’s license expires on April 30, as long as there are no more complaints or infractions.

The business must cooperate with police and use a system of getting the identifications of all people selling goods to the shop and getting color photos of all goods sold. It must also comply with zoning regulations governing the display of a sandwich sign in front of the shop.

Selectmen on Wednesday Jan. 28 voted, 2-1, to warn the Halifax Gold & Silver Coin Shop after a disciplinary hearing.

Selectmen Troy Garron and Michael Schleiff voted for the measure. Selectman Kim Roy voted against it, and said she favored terminating the business’s license.

Police Chief Edward Broderick said a couple of incidents led up to the need for a hearing.

Broderick said Officer Robert McDonnell checks with the shop every week.

Police speak with shop owner Matthew Chiaramonte, and most of the time, it’s great. However, every few weeks, there seems to be a lapse in the shop’s operations. Every couple of months, there needs to be a reminder to do something, usually different things. For instance, the last few times, the photographs have not been color photographs, Broderick said.

“It’s been a challenge, to be honest with you,” he said. “It’s little things like that that we have to keep doing on a constant basis.”

On Dec. 11, McDonnell said Police Sgt. Patrick Sterling said there was a call reporting a break-in and jewelry stolen from a house. Sterling gave McDonnell a list of the stolen items, and the names of people who might try to sell them. McDonnell spoke with a female worker at the Halifax Gold & Silver Coin Shop, who indicated she had not seen the items. Two hours later, Sterling met him at the shop, and the items were there. The woman was not there, but Chiaramonte was there, and he indicated that the shop did not log the sale of the items, which turned out to be stolen, because the person who sold them was a repeat customer.

Roy said Chiaramonte agreed to track people selling items and items sold and use a specific program to do so.

There are a lot of break-ins because of the drug problem, people who steal items and sell them for drug money, she said.

“It’s been not a great partnership between the town and you,” she said.

A police detective from Rockland developed the tracking system that selectmen require the coin shop to use, Roy said.

“It’s been an excellent program, a good program,” she said. “I value businesses that follow the rules. You’re not following the rules.”

Chiaramonte said he has run his business for three years, six days a week, and this was the first time there has been a problem and what happened was a malfunction or breakdown.

“I’ve returned numerous things to this police department numerous times,” he said. “Numerous times, citizens have gotten their stolen items back because of our shop.”

Schleiff said Chiaramonte should have come to selectmen to discuss his options if there was a problem with the program.

“You can see something is off in this case here. Something’s not right at all,” he said.

Garron said that if he was still a cop, he would have charged Chiaramonte with receiving stolen property.

“You’re belligerent. You don’t really care,” he said.

Chiaramonte said a woman came into the shop asking if a guy had brought in the items, and he returned the items.

“I have him,” he said. “The jewelry was returned to the crying lady in my shop.”

Chiaramonte said he found the way police and selectmen were portraying him to be really aggravating and that 98-percent to 99-percent of Halifax citizens would not believe the way the Halifax Gold & Silver Coin Shop is being treated.

“It makes me look like a crook,” he said. “This is terrible, terrible, the way it makes me look.”

Schleiff said there are some things Chiaramonte should expect being in the business that he is in.

“You’re in a tough business. It’s scrutinized. It’s frowned upon. It’s not an easy business,” he said. “I think the license expiring is a better way to see how this thing ends one way or the other.”

Zoning Enforcement Officer Thomas Millias said Chiaramonte keeps putting a sandwich sign in front of the shop despite telling him to put the sign away.

The commissioner has fined the shop owner, who has not paid the fines, Millias said.

“We’ve had several heated discussions over the last several years over signage,” he said.

Chiaramonte said he is busy trying to run a good business.

“It’s a depression. I’ve got four kids to feed, and you’re worried about a sign?” he said.