The Halifax Board of Selectmen met Tuesday, April 23.
Conservation Commission Appointment
They met with Alan Dias to consider his appointment to the Conservation Committee. They had a letter from the Commission saying that the Commission voted 2-1 with one abstention to recommend Dias. Dias, who has been a Halifax resident for 46 years said, “I have watched the Conservation Commission meetings for the last year or so and the Commission is a very important function of the town, and it is kind of missing what I think it really needs – some experience. You’ve got new members, you’ve got members leaving, you’ve got new members starting and I think that with my experience, I’ve been a contractor for 35 years, I’ve represented clients on this side of the table for Conservation Commission meetings.” He continued, “I’m familiar with the Wetlands Protection Act, I’m familiar with the stormwater management, the sanitation code and I think I can assist the Board with trying to get itself reorganized so that it functions as a good Board and it’s not just handling complaints.” He said his goal was to be on the Board for about a year.
Selectmen Chair John Bruno read from a letter urging that Dias not be appointed to the Commission due to alleged violations at his 0 Pine St. North property. The letter said, “He’s also currently personally engaged with the Water Department on a proposed construction development within priority habitat and which there’s no current approved site plan. Additionally, Mr. Dias owns many acres of wetlands in and around East Monponsett. Though I have no doubt that Mr. Dias is a very intelligent and hardworking man, it is my personal opinion that he has too many conflicts of interest to appropriately and fairly serve on the Halifax Conservation Commission.” Dias responded alluding to the letter being written by resident Jeremy Gillespie, who was in attendance. He said, “Mr. Gillespie’s violations; they’ve been well vetted; they’ve been vetted by DEP [Department of Environmental Protection]. Quite frankly, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” Dias said that if he had a financial interest in a matter he would recuse himself. Commission member Edward Lane spoke out in favor of Dias’ appointment. Gillespie spoke up claiming that Lane had lied about an important site visit.
Selectman Jonathan Selig spoke on Dias saying, “This has been one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make since being a Selectman. Alan, I want to thank you for your service to the town. You’ve done decades worth of service. I know his integrity is being questioned; I don’t have questions with his integrity. I don’t have questions that he’s a hard-working good citizen of Halifax. But I do think, for better or worse, it’s gotten to be a little bit political… and I know we as a town are trying to move past that a little bit, so again, very, very hard decision for me, but I don’t think that I can go for your approval just based on recent political things and it pains me, because I think you’re a very, very knowledgeable guy.” Dias responded, “My political views won’t make a difference from looking at regulations… we have regulations, we read those, we interpret them, we make our decision.”
Selectman Naja Nessralla spoke out in favor of appointing Dias. Amy Troup spoke out against Dias accusing him of telling her boss that she was a racist while they were serving on the Planning Board together. She referred to serving with him as a “nightmare.” Bruno said that similar issues were brought up when appointing Dias to the Bylaw Review Committee but said that he did a great job despite those concerns. “Personally, I know Alan. I’ve known him for as long as I’ve been in town, and I knew his parents. His father was the first Grand Knight at our church… so I’ve known them pretty well. I know all of his work. I know he’s had issues all up and down and so haven’t we all, so I’m not really concerned about that,” Bruno said. Bruno made a motion to appoint Dias which was met with ire from both Troup and Gillespie. Dias was appointed to the Commission with a 2-1 vote with both Bruno and Nessralla voting in favor and Selig voting against.
Building Department Fee Changes
“The Finance Committee had asked that all departments annually review their fee schedules just to make sure that we’re in line with our comparable communities; we’re obviously not looking to charge more but we want to continuously review those to make sure that they are in line with where they need to be,” Town Administrator Cody Haddad said. New Building Commissioner Ed Bayly reviewed ten surrounding communities and made recommendations for fee changes to be brought before the Board of Selectmen for their review and approval. Bayly said that upon review Halifax was at the lower end of average. His proposed changes moved them closer to the upper end of average. The Selectmen approved the new fee schedule effective July 1.
Pole and Road Cut Approvals
The Selectmen had a scheduled pole hearing that evening for the purpose of hearing the joint petition submitted by Massachusetts Electric Company and Verizon New England Inc. to replace some existing poles on Holmes St. A representative from National Grid appeared before the Board explaining that the change would reduce the number of people who lose power should something happen causing a power outage. The Selectmen agreed to the work.
The Selectmen also had a request from Eversource to open a 4’x6’ road cut at 98 Holmes St. for an abandoned gas service line. “The stipulation is it has to be approved by the Conservation Commission,” Bruno said. The Building Inspector, Police, and Highway have already approved. The Selectmen voted to also approve it pending the Conservation Commission’s approval. They dealt with two more road cuts to install new gas service at 203 Oak St. The Selectmen voted to approve those as well contingent on the other necessary department approvals.
Other Business
Haddad told the Selectmen that they are undergoing upgrades to their water treatment facilities. He said that the engineering firm that is serving as the project manager has submitted a change of scope that will result in an increased cost of $31,600. Haddad noted that they do have the funding in place. The Selectmen voted to approve the changes. The total cost of the project will be just under $3 million.
The Selectmen also reviewed a contract with Ocean State Pyrotechnics for the fireworks display scheduled for June 29 with a rain date of June 30. “This is all with donated funds,” Haddad said. The Selectmen agreed to the contract.
The Selectmen also dealt with expanding the newly formed Alewife Restoration Committee from three to four members. Standing member Jeremy Gillespie was there to speak to the need to expand the Committee. The Selectmen agreed to change the makeup of the Committee to up to five members. They also voted to approve the appointment of Allen Palmer to the Alewife Restoration Committee.
Haddad provided an update saying that they officially launched their community forum HaliFACTS. “It’s been a good service; we’ve received one or two comments so far and we’ve been pretty quick to respond to them. We really want to emphasize people to utilize that rather than social media so they can get the accurate information,” he explained. Haddad also said that he and Selig filmed a Town Meeting warrant preview which is posted online at Area 58. In the video, they go through each article explaining a bit more about them.

The Plympton Board of Selectmen met on Monday, April 22. Town Administrator Elizabeth Dennehy reviewed all of the various articles on the town meeting warrant asking the Selectmen to put a hold on anything they wanted to discuss further. Articles include Article 6 that is the Community Preservation funding for the restoration of the historic front entrance of Plympton’s Townhouse. Article 9 seeks to appropriate $4,042 plus repurposing an additional $3,500 for the required 5 percent match for an anticipated award of an Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) grant for communications equipment for the Fire Department.
Article 33 “allows the Town Clerk to make a new section using e-code and it makes it a requirement for people to have a house number somewhere visible so the Fire Department can identify,” Dennehy explained. Selectman John Traynor asked what was driving it and Dennehy said that the By-Law Review Committee has been reaching out to different town departments to get their feedback and this suggestion came from the Fire Department. “I don’t know how enforceable it will be but I think it’s a good start at least for new construction,” Dennehy said.
Dennehy told the Selectmen that the Finance Committee no longer wants to mail the warrants out to residents. “They think it’s an additional cost and it’s not sustainable and we have hardcopies available at Town Meeting… we’re avoiding the bulk mail permit expense and it will be on the website and on social media,” Dennehy said. Selectman Mark Russo was surprised the decision was made for this year. “I think this is the thing to alert citizens that maybe wouldn’t look anywhere else,” he explained. Traynor said he was in favor of forgoing the mailing due to it being a “fairly large expense.” Russo elaborated on his point saying, “the trouble is you have to have your interest piqued to access it anywhere and unless it goes out in the mail there’ s a whole bunch of people that this will go right over their heads; honestly I kind of feel like it’s a connection with the past and a traditional thing… it’s also kind of a manifestation of our work and what we do.” Dennehey said that she would bring Russo’s concerns to the Finance Committee.
Dennehy also reviewed the articles for the Special Town Meeting. The second article is for a Community Preservation project at Holt Field including lighting. Dennehy said they may be able to pass over Articles 3 and 4. Article 5 is for the projected deficit at Dennett Elementary School. Dennehy said that School Committee Chair Jason Fraser and the rest of the Committee are working hard to reduce that deficit as much as possible. Traynor asked how much the School Committee was anticipating the deficit to be and was told that as of that date, it was likely around $130,000 though that number was anticipated to go down.
Dennehy provided a Town Administrator’s update saying, “our vendor is putting the finishing touches on a Green Communities application; the deadline for applying is May 10… I believe we’re going to try again for the library heating system.”
They ended their meeting with their raves for the week. Selectman Chair Christine Joy said, “My rave would be for Liz and the financial team and all the hard work that goes into creating the warrant and vetting all the articles and coming up with funding sources, and transferring money; it’s a huge process and you do a wonderful job and we’re lucky to have you.” Russo said, “I totally agree with that; it’s not just the finished product this year but the process that’s been put in place.”