The Plympton Board of Selectmen met on Monday, Aug. 26.
Selectmen Chair John Traynor said they had a request for town-owned tree removal in the area of 292 Main St. The resident of the property, Willie Hannigan, spoke saying there was approximately a 15-20 ft. strip of property between his land and Young’s Convenience Store which contains a large pine which he described as roughly 110 ft. high. “It stands alone. It has no peers… it sways greatly, we did have a tree next to it come down and miss my mother’s bedroom by about 15 ft. and there are three bedrooms right in that possible path where it could come down. I believe Young has talked to the town about this before… it worries me to see this tree and what could happen,” Hannigan said.
Hannigan also said that he would be having septic work done soon and that he was told that the work could undermine the roots of the tree making it more susceptible to coming down. He noted that the town couldn’t pay for taking it down, but that he was just looking for their blessing. The Selectmen voted unanimously to allow Hannigan to remove the tree at his expense.
Town Administrator Elizabeth Dennehy spoke regarding the required taking of two small pieces of property for the Winnetuxet Rd. bridge project. Selectmen Chair John Traynor confirmed that the owners of the land were fine with it. “It’s a part of the Mass DOT process since we are getting State funding for this project,” Dennehy said. Selectman Mark Russo said, “My only comment is I wish they weren’t doing the whole project; many of us spoke against it but I guess it’s going ahead. In terms of this specific agenda item and motion, I’m fine with it.” Traynor read that $400 would be paid in damages to the owners.
Dennehy provided some Town Administrator updates. She said she was working to close out the grant cycle for the Community Compact Program. “I’m going to be surveying some of the Boards and Committees and Departments to figure out what a next application might look like.” She said that she believed that there may currently be some technology funding available that could be used for something like updating the town website.
She said that she met with the Fire Department to address some flooding that occurred in a back room there. She said there was some discussion about the Highway Department potentially building a ditch with some stone to try to curb the flow into the building. “We need to do something in the immediate to deal with that… even if we put in a new Fire Station, if we’re going to repurpose that building at some point; we need to protect the asset and stop the water,” she explained.
Dennehy told the Selectmen that Police Officer Caitlyn Mullaney is resigning from the Department. Traynor said, “she was well-liked by the kids for sure.” “Absolutely,” Dennehy said.
The Selectmen went into Executive Session. A lawyer present told them that they needed to read the case names that were to be discussed in that session. These included Pierre Coll v. Plympton Conservation Commission, Henry J. O’Hearn, III v. Plympton, Plympton v. Ruth Ann Hatch and Jenifer Rogers, and Kenneth Thompson et al. v. Plympton Conservation Commission.
The Selectmen ended with their usual raves. Russo said, “My rave is for the summer report that we got from Town Counsels; I thought they had all the detail in there but were coherent and logical and really laid out the cases in a way that a laymen can understand, and I appreciate that.”
Traynor said, “First I want to acknowledge the passing of Jacqueline Freitas. A really unique person – I like Jackie a lot. She had no fear of telling you exactly where she stood on an issue; she was very much for the town – did a lot of work.” He applauded her work as a driver for the Council on Aging.
Traynor also praised Recreation for getting lights on the field. Finally, he gave a rave for the Council on Aging barbeque hosted by the Upland Club.