The Plympton Board of Health met on Tuesday, January 11, 2017. In addition to discussing a number of routine health and safety issues throughout town, the board also heard from the landowner at 39 Ring Road.

The landowner came in with building plans for the Board of Health to look over. She also presented the board a map of the current property.

While looking over the map, the first concern Board Chairman Art Morin expressed was over the distance between the property and the soil absorption system (SAS). According to the map, the distance between the well and the SAS looked to be about 50 feet.

Morin said, “Massachusetts law requires a well be 100 feet from the SAS. Plympton regulations, we require 200 feet because of the soil conditions.”

The landowner planned to use a different septic system, however, there was confusion over who owns the septic system on the property.

According to 39 Ring Road’s owner, the septic system fully belongs to her and is on her deed to the property. The problem, though, is that the owner of neighboring 41 Ring Road claims that the septic system is an easement between 39 and 41, meaning the owner at 41 Ring Road can legally use the septic system.

The confusion lead to there not being building approval at this time. Morin asks, “Does this have to go to land court?” This plan needs to also be sent back to the building department before any lot combinations (if easement) or septic approval can be put in place.

Besides this land dispute, the Board of Health discussed several other health and safety issues going on throughout. One thing that was approved was the repair of a septic system on 37 Maple Street. 

The resident was in attendance and was told the permit fee for the septic system’s repair will be $150. She will choose her installer and can then have the permit issued.

Chairman Morin gave his board an update on the continuing trash problem at 4 Mayflower Road. Morin said that the town was contacted by a gentlemen in regards to improving the condition of the property.

Morin says, “He was contacted by the lender to go to 4 Mayflower and give the lender and estimate on what it would cost to bring that property up to good condition.”

When speaking with the gentleman, Morin was told that the estimate would include the cost of removing the large amount of trash on the property. He also brought up sanitation issues with the pool.

Morin says, “The swimming pool is a breeding ground for mosquitos. There’s only a little bit of water at the bottom. There are frogs and other such things in the bottom of the pool.”

Health Officer Cathleen Drinan had concerns as well. She says, “The fence is collapsing.” There’s also floors inside the property that seem ready to give way.

The Board of Health ended the meeting by hearing approval for a few other permits. Most noticeably, they decided to renew the food permit at Dennett Elementary School. The board also voted unanimously to waive the permit fee.

The Plympton Board of Health will meet again on Tuesday, January 24, 2017.

James Bentley

Express correspondent

Monday January 9, 2017, Plympton’s Board of Selectmen met in executive session prior to their regular meeting due to continuing litigation discussions regarding Rocky Harvest, LLC. Several Brook Street neighbors and abutters were given a brief five minute update on what matters could be discussed in open meeting.

Once the open session began, the board turned its attention to Library Director Deb Batson, who introduced Andrew Adams, a member of Plympton’s Boy Scout Troop 53, as he proposed his Eagle Scout project to the Board.

His proposal is building bicycle racks for the Plympton Town Library. These however are not ordinary bike racks. Adams said, “They are removable for plowing in the winter.” He also presented drawn schematics for the board to look at.

The racks will be built out of two to three inch metal tubing and will be painted. Andrew is going to be getting help from his dad and uncle as well.

Adams said, “My dad is a metal worker, so he is going to help me with the metal work and my uncle is a mason, so he is going to help me get the cement.”

The board asked Andrew when he wanted to started his project and where outside the library he was planning on building the bike racks. Andrew said that he wanted to start in the spring. His plan for a location is in front of the library next to the delivery box.

Selectmen Chair Collen Thompson asked, “Would it make any sense it put it out back by the patio?” Andrew said that it could, but he was thinking of having it visible to the street.

As a whole, the board was happy with the work Andrew planned. Selectwoman Christine Joy told Andrew, “Great project. I can’t wait to see it when it’s done.”

Selectmen next turned a significant amount of the meeting’s attention to recent changes to the state’s public records laws.

In July of 2016, Governor Charlie Baker signed Chapter 121 of the Acts of 2016, “An Act to Improve Public Records,” which became law on January 1, 2017.

The bill sought to improve access to public records by requiring towns and cities to have an electronic system in place where public records can be requested and sent out via a public records officer. The public records officer has ten days to produce the requested material or to give an answer why they cannot be produced within the timeframe and to give an estimate of when the records can be made available.

Currently, Town Clerk Tara Shaw is overseeing the implementation of these new laws. She has begun a lot of the groundwork and has already launched the town’s electronic public records request system.

Shaw presented a walkthrough of the request system to the Board of Selectmen, showing them that she put a link to it right on Plympton’s homepage labeled “Public Records Laws and Info” under the “Town Resources” section.

Shaw explained that the process was complex and setting this up took a lot of time. She says, “I’ve been to four public records conferences, and they just keep adding details every time.

Shaw also pointed out that a new position is likely needed  for Plympton to fully comply with the new state laws. This adds a lot of responsibility outside the typical tasks of the town clerk.

She acknowledged that there really isn’t enough in this year’s budget for even a part time position. There may be a line item in the FY18 budget, but that remains to be determined.

For now, the board and Shaw focused on finding ways to make sure all town departments and committees are in compliance with the new laws. In order, to comply with the strict time limit the new public records laws dictate, Tara said that every department and committee needs a head contact person and phone number where they can be reached. She needs to be able to contact departments within 24 hours.

Traynor suggested holding a meeting with the head of all the departments to make sure this happens. Tara Shaw and the board will be setting that up shortly.

Other major topics discussed at the Board of Selectmen’s meeting included discussing the upcoming bylaw review meeting, the coming installation of panic buttons throughout the Plympton Town House, and a change the “Meet with a Selectman” time from every Tuesday night from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. to by appointment.  Not many people were coming to the regular office hours according to John Traynor, “Tuesdays are not working.”

New By-Law Review

Committee will meet

The town’s first Bylaw Review Committee meeting will take place Thursday, Jan. 19, at 6 p.m.  Selectmen Chair Colleen Thompson says, “It’ll (the groups) be split into municipal and zoning to give people a say on how they want to approach it.”

The board will appoint ten committee members and is considering ways to divide the group. A suggestion from Thompson was to split it evenly with five for municipal and five for zoning. This is still being discussed.

The board ended the meeting by changing their regular Tuesday office hours to appointment based office hours.

There will be no Selectmen’s meeting next week because of Martin Luther King Day. The next meeting will be on Monday, January 23, 2017.

Brook Street, Plympton, residents, abutters to the Rocky Harvest LLC, met with selectmen on Thursday, Dec. 29, requesting an update on the status of the lawsuit between the town of Plympton and Rocky Harvest.

Selectmen had posted an executive session for Thursday, in order to discuss pending litigation and Donna Hanna and Jane Devlin, with other neighbors and abutters who have been affected by the continual tanker truck traffic, stopped by the Town House to meet with selectmen before their executive session.

The group has sought relief from the noise and dust generated by the heavy tanker truck traffic and asked selectmen and Town Counsel Ilana Quirk from Koppelman and Paige law firm what is the status of the lawsuit.

Donna Hanna told selectmen, “You said it would be about six months before the judge would make his decision – and that was about six months ago.”

Town Counsel Quirk responded that the ruling had been made and Judge Robert C. Cosgrove, Justice of the Superior Court, ruled against the town in a decision last July.  Selectman Christine Joy told Devlin and Hanna she had emailed copies of the ruling months ago, but neither had received the judgment.

In his ruling, Justice Cosgrove stated that Rocky Harvest , LLC, is a “successor in interest” and is allowed to retain its water extraction business off Brook Street and benefit from a Chapter 61A tax classification that will give a greatly reduced tax assessment under farming status.

The Town of Plympton argued that because the original 249 acre parcel of land including fish farm and cranberry bogs has been split several times, leaving  only an 11.927 acre lot with pump house for water extraction, that this use does not qualify as an “agricultural” use, and therefore should not be allowed a Chapter 61A tax classification.  The judgment stated that even though the various parcels have different owners, the restriction against development maintains enough of a similar nature that the agricultural classification would be allowed.

In January 2010, Selectmen received verbal complaints from abutters claiming that Rocky Harvest was violating conditions 6 and 7 of the agreement for judgment that limited the hours of operation of the water extraction business to between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on weekdays, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.  Tanker truck traffic was prohibited on Sundays and ten Federal holidays.

Freitas letter allowing Sunday trucks upheld

Selectmen investigated the complaint and in doing so were made aware of a letter from then Selectman Joseph Freitas on Board of Selectmen letterhead stating Rocky Harvest could increase its hours of operation to include Sundays and holidays.  Freitas did not obtain a vote of the Board of Selectmen or the consent of the Zoning Board of Appeals before sending the letter.  Selectmen made Rocky Harvest aware that the letter was not supported by a vote of the board and was therefore not valid.

Count III of the March 19, 2014 Rocky Harvest answer and counterclaim against Plympton, asserts that Rocky Harvest is entitled to enforce the October 23, 2008 letter from Freitas, allowing tanker truck traffic seven days a week without limit.

Selectmen told the frustrated abutters that they might have to seek their own legal counsel to represent their interests, but that Plympton is still pursuing its remedies.

James Bentley

Express correspondent

Plympton Selectmen heard a proposal from David DeBaie, Senior Traffic Engineer from Stantec Consulting at their meeting on Monday, December 19, 2016.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) hired Stantec for a road improvement project which will include the towns of Plympton, Middleboro, and Rochester.

DeBaie presented details for a plan designed to reduce the number of traffic accidents. DeBaie told the board, “MassDOT is looking at reducing the number of crashes on rural roadways.”

Stantec’s plan spans across 9.5 miles of road in Plympton, which includes all of Main Street. Parts of Center Street, Palmer Road, Parsonage Road, County Road, and Mayflower Road would also be impacted by the proposal.

Board Chairperson Colleen Thompson asked, “Just to clarify, this is free for the town?” David Dubai assured the plan including both the cost and the labor are free for the town.  Plympton’s Highway Superintendent James Mulcahy told the Express that the project amounts to about a $200,000 grant.

Board member, Christine Joy showed excitement for the town not having to fund any part of the project. “Christmas comes early!” Joy exclaimed.

DeBaie explained basic details of the proposed improvements. They include three main strategies for reducing the number of car accidents. One of the strategies discussed was to simply add more warning and regulatory signs to Plympton’s rural roads. More speed limit signs was a suggestion.

Another improvement that DeBaie discussed was to increase the amount of pavement markings on roads.

This does not just include yellow center lines. A heavy emphasis was placed on edge lines. DeBaie told the board, “Studies show that edge lines are effective in being able to reduce crashes.”

The last major improvement emphasized was the need to replace outer concrete post with guard rails. DeBaie said that the concrete posts are, “Reasonably effective in terms of showing where there is a problem, but in MassDOT’s eyes, they represent a bit of a hazard, so those are being replaced.”

After DeBaie presented the road improvements for the town, the Board asked some questions. Selectman John Traynor was curious to know how much the town’s highway department would be involved in the process. He said, “How do we enter into this?”  In other words, Traynor asked, how much input Plympton’s Highway Surveyor James Mulcahy would have. 

DeBaie answered that they had tried very hard to come up with something they have confidence Jim would agree on.  DeBaie has been working with Plympton’s Highway Superintendent for several months, however, he did acknowledge that the MassDOT and local highway department “scenes” do operate differently.

The project, about 25% completed, is still in the planning phase and needs to go through MassDOT’s process of submittal, and resubmittal. The final plan is expected to be submitted in late April and the work completed by fall of 2017.

Halifax selectmen met Tuesday night with a dozen citizens who want something done about the abandoned and run down houses in town.

Town Administrator Charlie Seelig told the board that in response to several inquiries and reports of problems, especially in the former cottage area of West Monponsett pond, there is little that the town can do with these half dozen or so properties that have been abandoned.

Seelig told selectmen and the citizens that the Treasurer/Collector has identified those properties whose real estate taxes have not been paid, and has begun foreclosure on them.  What the town will do with the properties, once the foreclosure for taxes due has been accomplished, remains to be seen. 

The citizens are concerned not only for the attractive nuisance of the properties, the fire hazard, and the potential for rodent infestation, they are also concerned that the falling down houses are bringing down the property values of their homes.

One resident noted that he has owned his home for six years, and his valuation is less than when he bought it, due to the several rundown abandoned properties in his neighborhood.  But his real estate taxes continued to go up, he said.  Residents said they want something done to protect their neighborhoods from further decay due to the abandoned homes blight.

Seelig said that there are two situations in the mix right now – those houses that have been deserted and are run down and the real estate taxes have not been paid, and those houses that are run down with no one living in them but the taxes are paid.

For those whose taxes are not paid, town foreclosure is the answer, then what to do once the town takes possession of these parcels is unsure.  Seelig said that he could not see town meeting voting the funds to tear down the houses, take out the oil tanks and the foundations, only to be left with a non-conforming lot that could not be built on and is of value only to an abutter to increase the size of their lot. 

As an immediate fix of the problem of a house open to the elements, Seelig told the group that any citizen could report an open building and selectmen could ask the finance committee for an immediate appropriation to board up the house to prevent people and animals from entering it.  Other than that, there is nothing in the by-laws to deal with abandoned homes.

For those properties whose taxes are paid but the premises are left in disrepair, the town could, with a new by-law, fine a property owner until he brings the property up to code.  Seelig said that he would seek out selectmen’s wishes on the matter, to write a new by-law, which would need a 2/3 majority vote to pass.  Seelig also told the group that they themselves could submit a bylaw for annual town meeting approval in May with a 10-taxpayer petition submitted to selectmen before the deadline for such submissions sometime in April.  In the event that the citizens would like to have their article put on a special town meeting warrant, it would take 100 signatures to have their by-law included on the warrant.

Properties that are derelict and run down, but not abandoned, may rebuild, Selectman Tom Millias told the group; they can request a variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals.  Millias, a former building inspector for the Town of Halifax, explained that once a building is declared abandoned, it can no longer qualify for “grandfathering” in a new building permit on a non-conforming lot.

Selectmen assured the group that they have heard the concerns and are sympathetic with them, and will work to find a solution to the problem.

Seelig said he has researched the 351 cities and towns to see if any have a bylaw dealing with keeping buildings and grounds to a certain minimal level, and did not find any.  Even if the town does enact a by-law, who makes the decision?  Is it appealable? 

And, selectmen noted, even if a by-law is enacted, it takes time for the process to unfold.   Brockton and Longmeadow have each received substantial grant monies to help with the abandoned homes and Seelig said he would watch for such grants to see what help is available.

Plympton and Halifax selectmen met at Plympton Town House Tuesday, Nov. 29, to brainstorm cost-saving measures and areas where the two towns could benefit from regionalization.

Also taking part in the conversation were Halifax Fire Chief Jason Viveiros, Plympton Fire Chief Warren Borsari, Halifax Town Executive Assistant Charlie Seelig and Plympton Town Coordinator Dale Pleau.

Plympton selectmen had reached out to neighboring towns to explore the possibility of becoming more cost-efficient through combining forces to provide citizens with the best safety services at the most reasonable cost.

Fire Chief Warren Borsari told selectmen several weeks ago he had contacted Halifax’s Fire Chief Jason Viveiros to go over these possibilities and the regionalization discussion was scheduled.

Three options were brought to the table to combine the fire departments and ambulance services for Plympton and Halifax, with Halifax being the host town and Plympton run as a satellite fire station.

Option one would see two ALS (advanced life saving) ambulances, one stationed in each town, Viveiros said.  Halifax currently staffs one and a half ambulances for Halifax alone.  Viveiros said that the additional staffing to cover Plympton would cost Halifax $250,000, and Plympton’s ambulance receipts are only $190,000, leaving a  $60,000 shortfall.

Option two would take into consideration usual time of day call volume and staff accordingly.  At 8 a.m. call volume spikes, Viveiros said, and by 6 p.m. calls decline.  At 6 p.m. the Plympton ambulance would close and two ambulances would be run out of Halifax.  The additional cost would be brought down to $218,000 to cover.

Option three would be to maintain three full time people in Halifax all the time, and two full time people in Plympton, providing ALS coverage.  It would be run as one community.

Dale Pleau said that nowhere in Massachusetts has this been done successfully; New Englanders just don’t want to surrender control to another entity.  While financially it might be good, he said, there is such a passionate, emotional response…

Various staffing options were presented, and preliminary costs explored, and while much of the data was estimated, and few hard numbers calculated, first views appear to show little if any cost savings to Plympton.  Viveiros said both towns are in about the same situation, as far as equipment and personnel go, and that while savings could be realized, they wouldn’t be at first, they would be “down the line” as equipment needed to be replaced and other items could be bought as a region.

Plympton’s selectperson Christine Joy complemented Viveiros on Halifax’s development and use of a staffing formula for ultimate coverage, and she was assured that Halifax would be willing to help Plympton put a similar formula in place for their town.

Plympton selectman John Traynor asked if there is any grant money available to help in the regionalization process.  Viveiros answered that there is a grant available, with application time beginning January 1 and closing Feb 1, which would give a one-time $200,000 benefit.

Joy told the group Plympton has a grant from Old Colony Planning Council to look into regionalization.

Other areas investigated included sharing an animal control officer.  Halifax said it had no problem with Plympton asking their ACO to put in some hours for Plympton, but their ACO works as a part time town employee and Halifax is not interested in adding hours for Plympton that would make Halifax pay full time benefits, leave, and insurance to what is now a part-time position.

Joy told the group that she had spoken with the Halifax ACO and had never gotten a budget from her so could go no further with the proposal.  Halifax Selectman Kim Roy said that Halifax pays their ACO $21,000 and Joy countered that Plympton pays their ACO $5,250.  “Maybe that’s why Noreen didn’t call us back, “ Joy said.

Combining assessing departments was explored, when Town Administrator Dale Pleau suggested that there might be some savings there: all that would be needed would be a clerk to man the office, and the towns might share an assistant assessor to do the “heavy lifting.”  Charlie Seelig countered that Halifax employs a principal assessor full time, and an assistant who is almost full time.   Tom Milias, Halifax Selectman and Assessor, said he could see how the two towns’ departments could be blended.  Pleau said Assessing is one department which is universally done the same way in all towns; it is somewhere we could save some money.”

Looking ahead to the retirement of Plympton’s Town Accountant, the possibility of regionalizing there was not considered because Halifax already employs a full time town accountant.

The group felt the meeting was constructive and will continue to investigate regionalization cost saving measures.

According to Selectperson Christine Joy, the Tuscher family home and land on Montello Street in Carver may be saved from eminent domain by that town.

Reporting  Monday night on the Carver Redevelopment Committee, Joy told her board that there were many people at the Carver meeting demonstrating in support of Tuscher family, and that was the only issue that was discussed.  “We did not even get into Montello Street,” Joy said.  Montello Street crosses through both Plympton and Carver and will likely be redesigned to accommodate the new project.

She said she believes that the result of the meeting is that the Tuscher home has been taken off the list of those being taken by eminent domain; that the plan has been modified so that only a small portion of Tuscher property will be needed, “only a foot or so,” she said.

Selectman John Traynor asked if the Tuscher home was the only one the redevelopment LLC was taking.  “No,” Joy answered.  “They were going to take several.”  The Tuscher property was the only party where the owners did not want to sell.  The redevelopment company has sales agreements with the other parties, Joy said.  The developer was present at the Carver meeting and said they didn’t want to take anyone’s property who wanted to stay there, so he supported taking them off the eminent domain list.

Legal services

Town Counsel services are provided by the law firm of Koppelman and Paige and their contract is due to be renewed.  Plympton put out a request for proposals for Town Counsel and the only firm responding was Koppelman and Paige, proposing an annual retainer of $36,000, which would include only routine counsel services, but not adversarial matters, litigation, or major real estate development. 

Selectmen Chairman Colleen Thompson reported the town paid $55,850 last year without being under retainer, most of which was litigation and major real estate projects, none of which would be covered under the retainer option. 

Traynor offered that once several matters are concluded, Plympton should see their legal bills reduced considerably, and should something unexpected occur, it likely wouldn’t be covered under the retainer proposal anyway. 

The board agreed to wait a few days to get more information and have legal fees broken down before calling the matter to a vote.

Regionalization of services

Selectperson Joy drafted a letter to surrounding communities regarding the regionalization of some services that might be shared, such as town accountant, fire services, ambulance services, senior services, and animal control. 

Thompson said that a family member works in central Massachusetts with the highway department and they bundle their projects with surrounding towns wherever possible, citing lane striping as an example.  When the towns contract for lane striping, they all do it on the same day, with the same provider so that there is only one setup cost and the provider starts at one town and continues through several towns to get the job done efficiently and in a cost-effective manner.  Adding to the list of possibilities, selectmen suggested adding other collective purchasing of supplies.   

Open Meeting Law

Traynor, Thompson, and Joy each have a different take on just what the intent of the Open Meeting Law is.  In a lively discussion of the “Parking Lot” area of the Selectmen’s Meeting Agenda, Traynor said that he wanted some items in the “Parking Lot,” meaning they are items which might be discussed, taken off that list.  He reasoned that if something is on the agenda, a person reading the agenda should have a reasonable expectation that the topic will be discussed, if only as a brief update.  Some items in the “Parking Lot” will likely not be discussed for months, such as the spring accountant’s report. 

Thompson said that her sense of the Open Meeting Law was to make it more difficult to bring something up at a meeting that hadn’t been prepared.  If something isn’t on the agenda, it shouldn’t be discussed.

Traynor continued that he thinks the Open Meeting Law should make meetings more transparent, furthering that sometimes he doesn’t know he wants to talk about something until that night.  Joy said that in that case, the topic would be placed on the agenda for the next meeting, giving interested parties an opportunity to speak to the issue.

Joy also said that when selectmen had an area at the beginning of the meeting for “any other items,” they were warned that they could be found in violation of the open meeting law as this did not give notice of the discussion to the public.

“I would put everything out there,” Traynor said, “I think that the more we put out there and the more people see how we come to the decisions we make, they will better understand the process rather than just seeing the end result.”  He also said that he would put much of what is now heard in executive session into public meeting; not pending litigation, wage negotiation, personnel issues, but other items which fall into the category of ‘might result in litigation.’ 

Thompson said that her inclination was to take the “Parking Lot” off the agenda.  If we want to meld it with the tasks list, that’s fine. “I definitely do not want to add it to the agend  I think it has the potential of making meetings too cluttered, too long.”

Joy said the Parking Lot is a neat way to keep track of things.  “It’s a working document,” she said.  But if there are things we want to talk about, let’s just put them on the agenda.

Bylaw Review committee

Nine people have come forward to serve on the by-law review committee, and the board agreed that a nine person board could be awkward, and perhaps splitting into three groups of three, each group taking on a separate area of the by-laws to review.  Selectmen were pleased with the response and look forward to getting the group, which is an advisory committee, started after the first of the year.Town Owned Land Sales

Robert Jacobsen came to a “Meet with a Selectman” Tuesday night session asking John Traynor about a strip of town-owned land which runs between Main Street and Parsonage Road.  He is interested in acquiring it.

Thompson said, “We’ve talked to them at least twice,” and it isn’t as simple as cutting off a strip of land; it needs to be surveyed.  Who’s going to pay for the survey?  Not the town.   And even if it were surveyed and paid for by Jacobsen, there is no guarantee that he would get it at auction. 

Traynor said he had spoken with Town Treasurer/Collector Colleen Morin regarding town-owned land parcels, and Morin told him it will take six months to do the work to bring them to auction status. 

Joy said she got an opinion from counsel regarding town-owned land.  “It really spells out what we need to do,” she said.   Joy said she didn’t think the town gave Mrs. Morin the status to sell town-owned property; she completes the process needed and selectmen are the ones to actually sell the property.

In other business:

• Selectmen accepted the resignation of Deborah Anderson from the Community Preservation Committee as one of the selectmen’s representatives to that committee in order to create a vacancy which former Planning Board member Irving Butler could fill.  Anderson, who is a member of the Planning Board, could then be appointed by that board to act as its representative and continue on the CPC.

• Selectmen turned down the gift of a ¾ acre parcel of land on Churchill Road because the town would have no known use for it at this time. 

• Selectmen will investigate the writing of a by-law that will allow the replacement of an elected official who for whatever reason cannot or will not attend meetings, rendering the board ineffective. 

• Selectmen will next meet Monday, December 5 at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted.

Area 58 Community Access Media, serving Carver, Plympton, and Halifax, will be holding an Open House from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3. at Area 58’s studio, 96 North Main St., Route 58, North Carver, in the Honey Dew Donuts strip mall located between McDonald’s and CVS, just south of the junction of Route 44.

Visitors can tour the studio, see how a television show is created, find out how they can learn to use a camera or do video-editing themselves, discover the possibility of doing their own TV show, and meet and talk with people who have done just that.

Area 58 Community Access Media is found on channels 13, 14, and 15 on Comcast cable systems in the three towns. Channel 13 is for general public access programming. Channel 14 provides coverage of educational events and meetings and channel 15 does the same for government events and meetings.

The actual joining of the public access TV operations of the three towns was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, but was carefully considered by the towns involved.

The process began in 2012. Rich Goulart, Executive Director of Area 58, recalls how he was asked to develop a 5-year plan for Carver Community Access Television.

“I realized the only way we could truly increase our effectiveness was by partnering with neighboring communities,” he said.

Right around the same time, Halifax and Plympton were coming to the end of their contracts with Comcast and were looking for new solutions.

“I met with their Cable Advisory Committees, and the seeds for the partnership were sown,” Goulart said.

Those seeds came to fruition with the creation of Area 58 Community Access Media in 2015.

The name was chosen because Route 58 runs through all three towns, but Goulart admits with a smile that the station’s logo, featuring someone pointing a camera at a UFO, is a playful reference to the mystique of “Area 51,” a US Air Force facility in Nevada engaged in highly secret research projects which often has been connected to claimed sightings of UFOs.

Ron Clarke, president of the Board of Directors of Area 58, is firm on the operation’s value.

“Area 58 Community Access Media plays a vital role in the life of our towns,” he said, because it “brings us unfiltered coverage of government meetings and local events.”

What’s more, because such coverage is also posted to the station’s YouTube channel, the “ability to be aware of what is happening in our towns” is available to almost everyone, he said.

Clarke also looked forward to developing “more home-grown programs,” that is, ones produced by residents of the towns, a desire echoed by Larry Erickson, the station’s Program Manager.

“Channels 14 and 15 carry information an informed citizenry needs to have about local government,” Erickson said, “but I have to admit that Channel 13, the general access channel, is where my heart is.”

“I just love the idea of people taking the time, using the energy, showing the commitment, to do a television program not out of the desire for fame or for money but out of the love of the topic or the opportunity to be heard or just the fun of being on television, even if it is ‘just’ local access TV.”

Channel 13 now runs programming seven days a week from around 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., all of intending “to make channel 13 a channel worth watching,” Erickson said. “One with enough good stuff to make people pause in their channel-surfing to check out what’s on.”

Much of that programming now comes from public access stations around the country rather than being produced locally, Erickson said, but he added that “we are now running locally-produced shows focused on painting, on political commentary, on on-the-street interviews, on wrestling, on equestrian events; we show local religious services, and more.”

Erickson said his big hope for the Open House is to encourage more residents of Carver, Plympton, and Halifax to do locally-produced shows.

“We’ll provide the equipment, the space, the training, and any assistance you need,” he said.

“You provide the enthusiasm.”

Erickson noted that Ron Clarke called local access media “the last true bastion of free speech” and that “Area 58 is dedicated to maintaining that tradition.”

“Absolutely true,” Erickson said. “And the only thing better than free speech is more free speech.”

“Free speech and an informed public,” Erickson said. “What a wonderful marriage. And it’s organizations like Area 58 Community Access Media that perform the ceremony.”

Veterans were honored in Halifax Friday morning with a brief but solemn ceremony outside the Halifax Town Hall on Route 106, and the Third Annual Veterans Breakfast held earlier in the week,  showing the town’s gratitude for service to country.

Selectmen Troy Garron and Kim Roy took part in the parade behind the Halifax Police Dept. Color Guard, Boy Scouts and Fire Department.  The procession took them across the way to the monument dedicated to Halifax’s fallen at the intersection of Plymouth St. and South St. where a wreath was laid in their honor.  From there, the procession went back at where a wreath was also placed on the large rock on the Halifax Town Green, a gift of the Halifax Grange #253 in 1949, engraved with “Honoring Those Who Served.”

David Walsh, Commander of the Halifax VFW Post 6258, praised veterans and their service to their country.

Halifax veterans were also treated to the Third Annual Veterans Day Breakfast at the historic Pope’s Tavern on Monday morning, November 7, put on by the Halifax Council on Aging.  COA Director Barbara Brenton was pleased with the turnout.  “The dining room was full.  We served about 22 breakfasts.”

In addition to the good meal and good company, Greg Brasso, host of the WATD radio station’s “Veterans’ Voice” Thursday night program, spoke for almost an hour, answering questions from the veterans there, giving them ways to navigate through the process of applying for and receiving state and federal benefits, programs, and services for which they might be eligible.

Brenton is looking forward to next year, when the senior center might have additional capacity to serve even more!