Plympton’s Annual Town Election will be held Saturday, May 17, at the Plympton Town House, 5 Palmer Rd., Rte. 58. Polls are open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Plympton’s Annual Town Meeting is Wednesday, May 14, at the Dennett Elementary School, 80 Crescent St., at 7 p.m. Special Town Meeting will take place at 8 p.m. within the Annual Town Meeting.
The last day to register to vote for the Annual Town Meeting and the Annual Election is today, Friday, May 2.
The only contested seat is that of Selectman. John Traynor, candidate for re-election, is being challenged by Nathaniel Sides, member of the Finance Committee.
Halifax’s Annual Town Election will be held Saturday, May 17, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Halifax Elementary School, 464 Plymouth St., Rte. 106.
Halifax’s Annual Town Meeting will be held Monday, May 12, at 6:30 p.m. at the Halifax Elementary School, 464 Plymouth St., Rte. 106. For a copy of the Town Warrant, go to https://www.halifax-ma.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif4496/f/uploads/atm_warrant_may_12th_2025.pdf
There are 20 articles on the Halifax Town Warrant. Article number 19 deals with the enforcing of Chapter 138, Litter Control. Enforcing officers shall be the members of the Halifax Police Dept. and the Health Agent for the Town of Halifax. The penalty for littering is $300.
The sample ballot for the Halifax Town Election shows a contest for the position of Constable. Thomas Hammond, candidate for re-election, is joined on the ballot by Jake R. Okerfelt of Holmes St. and Michael J. Schleiff of Paradise Lane. Voters are asked to choose two of the three candidates.
There are three candidates seeking two positions for the three-year term on the Board of Library Trustees: Susan Hill and Erin P. Nagle, candidates for reelection, are being challenged by Rodney D. Hemingway of Ridge Road.
For Board of Selectmen, Gordon C. Andrews of Elm St. and William J. Smith of Orchard Circle are competing for one three-year term.
The last day to register to vote in both the Annual Town Meeting and the Town Election is Friday, May 2. The last day to apply for a Mail-in Ballot is Monday May 12, and Absentee Ballot is Friday, May 16.
For answers to any questions, contact the Town Clerk’s office by calling 781-293-7970 or emailing ClerksOffice@halifax-ma.org.
Kingston’s Annual Election will be held Saturday, May 17,at the Kingston Elementary School cafeteria. All Precincts, 1-4, will vote there.
The last day to register to vote in the Kingston Town Election is May 7. The last day to request a vote by mail application is Monday, May 12. The last day to apply for an in-person Absentee ballot is Friday, May 16, 2025 by noon in the Town Clerk’s Office, 26 Evergreen St.
The Board of Selectmen has two residents seeking the one three-year term: Carl L. Pike and Jesse J. Pyne.
Three candidates are seeking election to the three-year term on the Board of Health. They are Joseph F. Casna, Jr., incumbent, William J. Kavol, also incumbent, and Rosemary Donahoe.

Justin Evans
Express correspondent
The Plympton Board of Selectmen reviewed the proposed Town Meeting warrant at their April 14 meeting, discussing a spending plan that shows a 7.4% increase over the current year. The board also discussed plans to expand library hours and the town’s compliance with MBTA zoning requirements to maintain grant eligibility.
Town Administrator Liz Dennehy presented the budget section by section, highlighting areas with significant changes.
“Insurance and pension are costs that we just can’t get away from,” Dennehy explains. “The county pension is a fixed number. They tell us what that’s going to be. And as you can see, it went up substantially.”
Group health insurance costs are also increasing significantly, contributing to the overall budget growth.
The Recreation Department’s budget request shows one of the largest percentage increases. Last year, the department operated with a $10,250 annual budget plus an additional $10,000 from a separate article. This year, they requested $48,736, though Dennehy was able to reduce that by $4,000.
“Finance committee does not want to continue with the article, so they asked them to put the cost for field maintenance into the operating budget,” Dennehy says. She added that the Finance Committee was anticipating an amount closer to $20,000
The substantial increase is primarily for field maintenance, with costs estimated at about $9,000 per field for three fields.
“I understand from their point of view, they worked very hard, obviously, to build that committee back up and to do some really meaningful work with all the fields and getting things usable. They don’t want to see that slip back,” Dennehy notes.
Chair John Traynor acknowledged the recreation committee’s accomplishments.
“I think it’s great that we’ve got a very active recreation committee. And they have done a really good job out there. The fact that we have lights on the field still kind of, I’m in awe to go up and see it,” Traynor says.
The Fire Department budget includes a proposal to add four people to the union. The chief wants to have three people on some nights and every weekend.
“For any person that you add to the union, you also have to then allow for holiday pay, for example, so it doesn’t come without a cost, even though they’re still technically on call,” Dennehy explains.
Traynor notes that the department’s operational template is changing.
“Fires are not what drives the fire department anymore. It’s medical emergencies. And we also know that when we do medical emergencies for other towns, mutual aid, we get that revenue,” he says.
The Library Trustees are proposing a significant increase in hours for the library, from the current 26 hours per week to a minimum of 40 hours. This would require an adjustment to the Library Director’s salary to accommodate the additional hours.
“The library director was currently surveying people to figure out what days might make sense, and hours, and things like that,” Dennehy says.
The board also reviewed Article 19 for the annual town meeting, which establishes a residential development overlay district along Route 106 to comply with MBTA zoning requirements.
Dennehy explains that this is “a mandate to zone, not a mandate to build” and would simply give property owners along that stretch another option if they decide to sell or develop their land.
The town recently received a $73,200 community compact grant that includes language requiring MBTA zoning compliance.
“Now they’re starting to put right in these grants that if you’re not in compliance with the MBTA zoning, you forfeit the funds,” Dennehy warns.
Traynor acknowledges the difficult position the state has put the town in.
“I think it’s a terrible position that the state has put us in, because Plympton, quite frankly, with its 3,000 people, not even that, is not where this was being directed to. But I do think it would be foolish of us to walk away from this and lose the grants,” Traynor says.
The town has received more than $2 million in grants over the past two and a half years.
“I know our state representative has said Plympton is the most aggressive town that she works with, in terms of going after grants. And I think we want to continue that,” Traynor added.
Vice Chair Mark Russo agreed with the pragmatic approach.
“The legislation, I think, is abysmally, poorly thought through, an unfunded mandate, seeing the towns all as the same. I hate this approach,” Russo says. “All that being said, we’re a little tiny town. This is a battle I don’t think we should be taking up.”
In addition to the community compact grant, the town recently received two grants for the fire department: a $3,520 senior safe grant for public safety education for older adults, and a $1,875 fire equipment grant.
The Plympton Board of Selectmen has also given the green light to renew Comcast’s cable TV license for another 10 years.
Under the new agreement, Comcast will pay the town 5% of its gross revenues annually to fund public TV. The contract also includes set payments for capital improvements.
Russo, who spearheaded the negotiations, is pleased with the outcome. “We’ve landed on a really solid contract,” he says. “It aligns us with the other two towns in Area 58.”
This deal puts Plympton on par with its neighbors Carver and Halifax, who also receive 5% of Comcast’s gross revenues for public access TV.
Russo emphasizes the importance of the fixed annual payments for capital improvements. “This gives us the certainty we needed to plan effectively,” he explains.
The renewal process has resulted in a more streamlined 59-page agreement, down from the previous 99-page contract.
Reflecting on the process, Russo noted, “It’s interesting to see how similar our situation is a decade later.”
He also praised the regional approach to cable TV services among Plympton, Carver, and Halifax. “Having one combined cable television studio has been fantastic,” Russo said. “It’s working well for us and sets an example for other towns.”
The new license takes effect July 1, 2025.
The annual town meeting is scheduled for May 14, where residents will vote on the budget and other articles. The Finance Committee is expected to finalize their recommendations at their meeting later that evening.

Alan Ingram
Express correspondent
The Plympton School Committee has unanimously approved a $4.43 million operating budget for fiscal year 2026, successfully balancing the educational needs of Dennett Elementary School with the financial constraints of the town.
The vote, which took place during the March 24 meeting, represents the culmination of months of careful financial planning and collaboration between school officials and town leadership.
“We believe we’re at a place tonight where we have a budget that can support the needs of the students here at the Dennett, can maintain all of our staffing as we promised, and also meet the financial needs of the town as well,” said School Committee Chair Jason Fraser.
The total budget package includes $4,703,363 in expenditures, with $273,363 coming from anticipated circuit breaker special education reimbursements and anticipated grant funding. This leaves the town’s portion at $4.43 million.
Director of Finance and Operations Sarah Hickey presented the final budget figures after incorporating adjustments requested by the committee at previous meetings.
“If from that $4,703,363 we subtract out the anticipated $60,000 [Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Federal Special Education Entitlement] Grant, $117,272 in anticipated circuit breaker, $32,091 in the 2025 [Rural Education Achievement Program Federal] Grant, $64,000 in the anticipated rural aid for next year, that would make the town operating budget $4,430,000,” Hickey explained.
The budget process this year was complicated by a chart of accounts conversion, making direct year-to-year comparisons more challenging than usual.
“This is the single year where we won’t be able to have side-by-side comparison of 24 and 25,” Hickey noted. “Next year the budget will be back out of the financial software, all of those sheets that you’re used to and you’ll be able to see the FY26, FY27 side-by-side comparisons with the percent increases.”
Committee member Jon Wilhelmsen expressed appreciation for the work done to reach the target figure but voiced concerns about the process.
“I know there was a lot of work today to try and get us to where we’re at, and I truly appreciate all that,” Wilhelmsen said. “It’s very difficult to be able to do the job on this side of the table, but you can’t look at the underlying numbers as it’s going along.”
The $4.43 million figure represents what appears to be an 11 percent increase over last year’s initial budget of approximately $4 million. However, Fraser pointed out that the school actually operated on about $4.25 million this year after addressing a $250,000 deficit that emerged by October.
If you base it off the $4 million to $4.4 million, it is an 11 percent increase,” Fraser explained. “But this year, to operate this building, we used $4,250,000. So our increase, if you take it from there to this, is a 4.25 percent increase.”
Wilhelmsen acknowledged the challenge this presents for town officials.
“To the town, it’s 11. And that’s the part that, you know, with working together with the town, we were able to get them to absorb it again,” he said. “This is the third year in a row that we’ve had to absorb these increases in derelict deficits. So, it’s just a challenge because the well is getting drier.”
The budget relies on $64,000 in anticipated rural aid for next year, based on Governor Healey’s budget proposal. Fraser expressed hope that rural aid might increase, potentially allowing for additional staffing.
“I’d like this committee to commit to is if we get a sizable increase there, that we come back to the table and we add additional aids to our staff here at the Dennett for next year,” Fraser said. “To help maintain the quality of education, but also to help keep kids in their home school instead of ending up not having the right amounts of supports here and having more kids go out of district as well.”
Earlier in the meeting, the committee approved the allocation of $144,000 in rural aid currently on hand. This includes $50,000 to supplement an HVAC earmark, $54,000 to address the current year’s deficit, and $40,000 to replenish the special education stabilization fund.“We would hold back $54,000 to fill what’s right now about a $49,000-$50,000 deficit for FY25,” Fraser explained. “If there’s any creep on that, we’d have a little bit of wiggle room.”
The committee also discussed the possibility of bringing some outsourced behavioral services in-house in the future. Currently, the district budgets approximately $53,035 for PACES services, which provide both in-school consultations and home-based support for students with special needs.
A meeting attendee raised the question of whether some of these services could be provided by existing staff or a new hire.
“I wasn’t sure if there was an opportunity to in-source some of the work and potentially get more benefit to the student population because of it,” he said.
Christine Marcolini, Student Support Coordinator, echoed this interest, asking if there might be “a way to kind of look at the bucket of money that we’re already budgeting for behavior consults, shift some of that over to having someone maybe part-time on staff that’s available to all students.”
While acknowledging the idea has merit, Special Education Director Christine Panarese noted several challenges, including finding qualified personnel willing to work in homes and determining whether a part-time or full-time position with benefits would actually save money compared to contracted services.
The committee also approved its meeting schedule for the 2025-26 school year before adjourning to executive session to discuss collective bargaining strategy with the Plympton Teachers Association.

Kristy Zamagni-Twomey
Express correspondent
Town Administrator Cody Haddad provided a budget update at the Tuesday, March 11, Halifax Board of Selectmen’s meeting. He said that the previous night he had presented two separate budgets at the Finance Committee meeting. “One with level service requests which would require about a $1.6 million override; I know that since then the School Committee has met and potentially pared down their budget… and then the other one… is balanced which would require about $1.2 million in cuts from the elementary school, several general fund cuts, and then we would need to eliminate four additional full-time equivalents on the general government side… we’re working on identifying those.” He said that the budgets would be presented to the Selectmen at a later meeting for them to decide whether to move forward with the override.
Selectman Jonathan Selig asked to address some correspondence regarding the budget issues with the schools. Selig said he was able to speak with Jason Fraser, who is a member of the Plympton Elementary School Committee, the Silver Lake Regional School Committee, and who also serves as President of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. “Federal funding is critical for daily educational opportunities for our children. Currently 10 percent of Massachusetts’ public school funding comes from federal programs across the Commonwealth. School Committees and School Administrators are grappling with historic inflationary pressure and increased cost… school districts are struggling just to maintain level service budgets and any decrease in federal funding to public education would be devastating to public school students whose futures depend on it.”
The No Cuts to Public School Act was filed by Senator Markey and would require Congress to appropriate federal formula funding for education at fiscal year 2024 levels or higher through fiscal year 2027. Selig asked the Board if they would feel comfortable writing a letter of support for that federal act. Selectmen Chair John Bruno said that he would like to see the letter go directly to Senators Markey and Warren rather than directly to the federal government. The Selectmen voted in favor of sending a letter.
Haddad said they were still actively looking for a library director. He noted that they got a good number of applicants and said that the screening committee would be reviewing them soon. Haddad noted that East Bridgewater was looking at the same time and actually didn’t have any applicants.
Haddad said that March 11, the day of their meeting, was the deadline for petition articles, submitted by residents of the Town of Halifax for the Annual Town Meeting. He noted that they had seven petition articles submitted.
Regarding the MBTA Communities program, Bruno said, “we have received communication that the State Auditor has made a decision that the MBTA Zoning Act is an unfunded mandate which can trigger other legal processes.” He further said that the Board is likely to take some steps to try to “hold back any detrimental effects of the MBTA law as long as we can.” Haddad said that the town was notified that the Green Communities grant that usually provides more than $200,000 in funding may be in jeopardy this year due to noncompliance with the MBTA Communities program.
A resident said that they read through the Auditor’s determination. He asked for clarification on the unfunded mandate. Bruno called “unfunded mandate” a vague and undefined term. He said that they have talked about it regarding the Thorndike Development and a 40B, he said nothing required made any difference with respect to the unfunded mandate.
The Selectmen reviewed the zoning amendments. Bruno said, “the Zoning Bylaw Review Committee has been meeting for two years… and, aside from the big project being the MBTA issue, also went through the entire zoning bylaw to update it and to clean it up a little bit.” Bruno said it incorporates the senior housing bylaw that was recently approved at Town Meeting. Haddad said that it has also made it so any special permits will now go through the Zoning Board of Appeals. Haddad said that the goal of the Committee wasn’t so much to make vast changes, but rather to make it clearer and more straightforward for residents.
Selig asked about abandoned properties and Haddad said that there is now a blighted properties section for all types of properties. “The scope of it is within State law, but just codifies it as town of Halifax bylaw,” Haddad said.
Mead, Talerman, and Costa, LLC were named as the new labor counsel for Halifax. Haddad called it a “standard agreement” and asked the Selectmen to sign off on it. They voted to approve the agreement unanimously.
In other business, Pamela McSherry was reappointed to the Halifax Cultural Council through March 22, 2028. Selectmen also approved bottle drives for the Boy Scouts on April 5 and July 19 on the Town Green.