The Kingston Board of Selectmen met Tuesday, Dec. 5. Selectman Don Alcombright was remote for the meeting while Selectman Tyler Bouchard was absent.
The Selectmen dealt with the results of the traffic study that was done on Landing Road regarding road safety. Some residents requested a three-way intersection be installed at the corner of Landing Road and Maple Street. “Ultimately, based on the research that was done by Old Colony Planning, based on accidents – things of that nature, Old Colony Planning indicated that it did not meet the merits of a three-way stop sign,” Town Administrator Keith Hickey said. Regarding issues with the bridge, Hickey said that they met with the appropriate parties from Duxbury to get some type of truck restriction. “Duxbury seems very willing to potentially limit the size of the vehicles that travel down Landing Road,” he explained. He said that Old Colony has agreed to do some traffic counts and traffic studies regarding potential changes to traffic flow. “We are trying to address this as best we can,” Hickey said. “The Police Department has tried to make people more aware of the speeds that they are traveling… the 40-mph speed limit starts closer to the Maple Street intersection than what was indicated in the report,” he furthered.
A representative from the Old Colony Planning Council joined the meeting remotely to answer questions as needed. “One question I had was the traffic study that was done in March, which is not the busiest time for the roadway that leads to the harbor, so I was just wondering if we have taken that into account in some of this analysis?” Chair Kimberley Emberg asked. She noted that traffic picks up considerably starting in May and said that March may even be the slowest time of the year. The representative said that one of the things they can do this coming spring is to recount the Landing Rd. area during May to have a baseline of March to May. Emberg also asked if he could elaborate on why the intersection didn’t meet the necessary requirements for a three-way stop and was told that in addition to entering their numbers into a database, the Police Department didn’t identify five or more correctable crashes in the span of a 12-month time period.
Alcombright said that he wanted to make sure that any truck restrictions wouldn’t impact boat traffic. Superintendent and Tree Warden Paul Basler said that for most people, it shouldn’t affect that. He said that the bigger concerns of the residents were the box trucks hitting the bridge and the speeds of landscaping trucks, etc. “Even with a truck exclusion, oil trucks, gas trucks are still going to be able to service the residents… it shouldn’t have any impact on the boating people,” Basler said. He also spoke against the installation of speed bumps saying, “that’s going to impact the boating.” He said that he did a sign audit on that road noting that there were 11 signs between Main Street and River Street. “After a while, a lot of signs become invisible… in my opinion, there are an awful lot of signs on that road that nobody is paying attention to… so by increasing the number of signs, changing the signs around, I don’t think that’s going to give us the impact we are looking for,” Basler said. Emberg said that they were merely accepting the report that evening and that any decisions regarding what actions to take, would take place at a later meeting.
There was some discussion regarding a resident that was surrendering a razor clam license for the current year. There was one person on the waitlist. The Shellfish Constable intended to call all recipients of the licenses to see if anyone was not using theirs, but the very first person he called surrendered it. Hickey said that he would like to see, as a show of good faith, the town refund the original holder of the license. He also said that he would like to set a policy in place that stipulates that license holders must use it so many times or surrender the license at the end of the year. The Board agreed to issue the license to the new recipient at a pro-rated amount and refund the unused six months back to the original holder.
Jason Silva, the Community Development Director, spoke to the Board regarding the review of fees charged for inspectional services. “It’s been about four years since we’ve changed; a lot’s changed in the last four years in terms of our economy,” Silva said. He noted that after reviewing the fees charged by surrounding communities, it has become apparent that the fees need to be raised. He also asked to increase the compensation for the inspectional services’ workers. The Selectmen voted unanimously to approve the proposed increases.
Emberg said that during an earlier meeting they discussed going out to bid for legal services. She said that Hickey had prepared a draft RFP for them to approve that evening. Selectman Sheila Vaughn was the sole Selectman voting against the RFP.
Regarding the Police Chief search, Emberg asked for results from the community outreach survey that was completed by residents. Crone said that the main takeaway was a call for increased communication with the community. He said that they narrowed the field of applicants to eight before having two drop out. He said that they would like to add two back in before notifying the candidates.
Hickey said that the hiring committee for the Finance Director met that day and narrowed the list of applicants. He noted that the current Finance Director Carol McCoy would be leaving in-person employment the following week and then working remotely until a replacement could be found. “She’s been a tremendous asset to this community. She’s done a great job and she’ll be a tough person to replace, but wish her all the best,” Hickey said.
Hickey said that they’ve asked Departments to go back and review their budgets before reviewing at a higher level to present before the Board. “We should have all that done and to the Capital Planning Committee and the Finance Committee before the end of the month, certainly,” Hickey said.
Emberg reminded those in attendance that the new water rates went into effect in early November and noted that it would be reflected in the March 2024 quarterly bill. She also said that Kington’s annual luminary display will take place on Saturday, Dec. 16 and road closings will begin at 5 p.m.. The tree lighting and caroling will begin at 6 pm on the Town Green. Other activities including crafts and visits with Santa will be between 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.. She also reminded residents that if they see snowflakes they need to get their vehicles off the streets to ensure safe and timely plowing.
Emberg opened things up to open forum and a resident asked, “the chlorine in the water, could we get an update on if this is a permanent condition, why, what we can do about it, and if the town is going to do anything about it because quite frankly it’s upsetting. Hickey said he would reach out to the Water Department and provide an update on the Town’s website.