The Halifax Board of Selectmen and Town Administrator Charlie Seelig met in person on Friday, May 8 to discuss the town meeting warrant one final time before going to press. The Selectmen and Seelig were seated at a large table and were observing social distancing protocols.

As of right now, the town meeting is still scheduled for June 15. It remains to be seen, however, whether it will be possible both financially or logistically to hold the meeting on that date. According to Seelig, town meetings fall outside the scope of gatherings limited to 10 participants under Governor Baker’s directive. Seelig said that the hope was to have the warrant printed by Thursday, May 14 and mailed out a few weeks after that.

Seelig went through the articles one at a time with most requiring very little discussion. Article 1 is the report for town officials and committees. Article 2 is for wage and personnel matters including a possible grading of the lieutenant position for the Police Department as well as a possible re-grading for both the animal control officer as well as the director of building maintenance. There were several more routine articles involving revolving funds as well as an annual article for the reserve fund.

Seelig said that Articles 7-13 are intended to settle union contracts. According to Seelig there are no settlements as of right now and he is not sure if there will be any by June 15. If not, they will be passed over.

Seelig went on to go over the appropriation articles. A1 is a normal extension service article, A2 is a Chapter 90 article, A3 is the annual article for $150,000 toward the maintenance of town roads. Highway Surveyor Steve Hayward asked that Articles A4 and A5 be removed; both were large sums of money for street repairs. Other articles included $150,000 toward backhoes, money for a new copier for the Council on Aging, $600,000 for a fire engine for the Fire Department, $100,00 for two marked police vehicles and associated equipment, and money for radio systems for both officers and vehicles in the Police Department.

A11 is an article to allow Police Chief Joao Chaves to continue to lease or outright buy the motorcycle used by the department. Thus far the lease has been paid for by gift account money. Chaves believes that there may be enough gift money from Walmart and another business to continue paying for it with the intention to purchase the motorcycle next year. A12 is for 4 new patrol rifles and A13 is for $5000 for bullet resistant vests, both for the Police Department.

A14 would send money from the town to the Housing Authority. According to Seelig there was an employee who worked for both the town as well as the Housing Authority. Both entities were supposed to be contributing money to the employee’s retirement, but the Housing Authority was charged the full amount. Seelig said he is still trying to sort through the finances for this article.

A16 is for $36,000 to support a part time school resource officer at the middle school. This topic has been a point of contention for those in town. It was voted down at last year’s town meeting. Plympton did vote it through last year and have been supporting a very limited number of hours for the school resource officer. Currently, Kingston fully supports the school resource officer at the high school as it is a Kingston Police Officer and comes out of their police budget. The school resource officer at both the high school and middle school must be a Kingston officer as the schools are located there.

Seelig said the Halifax Finance Committee is not recommending the article. When Selectmen Chair Troy Garron asked why, he was told that the Finance Committee believes the expense belongs in the school budget. Selectman Gordon Andrews, who is also a member of both the Halifax School Committee and the Silver Lake Regional School Committee, said that adding the part time officer at the middle school into the school budget would also mean needing to add the high school resource officer. Andrews also reiterated that everyone is in agreement about the need for the part time officer but that the dispute is over the mechanism to fund that officer. Seelig said, “If it’s a priority and we have a limited amount of money, we have to make a choice… if the resource officer is more important than other expenditures for the school, they’ll leave it in and take something else out.” Selectman Tom Millias agreed saying, “I think philosophically, from the very beginning, the first time we heard about this, I was not in favor of the towns going about it separately.” He also called the school budget, “out of control, in my personal opinion.” Seelig went on to use Old Rochester Regional School district as a similar district that handles the school resource officers as part of the school budget. Andrews, however, was quick to point out that Old Rochester actually handles the school resource officers through the town budgets as is being proposed by the article. Andrews also told the other selectmen and Seelig that if the officers were put into the school budget, it would end up costing the town more than $36,000.

A17 is a petition article for $20,000 for a truck inspection program. Seelig said he believed it should be included in the police budget. A18 is a petition article for grading all the unpaved roads in Halifax including private and unaccepted roads. Seelig said that Hayward had been doing work on these roads the last few weeks and that they had received “satisfactory compliments” on the results. A19 was in regard to Pasture Lane which is currently an unaccepted road. Millias said, “I understand the frustrations of the residents on this road, but I don’t see that this is the year for the town to be doing this.” The Selectmen agreed to leave it on the warrant with the caveat that the Board of Selectmen do not recommend it.

There were several more articles that were taken off the warrant before moving on to A23. A23 is intended to deal with the trash that has been piling up at the boat ramp and fishing area on Rt. 58. Seelig said that because of the financial hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, there just is not money to deal with the issue. Seelig also explained that the town doesn’t want to place barrels there as people often take it upon themselves to dump personal trash in them. He also said that this is the reason there are locks on the barrels at the townhouse. Despite calling trash on the roadway an important issue, Garron said, “My gut feeling is to take it off.”

A24 is for crosswalk control devices at various locations. A26 is a petition article for $3500 that is essentially a contract between the town of Halifax and South Coastal County Legal Services. A29 is the same article that appears each year in case at the end of the night there is money to put into the stabilization fund. A30, A31, and A32 were for folding chairs for the great hall and selectmen’s meeting room, insulation and vapor barriers at the old town barn, and soundproof panels at the Holmes Public Library, respectively. A34 is for the repair of overhead doors at the town barn.

A35 is for the replacement of the roof at Pope’s Tavern. The cost includes architectural, engineering, and repair. “We can’t let the building go and I don’t see a new Council on Aging anytime soon…I think it is one of the things we have to do,” Millias said. Garron agreed, saying, “We definitely need it. I mean that place is leaking like a sieve.”

A36 is the annual Uber/Lyft article that state law mandates be included. It is for a small amount of money from rides that originate in town.  A37 is for a repair to the landfill cap.

The next several articles discussed pertain to moving the town toward a more electronic business model. A38 from the auditors asks for a fraud/risk assessment. Andrews suggested waiting a year since the hope is to move toward an online system and it wouldn’t make sense to do such an assessment on a program that wouldn’t be in existence much longer.

A39 would allow for e-permitting and A40 would allow for papers to be filed electronically and copies obtained without contacting town officials. Seelig said, “Conceptually, we understand what we are talking about, but we would have to have a firm proposal to go to town meeting.” A41 would establish an electronic payroll system.

Article F1 is a possible pilot agreement for the River Street Solar Farm. If everyone agrees to a pilot by the time of town meeting, the town can vote to approve it. If not, it will be passed over.

The zoning related articles will come before the Planning Board. The first is a change to floodplains to reflect what FEMA wants. There is also a multifamily bylaw revision. The last zoning article would allow for recreational marijuana establishments in the business or commercial district with a special permit.

Seelig also mentioned an article to increase the size of the Beautification Committee from 5 to 7 members. The increase needs to be an article as it requires a change to a town bylaw.

The selectmen and Seelig also discussed possible locations for the town meeting given social distancing restrictions. In closing, Andrews said that the town will need to come up with some sort of celebration once past this pandemic.

The virtual Plympton School Committee meeting on Monday, April 27 began with a public hearing and vote on school choice. No one was in attendance from the public that wished to speak on the matter. Vice Chair Jason Fraser made a motion not to accept school choice for the 2020-2021 school year beyond extending it to the students currently enrolled through the program. Chair Jon Wilhelmsen also pointed out that the incoming Kindergarten class was a large one, by Plympton standards. Wilhelmsen also cited the uncertainty surrounding the budget as yet another reason he was opposed to school choice. The motion not to accept school choice for the upcoming year passed unanimously.

Fraser, who currently serves as a member of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC) Board of Directors and is the Division III (southeastern) Chair, has volunteered to serve as secretary/treasurer on the MASC Executive Board. Wilhelmsen made a motion to show the Plympton School Committee’s support for Fraser. “I think not only will MASC benefit greatly from Jason’s expertise, but it also allows our school and our district a persistent voice up at that level and I think that is something that is beneficial to us,” Wilhelmsen said. “Thank you very much for your kind words and I want to acknowledge the support of the Committee and the administrators,” Fraser said. The vote is scheduled for June 23. “Regardless of if I’m nominated to that position by the MASC Nominating Board, I will continue in my role as an officer at the very least and continue to fly the flag of Plympton and Silver Lake at the state and federal level,” Fraser said.

Wilhelmsen said that the two positions coming due on the School Committee are those belonging to himself and Fraser. Both will remain on the Committee until the elections are held.

Fraser said he was in touch with the townhouse regarding pulling papers. He said that regardless of their answer his intention is to run for both seats he holds currently (Plympton School Committee and Silver Lake Regional). “I think that now more than ever it is important for us to have some history and some continuity on the Committee to make sure that we can guide our town through this unchartered territory,” Fraser explained.

Wilhelmsen led the discussion on the budget for fiscal year 2021. The Finance Committee recommended that the special education stabilization fund of $1,000, the quinquennial cistern inspection and cleaning in the amount of $5,000, and a group of technology expenses totaling roughly $21,000 would best be handled as articles at the special town meeting.

Those articles have been drafted and provided to the town. It was further decided that curriculum expenses totaling $15,500 for social studies grades 3 and 6 and math resources would best be handled within the budget. Director of Business Services Christine Healy said she would tweak the budget per those recommendations. Healy also said that there is a savings of $12,000 as a result of the new bus contract.

Wilhelmsen said he is having regular discussions with Town Hall and mentioned that the warrant could potentially be stripped down to essential items only such as the budget.

“We’re pretty well insulated at the local level for receipts because most of our income  at a local level comes from property taxes but we do receive a substantial amount of funds from the state level and right now at FY20, which ends on June 30, they’re predicating between a $300 and $700 million deficit for this year,” Fraser explained.

“The Governor has given his word that he does not plan on doing any 9C cuts to this year and will pull from the rainy-day fund to supplement the budget if necessary,” he continued.

Fraser said that things are more unclear for the FY21 budget at the state level. Last year’s budget was $44 billion dollars at the state level and, according to Fraser, “there are numbers right now floating around… the most conservative number I’ve heard is a $2 billion shortfall compared to the $44 billion dollar budget at the state level but I’m hearing some people on the fringes using numbers much, much larger than that.”

With the House 1 budget thrown out, Fraser said that the state doesn’t believe they will have numbers for municipalities to work from until early May at the earliest. Fraser said that a lot of towns and regional schools are looking to going to a 1/12 budget as a result.

“Regardless of where we end up, we could be looking at a 2-4% decrease in state aide or it could be much, much more dire than that,” Fraser said. Plympton’s school likely won’t benefit from the CARES Act passed at the federal level.

Dennett Elementary School Principal Peter Veneto was unable to attend the meeting so Superintendent Jill Proulx provided an update in his stead.

Proulx said that according to Veneto, the vast majority of families are working really hard with teachers to make remote learning successful. She also said that Veneto has been meeting weekly with the special education team, response to intervention groups, as well as each individual grade level. Proulx said, “he gives all the credit in the world to his teachers for their efforts and dedication.”

Proulx spoke on the survey that was sent to staff, secondary students, and parents to gauge how the remote learning was working.

“We would like to begin by thanking our school committee, our students, our parents, and our staff for their patience and their assistance in helping us through this transition. It has truly been a team effort and we cannot thank you enough for your support and your kindness and your teamwork throughout all of this,” Proulx said.

Key takeaways from the survey include working with the staff to streamline communications and make sure that the district is using best practices for remote learning, as well as continuing to revisit and revise as needed. Proulx said that they will also be incorporating updated guidance from the state into their remote learning plan.

A second set of surveys will be sent out in mid-May. Proulx also said that another item being looked at right now by the administration is reentry; both what that will look like as well as what expenses may be related to it.

“I just wanted to say how appreciative I was of the surveys that you put out…I shared out some of the data that we received and other communities all around us on the South Shore asked if they could have your surveys…. I’m very thankful to hear that you’re going to do a second round to continue that two-way dialogue,” Fraser said to Proulx.

Wilhelmsen praised a video that was created by teachers and other staff members at Dennett Elementary to reach out to their students.

He said the video was noticed even outside of the district. He described it saying it was, “what the kids needed at that point, just to be able to see everyone… it was very well done.”