Deb Anderson
Express staff
Plympton Board of Selectmen met Monday, May 22, and gave the results of Town Counsel Greg Corbo’s opinion as to who has the authority to site the well in the new, proposed town complex. The well will serve the police station, the new fire station, and the library. It will not serve the Town House, which has its own well in the basement of the building.
Plympton selectmen, the Board of Health, and Jon Wilhelmsen of the Town Properties Committee met earlier in May to discuss siting the well for DEP approval and there was some question as to where the final authority lay. At the request of Selectman Chairman Christine Joy and Town Administrator Elizabeth Dennehy, Plympton sought the advice of Town Counsel to properly delineate the roles and responsibilities associated with siting the well at the new Town Complex.
Dennehy pointed out that it does not include the well at the Town House, whose issues the Board of Health is working on with the Department of Environmental Protection; it only includes the new well that will serve the Town Complex.
Corbo’s letter to the board in part states that the authority to site the well belongs to the Town Properties Committee as representatives of the Board of Selectmen. The new well, a small public water system, serving the fire station and library, will need to be approved by the DEP, but the siting for the well rests with the Board of Selectmen and/or its designees, and also noted that the Board of Health does not have the authority to override the decisions of the Board of Selectmen.
Responding to Joy’s question as to whether the ruling is clear, Selectman Traynor said, “Absolutely. I think it is about as clear as you can get.”
In other business, selectmen appointed Sean Fitzgerald as a part-time police officer as recommended by Chief Matt Ahl. They also approved the use of the Deborah Sampson Meeting Room for a cooking demonstration with samples, for June 8, at 6 p.m., approximately 20 people will be attending. The Board of Health has already granted their approval. It will be put on by the Plympoton Public Library, featuring Chef Thomas Mottl of RTC Network, Pawtucket, RI.
Under correspondence, Russo read a letter to the board from Nancy Denman on Ring Road, concerning the MBTA Housing Mandate forced on Massachusetts cities and towns. She went on to say that she was at the meeting at the library where State Senator Susan Moran was asked by Russo what Moran could do to support small towns in their quest to retain control over their character and community. Denman said that she felt Moran’s answer was “disappointing.” Denman asked Russo to communicate with other towns in similar situations and form a united front to fight the mandate.
Russo responded to Denman’s letter by saying that “I think it’s deeply challenging that the attorney general has opined that we put ourselves in legal peril if we don’t move forward.” One of the good things, he continued, is that the next step will have to be approved by town meeting. Any action taken between now and June 1 could potentially leave Plympton in peril without accomplishing anything. “The tenor of that letter, I totally agree with.” Russo furthered that the purpose of this legislation is excellent, encouraging more use of the MBTA, but it is not in tune with the times. It is absolutely blind to the unusual situation – that of small towns.
Traynor responded that he agreed with Russo’s remarks, but he wanted to be careful in Plympton’s response. Traynor noted that there is a meeting being put together with representatives from the towns. “I think we should go forward and make our concerns known, and I think that based on what I saw, it felt like everybody’s coming from the same place – that it’s unfair and doesn’t really help because small towns, really don’t have – especially like Plympton – we really don’t have the acreage.” Traynor said that he just wants to be cautious as we go forward.
Joy said that all the selectmen have expressed their support for affordable housing but it needs to be in a manner consistent with the town that we can support with the services that we offer.
Raves – Traynor shared with his board that Jackie Freitas asked to give a shout-out to the Silver Lake Regional High School graduate signs that are popping up on Plympton lawns. Also a rave to the townspeople’s response to the Pay as you Throw program. “Really, we have not had any major pushback – not even minor pushback – so a rave to the townspeople, the highway department, the transfer station …” Final comment – poor showing at the polls. He said he was disappointed that with over 2,000 registered voters we couldn’t get at least 10 percent.

The Halifax Elementary School Committee met on Monday, May 8. Chair Summer Schmaling pointed out that the Committee would be different when meeting next after the election. The Committee is not scheduled to meet again until their closeout meeting in July.
Superintendent Jill Proulx began her update by saying, “First, I’d like to thank our Chairperson Summer Schmaling for her years of dedication to Halifax Elementary Schools and Silver Lake Regional School District will certainly recognize you at our upcoming Silver Lake meeting as well. Summer has served our District and our School and has volunteered her time for the betterment of students throughout our community and we have enjoyed working with her and we are certainly going to miss her leadership and her dedication.” Schmaling said, “Well thank you for all of you, you’ve been a wonderful team to work for and with; it makes this role a lot easier and more enjoyable when you enjoy the people that you are working with.”
Schmaling opened the meeting to public participation. Silver Lake Regional School District’s Director of Human Resources Dave Turcotte spoke regarding increasing the step rate and corresponding wages for substitute custodians and substitute food services employees. The Committee voted unanimously to make the change.
Principal Kayne Beaudry told the Committee that they are looking to add a second DLC classroom (Developmental Learning Center). The current classroom serves the fourth grade who will be next year’s fifth grade. The proposed classroom will serve grades K-2 which has a current cohort of five. Schmaling said that she assumed that they would need teachers for the classroom. Administrator of Special Education Marie Grable explained, “To explain, in terms of the financing, Halifax is currently paying a tuition rate for those students to attend KES… and transportation.” Schmaling asked if the extra classroom was contingent upon them being able to fill the positions to staff the classroom. “The reality is, we’re in the same situation no matter which town the program resides in, so in other words, if our Halifax students remain in KES, we will need to hire another teacher at KES because the numbers are at a point right now, we’re it’s not sustainable. So, we’re either opening a third classroom at KES or opening an elementary classroom here, so either way we need to be hiring a teacher.” Grable clarified that it was one teacher and two paraprofessionals. She added that they would also like to add a 0.5 speech language therapist.
Committee member Lauren Laws asked, “Is there ever a crossover like can the specialists there help with the other students in the building if needed or if there is space?” Grable said, “Here, yes, absolutely, because it will be a Halifax program working with all Halifax students so absolutely this therapist and staff could work anywhere they were assigned which is not the case in Kingston because it is a Silver Lake program.” Schmaling asked if for this year it would be a cost savings to Halifax or if it would be a “wash-out.” Grable responded that for this year it would be a wash-out. Schmaling asked about the possibility of one of the classrooms absorbing the other in the future should the numbers change. Grable said they are required to follow a rule that does not allow for students with greater than a 48-month age difference to be together. The Committee did vote to approve the additional classroom.
Curriculum Coordinator Melissa Farrell attended the meeting to provide an update on the science curriculum. “The State is in a bit of flux with science in terms of how they are viewing it and they’re looking to update the MCAS and so it is time to move on from what we adopted… in the 2015/2016 time… because that curriculum is out of date, but we also don’t want to make any rash decisions.” She said that the interactive science lessons are being updated to a new version called Elevate Science. She also said that they planned to adopt Mystery Science of which she said it would “try and create more of a consistent guaranteed science experience for all of our students K-5.” Farrell also called it user friendly and said it would allow some flexibility for the teachers.
Farrell said that they are starting a transition in sixth grade that would move them more toward a phenomenon-based science curriculum that she said would better align with what is done at the Middle School. “We need any and every opportunity we can give our kids for accessing nonfiction texts and so using a digital resource is an easy way to do that. So, Newsela is a great resource. It’s dynamic, it updates, it adds more resource on a daily basis.” She said that it is easily searchable and that it identifies students’ reading levels and updates accordingly. She further said that it was a nice addition to Mystery Science which is more hands-on.

The annual Halifax Town Meeting was held on May 8. The petition articles, which can be brought forth by any resident attaining a total of 10 signatures, resulted in some of the heftiest discussion and debate of the night.
Article 23 was a petition article brought forth by Mary Gravinese to increase membership in the Board of Selectmen from three to five. Gravinese said, “I did this article on my own; I have spent a lot of time in the last year or so attending meetings, attending Selectmen’s meetings, watching them on video and I just don’t know that our Selectmen actually represent all of the residents of Halifax… I feel like there is a portion of us that may not be represented, so maybe if there were one or two more Selectmen there might be an overall look at the whole town and what we all want.” The Finance Committee did not recommend the article.
Selectmen Chair John Bruno said, “The Board of Selectmen do not recommend; the idea that the generally elected officials don’t represent certain sections of the town, I just can’t agree with.” He noted that the majority of the voting public voted for each of the three members of the Board of Selectmen as well as all other elected positions in town. Bruno said that Halifax has had three Selectmen since 1734. “It seems to have worked fairly well… the Selectmen don’t make all the decisions… it’s really the Town Meeting that makes the decisions,” Bruno said.
A resident asked the Finance Committee why they weren’t voting to recommend. They said that they didn’t feel there was an added benefit and also stated that there may be a financial cost associated with having more Selectmen. Resident and member of the Halifax Elementary School Committee Summer Schmaling spoke saying that the additional cost to the town was only $3,000. She further noted that most surrounding towns of similar size had a five-member board. Candace Kniffen spoke saying, “we have a history in this town that is not admirable where we have elections that are uncontested and more of the times when our Selectmen elections have taken place, they’ve been uncontested. It seems to me that if you feel unrepresented, you put up a candidate that will represent your interests and here we are this year with yet another uncontested Selectmen’s race. We have trouble getting volunteers.” Another resident said, “I don’t feel comfortable in this room, with this small group of people, voting to change the government in our town – I think that’s really risky.” Resident Amy L. Troup spoke saying that a reason to consider five Selectmen would be what happened over the summer when two Selectmen resigned leaving just one until a special election. Another resident said that what happened last year was a once in a lifetime event and the Town’s government should not be changed based on it. The article did not pass.
Article 24 was another petition article by Mary Gravinese to petition the Legislature to change the Town Clerk, the Treasurer/Collector and the Highway Surveyor to appointed rather than elected. The motion had to be amended per Town Counsel to make it legally viable. Current Highway Surveyor Steve Hayward said, “I’m against this article; I have six people – I have five employees that live in the town, and they care about the town. If we start having the Select people or whoever appoint these positions, they have total control. I answer to the taxpayers. They don’t like what I’m doing, they can vote no.” Gravinese responded, “This isn’t about people not caring about the town. The town has to start running like a business and in order to do that we need people that have education, experience, qualifications to do the jobs – they are no longer entry level,” she said. She further said that her child could become the Highway Surveyor because he is 18 and lives in the town. “We can’t have someone that just is popular that wants to put a sign up if anyone left,” Gravinese said. The article was defeated.
Article 25 was a petition article brought forth by Barbara Gaynor that would adopt Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 41, Section 97A, commonly known as the “strong chief” section, concerning Police Chiefs. Police Chief Joao Chaves spoke to the article. The article would give the Chief of Police greater jurisdiction over the Police Department. A resident spoke saying, “The Select Board appointed him as Chief to run the department; the Select Board’s job is to run the overall town, not have their hands in any individual department on daily operations; what this does is it lets Chief have complete control of his Department and set the policy as he sees necessary… so this is a great change as far as the management of the Police Department.” The Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee did not have a recommendation on this article. The article passed.
Article 1 was to hear and act on the reports of Town Officers and Committees and it passed. Bruno acknowledged the tumultuous year it was for the Board of Selectmen and credited Selectman Jonathan Selig and Town Accountant Sandra Nolan for stepping up during that time. Selig remained as the sole Selectman for a time while Nolan stepped in to be acting Town Administrator.
Article 2 amended the Wage and Personnel by-law to change the steps and corresponding salaries for certain positions in town that are under-compensated. It was recommended by both the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee. It passed unanimously. Article 3 determines the salaries for several elected positions. It also passed unanimously.
Article 4 was the operating budget. A resident asked for an explanation as to why the new Town Administrator is getting an $11,000 increase as well as why the Town Accountant would be receiving a $17,000 increase. Bruno said the increase for the Town Accountant actually had to do with money being set aside to assist in hiring a new Accountant as the current one will be retiring soon. Moderator Bert Gaynor went through each of the sections of the operating budget individually, grouping line items together. Everything passed including for the $14 million school budget.
Article 7 sought to appropriate $3 million for upgrades to the water treatment plant. Bruno said, “to meet this appropriation, the Treasurer, with the approval of the Selectmen, is authorized to borrow said amount… the amount authorized to be borrowed shall be reduced to the extent of any grants, gifts, or other funds received by the town to be used to pay the cost of this project.” It was recommended by the Finance Committee. The Water Superintendent said that the equipment in question is 40 years old and noted that they already have close to $1 million set aside toward this project. The article passed.
Regarding road maintenance in the Capital Plan, a resident asked for clarification as to the usage for the $300,000. Hayward said that this summer he would be able to use some of it for paving and “fixing up of the roads.” The Moderator asked the resident if that answered her question and she said, “Not fully, no.” She continued, “If you’ve driven around Ocean Ave, Lingen St., the numbered streets, they’re patching them, and I know you guys are doing your best and it’s not against that. It’s putting band-aids on broken legs. It’s ruining our cars, it’s ruining the police vehicles that we are paying to replace and maintain and I just want to make sure that our tax money is going toward things that really need to be done and not just roads that people that don’t live on the town drive on… do we have a plan for when we are going to do that?” Hayward said that just one mile on Plymouth St. cost $400,000. “And that was on a halfway decent road,” he said. “Out of all the 53 miles of road, we’re going to need millions of dollars; I could ask for a bond and nobody wants our taxes to go up… to fix the roads is money we don’t have,” Hayward explained.
There was also some discussion about new vehicles for the Fire Department. A resident said, “The town currently has three command vehicles, the Chief wants to upgrade one and get a new one for himself to the tune of $80,000 and we have a brand-new brush truck … I think the $80,000 is money we don’t need to spend on a new vehicle for the amount of times we have brush fires in the Town…” The Fire Chief said that the current vehicle he is driving was purchased with Covid funds from the State. He also said that some of these vehicles are used across other communities as well. “We do need a proper command vehicle and we do not have one setup at this time,” he said. The Fire Department costs were approved.
Regarding the Police Department costs, a resident asked Chief Chaves how often vehicles are replaced and was told every three years. Schmaling asked what would be done with the vehicles that are being replaced. Chaves said that they would be trading them in to offset the cost of the new vehicles. Residents requested that the article be amended to state that the cruisers would be traded in or auctioned before voting. The amendment did not pass though the overall Police costs were voted through.
Silver Lake Regional School Committee member Gordon Laws read that the SLRS Committee voted to amend Article 14 on the floor of Town Meeting due to increases in labor and equipment costs. Laws moved that the Town vote to amend the amount in Article 14 to $100,100 for the replacement of one rooftop unit. The units supply heat and air conditioning to the high school cafeteria and auditorium. The article previously read that the Town would vote to raise and appropriate or transfer from available funds the sum of $202,458.79 for the replacement of two roof top units at Silver Lake Regional High School. Laws explained, “the air conditioning units are 15-year units and we are at 19 years with those units which is why we were hoping to replace both of them. If they happen to go, it will constitute kind of an emergency for all three towns… the estimate for the two together came in far more than what we had hoped for which is why we are asking for the one.” He further explained that they chose the one over the cafeteria since if that one were to go, it would create unsafe working conditions for the staff in the kitchen. It passed unanimously.