The Plympton Board of Selectmen met remotely on Monday, July 25.”

Selectmen Chair Christine Joy told the Board that legislation recently passed that extended the remote meeting provision through March 31, 2023. Selectman John Traynor said, “I would like to see us in person as long as we can broadcast it and have Zoom.” Selectman Mark Russo said, “I think ultimately a hybrid model is going to be great; I don’t think we are ready. I don’t think we have the technology. I don’t think we have the staffing yet to do it – very strongly in favor of continuing with Zoom for the time being. I think it offers the most opportunity for participation.” He further said that he felt it best to continue with the current model for the convenience of residents, volunteers, and town officials. Joy said that while she is also in favor of the hybrid model eventually, she also doesn’t feel that the town has the technology to run it correctly. “We need some more time to figure out how to make this work for Plympton,” she said.

Traynor stressed that he believed the town did have the technology to make a hybrid model work now. “I’m disappointed,” Traynor said of Joy and Russo’s reluctance to move forward. Joy proposed revisiting the idea on the first of the year. Traynor, instead, proposed that they revisit it when Area 58 confirms that they have the technology in place to properly run a hybrid style meeting. Russo said, “I think there are other issues including staffing issues. Lots of towns are doing this and they have a staff member who is just taking care of the audio/visual, the presentation – it’s what we don’t have.” Traynor countered, “We do have, that’s part of Area 58. You keep saying that, but they are the staff.” “John, that is absolutely incorrect,” Russo said. He continued, “There isn’t enough manpower/womanpower here right now to do those things and do them well.” Traynor got in the final word saying, “I hear you and I think you are overstating the case and I don’t agree with you.” Joy said that the Board would not be taking a vote, but they would be revisiting it in the near future.

The Selectmen also discussed their priorities for FY2023. Joy said that the Selectmen agreed that one of those priorities would be age qualified affordable housing. Russo said that one of his goals would be, “attaining some kind of land so Plymptonians can stay in town.” Russo also highlighted the importance of bettering their technology including making sure the town website is a source of information. He also said he was interested in “a continuing evolution of the budget process.” Traynor agreed about the importance of technology. He also said that the Firehouse and overall town center infrastructure is one of his priorities for the coming year. “When we talk about the Firehouse, we find that, in fact, what we’re talking about is the town campus infrastructure or town center infrastructure,” Traynor explained. “The parking at the Townhouse is atrocious as we know; we do want to put in the ball fields,” he continued.

The Board also discussed having department heads once again begin attending their Selectmen meetings to provide updates. Town Administrator Liz Dennehy shared with the Selectmen a document she developed that would be shared with the department head prior to their appointment. The hope is to provide more structure to these meetings than what was previously had during such meetings the last year. This would allow the Selectmen to have specific questions and concerns ready ahead of the meeting. Traynor suggested that they begin with the library. “I am just totally blown away by the energy that he is putting into this; a lot going on over there,” Traynor said of the Library Director.

The Selectmen took up the granting of the solar easement on the Dennett Elementary School roof. Dennehy explained, “what we’re looking for this evening is a motion… to grant the solar easement for the solar project to Dennett Elementary School and this would run concurrently with the lease and power agreement, and it would also terminate when both of those are concluded.” She further explained that the agreement included the assurance that the town won’t do anything on the town-owned land around the school that could cast a shadow on the solar panels. It will likely be a 20-year agreement. Selectmen voted unanimously to grant the solar easement.

Dennehy provided the Selectmen with a Town Administrator’s Update. “The Route 58 bridge that was in need of some repairs… bids are coming in tomorrow for that work,” Dennehy said. She said that it is a State, not a town project. She also told the Selectmen that work is beginning on the Townhouse roof project. “The gutters were being taken care of today at the Old Townhouse,” she added.

The Selectmen ended their night with their raves for the past few weeks. “My rave would be for the Plympton School Committee and how they frugally managed the budget throughout all of the challenges that they experienced this year, and they are returning over $100,000 to the town,” Joy said. “My rave tonight is for the Board of Selectmen. We had some somewhat challenging issues tonight,” Russo said. “Saluting ourselves and particularly saluting John and Christine tonight,” he added. Traynor said, “My rave would be for the Townhouse team and when I say that I mean the Townhouse center, the campus if you will… it’s really enjoyable the way you can see them working together… looking back to six years ago, you can see we made a lot of progress.”

The Halifax Board of Selectmen met on Wednesday, July 6 to conduct an interview with an applicant for the open position of Town Administrator.

Marty Golightly was introduced by Bernie Lynch of Community Paradigm Associates who was hired to conduct the search and vet candidates. Lynch said, “It is intended to be an interactive dialogue as opposed to an interrogation.”

In response to the open ended, “tell us about yourself” Golightly said, “I spent 20 years in the military… mostly healthcare but when you are in healthcare in the military you also do a lot of leadership.” He continued, “Everything that the Navy can offer you, I think I got to participate in; it was awesome, I loved every minute of it, but I had two young kids and I didn’t want to miss anymore dance recitals.” He said that he moved back to the area in 2017, went back to school, and then became the health agent in Abington. Golightly called his time in Abington an “eye opening experience” and said that he gained insight into municipal government.

Golightly was very straightforward when asked why he left his last position. “I didn’t want to be the Director of Public Health in Abington anymore; Covid shined a light on a lot of weird areas of our society. It made some things uncomfortable. It made some things better in a very weird and unusual way. It just wasn’t the time to live and work in the same community,” he explained.  At the time of Golightly’s resignation from his position in Abington, abingtonnews.org reported that he was receiving “personal attacks and threats” presumably by those unhappy with the Health Department’s response to the pandemic.

Lynch asked why he wanted to be a town administrator. Golightly responded, “public servant my whole life – military, EMT, making the world a little better a little bit every day or at least that’s my goal. I’m one of those people that wants to leave something better behind for my kids and for all those that are going to come behind us.”

“Collaborator and Chief will always trump Commander and Chief, in my humble opinion,” Golightly said of his management style. He also said that mentoring is very important to him. Golightly said that you need to “make sure that you are making the best decision with the most good in mind for the most people.”

Asked about conflict resolution, Golightly said that he always likes to lead with education first though he acknowledged that there will always be those that will not be reached in that manner. He said that the dialogue that exists between those making decisions and those not in favor of those decisions is “part and parcel of being a Navy Chief.” He continued, “we are conflict resolution people – I’ve done it boots and board room.” He continued, “Sometimes you argue, but you argue behind closed doors, and you come out, hopefully, on the same side or if not with a better understanding of why that person made that decision,” Golightly said.

DiSesa asked Golightly about his ability to remain impartial when conflicts arise between town employees. He called maintaining impartiality or neutrality “probably one of the most difficult things I have had to do as a leader especially when you hear these stories of bullying.” He continued, “there is a process that we have to follow to make sure that there are no repercussions for either side; we do it by the book for a reason.” He stressed the importance of not letting emotion guide his actions in such situations.

Selectman Alex Meade said, “one of the worst things, I think, to hear is we do it this way because we have always done it this way. I would hope that you’re the type of person that coming into this position would be open minded to revamping current policies and procedures if you think there is a better way to do it.” Golightly said, “that mindset, I’ve always found, is content toward the negative.” He said that he is always striving for a better or best practice.

Lynch asked Golightly what kind of experience he has with municipal finances and budgets. Golightly, who called himself a “numbers nerd,” said he had experience with the RFP for the trash contract, the budget for Waste Management, and the budget for the Inspectional Services Department which included Health, Zoning, Building, and Nursing. Golightly is also on the Capital Planning Committee in Abington.

Golightly told the Selectmen that he has grant writing experience and attended the grant writing management institute at UMASS Boston. “The biggest one was 1.1, 1.2 million over a couple of years for the Public Health Excellence grant,” he explained of the many grants he has written.

Selectmen Chair Ashley DiSesa asked Golightly what he would do if he came up against an area in which he does not have knowledge. “Find my subject matter expert… I got a lot of friends I can ask if I don’t know the answer to a question… I have a lot of people in my phone that I can humbly ask,” he explained. Golightly said that he has worked with many local Fire and Police Chiefs including Chief Viveiros, Halifax’s former Fire Chief. “I have become friends with a lot of the Fire Departments… the people that I like to deal with the most, the coolest people, the most professional and I would say the best ones, irrespective of this position, have been from here,” Golightly said. DiSesa agreed saying that they had “phenomenal” Police and Fire in town.

He said that he would like to hold “coffee with your TA” if hired as Town Administrator in Halifax. “Being available, being a decent human being after that; the rest of it will kind of take care of itself,” Golightly said. He said that relationship building would be a huge component for his first 60 days.

Golightly said that a concern of his would be how to maintain the small town feel in Halifax in a modern world. “It is a problem for the ages,” he said. He said that bringing in businesses that have a large amount of taxable revenue but that have a small footprint would be key.

Following Golightly’s interview, the Board discussed their remaining options. Lynch told them that all three previous applicants were still in the pool. Selectman Jonathan Selig said that all the people he’s spoken to from Abington were sad to see him go. Meade said of Golightly, “it didn’t seem like he was using this as a stepping stone to something else.” DiSesa echoed Selig’s sentiment saying that she spoke to many people who know Golightly and no one had a bad thing to say about him. The Selectmen voted to name Golightly as the next Town Administrator.