The Plympton Board of Selectmen met on Monday, Aug. 5. Alyssa Papantonakis from the Old Colony Planning Council presented an update on the 2017 Housing Production Plan. Selectman John Traynor said that a similar presentation was given at the library and was met with “great enthusiasm.” Papantonakis described the Old Colony Planning Council or OCPC as “a regional planning agency created in 1967 to improve the physical, social, and economic conditions of the district.” She explained affordable housing and said that a household is considered “house burdened” if they spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing-related costs.
She said that households qualify for affordable housing if they are at or below 80 percent of the area’s median income. According to Papantonakis the median income for a family of four in Plympton is $97,800. “If under 10 percent of the housing stock is affordable, local zoning boards of appeals can approve affordable housing development proposals under flexible rules,” she explained. Plympton is currently around 4-5 percent. From 2000 to 2020, Plympton’s population grew 11 percent. She also said that 22.8 percent of owner-occupied homes and 45 percent of renter-occupied homes are house burdened. Papantonakis went over a “menu” of possible solutions.
Selectman Mark Russo asked if anything set Plympton apart from other towns in terms of their needs. He was told that Plympton’s topography and wetlands as well as its small size sets them apart. It was also said that compared to neighboring communities, Plympton has a high subsidized housing inventory (SHI) at around 5 percent. Russo also asked, “when we get our accessory dwelling unit program really built up, will an ADU [Accessory Dwelling Units] count toward the 10 percent of stock?” He was told that in the State’s most recent iteration of the Housing Bond Bill, ADUs are allowed to built as of right in single-family zoning districts.
Town Administrator Liz Dennehy asked, “Where would you say we’re at as far as the ADUs and the timeframe – like say we wanted to apply for a technical assistance grant to get your help with maybe looking at what we have in place for our ADU bylaw, maybe along with this housing bond bill if that language is in fact implemented, and seeing about a way that we could make better use of it, like actually get our residents to understand what they might be allowed to do with their property.” She continued, “There are people here in town that maybe aren’t even aware that we have some of these regulations in place to assist them if maybe they have a family member who needs to downsize and maybe they want to come live with them.” She was told that Mass Housing Partnership (MHP) might have something available to help with that. Papantonakis also mentioned the District and Local Technical Assistance (DLTA) which becomes available once a year. Dennehy noted that they have taken advantage of DLTA in recent years.
Regarding the plan, the Selectmen were told that the plan would not be adopted until accepted by the Planning Board. “If you’re looking for technical assistance or other support for ADUs or any of this, having an adopted Housing Production Plan is additional points,” one of the representatives from OCPC said.
The Selectmen also reviewed the Code of Conduct for boards and committees and considered it for adoption. Dennehy explained, “the idea was to give boards and committees, in particular, but also department heads to give them some tools that they could use that if they were encountering a difficult situation, either with a member of the public or an employee, something of that nature; it would just be another tool in the toolkit to have something concrete to point to and utilize for documentation purposes.” Dennehy further said that she hoped it would be a reminder to people that “we are on the same team.” She told the Selectmen that she was looking for approval of the concept from them, noting that she planned to get feedback from boards, committees, and department heads before finalizing the document.
During her update, Dennehy said that Selectman Dana Smith donated a P.A. system for the Townhouse. Dennehy said that Area 58 would assist in getting it up and running. “Our people in the audience should hopefully be able to hear us and we should be able to hear them… so big thank you to Dana for setting us up with that system,” Dennehy said.
Dennehy told the Selectmen that Erik and Katrina Player resigned from the Recreation Commission leaving two open positions. The Selectmen also voted to appoint Deborah Batson to the Council on Aging Board effective August 5 through June 30, 2027.
The Selectmen ended their meeting with their raves. Traynor said that the Recreation Commission came to the library on Saturday. “It’s just amazing, the work they have been doing,” he said. He said that the Commission is hoping to get someone to fill the open positions that has experience with construction and project management. He said that they are working on a walking trail around Holt Field that will be accessible by a wide array of people. Selectman Mark Russo said his rave was for some progress by the OCPC on housing as well as the progress on the Code of Conduct. “And actually the one I’m really excited about is Town Counsel coming to the next meeting and updating us on some ongoing litigation,” Russo said. Dennehy said that her rave was for the community liaison for Eversource who pointed her in the direction of a grant opportunity that allows for Eversource to donate $2,000 toward National Night Out in partnership with the Firefighter’s Association.

Alan Ingram
Express correspondent
Kingston Selectmen voted July 30 to classify two Great Danes as “dangerous dogs” following three separate delivery driver biting incidents, imposing containment and liability insurance requirements on the owners.
The board voted 3-2 to deem the dogs, named Hank and Bert, as dangerous after hearing testimony about attacks that occurred on April 4, May 4 and July 14 at the home of Jenna Goldstein on Raboth Road.
Along with the “dangerous dog” classification, Goldstein must construct a secure enclosure with a roof for the dogs, obtain liability insurance of at least $100,000 per dog, and have the animals neutered.
Animal Control Officer Sonya Buckner recommended the dangerous designation, citing the repeated incidents.
“It’s three bites, whether they’re gentle giants or not,” Buckner said. “Who’s to say if she walks them off the property? I don’t know how they’re going to be. So our role as public safety officers is to make sure that nothing like this happens again and that we’re not here in another three, four months because something else has happened.”
Goldstein argued she had taken steps to prevent further incidents, including installing delivery instructions, a drop box, and signage warning of dogs on the property. She said the dogs have never had issues with visitors or family members.
“From the start here, I was already putting measures in to kind of protect the dogs, protect people from coming to the house,” Goldstein said. “I am taking this very seriously and I’m very sorry that this did happen”
Board member Kim Emberg expressed reservations about the dangerous classification, suggesting a nuisance designation instead.
“This isn’t like they’re running down the street attacking random people. They were acting as I would expect a dog in a safe, believed to be safe, place of their own, protecting their home,” Emberg said.
However, board member Tyler Bouchard argued the repeated incidents warranted the stricter designation.
“We’re not dealing with one, we’re not dealing with two, we’re dealing with three,” Bouchard said. “And respectfully, this could have been stopped at one. It’s our job now.”
The board set a Sept. 30 deadline for Goldstein to comply with the new requirements, with the option for an extension if needed.

The Halifax Board of Selectmen met on Tuesday, July 23. They began by entering into executive session to discuss negotiations with the Assistant Town Accountant as well as to discuss strategy with respect to litigation involving Morse Brothers. After returning to open session, the Selectmen approved a Memorandum of Agreement with the Assistant Town Accountant for a temporary pay increase while they are without a Town Accountant in the office.
Selectmen Chair John Bruno said, “We were made aware recently that Morse Brothers had started or were engaged in trucking what we think is sand, gravel, or some such thing off of their property over the last week or so, couple of weeks, I guess. Once we were made aware of that we discussed with Counsel what to do and the result of that is that the Board has issued a letter to Morse Brothers constituting a cease-and-desist order and an assessment of a fine for multiple violations of the town of Halifax’s soil removal bylaw.” He noted that the letter, which he read during the meeting, had been sent on July 18. A portion of the letter read, “the recent earth removal was not authorized by the soil removal permit because Morse Brothers had already removed almost all of the soil authorized by the soil removal permit. By letter dated May 3, 2024, Attorney Rosenberg stated that 19,908 yards of sand/earth had been removed from the property during the period of February 12, 2024 to April 5, 2024.” The letter also noted that the total earth removal allowed by the bylaw was plus or minus 20,000 cubic yards. Bruno told those assembled that they had been advised by Counsel not to discuss the matter any further in open session.
“Almost a year ago, the Selectmen… reinstituted the Zoning Bylaw Review Committee with a charge to review Zoning Bylaw taking into account all kinds of issues… including the potential for the MBTA Zoning that we do need to address by the end of the year,” Bruno said. He complimented the Committee, including the Building Commissioner and Town Administrator on their work on the large task. He said that he anticipated them having their recommendations ready for the next Town Meeting. Town Administrator Cody Haddad said that there were some “changes of substance” and noted that they would try and hold some public workshops to explain.
Library trustees appointed
The Selectmen met with the Library Trustees for some appointments. The Board spoke with Tina Palmer and Holly Dillon regarding their appointments from now until the election in May. Both spoke to their many qualifications before being unanimously appointed by the Board. “That’s two fantastic resume’s right there,” Bruno said.
Government study committee
The Selectmen also discussed the Government Study Committee that is being created to review the town’s governmental structure. Haddad read, “the Government Study Committee shall consist of seven members, five of which shall be voting members, one representative from the Board of Selectmen, four other members at-large appointed by the Board of Selectmen, the Town Administrator and Town Counsel; the Board of Selectmen representative shall serve as Chair of the Committee. The Selectmen are taking talent bank forms for consideration during the first Board of Selectmen meeting in September.
ARPA funds change
Haddad addressed the need for a change in the allocation of ARPA funds for Silver Lake. “The Board had previously allocated $463,380 to fund Halifax’s portion of air conditioning at Silver Lake that was initially supposed to install air conditioning at both the Middle School and the High School; they have gone out to bid on that project and that has come in over budget by $262,980 and that’s actually only going to do half of the AC at the Middle School,” Haddad said. He also said that there was another project to install a rooftop unit on the High School cafeteria. Halifax funded their portion of over $100,000 during Town Meeting; that project came in at a deficit. He asked the Selectmen to move the money around to better meet the needs of the projects though he noted that there was no net increase.
Summer Intern
Haddad told the Selectmen that their intern, Eva Chapman, created a monthly newsletter in order to assist with transparency with the town. Chapman is a rising high school senior. She did an interview with Town Accountant Sandra Nolan upon her retiring, among other stories. She said she was also hoping to come out with a video newsletter. Chapman said that she is also trying a new initiative to highlight different local businesses.
Summer Smash!
Before adjourning, Selectman Jonathan Selig said that the 20th annual summer smash softball tournament, which he called one of the largest in Eastern Massachusetts, would be occurring during August 2, 3, and 4. He warned residents that there would be a lot of people in town during those days. “It’s a lot of fun but so the residents are aware, the school lot will be very full; we’re kind of the crown jewel of town softball tournaments,” Selig said.