After reading an announcement on the Plympton’s Facebook page April 8 that the town would close the transfer station at the end of business on April 9 for a period of two weeks because of a health emergency that could not be discussed due to HIPPA regulations, cars and trucks poured into the transfer station Thursday morning, with the line of vehicles lined up Ring Road, as far as Crescent Street at one point in the morning, creating a traffic jam.
It didn’t take long for town officials and the Board of Health, to modify that order and by Thursday mid-morning decided that curtailed transfer station hours would be the better solution.
Chairman Joy was pleased with the quick response and praised Arthur Morin, chairman of the Board of Health and head of the transfer station attendees, for the new plan. The new transfer station hours will be Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Sundays, 9 a.m. to noon. It will no longer have Tuesday hours.
Morin told the board that the compactors will no longer be used and residents will toss bagged trash only into open top containers, leaving no need for anyone to touch any of the equipment at the Transfer Station. The office building remains closed to the public. “Now you can come in, drop your trash, and go,” Morin concluded.
Morin said that residents, perhaps in an attempt to be helpful, were touching the buttons, levers, and equipment, without protective gloves, not practicing social distancing, and were trying the doorknob to get into the office, despite signage stating not to. Morin said he took steps to protect the health and safety of workers at the transfer station.
The bottle redemption center is also closed, as they are throughout the state during this COVID-19 emergency, and the recycling compactors at the Transfer Station are closed for the present time.
Any recycling, glass, plastic, and paper now go in with the regular bagged refuse until the pandemic emergency is over and the Selectmen and Board of Health announce new protocols. Electronics, appliances, batteries, fluorescent light bulbs, will also remain closed.
Morin reported that he was notified that there are two additional COVID-19 positive cases in Plympton, raising the total, as of last Thursday, to four.
Plympton’s Board of Selectmen met via ZOOM Thursday evening, April 9, at 5:50 p.m. following an executive session at 5:30. All three selectpersons were in attendance, ready to tackle the town’s business on this new platform.
Chairman Christine Joy called the meeting to order and with the board acted on some housekeeping items from the posted agenda:
• Town Administrator Elizabeth Dennehy’s contract vote on March 2, 2020, was ratified. She will serve the town for another three years.
• Nathan Cristofori’s appointment as Special Police Officer that was voted on April 2, 2020, was ratified
• Arthur Morin, Jr., Chairman of the Board of Health and Cathy Ferguson, Board of Health Administrative Assistant, were voted as members of the Emergency Management Team on April 2. That vote was also ratified at Thursday night’s meeting, April 9.
Selectmen weighed the benefits of postponing the Annual Town Meeting from Wednesday, May 13 and the Annual Town Election from Saturday, May 16, to Wednesday, June 17, and Saturday, June 20, respectively. The board voted unanimously for the postponement, hoping that the COVID-19 pandemic crisis would have passed by mid – June.
After reading an annouJoy commented, “This is a very fluid situation … things change daily. People need to be aware that this is an unprecedented situation,” Joy said.
Selectmen will next meet on Thursday, April 16, at 5:30 p.m.