The Halifax Board of Selectmen met at the Town Hall on Tuesday, Dec. 13. Selectmen Chair John Bruno said they received a letter from the Commonwealth saying that they were pleased to give an update on an economic development bill recently approved by the Legislature. The legislation would provide critical assistance for home heating, MBTA improvements, workforce development, and other economic needs. It also includes several local amendments from local legislators including Josh Cutler and Kathy LaNatra. Halifax is to receive $100,000 for upgrades and improvements to the Halifax Senior Center, $78,000 for Halifax public safety improvements, and $50,000 for Halifax recreation improvements. These funds are in addition to the regular State budget that includes $30,000 for the Holmes Public Library, $50,000 for the Halifax Council on Aging, and $125,000 for Monponsett Pond treatments.
The Selectmen dealt with an open meeting law complaint filed by a resident regarding the Nov. 22 meeting. Bruno said that the recommendation of the interim Town Administrator is to forward it to Town Counsel. The alleged violation has to do with details being left out of the meeting agenda.
Bruno said that they had a request from Veteran’s Agent Steve Littlefield to terminate the Memorial Day Committee and reinstitute it as the Halifax Veteran’s Services Council. “While the Memorial Day Committee has been great for Memorial Day itself, it leaves out many other opportunities for a group of citizens to help our veteran community throughout the year. I’ve had many people ask, “what can I do to help?” and I would like to put their desire to serve to good use,” Bruno read from a letter written by Littlefield. “It sounds like he really just wants to expand the responsibilities of the Committee and name it differently; I don’t think he’s trying to do away with the people who are serving on it,” Acting Town Administrator Sandy Nolan explained. Bruno said that they would address it at a later meeting.
The Selectmen met with representatives from J&J Motorsports. Owner Jake Sullivan was unable to attend due to being in the Police Academy, so his father Jay Sullivan was there in his stead. Nicholas Murphy also attended the meeting saying he was running the day-to-day operations while Sullivan is in the Academy. Bruno read a letter from the residents of Indian Path Rd. in which they said they attended the initial licensing hearing for J&J Motorsports which is located at 413 Plymouth St. “The license was granted for a maximum of 12 vehicles for sale outside at a time; there are always considerably more than 12 vehicles on the premises making it, one, difficult to see at times when merging onto busy 106 and, two, is constantly unsightly and unkept,” the letter read. It continued, “They seemed like nice kids at the time, and we wanted to support the business and town of Halifax; we would have spoken up in the meeting had we known this would be the case.” Murphy told the Selectmen that they currently only have 12 vehicles on the property. He explained that they just obtained a second lot where they were able to move the excess vehicles. Bruno asked Murphy and the elder Sullivan if they were able to rearrange the vehicles for a better sight line for residents.
Police Chief Joao Chaves met with the Selectmen about several issues including the assignment of the School Resource Officer. Chaves said that Officer Michelle McIntyre would be doing a dual role of the School Resource Officer and a Court Prosecutor. He further said that Officer Michael Schlieff injured his ankle during an arrest following a mental health call. The Selectmen approved the one-day injured on duty request for Schlieff.
The Selectmen also dealt with issues pertaining to both Pasture Lane and Sherwood Drive. Bruno explained, “At least on Pasture Lane it’s a development that doesn’t have the roads finished, usually that means there is only a base coat. The drainage isn’t correctly done… And all that kind of stuff and the people that live there and bought houses there are expecting the developer to fix that and they’re mad about that.” He said that the Planning Board used to just put a hold on one lot as a means of security to make sure that the developer did that. That specific lot has been sold to a developer. “I don’t think it really has anything to do with us,” Bruno said of the Selectmen’s purview over the matter. The issue on Sherwood Drive pertained to a drainage issue that Bruno described as the developer’s inability to follow-through. Bruno said that the best course of action might be to arrange a meeting with the Planning Board and “just hash this out.” He recommended getting advice from a land use lawyer. “The quicker I feel like we can get these two issues solved, the better,” Selectman Jonathan Selig said adding that snow was imminent.
The Selectmen met with Edward Gannon of Precision Wildlife regarding a proposal for ACO services. Chief Chaves said that the animal control officer (ACO) left back in August and that the response for new applications was “very minimal.” Chaves said that when the former ACO left she mentioned that East Bridgewater was looking into having a company take over the responsibilities. They did end up with that option and Chaves said that after speaking with East Bridgewater he was told that it was going well. Chaves said that after receiving the bid for Halifax, however, it was higher than what was given for East Bridgewater despite Halifax being a smaller community. “Mr. Gannon’s company provides vehicles, liability insurance – they just require any of our equipment that we still have available,” Chaves explained. “What’s great about his company is they also do bats and my guys are allergic to bats,” Chaves joked. Gannon spoke to the Board saying he has been providing services to East Bridgewater since March and noted that he comes from a wildlife background. Regarding the higher bid, Gannon said that East Bridgewater’s numbers would be getting higher soon as well. The Selectmen voted to have Town Counsel review the agreement with Precision Wildlife to provide ACO services.
Bruno told the Selectmen that he had a letter from the Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce. Bruno read, “I’m writing in hopes you can assist me with a letter of support, the Chamber in partnership with the Cape Cod Chamber is applying for a regional economic development organization grant as we have done each year for the last several years. Together, we will be working on a myriad of development initiatives and funding as needed to help us accomplish goals.” The letter continued, “Our regional economic development coordinators have requested that we obtain letters from the municipalities in which we serve.” The Selectmen agreed to table it until they could get a bit more information on the matter.
The Selectmen met with the Chair of the Finance Committee, Thomas Connolly. They set a date for the annual wage and personnel public hearing that needs to occur before the end of January. They voted to schedule the hearing for Jan. 25 at 7 p.m. The incoming Town Administrator will be on the job in time for the hearing. The Selectmen also unanimously approved the contract to make Cody Haddad the new Town Administrator.

The Silver Lake Regional School Committee met in-person on Thursday, Dec. 8. Committee Chair Paula Hatch led things off by opening the well-attended meeting for public participation. The first resident who asked to speak said she was currently from Plympton but formerly from Kingston and now has two students at the High School. She said that a little over a year after her son’s autism diagnosis, he entered the preschool in Kingston. “I was terrified that he wouldn’t get what he needed… every single year for 12 years now leading up to his next IEP meeting… I worry about getting him what he needs to be successful during the school day. This is where the paraprofessionals come in… they make it possible for students needing extra support to be successful – this is everything, everything to a parent,” she told the Committee. She said that while paraprofessionals aren’t the ones who write the IEPs, they are the ones that execute them. Regarding the shortage of paraprofessionals she said, “when a person cannot earn a living wage at their job, then they are forced to leave that job… we have to be better than this, we will lose good people.” She told the Committee that the paraprofessionals at Silver Lake are paid less money than her 17-year-old can earn at many retail jobs. The full house gave her rousing applause following the completion of her remarks.
“I don’t want anyone to think that this Committee has not tried to come up with a fair proposal for the paras. We’ve worked over a year trying to come up with a fair proposal and thought that we had found one,” Hatch said before noting that it failed during ratification. “We do, do research to see where the salaries currently fall,” she continued.
The next resident that spoke said she was a Laker herself and currently has three children in the school district, two of which she said have significant special needs. She said that she fought to bring her daughter back to the Middle School after an out-of-district placement. Her daughter was brought back to Silver Lake during the height of the 2020 pandemic she noted. “It was the paraprofessionals that offered so much extra support particularly during those Wednesday half days; teachers went above and beyond the contract,” she explained. She continued, “Then at the end of that year in June of 2021, the very last moments of that school year that we survived was a fundamental change to the way that our school system is structured and that is that they eliminated the CP2 leveling… so when I fought to bring her back to Silver Lake that was the model that I had in mind because I see how wonderful it works. She struggled so much last year.” She said that her daughter ended up out-of- district again but noted that she once again fought to bring her back to Silver Lake. “It is because of these para support professionals that my child is making progress, significant gains. I couldn’t be more pleased. And I find it absolutely insulting that there is this discussion that we are not giving them a living wage and I also find it insulting to insinuate that the people in here do not understand how budgets work,” she told the Committee. Before closing she said, “I want to reiterate the point that if we do not find the pennies to give these paras what they need then there will be more students who need out-of- district placements… moreover we are losing to charter schools.”
President of the Silver Lake Education Association Jon Lay spoke next calling some of Hatch’s statements misleading. “We brought an analysis to the School Committee that showed conclusively that Silver Lake is underpaying our paraprofessionals compared to the local districts.” Lay said that if Hatch had information that contradicted that, he said he would like to see it. He further said he hoped it included health insurance as he said it was a very big part of it. “Even if we may be the average, and we don’t think that we are, it doesn’t change the fact that paras can go to other districts today and get paid more on day one,” he told the Committee. Hatch spoke up and said, “there’s one thing I don’t do, I don’t lie.” She continued, “we make decisions based on data and research.” Later in the meeting, Lay did clarify that he did not believe that the School Committee or any of its members were lying.
Other residents wanted to speak but Hatch said she was limiting the public participation portion to just 15 minutes as she stated at the outset. After objections from those in attendance, Hatch agreed to give two more people a chance to make comments asking them to be “concise.” Someone asked about the negotiations process and the SLEA’s hard position. Lay said that the Committee is looking to resort to fact finding where an impartial third party would be brought in to make a recommendation for resolution. Of their original request, Lay said, “we had been asking for four percent… at one point in the process we had been asking for vacation days – five paid vacation days because right now they don’t get any.” “The initial offer totaled a half a million dollars,” Hatch added.
Plympton resident, Janeen Orcutt, spoke last. She said she taught in Halifax for 31 years before retiring. “I know as a teacher the importance of a para in my classroom for an inclusion classroom for every student there … and I think that when you say that the pay isn’t there, that it is comparable … two of my best paras left the system and went to another system where they’re getting paid for vacation, they’re getting paid for sick time and they got a raise in their pay… you’re going to lose good people,” she said. She concluded saying, “I never speak at meetings. This is so out of my wheelhouse, but I’m so hurt by the School Committee from a system that my kids went to, a system that my kids work in, to see we don’t take care of our paras. It’s shameful.” She also noted that many of the paras hold bachelor’s degrees or higher. She was also met with rousing applause.
Silver Lake Regional Principal Michaela Gill was unable to attend the meeting so Middle School Principal Becky Couet provided the Principal’s Report. She said that over half of the students were on honor roll during the first term. She also said that the Middle School production of Aladdin was that weekend and described it as “amazing.”
Assistant Superintendent Ryan Lynch also provided an update saying, “On Nov. 8, staff met by department to have collaborative time to design curriculum units… there are four professional development days over the course of the school year.” Superintendent Jill Proulx began her update by saying that there was a change to Massachusetts State law that added more steps that must be taken prior to suspension of students. She said that the administration team participated in a legal training pertaining to the change. Proulx said that the exemptions from the change include assault, possession of weapons, or the distribution of controlled substances. Committee member Jason Fraser noted that the change was an attempt to “try and stem the school to prison pipeline… a lot of the zero tolerance policies that were enacted in the 1990’s were suspending kids for non-violent infractions, non-drug related infractions. The more often a child becomes suspended from school, the higher likelihood that they are going to become court-involved and a larger portion of them incarcerated at some point in their lives.”

Proulx was asked about the influx of students coming into the district following the placement of migrant families in Kingston hotels in late October. She said the High School has two new students and the Middle School has three new students. Proulx said they were contacted by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education who said they may become eligible for a grant for up to $1,000 per student. “Sadly, it shouldn’t be a grant, the money should just follow where the students were brought into… there shouldn’t be any application process, there shouldn’t be any heavy lifting or light lifting on our shoulders,” Hatch said.
A report was given for each of the standing committees. Fraser provided the update for Administrative Review saying he would be reaching out to Proulx to start informal discussions for the Superintendent’s Review. Lukasz Kowalski gave the update for CTE saying that they have 22 students enrolled in a program where they work outside. He also said that the carpentry students built bookcases for the children’s room at the Plympton Library, trail kiosks for Kingston’s Conservation Department, picnic tables and a storage building for the Kingston Recreation Department, sandwich boards for the Kingston Garden Club, and storage boxes and picnic tables for the Pembroke Library. Kowalski also asked for the support of the Committee in opening a new CTE program in the school for IT. The Committee voted unanimously to support the motion. Proulx clarified that the soonest the new program could be rolled out would be FY 2025.
Fraser provided the Legislative Agent’s Report. “So, we had the gubernatorial election this year which means that the first version of the State budget could be delayed until early February. It will be House One this year as we are also entering into a new two-year legislative cycle so all bills that weren’t passed during the last legislative cycle have been referred to Committee… so currently there’s a blank slate. A slew of bills will be filed on January 3 when the next legislature is sworn in and takes their seats… so I’m currently guiding our State Representatives and Senators as to what bills they should be re-filing or supporting if they come back onto the table that would support our mission here at Silver Lake,” Fraser told the Committee. He also said that they had unanimous support from the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC) for their Regional School Assessment Stabilization Fund which would be under Chapter 40 and controlled by the town. “It would give a vehicle for municipalities in years where their assessment is lower than normal to put some of those dollars away for years where they might be hit with a higher assessment,” Fraser explained.
Fraser also provided the update for SAFER. “We had a successful tri-town meeting… we went over the Capital Plan for next year… our Capital Plan for FY24 is at $1.5 million and typically our Capital Plan, over the past 8 years or so, has hovered somewhere between $500,000 and $800,000.” He said that HVAC units for the High School as well as roof improvements account for over a half million dollars. Fraser also said that there was also $250,000 included to conduct survey work for turf fields or an athletic complex.

The Plympton Board of Selectmen met virtually on Monday, Dec.5. Chair of the Bylaw Review Committee Alan Wheelock appeared before the Board to review what the Committee has been working on as of late. He told the Selectmen that the town bylaws are now fully digitized. He said that they are accessible and “very searchable.” “I think it was a major step forward,” Wheelock said. “Kudos for the codification; it really changes the whole dynamic where any citizen can get their hands on any piece of information rather than hearsay… maybe we need to do a little bit better job of reminding our citizens that the information is there on the website,” Selectman Mark Russo said.
Wheelock next addressed what he said has been the major ongoing project of the Committee. He said that the Committee has been reviewing the groundwater overlay water protection district for the town. “We do have one,” Wheelock said. He elaborated saying, “I’ve never heard about it, and I’ve lived here for almost 50 years… it makes me wonder who has been watching it.”
Wheelock said that in reviewing the water protection district, the Committee spoke to three comparable towns who are all also fully dependent on well water. Those towns were Northfield, Rehoboth, and Rochester. Regarding Plympton, Wheelock said, “We have 1,000 households and every single one of those households is totally dependent on wells.” Of any necessary updates, Wheelock said, “We will take the rest of the winter to develop a recommendation for spring town meeting.” He said that the recommendation would most likely be to retain the existing bylaw with the three zones. Wheelock added, “we’re going to try and strengthen it and modernize it.”
Regarding the importance of the bylaw, Wheelock said that it provides more detail into potential ground pollution that can occur. He said that if an entity were to embark on a project that could potentially pollute the aquifer, they would need to appear before the Planning Board who would enforce the bylaw. He noted that in the past, there was a pollution of the aquifer that happened due to waste from the Middleborough dump. “We believe this is an important service to the town and we’re going to do our absolute best to make sure we bring a high-quality product to town meeting,” Wheelock said in closing.
Selectman John Traynor said he believes cranberry growers and certain businesses in town should have a say in the bylaw. “I want to make sure their voices are heard,” he told Wheelock. Wheelock assured him that they are taking the whole winter to work on it in order to make sure that they confer with all the necessary parties.
Town Administrator Liz Dennehy provided a brief update. She said that Plympton has received the $25,800 in grant funding from Community Compact. She also said that the budget process is underway.
Per tradition, the Selectmen ended the meeting with their raves for the last few weeks. Traynor said he had several raves noting, “there just seems to be a lot going on now that it’s holiday season.” The Plympton Police and Fire Departments prepared and served Thanksgiving meals for senior citizens at the Upland Club in November. He noted that State Senator Susan Moran attended the event. Traynor said he attended the Thanksgiving Feast at Dennett Elementary School with fellow Selectman Mark Russo. Regarding the event, Traynor said, “It’s fabulous – best event of the year… great to see the kids.” He also gave a rave for a local Daisy Troop who performed some Christmas caroling recently.
Russo said he had a couple of raves related to special town meeting. “Really impressed with the turnout… on a really stormy night,” he said. “The second portion of that is the unanimous vote to authorize the Turkey Swamp… it really speaks to the fundamental value all of us in this town really share for open space,” Russo said. Joy piggy-backed on Russo’s rave for the acquisition of Turkey Swamp, calling it a “labor of love” for all the groups that worked so hard to make it come to fruition. Joy provided a second rave for the Selectmen Assistant Bri Martins for all the work she puts into making sure all of the various licenses are ready for approval by the Selectmen.