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.

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.

The Halifax Board of Selectmen met on Wednesday, Nov. 15. Chair John Bruno told those assembled that following the public hearing regarding earth removal for Morse Brothers, they compiled all the questions posed by the public. He said that they did their best to have answers prepared for those questions.
Bruno said, “Transparency is a critical part of assuring everyone concerned that the Board of Selectmen when called upon to make decisions, has taken their role seriously and thoughtfully. Accordingly, I will take this opportunity to set out my thoughts, observations, and reasons. I’ll begin by describing as I see this matter, what we’re being asked to do.” He continued, “Understand that in 2022, Morse Brothers requested a permit to dig a pond, remove earth from their property on Lingan St. That permit was withdrawn before a public hearing was held. The request for a permit that is before the Board of Selectmen now is not the same project.” He noted that the current project is smaller in scope and proposes removing 20,000 yards of earth from a hill and does not involve excavation below grade or into the water table. According to Bruno, Morse Brothers is a cranberry/agricultural business that has been in business for 60 years.
Bruno also reminded those present that Halifax is a right- to-farm community. He said that three other earth removal permits have been issued in Halifax for bog operations – Turkey Swamp on Monponsett St. received a permit for over 36,000 yards, Harju Bogs on Thompson St. for a permit for 20,000 yards, and White Dog on Palmer Rd. for 84,000 yards. “The request by Morse Brothers is not unusual for cranberry operations nor is the amount of removal requested excessive,” Bruno said.
He further stated that the Board has done everything possible to hear and consider all the concerns brought forth by the public. He noted that the concerns fall into two major categories consisting of environmental and public safety. Those concerns include effects to the ponds and water table, traffic implications, road maintenance, and effects to underground utilities. Bruno said that the application has been reviewed by Halifax’s Board of Health, Conservation Commission, and the Water Commissioners. “If any of our town authorities, who are the experts on our town water, had raised even the slightest concern, I personally, would not even consider moving forward with this application,” Bruno said. He also specified that the State had also looked into the property and found no concerns. Bruno said that the Board needs to move forward based on evidence rather than conjecture. He said that the Police and Highway Department have raised no concerns regarding traffic or utilities.
Bruno said that the truck traffic will not run on Saturdays, Sundays, or holidays and would work around the school bus schedule. He further said that he would propose limiting the trucks to 25 trucks per day at maximum. He said that the work should be completed within a 29-day time period while telling those assembled that fewer trucks allowed would delay the project.
Selectman Jonathan Selig also gave a statement. “The last thing anyone wants to do is put our town into any sort of jeopardy. This project has been reviewed by our Highway Surveyor, our Board of Health Agent, our Water Superintendent, our Police Chief, our Land Counsel, an Independent Engineer – all paid employees whose job description is to help be watchdogs for our Town. The site has also been inspected by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection – an agency’s whose sole purpose is to literally protect the environment… I believe the Town has done its due diligence… this project does not pose a threat to our Town’s drinking water or our natural resources. For this Board to turn a blind eye to all of these findings would not only be in poor taste, in my judgement, it would be irresponsible.” Selig added that approving the permit would not be the end of the Board’s work, saying that they would be ensuring that the rules and regulations would be followed.
Before turning things over to the residents in attendance, Bruno noted that it was not a public hearing. The first resident that spoke asked how many times the residents on Lingan St. would be asked to endure the heavy truck traffic. Bruno said that while he hears the concern, they can’t change the fact that it’s where the bogs are located. The resident also complained about the condition of their road saying she would like to see it paved. Bruno cut her off saying, “you’re mixing up a whole bunch of issues.” Another resident spoke, again, citing concerns around underground utilities. Bruno told the residents that should anyone see that the rules are not being followed, they should take pictures and submit them to the appropriate authorities.
Jeremy Gillespie, who has been an outspoken critic of the earth removal project, said, “Boy, I’m disappointed but not surprised.” He continued, “the bylaw says that you don’t have the authority to give an earth removal permit in that zone and, in fact, the peer-reviewed town engineer said, they may need a permit from the Planning Board… the bylaw says no permit can be issued greater than 50 cubic yards, yet somehow they’ve gotten away with about 160,000 cubic yards… the other cranberry operations aren’t in the Division 2. You don’t have the authority; you’re taking the cheap way out.” Bruno said that according to Town Counsel, “no zoning ordinance or bylaw shall prohibit, unreasonably regulate or require special permit for the use of land for the primary purpose of commercial agriculture.” He said that they are following Town Counsel’s advice as to whether they should be the regulating authority. Another resident spoke saying that the attorneys for Morse Brothers used Bruno’s words to support their case in a lawsuit that she was a part of against them. She also showed them dirty water filters which she said need to be changed far more frequently than recommended since the last earth removal.
Another resident asked, “What kind of fines are these companies going to get slapped with?” “We haven’t discussed any of that yet. We haven’t even voted on the permit… but that’s an issue that could come up if it somehow became necessary,” Bruno said. He noted that it was something that could be considered.
Resident Dave Mascio asked Bruno and Selig if they told Selectman Naja Nessralla that he should recuse himself from voting on the matter as he is an abutter. Both Bruno and Selig said that they left the choice up to him. Nessralla wasn’t present at the meeting that night. “It does hold water against what you guys are going to decide,” Mascio said of his abutter status. He also brought forth an issue another resident asked about. They both asked that there be some type of monetary payment made to the town for use of the roadway should an incident occur that would require the town to fix something. “Have some contingencies put in place so that if something should happen… that’s what everyone is here for John, it’s not to piss you off,” Mascio said. Mascio also asked that there be some kind of training program for the truck drivers who will be driving down Lingan St. to safeguard the children and other people using that roadway.
Several residents, including one that owns an abutting farm, spoke out against Morse Brothers saying that they weren’t trustworthy. “We need to protect that land out there, that is all sacred ground,” a resident said. He further claimed that trucks were removing earth at night already. Bruno said that they investigated a complaint about that and the Highway Surveyor said there was a water main break and the Highway Department trucks had to go down Lingan St. to address the issue. Resident Claire Hughes also spoke out against Morse Brothers saying that they have gone town to town digging up earth and there have been many problems that have arisen as result. She told the Selectmen that they claimed to make their decisions based on facts, but said that it appears that they didn’t have all the facts. “There really should be more research into who you’re dealing with and their history and it didn’t take me long to find out that they do have a long history of not holding up their word,” she said.
Another resident spoke about the heavy truck traffic saying that the limitations seem reasonable until you are actually living on the street and seeing that kind of traffic. “I just hope that there is something in place to consider the residents; to consider the noise, the traffic.” Another resident said, “As part of that training program that Dave suggested, it should be ‘this is the speed limit that you are allowed to do on Lingan St.’ There’s a new state law, 4 ft. berth to vulnerable persons on the road; they need to know that they are going slow enough that they can brake for those people.” She noted that during the last earth removal project, there were four trucking companies utilized, two of which were courteous and two that were not. She said that they try not to call for every incident as they don’t want to be a nuisance, but said that going forward, they would “blow up” the non-emergency Police line, if necessary.
Cheryl Howell began her remarks saying “I’m going to be open and up front about stuff that happened a year ago when they wanted to pull the permit.” She continued, “One of the Board members was actually having an affair with another Board member and that one Board member was having an affair with Ryco which was one of the companies that was going to do the hauling. And that’s why a lot of the stuff we were having trouble with was because we felt as if it was just going to be pushed through. You cannot tell me that people that were dating weren’t talking about it behind the scenes.” Selig said, “Can I just say for the record that no one here is associated with Ryco and John and I are not having an affair.” This was met with some muffled laughter.
Bruno outlined the limitations associated with the project including that the earth removal will only take place between the hours of 7 am and 5 pm Monday through Friday and never on a legal holiday. A request was made by residents to reduce the hours to 7 a.m. through 3 p.m. in the interest of protecting elementary school aged children who are likely to be out after 3 pm. “Vehicles loaded with soil or sand should be suitably covered to prevent dust and contents from spilling and blowing on the road,” Bruno said. Selig said that he would like to see the vehicles limited to 10 or 15 mph rather than 20. Other regulations included that the town reserves the right for weekly inspections even without prior notice. “No excavation below the natural grade of any boundary line shall be permitted,” Bruno said. A regulation is also in place requiring Morse Brothers to provide reports outlining the amount of earth removed. Residents also asked that truck drivers have to sign an agreement and that should they violate that agreement, they will be fined.
There was also discussion regarding increasing the $0.25 per cubic yard of removed earth to be paid to the town to $1 per cubic yard. The Town Counsel said that the bylaw called for $0.25 or greater but said that there would need to be a reasonable justification for the increase. Residents said that repairs necessary, etc. would justify the increase. Town Counsel said that increased monitoring of the roads would likely justify an increase. Bruno and Selig agreed that doubling it to $0.50 would be reasonable especially considering that any repairs to the road need to be taken care of by Morse Brothers.
Before adjourning, both Bruno and Selig stated that the decisions they make are always with the best interests of the town in mind. Selig called Bruno “a man of character.” Bruno said, “If I made a mistake here, I’ll be the first to admit it and do everything I can to correct it.” Bruno made a motion to approve the permit with the conditions as discussed, that night in the draft form. Selig seconded it.