July 10, 2025 By Carol Britton Meyer
The month of July will be an especially busy one for the Hingham Select Board.
In their role as water commissioners, the board will hear an update on the “current state of the water company” on Tuesday, July 15, at 5 p.m., prior to their regular board meeting at 6 p.m.
Discolored water issue addressed
“We are frustrated with the recurrence of discolored water being reported by residents. The town administrator and water superintendent have been tasked to work with the system operator, Veolia, to present a plan to the water commissioners that will mitigate the frequency of discolored water,” Select Board Chair William Ramsey told the Hingham Anchor.
Ramsey has also asked that the town’s capital improvement plan be revised and updated to expedite the rate at which aged lines are being replaced in the system. “Many of the lines are almost 100 years old. I am hopeful a proactive plan can be implemented to make improvements,” he said.
Country club pool update
The agenda for the July 15 select board meeting will include an update on the South Shore Country Club pool and a discussion about plans to add a ferry stop on the 220 bus route in the downtown area “as a way to get people from the ferry to downtown Hingham,” according to Ramsey.
With regard to the pool, “We’re very close to resolving the [final details] of the pool litigation [settlement agreement] and will discuss hiring an OPM (Owner’s Project Manager) for the project,” he said. “We hope to have the bid responses by the end of the month or early August” for the outdoor pool complex.
Once the bids are in, the latest cost estimates will be available to determine whether they are within the appropriated funding for the new pool. “If not, we will have to reassess and consider a value-engineered project, staying within the scope,” Town Administrator Tom Mayo said in June during a project update.
April 2022 Town Meeting appropriated an amount not to exceed $8 million for the town-owned pool facility — including $550,000 in Community Preservation Act funds — and there is still some leftover design money available, according to Ramsey.
He told the Hingham Anchor that he personally believes “we should honor the will of the voters [and stick with that figure].”
The Hingham Anchor also inquired about the cost to the town of the pool litigation over the past few years and is awaiting a response.
In addition to construction of the pool, there are also landscaping and parking plans to implement. “We’re getting really close,” Ramsey said.
Citizen input sought on Center for Active Living project
The July 22 select board meeting — joint with the Center for Active Living Building Committee — will feature an initial presentation on the proposed new CAL by the design team. “We want to get the word out about where we are at with this project and show the proposed layout,” Ramsey said. “This will be no means be the final plan, but we want to hear what citizens like and don’t like about it and go from there.”
The intent of the meeting is to introduce the plans to the community and solicit input from the public.
Go to https://www.hingham-ma.gov/1080/Center-for-Active-Living-Building-Projec for further details.
All meetings will be hybrid — both in-person and on Zoom, with public comments accepted in both formats. Go to the town website calendar for full details.
Public safety facility ribbon cutting ceremony, Aug. 4
The board is also looking forward to the Monday, Aug. 4, public safety facility ribbon cutting ceremony at 9:30 a.m. Public tours of the building will be available to residents during August.
For information about the project, go to https://www.hingham-ma.gov/886/Public-Safety-Facility-Building-Committe
Aug. 7, Purple Heart ceremony
Another ceremony is planned for Thursday, Aug. 7 at 3 p.m. in Sanborn Auditorium at Town Hall on the occasion of Hingham becoming a Purple Heart Community. “This has been a long time coming,” Ramsey said.
Hingham Veterans’ Services encourages residents who earned a Purple Heart during their time in the service or with a family member who lived in Hingham that earned a Purple Heart to contact HVS so they can be added to the town’s distinguished list of Purple Heart recipients.
Call Hingham Veterans’ Services at (781) 741-1440, email veteransservices@hingham-ma.gov, or forward a copy of the discharge papers (DD214) to the HVS office located at Hingham Town Hall, 210 Central St.
Last December following an update to the select board by the Veterans’ Council, Hingham High School junior Henry Buckley — son of veteran John Buckley and the grandson of a Purple Heart recipient, Frederick J. Sheehan — advocated for the town to seek designation as a Purple Heart Community by the Military Order of the Purple Heart (MOPH).
The Purple Heart is awarded to those wounded or killed while serving in the United States military.
Communities interested in being so designated are required to write a proclamation explaining why they are seeking this designation. The statements are then filed with the MOPH for review. Once the designation has been made, there’s typically a small ceremony to make it “official,” which is happening on Aug. 7.
The entire community is invited to attend both events.