Town meeting voters on May 13 defeated Article 19, the Board of Selectmen’s petition for special state legislation that would have stripped the Board of Health of authority to appoint and remove its own administrative assistant. The rejection followed sharp opposition from the Board of Health, the School Committee chair, and elected members of independent boards who warned the change would erode public-health independence and confidentiality. Voters separately approved a $16,179,691 fiscal 2027 budget that drew $823,340 from the general stabilization fund — a one-time fix that Selectman Nathaniel Sides said would not be available next year, when Plympton faces “a very real possibility” of needing a Proposition 2½ override.
Moderator Barry DeCristofano opened the combined Annual Town Meeting and Special Town Meeting at the Dennett Elementary School, working through 21 annual articles and two special-session transfers. Most articles moved quickly. Article 19 did not.
Sides, presenting on behalf of the Board of Selectmen, framed the petition as the latest step in a decade-long effort to professionalize personnel practices across town departments. The article would have asked the Legislature to allow the Board of Selectmen, rather than the Board of Health, to appoint and remove the board’s administrative assistant — bringing the position in line, Sides said, with support staff in other departments that already report through the town administrator.
“It’s not an attempt by the Board of Selectmen to take over the Board of Health,” Sides told voters. He said the Board of Health would still interview candidates and recommend its preferred hire to the Selectmen for ratification. “No one is losing their job, no jobs are being eliminated, no duties and responsibilities are changing, nothing is eliminated, there is no pay change involved with the passage of this act.”
Board of Health Chair Brad Cronin, speaking on his own behalf, was the first to push back. He called Article 19 “a bad solution in search of a non-existent problem” and laid out five objections: that it would undermine the intent of state public-health law, erode public trust by introducing political influence, create ambiguity over who supervises the position day-to-day, expose the town to legal and personnel risk, and set a precedent for other independently elected boards. Cronin noted that boards of health handle communicable disease investigations, housing complaints, substance abuse matters, and other confidential health information. “Public health decisions should remain independent, professional, confidential and insulated from politics,” he said. “Article 19 moves Plympton in the opposite direction.”
Board of Health member Jared Anderson told voters the board had voted 3-0 to reject the article. He said the administrative assistant also performs clerk duties for the board, including preparing minutes, and that splitting the supervisory authority would create ambiguity and possible legal costs to defend the new structure.
Art Morin, a longtime Board of Health member, invoked the board’s work during the COVID-19 pandemic and stressed HIPAA protections. He warned that a future Board of Selectmen — not the current one — could be tempted to pressure an administrative assistant for confidential information. “We need the independence for the Board of Health to protect it,” he said.
Opposition was not confined to the Board of Health. Plympton School Committee Chair Jason Fraser said he opposed Article 19 just as he had opposed an earlier move to make the town clerk an appointed position. “We as departments do have autonomy and independence, and I would like to see it stay that way unless there’s a problem,” Fraser said.
Ethan Stiles, a member of the Board of Assessors, argued that elected boards are best positioned to evaluate the staff who serve them day-to-day. Resident Brian Carr, of Buttonwood Drive, urged voters not to overturn what he described as 154 years of Massachusetts precedent giving boards of health autonomy at the local level.
One resident spoke in support, citing past instances of what they described as unprofessional conduct by town-house staff that they said had not been corrected under the existing structure.
The moderator called for a voice and hand-card vote and declared the article defeated. No precise count was announced.
Before the budget vote on Article 4, Sides delivered a prepared statement from the Selectmen, Town Administrator, Town Accountant, and Finance Committee. He told voters Plympton had built another level-service budget — no expanded programs, no new spending unless mandated — and had again taken the budget to the legal Proposition 2½ levy limit. To close the remaining gap, the town drew on its general stabilization, or “rainy day,” fund.
Town Accountant Lisa Hart read the funding breakdown: $14,849,622 from the tax levy (raise and appropriate), $823,340 from general stabilization, $300,000 from the ambulance fund applied to EMS salaries, $147,000 from capital stabilization for police station debt, and $59,729 from free cash. The $16,179,691 total passed unanimously, clearing the two-thirds threshold required because of the general stabilization draw.
Sides was direct about what comes next. “Unfortunately, that is something of a one-time fix. We simply cannot afford to do this next year,” he said. “For next year, there is a very real possibility of needing a Prop 2½ override, unless overall fiscal conditions and or state aid change for the better.”
He noted that almost half of Massachusetts cities and towns are pursuing some form of Proposition 2½ relief this year. Plympton is not among them — yet.
Voters approved a $35,000 transfer from capital stabilization under Article 20 to fund a limited building assessment of Dennett Elementary School, including review of current building systems, overall infrastructure condition, and development of a repair or replacement schedule. School Committee Chair Jason Fraser moved the article, which passed unanimously without discussion.
Other capital and infrastructure approvals included $200,000 from capital stabilization for road construction, resurfacing, and topcoating (Article 11); $63,199 in lease payments for two highway department trucks and a police vehicles and radios package (Article 9); $9,895 for a Meteor 87-inch double-auger snowblower (Article 12); a multi-year lease-purchase for a police patrol vehicle (Article 14, requiring and clearing the two-thirds threshold); and a multi-year lease-purchase for a new Ford F-150 or similar for the fire department, with $14,000 for the first-year payment (Article 16).
Under Article 6, voters approved $17,000 from the Community Preservation Fund’s undesignated balance for the Recreation Commission to add a pickleball court at the existing Parsonage Road basketball court facility. The project also funds restoration of vandalized basketball hoops, new landscaping, parking area refurbishment, a small picnic area, and motion-activated security lights, with oversight reports to the Community Preservation Committee at least every two months.
Other articles approved without significant discussion included $39,000 for the FY27 financial audit (Article 7, from free cash); $10,000 added to the town buildings emergency maintenance account (Article 8, from free cash); $28,500 for information technology upgrades, including security software and hardware (Article 10, from free cash); $10,000 for fire department grant matching funds (Article 15, from the sale of town properties fund); $2,200 for bylaw codification (Article 17); $31,400 for the FY27 real and personal property recertification (Article 18); and authorization to accept and expend Chapter 90 state roadway funds (Article 13).
The Annual Town Meeting recessed after Article 19 so voters could take up two FY26 cleanup transfers. Both passed unanimously: $10,000 from free cash to the OPEB (post-employment benefits) account, and $10,000 from free cash to the unemployment budget line.