The reusable bag bylaw, designed to reduce the use and distribution of single use plastic shopping bags, will take effect on March 1, 2020. This bylaw was voted at the Annual Town Meeting in May, 2019 and has been approved by the Attorney General. It applies to all businesses operating in the town of Halifax.

No plastic bags will be permissible for distribution at checkouts (points of sale). There is no thickness, or percentage of plastic content acceptable. The Beautification Committee, on clean up days and at other events, has distributed free reusable bags while supplies lasted.

Start gathering your reusable bags now!

For more information about the bylaw, or with questions, please contact the Halifax Beautification Committee at Beautification@halifax-ma.org.

The Tuesday, January 28 Halifax Board of Selectmen meeting began with a final interview for the vacancy on the Planning Board. Timothy Fabroski told the assembled Board of Selectmen and Planning Board that he owns a real estate and construction company and has been self-employed since the 1980s. Fabroski said, “I think the Planning Board could use me” and cited his experience on the other side of the table presenting before the Board. Selectmen Chair Troy Garron asked Fabroski his opinion on building in Halifax. Fabroski said, “I honestly think the more you build, the better.” Three other candidates previously came before the two boards; they were Alan Dias, David Mascio, and Ashley DiSesa.

Planning Board Chair Gordon R. Andrews said that the Planning Board was looking forward to having the vacancy filled but also said that he didn’t want to see someone with an agenda assume the position. Selectman Tom Millias made a motion to forgo a vote and wait until May to fill the position when candidates could pull papers and run against one another in the election. Garron seconded Millias’ motion. Planning Board member Amy Troup said, “I think that would be a detriment to everyone that stepped forward.” Troup, who said she would like to see the position filled by someone not currently serving on a board in town, suggested that the experience to serve between now and May would prove a good trial. All four current Planning Board members elected to move forward with the vote.

In order to secure the position, a candidate had to receive votes from four of the seven members of the Planning Board and Board of Selectmen. Millias nominated Dias and Selectman Gordon C. Andrews nominated DiSesa. Gordon R. Andrews, Gordon C. Andrews, Karlis Skulte, and Troup all voted in favor of DiSesa, awarding her the position.

Bud’s Goods

Alex Mazin of Bud’s Goods and Provisions came before the Board just as he did at the previous meeting to hopefully finalize a five-year Host Community Agreement (HCA) for his outdoor marijuana growing facility on River St. in Halifax. Halifax is set to earn 3 percent of Bud’s gross sales, the most allowable under MA state law. Should that law change, however, Halifax will also have a most-favored-nation (MFN) status, preventing Bud’s from entering into another HCA with better terms for another municipality without amending their agreement with Halifax.

Mazin, who grew up in Worcester and attended Babson College, has three retail licenses for a retail store currently under construction in Worcester, another potential one on the Abington/Weymouth line, and a third newly acquired retail license for Watertown. Mazin also operates a facility in Lakeville that he’s hoping to now use for manufacturing purposes; he will be transferring his cultivation license from this facility to Halifax. Mazin explained his belief that outdoor growing will revolutionize the cannabis industry as the environmental impact, cost factors, and sustainability of indoor facilities do not make a viable market.

Town Administrator Charlie Seelig explained to Mazin that while a few final tweaks still needed to be made to the agreement, the selectmen’s intent is to sign the HCA. Addressing any final concerns the selectmen or town may have, Mazin said, “A community that lets us in, we want to make sure is benefitting as well because we are doing something very unique and historic and we’re all taking risks at some degree and some level and risk should be rewarded.”

COA happenings

Newly appointed Council on Aging (COA) Director Susan Lawless as well as two members of the COA Committee provided the selectmen with an update on the COA. Lawless said that the addition of a kiosk has allowed her to track participation in the various COA events. These statistics will prove useful as many of the grants Lawless would like to apply for require them. Lawless also said that the COA has purchased a minivan to help get residents to and from appointments. Seelig said that the town has two interested applicants for the vacancies on the Council on Aging Committee.

Town’s Campus

Fire Chief Jason Viveiros, Police Chief Joao Chaves, and Highway Surveyor Steve Hayward were all present at Tuesday’s meeting to discuss the town’s campus improvement concept. Chief Chaves explained some of the thoughts shared at earlier meetings including consolidating the police and fire departments into a new, single building, moving the Council on Aging into the current police station, and moving the water department and building maintenance into the current fire station (freeing up space for the highway department). Chief Viveiros recently surveyed all department heads regarding their most pressing needs. Millias said, “Everything is conceptual at this point, we need to get input and narrow it down.” The Selectmen agreed to the formation of a Campus Committee to further develop the global approach to improving the municipal buildings to better suit the various department’s needs. The hope would be to include the department heads and building inspector as members as well as to have representation from the Finance Committee, Conservation Commission, and any other pertinent people. The selectmen hope to have a response to the committee requests by their next meeting.

Memorial Day

The selectmen also voted to form a Memorial Day Committee per resident David Walsh’s request at their last meeting. Walsh, a member of the Halifax VFW Post 6258, had requested the formation of the committee, as well as asking that the military lead the parade and requesting more involvement between the elementary school and the veterans. Seelig said that he would request five members for the new committee that will be publicized.

Silver Lake budget

The Silver Lake budget was also discussed. Andrews asked Garron or Millias to attend the Thursday, February 13 public budget hearing to be held at 6 p.m. at the high school as he will be there in his capacity as a school committee member rather than a selectman. Seelig said that the proposed Silver Lake budget calls for a 3.84 or 3.34 percent increase. The selectmen and Seelig agreed that while increases may seem minimal in a single year, they are compounded over several years with the end result being a budget that isn’t sustainable for the town. Seelig also said that he wrote to Senator Michael Brady as well as Representative Kathleen LaNatra about the lack of state aid.

The selectmen, Seelig, and Chief Chaves also discussed the need for and method to pay for an additional 12 hours for the school resource officer (SRO) at the middle school. Currently, the SRO at the middle school is allotted only 8 hours per week, funded by the town of Plympton. The town of Halifax narrowly voted against funding their share of the requested 20 hours for the school resource officer during last spring’s town meeting. Currently, the town of Kingston fully funds the officer at the high school. Seelig said there will be an article on the warrant at this year’s town meeting to fund those hours. All parties are in agreement that there is a need for the officer to be at the school 20 hours a week, though the mechanism to pay for it has been disputed.

Oak Place repairs

Resident Bill Pond of Oak Place attended the meeting to share his concerns regarding the condition of his road and request help from the selectmen for all Halifax residents living on dirt roads. Millias clarified that Oak Place is actually considered an easement rather than a public road. Pond said that the efforts being made by the Highway Department to improve Oak Place are futile and requested that a roller be used. Hayward said that there isn’t enough money to purchase a large enough roller. Hayward also said that according to by-laws, the department is to only go out twice a year with a grader. Hayward further emphasized that they are not supposed to spend any extra money on private roads. Millias suggested to Pond that a place to start might be to petition to accept Oak Place as a public road. Currently the Highway Department rents much of their equipment and hires companies to do much of the work. Andrews suggested to Hayward the possibility of regionalizing with several other neighboring towns and hiring a crew and purchasing equipment to serve the collective communities. Hayward said he would look into the cost of such an endeavor vs. the cost of the current methods.

The Halifax Board of Selectmen is seeking volunteers to serve on the Halifax Council on Aging as the Board has received notice of two vacancies on the Council.

The Council coordinates and carries out programs designed to meet the needs of seniors in Halifax in the areas of health, welfare, education, recreation, and transportation.

Residents interested in serving on the Council on Aging can download a talent bank form at
http://www.halifax-ma.org/board-selectmen/files/talent-bank-form-2019  and submit it to the Board of Selectmen, 499 Plymouth Street, Halifax, MA 02338 or contact the Selectmen’s Office at 781-294-1316 to obtain one.

The Halifax School Committee began their Monday, January 6 meeting with a review of the budget. The meeting was the last for Superintendent Joy Blackwood before her retirement. Blackwood said that herself, new superintendent (former assistant superintendent) Jill Proulx, and Director of Business Services Christine Healy have been working on five budgets simultaneously.

The Halifax Finance Committee requested a level service budget during a meeting with administrators. As a result, requests for additional staff were not included in the budget being presented Monday. Those requests include an additional teacher for a much larger than average class size, a math coach, and a band teacher. Currently band is offered after school only and at a cost. Blackwood would like to see the program reinstated during school hours in order to allow all students to participate and level the playing field. It would be a shared position between Halifax and Dennett Elementary in Plympton. Kingston brought band back this past year.

Halifax Elementary School principal Kayne Beaudry developed three options to fulfill the need for additional help with the large grade. The most obvious, but most expensive, option would be to hire a new classroom teacher. Another option would be to move a classroom teacher from a grade with a lower enrollment, in this case the current kindergarten class. Another option for the current school year would be to reassign some support staff.

Blackwood said that the budget reflects a 65 percent reimbursement from Circuit Breaker, the state special education reimbursement program, although that number could be as high as 72 percent. According to Blackwood the special education numbers reflect that the school is meeting the current and anticipated needs of all students.

Four students are graduating from the out of district vocational program. Three spots will be saved for students that will potentially apply before the deadline in April. Unless someone moves into the town, $27,000 will be returned from this account to the town.

Utilities decreased substantially for the fiscal year 2020-2021 budget thanks to the new roof, new siding, and new doors. “Halifax invested heavily in this building and it is really reflected; we’re actually seeing real numbers… it’s pretty exciting to be able to say that and that’s not a sentence I can say in any other district.”

Enrollment in Halifax has been decreasing over the last ten years. In 2010 enrollment at Halifax Elementary stood at 652 and by 2019 it was down to 586. The same trend is seen for Halifax students at the secondary level. Homeschool enrollment has been holding steady around 5 students for the last few years. Additionally, 10 Halifax students attend school out of the district through school choice. The town receives no Chapter 70 funding for students attending school elsewhere (either through school choice or homeschooling). The good news is that the lower enrollment numbers mean a decrease in the assessment for Halifax whereas Kingston will see an increase.

The busing number that is currently in the budget is just a placeholder and Blackwood said that they hope to have a final number by February. There are no retirements in Halifax and thus there will be no cost savings related to that.

“We’re coming in at a very reasonable percentage increase, I think,” Blackwood said of the increase of 2.18 percent in the proposed budget thus far.

Halifax Elementary School Chairman Summer Schmaling gave an update on the Halifax Youth and Recreation Department (HYRD).  Director Dick Steele said they are moving into their winter phase with both town basketball and travel basketball kicking off.

Steele also extended a thank you to the school for the use of their facilities as well as the additional help they provide to make Holidays in Halifax a success. Steele will be in touch with school building administrators about redoing the floor in the gym during April vacation. The next big event on the radar for the department will be the egg hunt in March.

Beaudry reported on recent and upcoming events at the school. Beaudry spoke highly of the winter concert led by music teacher Brenda Lessard and performed by the chorus. “It is great to get everybody in the gymnasium all together,” Beaudry said.

A new event this year was the MARC (Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center) Assembly. MARC is part of Bridgewater State and the assembly, which is presented by a Bridgewater State student, focuses on anti-bullying and anti-cyber-bullying. “The presenter was amazing, really kind of knew all the current lingo and terminology and talked to the students on their level,” Beaudry told the committee.

The MCAS calendar is out and is available on the school website. The testing window for English and Language Arts (ELA) will be from April 13 to May 1.  Math testing will be held from May 5 to May 15 and science for Grade 5 will be on May 19.

At the close of the meeting, Schmaling took the time to thank Blackwood for her years of dedication saying, “I’m grateful for you always being there, being a mentor… asking and answering any questions that we might have. I really appreciate and value our relationship and everything that you’ve done to support our committee and our town and our children both in this town and throughout the entire district… the amount of manpower and hours and dedication that you bring to our community doesn’t go unnoticed.” Blackwood said, “Thank you, it’s been an honor and a privilege. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here in the district and it really has meant the world to me to be your superintendent.”

KINGSTON -State Representative Kathy LaNatra (D-Kingston) commended Governor Charlie Baker and Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito recently for their support of $920,000 in grant awards to 174 Massachusetts fire departments for gear and equipment for that will reduce firefighters’ exposure to cancer-causing chemicals on the job.

All of the communities within Representative LaNatra’s district, with the exception of Duxbury, received funds in these grant awards. There are two different grants. For the first, the Firefighter Turnout Gear Grant program will provide firefighters in 144 departments with new hoods and gloves for structural firefighting activities. These items will reduce exposure to cancer-causing chemicals in the head and hand areas, which are high-risk areas for dangerous chemicals to enter the body. In total, approximately 3,000 hoods and 3,000 pairs of gloves will be purchased with the $500,000 from this program. Communities receiving grants in the district included Halifax, $2,390.07; Kingston, $2,506.25; Plymouth, $2,496; and Plympton, $2,440.

Through the Washer-Extractor Equipment Grant, $420,000 was awarded to 75 departments that will receive a new washer-extractor to clean their structural firefighting gear after exposure to smoke and other toxic chemicals. Because some of the recipient agencies are purchasing regional-use machines, 84 departments will actually benefit from them.  A national standard set by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) on the care and cleaning of structural firefighting gear delineates specific types of machines that should be used to effectively remove cancer-causing chemicals after each fire. All washer-extractors purchased with this grant will meet this standard, and enable personnel to wear clean gear each time they leave the fire station for an emergency. The town of Middleboro received a grant of $5,000.

Representative LaNatra said, “First responders face so many dangers on a daily basis. I am thrilled to see the Baker-Polito administration taking an active role in first responder safety and ensuring that they are able to perform their jobs without the risk posed by out-of-date equipment.”

Representative LaNatra’s district includes all residents of Halifax, Kingston and Plympton, as well as residents of Precincts 1, 11 and 13 in Plymouth; Precinct 1 in Middleboro; and Precinct 1 in Duxbury.

She maintains regular office hours throughout the district. For additional information, please contact Chris Jean, Christopher.Jean@MAhouse.gov. Meetings can also be arranged by appointment.

For both hockey programs at Silver Lake, last Saturday, Dec. 28 was an encouraging day.

The boys’ hockey team and the girls’ hockey co-op with Whitman-Hanson each had lopsided victories over their respective opponents. For the boys, that win came in a 6-2 fashion against Abington. For the girls, it was a 5-0 victory over Plymouth.

In the victory over Abington, Ryan Solari and Gavin Simpson had their first career varsity goals for the Lakers while Peter Bond earned his first career varsity win in net. Ryan Solari also had a team-high four points in the victory and Bobby Guilford had a team-high two goals. Additionally, Nick Solari put up two points, including a short-handed goal. Plus, Kevin Cardarelli had a goal and an assist in the victory.

The win over Abington was the Lakers second win of the week. With it, they improved to 2-2-1.

The girls win over Plymouth was their first victory of the season, putting their record at 1-4 on the year. In the win–which came in Patriot League action–the team had four different goal scorers. Bridget Cardarelli led the way with a team-high two goals. Additionally, Alyssa Murphy, Emily McDonald and Neve Corkery each put one in the back of the net for the co-op. Kat Gilbert also picked up the win in net for the co-op.

Prior to this game, the girls had their share of offensive struggles. They had not scored more than one goal in a game in their first four contests prior to this win.

The boys next game is this Saturday, Jan. 4 on the road against the Duxbury Dragons at The Bog in Kingston (3:50 p.m. start time). The girls play next on Saturday, Jan. 4 as well. They are set to face Newton North on the road (6:15 p.m. start time).

Halifax’s first responders were on hand to serve  up a delicious roast beef lunch to the seniors on Tuesday, Dec.10, at the annual Halifax Council on Aging Holiday Luncheon,

Guests enjoyed Christmas music from Corey Winters  and organists Vivian Cardinal and many guests  sang along.

Santa himself made a special appearance and many guests enjoyed taking selfies and photos with the jolly old elf himself.

Interim COA Director Brenda Fitzgerald welcomed all and thanked all the volunteers including members of the Halifax  Police, Halifax Fire, and the Plymouth County Sheriffs’ Office who helped make the luncheon a success.  Also helping was Jim Brenton from State Senator Mike Brady’s office.

Due to the large number of seniors participating in this event, the lunch was prepared and served at the Our Lady of the Lake Parish Hall .

The Silver Lake High girls’ basketball team has a new head coach, and they will look to bounce back from a rebuilding year under him.

Now the Lakers coach is Tony Pina, who also coaches softball at Silver Lake. The former Carver Crusaders head coach won 150 games during his decade-long tenure with the girls team–and it only took him one game to get his first win as the Lakers head girls basketball coach.

The Lakers kicked off their season against the Duxbury Dragons on Friday, Dec. 13 with a 42-26 win to improve to 1-0 on the season. In the win, Lily Gustafson, a junior, and Kiley O’Brien, a sophomore, led the way; they scored nine points apiece. The Lakers also showed off their depth in the victory as eight different players scored points for the team.

The Lakers starting five in their first game of the season featured: junior Riley Dunphy as point guard, junior Molly Terbush as shooting guard, junior Erin deMacedo and sophomore Kiley O’Brien as their two forwards as well as senior Holly Reeder-Morning as their center. As a sophomore, Reeder-Morning was a Patriot League All-Start and led the team in scoring. She missed much of last season recovering from a knee injury.

Off the bench, Gustafson provides the team with a boost–as she exemplified in the team’s opening win against Duxbury. Additionally, they will look to senior Jordan Carroll, juniors Lily Noonan and Natalie Bouchard, and sophomores Reese Colon and Samantha Kelly for contributions and to provide depth.

As of Wednesday, the Lakers were 1-2 on the season. They fell 54-36 to Norwell on Monday, Dec. 16 and one day later, they fell 45-31 against Pembroke.

The Lakers next contest is a non-league matchup this Friday at home. They will host the Marshfield Rams (6:30 p.m. start time).