PLYMPTON – A Comcast deal that was three years in the making, was finally signed Monday night by Plympton selectmen on behalf of the town, allowing funds which Comcast collects from its Plympton subscribers to be transferred to a Plympton cable access account and be spent to support Plympton’s share of the local access cable studio.
This action paves the way for Plympton to enter into a tri-town agreement with Carver and Halifax to join Area 58 Cable Access Media, formerly CHAT. At May’s annual town meeting, voters approved setting up the account. Area 58 has been recording Plympton’s Selectmen’s and other meetings since the first of the year even though Plympton is not yet a member.
Selectmen voted to approve all appointees that were under their authority. Chairman Mark Russo told the audience that technical issues related to computer networking and switching between different systems caused problems this year, and not miscommunication between Town House staff as was erroneously reported two weeks ago in the Express.
Russo stated that he did not want any lingering impressions to the contrary.
Linda Leddy and Rick Burnet of the Open Space Committee came before Selectmen this week. In the beginning June, there were five votes from which Russo did not recuse himself, even though he is an abutter to the Maple Street property which has been under consideration as a possible site for a public safety building. Both the Police Chief and Fire Chief do not like the site, but after speaking with a Commonwealth Ethics Commission attorney, out of an abundance of caution, Russo will recuse himself in future votes. The five votes in question were rescinded and re-voted with Russo recusing himself. None of the outcomes were changed, which were mostly related to tidying up small balances in accounts before the end of the fiscal year.
Selectmen continued to narrow their focus, defining the year’s upcoming goals and tasks. Their newest member, Selectperson Christine Joy is especially looking for the public’s assistance in analyzing the Department of Revenue’s report on the Town’s handling of finances. She has proposed an ad-hoc committee for that purpose and is seeking interested volunteers.
In other news:
• Town Coordinator Dale Pleau reported he is looking at permitting software that would allow town departments and townspeople to better guide projects requiring permits from multiple departments through the process electronically. He will report back to the board.
• Selectmen gave the Open Space Committee permission to distribute informal questionnaires looking for “common knowledge” about the property owned by the USDA at 59 Parsonage Road. This is in addition to formal surveys that have already been completed. but this is standard according to Linda Leddy. The community at large and town departments will be solicited about what they generally know about the property.
• The Solar By-law Committee was dissolved with the thanks of the Board. Selectman Colleen Thompson was especially thanked by Russo for her hard work