DUXBURY — Nov. 9, 2026 — The Duxbury Selectboard last Monday voted 5-0 to extend Johnson Golf Management’s contract to run North Hill Country Club for three more years, with the company paying the town $180,000 a year, or $540,000 in all. Members also heard the Nuclear Advisory Committee’s update on the decommissioning of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant.
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North Hill contract. The board awarded the North Hill management and concession contract to Johnson Golf Management in December 2023, with three optional years that the March 2024 Annual Town Meeting authorized under Article 13. The extension exercises those years, and the payments go to the town.
Recreation Director Steve Studley said that over the past three years, “I’ve never had more compliments on that golf course”. Studley called the extension “a no-brainer” based on the financials. Joe Eckstrom, director of operations for Johnson Golf, attended for the company.
Members raised water quality, fertilizer and water use at the course before the vote. Lab results read at the meeting reported nitrate as nitrogen at 3 milligrams per liter, against an EPA limit of 10 cited at the meeting. Chair Amy MacNab, attending virtually, suggested waiting a week or two to consult town boards or a consultant. Members instead approved the extension and agreed to hold a separate discussion on nitrogen and the town’s water, with the Board of Health asked to take the lead. The roll call was unanimous.
Nuclear Advisory Committee. Mary Lampert of the Duxbury Nuclear Advisory Committee said water in the Pilgrim reactor building is being evaporated and “is not monitored at the point of release”. Lampert described a Harvard School of Public Health study, now in a second phase, that is placing real-time monitors and collecting biological samples near the plant. Lampert said Holtec, the plant’s owner, has said it will not appeal in state court after the state ruled against discharging the water into Cape Cod Bay, and is weighing a federal appeal.
Lampert said a metallurgist is to speak on the integrity of spent-fuel canisters at the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel’s meeting on the 23rd at Plymouth Town Hall.
