The Kingston Board of Selectmen met on Tuesday, May 21.
“Thank you to everyone that voted in the town’s annual election; we very much appreciate everyone that took the time to cast their votes in the very damp weather,” Selectmen Chair Kimberley Emberg said. She also thanked Sheila Vaughn for her years of dedication to the town including nine years on the School Committee and four as a Selectman. Emberg welcomed new Selectman Melissa Bateman.
Selectman Tyler Bouchard thanked Harbormaster Tom Taylor for all of his dedication to getting the boat ramp and parking lot ready. “For the amount of time that Tom Taylor, the Harbormaster, put into volunteering because when I say volunteer, he doesn’t get paid for the time this was happening so from the fall until now, he was off the books and he was down there every day,” Bouchard said. He also sang the praises of the volunteers who helped bring the project to life as well and in the process, saved the town a lot of money. Bouchard’s comments were met with a round of applause.
Emberg told the Board that they would need to do a reorganization of the Board following the election. “It’s been an honor to serve as everyone’s Chair here for the last three years; I would like to nominate someone else to be the Chair for this year,” she said. She nominated Selectman Eric Crone to fill the role. The Board voted unanimously to appoint Crone as the new Chair. Bouchard was voted in as Vice Chair. Emberg was voted in as the Clerk.
The Selectmen approved the shellfish aquaculture license renewals for John Wheble and Thomas Taylor following a brief public hearing. The renewals are good for 10 years.
The Selectmen also voted to increase the FY24 recreation revolving fund limit from $500,000 to $575,000 per the Recreation Director request. “Any recreation programs that need to be canceled to not allow the revolving fund to exceed $500,000 will have to be canceled for the remainder of the year,” Town Administrator Keith Hickey explained. He further said that the funds are spent on things like programs and field maintenance. The Selectmen voted unanimously to approve the increase contingent on Finance Committee approval.
A developer wishing to construct a recycling plant appeared before the Selectmen for a presentation. “It is worth noting that this project, if approved, would provide Kingston with a significant commercial taxpayer and would provide a reduction in the town’s solid waste cost,” Crone said. He did note that approval of the project would fall under the Planning Board’s purview. Managing Partner Jack Walsh shared an informational video on Kingston Environmental Partners, LLC. The video said that the proposal envisioned the construction of a new facility that would tie into the existing railway system. It also said that they would become one of the largest taxpayers in Kingston. Unlike existing transfer stations, the proposed one would have minimal community impact as the roads used would be ones not typically traveled by residents. “The project will also be subject to a lengthy environmental review by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts which encourages community input,” the video stated. Emberg cautioned about saying that the roads used are rarely utilized by residents as there are many existing businesses along those roadways in addition to the few residences.
Hickey explained a bit about the intended project and then said, “we’re having some challenges disposing of our trash in a cost-effective manner.” He also touched on the Host Community Agreement which he said could be “designed to meet the needs of Kingston specifically.” Hickey called Walsh a “straight-shooter” and said he felt confident that the community’s questions would be addressed. Those in attendance were told that they could email any questions to [email protected].
Crone asked how many trucks per day could be expected during peak operating hours. Walsh said, “At peak optimal, there would probably be around 6-8 trucks an hour based on a 12-hour operating day, we’re looking to start around 6 a.m. and end around 6 p.m. at night.” He said that they plan to be closed during holidays and Sundays as well.
Chair of the Recycling Committee Jean M. Landis-Naumann spoke saying, “I’m hoping that you will consider including us in the conversations… certainly at this point I will take it back to the Committee for them to come up with their own position on this project, but I certainly would appreciate us being included in the conversations as this is our meat and potatoes really… and I would urge you to keep in mind that we do have a private hauler regulation… so most of the private companies have gone to a dual truck so half the truck is recycling and half is trash.”
The Board approved six one-day liquor licenses for the upcoming music nights at Gray’s Beach. The nights include June 11, June 25, July 9, July 23, August 6, and August 20 from 5:30 to 8 p.m.
The Board also discussed the Town Administrator’s evaluation. Hickey asked for some goals for the upcoming year and Crone recommended finances and budgets to the extent that they can be controlled. “I think it was challenging this year for a lot of different reasons to try to present a budget, a complete budget to the Board, to the Finance Committee, and to the community in a timely manner with the school coming in less than a month before town meeting, so can we work collaboratively with the school committees – I think the Board and the school committees need to be lock step with how we can improve these issues next year,” Hickey said. The Board also discussed whether to give the Town Administrator up to a $3,000 bonus based on his performance evaluation. The Selectmen voted in favor of the bonus with three in favor, one against (Emberg), and one abstention from Bateman.
Emberg spoke during the portion of the meeting toward the end dedicated to Selectmen’s comments. She said that she heard a complaint from a resident regarding the Ragnar Relay Race. According to the complaint, the race organizers were blaring music and announcements from a loudspeaker at 4 am. She said that next year they should make contingencies regarding noise. Bouchard spoke up thanking outgoing Selectman Sheila Vaughn for her years of service.
Bouchard also gave an update on the MBTA Zoning Taskforce. “To stay in compliance with the State’s mandates, the plans have to be filed with the State… so there will be a joint meeting between the MBTA Zoning Taskforce and the Planning Board on June 10 so that will be the final kind of checking off the boxes to send that plan off to the State… in order to get to fall town meeting,” he explained. He urged anyone interested to attend that meeting.

The Kingston Board of Selectmen met on Tuesday, May 7. There was significant debate and discourse regarding ongoing and requested work from Eversource.
Community Relations Manager Ronit Goldstein appeared before the Board on behalf of Eversource. “For the last few months there have been a lot of questions from the town about the double poles on Main St., about the future padmount transformer, i.e. green box that will be at the library, and then most recently I know there is a public hearing relative to a pole on Maple St…. there’s two major projects in the town, the liability project will support 5-10,000 customers; it’s an upgrade to the circuit on Main St.” She explained that the work would allow them to achieve higher voltage and reduce power outages. She said that while those poles have been an “eyesore” she appreciates everyone’s patience as they completed the work. Town Adminstrator Keith Hickey said, “the pad at the library currently still has an orange traffic cone… two… on the pad that ultimately your infrastructure will sit on as well as… some sort of plastic cover… if you guys can just clean that up if nothing else… I know you don’t want to plant vegetation before you actually put the transformer in.”
Susan Sherman of Main Street spoke regarding the poles by Eversource. “I want to encourage the Selectmen to think long and hard on giving permission to extend this, it’s been two years, two years on Main St. and wherever else they’ve been… they’re putting in poles where there have never been poles before; in our new sidewalk and our sidewalks we know are not wide enough to begin with,” Sherman said. She also said that several neighbors have been reporting low-hanging wires that are making it difficult for ambulances to get to elderly residents. She also called it an “eyesore” and complained about all of the cones everywhere. “I just think we should slow down and try to get a look at this… when does it start; when will it end?,” Sherman said.
A representative for Eversource was there for a public hearing regarding the addition of a new pole on Maple Street Selectmen Chair Kimberley Emberg noted that the neighborhood was against the installation of the new pole. Emberg asked about timeframe and was told “normally it would be a couple of weeks turnaround.” Emberg said that one of her hesitations is that they were asked by the people who would supposedly benefit from the installation to say no to the new pole. Emberg said that she was inclined to say ‘no’ so that Eversource could speak directly to the neighbors’ concerns. Sherman spoke again saying that she doesn’t understand how there were representatives from Eversource and Verizon but neither can say when they will complete work. “I do think we need to have this planned and I don’t want to say let’s not deal with Landing Road and getting power to them, but there’s got to be a better way of doing this,” she said.
Pine DuBois, with the Jones River Watershed said, “the question I had asked at the hearing… was what is that pole; what does it mean? and I still don’t have an answer to that. I also wanted to bring up that this is a town park – it’s called Jones River Park, so adding another pole… right there where people go into the park as well as have stormwater on the side is something that the planner/designer should look into. I think what’s really lacking here is a comprehensive understanding of how energy flows.” She added, “people walk in this town, they bicycle in this town, we really need safe streets… I feel like we need a more comprehensive plan from you in order to get on your team.”
Carl Pike spoke up saying he felt that he was one of the only people in town that really supports businesses. He noted that residents typically boast about fewer and shorter power outages than other neighboring communities. “I believe strongly that Eversource is doing some of the right things,” he told the crowd and the Selectmen. “I would also encourage you to put that support into all businesses,” he added. Bouchard said, “One of the ways that we can support all businesses in Kingston is getting our streets a lot prettier so people want to drive down them.” Selectman Don Alcombright added, “Tall Timbers was a fiasco. It was a disaster; Eversource, you guys completely blew that.” Emberg stopped him calling it outside the scope of what they were discussing.
Selectman Eric Crone said, “I’ve been here since 2000, we’ve had a lot more storms, bigger storms knocking out power, I would say in the last five or six years to the point where I would say that four of my closest five neighbors have generators… but my mother is in Pembroke and when she’s out, she’s out and it isn’t awful and Hanson is bad… NSTAR vs. Eversource… ours are not as bad. To the extent that they’re being proactive in terms of putting up power lines that can then help reduce the outages at least for some people, is something we need to promote but I also think we need to protect our neighbors and the people who have asked for certain things going forward.”
Emberg moved to accept the work proposed by Eversource Energy on Maple Street contingent upon the removal of the double poles on Main Street prior to May 25 and contingent upon final written approval by Kingston Streets, Trees, and Parks Superintendent on the final location of that pole. The Selectmen agreed to the motion with the contingencies in place.
DuBois spoke again, this time on a different matter, “I’ve been counting fish, routinely, since 2005… this year, up at Silver Lake are the most fish I have ever seen anywhere in the region all in one place. It’s because of your dam removal embracement, thank you. But it brings a problem and I wanted to make you aware of it. The problem is that when these fish are four or five years old… the fish getting into the lake will lay 100,000 eggs… they want to get out come the end of July, August, September, October… so I need and I pray for your assistance in reaching out to the city of Brockton and DMF… that you work with us,” DuBois said.
She also addressed an old boat that is sitting with standing water and old leaves in town. She said that “we are the reasons we have so many mosquitos.” She asked people to get rid of standing water including bird baths, etc. Finally, DuBois implored people to wear repellent to protect themselves from both ticks and mosquitoes.
Emberg said they received a request from the U.S. Coastguard Auxilliary that towns on the South Shore support National Safe Boating Week by recognizing it with a proclamation. Selectman Tyler Bouchard read the proclamation that urged all boaters to always wear life jackets as well as take a boating safety course. The Selectmen voted unanimously to adopt May 18 through May 24 as National Safe Boating Week.
They also voted to recognize National Public Works Week and National Police Week. They invited the employees from those departments to stand up and be recognized and then gave them a round of applause.
Town Administrator Keith Hickey said that the new boat ramp “is in place and looks fantastic.” They said that the pouring of the concrete in the parking lot was the last step needing to be completed.
Hickey also said that the Planning Department and Conservation Department have applied for a 1.8 million resiliency grant “to position the town to potentially offer right of first refusal on the Correira Bog property on Wapping Rd.” Hickey further explained, “it’s one of the last pieces of property that we don’t have access to and oversight on to make sure that there’s no contamination that flows along the Jones River.”