Halifax Board of Selectmen met Tuesday night, Dec. 19, at 6 p.m. following an executive session for the purpose of police chief contract negotiations.
First on the agenda was a public hearing to consider the renewal cable license renewal of Comcast for the Town of Halifax, as required by state law. Selectmen Chairman John Bruno asked the assembly if there were any comments regarding Comcast and its performance as Halifax’s cable provider, and there being none, went on with the hearing.
Town Administrator Cory Hadad introduced Bill August who negotiated the proposed contract for the town. August told selectmen that he exclusively represents municipalities in cable license renewal. The contract he negotiated continues the existing 5% of gross revenues of Comcast go to operating budget and a level funding for equipment purchase, which August said was strong, considering Comcast has lost 25% to 30% of its subscriber base statewide due to streaming, cord cutting, and new technologies. Bruno closed the public hearing and found that the renewal license proposed adequately meets the public interests of Halifax and moved to approve the Comcast renewal license commencing April 22, 2024. Jonathan Selig seconded the motion. It carried unanimously.
Bruno moved that the board accept and acknowledge donations for Holidays in Halifax fireworks, MacDonald Industries for $8,000 and Donovan Services Inc, (Dunkin’ Donuts) for $2,000.
Frank Johnson of Elm Street was appointed to fill the remainder of a one-year term as a democratic election worker, with a term expiring July 27, 2024.
Haddad brought a number of funding requests to be used by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) remaining balance. Halifax has already allocated $600,000 toward the water department and have previously approved $480,000 toward H-vac upgrades for Silver Lake and have committed funds to several other projects. “We have about $360,000 remaining. We do have to have that committed by the end of calendar year 2024 and by committed, we would have to show that we’ve already ordered it, and we don’t want to lose that money.” We want to make sure we’re spending that so in meeting with our financial team, we’ve come up with a few additional requests: Financial Consulting $25,000. Great Hall Audio-Visual. We had allocated $50,000 toward that previously, but find that things are much more expensive than anticipated. He noted that just replacing the curtain in the Great Hall was $110,000, so an additional funding of $40,000 would be needed to make that project come to fruition. Vehicles for town hall: Right now the town hall has one vehicle to use for town-related travel, mostly to inspection sites by the building department, board of health, assessing department, and conservation agent. Employees may now travel in a vehicle labeled “Town of Halifax”. The request is for $75,500 for two vehicles to be used by town employees on town business.
The Pine Street intersection engineering study should be a priority, Haddad said, in light of the uptick in accidents, and rather than wait for town meeting in the spring, Haddad said it would be a good use of ARPA funds that could be accessed now. Bruno agreed, and Haddad said he’d try to get a “kick start” on the project and get an engineer in to begin. An additional $40,000 was requested. The motion was approved unanimously.
Selectmen then read the letter from the Conservation Commission asking that selectmen rescind the appointment of Kimberly King, due to excessive absences. Ms. King asked selectmen to hold action on the matter until she can be heard in executive session as some of what she has to say cannot be heard in open session. Selectmen will hold the matter for executive session at 5:30, Jan. 9, 2024.
An Open Meeting Law complaint filed by Gordon Andrews Dec. 6, stated that a particular matter of overlay zoning is before the board to give their recommendation at Town Meeting. “Both Mr. Bruno and Mr. Selig are communicating in a Facebook group discussing their thoughts and deliberating on the matter”. Andrews, in his complaint, is requesting members of the board go to an Open Meeting Law training course. Andrews furthered that the AG’s office has continually had complaints against the Board of Selectmen. (Bruno commented aside that it isn’t true) The AG’s office has found violations against the board (Bruno: Which isn’t true) and just because there’s a difficult choice to make doesn’t mean they should disregard the law. They should be having these discussions and deliberations at a meeting where all the public is informed this will take place.” Bruno countered, “Well, I have my own opinions about this because I think it’s ridiculous but we’ll go on with it.” Selig responded because his name is mentioned in the complaint, “I did post something on our town page, in my opinion not deliberating, not discussing, but it was to offer a link to the town’s folk to a video that Cody had put together to offer more information on the town meeting. I know the rules. I know we’re not allowed to deliberate and discuss things outside of these meetings.
MBTA Action Plan: the consultant is still working on the mapping.
Accepted the resignation of the Assistant Town Accountant as of Dec. 22, and Officer Al Hingst will be retiring at the end of the fiscal year, July 1, 2024.
Haddad told the board that the town has been awarded a $75,000 grant from the state to assist in implementing online licensing and permitting. Darlene Regan COA Director had advised selectmen that she had applied for a hybrid learning grant for the town of Bridgewater to offer hybrid learning to seniors. It was $100,000 to Halifax and $100,000 for Bridgewater. Halifax was notified that grant was approved.
From the first round of “Fair Share” infrastructure grants, Halifax will also receive an additional $153,000 in its Chapter 90 funding.
Bruno thanked the board for their work during 2023 and looked forward to another challenging year in 2024. The board adjourned. Their next meeting will be Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024.