The Kingston Board of Selectmen met on Tuesday, June 18. Plymouth County Treasurer Thomas O’Brien appeared before the Board to present an American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) check for Silver Lake High School HVAC improvements to the cafeteria. Selectmen Chair Eric Crone said that the current rooftop unit has outlived its life expectancy at 20 years old.
O’Brien noted that Kingston was his hometown and said he was neighbors with Crone during his time in town. Referring to Plymouth County, O’Brien said, “our community under CARES Act received twice as much as communities outside of Plymouth County because we took all the funds and funneled them back to our communities.” He also said that Kingston is now the eighth community out of the 27 to use all of the ARPA money allocated to them. He reviewed some of the highlights of ways in which the CARES and ARPA funds had been used in Kingston.
The Board also authorized a letter of support to the EEA for the Housing Production/Housing Needs Assessment Plan update per the recommendation of the Town Planner. The grant request is for just over $44k. The updated plan allows for the town to apply for various housing grants.
Former Police Chief Maurice Splaine was seeking two grant application authorizations for the Police Department. One is for the Department of Mental Health clinician position and another for federal funding for an officer position. Regarding the clinician position, Town Administrator Keith Hickey said, “respectfully, understand that if we are fortunate enough to be awarded this grant, we would have to be going into a fall town meeting looking for some additional funding in some manner to address the 25 percent salary cost share and the benefits as well so that’s the responsibility that the community would have to be absorbing.” The Chief also said that the mental health clinician would be a shared resource with any other neighboring communities that were interested. He also confirmed that were the town to have to absorb the cost in the future it would be in the ballpark of $60k to $100k per year.
Selectman Kimberley Emberg said, “Given the budget constraints we’re about to face this year – that’s my only hesitation is adding anything this year. I think this is a great program. I support it, in theory. This year, it’s really hard for me to add anything knowing that we’re going to be pushing up against the levy limit and looking at potentially an override that we discussed at Town Meeting.”
The Chief said that were he to go through the process and then turn it down were it accepted, it might jeopardize future opportunities. Emberg asked if they would be better off waiting a year. Ultimately, however, the Board did vote to support the Chief applying for both grants.
Crone said that the Board needed to address whether to establish a public safety committee or working group for the Pembroke St. Police and Fire Station expansion per the Fire and Police Chiefs. The recommendation is that the committee include both chiefs as well as the Town Administrator, the Building Inspector, one Selectman, and one Finance Committee member. Hickey explained that they were seeking to form the committee now, so they could pull together a proposal as quickly as possible. The previous committee’s Chair Sandra MacFarlane spoke saying that they were disappointed to learn that they were being disbanded and felt that they were “pushed aside” at Town Meeting. The Selectmen voted to create the new committee with the addition of a Capital Planning Committee member and a former member of the previous committee.
The Selectmen also appointed a Tax Title Custodian. Emberg said the former Treasurer resigned from the role leaving a pile of tax title properties.
Hickey said that one problem in the past was the position has complete control over which properties get sent to auction. After speaking with Counsel, Hickey said that a neighboring community brought forth a bylaw that outlines a check and balance for the process.
Hickey also advocated for not having a volunteer named to the position due to its importance and complexity. Current Tax Collector Ken Moalli spoke saying that he hoped to achieve a AAA credit rating and it wouldn’t be possible without dealing with the tax title custodial work. “I have no agenda here other than to reduce the receivable that we have,” he said.
The other applicant, Jim Franklin, spoke saying that he felt that him coming in as a “third party independent” candidate would be helpful. He said that establishing a “repeatable process” was necessary so that it wouldn’t need to be thought about in the future. Emberg asked if he saw serving on the Conservation Commission as being a conflict. Franklin was adamant that it was not.
While deliberating on the two applicants, Crone pointed out that the position served at the pleasure of the Board and at any time, they could reappoint someone or appoint someone new. They voted 4-1 to appoint Franklin as the new Tax Title Custodian.
The Board discussed creating a working group to investigate the possibility of a privately run transfer station. The proposed group would consist of a Streets, Trees, and Parks Superintendent, a Building Official, a Planning Director, Town Administrator, one Selectman, and one Planning Board member. The Selectmen voted to create the working group.
Crone provided an update as the liaison for the Silver Lake safety issue at the intersection of Rt. 27 and Lake and Station Streets. “There have been more accidents. There have been several and the owners of Nino’s have a great cam… a professional Ring cam, so they’ve provided some video to our public safety,” Crone said. He also described a fairly bad accident that included injuries. “We’re going to be applying for some grant money… there’s been some look into a traffic light… the preference seems to be for a round-a-bout, not a rotary, but a round-a-bout,” he continued.
The Board also unanimously voted to approve an agricultural fair on September 29 on the lawn of the Town House.