Plymouth County Commissioner Candidates Discuss the Issues

Hanley (D), Nyman (D), O'Brien (R), and Valanzola (R) Compete for Two Open Seats on County Commission

(PLYMOUTH) – The four candidates who are running for Plymouth County Commissioner in next week’s General Election — incumbent Greg Hanley (D), who lives in Abington; Rhonda Nyman (D), of Hanover; Anthony O’Brien (R), of Brockton; and incumbent Jared Valanzola (R), who lives in Plymouth — discussed their respective candidacies last week, at a forum held at Plymouth Town Hall by the Plymouth Area League of Women Voters on October 24th.

The four candidates will compete on November 5th for two open seats on the Plymouth County Commission, the executive branch of Plymouth County Government.

County Government in New England and Massachusetts

Readers who hail from outside New England may not be aware of the relatively minor role of County government in New England compared to other parts of the country. In the New England states, the majority of governing responsibilities are divided between, on the one hand, municipalities (towns and cities), and on the other hand, state governments. Almost all of New England is divided up into municipalities (even Maine’s Unorganized Territory, where powers of local government has been assumed by the State of Maine, is platted into municipal divisions, even where those divisions have few, if any, permanent inhabitants; the primary exception in New England are gores, which are areas included in no town or municipality, often in an inaccessible and mountainous area). There is, to my knowledge, no County Land in New England, in the sense of land under the legal and political jurisdiction of the County as compared to the several Towns and Cities which constitute a County.

(Municipal divisions of New England; credit — Eric Bryant, CC By-S.A. 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/; )

In most of Massachusetts, County Government has been abolished, with County responsibilities divided between the state and the municipalities (Counties still exist as geographical expressions, and as the geographical unit through which the district and state courts are organized).

County government exists in the following Massachusetts Counties: Plymouth, Norfolk, Barnstable, Dukes, and Nantucket, where the Members of the Select Board of Nantucket sit in a separate capacity as the Commissioners of the County of Nantucket, which is coterminous with the Town of Nantucket. In Barnstable County, the Barnstable County Commissioners serve as the executive branch of the Cape Cod Regional Government. Plymouth County also has a Register of Deeds (John Buckley) and a County Treasurer (Tom O’Brien).

County government was abolished, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, in the following Massachusetts Counties: Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire, Hampden, Worcester, Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk. Then-Governor Bill Weld (R) made the argument for the obsolescence of County Government at the signing ceremony of a bill abolishing the government of Middlesex County on July 12th, 1997:

“Over the last three centuries, counties have become obsolete, inward-looking bureaucracies with dozens of departments and department heads that serve themselves and not the taxpayer,” said Gov. Weld.¹

This forms the background and context for county government in Massachusetts. The counter-arguments, especially as expressed in the Thursday night forum and elsewhere, are that the County is close to its communities and a responsible steward of public funds, with members of the Commission pointing particularly to funds distributed to the County by the Federal government under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES), passed in March, 2020. Both of these pieces of legislation came in response to the crises relating to the Covid Pandemic; under the CARES Act, Plymouth County received approximately $90 million, and approximately $101 million under ARPA. Defenders of the value of county government argue that this money was better distributed by the county than the state government.

The Plymouth County Commission’s receipt and disbursement of these funds was widely criticized at the time by both local and state officials (the Commissioners at the time included Commissioner Hanley (D), Commissioner Daniel Pallotta (R), of Pembroke, and Commissioner Sandra Wright (R), of Bridgewater).

“No other county in the state is attempting to administer this money and has determined that the Commonwealth is better situated to respond to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Although counties were technically allowed to apply for this money, we feel this should be reserved for other parts of the country where county governments are robust operations that routinely administer local affairs," Brockton Mayor Robert Sullivan (D) and then-Plymouth Town Manager Melissa Arrighi wrote in April, 2020, as reported at the time by Matt Murphy of the State House News Service (via WBUR).²

Criticism of the County’s insistence on receiving and distributing these funds during the spring of 2020 also extended to officials serving at the state-level. Then-State Rep. Claire Cronin (D-Easton. Note: while Easton is in Bristol County, former Rep. Cronin — to whom I am not related so far as I know — also represented portions of Brockton, which is in Plymouth County; she was later appointed by the Biden Administration as U.S. Ambassador to Ireland) wrote, in a letter that spring to the Commission, as reported by Marc Larocque of The Brockton Enterprise: “I am disturbed that Plymouth County has chosen to behave as an outlier in a time of crisis[.]”³

The decision on the part of the County to receive and distribute the CARES Act funds also drew criticism from the Administration of Governor Charlie Baker (R). According to Mr. Larocque’s story in The Brockton Enterprise, Massachusetts Secretary of Administration and Finance Michael Heffernan wrote, in an April, 2020, letter to the County, that “[t]his letter follows up on multiple conversations between Plymouth County and Commonwealth officials[.] These conversations represent an allocation of critical staff time during the COVID-19 surge, both for the county and for the commonwealth. Our goal is to quickly resolve the path forward so that we can plan accordingly and continue the commonwealth's work in governing the state through this public health crisis.”⁴

As will be discussed below, defenders of the County argue that it actually did a better job disbursing the money from the Act than the Commonwealth.

Making the Case for Their Candidacies

The moderator of the forum, Mary O’Connor, asked all four County Commissioner candidates the same opening question: “What makes you the best candidate for this job?”

(From Left: candidates for Plymouth County Commissioner Rhonda Nyman, Greg Hanley, Jared Valanzola, and Anthony O’Brien. Credit — the Local Seen.)

Hanover Selectwoman Rhonda Nyman (D), who served as the State Representative for the 5th Plymouth District (Hanover, Norwell, and Rockland) from 2011-2014, spoke about her past experience in relation to her candidacy.

“I have both public and private sector experience. I worked as the Chief Financial Officer for my family’s small welding and engineering company in Hanover, as well as having state, local, and county experience. I am a former state representative; I took over my late husband’s seat when he passed away as state representative, so the total together combined years of service as state representative has been over sixteen years,” said Selectwoman Nyman.

“So, as well as that, I am a current member of the Hanover Select Board, Vice Chair and past Chair of the Board, going on to my second term. I am an appointed member to the Plymouth County Advisory Board … we’re the legislative branch to the Plymouth County Commissioners. I am also the Government Affairs Officer at the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office, where I work on matters related to public safety, and I also have gained a lot of experience at each level of government, obviously, so I would just like to say I … actually have a unique ability to work across both sides of the aisle, I’m doing that now, as a Democrat I work in a Republican Administration [the office of Plymouth County Sheriff Joseph McDonald], and I do that on behalf of public safety and matters relative to that,” Selectwoman Nyman said.

County Commissioner Greg Hanley (D), who lives in Abington and is seeking reelection, likewise answered a question from moderator Mary O’Connor on his past experience in relation to the election.

“My experience, too, I guess has been pretty public. I served as a City Councilor in the City of Quincy at the turn of the century. I was also a Pembroke Selectman before; I’ve just finished twelve years as a County Commissioner. I’ve been appointed to the Board of Governors of Quincy College, and just retired after serving twelve years as their Chairman; we have a Plymouth campus right here. I’ve been a town administrator, and I’m currently the Dracut Town Manager, way up on the northern border of Massachusetts,” said Commissioner Hanley. [Note: I worked at Quincy College for a period when Mr. Hanley served on the Board of Governors.]

“Basically, how I got involved with this is because I was involved in my community, I’ve got four children, raised them in the City of Quincy and the Town of Pembroke, they’re now adult children and they’ve moved on, and I find that public service is something that I’ve always been subject to. I grew up in the housing development in the City of Quincy. My parents worked hard. My father was a veteran, but he was a pipefitter that worked out in Alaska, and we grew up in veterans’ preference housing, and I always felt the need to give back to my community, and that’s how it started,” Commissioner Hanley explained.

“And then you look at my career, in terms of what I’ve been able to do, I get a lot of satisfaction out of helping people, and I think that has lent itself to what we’ve done in the County since I took office twelve years ago,” he said.

Commissioner Jared Valanzola (R), who lives in Plymouth, described why, in his view, he is the best candidate for the job.

“What uniquely qualifies me is I — four months after my eighteenth birthday I was appointed to my school building committee, and for the last four years I’ve had the privilege of serving as a County Commissioner. I have unique experiences in both the public and private sector. I formerly worked in the State House for a State Senator as well as for a State Representative, and in those roles, as well as my role as a Commissioner and other elected and appointed roles I’ve held, both in Rockland — I am now a resident of Plymouth — has taught me, candidly, how to work bipartisanly with folks, and we’ve done that, and the results speak for themselves here in Plymouth County,” said Commissioner Valanzola.

“We’ve worked together to execute and deliver … nearly $200 million dollars in Covid relief funds. We’ve done that without fanfare, but we’ve done that through hard work and dedication. We’ve respected the taxpayers’ dollar. We’ve administered that for less than 1%. And we delivered more funds more quickly than like-sized communities outside Plymouth County received. That experience in these last four years has taught me how hard work, dedication, and commitment to doing the right thing is going to carry forward into the future,” he said.

“I’m running for reelection seeking your vote and your support to continue that good work of collaboration. We don’t make much noise anymore as a Commission. Our meetings are pretty routine, but we’re getting a lot of work done, and we’ve expanded so many programs that candidly for the last four years I have been able to work hard to execute, whether it be mobile integrated health or a food security program. I currently work in the private sector in sales in real estate and insurance, and that is what qualifies me the most to serve another term as your County Commissioner,” said Commissioner Valanzola.

Anthony O’Brien (R), of Brockton, who formerly served as a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy Seals, as well as in the Marine Corps, is likewise running for County Commissioner. He was elected as a County Commissioner in 2008, and served as a County Commissioner from 2009-2013. He answered Ms. O’Connor’s question.

“I’m a Dad of two — two boys, eleven years old and thirteen years old, who are my heart. I’m a military veteran, and since my military service, I spent twenty years … in government and non-profit boards helping in my community. I’m supported by hundreds of community leaders throughout the County and throughout the State. I’m running because I think the job can be done better,” said Mr. O’Brien.

“[In] a reelection campaign, the primary issue is the incumbent’s accountability, and the person that holds them accountable is the challenger. I’m not a career politician, with a priority for the people, not for self,” he added.

“Some of the problems in the last twelve years have been — Plymouth County Commissioners [are] a part time position. They’re supposed to attend one or two meetings per month; they’re called the County Selectmen, and yet the salaries have increased from $7,500 to $33,000; that’s a problem requiring a solution,” said Mr. O’Brien.

According to the Fiscal Year 2025 Plymouth County budget, the annual compensation for County Commissioners is $32,323.64.⁵ According to Plymouth County Administrator Francis Basler, “The salary was $28,258.47 in FY 2008 and then was decreased. After 17 years, the Advisory Committee voted a salary of $32,323.64 for FY 25,” he said via email. Review of the past budget for FY 2015, the earliest available on the County website, reveals a salary for Commissioners of $15,000; by Fiscal Year 2020, the salaries had increased to $22,500.⁶

Mr. O’Brien continued: “Another problem here in Plymouth is the Wood Lot. It was handled very unprofessionally. Please see the Plymouth Political Forum Facebook page, I’ve written an article about that very recently. Family members have been hired by the Plymouth County Commissioners; we all know that’s a problem,” he said.

“Regionalization is a problem, and not enough, as well as increasing revenue and increasing transparency. A common joke in the County is: what do they do? And that’s not public service leadership. Anthony O’Brien will solve these problems,” said Mr. O’Brien.

On The County Wood Lot

The disposition of the County Wood Lot, was also discussed at the forum. The Wood Lot, public property that is owned by the County behind Camelot Drive in Plymouth, and which was leased to Boston South Real Estate and Development for a three-year lease in 2022; that lease, however, is renewable by Boston South for a period of seventy years.

Boston South, which is associated with the O’Connell family of Quincy developers, attempted to — and failed dramatically at — persuading the people of Plymouth and her sister towns that a horse track/casino on the Wood Lot was in their interest, in the spring of 2022. Indeed, it was in no small part in opposition to this attempt by Boston South to build a casino/ race track that I started this publication, especially since I had, the prior spring, been involved in opposition to an organization with the same mailing address, though a different corporate name, from attempting to build a casino in Wareham, in a sensitive environmental area in the vicinity of Red Brook, one of the few remaining coastal brook trout (“coasters”) fisheries in southern New England.

With respect to the County Wood Lot, the Town of Plymouth voted, in a non-binding referendum in the May 2022 Town Election, against the siting of a horse track/casino on the Woodlot by 88% opposed to 12% in favor. This was similar to the margin at Wareham Town Meeting in 2021, where zoning changes in support of casino construction lost by 813 votes to 141 votes, or 85.2% to 14.7%.⁷

I attended the meeting of the Plymouth County Commissioners on March 31st, 2022, when the Plymouth County Commission voted to proceed in principle with a lease of the County Wood Lot to Boston South (the lease was actually signed that summer). The meeting was deeply troubling inasmuch as the dozens of members of the public present were not allowed by the Chair, Commissioner Sandra Wright, to address the body regarding a potentially momentous public decision for not only the County of Plymouth, but far more so for the Town of Plymouth [UPDATE, 11/1/24, 9:24 a.m. I should have noted, and I thank the reader who pointed this out, that Commissioner Wright is presently the Republican candidate for the 8th Plymouth District in the Massachusetts House of Representatives (Bridgewater and Raynham). She faces the Democratic nominee for the sea, Dennis Gallagher, of Bridgewater.]

The prerogatives of a chair with respect to public comment are described in the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law at Chapter 30A Sec. 20 (g) of the General Laws:

“No person shall address a meeting of a public body without permission of the chair, and all persons shall, at the request of the chair, be silent. No person shall disrupt the proceedings of a meeting of a public body. If, after clear warning from the chair, a person continues to disrupt the proceedings, the chair may order the person to withdraw from the meeting and if the person does not withdraw, the chair may authorize a constable or other officer to remove the person from the meeting.”

So while it is true that nothing in the law required the Chair to allow members of the public to speak, nothing prevented her from doing so, either; it was up to the discretion of the Chair. If Chair Wright had wanted to allow the public to comment — which, in a democracy, strikes me as being of no small importance — she had the power to do so. She chose not to.

I would also note here that, as I documented at the time, Commissioner Hanley, alone of the County Commissioners, agreed to speak with the assembled members of the public in the County Office’s basement, after the meeting had adjourned. And although I disagreed with his vote then and now, I do believe he deserves real credit for speaking with us and hearing our concerns that day, something which neither Commissioners Wright nor Valanzola did.

Moderator Mary O’Connor asked the candidates for their views on the County Wood Lot.

Commissioner Hanley answered first.

“So with respect to [the Wood Lot], the County has this asset, it’s a hundred acres…. It sits there vacant, so what we did is we put out an RFP [request for proposals], and there were seven respondents; six of them were housing folks, and the last one was an entertainment company that was looking at the idea of horse-racing [Boston South]. So when we unveiled the bid-opening, the Commissioners chose the horse-racing folks because they weren’t putting in horse racing, they were asking for permission to do due diligence, and they pay the County $150,000 a year to do their due diligence,” he said.

“When we had the public hearing on that, we adjourned abruptly in the middle of the meeting when there was a group of people from the Town of Plymouth that wanted to be heard, and they only had one representative. We didn’t have an opportunity to speak to them, so I had — on my own — went down and spoke at the request of [former Plymouth Selectman] Ken Tavares to give the people opportunity to speak on the matter,” said Commissioner Healey.

He noted that the casino/racetrack option was defeated at the polls in a non-binding referendum, but that the due diligence period for Plymouth South continues.

“At the end of the contract that we have with them, they’re going to have to make a decision, and no decision will be made in a vacuum, and no decision will be made without Plymouth being involved. In fact, the Town of Plymouth is directly involved in negotiations on trying to do something that will produce some sort of quality of life and revenue-generating use of that property, and we’re doing it in collaboration with the Town of Plymouth,” said Commissioner Healey.

Selectwoman Nyman answered the question regarding the Wood Lot next.

“So, I’m not a Commissioner, I’m just an Advisory Board Member … so I do know about the Wood Lot, I do know how Plymouth feels about the race track that wanted to go into the Wood Lot there, so certainly that wouldn’t be something that I would probably recommend, and I think we would all know a lot more about the Wood Lot if we could have … the County Commissioners’ meetings would be televised. I think residents, and everybody else, if they could be televised and put up on the website, so that we could learn a little bit more about that, that’s great,” she said.

“I would like to see — and I think … housing is really the number one issue for most folks. And it needs to be … affordable housing for folks. We did it in Hanover, we did a mixed-use type of thing, over at the Hanover Mall, it’s now called the Hanover Crossin[g], where we have mixed use residential and [commercial], so I think that might be something that I think would be a great fix for there,” said Selectwoman Nyman.

“I know there’s been talk about a convention center, and things like that, but certainly I would think that first and foremost, you would have to have the Town of Plymouth at the table before we start making any decisions about what we should do with the Wood Lot,” she added.

Mr. O’Brien answered the question on the Wood Lot.

“I definitely agree with Rhonda’s last comment about Plymouth being at the table, but very importantly, the citizens of Plymouth should be at the table. The Wood Lot’s a huge problem, and as Greg said, the citizens came to the meeting and they asked to speak and they were told no, you can’t speak. Then the Commissioners arranged for their next meeting, and a protest group was going to be legally protest[ing], and was going to come to the meeting, and quietly, and on short notice, the Commissioners changed the meeting from Plymouth to Brockton,” said Mr. O’Brien.

He noted that 88% voted against a casino when a non-binding referendum was placed on the ballot for the 2022 Plymouth Town Elections.

“I’ve studied this, and I’ve talked to folks in Town, including community leaders, and as the ballot said, they are opposed to it. The Commissioners signed a lease, and the County’s getting revenue for it, and as far as we know, nothing’s going on. We haven’t heard any updates at all,” said Mr. O’Brien.

“I have called for rescinding the lease — start over. Get a committee that includes the folks, and keep the best interests of the citizens of Plymouth and what they want as a top priority. Good government, for the people, do the job right — but, you can’t be disrespectful to the people,” he said.

Commissioner Valanzola replied last to the question.

“Let me say unequivocally, and let me correct a misconception: there will be no horse track, no casino or gambling, at the Wood Lot. That was taken off the table over a year-and-a-half ago. I made that presentation before a Plymouth Select Board meeting, I’ve made that presentation in the media, and that is still true today,” he said.

“As it relates to the public’s input, Mass. General Law Chapter 34 required us to hold, and we did hold, a public hearing on May 16th, 2022. The meeting was from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., we heard from dozens of residents in the Town of Plymouth…. People keep saying that we didn’t listen to the residents of Plymouth, we did listen to them – there is no horse track on the table. So that is — that is gone,” said Commissioner Valanzola.

“We also put out an RFP seeking entertainment. We did want to burden Plymouth public schools with more housing; we didn’t want to burden the Town with more housing,” he explained. Mr. Valanzola noted that as someone who now lives near the Wood Lot, that he is “very invested” in its disposition, and that disposition being in the public interest.

He noted as well that “The Select Board at the time voted to support that. [Note: The Select Board referred to occurred on March 29th, 2022. Voting in favor were Quintal, Cavacco, and Bletzer; voting in opposition were Flaherty and Helm; in the wake of the defeat of the casino question at the Town Election, the Select Board subsequently voted unanimously to state its opposition to a horse track, in June 2022.] We did bring them in. There was a meeting amongst the Select Board members and the legislative delegation right in the beginning. We have had multiple conversations with town leaders and residents, and I’m proud of the fact that unlike a lot of government entities, we did listen to the people of Plymouth, and we did act on that. They said no horse track, there will be no horse track,” he said.

Written Responses

I sent written questions by email to all four candidates. Mr. O’Brien, Commissioner Valanzola, and Commissioner Hanley responded. All three provided thoughtful, extensive, and compelling answers. I have excerpted portions of them below.

(Walling, Henry Francis, and H. (Hans) Koch. "Map of the county of Plymouth, Massachusetts : from actual surveys under the direction of Henry F. Walling." Map. Boston: D.R. Smith & Co., 1857. Digital Commonwealth, https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/x633fb89s (accessed November 01, 2024)).

Commissioner Valanzola explained why he is running for reelection.

“I'm running for re-election to continue to build on our effort of collaboration and cooperation with our member communities and the Commonwealth. We have been able to launch some exciting new programs in my first term, and I'm eager to foster the growth of those programs into a new term,” he wrote.

On the subject of what county government can provide that is distinct from municipalities and the state, Commissioner Valanzola pointed to the possibilities of regionalization.

“Plymouth County handles many regional services. We have our 4 H Extension program, which does great work promoting agriculture in the county as well as education on those matters. We have saved communities hundreds of thousands of dollars through our parking program, as well through our OPEB [Other Post Employment Benefits] Trust and regional procurement. While a lot of the items we handle aren't necessarily glamorous, they are nevertheless important and save our communities--and by extension, taxpayers--money,” wrote Commissioner Valanzola.

He also pointed to his work on other programs.

“We recently launched a pilot program for Mobile Integrated Health, which has already treated hundreds of people in their homes, and the Pond Resource Center. I want to see these programs through and ensure they receive the necessary support to grow and flourish,” he wrote.

He also once more ruled out horse racing and gambling on the Wood Lot.

“The County has entered into a lease agreement with Boston South Development and it is our responsibility to afford them the opportunity to do their due diligence and find a project that benefits the County of Plymouth, it's member communities, and the Town of Plymouth as a whole. There will be no horse racing or casino on that property, as I have stated multiple times in the press and at Plymouth Select Board meetings. But what will hopefully end up there is something the community can embrace as a hub for entertainment in the region,” wrote Valanzola.

Commissioner Hanley, in his written comments provided via email, spoke in depth about his time in office. He contrasted the County’s management of Federal funds with the Commonwealth’s.

“Plymouth County constructed a program of reimbursement in 7 Phases for the Plymouth County CARES Program which will provide much needed support to local communities impacted by the current public health emergency related to COVID-19,” he said.

“Contrast our program with the Commonwealth’s. They allotted money by community with really no guidelines other than the US Treasury rules for uses and reporting. The Commonwealth allotted lump sum distribution by community and created a bureaucracy that had a [3]7%overhead vs. The County’s 1% cost to administer. The[i]r program was so bad that the legislature quarantined the Governors program and access to funds,” Commissioner Hanley said.

Commissioner Hanley also pointed to his work during prior terms as a County Commissioner. He noted that, alongside Commissioner Pallotta, he had helped lead the County back from the brink of financial and political crisis, when its financial future and existence as a body politic was threatened.

“[B]oth Dan Pallotta and I had years of public service and were qualified to address the crisis because of our collective backgrounds in both the public and private sectors where financial management ability was critical to our success as business owners and were more qualified to manage our way through this temporary crisis. If the Charter Review Commission were to vote in favor of closing the County, that the entire debt obligation of Plymouth County government would fall at the feet of the member communities base[d] on their apportioned share and would become immediately due,” wrote Commissioner Hanley.

“Because of our due diligence, the Charter Commission was convinced to reject the notion of dissolution. Our administration had proven that absorbing that debt just was not a fiscal reality for most Plymouth County communities and the ballot initiative was defeated,” he said.

In addition, in “2018-2019, we maintained and modernized the Courthouses in Hingham Wareham, and the Brockton Superior Court. We opened 2 satellite Registry of Deeds offices in Rockland and Brockton and updated the Data systems and emergency generator at the Plymouth Registry of Deeds. We Built the new County offices on Obery Street after we acquired the property from Holtec as a post closure use of the building that was negotiated on County land after the closure of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant, and we allowed the Town of Plymouth to convert the historic old County Courthouse into what is now a beautiful Town Hall in historic Plymouth Harbor,” said Commissioner Hanley.

Anthony O’Brien took a different view. In comments provided via email, Mr. O’Brien emphasized his view that the proper role of a challenger is to hold the incumbents accountable.”

“The top issue in a reelection campaign is the incumbent's record. It is the only time for accountability of their record, mistakes, and failures. Challengers have to lead the effort for that accountability. If we do not have that then there's no sense i[n] running challengers at all,” Mr. O’Brien continued.

He decried what he called a “lack of transparency” on the part of the County Commission, noting that, as of the writing of the email earlier this month, on October 8th, “meetings [are] not recorded, meetings [are] not live stream[ed], meetings [do] not allow public comment[.]” According to the discussion at the League of Women Voters Forum in Plymouth, meetings of the Commision have begun to be recorded, but those recordings have yet to be uploaded to YouTube.

The incumbent will try his best to spin issues in their favor. The voters will decide,” said Mr. O’Brien.

He was likewise unsparing in his criticism of regionalization efforts.

“For many years (for Commissioner Hanley it’s 12 years in this office) it’s been asked Why don’t commissioners do more for regionalization of government services like other counties? Hanley and others make election year promises (Google search) but almost nothing happens year after year after year,” he said.

He turned again to the Wood Lot.

“Everyone who knows Plymouth even a little knew the town was and remains opposed to development on this property. Commissioners must know their ‘Shiretown,’ aka the host of the county headquarters and namesake town of Plymouth [C]ounty (and its government). Yet the Commissioners made an agreement with a developer prioritizing County Revenue without considering or knowing (should have known) significant input from the town while a development plan may be created which obviously disrespects the town. To most w a small amount of political, teamwork, and leadership knowledge, that is obviously unacceptable. I’ve discussed this with elected and non elected leaders in Plymouth, most want mostly Open Space with possibly 1-2 small needed municipal projects. I’m open to all ideas but the town’s best interests, desires and respect must be a top priority,” he said.

Mr. O’Brien spoke, in addition, to the issue of public participation.

“When I was a Commissioner [from] 2009-2013 and Chairman I allowed and encouraged public comment in our meetings which was right and appreciated. Proper Public service leadership must demonstrate exactly that: proper public service leadership,” he said.

The General Election will be held on Tuesday, November 5th.

1. Frank Phillips, “The ax falls on Middlesex County”, The Boston Globe, July 12th, 1997. https://bostonglobe.newspapers.com/image/441925756/.

2. Matt Murphy, “Brockton Mayor Sides With State In Battle With Plymouth County Over Coronavirus Relief Funds,” WBUR.com, April 30th, 2020. https://www.wbur.org/news/2020/04/30/brockton-mayor-plymouth-county-relief-funds.

3. Marc Larocque, “Brockton mayor tells county to hand over reins of $90 million coronavirus fund,” The Brockton Enterprise, May 3rd, 2020. https://www.enterprisenews.com/story/news/local/2020/05/03/brockton-mayor-tells-county-to/1254656007/.

4. Ibid.

5. Plymouth County FY 2025 Budget, p. 8.

6. See Plymouth County Budgets of 2015 and 2020.

7. Chloe Shelford and Madison Czopek, “Controversial ‘Hospitality District’ defeated at town meeting,” The Wareham Week, April 10th, 2021. https://wareham.theweektoday.com/article/controversial-%E2%80%98hospitality-district%E2%80%99-defeated-town-meeting/52544.