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House lots for sale to benefit Preserve

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Alan Wheelock
Special to The Express

Late in 2018, Plympton voters approved the acquisition of a large, beautiful parcel of conservation land on Prospect Road, not far from the Middleboro town line. Recognized by the state as one of the most environmentally important natural areas remaining on the South Shore, this land might well have been destroyed in a sand and gravel operation had it not been acquired by the town. The property is extensive and covers 160 acres of forested upland, wetlands, and cranberry bogs.

 In order to finance the acquisition of the property, the Plympton Open Space Committee led a creative effort that involved the use of Community Preservation Act funds, personal donations, fund raising efforts, and the issuance of a short-term municipal bond. The Open Space Committee made a commitment to voters to retire the bond as quickly as possible by selling several house lots with frontage along Prospect Road.

 These lots are now on the market. Each of the three lots available for sale by the Town are approximately 1.5 acres in size, and have already been approved for both septic and wells. The lots are beautifully wooded with mature white pine, red and white oak, and American holly. All three of the lots have water views overlooking a reservoir (associated with the former cranberry operation) and of course are contiguous with Plympton’s newest conservation area – Two Brooks Preserve. The Preserve will afford the new residents hiking, bird watching, and overall enjoyment of nature just outside their doorsteps.

 Interested parties can submit bids for one or more of these lots to the Town of Plympton. (A public bid process is required for the sale of Town-owned property under state regulations.) Required forms and instructions are available at Plympton’s website, which is town.plympton.ma.us.

 Alternatively, paper copies of the bid forms and instructions may be obtained at the Treasurer’s Office at the Plympton Town House, 5 Palmer Road, in Historic Plympton Village. The Town House is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Monday evenings from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

 All bids must be received at the Treasurer’s Office at the Plympton Town House no later than 12 noon, April 7, 2020.

Primary Election is March 3

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Town Clerks throughout the Silver Lake region are making last minute preparations for the Presidential Primary Election March 3.

The polls are open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. and is expected to be a heavy turnout.

Plympton residents vote at the Plympton Town House, 5 Palmer Road, Route 58.

Halifax residents vote at the Halifax Elementary School, Route 106, Halifax.

Kingston residents in Precincts 1, 2, and 3, vote at the Kingston Elementary School, 100 Main St.; Precinct 4 votes at the Town Hall, 26 Evergreen Street.

Selectmen review Area 58 contract

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Kristy Zamagni-Twomey
Express correspondent

HALIFAX – Representatives from Area 58 and the Cable Advisory Board met with the Halifax Board of Selectmen Tuesday night to discuss concerns several months before the end of their current contract.

Selectman Tom Millias said that he feels there is a lack of transparency on Comcast’s end, specifically regarding the types of fees on bills. Millias said that the Area 58 fees are included under “franchise fees” and stressed that most subscribers are probably unaware that they are paying for those services. Cable access is available to everyone including non-subscribers who are not paying for it. “It took me a while to figure out that I was paying for it and I scrutinize my bills,” Millias said. Millias also said that he was concerned that there was no option to opt out of paying for the service. The representatives from Area 58 said that they had no control over the way in which Comcast bills for their services. They offered to do a PSA on their channel to make viewers aware.

There were several appointments scheduled during the Tuesday’s Selectmen meeting. The first was with Judith Rakutis and Martha Smith. Both women were appointed to the Council on Aging Board of Directors. The selectmen thanked them for volunteering.

Amber Sadlier, the Race Director for the Ragnar Road Relay met with the Board to request permission for the race to run through the town and use the elementary school as a minor exchange point. The Ragnar Road Relay is a series of 200-mile relay races run in 20 different geographic locations. The Massachusetts’ race traditionally begins in Hull and finished in Provincetown but had to be re-routed in recent years for safety reasons. The race will now end at Smuggler’s Beach in Yarmouth with a stop in Halifax. The race is run on Friday, May 8 and Saturday, May 9. It is anticipated that runners would begin to trickle in around 4 p.m. with peak time being 6 p.m. on Friday. Sadlier said that it wouldn’t be necessary for roads to be closed down. Due to concerns regarding heavy traffic in the area at that time in the afternoon, Halifax Police Chief Joao Chaves said he would have a police detail present. The selectmen unanimously supported Sadlier’s request. Sadlier told the Board that the race raised $400,000 for various fundraising campaigns in 2018.

Eagle Scout candidate Ryan McCarthy sought the Board’s approval for his project to create tables near the soon to be built gazebo at the HOPS Playground. McCarthy, who is a part of Boy Scout Troop 39, said that one of the tables would be handicap accessible. Asked how he would be funding the project, McCarthy said that he has several sponsors lined up as well as a GoFundMe page. Selectmen Chair Troy Garron said, “Once again, the Boy Scouts are improving upon the quality of life in Halifax.”

The final appointment of the night was with Department of Fish and Game (DFG) Land Agent Joan Pierce and Plymouth County Administrator Frank Basler. In July, Pierce met with the Board to discuss Fisheries and Wildlife buying an area of Peterson’s Swamp from Halifax. According to Pierce, the Department would maintain the land rather than develop it. Included in the plan is a small parking area to make the land more accessible.

Currently, Plymouth County and Halifax each own 50 percent of the land being referred to as Parcel A and Parcel B. Halifax needs to purchase their share of the land from Plymouth County for $75,000 before selling it to Fisheries and Wildlife for an agreed upon $150,000.

In previous meetings with Pierce, both Garron and Millias have expressed frustration with getting the short end of the stick in their previous deals with Fisheries and Wildlife. To make this deal more appealing to the selectmen and the town, Fisheries and Wildlife will also be transferring a sliver of land behind Aldana Road to Halifax. This land carries value to the town as ownership of it will be necessary to eventually pave the road.

Seelig said that they had Article 97 legislation drafted for the transaction. Seelig said that the Board could vote to request Representative Kathleen LaNatra and Senator Michael Brady to file it. Pierce said that the draft was approved by the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM), the Executive Office of Administration and Finance (A & F), and Fisheries and Wildlife and would now just need the approval of the town in order to be filed.

Selectman Gordon Andrews asked, “What guarantee do we have that we get the sliver?” Pierce reminded him that Fisheries and Wildlife wants Parcel B and without the transfer of the sliver, that can’t happen.  Once the Article 97 legislation goes through there is a swap for no further consideration.

Millias, who called the town’s track record with Fisheries and Wildlife “poor to lousy” said, “My issue all along has been that I have absolutely no confidence in Fisheries and Wildlife and the Commonwealth. Absolutely none and this is not just recently, this has been over twenty years.” Pierce assured him, “We are committed to this. I’m on record, I’m in the minutes, and that’s all I can tell you.”

Andrews made a motion to approve the purchase of Lot A and B from the county for $75,000 as voted by the town at special town meeting. Millias seconded the motion and the selectmen voted it through. Andrews said that he was fine with purchasing the lot but was hesitant to sign the option to sell it to the state without having the legislation filed. The Board voted to have Seelig request that it be filed.

Aside from the night’s appointments, the selectmen and Town Administrator Charlie Seelig took up a few other matters including officially signing the Host Community Agreement with Bud’s Goods and Provisions for the development of an outdoor marijuana growing facility in Halifax. Both Brian Kling and Scott Materna were named to the Building and Facility Needs Committee that also includes most department heads in the town. The committee will hold its first meeting on March 11 at 2 p.m.

The Greater Attleboro Taunton Regional Transit Authority (GATRA) is scheduled to meet with the Board of Selectmen on March 10 about possibly having Halifax become a member. Plympton recently voted to join GATRA.

Many town web sites failed Monday

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Several of the Plympton town committee meetings scheduled for Monday, February 24 had to be rescheduled due to the town website going down sometime around 10 a.m. Monday morning. Under the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law, a public body must give at least 48 hours’ notice (excluding weekends and legal holidays) prior to any meeting with exceptions made for emergency situations.

Towns can elect through a vote at town meeting for the town website to be the agreed upon posting location for such meetings. If that website is unavailable for viewing for six or more continuous hours, the posting is considered insufficient.

Town Clerk Patricia Detterman said that she received an influx of calls yesterday during the outage.

Meetings scheduled included a Board of Selectmen meeting, a dog complaint hearing, a Plympton School Committee meeting and public budget hearing, a Board of Health meeting, Financial   Committee meetings, and a Planning Board hearing.

The selectmen’s meeting has been rescheduled for next Monday, March 2. The new days and times for the other meetings can be found on the town website.

CivicPlus is the platform that hosts the town’s website as well as many towns throughout the state including Halifax and Duxbury. CivicPlus sent an email Tuesday at 2:39 p.m. alerting the town that the problem was related to the load balancer, had been resolved.

A load balancer, intended to increase capacity and reliability, is a device that is used to distribute traffic across various servers. If one of the load balancers fails, a second one becomes active. If both fail or are misconfigured, servers are knocked offline. 

Detterman requested a report from CivicPlus detailing what led to the problem and steps that were taken to resolve it.

Detterman said that she has never before experienced the website going down and jokingly said that you don’t appreciate what you have until its gone.

She was quick to say, however, “We do appreciate it; it is such a powerful tool for this office.”

Silver Lake Drama Club to perform

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Monday, February 24, the Silver Lake Drama Club invited the Express  to see the play Darcy and Elizabeth, a shortened version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

The Silver Lake  Drama Club has been invited to present their play at the Massachusetts Educational Theatre Guild festival again this year.  The festival is hosted this year by the Joseph Case High School in Swansea.

The Massachusetts Theatre Celebration is a one-day, non-competitive opportunity for students to share work, receive feedback, and forge connections with students in other schools that can lead to collaboration and support for years to come.

Tickets for the Preliminary Round at Joseph Case High School in Swansea on Saturday, Feb. 29, are $15 for the entire day!

Preliminary Round – Saturday, Feb. 29, Semi-Final Round – Saturday, March 14, and the Final Round – Thursday – Saturday, March 26 – 28.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Andover, Attleboro, Boston, Brockton, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Danvers, Dedham, Duxbury, Framingham, Hamilton/Wenham, Hanover, Harvard, Hingham, Hudson, Leominster, Lexington, Marshfield, North Reading, Norwood, Sharon, Wayland, Westford, and Winthrop Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

Who is Susan Hill, Alex?

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Becoming a contestant on Jeopardy is not an easy thing to do, just ask Susan Hill. Hill, who has called Halifax home for the last quarter of a century; she auditioned several times in decades past. Despite making it into the contestant pool a few times, Hill was never called to be a contestant. That all changed this past December while she was attending the funeral of her beloved ninety-four-year-old aunt. Hill said her phone was turned to silent, but her husband first noticed the email from Jeopardy. Hill called them back and was invited to California in early January to be a contestant on the show. Hill said she took it as a sign from her aunt, who she lovingly refers to as a “hot ticket.”

Jeopardy! first premiered in 1964 with Art Fleming as host. The version we watch today made its debut in 1984 hosted by Alex Trebek. Each year 70,000 people apply but only 400 will be selected as contestants.

Hill grew up in a neighborhood in Dorchester that she describes as having homes that were very close together. It was this experience, she says, that ultimately led to her and her husband’s decision to build on an acre of land in Halifax. Hill initially attended public school before moving on to parochial school and eventually landing at Fontbonne Academy in Milton on a scholarship. She later earned a degree in broadcasting and film from Boston University, but chose not to pursue a career in that industry.

A self-described free spirit, Hill said she has spent most of her adult life changing jobs every five or so years. Her husband, who she credits with keeping her grounded, is the yin to her yang, having spent the last forty years employed by Stop and Shop.

Hill’s last job was helping to run golf tournaments for the Women’s Golf Association of MA before her most recent endeavor. Hill credits her current title of dog walker as helping her get a leg in the door at Jeopardy. Not only do you have to have the smarts to pass the online test, you also must have the charisma and backstory to do well in the in-person interview. Hill said that in a sea of doctors and lawyers, her status as a dog walker stood out.

About a year ago Hill decided to take the online test which led to a call asking her to come for an in-person interview in April of 2019. Hill, who said she has always considered herself to be a shy person, said that the biggest difference between her interview this time and her interview decades before, was a lack of inhibition. Hill said, “Back then I was not as…”  She stopped, searching for the right word before settling on “alive.”  “I was kind of shy and subdued and didn’t make as good of an impression on them,” She continued.  Asked what was most surprising about her Jeopardy experience, Hill says simply, “how animated I found myself to be.”

After getting that call at her aunt’s funeral in December, Hill had about a month’s notice to plan her trip to California for filming on January 6. Asked about what kind of preparation she did, Hill said, “You can’t really study up, though some people say study everything you can and maybe if I was younger and my brain a little more flexible, I could have done that.”  Instead, she said she thought of the topics she would be most afraid of and decided to learn or relearn the basics. Opera, state capitals, and American history were all on that list.

Hill said she approached the entire experience as a once in a lifetime adventure. She said that she told herself if she won third place, she could pay for her airfare, second place earnings would cover airfare and hotel expenses, and were she to win, it would just be the icing on the cake.

Two weeks’ worth of shows are taped over a two-day period with winners returning to tape a second episode during that same block of time. If you win two games, you return at a later date on the show’s dime.

Hill said she was randomly selected to be in the final game of the first day. This placement afforded her the opportunity to sit in the audience and watch the earlier games. Hill said that she was initially nervous that she would be star struck around longtime host Alex Trebek or overwhelmed by the many TV cameras. “As the process went on and I got going in my game, it was almost like playing a trivia game in a bar,” Hill explained. Hill also said that she had a conversation with Trebek about whether or not Tom Brady will be returning to Boston. She described Trebek as a “normal person” and “just a nice guy.”

Hill said she thinks she accomplished her main goal which in her words was just to “not make a fool of myself.” Since this is a spoiler-free zone you’ll have to tune in on Friday, February 28 to see how she did.

Get ready for plastic bag ban March 1

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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.

Caregiver Registry wins unanimous approval

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State Representative Kathy LaNatra (D-Kingston) has announced that the House of Representatives unanimously passed legislation to create a registry of care providers who have harmed a person or persons with an intellectual or developmental disability, with a goal of preventing these providers from being hired for programs funded or operated by the Department of Developmental Services (DDS).

The legislation, An Act to Protect Persons with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities from Abuse, will create a registry of care providers against whom the Disabled Persons Protection Commission (DCCP) has made a final decision regarding “substantiated findings” of acts resulting in serious physical or emotional injury of a person with an intellectual or developmental disability. The legislation requires care provider employers to check the registry prior to hiring or retaining any person as a care provider and prevents employers from hiring or retaining any provider who appears on the registry.  Those employers include those with DDS licenses for day services, those that have contracts with DDS, and those receiving funding from DDS.  Under the bill, DCCP imposes monetary fines or other penalties on any employer that fails to comply. The legislation also includes due process protections for care providers.  Representative LaNatra said, “I’m proud that the House of Representatives voted unanimously to take this important step, to further ensure the well-being of people with intellectual or developmental disabilities.” The bill now advances to the Senate for consideration.

Her district includes all  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.

School budget up 2.7%

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The Silver Lake Regional School Committee meeting on Thursday, February 13 began with a public budget hearing on the budget for fiscal year 2021. Committee Chair Jason Fraser opened the floor to anyone from the public that wished to speak on the budget.

A member of the public speaking on behalf of the Union said, “Research has consistently shown that the single most important school-based factor in student achievement is teacher quality… that’s why it’s so important that Silver Lake’s budget focuses on attracting and retaining great teachers.”  He continued saying, “the budget as the version 2 was presented seems to be cutting the exact factor that’s most important to student achievement. I would urge the school committee to direct the superintendent to reexamine the budget and make cuts to areas that have less of a direct impact to student success.”

He also read a statement from the 8th grade English Language Arts (ELA) teachers at the middle school. Those teachers were concerned that one of the proposed cuts included revamping the twenty-first literacy class and integrating it into the 7th grade curriculum. In the statement, the teachers expressed their concerns that this would remove teachers from their areas of expertise thus lessening the quality of the education the students receive.

Halifax town administrator Charlie Seelig also addressed the committee, beginning by acknowledging the difficulties inherent in creating the budget. “Doing the budget is probably one of the worst parts of the job.” He continued, “ …having to cut back incrementally, piece by piece and taking apart the Silver Lake school system in order to find some happy medium between what the towns can afford and what our students need is a very difficult proposition especially given that almost every single dollar of increase in the budget from year to year right now is a dollar that’s coming from the three communities.” Seelig also stressed the lack of money coming in from the state as well as the competition posed by charter schools. Students attending charter schools from the Silver Lake district increased from 20 in 2013 to 58 in 2020.

“I can’t come to you and say this is a terrible budget, you didn’t cut enough – you cut a lot,” Seelig said. Seelig said that it appeared to him that the assessment among the three communities was around 3.2 percent whereas he was hoping to see something closer to 2 or 2.5 percent. It is worth noting that administrators came up with an assessment number that they say is closer to 2.99 percent. Seelig also pointed out that while on the surface it appeared that the assessment to Halifax was quite low at 1.2 percent, that number doesn’t accurately reflect the true cost to Halifax. According to Seelig there were expenses transferred to shared cost that are no longer reflected in the Silver Lake budget. Additionally, Seelig shared his concerns that Halifax is again being asked to fund their share of the middle school resource officer through an article at town meeting as it is yet another cost to the town that is not included in the budget as presented.

Seelig, who has worked for Halifax for 24 years, said that it would be difficult for him to go to town meeting in May and tell residents to vote against the school budget because of the low assessment to Halifax this year. However, Seelig said he wants residents to understand that several years from now that assessment is going to climb as their share of the school population will inevitably increase. “Compound interest just keeps accumulating and at some point, we’re not going to be able to afford this,” Seelig explained.

Chair of the Halifax Finance Committee Melinda Tarsi also spoke during the hearing saying that while she shared many of the same concerns as Seelig she wanted to focus her comments on the part time school resource officer at the middle school. “We had the conversation last year concerning the structure of the financing and we had hoped that given a year more of talking and development that we would be able to find a way to successfully negotiate an agreement that would allow us to place the cost for the part time SRO into the assessment and to work out a more equitable arrangement among the police departments,” Tarsi said.  “As we understand it, there hasn’t been a significant change in the approach that is being taken and that this is going to be placed as an article, again, this year at the Halifax town meeting,” she continued. Tarsi was quick to point out that Halifax and the Finance Committee are in favor of both the position and the increased safety the position presents, but that they continue to be opposed to the proposed mechanism to fund that position. Tarsi said that Silver Lake shouldn’t be allowed to introduce articles with requests for positions since no other department is allowed to do that.

Chair of the Kingston Finance Committee Carl Pike also spoke to the committee, beginning his comments, much like Seelig did, with an acknowledgment of how difficult it is to create the budget. Pike commended Silver Lake for coming in with a bottom-line increase of 2.91 percent but noted that they were asking other departments to come in lower, at around 2.5 percent. Like Seelig, Pike pointed out that these yearly increases will prove difficult to sustain in the long run. Pike said that the average tax bill in Kingston is $6500 and pointed out that if all departments come in at a 3 percent increase it would mean an additional $200 onto the average bill. “If that happens year after year, it is just not sustainable,” Pike said.