Plymouth Town Meeting should vote yes on [the Oct. 18 Town Meeting] warrant article 26. This article urges the Select Board to prohibit town employees from working for the private Plymouth Foundation. Although the town moderator has ruled the article “out of order” attempting to prohibit a vote, that ruling can be overruled with a two-thirds vote of Town Meeting members. A Town Meeting member will make a motion at Town Meeting to overrule the moderator so that Article 26 can be put to a vote.
Town employees such as the town manager, town planner and others work for the Plymouth Foundation while also owing a duty of loyalty to the taxpayers. The Foundation refuses to comply with the Open Meeting Law.
The Foundation is involved in sand mining. For example, the Select Board sold the land at 71 Hedges Pond Road to the Foundation for $1. Using town resources, the Foundation surveyed, marketed and sold the land for $3.4 million for sand mining and development. The Foundation and the Town had a similar sand mining arrangement for what is now 103 Hedges Pond Road. The Zoning Board of Appeals gave the Foundation two sand mining permits for 103 Hedges Pond Road.
The Town Moderator ruled Article 26 “out of order” because he does not like warrant articles that express the “views” of the people. Voters should be able to express their views to their elected officials like the Select Board through Town Meeting. Most towns allow these types of articles. In 2021, the Wareham town moderator in 2021 allowed a similar warrant article “urging” the Select Board to act on sand mining. It passed almost unanimously. Plymouth deserves the right to have a vote, too.
I urge the Town Meeting representatives to approve the motion to overrule the town moderator and vote yes on Article 26.
– Margaret Sheehan
Sheehan is a co-founder and board member of the nonprofit Community Land & Water Coalition.