Halifax Chief has staffing plans model; No new stop sign

On Tuesday, November 24th the Halifax Board of Selectmen met and held a stop sign hearing, heard from Fire Chief Jason Vivieros about staffing changes, preliminarily approved two Eagle Scout projects and met with the FinCom and department heads to discuss the upcoming budget season.

Sign stopped

The board discussed a resident request for a “Stop” sign at the intersection of 12th Avenue and Lingan Street.

The matter originally was referred to the Traffic Study Committee, a committee that advises the Board of Selectmen concerning traffic safety issues such as speed limits, signage, crosswalks and commercial traffic.

The Traffic Study Committee meets monthly, but the Express was unable to obtain minutes from the meeting where this specific request was discussed as of press time.

Police Chief Edward Broderick, a member of the Committee, stated to the Board that the Committee had determined any “Stop” sign would be unenforceable at that intersection, but that they were open to a yellow, triangular warning sign such as “Slow” or “Children Ahead.”

Generally, according to Town Administrator Charlie Seelig, a variety of factors are taken into account when determining signage, including the amount of traffic in an area.

Federal and State laws must be followed as well as Halifax’s own traffic by-laws.

The “Stop” sign was denied, but Selectman Troy Garron asked that a letter of explanation be sent to the residents in the area.

Several other citizen requests for signage have come in, and are now with the Traffic Study Committee, which meets at the Police Station on the second Wednesday of the month at 11 a.m., according to the Town’s website.

Staffing changes at the Fire Department

Fire Chief Jason Vivieros came before the board to present staffing changes that he plans to implement in the coming years.

These changes are being made in consultation with the Fire Study Committee. His stated goal is to fill gaps in fire and EMS coverage, address safety issues, enhance the ability of the department to address administrative functions and to engage and create incentives for call firefighters.

His proposal, according to his projections, will actually reduce taxes while increasing staffing, by increasing ambulance fees and shifting the timing of when full-time firefighters are staffing the station to the busiest times of day.

Currently, Halifax has eight full-time firefighter/paramedics, two of which need to be on duty 24/7 to man an Advanced Life Support ambulance. There are 20 call firefighters, 13 of which are EMTs. Paramedics have more extensive medical training than EMTs.

This current situation does not meet the recommendations of several National fire-fighting associations. The station is unmanned several times a day when staff are out on calls, therefore call personnel are needed. On average, this adds five minutes to a response time.

If no or not enough call personnel “sign-on” to a call, Halifax must rely on mutual aid agreements with neighboring towns. In 2014 alone, no call personnel signed-on to a call 11 times.

Vivieros stated that Halifax “relies heavily” on mutual aid.

Call volume has gone up, as well, as the median age has increased in town. Vivieros projects 1,535 calls for 2015, up from 1,121 in 2006.

The Chief will therefore add two full-time day positions, and shift some night coverage to part-time personnel, increasing staffing during the busiest times of the day.

Any savings found will go back to the general fund or reduce the general tax levy.

FinCom, department heads, and level service

The Finance Committee met concurrently with the Selectmen along with department heads to hash out some numbers for the FY’17 budget.

The focus of the discussion was the unpredictability of the Silver Lake Regional School District budget, and the need to essentially guess certain unpredictable areas of the budget, such as the special education budget.

The idea of telling SLRSD an amount of money that Halifax can live with and insist that Silver Lake work with it was floated.

Department heads were instructed to provide “level-service,” that is, the same amount, or level, of service as last year so that taxes do not have to be raised (or only raised the least amount possible.)

Eagle Scout proposals ‘wow’ the Board

Jakob Burgess, a freshman, and Michael Connors, a sophomore at Silver Lake Regional High School, came before the Board to ask for permission to move forward with their community service projects in order to obtain the Boy Scout rank of “Eagle Scout.”

Burgess is seeking to spruce up the Margaret Meyer Outdoor Amphitheater by repairing the stage, railing and eight benches, all in need of restoration. Connors is seeking to put up new, clearer signs along with some landscaping at the ball fields at the Vaughn Athletic Complex adjacent to the Police Station.

Although the Selectmen expressed their initial approval and enthusiasm for the projects, they also began educating the young men on the subject of municipal bureaucracy.

Both gentlemen will have to seek the same approval as anybody else from various boards, committees and officials in town. Connors was especially cautioned that because his project falls within a historic district, he will have to conform to the requirements of the Historic District Commission.

Silver Lake District appoints land negotiation team for the possible sale of land from the District’s main campus to the Town of Kingston

The Silver Lake Regional School Committee met on Thursday, November 12th. Most members were present, although Plympton member and secretary Maureen Springer was present digitally via a video chat service while vacationing in the Bahamas.

Silver Lake District appoints land negotiation team for the possible sale of land from the District’s main campus to the Town of Kingston for a Police office.

Several major topics were discussed, including the appointment of a Land Request Negotiation Team for the possible sale of land from the District’s main campus to the Town of Kingston for the purpose of locating a new police station.

High School Nurse Penny Svenson presented briefly to the board asking for permission to purchase NARCAN, a medicine that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose, for the Middle School and High School, and the district’s attorney determined that the aging phone system at the High School could not be replaced by declaring an emergency, but must be funded through normal means.

Land Request Negotiation Team

The school committee quickly appointed a team to negotiate with district towns to get the best deal for the Silver Lake Regional School District in terms of the proposed sale of a five-acre parcel of land owned by the District but wanted by the Town of Kingston for a new police station.

The members of the negotiating team who were appointed are the Superintendent Joy Blackwood, member Maureen Springer, who represents Plympton, member Mark Guidaboni, who represents Kingston, and the district’s attorney.

The board voted to approve these four members unanimously and without discussion as to the make-up of the team.

The sale, if approved by the district, would then need to be unanimously approved by the voters of Kingston, Halifax, and Plympton at their respective town meetings in the spring. It is likely that Kingston voters will approve the land-sale, as they already approved $30,000 at their last town meeting to move forward with project planning at that location.

All of the towns would proportionally split any profit from the land sale.

NARCAN in schools

High School nurse Penny Svenson came before the board with a bleak request. She wants to put two doses of NARCAN each in the Middle School and the High School.

NARCAN, a medicine that reverses the effects of an acute opioid overdose, has been credited with saving many lives during the current ongoing opioid crisis. Many law-enforcement agencies routinely carry the medicine.

Although Svenson stated that she did not want to be taking this action, but “that we need to.” She likened NARCAN to Epi-Pens, which are used to reverse severe allergic reactions. She also stated that NARCAN is finding its way into many school districts across the Commonwealth, even elementary schools.

Svenson says that the NARCAN will stay locked in the nurses’ offices and used only if necessary in an emergency, just as Epi-Pens are. Right now, Svenson is the only district staff member trained to administer NARCAN, but expressed hope that others will be trained in the future.

The board approved the proposal unanimously.

Broken telephones not an emergency

The Express erroneously reported that work had begun on the problem-plagued phone system at the High School. It has not, and the phones continue to be unreliable. In an attempt to secure funding to immediately fix the phones, the idea of declaring the phones an “Emergency” was floated as a solution at a previous board meeting.

The district’s attorney did not believe that this was legally possible, so Superintendent Blackwood plans to “band-aid” the system through this year and attempt to obtain funding through the regular budgeting process.

Narrow miss for Fire and Police  at the scene of the rollover motor vehicle accident

Saturday night around midnight, Halifax fire and police with mutual aid from Plympton, were dispatched to a single vehicle rollover on Monponsett Street near the Plympton town line. 

Fire and Police narrowly avoid being struck by a vehicle at the scene of this rollover on Saturday. Photo courtesy of Halifax Fire Dept.

The single occupant, a 21-year-old woman from Bridgewater, said she lost control of the vehicle when she swerved to avoid an animal in the road. She was transported to South Shore Hospital to be treated for non life-threatening injuries.

First responders narrowly missed being hit by a speeding automobile while at the scene of the rollover motor vehicle accident on Monponsett Street at the intersection of Palmer Mill Road.

Patrolmen Ryan Simpson and Herbert Wiltshire, Jr., pursued the vehicle and pulled it over.  The driver, a Kingston man, Jeffrey Jones, 19, was arrested, charged with operating under the influence of liquor, operating to endanger, and license not in possession.

“Firefighters and police officers face all kinds of inherent dangers that can’t be avoided; almost getting struck by drunk motorists at accident scenes should not be one of them,” said Fire Chief Jason Vivieros.

Brady wins state senate seat, Geoff Diehl strong in suburbs as a tale of two districts emerges

By Tracy F. Seelye
and Deborah Anderson
Express staff

As many political watchers had predicted, Brockton’s landslide win for state Rep. Mike Brady, D-Brockton, Tuesday was too big for state Rep. Geoff Diehl, R-Whitman, to overcome despite big wins in all but one other town in the 2nd Plymouth and Bristol District.

“I’m very humbled by all the support,” Brady told supporters Tuesday night. “It was from all of your efforts all across [the district].”

Diehl, for his part, told supporters, “you have to try, you can’t just cede this race,” in his remarks at Whitman’s VFW.

“We’ve had the best supporters I’ve ever seen,” said Diehl, whose campaign out-spent Brady’s two-to-one. “A lot of people thought this race was unwinnable from the get-go. … We looked at the numbers and felt it [was] a potentially winnable race.”

But Brady held on to win the state senate seat — vacant since the death last June of state Sen. Tom Kennedy, D-Brockton — by a margin of 14,381 to 10,242 for Diehl and 643 for Halifax Independent Anna Grace Raduc.

Kennedy was much on Brady’s mind as he gave his victory speech.

“He was a great friend and mentor to myself and a lot of others and he was also a man of great faith and truth,” Brady said. “He would let me know if my tie wasn’t straight or whether I needed a haircut.”

He also thanked his two opponents in the race.

“You’ve got to give them a lot of credit, everybody ran a great race,” Brady said, noting it was now time to “keep this community and this district moving forward” citing, in particular, veterans’ legislation he is supporting.

Diehl said he views his wins in the suburbs as a “win overall,” and  made a promise to supporters.

“I will not stop working hard for you everyday as your state representative,” Diehl said. “You elected me — not power-brokers up on Beacon Hill — and I’m still going to stand up to special interests.”

Rather than look on the result simply as a loss, Diehl called it “an opportunity to gauge the work to be done” to ensure greater balance on Beacon Hill.

Brady garnered 11,193 votes in Brockton to Diehl’s 3,594. Brady also edged Diehl in the portion of Easton that falls in the district — 397 to 388 with 9 going for Raduc.

Elsewhere, it was all Diehl, but not by enough to overcome Brockton’s 7,599-vote differential.

Whitman went big for its “native son” giving Diehl 1,930 votes to Brady’s 727. Hanson cast 1,142 votes for Diehl and 494 for Brady. Halifax voted 592 for Diehl and 288 for Brady and Plympton gave 229 votes to Diehl and 90 to Brady. In East Bridgewater voters gave their state Rep. Diehl 1,037 to Brady’s 423 and in Hanover, Diehl garnered 1,350 to Brady’s 775.

Raduc received 506 votes in Brockton, 12 votes in East Bridgewater, 21 in Hanson, 13 in Plympton, 32 in Whitman and 41 in Halifax.

In Whitman, 28 percent of the town’s 9,659 voters cast ballots. Hanson saw a 23 percent turnout.

“Geoff Diehl has the hometown advantage,” Whitman Selectman Dan Salvucci said Tuesday afternoon. “In the district, I think that Geoff has worked so hard that it’s almost like he has a right  to get it, but the fact is if he doesn’t win it’s not from a lack of trying.  He’s done it all — he’s knocked on doors in all the towns in the district, especially Brockton, and win or lose, he’s done his best.”

It was a concern  Diehl supporters voiced all day.

“He’s been doing great everywhere, but Brockton’s iffy,” said Whitman resident Joe Goldsberry, holding signs for Diehl Tuesday morning, of his candidate’s chances. “Hopefully there’ll be a low turnout in Brockton.”

Whitman Town Clerk Dawn Varley  had ventured to guess shortly after the polls opened Tuesday that Diehl’s candidacy could translate into a 13 percent turnout in town.

In Hanson, where several poll workers brought knitting projects to pass the time during lulls, Town Clerk Beth Sloan said the special primary turnout in September was already been exceeded before 9 a.m. Tuesday. One poll worker competed an entire blanket during the 3-percent primary turnout in September.

On Tuesday, the projects included a baby blanket, sweaters and at least one pair of socks. Sloan was hopeful voters would be interrupting the handicrafts often, with the 23 percent turnout, she got her wish.

Plympton signs hazard mitigation plan, Selectmen table most other business for next week

PLYMPTON – Hazard mitigation plan gets signed by Board of Selectmen.

On Monday, Oct. 19, Plympton selectmen saw a presentation by the Old Colony Planning Council (OCPC) regarding their 15-town regional hazard mitigation plan.

This is the same plan that Halifax selectmen signed in September. Most other business was tabled for next week, as Selectman Colleen Thompson was not present due to a previously scheduled obligation.

Eric Arbeene, a planner with the OCPC, made the presentation and explained to the board the benefits of agreeing to the plan. Also present was Pasquale Ciaramella, the executive director of the OCPC. The mitigation plan is a guide intended to minimize damage done to humans and property when natural disasters do occur by investing in long-term fixes.

Earthquakes, tornadoes, forest fires among other disasters are planned for in the nearly 500 page document. The plan takes a regional perspective, for example there is no chapter for how Plympton should deal with a forest fire, but a chapter on how the region can mitigate fires, and specific actions Plympton can take part in to assist in that effort.

Signing a hazard mitigation plan such as the one signed by the board provides not only historical and demographic data used to mitigate such disasters, but allows towns and cities to apply for MEMA, Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, and FEMA, Federal Emergency Management Agency grants to make improvements to prevent natural disasters from being so destructive to people and property.

The ability to apply for these grants hinges on a town or city having a hazard mitigation plan. Although the town does not have to participate, after being questioned by Selectman Chairman Mark Russo, Arbeene stated that, “there is no downside to participating in the plan.”

The Board of Selectmen adopted the plan, 2-0.

Tying up odds and ends

Other than the presentation, Selectmen Christine Joy and Russo discussed developing a committee to focus on the Community Compact grants, which Plympton will soon be receiving and are all financially focused. Joy expects the Community Compact committee to work in tandem with, and mostly be composed of members of the newly formed committee studying the Department of Revenue report. The work the two committees will be doing, according to Joy, will overlap so much that she believes it prudent to first form the Community Compact committee before the DOR report committee continues its work.

Dale Pleau, town coordinator, presented some examples of personnel/hiring policies from other towns that he thinks represent a broad range of options for study in terms of developing a personnel policy for Plympton. Questions for town counsel on a criminal background check policy, or CORI, are yet to be answered as Joy needs more time to meet with counsel.

Town e-mail addresses may not be functioning properly. Forty employees, appointed officials, committees and boards have town e-mail addresses. The board would prefer that these official e-mail addresses be used, to facilitate an open records request, for example. The addresses each cost the town $30 annually, but all three selectmen have reported either some or complete difficulty using their town-assigned e-mail. Pleau will continue to look into the issue.