The Plympton Board of Selectmen met on Monday, May 6. Chair Christine Joy said that they had representatives from Plymouth County present to discuss the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) program and present the town with a check. Plymouth County Commissioner Jared Valanzola spoke to the Board regarding the funds in the amount of $89,403. Valanzola told the Selectmen that the ARPA and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) programs would not have been successful without the town’s support.
Plymouth County Treasurer Thomas O’Brien also spoke. O’Brien thanked the Federal Government, Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren as well as Representative Kathy LaNatra. “These monies were for two separate projects… the first… is for the HVAC project at Silver Lake… this is a perfect use of those resources – provide clean air for our students… your second one you had some well monitoring that needed to be done… where are those resources going to come from? You’ve got other obligations, you’ve got public safety, you’ve got schools, how are we going to take care of these projects? Submit to ARPA and you did, and we approved,” O’Brien said. He also said that there is still “some money” left and noted that they were working with Plympton on some other applications. He noted that not a single cent would be returned to the federal government.
Police Chief Matthew Ahl and Lieutenant Daniel Hoffman attended the meeting to provide an update on the traffic safety campaign as well as a general update on the department. Hoffman said that April was Distracted Driving Awareness Month. He said that of just over 300 traffic stops, 108 of them were for using cell phones while driving. Hoffman told the Selectmen, “I could sit on the intersection out here and almost every other car seems to be on the phone.” The department is encouraging education on hands-free driving. Hoffman also noted that not having a seatbelt on is not a primary offense and usually they only ticket for that is when pulling someone over for another reason. The vast majority of tickets issued by the department for traffic stops are for out-of -town residents. Hoffman also said that a radar sign would be going up on Center St. Hoffman told the Selectmen that they have a plan to outfit all students that need one with a new appropriately fitted bike helmet for the annual bike to school event on June 7.
Chief Ahl said “we’re still growing; we have a lot of interest within the department and new opportunities for my new troops over there so getting them acclimated into these different specialized units.” He noted that for a while they were combatting attrition. “When I first came here, there seemed to be a revolving door and us getting involved in a lot of different things that we do now is why we’ve had a lot of different people come in my door and why we’ve had a lot of people stay. I give the Board a lot of credit too as far as contract-wise. These officers are happy here,” Ahl said. The Selectmen praised Ahl’s efforts with Joy saying she was very happy to see the level of community engagement calling it a “win all-around.”
The Selectmen voted to appoint Matthew Hickey as a Special Police Officer from May 6, 2024 through June 30, 2025. The decision was unanimous. They also came back from executive session to announce the outcome of some votes taken including the promotions of Nathan Valente and Kevin Brower from Patrol Officers to Sergeants. Lauren Grady was also named as the Executive Information Coordinator.
There were a few requests for use of town property including the Garden Club using the town green on May 18. They also authorized Yvonne Green to use the Old Townhouse on June 9 for a meditation retreat from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Joy said that they had a letter from Governor Healey that they will be reappointing Jason Fraser as a member of the Advisory Commission of local government. “It’s nice to have representation at such a high level,” Joy said.
The Selectmen ended their meeting with their raves. “I have a rave for the people that turned out for the meeting on Saturday for the Fire Station feasibility project,” Selectman John Traynor said. He noted that Jon Wilhelmsen has been shepherding the project. Selectman Mark Russo said his rave was for the expression “Team Plympton” and the entire effort to try to professionalize town government and town services. “It’s one of our clearest successes,” he said. Joy said her rave was for “the great work being done by the Police Department. It’s just wonderful to see the teamwork.” She had an additional rave for ARPA noting that Town Administrator Elizabeth Dennehy does a great job with grants and working with town departments to get needs met through them.

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.