PLYMOUTH, MA—Fire Chief Ed Bradley wore a pained expression during Fall Town Meeting's debate over a proposal to borrow $675,000 for a replacement pump truck for the Bourne Road station, as representatives haggled over the need and the price tag.
"The town of Plymouth firefighters are willing to risk their lives for you every day; all I ask is that they have safe equipment," Bradley said.
It was a seminal moment for the largest town in the commonwealth that is having trouble keeping up with the high cost of infrastructure maintenance and service demands in general. A caved in roof at Fire Station 1 headquarters during a repair led to a forced evacuation of fire personnel last week.
Many realized that Bradley isn't kidding when he says he needs something.
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Bradley had requested the roof repair 10 years ago, but he said lack of staffing and funds blocked that repair, leading to the catastrophic situation the headquarters is in now. Bradley declared that his staff is living in squalor in the building, and spending more money repairing it is a waste of taxpayer money, because the structure is too small to accommodate personnel.
Town Meeting convened Saturday at Plymouth North High School, and voted on supplemental budget and capital requests as well as zoning and other proposals.
Precinct 10 Rep. Alan Costello wanted to know how much the new pump engine would cost, including the borrowing price. Finance Director Lynne Barrett said that five-year borrowing would add $102,000 to the cost, while a 10-year loan would add $185,000 to the cost.
Precinct 12 Rep. Bill Abbott said Bradley is one of the most credible officials in Plymouth. When Bradley says he needs something, he does, Abbott said, noting that climate change is going to lead to more fires and the need for this apparatus.
Bradley explained that the existing pump truck dates to 2004, has sections that are severely rotted and is not going to last much longer, which would put the southern sections of town at risk.
In the end, Town Meeting voted in favor of this and other capital requests with a vote of 100 to 19.
Approved requests include $140,000 for new floats and gangways for Plymouth Harbor as well as $130,000 on a nutrient study to determine whether it is environmentally safe and feasible to divert up to 1.5 million gallons of treated effluent currently being discharged into Plymouth Harbor daily from the wastewater treatment plant to infiltration beds behind the plant.
With much of the funding sourced from the Environmental Affairs Fund and the Waterways Account, Town Meeting also approved $77,000 for engineering and permitting to repair the Jenney Pond Dam and $101,000 to pay for the engineering plans to dredge Jenney Pond, $75,000 to remove sediment from the Holmes Dam project, $75,000 for a new harbormaster boat and $28,977 for a Savery Pond Watershed study.
Representatives also approved $85,000 for another cremation chamber for Vine Hill Crematory and $66,838 to replace an irrigation system at the Manomet Recreation Area.
Earlier, Costello made a motion to amend the $253,000 for requested supplementary expenses for the Maintenance Division, by adding another $180,000 to it for three new positions. Facilities Manager Wayne Walkden says the department is understaffed and underfunded and in need of a foreman, electrician and plumber to help keep the town's 32 buildings maintained properly to prevent catastrophic damage. Critics say Plymouth's lack of maintenance planning is to blame for costly damage to buildings like the fire headquarters.
Walkden recently went before the Select Board with his proposal to plan for future maintenance to save the town money, rather than continue to react to crises.
When asked if the additional funding would truly create the three new maintenance positions, Town Manager Melisssa Arrighi explained that she would have to bargain the positions with the unions first, but said she would make every effort to fulfill the intent of Town Meeting regarding this amendment.
When some Town Meeting members objected to the amendment on the grounds that the request hadn't gone through the appropriate channels first, Precinct 5 Rep. Patricia McCarthy objected.
"We just can't keep waiting on these issues," McCarthy said. "Wayne has presented the plan. If you watched his presentation, you would get it. We need the positions. I trust Wayne and his staff. Waiting is what Plymouth likes to do until things get worse."
In the end, the vote to add the $180,000 to create the three new positions was approved unanimously.
Other proposals that received a thumb's up include a proposal to petition Massachusetts General Court for special legislation to allow retired police officers to work police details. Police Chief Michael Botieri explained that his department cannot cover the weekly requests for police details and noted that the change would have no impact on taxpayers with the retired officers paying for their own uniforms and any training. Some Town Meeting members argued that flaggers are just as effective at directing traffic while others argued that flaggers are nowhere near as effective, are ignored and lack the emergency training. Town Meeting voted 100 to 17 in favor of this proposal.
Town Meeting also voted in favor of using $1 million in CPA funds to pay down the debt on the 1820 Courthouse project, reduce $1 million in borrowing for restoration work on the façade of the Mayflower Meeting House at Town Square, to and to approve $475,000 in CPA funds to refurbish the Oak Street School to create three restricted affordable housing units, $850,000 to buy 53 acres of land off Roxy Cahoon Road to protect the town's drinking water supply and $35,000 in CPA funds to refurbish the Town of Plymouth Bell.
Town Meeting voted in favor of transferring the care and custody of a 23.8 acre parcel off Rocky Pond Road taken in tax title to the Conservation Commission for conservation purposes.
A plan to allow qualifying studio and one-bedroom accessory apartments in all residential and mixed use zones as of right died on Town Meeting floor with a vote of 72 to 49, one vote shy of passing, since it required two-thirds approval. And a proposal to amend the town's zoning bylaws to allow marijuana stores in highway commercial districts was also denied with a vote of 55 to 61 in opposition – another two-thirds bar that was not cleared. (See related stories).
Town Meeting also voted to accept an update of the Plymouth Center/Waterfront Master Plan.
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