The Halifax Board of Selectmen met on Tuesday, Sept. 26. Town Administrator Cody Haddad told the board that Halifax’s Veteran’s Agent Steve Littlefield has been working on Hometown Heroes. Haddad said it consisted of banners that are hung throughout town. “We were a little bit short on funding as it is funded all through donations; we just want to acknowledge a lot of people came together at the end and made some donations to push the project over the finish line. There was also an organization who donated quite a large amount of money and they previously operated an organization to assist veterans in the area and then they moved out of State, and they gave the balance of their funds… to Halifax,” Haddad said. Selectman Jonathan Selig added a special shout-out to resident Mary Gravinese who “put the call out that more funds were needed.”
Regarding the contract for the Highway Barn project, Haddad told the Selectmen that the winning bid is with Cape Cod Builders in the amount of $289,000. The Selectmen voted to approve the contract. They also approved a contract for the buildout of the municipal maintenance shop in the amount of $26,200. Resident Frank Johnston, who is also a member of the Finance Committee, asked where the contracts came in relative to the original budgets. Haddad said that the Highway Barn Project is coming in right at budget and noted that they would be using $20,000 of Chapter 90 funding. The shop project is under budget.
Haddad mentioned that a Special Town Meeting would be held to deal with several items including the reclassification study as well as the Regional Schools Agreement. He said that there were also potential zoning changes due to the senior center project. The Selectmen voted to set the Special Town Meeting for Thursday, Dec.14.
Haddad provided an update regarding the need to change the Regional School Agreement per the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). Haddad said that town counsel had reviewed the most recent draft and that they provided some proposed changes that were submitted to the schools. “It has to pass for all three schools; it really comes down to the way the pre-K is set up right now. It had been run as a regional program although it wasn’t laid out as a regional program in the actual agreement so DESE came back and said if you want to continue to run this, it needs to reflect accurately in the actual agreement,” Haddad said. He told the Selectmen that the Superintendent would be attending a meeting to explain the specifics.
Haddad brought up some proposed changes to the operating hours at Town Hall. “Previously Town Hall was open Monday through Thursday, 7-4 and then staff would work a half day on Friday, although the building wasn’t open to the public. So, over the summer, offices have been open Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday 7-4:30 and then on Tuesdays until 6:30.” Following the trial run, Haddad said that he put out a survey to everyone in Town Hall regarding their preference. He said that 75 percent said they would like to stay with the changes that occurred over the summer. “With that being said, my recommendation would be to make the hours we have now, a permanent solution,” Haddad said. The Selectmen voted to approve the revised hours that were trialed over the summer.
Haddad told the Selectmen that the previous Board had approved $450,000 in ARPA funds for upgrades at the Water Treatment Plant. “It was an oversight, we thought it had been $600,000; we had been planning for $600,000,” Haddad said. The Selectmen approved the cost increase. “This is the American Rescue Plan Act funding that came from the Federal Government… basically as a stimulus to municipalities, cities, counties across the country as a result of the Covid pandemic, so the town received probably in total around $2 million. A lot of that has been allocated… we had been accounting for that $600,000 for this project,” Haddad explained. He continued, “the portion that came from the County was more designated for the purposes that the Federal Government had laid out in addition to revenue replacement, which was broadband, water/sewer infrastructure, so this falls directly in line with the water infrastructure.” The Selectmen voted to approve the $600,000.
The Selectmen were asked for a letter of support for Hybrid Programming for a Council on Aging Grant. “It’s a hybrid program that, depending on the individual and how they want to approach it, it would give the opportunity for homebound people to have some type of programming at home,” Council on Aging Director Darlene Regan explained. “That’s awesome,” Selig said.
Haddad provided the Selectmen with some updates at Town Hall including some recent office moves. He pointed out that the Selectmen were meeting in a new meeting room. He also told the Selectmen that he submitted a Com