PLYMPTON– Selectmen met on Monday, July 11, and held a very brief meeting. Some topics of discussion were the recognition of Jake Ferguson for his Eagle Scout project, as well as the process for putting the town’s legal services out to bid and “office hours” for Selectmen.
Eagle Scout recognized
Jake Ferguson, of Brook Street, along with all the Boy and Girl scouts in Plympton, were honored by the Board on Monday night. Jake, for his Eagle Scout Project, designed and built a receptacle for use at the transfer station for holding old and worn out American flags before proper disposal by the Boy Scouts.
Flags that are worn out should be burned and the ashes buried, with respect and ceremony, according to the VFW.
Ferguson said the receptacle took him about 80 hours to build in his basement.
“We have such a strong scouting program,” remarked Selectman Christine Joy as she and the rest of the Board congratulated Ferguson for his hard work.
Legal services out to bid?
For some time, Selectmen have been exploring the idea of hiring Town Counsel at a flat rate, rather than retaining legal services hourly. They say they are hoping to find savings using this method, although Town Coordinator Dale Pleau has warned, “You get what you pay for.” The Board is trying to get the number down under $47,000, what they last paid to Kopelman and Paige, now known as, “KP | LAW”, the current Town Counsel.
The process for putting the service out to bid is the same as procuring any other service or item for the town, according to Pleau. He will draw up a request for proposal (RFP), which is a solicitation for bids, and advertise the RFP in legal publications. Prospective law firms will competitively bid for the contract.
There is no final draft of the RFP yet.
“Meet a
Selectman”
Selectmen have brought up the idea of holding “office hours” individually, but this is raising some legal questions as well.
The Board is supposed to deliberate about issues in public, and post them on an agenda 72 hours before they meet. If residents are bringing up issues in private, some question as to at what point an issue needs to be deliberated publicly arose, but the Board will have Selectman John Traynor consult with Town Counsel to discuss the matter.
The Town Coordinator thinks this is a non-issue, as citizens can have private conversations with each other without bringing something before the BOS, even Selectmen themselves– as long as they are not deliberating. Unless they discover something illegal going on, he reasoned, there is no reason they couldn’t have office hours and did not think there was any need to spend Town Counsel time on the subject.
• The Plympton Police Department announced they have a new summer intern. Anthony Dimari of Kingston, a UMass Dartmouth criminal justice student, has been with the department for about a month now, and will be working until Aug. 9.
Chief Patrick Dillon stated that the purpose of the program is to expose students to the realities of the police profession and allowing the intern to deal with “non-critical” administrative tasks.
• Plympton Selectmen will next meet on Monday, July 25, at 6 p.m., Town House