The Plympton Board of Selectmen met in-person on June 26. As he has done in the past, Selectman John Traynor brought forth the issue of changing the name of the Board of Selectmen to the Select Board. “I saw a Boston Globe article that said we are now at about 100 towns that have either made the renaming or not all of them are not yet official, but they are in progress. And I just think it’s going to happen, I would just like to see this Board approve it,” Traynor said. Selectman Mark Russo said that he still was not in favor of the renaming. Selectman Christine Joy said, “I don’t really care about keeping up with everyone else; I like the name Board of Selectmen. I actually find it very empowering to be on the Board of Selectmen and I just think I’m not ready to make the change yet.” Traynor said, “That’s alright, I’ll just keep bringing it up.”
The Selectmen voted to allow a one-time increase to the cost-of-living adjustment granted to retirees for FY23. Town Administrator Liz Dennehy recommended the adjustment.
Dennehy also provided a Town Administrator’s update saying, “we have been very busy trying to close out FY 23 and also beginning the preparations for FY24. She told the Selectmen there were a number of items in correspondence.
Dennehy said that Upland Road Solar is changing ownership entities. She said that there would be a lot of documentation associated with that and recommended that the Board vote to allow Joy to act on behalf of the entire Board. The documents would still appear before the entire Board for approval once finalized. The Selectmen voted to authorize Joy to work with the Town Administrator and Legal Counsel regarding all documents pertaining to Upland Road Solar with the understanding that the finalized documents would come back before the full Board.
Dennehy also told the Selectmen that she had a request from the Library for use of town property. The Library was requesting the use of the Deborah Sampson room in the Town House for estate planning on July 18 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The Selectmen voted to approve.
Highway Superintendent Rob Firlotte met with Dennehy to discuss several roads that will be undergoing work. Dennehy said that Elm St. would be getting paved from Main St. to Winnetuxet Rd. and West St. She also said that Main St. would be getting a binder course to bring it back up to grade from roughly 149 Main St. to Ring Rd. “As the time gets closer, we’ll put stuff out on social media if we need to,” Dennehy said.
Dennehy further told the Selectmen that she received a memo from the Board of Health, who had contacted Webby Engineering to look at the elevations between the Fire Department and the Library. She said the hope was that the current Fire Station could tie into the Library septic system, but they were told it was not feasible. She said she would be sending the results of the study to the Town Properties Committee.
The Selectmen ended their evening with their raves for the last few weeks. Joy said her rave was for the screening committee responsible for bringing forth three excellent candidates for the position of Fire Chief. She announced that earlier that evening, the Selectmen had voted unanimously to appoint Captain Cheryl Davis as Plympton’s next Fire Chief. For his rave, Russo said, “It is a great pleasure to me that the little town of Plympton would have a woman Fire Chief.” Traynor said, “My rave is for the Assistant Assessor Wendy Jones. I’m sad to see her leaving; I think she’s done a great job. We’re losing a critical resource – I’m sorry to see her go.” Traynor also noted her excellent work on the complicated subject of solar and said that she would still be assisting with that in some capacity during the transition.