By Mike Melanson
Express Correspondent
HALIFAX — Selectmen on Tuesday Aug. 12 met with new Fire Chief Jason Viveiros, who served as fire lieutenant in Sandwich, to discuss his first week on the job in Halifax.
As fire chief, Viveiros will serve on the traffic safety committee, local emergency planning committee community response coordinator, Holidays in Halifax, health insurance review committee, fire department study committee, and forest fire warden.
Selectmen Tuesday also voted to appoint Viveiros as emergency management director.
“I’m a busy man,” he said.
Viveiros said the fire department staff is exceptional and has been helpful. He said he will work to fill the ranks and on sheltering plans.
He said he planed to attend an emergency management meeting in Bridgewater Wednesday and do a school inspection next week.
“I’m doing great. Thank you for giving me this opportunity,” he said. “It’s been a busy week, a great week.”
Viveiros will be formally sworn in as chief on Monday Aug. 18 at 7 p.m. at the fire station, and the public is welcome to attend and meet the new chief.
He said he plans to attend the Triad health and wellness fair to be held Sept. 13.
Viveiros said his wife and he have put their house on the market and they are looking for homes in Halifax.
Selectmen Chairman Michael Schleiff said there are plenty of people in Halifax to help him and keep him busy.
“Every new job is back to school,” he said.
Selectman Kim Roy said Viveiros has a good support system in the fire department and captains.
“Everybody’s excited that you’re here,” she said.
Selectman Troy Garron said Viveiros would settle in.
“Welcome to the town of Halifax. I’m sure you’ll be a great fit.”
New COA board member
Selectmen on Tuesday voted to appoint Ellen Murphy to the Council on Aging.
Murphy has worked for a nonprofit organization, Mayflower RSVP Inc., a retired and senior volunteer program based in Plymouth, for 26 years, which has grown from a small to a statewide agency.
“I know the value of boards of directors. They can make or break an agency,” she said. “It’s rewarding to be a volunteer. It really is.”
Sunday morning alcohol sales
Town Administrator Charlie Seelig said that starting on Oct. 26, package stores in Massachusetts may open as early as 10 a.m. on Sunday, if allowed to do so by local liquor licensing authorities, under a new state law.
Selectmen were cool to the idea of letting package stores in Halifax open at 10 a.m. instead of noon, which is the local policy now, and declined to make a change, but welcomed comments or concerns from local businesses on the matter.
Garron said an earlier opening time is not necessary for customers.
“You have six-and-a-half days to buy your liquor in this town,” he said.
Roy said liquor stores should be closed all day on Sunday, but she also does not want to see Halifax package stores lose business if customers shop earlier in other towns.
“I wouldn’t want to hurt their business as well,” she said.
Seelig said one Halifax business person told him they do not want to open earlier on Sunday, but feel they have to or lose business.
Schleiff said a 10 a.m. Sunday start time would simply encourage people to drink earlier in the day.
“I think noon is ample, myself,” he said.
Dog hearing
Selectmen voted to send a letter to a Cranberry Drive dog owner after her dog escaped an electric fence after the batteries failed and attacked a dog being walked by a neighbor.
The board is ordering Tanya Bejarano of Cranberry Drive to keep her German Shepherd physically restrained or inside the house when no one is home, and to keep an eye on the dog when people are home and the dog is restrained by an electric fence.
On July 31, a neighbor was walking her Golden Retriever dog past Bejarano’s house when the German Shepherd went after the dog. Both dogs fought and were injured, and the woman who was walking the Golden Retriever fell, according to Animal Control Officer Noreen Callahan.
Garron said people need to care for their dogs.
“We don’t have dog problems. We have people problems,” he said.