HANSON – The Select Board discussed progress of the Regional Agreement revision, expressing support for a two-thirds vote for all measures before the School Committee.
Select Board member Jim Hickey reported on the Regional Agreement Subcommittee meetings he and Town Administrator Lisa Green attend, during the board’s meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 7.
“Last night, we just finished going over the “Big Seven, I would call them,” Hickey said of the main issues being discussed, at the meeting they attended on Feb. 6.
Those included, bus schedules, leasing and statutory assessment method, among others.
“Right now, it seems like a good round table of discussion,” he said, noting that what School Committee Chairman Christopher Howard is looking to do, is put together the language so he and Green could bring it back for the board to review.
“One of the major concerns is the number of School Committee members, where they have six and we have four,” Hickey said. “It’s been talked about to make all votes two-thirds [to pass].”
He said that he had stated at an earlier meeting that one problem is votes cast by way of how members thought their individual towns would want, instead of what is best for the district.
“I thought that was wrong,” he said.
Votes should be cast with an eye to what is best for the district and its students and faculty.
“That was my concept of the two-thirds vote,” Hickey said.
Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said she agreed with the two-thirds vote, asking what the downside could be for Whitman.
“It sounds like there’s some disagreement, but everybody’s being cordial,” she said.
“Oh, absolutely,” Hickey said. “It’s very cordial.”
“It’s very good dialog and conversation,” Green said. “Also, pointing out the areas that could lead to confusion, especially capital costs – what’s an emergency cost and making sure language in the agreement corresponds and is in agreement with language in leases.”
Select Board member Joe Weeks, who agreed with the two-thirds vote, asked if there had been any push-back, and Hickey replied that there had been.
“I’m hoping the Whitman Selectmen will kind of look at it again,” he said.
“I think if anybody put themselves in the place of the Hanson taxpayers, they could see that it was a difficult pill to swallow,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said asking what the downside would be for Whitman. “And we have swallowed it, but we’re just looking for an acknowledgment, … and a feeling as though the playing field is level.”
She said she strongly doubts School Committee members vote solely for the interest of their town, but added the two-thirds removes any doubt“I’m not going to be diplomatic about it, but mistakes have been made in the past … but we’re trying to fix [it], for people that take our places in the future” Hickey said, adding that includes frequent review of the agreement – perhaps as often as every three years.