The Plympton School Committee held their close-out meeting on Monday, July 15. Attendance was limited with only three committee members present including Chair Jon Wilhelmsen, Amy Hempel, and Jill Palenstijn. Director of Business Services Christine Healy and Superintendent Joy Blackwood also attended.

Wilhelmson had a lengthy meeting with Dennett Elementary Principal Peter Veneto regarding the ongoing issue of lead showing up in the water testing being done at Dennett.

The source of the lead has remained a mystery and has confounded the board for months as the system appears to be working as it should. Additionally, the amount of lead in the water heading into the system is less than the lead that is in the water coming out of the system. Wilhelmson described to the committee his theory about what he believes may be to blame. Every 14 days a backwash cycle is run at night.

Water is pumped backward through the filter during backwashing. The samples that were tested were taken in the morning and Wilhelmson theorizes that if the samples were taken the same day as the backwash cycle, it could explain why the water would be temporarily tainted as it would be pulling in the lead that had been filtered out of the water over the previous two weeks. In order to test this theory, the next step will be to repeat the testing at a time that does not coincide with the backwash cycle.

New Playground

at Dennett

Vice Chair Jason Fraser was absent but Wilhelmson shared with the committee some notes from Fraser regarding progress on the new playground at Dennett. Veneto and Fraser met to pick a location for the playground based on the land survey that was completed. Since the committee will not meet again until September, they voted to authorize Fraser to proceed however he sees fit to get the playground completed.  Superintendent Joy Blackwood commented that given that construction has not yet begun, it is unlikely that the playground will be completed by the beginning of the school year.

An emergency management operations meeting attended by Veneto, Wilhelmson, the police chief, the fire chief, and the highway department was held regarding the power lines. With a generator now at Dennett, the building can be used as an emergency shelter. With only one way in and one way out of the school, however, there is a problem if a tree would be to fall on power lines and block the entrance as has happened in the past. It was agreed upon that a reasonable solution would be to use some grant money that may be able to be acquired to place the power lines underground (as some already are). Wilhelmson, who relayed the idea to the town administrator, said, “Hopefully this is something that we are going to continue to push on and try to affect that change so that we never have that issue that we had before again.”

Healy gave an update on the close-out for the budget. Healy said that $1,507.29 will be returned to the town with $1,198.25 of that coming from special education and $309.04 coming from the regular budget. This is the total after all the transfers were done that were approved at special town meeting. The transfers included money from the out of district vocational fund to the SPED stabilization fund which is now fully funded at $47,000. Other transfers coming from the out of district vocational fund included $10,000 to the operating budget for roof repairs and $8,500 to the operating budget for a new copier. The out of district vocational fund still has a balance of approximately $21,000 after all bills have been paid for the year and the above-mentioned transfers were made. In total, over $22,000 will be returned to the town. Wilhelmson thanked Healy for her work. Healy said, “We have an amazing staff that helps us make that happen and it’s all hands-on deck and I would say since the middle of June it has been we need to make it work and we do.”

School Choice questions

The issue of school choice was also discussed. Plympton, Halifax, Kingston, and Silver Lake Regional school committees make decisions individually regarding whether or not to accept school choice. Currently only Plympton allows it. The committees and administration believed that this meant that once a student who elects to come to Dennett Elementary through school choice is through with their k-6 education, they would have to leave the district as Silver Lake Regional does not allow school choice either at the middle or high schools. Blackwood shared with the committee that she was recently told by DESE (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) that those students would have to be allowed to continue with their education at Silver Lake middle and high schools if that was their preference.

This creates a conflict as the Silver Lake Regional School Committee voted down school choice. There are currently eight students at Dennett Elementary there through school choice with five of those coming from towns within the Silver Lake district anyway (Halifax and Kingston). This means that only three students would fall under the umbrella of school choice for Silver Lake Regional.

Blackwood admitted to not having any definitive information at the moment and said that they are still working their way through this development. Wilhelmson felt that the Plympton School Committee should not be able to obligate the Silver Lake Regional School Committee to take on school choice just as the regional committee should not be able to stop Plympton from accepting it.

A major question arising from this conundrum is who will pay for the students to attend Silver Lake schools beyond sixth grade. Blackwood said she will provide an update to the committee when she knows more.

The Halifax Board of Selectmen met Tuesday, July 9.

DFG land agent from the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife Joan Pierce came to speak to the Board about the possibility of acquiring an area of Peterson’s Swamp from the town. Pierce, who brought a map of the area to show the selectmen, said, “We would like to acquire it because it would make a really good public access for a couple of cars.” Pierce also mentioned that their intention with the land would be to maintain rather than develop it as it contains ecologically important attributes including, but not limited to, white cedar trees.

The inhabitants of Plymouth County and the town of Halifax share fifty-fifty undivided interest in the property. An appraisal of the property came in at $250,000. Fisheries and Wildlife is interested in purchasing the area for a total of $150,000 with $75,000 going to each of the entities. Board of Selectmen Vice-Chair Tom Millias took issue with the low price offered given that it falls significantly short of what he considered to be an already conservative appraisal. Adding to the dissatisfaction with the offer, Fisheries and Wildlife currently owe the town of Halifax $52,500 from a past transaction. Payments on debts of this nature must be tied to a land purchase. Pierce explained that Fisheries and Wildlife’s intent was that the purchase of the land would also absorb the debt owed to the town. The Selectmen were displeased to hear this as the $52,500 would be coming out of the $75,000 purchase price, leaving the town with a net gain of only $22,500 on a property appraised at $250,000 ($125,000 of that value belonging to Halifax). Pierce argued that the town would also be gaining a parking area (albeit a small one) that would provide residents with better access to the area.

Explaining, in part to newest Selectmen Gordon Andrews, Millias said, “Every time we deal with Fisheries and Wildlife we get short-changed and we keep kicking this can down the road.” Board of Selectmen Chair Troy Garron also expressed frustration with what has been an ongoing theme in the town’s dealing with Fisheries and Wildlife. Town Administrator Charlie Seelig and the Board discussed the offer at length with Pierce before a possible suggestion was offered by Andrews. There is a sliver of land in Halifax owned by Fisheries and Wildlife behind Aldana Road that would be necessary to possess in order to be able to pave that road. Andrews suggested Fisheries and Wildlife turn over that land to Halifax as part of the negotiation. This idea was amenable to all parties. Before any negotiations can take place, however, the town of Halifax must first purchase the inhabitants of Plymouth County’s portion of the land from them. The next step would be to sell it to Fisheries and Wildlife for $150,000 plus the land behind Aldana Road. Pierce agreed to email her summary of the proposed plan to Seelig prior to sharing the details with Plymouth County Administrator Frank Basler. The Board also plans to verify that the land behind Aldana Road provides everything needed in order to eventually pave the road. While the selectmen still felt that the deal leaves something to be desired, they agreed that they could live with the proposed plan as the town would still be receiving something of value to it.

Library Director Jean Gallant attended the meeting to speak to the need for more parking as the library is now competing for parking with the new playground built by Friends of HOPS (Halifax Open Play Space). Additionally, many people also use the library parking lot when attending events at the athletic fields. Gallant pointed out the safety issue posed by the lack of adequate parking as cars are often circling the parking lot looking for a space while children are running in the area.

Millias said, “The simple answer is we need to create more parking spots. The bigger question is where and at what cost?” Friends of HOPS still have some funds available but were planning to use them to have an Eagle Scout build a gazebo for the playground. Both Gallant and Millias agreed that they would rather see those funds go to the gazebo project and have the cost of the additional parking area paid for by the town. Garron argued that the town could oppose the idea of paying for the additional spaces since the reason for the lack of parking is the playground. The selectmen agreed that speaking with the highway surveyor about how many spots can be added as well as where to best place those spots would be a good first step.

Police Chief Joao Chaves addressed the Board requesting permission to institute a six-month trial of a motorcycle unit. Chaves, who previously headed the motorcycle unit in New Bedford, reached out to a contact at Seacoast Harley in New Hampshire who provided tips for a small lease plan. The lease would cost $325 a month for six months for a total expense of $1950. The leased bike would be fully equipped and would have only 80 miles on it. Officer Michael Schleiff would be attending a 40-hour course in Taunton starting next week at no cost to the town. The addition of the motorcycle unit would be instead of rather than in addition to a cruiser patrol. Chaves explained, “He can respond to calls the same way and can actually get to calls a little quicker.” Chaves sees the motor unit as potentially having a lot of benefits to the town.

“Halifax has a high population of motorcycle riders that enjoy the roadways. I think it’s another way for police to connect with that part of the community. We can utilize it for races and for funeral processions, it’s just another way to get us closer to the community.” The Board gave permission to move forward with the trial after which the feedback from both the community and the Police Department would be evaluated to determine whether to continue with the unit.

Various other items of business were also discussed. A hearing for “Jada,” a dog accused of biting another dog while loose on June 30, will be held on July 23.

The Traffic Safety Committee plans to meet with Chief Chaves later in the summer regarding complaints about truck traffic and speed on Walnut Street. Seelig agreed to talk to the highway department regarding a resident complaint of overgrown brush on South Street just off of River Street.

Trash bag fees will also be increased from $2.00 to $2.25 for small bags and from $3.00 to $3.25 for the large bags. This is the first increase for bags since 2009.