Oct. 19, 2026 — Republican Anthony O’Brien and Democrat Rhonda Nyman, candidates for one Plymouth County commissioner seat, both called the process used to hire the county’s new administrator flawed at a WATD forum Monday. O’Brien said he hopes the courts overturn the hire; Nyman said the county Advisory Board was kept in the dark. O’Brien also attacked Nyman’s record, which she defended.
The Full Story
O’Brien described himself as a military veteran and a “common-sense Republican.” He said he served as a county commissioner from 2009 to 2013 and defeated the incumbent in the primary. Nyman said she is a former state representative for Hanover, Norwell and Rockland and a former Hanover Select Board member who most recently worked as government affairs liaison at the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office.
County administrator hiring
Monday Night Talk host Kevin Tocci asked whether the commissioners’ hiring of a new county administrator was appropriate and transparent, saying two county employees were later dismissed to free up money for the administrator’s salary. Nyman said she felt the process was flawed and that the higher salary was never advertised and was set after the hire. She said the Advisory Board, on which she said she served while on the Select Board, was never informed, and that a later Advisory Board meeting with the commissioners was not taped or broadcast.
The advisory board was left in the dark through this whole process.
— Nyman 17:03
O’Brien said the process was flawed and the hiring “was wrong.”
I’m hoping that the court cases overturn the entire action and they start all over from the beginning to include the contract and the hiring.
— O’Brien 8:21
Nyman’s record
O’Brien called Nyman a “career politician” who would be a “go-along, get-along, liberal Democrat” siding with the commission’s Democratic member. In his opening, he said her “failed leadership” in Hanover cost the town federal COVID money, that as a state representative she failed to increase the county’s registry of deeds income, and that “those and other problems” led to her defeat.
Nyman said she is her own person, citing her stand on ARPA funding in Hanover, and later said Hanover “did well” with ARPA and CARES Act money. Responding to what she called O’Brien’s accusation that she had called the new administrator her “good friend,” she said she never said so and that he might have her confused with the outgoing Commissioner.
O’Brien said working on an issue and “getting it done are two different things,” repeating that ARPA money was lost in Hanover.
Deeds revenue, audits and town budgets
Nyman said 90 cents of each dollar goes to the state and 10 cents to the county, and that she would ask legislators to file a bill to change that. O’Brien said the county’s 10% share of registry of deeds fees needs to be increased and is “supposed to be 40%”. When Nyman asked what he did as a commissioner to raise it, O’Brien said a sitting state representative had more opportunity than he did.
Asked about a broader audit of county government, O’Brien said annual financial audits are already required and called himself a strong advocate for an operational or performance audit. Nyman said audits are expensive and she would want more information first, though she would not oppose one.
On struggling town budgets, Nyman said the county has no structural deficit and a $3.5 million stabilization fund, and called for continual outreach to towns on needs such as water quality and PFAS. O’Brien said shared water, trash or electrical services have been discussed but warned the county has limited resources and should not “get too far over our skis.”
Commissioner pay and hours
O’Brien said his primary-season criticism of commissioners’ hours relied on a media investigation he later found “flawed and incomplete.” He put the workload at roughly 20 hours a week and said the pay “would appear” more appropriate. Nyman said she would work “as much as it takes” and said pay should be comparable to other county commissioners and the county’s size. She said that as an Advisory Board member she voted against a budget over a commissioners’ raise.
