The Board of Selectmen announced at Monday’s meeting that Community Paradigm is making significant preliminary progress in helping Plympton select a town administrator.

Selectman John Traynor said the Board met with Bernard Lynch from Community Paradigm on Wednesday, September 13, when Lynch informed the Board that there are already 18 applicants.

Selectman Clerk Mark Russo said that Friday, Sept. 22, is the deadline for applications. Then, a screening committee that’s been set up by selectmen will interview the candidates and narrow the pool to three finalists. These finalists will then be interviewed by the Board of Selectmen.

Plans for Town House Projector System Discussed

Selectmen last Monday met with Jon Velozo, a sales representative for Ockers Company to discuss the installation of a projector system in the large meeting room at the town house.

The proposed projector would be installed on the wall to the right as one enters the meeting room at the Plympton Town House.

Velozo discussed a few different sizes for the board with selectmen, but the one he recommended most was an 8-foot by 4-foot board. According to Velozo, a board of this size allows for a 90 to 100-inch screen projection.

Installation for the projector is expected to take only a day. After installation, Velozo includes a three-year warranty for the projector system.

Selectman John Traynor asked if electrical work was included in the cost breakdown given to the Board at Monday’s meeting. Electrical wasn’t included, though Velozo said they have electricians to do that type of work. Traynor asked that Velozo send forth an updated cost breakdown with a line item for the added electrical work required to power the projector.

Selectmen plan to speak with Silver Lake Regional School District‘s Technology Director Steve Pellowe before making any final decisions regarding whether to use an interactive or non-interactive projector. At the Selectmen’s meeting on Monday, July 17, 2017, Pellowe said there’s about a $600 difference in the price between the two.

Other News

Selectmen, along with the Board of Health discussed the new incident form that will be used to report all incidents involving Animal Control.

Board of Selectmen Clerk Mark Russo said, “It (the new form) standardizes reporting.” According to Russo, the new form makes sure all appropriate agencies receive the necessary report.

The Board of Health said they are also trying to simplify what types of events require a small events permit. However, Board of Health Chair Art Morin said the Board is waiting until October before making any changes.

In the wake of Plympton’s choosing to hire a firm to study and make recommendations for the operation and management of the Plympton Fire Dept., Chief Warren J. Borsari told selectmen Monday night that he has received the resignations of several FD personnel.  Deputy Chief Steven Winslow, with almost 40 years as a call firefighter in Plympton, tendered his resignation.  Steven M. Enright, Jr., gave his two weeks’ notice.  Call Fire Lieutenant Joe Gibbons cited “personal and professional reasons” for his resignation.  These are added to the resignation of Robert D. Law, as Captain of the Plympton Fire Dept. who did not list a reason for his abrupt resignation without notice as of August 18

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MRI chosen for FD

Borsari will be working closely with Municipal Resources, Inc. (MRI) a firm that was chosen from a field of four to study and give recommendations for the operation of the Plympton Fire Department and Emergency Services.

The final decision was made at the Plympton Selectmen’s meeting on Monday, Sept. 11.

Both Chief Borsari and Selectmen acknowledged how difficult this decision was. Borsari said the town had worked with the other finalist, Atty. Ernest Horn, in the past and said that essentially everything Horn predicted would happen with the town’s fire department has come true.

Borsari also praised Horn for his public safety experience. He said Horn has ten years’ experience each as both a police and fire chief.

Selectman John Traynor originally believed Horn to be the best choice to conduct the study. Traynor said, “Ernie was extremely thorough. I felt like there’d be no rock unturned.”

Reference checks were done by Selectmen Clerk Mark Russo who chose more recent references from each candidate in order to get a better idea of their present work.

Russo described Horn’s references as “pretty enthusiastic.” However, he went a step further with MRI saying the references were “almost uniformly extremely enthusiastic.”

Besides the references, Russo said he was leaning toward MRI because of their being a large firm with a lot of experience. He said this adds legitimacy and this is something the town needs.

Borsari also ultimately ended up leaning toward MRI because of the sheer amount of experience of the firm. He remains impressed by MRI having three former fire chiefs with more than 100 years combined experience.

Traynor said he was fine with either option and with the Borsari and the rest of the Board preferring MRI, he made it a unanimous vote.  Selectmen voted to negotiate a contract agreement with MRI for the purpose of conducting a study on the Fire Department and EMS services.

Executive Session Resignations

Selectmen held an executive session with Fire Chief Warren Borsari. The deputy chief and fire captain both resigned, so an emergency session was held to discuss reorganizing the department as well as discussing potential candidates to fill these respective positions.

Health Agent resigns

Board of Health Agent Cathy Drinan also resigned from her position. Selectman John Traynor said, “It’s a shame she is leaving.”

Selectman Chair Christine Joy also said she was upset to see her leave. Joy said, “She’s an asset to the town.”

Board of Health Chair Art Morin told the Board of Selectmen that a replacement is needed in order for the Board of Health to complete some of its routine functions. Morin said, “We’re going to be putting a lot of things on hold.”

According to Morin, a replacement is needed before the Board of Health can begin approving septic systems again.

The next Selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 18, 2017. Open session begins at 6 p.m.

As a hockey player, he was never much of a skater, but fast-forward 20 years, and —after a career as a police officer ensued — ‘Doug the Thug’ is back.

Part two of a cinematic tale based on the very brief hockey career of Halifax resident and Hanson Police Officer Doug Smith is once again highlighted on the big screen. The sequel “Goon: The Last of the Enforcers” was released last month and is playing locally.

Smith, taking the extra attention in stride is unassuming as he recently arrived at the Halifax HOPS playground to do an interview with the Express.

In dad mode with his two daughters; Vanessa, 9, and Victoria, 7, in tow, the six-foot-two Smith has a genuine smile and down-to-earth manner. Wearing golf attire and a Scally cap he stepped out of his dated mini-van. He is passionate but not boastful about his film career, which began after best friend Adam Frattasio also a Hanover native (Frattasio was inducted in the Hanover High School Hall of Fame) convinced him to learn to skate at age 20, combining his fighting skills to become an enforcer on ice. Smith was a graduate of Hanover High Class of 1982.

Frattasio and Smith co-wrote the book, “Goon: The True Story of an Unlikely Journey into Minor League Hockey.”

“I barely had any skating abilities but I practiced every day,” Smith recalled of his ice hockey career. “I was watching friends ice skate from the sidelines for years.”

In his early 20s, just three years later, he was playing professionally as an insurance policy — protecting his teammates and showing up to fight.

The first movie, based loosely on his book, is embellished but Smith recalled the 1988 game in the East Coast Hockey League when a reporter from the Erie, Pa. Times nicknamed him “Doug the Thug.”

Smith still has the article.

After a teammate sustained a cheap shot in the Pennsylvania, Smith incited a bench clearing brawl. The next morning at their hotel the team read the Times’ screaming headlines from the game and the nickname stuck.

Smith is in the motorcycle unit — an enforcer of a different kind — as a Hanson police officer for nearly two decades. He is finding a bit of Hollywood sparkle running through his small town roots.

“I love going to work,” he said. “I work in a small town where the people are great, and my fellow officers are supportive. This was something I was able to share with them.”

He recently held a red carpet event and private viewing at the Patriot Cinema in Hanover following a spread hosted by Greg Simeone of the Harmon Golf Club, a former hockey colleague.

Smith’s first semiprofessional camp was in Winston –Salem, N.C., however the fictitious team’s character Doug Glatt plays for are set in Canada, which is where most of the cast, crew, and directors are from. He and Frattasio traveled to Toronto to film a couple cameo scenes this past year.

Impressed with the nature of the Hollywood set and all the behind-the-scenes happenings that go into making a movie, Smith called the actors “regular Joes.”

“They wanted to talk about my life as a police officer,” he said. “They asked me about the show ‘Cops.’ They were down to earth. We talked about hockey. The whole experience was cool to be involved.”

Actor Seann William Scott most notably known as Stifler in the “American Pie” series takes the lovable, and sometimes dim-witted character of Doug Glatt on a less than triumphant career path, which deemed him “second best” for success in his family. Scott reprised his role and continues to fight and meet life’s challenges as a character with his heart in the right place.

In “Goon,” Glatt is portrayed as having shown up on the ice in white women’s figure skates to hockey tryouts. The Express had to know.

“Never happened,” said Smith laughing. “The only time I would have to deal with figure skates is if I am helping my daughters and at that I’d be tying them, not wearing them.”

Smith’s career spanned six teams in four different leagues and he was  cut from Cincinnati at the end of his single season, dressed for skating when needed only as a fighter on the ice. His stats were 60 games and he logged 442 minutes in the penalty box for fighting.

When he thinks back over his career he still sees the impossible odds against his success.

“I am the same. I played lousy in 60 games and all this came of it,” he said. “I like to remain low-key and humble. People will ask me about it (the movies) and I‘ll talk with them, but it was a tough job. It was mentally stressful to know you had to fight in that atmosphere (on skates) and not fall over… they show Glatt unstable on skates …I was.  I’m 6’’2 and I was fighting 6”6 guys. I wondered… could I hold my own. I survived. I did well,” he said.

As he looks ahead in life and his career, Smith who is celebrating 11 years together with his wife Sharon, holds a passion for the Hanover Boys Club where he learned to box. He took his career in his mid-teens to amateur level fighting in the Golden Glove competitions. He remains involved as the manager and a member of the board. The Boys Club celebrates its 40th year in Hanover this year. He continues to fundraise for them.