For the second consecutive year, North Easton Savings Bank proudly announces it was named a Top Places to Work by The Boston Globe for 2023.
In addition to the overall award, the bank also earned eight Top Workplace Culture Excellence Awards for innovation, work-life flexibility, employee well-being, employee appreciation, professional development, compensation and benefits, leadership, and purpose and values.
These new awards for 2023 come on the heels of the bank also winning major awards in 2022 for Top Places to work (The Boston Globe), Top Workplaces USA (USA Today), and Best-in-State Banks (Forbes).
“I am grateful for the opportunity to be included on this esteemed list once again,” stated Rich Spencer, president and CEO of North Easton Savings Bank. “I want to thank all of our amazing employees throughout the organization who work hard every day to support our customers and the communities we serve. But more than that, I thank them for supporting each other, being there for one another, and truly making our Bank a wonderful place to build a career.
An award-winning local bank with over $1.5 billion in assets, North Easton Savings Bank is uniquely situated to provide personal and commercial banking and lending solutions to southeastern Massachusetts.
Founded in 1864, North Easton has a proven track record of growing the community through fair banking practices, financial advising, and local philanthropy. Looking forward, North Easton is well-positioned as the preferred area banking partner with a powerful combination of convenient features like mobile and online banking and the personal, hometown touch of a local bank. North Easton Savings Bank is fully insured by the FDIC and the DIF and is an Equal Housing Lender. For more information, please visit NorthEastonSavingsBank.com.
Firefighters recognized at Plympton BOS
The Plympton Board of Selectmen met on Monday, Nov. 27. Chair Christine Joy turned things over to Plympton Fire Chief Cheryl Davis for a presentation of promotions and acknowledgments.
Andrew Norton was promoted to Captain and John Gonsalves was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. Davis said that her promotion left an opening for a full-time firefighter/paramedic which has been filled by William Austin. “I knew that when I became Chief that I was going to need to surround myself with a strong team and these three have already shown themselves to be invaluable members of that team,” Davis said. She also said that the three of them combined for over 60 years of service.
Jon Wilhelmsen of the Town Properties Committee was there to discuss a new well and the fire station planning project. He said that they had put an application in with Mass DEP for three wells which would be situated closely to one another. He said that they would go in on a new piece of property behind the Town Barn. “Where we are with the process, this has gone to DEP, we will work with our consultant to offer any comments on what has been proposed and then the next step, provided they are comfortable with the proposed location, is we need to drill three test wells and then what we will end up doing is put two of the wells online,” Wilhelmsen explained. He said that the next step would be to come up with an engineering plan to bring the water up to the Town House which would also extend to the Fire and Police stations. He said that they are planning to use ARPA [American Rescue Plan Act] funds for the project but depending on costs, they may need to ask for more money to pay off any excess at Town Meeting. Wilhelmsen also said that he felt that they would have a better idea of timing come February. According to Wilhelmsen they would only be using two wells, but it is best practice to have the third in case they should need it in the future as that way it would already be done to specifications.
Regarding the new town campus, Wilhelmsen said that he wanted to clear up that they would not be taking away any ball fields to create the new fire station. He said they have some “really earnest work” to do after the holidays with the financial staff of the town. “What that means is we may come to town meeting to look to move ahead with the fire station but it’s a little early to say that that will exactly happen this year or whether it will be the following year. But we think it’s possible and as long as we can come up with the right number to put it together and the right number that we can afford; those are sort of the pieces that we need to work on in early January,” Wilhelmsen said. Selectman John Traynor said that they plan to have an informational session for the general public after the holidays.
Selectman Mark Russo asked about septic systems. Wilhelmsen said that one potential solution would be to put the new fire station on its own leaching field in the space between the library and the existing fire station. “Another option would be to put in a septic for the new fire station and leave the existing fire station on the existing septic,” Wilhelmsen explained. He said a third option would be to expand the leaching field for the existing fire station and put both that and the new fire station on that field.
“I think we have a good plan and it’s just a matter of now being able to see that we can get everything to fit in correctly. It’s not going to get any cheaper for us; that’s the one thing that I can assure you, it’s not going to get cheaper,” Wilhelmsen said. He continued, “I mean it may moderate and maybe we’ll get a little bit of a hair cut because we go back a year and things were really kind of on fire… I did ask what they thought that Police Station would cost today, and we were all in for about $3.2 [million] on that, and they said over $5… $5.5 [million] to do that same building.”
A representative from New Leaf Energy appeared before the Board regarding Upland Road Solar and their request to extend the timeline for imposing conservation restrictions. The plan is to extend the timeline through June to get the conservation restrictions signed and completed. Nothing can happen at the property during that time. Wildlands Trust holds the conservation restrictions which Joy said was ideal even in spite of some delays. Selectman Mark Russo recused himself from the vote as he is a member of the Wildlands Trust. Joy and Traynor voted in favor of extending the timeline through June 30, 2025.
The Selectmen also voted unanimously to appoint Lukasz Kowalski to the Zoning Board of Appeals. They also approved the use of the Old Town House for a silent retreat on Dec. 9 as requested by a meditation group as well as use of the Town House for Girl Scouts’ caroling at 10 a.m. on the same day.
As customary, the Selectmen ended their night with their raves. Traynor said that his rave was for the Firefighters who put on a turkey dinner for the seniors in town. “Any time you have a free dinner for seniors, they turn out,” Traynor joked. Russo said his rave was for the meeting that night and the topics contained within it – the Firefighter promotions, the Town Properties issues, and filling out the roster on the ZBA. “I appreciate just the functional-ness and getting stuff done,” he said. Joy said that her rave was for the hard work done by the Town Properties Committee.
Storm knocks out power
Taylor Fruzzetti
Express Correspondent
Residents experienced power outages, road closures and other obstacles due to the storm on Monday, Dec. 18.
According to Plympton Fire Captain John Sjostedt, approximately 850 Plympton residents lost power at the peak of the storm.
“For us, that is a fairly significant number,” he said. At the time of writing, 388 Plympton residents are currently without power.
“We had many roads that were blocked because of downed trees across the road,” said Sjostedt. “I believe there were a couple of houses that had trees hit the house but there was only one that I know of that actually caused the damage to the roof.”
Sjostedt said that Eversource estimates that power will be back on for residents at around 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 20.
The Plympton Fire Department also received multiple calls regarding carbon monoxide detectors.
“Frequently residents will have their generators running and the exhaust faces the house and fills the house with carbon monoxide,” Sjostedt explained. “Thankfully, in each of these incidents the detectives alerted the residents to the situation and they were able to mitigate the problem without any injuries or illnesses.”
Similar to Plympton, Kingston emergency personnel also experienced difficulty navigating town roads because of fallen tree limbs.
“We had power lines mixed with the downed trees and that made it dangerous because we don’t know if the lines are energized or not,” said Kingston Fire Chief Mark Douglass.
Douglass said that a large pine tree fell on one Kingston resident’s house, hitting a woman in the house.
“I would be very surprised if it wasn’t a complete loss,” said Douglass referring to the home. He added that the resident hit by the tree was injured but it did not appear to be severe.
According to Douglass, approximately 2,000 Kingston residents were without power during the storm.
Douglass said that Eversource estimates that power will be restored for Kingston residents by 11 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 20.
Halifax residents also saw obstacles caused by powerful wind gusts.
According to Halifax Deputy Chief Ted Benner, two houses were hit by fallen trees causing “significant damage.”
“We had a tremendous amount of downed lines,” said Benner. “Two major areas that were hit were Annawon Drive and Lake Street.”
According to Benner, the National Grid map currently shows that both of these neighborhoods are still without power during the time of writing. The map estimates that power will be restored in these neighborhoods on Thursday, Dec. 21.
Benner said that at the storm’s peak, 63% of Halifax National Grid customers were without power. Benner said that currently 11% of Halifax residents are without power.
Benner’s advice for residents for future storms is “ to just stay off roads if you can.”
Warm reception in Kingston for Forty Second Brew Company
KINGSTON – Forty Second Brew Company (https://www.42ndparallelbrewingco.com/) recently opened its doors at 77 Summer Street in Kingston Center and celebrated the event with a ribbon-cutting held earlier this month.
State Representative Kathy LaNatra and members of the Kingston Business Association welcomed new owners Steve Darby, Paul Schiele, Nia Tieu and Matt Ward to the community. The small craft brewery is committed to high quality craft beer and to support local businesses by building strong relationships with local restaurants, liquor stores and charities.
Steve Darby, a Kingston resident and one of the partners, said that Kingston’s historical fame as a shipbuilding community is what inspired them to choose a nautical theme for their new business, plus the group’s own ties to the water. And the nautical theme is reflected in some of their creations: “Three Sheets to the Wind,” “Ship Faced,” and “Shipwrecked.”
He mentioned that two of the partners, Matt and Paul, began home brewing in their Kingston neighborhood, mostly as a hobby. But as interest grew among their neighbors, they knew they were onto something. Steve and Nia joined the team, and the four partners created a logo, built a web presence, found some space, and invested in the equipment that would allow them to make the transition from a pastime to an ongoing business venture.
By doing some strong local outreach, Forty Second has successfully gotten their products into a number of local restaurants and taverns in the Kingston-Plymouth area, and they are also doing some private label work for other facilities.
With a tap room on premises, there’s more capability for expansion, and the partners hope their product will soon be more widely available in package stores and restaurants beyond the South Shore.
Anyone who is a fan of craft brews can enjoy themselves right here in Kingston Center. All the brewing and work is done locally.
“We’ve been very pleased at the reception we’ve received since opening our doors, “said Steve Darby, adding, “We’re looking forward to meeting more of our neighbors from Kingston and the surrounding communities.” In addition to making beer, Forty second offers services to help businesses and other breweries, including custom logo design, T shirt design and print, business cards, custom beer label design and print, and photography.
To learn more, you can reach Forty Second by email, [email protected], phone508-217-4413 or in person at 77 Summer Street, Kingston.
Scouts sing songs of the season
The holidays broke out in Plympton, beginning with breakfast at the Fire House, serving up pancakes, sausage, bacon, syrup, juice and coffee to get residents started on the morning.
Across the parking lot at the Town House, residents heard a choral presentation by the Plympton Girl Scouts, who sweetly sang Christmas carrols to a full house.
The Plympton Police Dept. asked residents to bring a new toy to “Stuff a Cruiser” to benefit needy children in the area.
Landing Road intersection eyed
The Kingston Board of Selectmen met Tuesday, Dec. 5. Selectman Don Alcombright was remote for the meeting while Selectman Tyler Bouchard was absent.
The Selectmen dealt with the results of the traffic study that was done on Landing Road regarding road safety. Some residents requested a three-way intersection be installed at the corner of Landing Road and Maple Street. “Ultimately, based on the research that was done by Old Colony Planning, based on accidents – things of that nature, Old Colony Planning indicated that it did not meet the merits of a three-way stop sign,” Town Administrator Keith Hickey said. Regarding issues with the bridge, Hickey said that they met with the appropriate parties from Duxbury to get some type of truck restriction. “Duxbury seems very willing to potentially limit the size of the vehicles that travel down Landing Road,” he explained. He said that Old Colony has agreed to do some traffic counts and traffic studies regarding potential changes to traffic flow. “We are trying to address this as best we can,” Hickey said. “The Police Department has tried to make people more aware of the speeds that they are traveling… the 40-mph speed limit starts closer to the Maple Street intersection than what was indicated in the report,” he furthered.
A representative from the Old Colony Planning Council joined the meeting remotely to answer questions as needed. “One question I had was the traffic study that was done in March, which is not the busiest time for the roadway that leads to the harbor, so I was just wondering if we have taken that into account in some of this analysis?” Chair Kimberley Emberg asked. She noted that traffic picks up considerably starting in May and said that March may even be the slowest time of the year. The representative said that one of the things they can do this coming spring is to recount the Landing Rd. area during May to have a baseline of March to May. Emberg also asked if he could elaborate on why the intersection didn’t meet the necessary requirements for a three-way stop and was told that in addition to entering their numbers into a database, the Police Department didn’t identify five or more correctable crashes in the span of a 12-month time period.
Alcombright said that he wanted to make sure that any truck restrictions wouldn’t impact boat traffic. Superintendent and Tree Warden Paul Basler said that for most people, it shouldn’t affect that. He said that the bigger concerns of the residents were the box trucks hitting the bridge and the speeds of landscaping trucks, etc. “Even with a truck exclusion, oil trucks, gas trucks are still going to be able to service the residents… it shouldn’t have any impact on the boating people,” Basler said. He also spoke against the installation of speed bumps saying, “that’s going to impact the boating.” He said that he did a sign audit on that road noting that there were 11 signs between Main Street and River Street. “After a while, a lot of signs become invisible… in my opinion, there are an awful lot of signs on that road that nobody is paying attention to… so by increasing the number of signs, changing the signs around, I don’t think that’s going to give us the impact we are looking for,” Basler said. Emberg said that they were merely accepting the report that evening and that any decisions regarding what actions to take, would take place at a later meeting.
There was some discussion regarding a resident that was surrendering a razor clam license for the current year. There was one person on the waitlist. The Shellfish Constable intended to call all recipients of the licenses to see if anyone was not using theirs, but the very first person he called surrendered it. Hickey said that he would like to see, as a show of good faith, the town refund the original holder of the license. He also said that he would like to set a policy in place that stipulates that license holders must use it so many times or surrender the license at the end of the year. The Board agreed to issue the license to the new recipient at a pro-rated amount and refund the unused six months back to the original holder.
Jason Silva, the Community Development Director, spoke to the Board regarding the review of fees charged for inspectional services. “It’s been about four years since we’ve changed; a lot’s changed in the last four years in terms of our economy,” Silva said. He noted that after reviewing the fees charged by surrounding communities, it has become apparent that the fees need to be raised. He also asked to increase the compensation for the inspectional services’ workers. The Selectmen voted unanimously to approve the proposed increases.
Emberg said that during an earlier meeting they discussed going out to bid for legal services. She said that Hickey had prepared a draft RFP for them to approve that evening. Selectman Sheila Vaughn was the sole Selectman voting against the RFP.
Regarding the Police Chief search, Emberg asked for results from the community outreach survey that was completed by residents. Crone said that the main takeaway was a call for increased communication with the community. He said that they narrowed the field of applicants to eight before having two drop out. He said that they would like to add two back in before notifying the candidates.
Hickey said that the hiring committee for the Finance Director met that day and narrowed the list of applicants. He noted that the current Finance Director Carol McCoy would be leaving in-person employment the following week and then working remotely until a replacement could be found. “She’s been a tremendous asset to this community. She’s done a great job and she’ll be a tough person to replace, but wish her all the best,” Hickey said.
Hickey said that they’ve asked Departments to go back and review their budgets before reviewing at a higher level to present before the Board. “We should have all that done and to the Capital Planning Committee and the Finance Committee before the end of the month, certainly,” Hickey said.
Emberg reminded those in attendance that the new water rates went into effect in early November and noted that it would be reflected in the March 2024 quarterly bill. She also said that Kington’s annual luminary display will take place on Saturday, Dec. 16 and road closings will begin at 5 p.m.. The tree lighting and caroling will begin at 6 pm on the Town Green. Other activities including crafts and visits with Santa will be between 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.. She also reminded residents that if they see snowflakes they need to get their vehicles off the streets to ensure safe and timely plowing.
Emberg opened things up to open forum and a resident asked, “the chlorine in the water, could we get an update on if this is a permanent condition, why, what we can do about it, and if the town is going to do anything about it because quite frankly it’s upsetting. Hickey said he would reach out to the Water Department and provide an update on the Town’s website.
Plympton kicks off new traffic safety program
The Town of Plympton and Plympton Police Department are pleased to announce the kickoff of a new traffic safety and speeding enforcement campaign. This campaign will be run through the Police Department and is a multi-faceted approach tasked with the mission of keeping our roadways safer for our residents and slowing down traffic passing through town.
The Police Department has successfully secured grant funding to support additional hours for traffic patrols and for the installation of a new solar powered speed monitoring sign through the FFY 2024 Municipal Road Safety (MRS) Grant. These funds will be used as part of a High Visibility Enforcement program that will allow for committing a significant percentage of enforcement to several targeted areas in order to begin to mitigate aggressive, impaired, and distracted driving to prevent motor vehicle accidents.
The following action items are already in progress or will be commencing within the upcoming days:
• Each week there will be a street selected that will have officers on each shift conducting targeted Radar Patrols.
• Streets with a high incidence of reported speeding will be prioritized at key times of day.
• The Police Department will purchase 100 bicycle helmets for bike safety programming. School Resource Officers will provide these to any child needing a helmet or a new sized helmet.
• Over the next few months, we will be conducting several traffic initiatives such as click-it or ticket, school bus safety, distracted driving, hands free operation and winter impaired driving.
• Citizens can help us with this campaign by driving the speed limit as a way to model the behavior we are encouraging. Another benefit of this type of community involvement is that it will also help to slow down traffic generally, which will in turn slow down those speeding through town. Additionally, if citizens notice a particular street or a specific time of day in which they typically witness speeding issues, they are urged to reach out to the Police Department to let them know.
The main point of contact is Lieutenant Dan Hoffman. Lieutenant Hoffman can be reached via Email: [email protected] or by phone at (781) 585-3339 Ext. 502
$600K for water treatmemt
The Halifax Board of Selectmen met on Tuesday, Nov. 21. Chair John Bruno began the meeting by turning it over to Plymouth County Commissioner Jared Valanzola. Valanzola announced that Halifax would be receiving $600,000 in ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funding for the two water treatment plants. “In 2020… the Federal Government awarded the County of Plymouth with some CARES Act money, about $90 million, and there was a handful of communities that believed we shouldn’t have administered that program. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts absolutely did not think we should have administered that program,” he said. Valanzola continued, “In the final analysis of the CARES Act, the town of Halifax, and every other town in Plymouth County received 50 percent more dollars than towns outside of Plymouth County. We distributed, of the $90 million, $87 million to our member communities. The remaining $3 million went to non-profit hospitals that are in the County… that is $44 million more than like-sized communities outside of Plymouth County received.”
Valanzola noted that they have since pivoted toward ARPA which he called more “forward facing.” He said that working with the leadership in Halifax was “fantastic.” “The last point I’ll make on ARPA: we currently are administering this program at approximately 1 percent. We administered the CARES Act for 1 percent and that received national recognition – it was actually 0.87 percent and that meant more money for Halifax… we received recognition from the U.S. Department of the Treasury as well as the United States Congress as one of the most effective and efficient administrations of the CARES Act in the entire country.” He further noted that while they are currently on track to administer ARPA at 1 percent, the national average is 7 to 8 percent.
The Finance Committee was also in attendance for a joint meeting with the Board of Selectmen to discuss wage and personnel. Town Administrator Cody Haddad explained some of the changes to the Wage and Personnel bylaws. He began by saying that he had previously sent the results of the compensation and classification study to the Selectmen as well as the Finance Committee members. Regarding the nearly yearlong process Haddad said, “we need to evaluate the positions and create internal as well as external equity.” He said that they contracted with GovHR to evaluate each position through a job evaluation questionnaire that all non-Union employees filled out. The questionnaires were provided to managers for evaluation and then, finally, reviewed by Haddad. GovHR then moved forward with interviews with at least one person in each position. This information was used to create the internal equity. He said that they used analysis from similar neighboring communities to assess external equity. He said that salary ranges were created using the 70th percentile. He said that the difference between going with the 60th percentile versus the 70th percentile was only about $1,000. He noted that going with the higher percentile would make them more competitive.
“Grades 1-3 are your administrative and technical staff, Grades 4-8 are supervisors and advanced technical staff, 9-12 are directors and senior managers and that’s really where the wage and personnel bylaw cuts off, but we did go forward and look at Grades 13-15 which would be the Town Administrator and Public Safety,” Haddad said. He said that all grades have a 35 percent variation between steps to create consistency. He said that the goal is to make it equitable for the employees but affordable for the town. Haddad said that in terms of implementation, they would start by making sure that everyone is now on one of the new steps, i.e. at least the minimum. He also said that everyone would receive at least a 2 percent raise while those being paid the least would be likely to see the biggest increase.
Regarding the financial impact for the town, Haddad said that for fiscal year 2024 it would be approximately $125,000. Haddad explained, “$260,000 was allocated at the spring town meeting for the purposes of this and also for settling collective bargaining agreements; there’s approximately $136,000 currently unallocated for this exact purpose.”
Finance Committee member Jim Walters expressed that he didn’t feel that the numbers were entirely accurate to the 35 percent and asked that it be amended as such. Haddad explained that the discrepancy lay in his using round numbers though he said he would revisit the document to ensure accuracy.
Selectman Jonathan Selig gave some background behind the impetus to review the wage and personnel bylaw. “So when I started… we had a tough problem here at Town Hall with retention and essentially filling roles. We were so grossly underpaying folks that we weren’t even just getting bad applicants, we were getting nobody… and the refrain you kept hearing was, you’re going to try and pay people that? Good luck,” Selig explained. He continued, “If we were lucky to get somebody, what would happen was that after a while, they were going to another community close by that was paying a lot more money than we were.”
Haddad said that the goal of the joint meeting would be to have them vote to adopt the compensation and classification plan as proposed. Haddad said, “To Jim’s point, when we get to the warrant, two options: we can either move forward as it’s written and we would just make note that it’s the 35.49 percent or what we can do is just make the last step a little bit of a smaller increase. My effort was to try and make the increase for each of the 12 steps the same percentage but in doing that, it bumped it off a little,” Haddad explained. “As long as the numbers add up and we can get it funded,” Walters said. The Selectmen and the Finance Committee voted to accept the plan. The Finance Committee then adjourned their portion of the meeting.
The Selectmen had an appointment with Wendy Grieco for an appointment to the Beautification Committee. “I just want to participate in the town, volunteer,” she explained. The Selectmen voted to approve her appointment through June 30, 2024.
The Selectmen went through the articles on the warrant for town meeting. These included Article 4 which reallocated $1.74 million in funding that was originally intended to turn the museum into the Council on Aging and approved in May of 2022. He said that the new article would rescind the original one and reallocate that funding for the purpose of designing and building a new Council on Aging facility. The Selectmen voted to approve the article. Article 5 encompassed all the changes necessary to move forward with the Thorndike Development project. The Selectmen recommended it.
The Selectmen also discussed potentially creating a policy regarding flags that will be flown on public property. “What I was concerned with is we had no policy whatsoever… I asked Cody to come up with a draft… what I thought to do was to limit our authorized flags to the American flag, the Massachusetts State flag, the Town of Halifax flag, the elementary school flag, and military flags for the purpose of Veterans’ observance… and I think that to me that makes the most sense and keeps us from getting into any arguments over who’s flag should be up, when it should be up, and everything else,” Bruno said. Bruno specified that it refers to the official flag poles rather than just a flag setup on public property. “I get the idea of this and it makes sense to me as to, I don’t want to call it Pandora’s box… it keeps it cut and dry… these are the flags we have,” Selig said. Bruno referenced a Nazi flag saying that if you were to allow other flags, you may have to agree to fly that one too. The Selectmen voted to adopt the policy as written.
Haddad told the Selectmen that he had a good meeting with a consultant regarding the MBTA Action Plan. He said that the consultant was very receptive to their ideas. He said that once they have a more finalized plan, they would bring it before the Zoning Bylaw Review Committee. He also noted that they hoped to bring it before the Board of Selectmen in February. Bruno noted that he had been a critic of the MBTA Action plans but said that he thinks that they can come into compliance without changing too much. Bruno said that it may be possible to just rezone some existing multi-family housing.
Rep. Dylan Fernandes seeks senate seat
FALMOUTH – On Monday, State Representative Dylan Fernandes announced his campaign to become the next State Senator for the Plymouth and Barnstable district. “I am running for State Senate to bring new energy to the role and legislative experience working to make Massachusetts a more affordable place to live for middle and low income people,” said Fernandes. “The Plymouth and Barnstable seat is my hometown district – I grew up here and love it here. I plan to travel the district to listen to your cares and concerns and learn about how I can help; you can reach out to me personally anytime at 508-257-1174.
First elected at age 26, Fernandes was the second-youngest legislator elected to the Massachusetts House. In his six years as State Representative, he has been a champion for working people, the environment, and making Massachusetts a more affordable place to live for middle- and low-income people. An unwavering advocate for clean air and water, Fernandes believes strongly in holding Holtec responsible for environmental and public health negligence.
A fourth generation Plymouth and Barnstable District resident and son of two local small business owners, his great grandparents immigrated to the United States from the Azores before settling in Falmouth to work as strawberry farmers. Dylan earned his bachelor’s degree with a double major in Economics and Political Science from the College of Charleston and a Master of Public Administration at Harvard University where he was a Rappaport Scholar.
Representative Fernandes has served in the legislature since 2017 where he has focused on environmental protection, advancing affordable housing, and addressing the opioid and heroin epidemic. At a time when politics is too often focused on sound bites and tweets, Fernandes focuses on results: 30 of his bills have been signed into law, he has passed dozens more amendments, and has secured tens of millions of dollars in funding for the district. He serves as the Vice Chair of the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources and has seats on the Committee on Ways and Means, the Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities & Energy, and the Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change. The Plymouth and Barnstable seat is currently held by Susan Moran who is leaving to run for Superior Court Clerk.
Local woman is finalist in Food Network Holiday Baking show
WHITMAN – Somewhere, Ruth Wakefield has been watching the Food Network this holiday season.
That might be because one contestant, Justine Rota, is a home baker from Whitman, hoping to bake her way past keen competition – and a lot of truly bad puns – as the Food Network’s Holiday Baking Championship 2023 rolls along. She’s also educating the world about the home of the chocolate chip cookie.
During the Monday, Dec. 4 block of broadcasts, she had survived a smash cake contest in which the baked item had to look impressive from all directions, including underneath through a window the cake was set on. She also dodged a problem with white chocolate that wasn’t setting well in a baked goods mosaic contest, in which she and a partner were supposed to create mini desserts that came together to form that design.
The Season 10 Week 5 challenge, aired Monday, Dec. 4, saw her baking close to her New England roots with a Sweet Potato Tartlet with maple creme in a Hanukkah latke-inspired dessert.
Through it all her South Shore accent stood out for fun by fellow contestants and judges alike.
“Your textures are spot-on and beautiful,” Judge Carla Hall said of the tartlet.
“Justine keep it up, you are on fire,” Nancy Fuller agreed.
Baker Duff Goldman was under the weather and unable to participate in the two episodes.
Representing Whitman’s status as the home of the chocolate chip cookie, Rota she is the proud owner of Sweet Standards, a home-based bakery.
The Episode 5 final bake called on them to turn a bar cookie into a letterboard.
“I’m making a raspberry oat bar with a white chocolate ganache,” she told host Jesse Palmer, deciding to switch it up to a white chocolate eggnog ganache with the challenge ingredient. “I’m making bars all the time for my family,” she said. But she had never made eggnog before.
That was key since Josh Juarez of Austin, Texas, winner of the latke prebake, was given the choice of eggnog or mulled wine, with his choice the surprise ingredient the contestants then had to incorporate in their bars.
“This bar is going to lift the judge’s spirits,” she said.
But, just before going to commercial, her raspberry filling ran over onto the bottom of the oven where it began to burn.
“It’s OK, you can do this,” competitor Thoa Nguyen of Englewood, Colo., reassured her after lending a helping hand as the timer ran down.
Then it was time for the judges to weigh in.
“I think that I like your little decorations around it,” Hall said. “I love your colors, that said, I don’t think it looks so much like a sign.”
Rota said during a contestant interview, spiced into the judging comments that she felt her bar looked “a little sad” but hoped the judges liked her flavors.
They did.
“You ‘shu-ah’ did this good,” Fuller quipped with her version of a Massachusetts accent after her eyes lit up on tasting Rota’s dessert. “I’ve got the crunch, I’ve got the brightness of the raspberries, I got the eggnog. You have the most special tasting holiday bar today.”
“This sign didn’t look good, but this is delicious,” Hall agreed.
Rota finished among the top two in the episode, bested for the top spot by Javier Trujillo of Chicago, but finished in second place, to continue in the competition’s semifinal. Juarez, unfortunately, was sent home.
Rota, a Johnson & Wales graduate, says her favorite part of the holidays is baking cookies with her family and then driving around together in search of the best Christmas lights, according to her contestant bio. She’s also a self-proclaimed shopaholic and lover of all that is pink and sparkly.
One more week of competition remains before the final three bakers compete in the year’s finale – “Gifts of Greatness.”
The semifinal airs on the Food Network at 8 p.m., Monday, Dec. 11 and the final is being broadcast at 8 p.m., Monday, Dec. 18.
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