Selectmen Chair Christine Joy and liaison to the Plympton Housing Production Plan Committee, said the committee is seeking new ways to increase citizen engagement.

The Plympton Housing Production Plan Committee’s primary focus is creating a development plan for the production of homes. Joy said it will “serve as a roadmap for expanding the diversity of residence options in town.”

Plympton was awarded a grant from the Old Colony Planning Council to create a housing production plan with the Council’s assistance. The state has specific guidelines for housing production plans that ensure affordable housing for moderate and low-income residents.

The committee is looking for ways to get the community involved in these decisions. Joy said, “The recently formed Plympton Housing Production Plan Committee (HPPC), is rolling up its sleeves to deliver its plan to the state by the end of 2017, but it hopes that all adult residents will participate in the process through any or all of the following: complete the Housing Production Plan Survey, attend the informational session, ask questions, and/or make suggestions.”

The survey is available until Tuesday, October 31, 2017. It can be accessed online at www.surveymonkey.com.plymptonHPP.

The committee will host a question and answer session with the help of Old Colony Planning Council, on Wednesday, November 1, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. at the Town House to discuss current and future housing needs and trends in Plympton, the survey results, goals, key strategies for meeting these needs, and how they can be incorporated into the housing production plan.

Plympton         Celebrates Call   Fire Fighter George      Colby’s Retirement

The Plympton Board of Selectmen at their meeting on Monday, hosted a retirement ceremony for Call Fire Fighter George Colbert.

Plympton’s fire department as well as State Representative Thomas Calter attended and presented Colby with a pin for his 40 plus years of service as a call firefighter. Colby’s wife Sandi brought coffee and baked cookies for a short celebration at the Selectmen’s meeting.

Representative Calter described Colby as, “One-part firefighter, one-part medic, and one-part counsel.” He said the bill to recognize Colby’s service passed unanimously in the Massachusetts Houseof Representatives.

Fire Chief Warren Borsari expressed his admiration for the service and dedication Colby gave to Plympton over the past four decades.  Chief Borsari said he still anticipates Colby remaining involved with the department in some capacity.

Helping train new firefighters was one area in particular where Borsari sees Colby being a valuable resource. Borsari said that there’s a lot of new firefighters with not a lot of experience in this area, especially Plympton and Halifax. He said having someone with Colby’s experience is a wonderful thing.

In particular, Borsari was impressed that these years were spent as a call firefighter. Borsari said, “To be a call firefighter stands above all else (in the fire department) in my opinion.”

In his retirement, Colby says he plans to travel and ride his motorcycle as much as he can. Colby is the state representative for the Red Knights Motorcycle Club, a group composed of firefighters and their families.

Over the years, Colby traveled the United States on his motorcycle multiple times. He plans to take his wife to many of the places he’s visited on his many trips.

Asked about his retirement, Colby said, “It will be different, but I will never be far from a scanner.”

First Town Administrator Named

The Plympton Board of Selectmen announced the hiring of Elizabeth Dennehy as the community’s first Town Administrator.

Dennehy has more than 10 years of experience in municipal government, including serving as the Community Development Director in Walpole and as Planning Director and Environmental Affairs Officer in Fall River.

“We are excited to welcome Elizabeth Dennehy as Plympton’s first Town Administrator, “said Selectmen Chair Christine Joy. “Her skills, experience, and local knowledge will prove beneficial to the Plympton municipal team and will help us to achieve continued success for the community.”

Dennehy, of Raynham, was one of two finalists for the position. The second finalist, Joshua Garcia of Holyoke, currently works for the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, where he serves as a manager of municipal services focusing on smaller-population communities.

“We were highly impressed with the qualifications of both finalists,” Chairman Joy said. “It was a difficult decision for the board.”

There was a total of 38 applicants for the position. The Board of Selectmen were supported in the search by a seven-member Town Administrator Screening Committee and by Community Paradigm Associates, a municipal consulting firm that focuses on assisting communities with such services as executive recruiting, strategic planning, municipal finance, economic development, and leadership training.

Selectmen Clerk Mark Russo expressed satisfaction with the job done by the consulting firm they used. Russo said, “Community Paradigm did a really wonderful job.”

Other News

• Boy Scout Frankie Perfetuo of Troop 53 came before the Board of Selectmen to follow-up on his Eagle Scout project. Perfetuo is building two benches for the Town Green, made from recycled materials and will face the street near the Gazebo.

• Selectmen made a formal recommendation that all boards and committees change the way they use acronyms in their public documents. Selectman John Traynor said boards should stop using acronyms, particularly when first introducing something. He said that most residents probably don’t know what the acronym means, so the Board prefers that the word be spelled out first with the acronym in parentheses before the acronym is used in the rest of the document.

• The next meeting of the Plympton Board of Selectmen is Monday, Oct. 30. Open session starts at 6 p.m.

On Monday, October 16, 2017, the Plympton Board of Selectmen approved the transfer of Plympton Gas and Convenience’s liquor license from the previous owner, Steve Craig, to the new owner, Plympton Gas and Convenience, Inc., with Michael and Susan Youssef of Medford, as principals.  Laura Chase will remain as manager.

A public hearing was held on Monday for the Board to come to this decision. Atty. John Marini of Lynn represented the new owners in the hearing process for the license application.

Marini said Chase worked under the previous store owner for four years and that a lot of the same people will be working in the store. Plympton Gas and Convenience stayed compliant and has not sold any alcohol since the ownership transfer.

The Board of Selectmen gave no reservations on approving the request for a liquor license transfer.  Selectmen Chair Christine Joy said, “It’s been a very-well run operation without any problems.”

Selectman John Traynor also said he didn’t have any problem with the transfer, but suggested the store consider the TIPS certification program. Traynor said TIPS provides useful training at the retail level for determining if someone is intoxicated or may have a speech impediment or another sort of disability. He added it gives the store a little more protection from legal issues.

Some towns in Massachusetts, including Plymouth, require those working at alcohol retail establishments to be TIPS certified. Plympton doesn’t have this as a town requirement, however Atty. Marini said he recommends that his client takes Traynor’s advice.

Plympton Gas and Convenience, located at 280 Main St., should be able to start selling beer and wine again soon.

Town Administrator Search Update

The Plympton town administrator candidate screening committee narrowed down the candidate pool to two candidates for the Board of Selectmen to interview.

This screening committee was appointed by the Board of Selectmen and consists of: Colleen Thompson, Town Treasurer – Collector, Town Accountant Barbara Gomez, Police Chief Patrick Dillon, former Finance Committee member Marilyn Browne, Assistant Assessor Deb Stuart, among others.

Finalists Joshua Garcia and Elizabeth Dennehy were interviewed by Selectmen on Tuesday, Oct. 17. There’s a possibility a candidate could be chosen next Monday.

Other News

At a previous meeting on Monday, Oct. 2, selectmen discussed how much a social media presence the Board of Selectmen should have. These discussions continued into last Monday’s meeting.

Both Joy and Traynor mentioned a desire to be more responsive on social media, particularly the Facebook group “Plympton Helping Plympton” was brought up. Joy wanted to see the Board have its own page.

Previously, Selectman Clerk Mark Russo was hesitant regarding the idea, expressing concerns over how this affects things like the open meeting law. However, at last Monday’s meeting, Russo said, “I’m coming around on Facebook.”

The Board all said nothing is imminent and members all expressed that larger cities and towns have the ability to hire someone full-time to do this type of work. If anything, the Board said this may be a responsibility of the new town administrator.

The next regular Selectmen’s Meeting is Monday, Oct. 23. Open session starts at 6 p.m.

Meeting with the Halifax Board of Selectmen Tuesday night, Candace Kniffen of the Halifax Beautification Committee, reviewed the rules governing the newly established gift account for the maintenance and upkeep of the Fitzgerald Garden.

Kniffen told the board that donations have been coming in and she and her committee would like to use some of the funds for hiring a landscape company in the spring to do the routine maintenance and upkeep of the garden, which honors the late longtime beloved Halifax volunteer Peg Fitzgerald.

Kniffen also said that she had approached the Silver Lake horticultural program for their help in landscape design and choosing plants that are likely to do well in the garden.  She asked selectmen if they would approve extending the garden plan to include foundation plantings around the Town Hall building itself, to complement the garden.  Their response was a resounding “yes”!

She asked selectmen if they need to acknowledge gifts to the garden account or if the Beautification Committee can do it.  Selectman Kim Roy told Kniffen that they would like to be informed of gifts to the account and might like to send an additional note of appreciation, but that should in no way interfere with her committee sending thank you notes.  Kniffen also said that she mentions at the bottom of her letter to donors that their gift is tax deductible and that the letter should serve as the donor’s receipt for tax purposes.

Abandoned properties

Town Administrator Charlie Seelig told selectmen that the town treasurer has told him she has about 18 abandoned properties in foreclosure, as the town attempts to clean up these parcels and make a plan as to how to get them either into saleable condition, demolish them, or take any other action. 

At the last selectmen’s meeting on Sept. 26, three boards came together to discuss how to deal with these properties that in many cases are a blight to the neighborhoods and can be dangerous.  At that time, Seelig asked their boards’ input on how to craft new by-laws to more easily classify abandoned properties and describe the action(s) to be taken by the town.

Seelig said that he had hoped they would have a new by-law on the special town meeting warrant this November, but information from the boards has been slow to come and rather than have a hastily written by-law which might not serve well, he would like to have a carefully crafted by-law to present to the town at the annual Town Meeting in the spring.  “We have basically run out of time to have them at the Special Town Meeting in November,” Seelig said.  He suggested they delay any action until the May annual town meeting.  “If we’re going to change the multi-family by-law, it needs to be done thoughtfully,” he said.

Special Town Meeting

Selectmen have scheduled the Special Town Meeting for Monday, Nov. 20, at 7:30 p.m., pending school availability.

Laurel and Circuit streets ‘Thickly Settled’

Residents of Laurel and Circuit Streets met with selectmen, to plead their case for stop signs at the four-way intersection, as well as signs to limit speed.

Seelig told selectmen that a new bill signed into law by Gov. Charlie Baker allows towns to post new signs limiting speed to 25 mph, declaring the area “thickly settled” without all the former testing and red tape.  Seelig sent a notice to all residents of the two streets asking their opinion and he told selectmen that he received a number of responses, all favoring the reduced speed limit and signage.  Police Chief Ted Broderick favors the 25 mph limit, Seelig said.

Philip Salvatore of Laurel Street said that he favors the 25 mph ‘Thickly Settled’ signage.  Selectman Tom Milias said, “This does give law enforcement another tool.”  Gene Lyczynsky of Circuit Street, when asked if he would like to add anything, said, “You guys got it all!” 

Selectmen will confer with the highway surveyor after unanimously voting to implement the plan.

Cremation options

Highway Surveyor Steve Hayward brought in plans for a Cremation Wall to give a dedicated space for cremation urns, rather than have each take up a grave plot.  The Halifax cemetery is running short for space and Hayward said he would like to be able to offer other options.  He brought several photographs of some of the choices available, including a wall with niches for urns, a circular structure with spaces for urns, or a combination of both.  Selectman Milias said he thought the matter was “worth pursuing.”

Selectman Roy asked Hayward, “Do you want to design it?”  “I’d love to,” was Hayward’s answer.

Hayward also told the board that he has had a couple of complaints regarding plantings or decorations being damaged by mowing, and he wants to post the cemetery rules and regs by the water spigots so everyone knows what they are.  Selectmen agreed.

Trucks vs. school buses

Brendan Moquin, representing Morse Bros., appeared before selectmen to answer concerns that their gravel removal operation was interfering with school bus traffic on Lingan Street and Indian Path.

Moquin said that the gravel removal project will be completed within four to six weeks.  He said that he has coordinated with the contractor, and got the school bus schedule so there will be no further interference.

Selectman Troy Garron, who lives in the area, said that he has not seen any further violation.  “Indian Path wasn’t part of the deal.  Never was,” Milias exclaimed. 

“If the rule is broken again, I will be pulling the permit,” Roy told Moquin.  They will not tolerate further interference.

Selectmen’s next regularly scheduled meeting is Tuesday, Oct. 24.