Whitman-Hanson Express

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School Repairs Eyed

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HANSON — Selectmen have some homework to do as they weigh options for a second statement of interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) by April 8.

The board will vote March 15 on their options, such as whether or not they support expansion at either Indian Head or Hanson Middle School, to replace the crumbling Maquan School. School Committee members will vote March 16.

The first SOI — the district is allowed two — would be a resubmission of the Maquan replacement core project proposal, which was not funded in the last round of MSBA grants. One SOI must be identified as the primary, or priority project and the other as a secondary.

School officials provided selectmen with 10 options to consider. Selectmen seemed to prefer an expansion of the middle school with the intent to weigh the options carefully. Hanson Middle School’s septic system is designed for 700 students, and currently serves 414. Indian Head School will need work in any case.

“This is a great start,” Selectmen Chairman Bruce Young said of the presentation. “This is exactly what we’re looking for. We appreciate all the work you’ve done on this.”                                                                                                                                              Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner said that, according to MSBA, Maquan has to be the primary as “it’s the one that needs the most work.” In 2012, a new Maquan was priced at $36.4 million with Hanson’s share put at $17.8 million.

An addition to Indian Head to create a pre-K to grade five school was estimated at $52.7 million in 2012 with Hanson’s share put at $26.3 million. The new pre-K to grade five school building option voted down was estimated at $53 million in 2012.

“Any option is possible,” Gilbert-Whitner said. “You need to let us know which you think is the option that will be best supported by your town, because I don’t think we want to go through what we went through again.”

MSBA does not support renovation of Maquan School, a decision made during the last school building process that voters rejected.

School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes and W-H Regional School District officials — Gilbert-Whitner, Facilities Director Ernest Sandland, Director of Business Services Christine Suckow and School Committee member Fred Small, who also chairs the board’s facilities subcommittee — met with selectmen on the matter Tuesday, March 8.

“Since we last met with you, we felt it was important that we do some data collection and come back to you with some information that may be helpful in trying to decide how we’re going to move forward,” Gilbert-Whitner said. “The first thing we did is we really looked at the spaces we currently have.”

She noted that some residents had asked if pupils could be moved out of Maquan into one or both of the other schools. A tour of both Indian Head and HMS, as well as conversations with both schools’ principals showed each building could absorb only one grade level.

“We tried to determine, if we did nothing, what would our spaces look like?” she said. “If we had to move students out of [Maquan], what kind of spaces would we need?”

While grade five could move to HMS, allowing grades one and two could be moved to Indian Head, it would still leave 160 kindergarten and integrated preschool pupils to be placed. The 52 Whitman preschoolers, attending the Maquan program either due to special needs or paid tuition, would have to be moved back to a school there. The pre-K program is currently at Maquan for space and cost-saving considerations.

Space leased at Maquan by the Pilgrim and North River special education collaboratives is on a year-to-year basis as space is available.

Any addition at HMS would have to be made on the side near the library. A separate entrance would be designed if an early learning center for kindergarten and preschool classrooms were moved to that building.

Among the 10 options selectmen are considering: build a pre-K/kindergarten school to replace Maquan; build a pre-K to grade five school (the project that failed; move grade five to HMS and build a pre-K to grade four school; renovate or add on to Indian Head as a pre-K to grade five school; renovate or add on to Indian Head as a pre-K to grade four school, which would require a retrofit Indian Head for little kids and some asbestos and lead paint abatement; renovate or add on to HMS; renovate Indian Head for pre-K/kindergarten; or add portable classrooms to Indian Head for pre-K/kindergarten.

“Cross that off,” said Selectman Kenny Mitchell about portables. “I was there in the mid-’80s.”

Suckow said portables are better now but more expensive, costing $250,000 for a 10-year solution.

The feasibility study done for the rejected school project gives the town a head start on a feasibility study for any option Hanson chooses this time.

WHITMAN —Approaching annual town meetings, school repairs are very much on the minds of town officials in both Whitman and Hanson, especially roof projects at Whitman’s Duval Elementary School and at Hanson’s Maquan Elementary School.

W-H Regional School District officials — Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner, Director of Business Services Christine Suckow, Facilities Director Ernest Sandland and School Committee member Fred Small, who also chairs the board’s facilities subcommittee — met with building committees in both towns on Thursday, March 3.

They presented Whitman’s Buildings, Facilities and Capital Expenditures Committee with a five-year plan of facilities needs at Whitman and region school buildings listed in order of need. The Duval roof topped that list. High school capital projects are apportioned based on student population.

“I don’t think we can vote on a single thing until we get this huge picture … this is overwhelming this year,” Finance Committee Chairman William Capocci said about a proposal to update Town Hall records storage after the school presentation. He said right now there are almost $900,000 in requests from the schools. The Fire Department has 17 articles totaling more than $800,000, the Police Department has six or eight articles and IT has close to 10 on the warrant, plus there is OPEB to deal with.

“The Duval roof is a serious concern,” Gilbert-Whitner said during the district’s presentation. “To go through something like that again would just be a terrible thing. … I think long-term concerns about Whitman Middle School and how best to spend money now, and then later, are big concerns.”

In Hanson officials are weighing options for the Maquan School and repairing the roof, where leaks have been a long-term problem. Selectmen approved a $7,500 engineering study for the project March 8, which now goes before Town Meeting.

“If you all recall last winter, we had horrendous ice dams and damage of well over $100,000 — which was covered by the insurance company,” Gilbert-Whitner said of the Duval roof at the Whitman meeting. “But the insurance did not cover any kind of a repair to the roof.”

The price tag on the Duval roof has yet to be determined. A full engineering study will be needed to determine a price tag.

“I think the money has to be set aside for [an] engineer to come in and figure out what the real cost is going to be,” Sandland said. The engineering of the much bigger Indian Head roof project was $90,000, but Sandland suggested a Duval study and design could cost $20,000 to $30,000. At Maquan, the investigation into the extent of the problem cost $7,500 with the engineering study running between $35,000 and $40,000 to design a replacement roof.

Gale Engineering, which worked on the Indian Head School roof, was asked to survey the Duval roof and “found some deficiencies that needed correction,” Sandland said. Gale estimated the full repair could cost between roughly $200,000 to $300,000 — with a required threshold of $200,000 before the district could even apply for accelerated repair funds from the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA).

“If we’re going to do this, we need to plan it at this town meeting,” said Lynam of an estimated $335,000 to investigate, design and repair the roof.

Suckow said that, for an accelerated green repair, which could bring an estimated 50 to 60 percent reimbursement, the town would have to commit to the full $300,000 for a repair project.

The damaged portion of the Duval roof is on the addition, not the original building once known as the Regal Street School.

“This has been a construction design problem almost since the building opened,” Gilbert-Whitner said of the expanded Duval School. Information was supplied to the MSBA last fall. MSBA succeeded the former School Building Authority when the SBA was revamped around 2005.

An MSBA accelerated repair grant could, if received, reimburse some of the repair costs to the Duval roof. Whitman has approved a statement of interest for an accelerated repair grant and Hanson is moving to make repairs to the Maquan roof until a permanent solution to that school’s problems can be found.

Parameters of the accelerated repair grant require a project involving a building at least 20 years old. The failing portion of Duval’s roof was built in 1999.

“We recognize that this is going to be a significant expense,” said committee chairman, Town Administrator Frank Lynam. “We also, I believe, will be taking the position that if there’s no relief on clawback then we’re going to do, at minimum, the work we have to do to last the 20 years. I don’t see any other way.”

Gilbert-Whitner agreed, noting there was no guarantee of reimbursement.

The district, on advice from MSBA, wrote a cover letter to the statement of interest outlining how the original roof work in question came under SBA oversight.

A search of records on the 1999 project did not yield a lot of detailed information what had been done at that time, according to Sandland.

“That’s why we got to the point where we submitted the information to MSBA, asking them for help in uncovering what could be a very expensive fix,” he said. Contractors involved in the 1999 work have either retired, been unresponsive or gone out of business, he noted.

The Whitman schools projects list also include fire alarm/smoke detector replacement ($50,000 each) at all three, replacing rooftop units ($50,000) at Whitman Middle School, replacing aged kitchen equipment ($53,000) at and carpet replacement ($55,000) in areas of WMS and Conley, Univent replacement ($55,000) at WMS and installation of acoustical tile to soundproof the Conley gym ($20,000).

Sandland said replacing fire alarms/smoke detectors should reduce the number of false alarms, as was discovered when Hanson replaced them in two schools over the summer. Kitchen equipment in need of replacement present health issues if used much longer.

WHRHS projects sought for fiscal 2017 are bleacher chairlift replacement ($26,000 apportioned between the towns) at the turf field, tennis court refinishing and upgrading lights to LED ($165,000) and repairs to the concrete walkways at the entrances ($45,000).

The company that manufactured and installed the chairlift is no longer in business, Sandland said, adding that the state, which now inspects chairlifts every year, has shut the lift down as unsafe. A reinspection is slated for March 31 at which time Sandland aims to get in writing whether the chairlift can be fixed or must be replaced.

The tennis courts were expanded from four to the MIAA-required five by overlaying the surface in 1990. Severe cracks and heaves have now materialized and the playing surface must be ground down and replaced, Sandland said.

Suckow added the that tennis courts have been listed as a hazard by the insurance company for the past two years.

Weather damage has also taken a toll on the entrance sidewalks.

The Whitman building committee, however, wondered if Whitman DPW and Hanson Highway Dept. could work together on the repair to save money.

“We have streets in town that were built by the WPA that are in better shape than what you’ve got going on up there,” Lynam said.

“I’d rather throw the money at our people than give it out to somebody else,” said committee member Selectman Dan Salvucci.

Sanders is top choice on local Democratic ballots

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With nearly half the registered voters in both towns turning out to vote Tuesday, Whitman and Hanson backed the outsiders in both the Democratic and Republican primaries in Massachusetts. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders garnered 1,414 votes to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 970 in Whitman, while he received 997 to Clinton’s 692 in Hanson. Statewide, Clinton carried the day by a slim margin of some 20,000 votes. Businessman Donald Trump received 1,242 votes in Whitman as Florida Sen. Marco Rubio got 292, Ohio Gov. John Kasich had 266, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz had 186 and Dr. Ben Carson had 52. Other candidates who have withdrawn from the race split 60 votes in Whitman. Trump sailed to the front of the pack in Hanson with 1,000 votes, compared with 237 for Rubio, 205 for Kasich, 194 for Cruz, 50 for Carson and 46 for withdrawn candidates or no preference.

Of Whitman’s 9,909 registered voters, 4,582 — or 46 percent cast ballots. In Hanson 48 percent of the town’s 7,215 registered voters — 3,475 — cast ballots. “There was a line when polls opened this morning,” said Whitman Town Clerk Dawn Varley. “People were waiting.” She was hopeful, based on interest, phone calls and the number of people registering, that they might see a 50-percent turnout. In the first hour alone, 300 votes had been cast in Whitman. While voters lined up to vote, sign-holders supporting candidates were an unusually rare sight during the day on Tuesday. Two, supporting Sanders in Whitman and Cruz in Hanson, spoke of their support for their respective candidates. Anastasia Mykoniatos of Whitman, holding signs for Sanders in front of the post office next door to the Town Hall polling place, was counting on a high turnout to help her candidate, who she said needed five states to stay competitive. “I like the fact that he’s paying attention to the lesser-thought of issues such as student debt and the climate change that a lot of the other people aren’t paying attention to or supporting,” she said. “I like the fact that you can trace back his stance on issues for at least two decades.” Mykoniatos noted Sanders has supported LGBT rights since 1992, while Clinton voted for the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Sanders took four states — Vermont, Oklahoma, Minnesota, and Colorado — on Super Tuesday to Clinton’s  seven. Trump took seven — Georgia, Alabama, Massachusetts, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee and Vermont —with Cruz winning Texas and Oklahoma and Rubio notching  his first primary win in Minnesota. “Trump scares me,” Mykoniatos said.

Leslie J. Molyneaux, also a candidate for GOP state committeeman said he was backing Cruz for similar reasons. “I’m working for Ted Cruz because he’s a constitutionalist,” Molyneaux said outside of Hanson’s Maquan School polling place. “He knows the Constitution front and back and he’s been fighting for it his whole life.” Molyneaux noted that Cruz, a former law clerk to Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist, is also the most experienced candidate in terms of governance. “He successfully argued several cases regarding personal liberty before the Supreme Court,” he said. “Donald Trump, I don’t feel, is a conservative. Donald Trump is a populist and he has reached a nerve with the American people who truly are sick of government.” But, Molyneaux said, what happens down the road has yet to be determined. “Certainly the establishment Republicans are really unhappy because they don’t have a dog in the hunt,” he said. “I think the establishment is putting all their money behind Rubio, and he’s really not one of them, but he’s closer to being one of them than Trump or Cruz is.”One local official that has gone to work for Trump as the state co-chairman of that campaign is state Rep. Geoff Diehl, R-Whitman.

“He’s clearly going to win, it’s just a question of how big,” Diehl said of Trump’s chances Tuesday morning. “Just like my run in 2010, I think Donald Trump brings that same business background to D.C. with the momentum of supporters who feel like D.C. is no longer listening to them.” Diehl compares Trump’s past business setbacks with the experimental failures Thomas Edison experienced while inventing the light bulb. He also noted that the economic climate of the past few years has made Trump realize that government has done a poor job of allowing businesses to grow. “I’m a  Cruz man, but Geoff is a good man,” Molyneaux said.

Diesel Trucks faces deadline

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Dealer gets last chance

WHITMAN — Vehicle dealer David Federico now faces a solid March 1 deadline to clean up the lot of his 575 Bedford St. Diesel Trucks business or face suspension of his Class II Auto Dealer’s License until he does.

The Board of Selectmen voted 4-1 Tuesday, Feb. 9 to support Building Inspector Robert Curran’s recommendation to grant the second extension. Selectmen Dan Salvucci vehemently disagreed.

diesel trucks“It’s been five weeks now,” Salvucci said. “I’ve seen a little improvement, but then you go back to your old ways. … I would think that you would do what we asked you to do and then come back [to request more vehicles]. You haven’t done that. It’s like pulling teeth for you to do what we’re asking you to do.”

Federico raised the board’s level of frustration by suggesting he should be permitted to store at least 52 vehicles on the lot and that they did not understand the nature of his business and were being unfair to him because he is not a Whitman resident.

“I’m working on an extremely tight margin here as profit goes,” Federico said after the vote. “I’m not from the area, I’m not from Whitman, I’m from Needham. Maybe I do feel I’m not being treated as fairly as another car dealer who’s from the area.”

Selectman Brian Bezanson agreed with Salvucci’s frustration and asked if the board wasn’t being more lenient with Federico than with other dealers in town.

“I believe we need to treat everybody the same in this category,” Bezanson said, but deferred to Curran’s judgment for now. “I don’t want the public to get the impression that we’re going the extra, extra mile.”

In January, Federico had been granted an extension to Feb. 9 after he had reduced the number of vehicles from 65 down to between 48 and 50 and created a handicapped parking space, but more issues — such as a car parked in the loading area — remained, bringing about the extension to Feb. 9. The board had ordered Federico to limit his inventory to 35, be open normal business hours and provide adequate customer and handicapped parking by Jan. 19 or risk revocation of his license.

Selectmen Chairman Carl Kowalski suggested endorsing Curran’s recommendation, while requiring a site plan and Curran’s oversight of the improvements.

“Mr. Federico ought to understand that March 1 is the dead deadline,” Kowalski said.

Curran now suggests 40 is a more realistic vehicle limit for the business and said he would continue working with Federico to develop the best layout for that number. He said March 1 is a workable deadline.

“He’s trying to keep the amount of vehicles to around 50 or a bit over that,” Curran said. “The issue here is, and I think I have to change my opinion a little bit, this gentleman is selling trucks — Diesel Trucks is the name of the business. I can’t go in there thinking I’m going to see cars for sale.”

He said Federico has a lot of older vehicles with diesel motors in them and said the motors are, more often than not, more valuable than the bodies and Federico markets mostly on the Internet.

“However, I still feel it’s over-crowded,” Curran said. “You should give him a little time to get rid of another 10 vehicles and then restrict him to 40 until he wants to re-address it.”

Inspections over the past week reveal the handicapped parking space is blocked again and the Federico still has the loading area blocked. Snow removal was also an issue.

“The vehicles at the rear of the property are kind of three or four deep and they seem to be backed up into the woods,” he said.

Federico brought in a plan he said took him eight hours to draw up, but Selectman Lisa Green noted there was no provision within it for the size difference between passenger cars and larger diesel vehicles and trucks.

“I don’t own the property,” Federico said, repeating several times his absentee landlord’s advice that he hire a lawyer. “My response to him was … ‘These guys seem like nice guys, I don’t think we need an attorney. I think we can go in and move some cars around here and get everything squared away.”

Federico suggested the property owner is ready to litigate against somebody.

Selectman Scott Lambiase and Assistant Town Administrator Greg Enos both reminded Federico the license is in his name, not in the property owner’s, and goes with Federico if he moves within town.

W-H district rolls out budget

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Officials unveil level-service plan, make case for ‘Student Success’ budget

As promised, the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District rolled out two budget proposals during the Wednesday, Feb. 3 School Committee public hearing on the fiscal 2017 budget.

A $45,714,344 level-service budget, already reflecting a $1,388,214 deficit due to increases in fixed costs, was outlined by line item, followed by the review of three goals that would be incorporated in a “Student Success” budget that would add $3 million to the bottom line.

WHRSDWhat form the budget will ultimately take will be decided by the School Committee in the coming weeks.

The current fiscal 2016 budget of $45,688,067 had been increased only .01 percent — reflecting an increase in local assessments of 3 percent, or about $500,000.

Several officials from both towns’ select boards and finance committees were joined by the district’s state legislators and dozens of educators and concerned parents at the annual budget presentation.

“I have in front of me a stack of letters from constituents of the School District to all of us,” School Committee Chairman Robert Hayes told his members. “I also had come to the district a stack of letters from a second grade group of students talking about restoring libraries. We’re hearing you. We’re going to be discussing it.”

He implored concerned residents to attend meetings during which the budget is discussed.

“We believe in education, that’s why we’re on this board,” he said.

The budget is available online at whrsd.org along with information on state Chapter 70 aid reviewed by Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) representative Melissa King.

Whitman is currently 8.5 percent — or $1,322,998 — short of the target share sought by the state in its Chapter 70 calculations. Hanson is 5.21 percent below target share — $1,170,654.

Two Whitman residents urged adoption of the student success budget.

“I think the students deserve that,” one resident said. “They’ve lost a good amount of things over the years.”

“Our kids deserve every last bit of this,” Marshall Ottina said. “How can we, in any good conscience, not vote for this $3 million?”

“This is the beginning of the budget process for the district,” said Hayes in his introduction to the hearing. “The superintendent meets with the leadership team and they go over and present the budget and formulate what you have in front of you. This is the first night.”

He stressed that the final budget may not end up looking “anywhere near” the presentation as the committee works toward a vote on a spending plan for fiscal year 2017. That vote must come in mid-March, 45 days before the town meetings.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner made the budget presentation, beginning with an overview and historical background. She then discussed grants/other funding sources, revenue and the budget proposals in turn, pausing for questions as they came up.

“This has been a long process, and probably one of the most challenging ones we’ve done,” Gilbert-Whitner said. “It’s going to cost 2.25 percent — or approximately $1.1 million — more just to do the same thing [as in fiscal 2016].”

The average per-pupil spending statewide, according to DESE, is $14,518 (fiscal 2013-14), but W-H spends $11,126 per pupil — 10th from the bottom, she noted.

Perceptions

“I think we do a great job in this district in terms of getting a lot out of a dollar,” Gilbert-Whitner said of the student success budget proposal. “But there’s a lot we’re not doing. For many years we’ve been told W-H cries wolf because we’re getting good results and, darn it, look what they can do. But this year we couldn’t fix it.”

The “three pillars” of the proposal — healthy bodies/healthy minds, a cohesive prekindergarten to grade 12 system and safe/secure schools — include budgeting $500,000 toward reducing elementary class size, $400,000 to implement free all-day kindergarten, $320,000 to restore the library program, $240,000 to replace the grant funding the elementary science curriculum, $70,000 for middle school foreign language programs and about $170,000 for music and art, among other line items.

Professional development expenditures have declined to $35.17 per pupil, vs. a state average of $217.34. Enrollment had also been declining in recent years, but has begun to stabilize. One lower-than-average expenditure Gilbert-Whitner highlighted was administrative costs — 2.77 percent of the budget. The state average is $500.15 per pupil, while W-H spends $314.81.

“We often hear in the district that people think we are administration-heavy,” she said. “We put our money into classroom and specialist teachers.”  [W-H is at $4,437.61 per pupil with the state average $5,441.36.]

Grants augment revenue in several key programs, but some the district receives are expiring and competition for some others is becoming more keen.

“There aren’t nearly as many grant opportunities available, but we certainly need them,” Gilbert-Whitner said. “We are funding 81 positions outside of the LEA budget.”

School Choice, accepted for high school students only and bringing in $5,000 per student from sending districts, funds programs for that school only. WHRHS is using the funds to hire the teachers needed to help implement a schedule and program of studies change next year.

Hayes vehemently denied rumors that the high school recruits school choice students. It is also against MIAA rules.

The bulk of revenue, however, comes from Chapter 70 and local aid funds.

State representatives Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, and Geoff Diehl, R-Whitman, as well as state Sen. Mike Brady, D-Brockton, have signed onto a letter to the House and Senate Ways & Means committees seeking an increase in the Chapter 70 funding formula. The increase would change the minimum aid increment from $20 to $50 per pupil. It was $25 per pupil last year.

“It’s a protection,” Diehl said. “Chapter 70 is a formula because it protects those funds from being politicized.”

That said, he noted legislators on both sides of the aisle recognize more funds are needed. Diehl also credited Cutler for his networking on behalf of regional schools on Beacon Hill.

“We try to bump up the numbers wherever we have the ability to do so,” Cutler said about the minimum aid. “It is something we are all in unison on.”

Brady said the school budget funding formula is reviewed every year.

“But at the end of the day, we have to balance the budget,” he said. “In the meantime, we can try to file any amendments you’d like to try to adjust the budget.
Projected revenue for the WHRSD level service budget now stands at $45,326,130 with no assessment increases from the towns other than to account for population shifts.

Debt payments for the high school are about $100,000 lower for the towns after a refinance in June.

Non-mandated transportation assessments in the FY 2017 budget are $351,012 for Whitman and $96,280 for Hanson — also calculated by enrollment, a figure that also drives local assessment calculations.

Organized by school, the FY 2017 level service budget line items show, for example, that elementary principals’ travel and supplies funds were eliminated and teacher salary changes reflect contract or status changes and any use of revolving funds. District expenses also reflect changes in debt service and reductions in legal fees not needed after teacher contract negotiations concluded.

Weymouth man charged in Hanson bank robbery

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Weymouth man charged in Hanson bank robbery: Michael Neumeyer 40, of Weymouth has been arrested in connection with the Thursday, Jan. 28 robbery of the Mutual Bank branch at 430 Liberty St., Hanson.   

suspect

Michael Neumeyer 40, of Weymouth has been arrested in connection with the Thursday, Jan. 28 robbery of the Mutual Bank branch at 430 Liberty St., Hanson.

Neumeyer was taken into custody without incident at about 6 p.m., Friday, Jan. 29 at his residence located on Avalon Dr. Weymouth by Hanson Police with the assistance of Weymouth Police Department.  Hanson Police had obtained information from witnesses that lead to the apprehension of Neumeyer. 

After his arrest, Neumeyer was transported back to the Hanson Police Department and booked on the charges of armed robbery and larceny over $250.

Search Warrants were obtained for his residence and vehicle. Clothing matching the description worn by the robber, a pellet gun, and cash were seized along with a black 2007 Jeep Cherokee. 

The incident continues to be and ongoing investigation, according toa statement issued by Hanson Police.

Neumeyer is being held at the Plymouth County House of Correction on $50,000 cash bail pending his arraignment on Monday Feb. 1. 

Weymouth Police, Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department, and the FBI assisted in this investigation. 

Mutual-012816

Clothing matching the description worn by the robber, a pellet gun, and cash were seized along with a black 2007 Jeep Cherokee.

Whitman and Hanson libraries receive bequest

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Whitman and Hanson libraries receive bequest

BROCKTON — Some people may, on occasion, consider taking a walk to their town’s public library — if the weather is nice and it’s not too far — but avid patron Bruno G. Guerra of Hanson thought nothing of walking as much as four miles through the woods to use a library.

The Brockton native used his research at three area libraries to build a healthy stock portfolio and, in his will, shared the dividends.

Brockton, Hanson and Whitman public libraries were each left more than $350,000 for capital projects. Guerra also left funds to Bentley College to endow a scholarship in honor of his wife Marjorie.

All three libraries will also post a memorial plaque to Guerra.

The libraries receiving bequests from Guerra’s estate co-hosted a reception program at the main branch of the Brockton Public Library Sunday afternoon as a thank you to his family.

“He loved the library,” said nephew Barry Guerra. “He loved to read and had a lot of passion for libraries and he had a lot of friends — he just loved to talk to people.”

The libraries loved him back as the advocate for the valuable services libraries continue to provide communities.

“It took a lot of self control on my part to tell nobody for like a year,” Brockton Library Trustees President Fred Howell said of the probate period. “We decided it would be really nice to have an event to memorialize Bruno’s gift to the library systems of Brockton, Hanson and Whitman and to bring his family here to recognize what a wonderful gift this was.”

Library directors were invited to talk about the benefits of the libraries to their communities.

“Libraries are a place that anybody can go to,” Howell said. “It’s just a huge opportunity and a place where you can grow personally.”

Two of Guerra’s friends — Corinne Cafardo of Hanson and Don Karp of Brockton — spoke fondly of their late friend.

“The [Hanson Library] Foundation is overwhelmed by the generous donation made by Bruno Guerra,” said Foundation member Cafardo, a neighbor of Guerra’s. She enjoyed conversations with him about libraries and books he liked to read.

Honoring a friend

After seeing him walking through Whitman one day, Cafardo asked Guerra where he was headed and he told her he often walked the two miles from his house on Holly Ridge Drive in Hanson to the Whitman Library. Agreeing that Whitman’s Library is an excellent facility within easy walking distance, Cafardo also told him about Hanson’s library.

“Then I found out he had walked four and a half miles to the Hanson Library through the woods,” she said. “I had a talk with him about walking through the woods. I didn’t want anything to happen to him. The next I heard, he was walking down Route 58.”

She then had to insist driving was safer.

Cafardo said Bruno believed in the value of public libraries as a means to connect people and foster friendships.

“I will always remember Bruno as a loveable neighbor and friend,” she said, choked with emotion.

Karp, for whose family business — Central Radio Stores — Guerra worked for some 50 years, related how Guerra worked to learn bookkeeping and became a tax preparer.

“His life was centered around the library,” Karp said. “He was a very modest man, not particularly materialistic, he drove old cars because they were imperfect.”

Libraries were Guerra’s Google search engine, he said. He used the library to research companies before making small investments.

“His life centered around the store, his friends, his nephews in particular and the library,” Karp said.

Plans for gift

Hanson Library Director Nancy Cappellini, said Guerra was a very humble man who  is helping enhance the facility. She said his bequest can help her library, built in 1991 and outgrown within four years, to expand.

“Libraries are busier than ever,” she said. “You can find any information you need … it’s a lifeline for most people.”

Whitman’s Assistant Library Director Marcie Walsh-O’Connor said the gift is greatly appreciated by a staff that is as dedicated to the community as Guerra was to libraries.

“It is truly a blessing to have staff and to have a community that cares,” she said, noting the gift will be used to enhance library technology. “Most people no longer have a desktop in their home anymore, so the ability to have brand-new computers in the library to assist them so that the staff can sit with them and show them how to use this lovely gift will be amazing.”

Brockton Library Board of Directors member Mark Lindy added that libraries treat all patrons alike.

“There are no barriers,” he said referring to a 1930s WPA mural on the third floor that calls libraries “the people’s university.”

Physical barriers to the city’s libraries were recently removed through renovations at the main and east branches and Guerra’s gift will be used to help renovate the west branch.

“People that need to seek jobs come here, people that need to learn about the stock market come here … and we’re just happy and pleased that we have all these folks here on a cold winter’s day to keep the library alive,” Lindy said.

Bob Buckley, chief of staff to Brockton Mayor Bill Carpenter concluded the program by presenting a citation of appreciation to members of Guerra’s family.

“Municipalities can’t survive without the generosity of people like Bruno Guerra,” he said. “Money is tight, as you all know, we’re battling for every dollar at the state, federal and local level and a gift like this is something that opens doors to people that would [otherwise] be closed forever.”

South Shore Vo-Tech gets budget review

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South Shore Vo-Tech gets budget review

HANOVER — The South Shore Regional School Committee held its annual public hearing on the school budget proposal for fiscal year 2017 — a $12,455,356 spending plan — on Wednesday, Jan. 20. That figure represents a 2.91-percent ($352,203) increase over fiscal 2016.

Preliminary information on town assessments will be available after the governor’s budget is released Wednesday, Jan. 27. The committee will take a vote on certifying the district budget on Wednesday, Feb. 24.

Finance committee representatives from Whitman and Scituate attended the Jan. 20 hearing.

SSVT_frontMore than 300 applications were received last year for the school’s 180 seats in the freshmen Class of 2019, according to Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey who called it “one of our strongest years on record.”

Because of the added students, even if assessment formula remains the same, SSVT will have a bigger foundation budget which should bring in more state aid.

“We build a budget zero-based, of course, so each year there are factors that change,” Hickey said.

Within the budget request are:

• $170,000 for capital expenses such as paving, rooftop units, instructional technology and feasibility funds placed in stabilization;

• $175,533 for full-time entrepreneurship and science teachers and a part-time graphics communications position (the latter two now funded by grants) and summer funds for an assistant to the technology director;

• $112,140 for active employee health insurance, a 12-percent increase;

• $1,977,885 — 15.9 percent — of the budget covers health insurance, retirement, debt, unemployment, snow removal and other post-employment benefits (OPEB).

Non-salary budget items are projected to cost less than in fiscal 2016, Hickey said.
“There’s not five cents-worth of fluff in here, so if we don’t have it we don’t get to use it,” said committee Chairman Robert Molla. “We don’t have the ability to go back [to towns] for an override to get more money and we don’t have the ability to go beyond what we have.”

The committee also voted Jan. 20 to resubmit a statement of interest letter to the Mass. School Building Authority (MSBA) to fund building renovation work to the heating system in the original   1962 part of the school and adding on for needed space.

“Whether MSBA invites us into their core program, or not, I want to begin to build toward us eventually having to look at the fact that renovations to the building will need to be done,” Hickey said. “I am very proud of the fact that we do not need a total overhaul of this building.”

In other business, the committee honored Whitman culinary arts senior Connor Christie as Student of the Month and allied health teacher Lynne Ricardo as Staff Member of the Month.

Christie, who plans on attending the Culinary Institute of America next year, was selected “for his overall efforts within the school,” said Assistant Principal Mark Aubrey.

“Many teachers spoke about how hard a worker he is, how willing he is to assist others, I personally say he is a self-learner … which is always a good thing in life,” Aubrey said. “He seeks out additional work to see how it can apply to skills he has learned … and never hesitates to help a peer who might need additional support.”

Christie is also on the management track at McDonalds, a highly competitive industry program, as part of his co-op work.

Ricardo was selected by students during her first year at SSVT on the strength of her inspirational presence in the classroom, according to Principal Margaret Dutch.

“She is very helpful and understanding,” one student reported. “She is a good person to talk to and has a great personality.”

“She is always there for us when we need her,” said another. “She is willing to share her knowledge with us and never fails to put a smile on her students’ faces.”

“It is very easy to talk to her and have a regular conversation instead of the typical teacher-student conversation about school or homework,” another student said.

Dutch also announced an online application for admission to the school has been launched.

“It is posted and we have already started receiving applications from students online,” she said. “It allows students and parents to make that decision at home, to answer those questions together — they’re not doing it at their middle school where they might be writing down what their friends want … and it brings that information directly to us.”

Hanson plans future for Plymouth County Hospital

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Resident members approved for reuse committee as Hanson plans future for Plymouth County Hospital

HANSON — Selectmen got their wish.

After postponing appointment of the two at-large citizen representatives to the Final Plymouth County Hospital Re-use Committee on Jan. 12 in an effort to attract more applicants, they received four more.

Green Hanson founder and chairman Marianne DiMascio and environmental consultant Philip F. Clemons were appointed from a five-person pool that included original applicant and Community Preservation Commission Chairman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett. Robert Sutter and town building maintenance employee Brian H. Clemons, both members of the original reuse committee, had also applied. Resident Mark Vess had indicated via email an interest in serving, but selectmen only considered those who had filed applications by Jan. 15.

plymouth_county_hospital“I am an excellent team member and good at consensus building, facilitating discussions and ensuring that all voices are heard,” DiMascio stated in her application. She works in public policy with the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. Phil Clemons noted his experience with regulatory permitting, environmental compliance, facilities planning and management.

They will join Selectman Don Howard, Planning Board designee Don Ellis and a representative from the Zoning Board of Appeals on the PCH committee.

FitzGerald-Kemmett, who was the only applicant attending the meeting, pledged to attend all reuse committee meetings citing the need for CPC involvement with the project. She supported the appointment of DiMascio.

Selectman James McGahan expressed concern that FitzGerald-Kemmett was already spread thin with her other club and committee work. Selectmen Chairman Bruce Young said he would not vote on her nomination — but would not vote against her — noting he backed DiMascio as a new face.

“Laura’s tremendously qualified for this committee,” Young said.  “The only thing I would say is we have a relatively new person here that wants to get involved … I just would like to see a new face on the committee.”

McGahan noted that, in addition to Community Preservation, FitzGerald-Kemmett is also active with the Hanson Business Network, Hanson Kiwanis and Panther Education Trust.

“The only problem I have is the number of committees that [she’s] on,” McGahan said.

FitzGerald-Kemmett countered that she is “very well aware” of her obligations.

“I think I’m really the best judge of what my ability to take on more would be,” she said. “This isn’t a lifetime commitment. This has to be done by Town Meeting.”

Selectmen encouraged her to attend meetings to bring Community Preservation input to the discussion.

“I think, with Laura’s experience with Community Preservation, she would be a valuable asset,” Selectman Kenny Mitchell said in support of her appointment.

The Selectmen also approved the Highway Building Committee’s selection of Weston and Sampson environmental consultants of Boston to conduct a needs assessment, authorizing Interim Town Administrator Richard LaCamera to sign a contract.

“All four of [the interviewing firms] did a real good job — good presentations — but one particular company kind of knocked it out of the park,” Selectmen Bill Scott, who chairs the building committee, said of Weston and Sampson. The firm also came in under budget, bidding $28,000. Town Meeting had appropriated $30,000 for the assessment.

“This company just stood right out,” said Mitchell, who also serves on the building committee. He noted that Weston and Sampson does not subcontract services.

In other business, LaCamera reported on progress with the fiscal 2017 budget. Selectmen were provided budget books for review.

The town has $21,826,000 available for appropriation.

The school budgets for both W-H and South Shore Vo-Tech [see related story] had not been received as yet. W-H rolls out its budget Wednesday, Feb. 3.

The Propostion 2 ½ levy limit would bring in an added $437,000 and new growth accounts for $175,000 — down from $373,000 last year — of available revenues. Gov. Charlie Baker is pledging no cuts to local aid, which would mean Hanson could even see an increase of $50,000 over the current $1,371,000.

“It’s down significantly from last year,” LaCamera said of new growth revenue, because condominiums under construction last year have been completed.

Debt exclusion payments for the new police station ($389,000) and the high school ($347,000) and the first of five payments for school technology ($160,000) must also be calculated into the fiscal 2017 spending plan. Payments for the high school have been reduced by about $20,000 through refinancing and will continue to decline over the remaining 10 years on the bond. The town is also involved in contract negotiations with five unions.

“There is no amount [in the budget] having to do with union negotiations at this point,” LaCamera said.

Legislators and school board discuss Chapter 70 funding

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How it adds up: Legislators and school board discuss Chapter 70 funding

When the W-H Regional School District budget is rolled out Feb. 3, it will consist of two scenarios — one reflecting the increased costs in a level-service budget and one a student-success budget — according to Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner.

The latter would add $3 million to the level-service budget to bring back cut library and art programs, decrease class size, bolster writing skills and improve science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) instruction.

“What we’ve been doing in our district planning is looking at where we’ve been, where we are and where we’d like to be three years from now,” Gilbert-Whitner said at the Wednesday, Jan. 13 School Committee meeting. “Clearly, where we are today we’re seeing that revenue has been stagnant but costs that we have no control over continue to increase.”

The School Committee, Hanson Selectmen, teachers’ union members and several concerned residents heard presentations from state representatives Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury and Geoff Diehl, R-Whitman, as well as state Sen. Mike Brady, D-Brockton, on how the state calculates aid such as Chapter 70 funds to the district are calculated and affect the budget.

They also touched on the budget impact of unfunded state and federal mandates.

“I don’t think any of us here are comfortable with the lack of full funding for education,” Diehl said. “But the ground beneath us is moving constantly. The Foundation Funding Formula known as Chapter 70 is under review and at the same time we are trying to navigate changes caused by the adoption of Common Core.”

Gov. Charlie Baker’s budget will be delivered to the House at the end of the month on the heels of a second year in which state revenues have failed to meet expenditures, Diehl noted.

There is, for example, only $1.25 billion in the state’s stabilization fund, “a historic low which is below the national average” and affects the state’s credit rating, Diehl added. State borrowing is also nearing its allowed limit.

“All these elements provide a background of uncertainty about the future, but we’re tackling those challenges each and every day to turn it around,” he said.

Most of the discussion was devoted to an effort to explain the Foundation Funding Formula and how it might be changing.

Foundation formula

Currently, the formula includes district enrollment — including demographics, grade level and special education, English proficiency or vocational program involvement as well as income data — factoring in 14 enrollment and 11 program areas. Communities are assigned minimum local contributions to the school budget as well as an “extra local contribution,” or target share. Falling short of the target share can affect the amount of Chapter 70 funds a district receives. Local contributions are based on property values and aggregate resident income.

Hanson’s contribution of $1,322,998 is currently 7.66 percent below target share and Whitman, at $1,170,654 is 4.82 percent short. The district has invited Department of Elementary and Secondary Education representative Melissa King to an upcoming meeting to further explain the Foundation Funding Formula.

“We’re about 1 or 2 percent over the foundation budget, while towns around us were meeting that state pupil average, or getting closer to it, are well above their minimum budget,” said Whitman resident Chris George. “That either comes from state aid — which we know they’re not getting — or it comes from the taxpayers.”

A member of W-H Support Our Schools, he said the choices were to go after other town departments or choose to raise the revenue base.

“It’s time to pay the piper,” George said. “We benefitted for years, we shouldn’t be putting it on the backs of our kids.”

W-H receives the third-highest state reimbursement of the state’s regional schools, but is 29th of 87 regional districts in per-pupil spending — 10th from the bottom in per-pupil expenditures among all state public school districts.

“Whitman and Hanson are both residential communities with very little commercial infrastructure, but we’re weighted the same as a Braintree that has South Shore Plaza,” said School Committee member Fred Small. “We’re weighted the same as Brockton that is a city that has malls and many businesses and a lot of commercial enterprises.”

He said state funds fall short of what the district needs and puts the burden on the back of the taxpayer.

“The one-size-fits-all formula is what’s discouraging,” School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes. “It makes W-H look like they get a lot because [we’re] third in regional schools, but there are other parts of this budget that it fails in. … You can’t just pick a number and say, ‘That’s enough.’”

Hanson Interim Town Administrator Richard LaCamera said the problem has been ongoing for a number of years.

“To funding provided for the W-H Regional School District is  [near] the bottom of the state,” he said. “To think this coming year that we’re going to get a significant increase in state aid, I think, is unlikely.”

All Hanson’s town budgets have been level-funded for fiscal 2017 with only about $650,000 left to spend for all departments, including school assessments.

“It’s going to be very difficult,” he said.

“We’re very aware that W-H gets a significant percentage of its budget from the state,” Gilbert-Whitner said. “We’re also realistic in knowing that’s not going to increase at a level that’s going to solve our problems.”

Her major concern, however, was that regionalization was approved by voters because of the promised state funding as an incentive for it.

“Something was done to W-H at the state level that hasn’t been fixed,” she said. “The towns, I believe, believe in education, but they have revenue issues that have to be addressed.”

Cutler noted that he, Diehl and Brady have all worked in municipal government and understand the challenges and frustrations.

“There’s two issues here,” he said. “One is the size of the budget and how much you get from the state year to year. … The size of the pie we have control over … how the pie gets divvied up is all done by formula.”

Each year, Chapter 70 aid is increased by $25 per pupil for the 201 districts where local contributions do not permit an overall increase in Chapter 70 aid.

Small asked the legislators to work toward increasing that to at least $50 per pupil, but $100 to $200 would really be needed to come closer to closing the gap.

Under-funded
mandate

Diehl also indicated the state has also backed off full transportation reimbursement — now at 66 percent of the WHRSD $1.2 million transportation cost for students living 1.5 miles from school — as a way to force districts to “put skin in the game” and prevent some districts’ practice of billing unworkable bus schedules to the state. He argued 66 percent is still too low and noted the local legislators are working to try and get the reimbursement increased.

Hayes also pointed out that regional schools are not permitted to charge for, or opt out of busing students.

A federal mandate to provide transportation for homeless students from shelter facilities to their “origin district,” was initially unfunded and is still underfunded, Diehl argued.

Whitman looking to grants

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Whitman looking to grants: Funds could back dog park, trail improvements

WHITMAN — Grants are enabling the town to save money on energy costs and may help plan for a dog park and continue improvements to walking paths in Whitman Park.

Selectmen supported an application to the Stanton Foundation, an organization that helps finance dog parks through grants and which has expressed interest in assisting Whitman. Grants would cover 100 percent of design costs and 90 percent of construction costs.

“We would have to come up with a committee to review where we want it, make sure that it’s on town land and provide water and a maintenance plan,” said Assistant Town Administrator Gregory Enos.

Officials in West Bridgewater and Holbrook are also pursuing the non-competitive Stanton grants for dog parks.

The grants range from $100,000 to $250,000. Town Administrator Frank Lynam said his talks with foundation officials indicated Whitman could receive $120,000 and the town would have to fund $12,000.

Whitman officials are currently looking at the parcel between Memorial Field and the DPW facility of Essex Street as the location.

“We’re looking for a way to move dogs out of the park and off of the streets to an area where it would be more natural to take them,” Lynam said. “We will have an article on this year’s Town Meeting for it.”

Patrons would be assuming any risk in using the park, as would be outlined by signs at the entrance.

“We will be insured in the event a claim is filed against the town,” Lynam said. “It’s really not very different from recreational use [of town property].”

Funds received from a Green Communities Grant in the amount of $166,215 are planned for interior sand exterior lighting changes at municipal buildings and switching to variable speed motors at the town pumping station. The lights in Town Hall Auditorium —priced at $4,200 to replace 85 light bulbs — have been postponed for now. Future grants through the Green Communities program will likely focus on mechanicals and HVAC controls.

“Right now this gives us more bang for our buck,” Enos said of this year’s plan. “It will save the town $50,000 a year on energy costs alone.”

A $50,000 Trail Program Grant is being applied for in an effort to continue funding Whitman Park walking paths, Enos said. Selectmen voted to support the application due in February and sign a support letter.

The grant provides 80-percent funding for such projects and requires a 20-percent match of funds or in-kind gifts. Enos estimated the grant, if obtained at the end of a nine-month application review period, could finance another 2,000 feet of curbing and path work at the park in spring 2017.

Friends of Whitman Park and DPW may be approached for funds or in-kind services.

In other business, Selectmen agreed to a two-week extension for David Federico, the owner of Diesel Trucks, 575 Bedford St., to complete the cleanup of the premises ordered by the board on Jan. 5. The extension was recommended by Building Inspector Robert Curran.

“There’s been some changes, but not nearly enough as far as I’m concerned,” Curran said. Still, he suggested an extension until Feb. 9. “I will attend whatever meetings on-site that he needs for me to guide him on what I think is best for the town.”

Federico has reduced the number of vehicles from 65 down to between 48 and 50, and has created a handicapped parking space, but more issues — such as a car parked in the loading area — remain.

“I did see some effort there,” said Selectman Dan Salvucci. “But if you look at his lot and the lot next to it, it was night and day. One lot looked like it was open for business and the other one looked like it was there for salvage.”

Salvucci said he supported an extension, but would advocate further action if Curran was not satisfied by Feb. 9.

The board also voted to adopt the one-day suspension of O’Toole’s Pub’s All-Alcohol License as recommended by the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission. The board had initially sought a five-day suspension last year after infractions at the pub were reported by Whitman Police. Selectmen selected Saturday, March 19 as the suspension date to give the pub owners time to inform patrons of the date it will not be open.

Selectmen also offered “friendly advice” to the Police Department to determine the suspension is heeded.