A large group of Plympton residents attended Monday’s Board of Selectmen’s meeting to discuss a possible MassWorks grant for improvement to the Ring Road and Main Street intersection.

The town applied for the grant, which would include engineering as well as construction, on August 9, and has not yet heard whether or not it will be awarded.

Vice Chair Mark Russo addressed residents saying, “I know there’s maybe been a little bit of misunderstanding of where we are in this process. It’s just a shame for people to get upset based on misunderstandings, whether we even get this grant to begin with. But to be just explicitly clear, the grant would include, as the first step, money for engineering and design options.”

He continued, “We, the selectmen, have made no decisions whatsoever about what would be best and in fact are just looking for opinions and looking for ideas. Certainly part of the process would include a lot of input and especially input from abutters and neighbors and people on that road.”

Chair Christine Joy described the objective as “Trying to find something that helps people negotiate that area but also slows them down; we’re all interested in controlling the speed of the traffic as well as making the intersection safer.” Joy said a speed study was conducted and some of the cars were found to be driving through the intersection at speeds as fast as 72 mph. According to the Board, Plympton police chief Patrick Dillon considers the intersection to be the most dangerous in town.

Russo also mentioned that upon hearing about the issues with the intersection, he was initially hopeful that the speed limit could be reduced town-wide. With the Board’s authorization Russo met with town counsel but learned that the state has very specific requirements regarding lowering speed limits and it typically isn’t possible to implement without the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s approval. Certain circumstances, such as qualifying as being “thickly settled,” allow for a town to lower speed limits without MASSDOT. Unfortunately, Plympton does not fall within those parameters as houses have to be less than 200 feet apart. In regard to reduced speed limits Russo said, “That’s a beautiful idea and a really inexpensive option but it doesn’t look like those possibilities are available to us.” Main Street resident Jen MacDonald asked the Board about the possibility of designating the road as a scenic road as that could possibly provide another avenue toward reducing the speed limit through a vote at town meeting. Russo said that town counsel didn’t think such a designation fit but asked for and received the Board’s approval to have another meeting with town counsel to be sure all options to reduce the speed limit had been exhausted. Chair of the Plympton Historical Commission Jon Wilhelmsen, who was also present, agreed that it would be worth investigating the scenic road designation further.

Of the myriad of suggestions brought to the table, the one with the most support seemed to be the idea to simply make the intersection a three way stop. A resident who described himself as living on Main St. right across from Ring Rd., said, “Don’t spend the money if you don’t have to spend it. Three stop signs – people are going to stop and it takes care of all of the problems right there.” Wilhelmsen, who also lives on Main St., agreed saying, “I think some of the ideas tonight are really good. I think moving the pole would be great because you can get away, I think, without even having an island there and you can just have a small road coming into a slightly bigger road with a three way stop which I think would be the simplest and the least impact to that corner.”

Another resident took objection to Joy’s assertion that paving the road in question would add to the problem by increasing speeding. He explained, “The biggest problem with that road is that it is a mess. A lot of heavy trucks have caused the depression on the side of the road which is a big scoop and there are ruts. I bet a lot of us do some bicycling there and it’s dangerous when you go around the road, we usually go off up through the school zone because we don’t want to make that turn.” With respect to driving, however, that same resident said, “That turn is not dangerous, I do it all the time and the visibility is reasonably good but the pavement is a wreck.”

Highway Superintendent Scott Ripley said that Ring Rd. (up to the school) will be getting an overlay hopefully in the Fall. According to Ripley the overlay will act as a band-aid to hopefully last 10 years.

The rest of Main St. has been held up due to the issue with the intersection in question. Paving the straightaway is more complicated as parts of that road need to be raised up 14 inches and since the road is over wetlands there is a lot of procedural red tape.

Resident Carolyn DeCristofano, who said she did research into traffic calming measures, offered some possible suggestions. One of those was to use textured highway where there’s a slight raise in the pavement at various distances along the straightaway to encourage slowing down.

She also emphasized that, based on the research, the curve should not be softened. “Nowhere does it say straightening a road is a calming measure for obvious reasons, in fact, many of the traffic calming approaches involve changing the road to make it more curvy. The trend is you make people turn a little or change their path rather than give them a straight dragway.”

Selectman John Traynor said that the last time the issue of the curve was discussed with the public, the general consensus was against any plan to straighten the road. Those in attendance muttered in agreement with Traynor’s statement.

The biggest concern voiced at Monday’s meeting was fear that taking the grant would cause the town to lose their say in what changes would be made to the intersection.

George Carver of Maple St. explained his concerns, “If you take a grant from the state… don’t we as a town lose the ability to do what we want? They’re basically going to come in and say we did the study, this is what we found and we’re providing the money to do it x, y, z way.”

The Board and Town Administrator Elizabeth Dennehy further stressed to those in attendance that an important part of the grant process would be the brainstorming and design work that would happen prior to any construction. DeCristofano summarized the Board’s point saying, “It’s a grant to plan and implement not a grant to implement a plan.” Russo said, “Frequently the best ideas come from the people that live there but the grant would also give us some money to hire experts to offer what are the options and then I think we want to look at the whole list.”

DeCristofano asked the Board if someone could please look into exactly what control the state will have over the project if the town accepts the grant money. Joy agreed acknowledging, “free money is not necessarily free money.” The Board and Dennehy said that if awarded, any meetings where decisions pertaining to the grant would be made, would be posted to social media and elsewhere to ensure public participation.

Upon the conclusion of the intersection discussion, Ripley gave the Board an update on the work to be done to the Winneteuxet Road Bridge.

Ripley said the work, which includes replacing two posts and putting up more modern guardrails, has been pushed back but expected it to commence in the next two weeks. Residents in the area have already been sent letters and the school has been notified. The road will be closed down at Elm St. and West St. for four weeks.

The Board also voted through several appointments including Kristian Oberg as a full-time police officer and all members to the town campus committee including Jon Wilhelmsen, Ross Macpherson, Colleen Thompson, Art Morin, and John Traynor as a Board of Selectmen representative.

The disposition of the old police station cell was an agenda item as the question remains as to what to do with the cell remnants.

The pieces that are to be removed are extremely heavy and cumbersome to move. Ken Thompson, a volunteer with the building department, was on hand to ask the committee if they would consider allowing him to take the pieces home.

Thompson said he feared that they would be tossed and said that his intention would be to reassemble what he could and make some of it available for public consumption.

The Board said that they would like to get input from the Plympton Historical Society.

The Halifax Board of Selectmen meeting on Tuesday, August 13 began with Halifax Police Chief Joao Chaves introducing three candidates for special police officers.

Thomas William Reed, a West Bridgewater resident, had a long list of credentials including 27 years as an East Bridgewater police officer, several years with the Department of Corrections, 7 years as an armed security officer, and a MA in criminal justice. Reed also serves on the Board of Directors of Cops for Kids with Cancer.

Jay Guidaboni, a Plymouth resident, has a BS in business from Bridgewater State University and has spent the last two years at the Plymouth County Sherriff’s office as a reserve deputy in addition to being a branch manager in the private sector for over 20 years.

Herbert Wiltshire, an army veteran, comes to the table with 20 years of experience as a patrolman in Halifax.

Chaves explained, “All three candidates have had extensive experience in the law enforcement field and will bring a wealth of knowledge and training to the department and the residents of Halifax.” The selectmen joked with Wiltshire about returning to the town. Wiltshire said, “I enjoy working here. I enjoy the people and the community and I enjoy the people that I work with.” Vice chair Tom Millias said that he defers to the Chief’s judgement in these matters. The other selectmen agreed, voting to approve a motion to appoint the three men as special police officers in Halifax.

A continuation of the tree removal hearing from the previous meeting was held with contractor Ryan Kress speaking on behalf of National Grid.

Kress brought Millias on a tour of some of the work that had already been started in East Bridgewater to give an idea of the scale of the work to be done. Millias shared, “We did take a tour and I have to say that all the work that I looked at that had been done previously looked appropriate, nothing was done more than necessary. Some of the trees that we looked at on Elm St., I understand that it would make some people unhappy but at the same time you can see the load over the lines and some of those if they were to be trimmed quite that much it would destroy the tree. I think the work proposed is appropriate.

As far as the trees on personal property, that is something that they have to work out with the property owners.” Millias also added that as much as he would like to have the town grind stumps and replant trees for concerned residents, it just isn’t possible as doing it for some would likely mean needing to do it for all.

Kress estimated that it will be about two months before work commences in Halifax as Pembroke is scheduled to be completed first. Chair Troy Garron said he also took a drive down to look at the proposed trees to be cut and also felt that the work to be done is appropriate. Kress shared that National Grid will be removing any stumps that may interfere or pose a danger to snow plows in the winter. The selectmen approved a motion to move forward with the work once the tree warden signs the permit.

Fireworks Committee plans for next year

The Halifax Fireworks Committee also met with the Selectmen to go over this year’s firework display as well as some anticipated needs for next year. Garron addressed the committee smiling saying, “All I know is I had a nice seat in front of the library to watch the fireworks and it was great.” The committee said that the cost of this year’s event was $9,500 and that the cost for next year would likely increase by about 25% due to tariffs. The committee said that they are hoping to raise those extra funds through fundraising events at the town hall such as craft fairs, garage sales, and even a possible paint night. They are also looking into a wine and beer tasting at the country club.

Garron mentioned that while most people seemed pretty pleased with the fireworks, the biggest complaint was the lack of activities in the morning. The committee acknowledged the lack of morning festivities saying it just isn’t possible to do with a committee of only three people. Two new volunteers were present, however, and the committee asked the Board to approve their appointment to the Halifax Fireworks Committee. Mike and Susan Hill, who have lived in Halifax since ’95 said they felt it was time to get involved in the town. The Board unanimously approved their appointments.

Nips make up much of the litter on roads

Jeanne Kling spoke to the board on behalf of the Halifax Beautification Committee regarding the town’s issue with litter, specifically miniature beverage containers commonly referred to as nips. Kling said that the nips bottles are a big source of the litter found during town clean-up days and acknowledged that locals are likely not the only source of the problem as there are many roadways through town frequented by non-residents. Illustrating the extent of the problem, Kling shared that resident Shirley Graf has collected 908 of these bottles just since January, with 668 of them found just within her neighborhood alone. The committee feels strongly that the issue is one that cannot be addressed solely at the local level. There is currently a house bill sponsored by Representative Randy Hunt of Sandwich asking that the nips be added to the bottle bill. Adding these bottles to the bill would hopefully deter littering as they would have a refundable deposit. The bill is currently stuck in joint committee. The Beautification Committee sent letters to Representative Kathleen LaNatra, State Senators Michael Brady and Marc Pacheco, and Representative Josh Cutler requesting that nips bottles be added to the bottle bill. Kling requested that the Board of Selectmen also send a letter to the legislative delegation acknowledging the problem and requesting that they support the idea to add nips to the bottle bill. Millias said, “I know that the liquor store owners don’t like this idea but I agree with you.” The Board agreed, directing town administrator Charlie Seelig to send the aforementioned letters.

Kling also took the opportunity to publicly thank C-Mac for their work to fix up the the island on Route 58 and 106.

Retail marijuana facility inquiry

Gregory Conway, who grew up in Halifax and has a graduate degree in public policy, met with the board to get their thoughts on a retail marijuana facility in town.

The board and Seelig shared with Conway that the town had previously voted to allow facilities on land zoned industrial but not commercial. Conway questioned the board as to what kind of concerns were voiced by the residents in regard to the commercial zone.

Selectman Gordon Andrews said that many residents were concerned about a retail establishment’s proximity to schools or other locations where primarily children convene. Seelig added, “There are people who feel that 500 feet is not enough and just don’t want it even 1,000 feet away.”

Another concern mentioned particularly in regard to abutters, was odor. Currently there are two petition articles that have been referred to the Planning Board for a public hearing.

The articles would be to 1) allow recreational marijuana facilities on commercially zoned land and 2) prohibit such facilities within 300 feet of any land zoned agricultural/residential.

This hearing will likely occur sometime in September with the board making a recommendation and the vote being taken at town meeting. Garron said, “Bottom line is, it’s up to what the people decide they want.”

The board also discussed the search for a new director for the Council on Aging. Applications for the position were due this past week and at the time of Tuesday’s meeting, 12 had been received thus far.

Seven people including two representatives from the Council on Aging, two town officials, and three residents were appointed by the Board to the search committee.

The Board also requested that Seelig ask the search committee to provide them with four applicants for review. Brenda Fitzgerald was named as the interim COA director.