The Halifax Board of Selectmen met on Tuesday, Oct.r 27, for their regular, non COVID specific weekly meeting. Selectman Troy Garron was absent.

The selectmen had an appointment with owner of High Hopes LLC Russell Bogartz, who hopes to open an indoor marijuana cultivation facility in Halifax. Bogartz, who said he spent 20 years as a business analyst, also introduced his CFO as well as the cultivator that would run the proposed facility.

“We are a small company. We don’t have a multi-state presence… we do have a decent investor pool to make it all happen and we do have big plans for the future and are hopeful that Halifax can be a part of that,” Bogartz explained. Currently, High Hopes has spent the last two years working on opening a cannabis dispensary in Hopedale, MA which is set to open in March of next year. Bogartz said that the hope would be to start with a cultivation site in Halifax and eventually open a retail store there as well. Bogartz confirmed with town administrator Charlie Seelig that Halifax does not have a limit on the number of retail marijuana stores that can take up residence in the town.

Selectman Gordon Andrews asked about location and was told they are looking at a few vacant lots near Dunkin Donuts on Route 106. Bogartz said the plan is to construct a building that is roughly 3500 – 5000 sq. ft. In addition to saying that there would be no pesticides or harmful chemicals used in the facility, Bogartz also ensured the selectmen that there wouldn’t be an odor. “You could literally have people be next door and not even be aware it’s there,” he said. “Our goal is to have the smallest footprint possible,” he added.

When asked what the benefit to the town would be, Bogartz answered property taxes. Andrews asked if the facility would even bring in the average amount in taxes as a typical residence in Halifax. Cities and towns can subject marijuana retailers up to a three percent tax on gross sales, but this does not extend to growing facilities.

Bogartz said he wouldn’t want to pay 3 percent to Halifax as he will already be paying it to the town of Hopedale for the retail establishment. Andrews pointed out, “We’ve had growers tell us they’re going to give us a percentage of what they’re grow business is.” “What we could do, there’s lots of flavors of compromise that would make it worthwhile but doesn’t make us get zinged twice for three percent,” Bogartz said.

Seelig told Bogartz that property taxes would likely not be enough of an incentive to abutters to make it worth whatever sacrifice they would have to endure. He said it was unlikely that the abutters would go to a hearing and support the idea if the additional property taxes were the only benefit to the town. “You’ll have to build political capital with the abutters,” Andrews said.

Selectman Tom Millias told Bogartz to come back when they have something more definitive. Bogartz agreed to nail down a location and a plan. Andrews also recommended that they watch the presentation Bud’s Goods and Provisions gave to the town and they agreed.

The selectmen also met with a representative of Area 58 Community Access Media to discuss a new contract. The current agreement between Area 58 and the towns of Carver, Halifax, and Plympton is set to expire soon.

Millias said that the only issue he has is the same one he has always had – a lack of transparency in what people are paying for the service. Millias said that Comcast subscribers are paying for the service on their cable bills and noted that the service is not coming from the town and therefore, they are not paying for it via taxes.

Millias also noted that the service is not clearly labeled on Comcast bills and said he believes it is referred to only as a franchise fee. According to Millias, there is no opt out clause. “I had less of a problem with it before it became available on Youtube… so now the subscribers are paying for everybody,” Millias explained.

Andrews said he would like to see Area 58 begin to provide the towns with a list of which meetings they plan to cover. The representative told the selectmen that if there are any specific meetings that they would like to see covered, they can put a request in through Seelig and Area 58 will do their best to cover it.

It was also said that Area 58 has the ability to host Zoom meetings in order to livestream it for viewers. This is something that has been done for many meetings in Carver. “We are always looking for additional ways of serving the community and are proud to do so and have enjoyed the relationship we’ve had with Halifax and Plympton over the years,” the representative said. Area 58 said they don’t anticipate any changes to the contract other than amending the dates.

The selectmen also engaged in a lengthy conversation about whether to grant recycling abatements for a number of different cases. They denied all those that missed the deadline but were less sure what to do in other situations.

Some claimed to never have received their first bill while others said they mistakenly believed an abatement was good indefinitely. Despite being “sympathetic,” Millias said, “I always think everybody knows this comes around once a year like your taxes.” The selectmen agreed to carry the recycling abatements conversation over to a later meeting.

Seelig told the selectmen that the option to sign up for a Webinar subscription is available for $450 per year. This would help in holding meetings virtually during the pandemic. Seelig noted that if they chose to go this route, if accepted by Plymouth County, CARES Act funds could only cover the cost for the next two months.

Seelig also told the selectmen that the Pope’s Tavern roof project is scheduled to being in the middle of November. The Council on Aging has already been moved over to the police station for the time being.

Since Election Day is coinciding with a global pandemic this year, Massachusetts has provided voters with a number of alternatives to voting in person on Tuesday, Nov. 3. If you are a registered voter in Massachusetts, you should have received a vote by mail application. Mail-in ballots may either be mailed back or placed in ballot drop boxes that are located within individual municipalities. Halifax voters can find a ballot box bolted to the front porch of the Town Hall.  Plympton voters have a ballot box in the entrance of the Town House.  Kingston ballots can be dropped off at the Kingston Town Hall, 26 Evergreen St., in the locked “Ballot” box or delivered to the Town Clerk.

It should be noted that ballot boxes will be closed on Oct. 31 from 5 p.m. Halloween night until 7 a.m. the following day as ordered by the Secretary of State.

Early voting is an alternative to mail-in ballots that will allow voters to circumvent crowds and lines. Early voting runs through today, Friday, Oct. 30. Both early voting and Election Day voting will be held at the Plympton Townhouse located on 5 Palmer Rd. for Plympton residents. The Plympton Townhouse will be closed for regular business on Election Day for voting and the day after for deep cleaning.

Halifax residents can cast their votes early at Town Hall while Election Day voting will take place in the gym of Halifax Elementary School.

Kingston voters can cast their votes early today, Oct. 30, from 8 a.m. until noon, the last day for early voting.

Plympton town clerk Patricia Detterman said that as of Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 27, 394 voters had elected to vote early in-person while 497 voters had submitted their ballots by mail.

Halifax town clerk Barbara Gaynor told The Express that she mailed out an excess of 1600 ballots to voters who requested them. She noted that some of those who received their ballots by mail elected, instead, to come to the Town Hall for early voting. Gaynor also said that while early, in-person voting has been somewhat steady, there have never been any lines. She estimated that on the busiest day of early voting thus far in Halifax saw about 100 voters cast their ballots.

Both Gaynor and Detterman confirmed that in Massachusetts ballots postmarked on or before November 3 will be counted as long as they are received by 5 p.m. on November 6.

Both Plympton and Halifax will have special accommodations in place to ensure a safe voting experience on Election Day. Detterman said that an EMT or Paramedic from the Plympton Fire Department will be at the door of the Town House to direct voters and check their temperatures with a forehead thermal scan.   All precautions from the May local election and the September primary will also be in place. Detterman said that voters will be encouraged to bring their own pen and that the pens at the town house will be single use. Masks will be mandated as will social distancing. Voting booths and other high traffic areas will be sanitized throughout the day.

Gaynor listed similar precautions for Halifax noting that pens will not be single use but will be sanitized between voters. Hand sanitizer will be available throughout the voting area and plexiglass shields will separate poll workers from voters as they check in and out.

The Plympton Board of Selectmen met on the evening of Monday, Oct. 19. Chair of the Finance Committee Nathaniel Sides made a brief visit. Sides told the selectmen that he was looking for their support in getting better budget monitoring and reporting from the various departments in town as they prepare for the next fiscal year. Sides said that there was in influx of last-minute requests to the Finance Committee this year.

“I think that a formal letter would be helpful,” Town Administrator Elizabeth Dennehy said. Dennehy agreed to draft a letter to the departments to be signed by herself, Sides, and Selectmen Chair Mark Russo. Sides said he would also like to see regular updates coming from the revenue side as well. “We surely hear you. Some of this is structural and systemic and may take a while but moving in that direction surely makes sense,” Russo told Sides.

Continuing with the new tradition of meeting with a different department head at their meetings, Highway Superintendent Rob Firlotte attended Monday’s meeting. The topics of discussion included the two safety zones which would reduce the speed limit to 20 mph, initial research on restricting heavy truck traffic, and a redesign of the intersection at Main St. and Ring Rd.

Firlotte said he had received an estimate that day from an engineering firm for much of the work. Russo said that he didn’t believe that all of the services listed in the estimate were necessary and proposed saving money by asking for a lesser scope particularly for the safety zones. Russo said he was, “just wondering if we have to spend that much, at least initially.” He proposed signage and painting of the road as an inexpensive first step. Firlotte said he would reach out to the engineer again and ask for the quote to be amended. Russo said that should they decide to move forward with a redesign of any of the intersections, he would hope that there would be a funding source available. Before Firlotte left the meeting, Russo said of him, “Rob’s been doing an amazing job.”

Chair of the Plympton School Committee Jon Wilhelmsen was also in attendance and told the selectmen that himself, Mike Antoine, and Jason Fraser had interviewed two candidates for an open spot on the Silver Lake Regional School Committee to be filled with a Plympton resident. Wilhelmsen sang the praises of both candidates saying, “I wish we had two spots because both were excellent candidates.” In the end they chose Lukasz Kowalksi to come before the Plympton selectmen.

Kowalksi told the Board that he is originally from Poland but has spent the last twelve years in the United States. Kowalski, who doesn’t have any children but said he is a former teacher, said, “I love this place so far and I would like to do something for the school.” In closing, Kowalksi said, “I’m a tough guy. I’m a fighter and I will fight for kids and especially for Plympton kids.”

Kowalski was appointed to a 1-year term with the position to appear on the ballot in May for a 2-year term. Since it is an elected position, it can only be filled until the next election.

While there were no specific issues at the Dennett, Wilhelmsen said that since Kingston has been in the red zone for COVID infections for the last two weeks, the data that comes out this week will be significant. Back in September Governor Baker urged communities to use three weeks’ worth of data to make decisions regarding changes in school models. Should the trend continue in Kingston, the affected school committees will have to at least consider moving to a fully remote model.

Wilhelmsen also told the selectmen that they are continuing to struggle with securing substitutes at Dennett Elementary. He said there are more staff absences than normal as staff is being encouraged not to come to work if they are feeling unwell in any way. Wilhelmsen said they have been encouraging members of the community to step up and offer to substitute. The Dennett may need to hire a full-time building-based substitute as was done at both Halifax Elementary and Silver Lake Regional. CARES Act funds were used to order laptops for teachers at the Dennett as the chromebooks were proving inadequate for their needs.

Selectman John Traynor, who is acting as the interim director of the Council on Aging (COA) provided an update on the COA to his fellow selectmen. Traynor said he plans to get a newsletter out to older residents to alert them of what services are available to them such as plowing and handyman services.

Traynor said he is putting in 25 hours per week into the job currently and stated that once the position is filled, it should be recognized that it requires more than 10 hours per week despite that being all that can be paid out. “Thank you so much for jumping into the breach,” Russo said to Traynor.

There was a request for use of town owned property for Sunday, Oct. 25 from 2-4 p.m. for a Track or Treat program put on by Plympton Athletic Youth Sports (PAYS). Initially the Board of Health rejected the idea but PAYS has since put extensive efforts into making sure it would be both fun and safe. The Board of Health has since signed off on the event. “I know a considerable amount of thought went into this,” Dennehy explained. The selectmen agreed to the event pending a sign off from both the Police and Fire departments.

Dennehy said that in conjunction with the emergency management team and the Board of Health, it was decided that the townhouse would be closed to regular business both on election day and the following Wednesday. The intention would be to minimize the number of people in the building on election day and then have it professionally disinfected the day after. Dennehy also said that a ballot box has been bolted to the ground outside of the townhouse and that residents can drop their ballots off at any hour of the day. Dennehy’s final update was that the Fire Chief had submitted $173,000 in CARES ACT expenditures to be submitted for reimbursement.

The selectmen ended their meeting with their raves of the past week. Christine Joy said her rave was for PAYS for coming up with a safe alternative to Halloween. Russo said his rave was for the Bylaw Review Committee for how willing and eager they are to volunteer for things. “It’s so refreshing,” Russo said, adding, “It’s quite beautiful.” Russo’s second rave was for the Walt Whitman poem, Election Day, November, 1884. Traynor said his rave was for the volunteers of the town referring to them as Plympton’s “backbone.”

Dennehy also had a rave that she wanted to share. Fire Chief Stephen Silva, his wife Deb Silva, Captain Cheryl Davis and Amira Kim, also of the Plympton Fire Department spent their Saturday evening rearranging and organizing the COA pantry at the townhouse. Council on Aging Administrative Assistant Jean Pacheco said she was nearly brought to tears by how good the pantry looked.