A Closer Look at Norfolk County Govt.

By Guest

By Norfolk Commissioner Richard Staiti

It has been my distinct honor to represent you as a Norfolk County Commissioner these past five years. As one of our three county commissioners, and the only one to hail from Canton, I would like to take a moment to highlight some of the great things the county is doing for our town and our region.

Richard Staiti

Over a dozen students from Canton are currently attending Norfolk County Agricultural High School in Walpole. As an educator, I can tell you that this unique, student-centered vocational experience is a tremendous opportunity for our young people to learn about plant and animal science, agricultural mechanics, and environmental science.

As Aggie School trustees, we have worked hard to keep tuition rates low for in-county students. Canton pays $5,501 per student, which is an 83 percent discount compared to the $31,241 charged for out-of-county students. That’s a $300,000 savings that can be used for the Canton Public Schools. Norfolk Aggie is also an incredible value when compared to the other vocational school in our area, Blue Hills Regional, which currently charges $27,244 for in-district students.

A few years ago, the commonwealth moved on from providing inspections of weights and measures for our town. Fortunately, Norfolk County stepped up and was able to build a regional program to fulfill this simple but important function, ensuring that every gas pump, deli scale, and check-out scanner in town gives the consumer the right amount of products at the price advertised. The next time you are getting gas for your car or perhaps deli meat at a store in Canton, look for the county seal! It’s just one example of an essential service we can deliver on a more cost-effective basis. Several other towns are ready to sign up, and soon we will be serving over one-third of the county.

Another example of a regional service offered through the county is our Rides for Veterans program, which utilizes our Retired & Senior Volunteers (RSVP) to provide local vets with transportation to/from medical appointments and other necessary trips. Veterans who are hospitalized can also receive hand-knit lap robes as well as assistance with their online medical records portal thanks courtesy of RSVP volunteers.

Over the past several years, Norfolk County has also successfully managed over $137 million in federal COVID relief funding through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). Working with County Treasurer Michael Bellotti, we oversaw a program to distribute those funds through 159 grants that ensured all federal guidelines were followed to the letter. We are proud to report that we had the lowest administrative costs of any county unit of government, which resulted in even more money for our cities and towns. To date, not a single dollar of ARPA money has been clawed back by the federal government, and every dollar awarded to the county will be spent by the end of the program deadline.

Through the county ARPA program, the town of Canton received over $4.485 million to help address several vital infrastructure improvements, including repaving of Washington Street (downtown to Stoughton line); replacement of elementary school ventilators; design services for the Revere Museum of Discovery & Innovation; improved filtration systems for the town’s two water treatment plants; remote monitoring equipment for the town’s sewer pump station; replacement of the Elm Street culvert retaining wall; replacement of defibrillators in town buildings; walkway and parking improvements at the Hemenway Housing complex; purchase of standby generators for the Fire Department and DPW and an emergency generator for the Health Department’s vaccine refrigerator; and funding to support website and social media development for local small businesses.

We have also been overseeing a multi-year program that will distribute over $212,000 in grant funding to address the opioid epidemic in Norfolk County cities and towns. These monies have been used to supplement educational and prevention measures county-wide, and Canton has received two rounds of funding. I was also able to direct funding from this program to support the CFD’s whole blood mobile, which greatly increases the chances of survival for our friends and neighbors in the event of a horrible accident.

At my direction, we have been reforming and refining service delivery from our unit of government. This process began with an operational analysis, the first of its kind for any county government, which provided a blueprint for efficiencies and best practices. We have achieved almost all of the goals recommended by that effort, from the centralization of human resources and introduction of a new modern personnel handbook to the consolidation of technology into a single department managed by a chief information officer. We have implemented electronic tools like building management systems to save money on utilities and created careful capital plans to rehabilitate and maintain our courthouses and other buildings.

Finally, I would like to correct the record on a number of misstatements made in an op-ed that appeared in the April 23 edition of the Citizen. I am very proud of the state-of-the-art solar project we have at the Norfolk Agricultural School. The Hilltop array will allow for grazing of small animals and a seed mix that encourages and supports pollinators. The Fisher Street array will be a fully Agricultural (Ag) Solar system that will allow for continued haying and the future planting of additional crops underneath the panels. This system will be managed in collaboration with the UMass Clean Energy Extension and provide meaningful educational opportunities for our students. It has been said that we are clearing 30 acres of trees for this project. That is false. As seen in many public presentations and on our website, we are clearing less than 10 acres of scrub brush and small trees as well as five acres of older trees that were planted many decades ago with the intention of harvesting.

The solar project will have a minimal impact on the more than 300 acres of land at Norfolk Aggie. However, the additional revenue generated by the arrays will result in a stable source of income to help offset rising costs as well as decreasing federal and state aid over the next decade.

Finally, I would be remiss if I did not remind everyone of our latest grant to the town of Canton for their innovative and lifesaving blood transfusion program. Working with former Fire Chief Wendell Robery, the county awarded a small grant to help maintain the temperature of the blood as it is transported in the ambulance to the victims of any accident. This is an innovative and cutting-edge program, with the town of Canton at the forefront. Certainly, this alone was an important grant by the county and has already helped save many lives in the process!

I am proud of the work we are doing as commissioners of our county government. I am grateful for the strong support I receive from folks who may not fully understand what we do, but who take the time to have meaningful conversations with me about how the county can deliver exceptional services to our cities and towns.

With ever-increasing cuts at the federal level placing more and more strain on our state budget, Norfolk County is positioned to have a more active role in regional services in the years to come.

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