The Plympton Council on Aging enjoyed a delicious holiday luncheon provided by the generosity of the Uplan Club, as they have in years past. The menu included roast beef, scalloped potatoes, and all the fixins! Yum!
The Friends of the Council on Aging provided raffles. After lunch the group took part in a holiday sing-a-long.
Comcast wins Halifax renewal
Halifax Board of Selectmen met Tuesday night, Dec. 19, at 6 p.m. following an executive session for the purpose of police chief contract negotiations.
First on the agenda was a public hearing to consider the renewal cable license renewal of Comcast for the Town of Halifax, as required by state law. Selectmen Chairman John Bruno asked the assembly if there were any comments regarding Comcast and its performance as Halifax’s cable provider, and there being none, went on with the hearing.
Town Administrator Cory Hadad introduced Bill August who negotiated the proposed contract for the town. August told selectmen that he exclusively represents municipalities in cable license renewal. The contract he negotiated continues the existing 5% of gross revenues of Comcast go to operating budget and a level funding for equipment purchase, which August said was strong, considering Comcast has lost 25% to 30% of its subscriber base statewide due to streaming, cord cutting, and new technologies. Bruno closed the public hearing and found that the renewal license proposed adequately meets the public interests of Halifax and moved to approve the Comcast renewal license commencing April 22, 2024. Jonathan Selig seconded the motion. It carried unanimously.
Bruno moved that the board accept and acknowledge donations for Holidays in Halifax fireworks, MacDonald Industries for $8,000 and Donovan Services Inc, (Dunkin’ Donuts) for $2,000.
Frank Johnson of Elm Street was appointed to fill the remainder of a one-year term as a democratic election worker, with a term expiring July 27, 2024.
Haddad brought a number of funding requests to be used by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) remaining balance. Halifax has already allocated $600,000 toward the water department and have previously approved $480,000 toward H-vac upgrades for Silver Lake and have committed funds to several other projects. “We have about $360,000 remaining. We do have to have that committed by the end of calendar year 2024 and by committed, we would have to show that we’ve already ordered it, and we don’t want to lose that money.” We want to make sure we’re spending that so in meeting with our financial team, we’ve come up with a few additional requests: Financial Consulting $25,000. Great Hall Audio-Visual. We had allocated $50,000 toward that previously, but find that things are much more expensive than anticipated. He noted that just replacing the curtain in the Great Hall was $110,000, so an additional funding of $40,000 would be needed to make that project come to fruition. Vehicles for town hall: Right now the town hall has one vehicle to use for town-related travel, mostly to inspection sites by the building department, board of health, assessing department, and conservation agent. Employees may now travel in a vehicle labeled “Town of Halifax”. The request is for $75,500 for two vehicles to be used by town employees on town business.
The Pine Street intersection engineering study should be a priority, Haddad said, in light of the uptick in accidents, and rather than wait for town meeting in the spring, Haddad said it would be a good use of ARPA funds that could be accessed now. Bruno agreed, and Haddad said he’d try to get a “kick start” on the project and get an engineer in to begin. An additional $40,000 was requested. The motion was approved unanimously.
Selectmen then read the letter from the Conservation Commission asking that selectmen rescind the appointment of Kimberly King, due to excessive absences. Ms. King asked selectmen to hold action on the matter until she can be heard in executive session as some of what she has to say cannot be heard in open session. Selectmen will hold the matter for executive session at 5:30, Jan. 9, 2024.
An Open Meeting Law complaint filed by Gordon Andrews Dec. 6, stated that a particular matter of overlay zoning is before the board to give their recommendation at Town Meeting. “Both Mr. Bruno and Mr. Selig are communicating in a Facebook group discussing their thoughts and deliberating on the matter”. Andrews, in his complaint, is requesting members of the board go to an Open Meeting Law training course. Andrews furthered that the AG’s office has continually had complaints against the Board of Selectmen. (Bruno commented aside that it isn’t true) The AG’s office has found violations against the board (Bruno: Which isn’t true) and just because there’s a difficult choice to make doesn’t mean they should disregard the law. They should be having these discussions and deliberations at a meeting where all the public is informed this will take place.” Bruno countered, “Well, I have my own opinions about this because I think it’s ridiculous but we’ll go on with it.” Selig responded because his name is mentioned in the complaint, “I did post something on our town page, in my opinion not deliberating, not discussing, but it was to offer a link to the town’s folk to a video that Cody had put together to offer more information on the town meeting. I know the rules. I know we’re not allowed to deliberate and discuss things outside of these meetings.
MBTA Action Plan: the consultant is still working on the mapping.
Accepted the resignation of the Assistant Town Accountant as of Dec. 22, and Officer Al Hingst will be retiring at the end of the fiscal year, July 1, 2024.
Haddad told the board that the town has been awarded a $75,000 grant from the state to assist in implementing online licensing and permitting. Darlene Regan COA Director had advised selectmen that she had applied for a hybrid learning grant for the town of Bridgewater to offer hybrid learning to seniors. It was $100,000 to Halifax and $100,000 for Bridgewater. Halifax was notified that grant was approved.
From the first round of “Fair Share” infrastructure grants, Halifax will also receive an additional $153,000 in its Chapter 90 funding.
Bruno thanked the board for their work during 2023 and looked forward to another challenging year in 2024. The board adjourned. Their next meeting will be Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024.
KBB honors Mat Hamilton
The Kingston Business Association (KBA), a non-profit organization which supports Kingston and Kingston businesses, dedicated the lighting of this year’s Christmas tree in front of Solstice Restaurant in honor of Mat Hamilton.
The ceremony is one of the traditions associated with the town’s Luminary Celebration.
The 2023 honoree in the “Distinguished Community Volunteer” category is Mat Hamilton, a longtime resident who served his community through work on various town boards and organizations. He was part of the Capital Planning Committee, the Community Preservation Committee, and served on the Finance Committee from 2004 to 2012. Mat has been married for 34 years to Fran (Shea) Hamilton. Both graduated from Norwich University in 1985. He is the loving father of triplets – Gavin, Lauren, and Emma. Mat and Fran became great friends with Paul Gallagher and his wife Sandy who also are parents of triplets.
Mat has spent many years in the contact lenses industry, volunteering in support of Kingston youth sports and is a board member of the local Hilltop Club.
Earlier this year, Mat was diagnosed with ALS. While he could not be present physically at the ceremony, his wife Fran and members of the family were there on his behalf. State Representative Kathy LaNatra presented a proclamation of congratulations from the Massachusetts legislature on Mat’s many accomplishments on behalf of the Town of Kingston.
The event also included a visit from Santa Claus, who provided some gifts to the crowd which included an after-event celebration at nearby Forty Second Brewing Co.
“Our community is enriched by all that Mat has done and the KBA is honored to dedicate the tree this year in his memory,” said Donna Smith-Bocash, president of the Kingston Business Association.
The Kingston Business Association Annual Tree Lighting began seven years ago; the tree was originally donated by the Mathias family as a memorial to their son Jeff who was the KBA’s first honoree. Every year the tree is rededicated to a significant Kingstonian, Other honorees since that first celebration have included Joseph Rebello, Paul Tura, Dick Arieta, George Boerger, Phil Burham, and John Iannucci.
The Kingston Business Association is a non-profit organization founded in 2015, with a purpose of helping support Kingston and Kingston businesses, as well as state and local legislation and governmental policies which promote new and existing businesses in Kingston.
The KBA also partners closely with the Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce and is the core of its Kingston Advisory Committee.. For additional information, please contact [email protected].
The Best Gift of All for Christmas perserverance
A Christmas Story
By Linda Ibbitson Hurd
In May of 1972 when my brother Dave graduated from high school, he set out to travel across the country on his motorcycle, a Triumph 650 Tiger. He and a friend had planned the trip together. Four days into the trip the friend decided he’d rather go to California and left. Dave continued on, sticking to his itinerary to see the places he had dreamed about.
A few weeks later when he made it to Glacier National Park in Montana, he was feeling lonely. He found an animal shelter in a town called Missoula to see about getting a dog. In a row of cages, the last cage being the death cage, sat a little black dog, a dachshund and Pomeranian mix. Dave took him. He was told to take caution as the dog may jump off the bike. He went into an athletic shop nearby and got a knapsack. He put the dog in it and drove slowly around a field to see if the dog would stay in it. He jumped out twice but then stayed in it. Dave called him Dog. When he got back out on the highway, Dog jumped out and ran across all four lanes. Dave watched helplessly as vehicles veered to miss the dog in the heavy traffic. Dog looked across the highway at Dave as if to say, aren’t you coming and then crossed it again as Dave’s heart sank, thinking he would never make it back but he did. He picked him up, put him in the knapsack and told him he was naming him Lucky.
Dave’s birthday is in August and our mom was hoping he would be home by then. Our youngest sister was born on his birthday when he was three and we always celebrated the two birthdays together. When he didn’t make it home for the birthdays, we were all disappointed; it just wasn’t the same without him and I know it bothered Mom. One day at the end of summer when you could feel Fall in the air, I was helping Mom move some things in her room and a framed picture of my brother fell off her cedar chest onto the floor. There was no reason for it to fall and she was alarmed, feeling like something had happened to Dave. Within the hour the phone rang, and it was him. He said he had a feeling that he should call home, and mom was glad to hear his voice. He told her he was low on money and was working for a Czechoslovakian family on their farm picking fruit so he could make enough money to get home.
September passed into October and after Dave drove through the Painted Desert his bike wasn’t running well and got worse. He pulled into Albuquerque and found a motorcycle shop where the owner told him the main bearing was gone on the bike and he’d have to send away for the part. Dave found lodgings in a basement room of a condemned building where a group of Chicano men lived, and he found work as an assistant cook and dish washer at a local restaurant. The owner of the bike shop kept offering him money for his bike and told Dave the part hand’t come in. It was now November. Our dad wanted to fly Dave home and he refused to leave without the bike. Dad called Spooner’s Bike Shop in Hanover. Mr. Spooner called Triumph and they in turn contacted the owner of the bike shop who had Dave’s bike and put pressure on him to fix it and return it to Dave so he could come home.
When Dave left there, it was December and he wanted to be home for Christmas. A pleasure trip was turning into a survival trip as he drove through a torrential rainstorm in one state, a hurricane in another and then snow twelve inches deep and more. He had to make it with what money he had left, saving it for gas. He drove without stopping and thanks to some insulated coveralls our parents sent him. He and Lucky survived one 30 degree night after he’d been driving well over 24 hours. The ground was too frozen to pitch a tent and he put all his clothes in the knapsack to keep Lucky warm while he held him and slept on the ground.
The week before Christmas we had a blizzard in Massdachusetts, and we were all glued to the news. We hadn’t heard from Dave for two weeks. We knew from the news the weather and temperatures were not in Dave’s favor. All we could do was pray. After the blizzard was over, I went to my parent’s to see if there was any news. All of us were there, both the radio and TV were on so we could hear the news and weather. It was late afternoon, and it was getting dark. Suddenly there was the familiar sound of a motorcycle. We all held our breath; did we dare hope it was him? We all ran to the window to look in the driveway. A bike, but no Dave. Then we heard the kitchen door open and when we got there, in he came with a knapsack on his back and a little black dog peeking out. There was relief, happy tears and lots of hugs, the most beautiful sight to see and the best Christmas gift we could have gotten.
North Easton Savings Bank named Top Place to Work in Boston Globe survey for 2nd year in a row
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.
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