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Looking at budgets ‘By The Numbers’

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As the two towns approach a difficult budget season, Whitman-Hanson Community Access TV is producing a series of interviews with stakeholders in both communities.

“By The Numbers,” debuts at 6 p.m., Friday, Feb. 1 with Whitman resident and former Finance Committee member Shawn Kain. A regular schedule for the show is still pending.

“This is a new program that will focus on an issue that is actually a major topic of discussion by town officials in both Whitman and in Hanson, homeowners, parents, educators and — yes — even some conversation on social media,” Producer/host Kevin Tocci said to introduce the first show. “What are we talking about? We’re talking about budgets.”

That is planned to encompass school budgets, department and town budgets, right up to the state’s budget.

“There’s no necessary order in which they appear, but each of them have their own importance and are part of the fabric of the communities,” Tocci said in an interview with the Express. “Some of their information, some of their experience is in varied areas.”

Kain, a teacher at Brockton’s addiction recovery high school is also a business owner and has been vocal in advocating a long-range budget plan for Whitman. He says he has no plans to seek a seat on the Board of Selectmen, but stresses that decisions made there affect people and accountability is needed.

“When you’re in the classroom it’s really like the front line of an organization that starts, really at the Board of Selectmen,” he said. “I feel like when there’s a bad budgetary year, programs like mine are marginalized.”

He said that when the organization is not in good shape, the lives of everyday teachers, police officers, firefighters and others can feel uncertain about their welfare. He began his involvement by attending Finance Committee meeting to learn the “nuts and bolts” of the process.

Kain suggested that the School Committee’s efforts at securing increased state aid, for example, holds out false hope.

“People have to be told the bitter truth, they should be told that, realistically, we’re not going to get more money from the state,” he said. “If we do, it’s just going to be these small amounts of money, nothing that’s going to create a sustainable budget.”

Tocci asked Kain about transparency and current budgeting practices in Whitman.

Also slated to appear in episodes that have already been recorded are Whitman businessman and former Selectman Richard Rosen, current Whitman Selectman and former Finance Committee member Daniel Salvucci, School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes, a Whitman native who now lives in Hanson and Whitman Selectman Scott Lambiase, who is spearheading the town’s budget timeline planning and works for the town of Duxbury.

“The budget is always the most difficult time of the year,” Hayes said in the episode he recorded with Tocci. “You have two towns and the finances of each town changes with the needs of the town … both towns needed police stations, both towns are at the particular point where they both need highway departments. The budgets are on the backs of the taxpayers, more or less.”

Programs with Hanson officials are also planned, Tocci said, including Town Administrator Michael McCue and a member of the Board of Selectmen. He also plans to sit down with department heads such as police and fire chiefs in upcoming programs.

Rosen, who served as a Selectmen in the 1980s after winning a six-way race for a vacancy on the board, has been out of public office for some time and cautioned that, like most residents his current view of the budget process is from the outside in.

“It wasn’t easy times back in those days, because it was a few years after Proposition 2½, and, frankly I think it was a good thing,” Rosen recalled.

In one year, officials had to cut $1 million from the pre-regionalization school budget. But in 1984, a sewer project debt exclusion was approved. He also outlined how the current library and the senior center were built.

“We had financial issues, but we managed to resolve them back then,” he said, noting he has heard talk of a financial crisis every year at budget season for the past 30 years and that finger-pointing generally ensues.

“Everybody blames [Town Administrator Frank Lynam] for all the problems and it’s not Frank’s fault,” Rosen said. “Frank is the messenger. So it’s the old ‘Don’t shoot the messenger.’ Back in the ’80s with the business manager, it was the same thing.”

The bottom line, Rosen said, is a revenue shortfall. He noted his residential and commercial developments have helped the town but have not been enough to close that gap. Whitman can’t afford to shift the tax burden to commercial properties without endangering small businesses.

The great police and fire departments, schools and library as well as a park that is better than most, bring people to buy homes in town, Rosen said. Attracting business is harder, he noted, because space is harder to find.

Salvucci, who has the perspective of serving on the South Shore Tech zero-based budgeting, had been a financial officer with Star Market before his retirement.

“You start with zero and justify every single dollar,” he said of the SSVT budget system. Flexible building heat systems and use of Scituate’s solar fields for electricity helps control SSVT’s utility costs. “We run South Shore Tech like a business to keep costs down.”

He advocates that Whitman’s departments adopt a zero-based approach and that underfunded and unfunded mandates be addressed.

“The state needs to look at what they’re doing and what they’re asking school departments to do,” Salvucci said about the burden of unfunded mandates.

He echoed Rosen’s comments on the town’s residential/commercial tax rate in view of the town’s revenue needs.

“If we change it, we’re going to lose business,” he said. “They’re going to leave.”

He spoke with Tocci about ideas under consideration for meeting budget needs such as possibly going for a debt exclusion to remove the balance of the Police Station project from within the levy limits and the need for a new DPW building.

“I would vote to put it on a ballot and let the people decide,” he said.

Hayes also spoke about the problems of obtaining a quorum at town meetings and how social media hinders people’s willingness to serve in local government as well as the damage done to the tax base through the competition from online shopping at the cost of local businesses.

Hayes also offers an explanation of how the annual school assessment is calculated, said Tocci, who also wants to schedule state budget officials to appear on the show.

Step toward ROCCC dispatch

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HANSON — Selectmen gave the green light to talks aimed at a regional emergency dispatch agreement with Regional Old Colony Communications Center (ROCCC) and heard a preliminary budget presentation from Town Accountant Todd Hassett on Tuesday, Jan. 29.

Hassett said the town is looking a net reduction of $832,846 in total revenue, expecting $25,847,812 in combined levy, free cash, cherry sheet, fees, stabilization and other sources of revenue. Expenditures at this point are estimated to be at $26,333,328 or a $458,426 shortfall. Among those expenditures, Hassett said, he is working off calculations of a 6.5-percent increase in W-H assessment and a 6 percent South Shore Tech assessment increase.

SST released budget numbers last week forecasting a .92 percent — $9,167 — increase in fiscal 2020. [See story, page one].

“We still have some work to do on the budget to close a few gaps,” Hassett said. “Most of our budget is supported through property taxes, local receipts and state aid.”

The levy base is up by $2,029,740 to $25,263,740 with additional sources of revenue increased by $1,443,918; but expenses are up this year.

“The deficit might look a little daunting,” said Town Administrator Michael McCue. “It’s going to take a lot of work … a lot of cooperation on the parts of people that sit in this building and in the other town, but we’ve been able to come up with, in the last couple of years, a balanced budget that didn’t necessarily eviscerate either the schools or the municipalities. … We’ve got to live within our means.”

The budget was on Selectmen’s minds when it came to deciding whether to move forward with talks on joining the ROCCC. In a discussion spanning nearly an hour, board members hashed out concerns over the cost of a regional approach vs maintaining civilian dispatchers.

In the end, they approved a letter of intent to continue talks on a contract for the regional service center, funded by state 911 currently handling 911 calls, Police, Fire, and EMS dispatching for the Towns of Duxbury, Plympton, Halifax and Rochester.

Duxbury Fire Capt. Rob Reardon, however, assured Selectmen that the letter of intent had to be agreed to and signed before negotiations over the board’s concerns could begin. He oversaw the entry of Plympton, Halifax and Rochester into the ROCCC.

“We welcome the chiefs to come so we can negotiate that dollar figure,” he said. “I can tell you you’re going to get $200,000 [from state 911] … because I’ve done plenty of deals with other towns.”

But, he added, before that can be settled, it has to be determined what year is Hanson going to join and how long a contract the town is seeking.

“It’s not like we’re signing tonight and it’s a done deal,” Reardon said. “We have a ton of work to do.”

ROCCC Director Mike Mahoney, a Hanson native, also spoke at the meeting. He reminded Selectmen that 100 percent of current dispatchers who apply to be regional dispatchers are hired so long as they pass a required exam.

“We have to give Duxbury an answer,” said Selectmen Chairman Kenny Mitchell. “We’ve been — kicking the can’s probably not a good term — but we’ve been talking about this for awhile. Everyone’s been over to the ROCCC, and seen the facility over there. We’ve got to make some decisions.”

Mitchell said he felt the dispatch center is a “better product.”

“We have great dispatchers now, but when you get multiple calls, they can only do so much,” he said, noting that Police Chief Michael Miksch has concerns. Fire Chief Jerry Thompson, meanwhile, is a proponent of ROCCC.

“To be perfectly honest, I haven’t been a fan of this from the beginning, for a number of reasons,” Miksch said. “You have to understand that the communications [center] is in my building and falls under me. Fire has brought up some concerns, in this coming year’s budget we tried to address some of those concerns.”

He said he not only cares about the people who work for him, he does not need change.

Selectmen also wanted to see a spreadsheet on cost estimates before making a decision. But Reardon’s assurances over 911 reimbursements and Hassett said the proposal is relatively cost-neutral.

“The biggest thing is … I cannot shut the lights off in my station,” Miksch said. With no one in a station, other towns have an issue with officers on constant call-back to serve citizens at the station.

Civilian dispatchers also help keep an eye on prisoners and help with paperwork, according to Miksch. Also, people who stop in at the station during the night need real help.

“They don’t need directions, they’re not looking to use the bathroom,” Miksch said.

“I’ll be the first to say — I don’t know how the rest of the board feels — the station will never go dark. Ever,” Selectman Jim Hickey said.

“I am a proponent,” Thompson said of the program. “I think that it’s something that we need to look at.”

He pointed to some of the capital project benefits in the first year of a regional center would be tremendous and that, in the event of multiple calls overnight, especially, one person can’t do the work of a team of three. Mahoney stressed the letter of intent is a necessary first step toward that.

Thompson argued they are also hearing that, in coming years, the town could be forced to regionalize. Doing it now could mean the ability to bargain for benefits to Hanson.

“Whatever decision you make, I will support 100 percent,” he said.

Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett’s main concern is that Hanson get equal say — “an equal seat at the table” as she put it — as other member towns.

“It’s Duxbury that kind of runs the show,” she said. “We can give them feedback, but it’s not completely regionalized. … They’re not there yet.”

Mahoney said the intention is to go in that direction.

Both FitzGerald-Kemmett and Hickey characterized the vote as the most important decision they make as a selectman.

“There is going to be a cost and [Thompson] said once in a while, something’s going to happen at 2 a.m., I don’t want that once in a while to be in Hanson,” Hickey said. “I don’t want a dark station. … I want to be informed.”

Miksch also voiced concerns over the cost of negotiating contract issues with the clerical union that are not in police contracts if additional civilian dispatchers are needed.

Miksch said replacing the dispatchers with four additional police officers to avoid a dark station could cost $259,000 including a night shift differential for the first year.

Selectman Matt Dyer wanted to see an example of a contract to determine what the town is getting into and a spreadsheet of potential costs for each option on paper.

“I don’t think that’s much to ask for to make a decision on behalf of the town,” Dyer said.

FitzGerald-Kemmett strongly agreed.

Selectman Wes Blauss said he is an enthusiastic supporter of the regional dispatch center.

“Watching three dispatchers plus a shift supervisor talking a diabetic vomiting case through, while police and fire were responding — that in itself was impressive,” Blauss said of his tour of the ROCCC. “As an alarmist, I’ve been thinking ever since then, the big, big storm will come.”

Climate change almost guarantees such a scenario, according to Blauss, who can envision a situation in which a car vs truck accident with serious injuries happens.

“I will have a heart attack in my driveway shoveling snow within 15 minutes of [such an accident] and a house fire will start,” he said. “I could see where regional dispatch could handle that and even they would be [takes a deep breath] a little tense, but I could see where they could handle it, whereas we in Hanson … it would quickly be a crisis situation and I think life would be lost.”

He said he was a positive vote without question.

TA evaluation

The board also began McCue’s public evaluation, handing out copies of reviews of his judgment, leadership, communication, teamwork, organization, administrative, accountability, knowledge, task management and awareness.

“We haven’t looked at each others’ individual reviews,” Mitchell said.

While improvement was deemed necessary in several areas, based on written comments, Selectmen opted to wait until they can review each others’ comments before returning at the next meeting to set goals for an improved evaluation process.

“We could sit here in awkward silence and read through it and then  come back, but it is a lot to digest,” Dyer said.

“As an educator, I feel any evaluation should be a goal-driven evaluation, which this was not in any way,” Blauss said.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said stressing goals is the preferred method in the private sector.

“We all have things we need to work on, it’s just our job to tell you what yours are because that’s the way this is set up,” she said.

Administrative Assistant Meredith Marini compiled individual comments into a report without identification, as well as numeric scores.

“Some people were more detailed than others,” she said, noting some preferred to see the goals being evaluated before making a review. “Not everybody commented on every one of the 10 categories.”

At least three of five selectmen indicated they did not like the evaluation formula, that it needs work, according to Marini.

“It’s just redundant,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

McCue said he “certainly want to make sure that as I go along, I’m accomplishing what this board wants” him to achieve.

SSVT projects towns’ costs

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HANOVER — Preliminary assessment figures released by South Shore Tech during a School Committee public hearing on the fiscal 2020 budget show Hanson’s assessment likely to be $1,006,520 — up $9,167 or .92 percent — and Whitman’s $1,604,997 or 3.1 percent — up $48,293 — from the current budget year.

The assessment increases are lower than they might have been due to a proportional share of a $321,531 jump in non-resident tuition, according to Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey.

“We consider that to be a revenue source,” he said. “We tell the towns, as we plan for next year’s budget, making the assumption that this money comes in, we’re going to use it to offset the budget.”

Those funds, collected on a quarterly basis, and deposited into an account for the following year’s expenses. Hickey said that, without the non-resident tuition funds, the assessments would have been “a million dollars higher across the eight towns.

“We would be bringing forth a budget that has a 3.4 percent overall increase, yet the total amount of dollars that we are assessing the communities would be $92,444 less [than fiscal 2019], Hickey said at the Wednesday, Jan. 23 SSVT School Committee budget hearing. “Does enrollment play a role? Yes. Is it a clean formula? We know that it’s not.”

State Chapter 70 aid is expected to increase by $105,547 along with increases in non-resident tuition and regional transportation reimbursement up by $80,000 — or 70 percent of transportation costs, according to preliminary figures from the governor’s budget posted that day.

“The assumptions that are being made in these numbers are, first that the governor’s Chapter 70 number would be used,” Hickey said, adding that the non-resident tuition number has remained the same as earlier estimates. “We can make projections for each town

Only Abington and Hanover, among the district’s eight member towns, can expect to see reductions in assessments, which are linked to enrollment.

“The news worth sharing this evening is, based on the governor’s budget proposal from earlier this afternoon, we would realize an increase of Chapter 70 aid in the vicinity of about $100,000,” Hickey said. “I would take that, while it’s preliminary, [as] good news.”

The highest increases are in Rockland, up 4.54 percent, and Cohasset at a 4.5-percent hike.

Whitman Selectman Dan Salvucci, who is the town’s representative to the SSVT School Committee, said he presents per-pupil costs based on the assessment divided by the number of students at Town Meeting, as well as the capital costs for building projects that are also included in the town’s assessment.

“These are preliminary assessments,” Salvucci said. “When is the hard number being reached?”

Hickey said it would be likely an action number at the February meeting.

“We know this is going to be the beginning of a four or five-month conversation,” he said.

student update

In other business, Assistant Principal Sandra Baldner presented an update on co-op education and college acceptances of SST students.

There are currently 58 seniors employed in co-op programs, having logged 10,794.02 hours logged and an average hourly wage of $13.22 for total combined wages of $142,725.52 as of Jan. 23.

About 15-20 juniors are working at jobs that could lead to co-op placements by Feb. 4, with more than 60 more expressing interest in finding placements soon, according to Baldner.

About 50 employers include fuel companies, electricians, auto mechanics, lumber yards, towing companies, auto body shops, tire shops, HVAC companies, bakeries and retail food outlets, health care firms and municipalities, among others.

The horticulture program does not yet have juniors and seniors so they will not yet be placed in co-operative work.

“I noticed that some of our graduates from years ago will be hiring students, as well,” said School Committee member Robert Molla of Norwell.

So far, 18 students — nine females and nine males in nine programs — have already received 41 acceptance letters from 29 colleges or universities, 14 in Massachusetts.

“We are only in January,” she said. “There’s a long way to go.”

Salvucci suggested that business cards be made up for school staff and committee members to leave with companies that are hiring.

“A lot of times I’ll see “Help Wanted” [signs] and I’ll talk to the manager who says they’re looking for someone for the kitchen or whatever and I would give them my South Shore Vo-Tech card,” he said. “I’m thinking maybe we should have cards with a number to go to the direct office for co-op students printed up so we could give them out … and get more seniors out there working.”

School officials said that could be done.

“We know people,” Hickey said of the graphic arts shop.

One of the priorities of Vocational Coordinator Keith Boyle is co-op placement, Baldner said, adding his information could be included on the cards.

When she updates the college acceptances later in the spring, Baldner said she will also include information on students going straight to work after graduation.

“I’d like that to be an equal celebration to students going on to college,” she said.

Hanover Committee member Robert Heywood asked if students going on to college are staying within their shop subject or going in different directions. Baldner did not have specific data beyond saying that some do and some don’t.

“I started in wood technology and ended up in law enforcement, so life takes you in different directions,” Heywood said. “I was just curious, walking out this door, where were they going?”

Hickey also wants to continue asking college-bound students to what extent the school prepared them, especially if there was something students might feel the school did not do.

“In the years we’ve asked that question, I haven’t had anybody  say anything sizeable in terms of the experiences or the content, which is good,” Hickey said. “We just have to keep asking that question.”

Schools offer to help parents affected by federal shutdown

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Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak told the School Committee that, during the government shutdown, affected parents with school-aged kids could be assured the district will do what it can to help.

“Please contact your principal,” Szymaniak said. “Our principals have been reaching out, seeing what we can do, but [families] might go unnoticed. Not everyone knows what mom and dad does for a living, but we are looking to make sure that if anybody is on furlough because of the shutdown, we’ll take care of the kids in the school.”

Szymaniak said that could mean efforts such as finding $10 to ensure a student can take part in a book fair.

“Those are the incidentals that, I’m afraid … they could miss out on because of the shutdown,” he said.

He said the shutdown has not yet affected services offered by the schools, but there has been concern noted in the national media over when the shutdown could start impacting school lunch programs.

Contracts extended

The School Committee voted to extend contracts with S.J. Services for custodial work and the First Student bus contract after Business Services Director Christine Suckow, at the committee’s direction, sought reconsideration of price increases.

Both said no and the contracted hikes of 3.5-percent increases for fiscal 2020 and 2.5 percent for fiscal 2021. For S.J. Services it is 3 percent in 2020 and 2 percent in 2021.

Both contracts go out to bid again in two years.

food pantry donations

National Honor Society adviser Ellen Galambos and NHS President Katelyn Molito presented checks totaling $5,000 divided between the Whitman and Hanson food pantries raised at the annual Miles for Meals 5K last fall.

“Volunteers like Mrs. Galambos and the National Honor Society have been helping us for quite a few years now,” Bruce Perry of the Whitman Food Pantry said. “They do a tremendous job, they do 99.9 percent of the work. … They’re just phenomenal kids and we just can’t say enough about what they do for the food pantry and for the community as well.”

“You can be so proud of the kids in the school system, because we’ve had so many kids come through and help us rake and pack and unpack and collect donations — and raise funds through their fundraisers,” said Christine Cameron of the Hanson Food Pantry. “You can be real proud of these kids, they are part of our future.”

What’s in a plan?: Resident questions Whitman’s capital planning process

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WHITMAN — Disagreement over what constituted adherence to a bylaw requirement for a capital plan sparked discussion between Selectmen and a resident at the board’s meeting Tuesday, Jan. 22.

Shawn Kain, a former member of the Finance Committee and proponent of a five-year capital improvement plan, asked the Board of Selectmen during a Public Forum who he should approach regarding an appeal of what he saw as the board’s failure to meet a January bylaw deadline for such a plan.

Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski said that, while a capital plan was not being presented that night, a meeting has already been held between town officials, including some department heads and representatives of the Collins Center of UMass, Boston toward developing an ongoing five-year plan.

“You have to have capital to satisfy a capital plan,” Kowalski said. “It’s been asked and answered every time you come.”

“I will meet with the Finance Committee and we will do some prioritization for capital needs this year, but a formal plan will not be [completed],” Town Administrator Frank Lynam said.

“Who do I speak to about this matter if the bylaws aren’t being upheld by the Board of Selectmen?” Kain asked, saying the issue had not yet been made public, an assertion with which Lynam took issue, asserting the situation has been very public. But, aside from the attorney general’s office, officials had no appeals options to offer.

“You can file with the District Court an injunction and order us to get it done,” Lambiase said, noting that planning  work is already underway.

“I’m not aware of any court of appeal above a board of Selectmen,” Lynam said.

“I don’t think there is a board of appeals that’s set up to hear the appeal of anybody [that would have] authority over this board,” Selectman Scott Lambiase agreed, noting he understood Kain’s frustration. “I totally get what you’re asking and what you want here and I think what Frank and the Finance Committee are going to put together is going to be what we’re going to get for a capital plan.”

Both Kowalski and Lambiase agreed that the plan drawn up will meet the requirement for a capital plan while a more formal process is being drawn up with the help of the Collins Center, but Kain was not satisfied with that explanation.

“Will it be a long-term plan, will it be everything we want? No,” Lambiase said. “Do we have money to actually finance this capital plan? That remains to be seen, but there will be a plan forthcoming.”

Lynam said he plans to present a report to the board outlining the town’s capital conditions.

“But it won’t be what you’re looking for,” he said, noting he felt it was clear from Kain’s previous discussions with the board that the Collins Center was being engaged to create a long-term plan, although it wouldn’t meet the timeline he was looking for.

“I think what I’m looking for is specifically what’s in the bylaws,” Kain said. “The bylaw says there will be a capital plan and it will be presented by January. That’s very specific. I was here in June asking about it. I was here in July, I was here in August, I was here in October.”

He said that he was told about the grants for the Collins Center project in October, but saw that as a long-term effort.

“Right now, my major concern is fiscal year 2020,” he said.

Lynam countered that he had five pages of capital requests on 11-by-17-inch paper. Not counting the DPW, there are already “well in excess of $3 million” being asked for this year.

“Will we have a plan put together?” Lynam asked. “We’ll develop one. Will it address all those needs? No it won’t, because it can’t. The revenue isn’t there.”

Lambiase asked Kain what he would do in their position.

“You’re asking us to do something, what would you do?” he asked.

Kain referred to an offer made by Selectmen to have him chair a capital planning committee, which he declined because he felt it would not be in the best interests of those people already working on a capital plan, including Lynam, Selectman Daniel Salvucci — who did not attend the meeting as he was meeting with the Finance Committee about the South Shore Tech budget in his role as liaison to SSVT — and others “used to working together.”

The Building Needs and Capital Projects Committee last met in August, Lynam said, noting it failed to get a quorum to meet in December.

“You’ve been asking about this for a long time and you knew the answer before you got up to the podium,” Kowalski said. “You’ve been told that we did not have the resources to develop a sensible five-year plan in the time frame that you wanted. We know that we’ve missed the deadline for the bylaw, we knew that we were going to miss the deadline for the bylaw and I’m pretty sure we were clear to you that that was what was going to happen.”

He said the next-best thing the board could do was to apply for the grant that is funding the Collins Center’s work.

He suggested Kain’s motivation was to embarrass the board.

Budget update

Lynam said he was meeting with the Finance Committee Jan. 22 to review budget scenarios he distributed to them last week, but no action was planned at that meeting.

“We’re going to be reviewing the results of the meetings in our … the budgets that are under the Board of Selectmen,” he said. “I’m also going to be presenting what we best know, as of this point, for capital requests.”

He said there have been “tremendous amount of capital requests” with limited funds to work with them. A joint meeting on the budget will be scheduled with the Finance Committee next month.

Lynam also noted the Budget Review Committee is progressing in its work to formalize the steps to be taken in beginning, preparing and submitting budgets.

Community assessment survey results are now being analysed for presentation to the board.

Census update

Lambiase reminded citizens to return their Town Census forms as soon as possible.

“A quick note on that is, if you don’t return them, they remove you from the voting rolls,” Selectman Brian Bezanson said. Lynam said that process involves the expense to the town for repeated mailings involved in that process.

State’s funding shortfall

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Unfunded and underfunded state education mandates cost the W-H Regional School District more than $5 million a year, based on the most recent complete report from fiscal 2018. There were $8,131,147 in mandated costs during FY 2018, but only $2,110,957 of anticipated reimbursements were received [See page 5].

“We have an $8 million state mandate that no other department in the town has with $5 million of it not being funded,” said School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes. “That is a giant piece of the budget that other departments don’t have. … The point I’m making is that, when departments start getting pitted against each other, and I hate to use that term, we provide a different service was the answer that I told the Finance Committee members, than other departments. It’s very difficult to compare.”

Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak offered a breakdown of those costs during a budget discussion at the Wednesday, Jan. 16 School Committee meeting.

Town administrators, select board and Finance Committee members from both towns attended the meeting.

Szymaniak said he has appreciated the opportunity to have talks with the Whitman Finance Committee and the town administrators to fill them in on where the district is at financially, he is not yet able to offer budget projections until the official budget roll-out on Wednesday, Feb. 6.

Whitman’s Finance Committee, for example, has been seeking impact statements from town departments based on 3- or 6-percent budget cuts.

“I can’t do what police, fire — everybody else [has done] — and put a number on it,” Szymaniak said. “We have great teachers right now and I would be remiss and I would not be doing my job if were to say I’m starting to cut the budget in January before I present it to you folks.”

Szymaniak said his job is to present a budget that will “adequately move the district as slimly forward as we can. … So I’m telling you this, a deficit or a level-fund will impact us severely.”

The district is looking at a $2.9 million increase in costs — with $3.7 million in deficits that are unfunded across the board if the budget were level-funded, according to Szymaniak.

“The impact would be in service delivery,” he said. “It’s people — I’m not going to put a dollar number or put a number on folks — it’s programs. It’s everything that we’ve done the right way over the past five years.”

Szymaniak said he fully understands Whitman’s financial position and is willing to work with them, but sees the potential for “devastating” cuts if the schools are looking at a $3.7 million deficit.

“We have not yet fully recovered from [cuts made in 2008 through 2010]. If we went back to Square Zero, you look at a 10-year process to get back to where we were.”

He also outlined how unfunded and underfunded mandates from the state impact town budgets.

“Some of the things that we think we do out of the course of doing business out of the course of the day are actually mandates that have an impact on our school budget,” Szymaniak said. “This is what we’re held to, so when we’re talking increases in costs, this is what the state determines we need to do as a district.”

Teacher evaluation, for example, used to consist of an administrator talking with a teacher, according to Szymaniak. The state now wants districts to generate evidence-backed data for such evaluations, requiring a software program — as well as added time not calculated for the comparison, which has doubled if not tripled over the past 10 years.

“As our student population grows, we might have to provide more teachers for that,” Szymaniak also said of English Language Learners. “We doubled our teachers — we had one teacher and two tutors last year — and by our numbers, we should have two teachers and a tutor, if not three teachers for next year.”

Health insurance costs are also expected to increase by about 5 percent next year. Finance Committees and town administrators have also been asking about full-day kindergarten, Szymaniak said. While it will not likely be a budget issue this year, but will likely come up in the future.

“FinComs asked, because we are putting expenditure out for charter schools … and when are we going to look at keeping our kids here,” he said. “That’s a piece that this board has looked at over time.”

Full-day kindergarten could help the district see charter school kids staying in the district over time, according to Szymaniak.

“I think you’re not going to see it the first year, but you will see a definite impact in that expense going out,” he said of the charter school money. “Once you establish roots in a school system, you’re going to stay.”

Special education costs are impossible to project, Szymaniak said, noting that just last week two students were placed out-of-district based on behavior issues that are “not acceptable to our school” and disrupt classrooms, effecting the education of other students.

School choice requires that districts permit students to attend schools where they want. Students that go out of W-H, brings in no money for the district, but students coming into the district bring in some funds.

“I don’t see myself advocating for less services than the meager services that we already provide,” School Committee member Fred Small said.

Hayes agreed, noting it was incumbent upon Szymaniak to present a budget outlining what it’s going to take to run the district and it was up to the committee to come up with a budget figure.

Where regional transportation is concerned, Small said he understands that the state wants communities to have “skin in the game” by limiting reimbursements.

“But the mandate is they shall fully fund regional transportation subject to appropriation,” he said. “We’ve cut our start times, we’ve done everything we can, software-related to create the best bus routes to save as much money as possible on our busing.”

He said there are problems with the state bidding process for bus contracts, because of the limited number of bus companies competing.

In other business, Dan Sullivan of CLA provided an auditors’ report.

“All the information in the financial records were presented fairly, were presented in compliance with what you need to do to prepare the financial statements,” he said. The clean report indicated that the district does not need to make any changes in its practices.

The outside audit encompasses reviews of financial statements, internal controls and accounting principals as well as a government-required single audit of grant expenditures and bonds to determine a bond rating.

“Management and staff were responsive to all our inquiries,” Sullivan said. “We had no [problems] with the way things were reported.”

District Treasurer David Leary also provided a positive report on the district’s debt position, OPEB and transfers of scholarship accounts to better-yield investment vehicles.

Saving Smitty’s Bog: Conservation efforts to rid wetlands of invasive plant

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HANSON — As a snow squall moved in ahead of a winter cold front Thursday, Jan. 10, a strange-looking tracked vehicle passed back and forth in the marshland of Smitty’s Bog.

The last time the vehicle had been seen working in the conservation area off Route 58, the town’s Conservation office received about a dozen calls from curious residents.

What on earth was going on here?

“What we’re doing is taking this area which was obviously all about cranberry cultivation and we’re restoring, as much as possible, to wetlands and their natural ecological function,” said Conservation Commission Chairman Phil Clemons. He described the process of removing invasive phragmities from the bog — the work being done by the vehicle owned by Solitude Lake Management of Virginia with offices in Shrewsbury, Mass.

The casual onlooker might not know the name phragmities, but would recognize the towering reeds with the fluffy plumes.

“This is part of the wetlands restoration management plan that the Conservation Commission, the town of Hanson and the Natural Resource Conservation Service have been working on,” Clemons explained as tall, dried phragmities fell before the “MarshMaster’s” cutting blade. “We’ve been spending seven years preparing a plan and now we’re finally starting to do it.”

The machine is used for mowing marsh areas because its extremely wide track spreads the machine’s weight over a wide area to avoid harming underground roots. It is less likely to get bogged-down in a bog, as well.

“It’s environmentally sound,” Clemons said of the vehicle. “It’s a good thing, even though it looks terrible and we want people to know that.”

An EPA-approved herbicide was sprayed on at least three acres of  phragmities-choked areas by Solitude Lake Management in September and, on the plant tops after the fluffy seedheads died back for the winter, the company was cutting down the plants. In the next growing season it will be much easier to find and treat what remains of the plants, Clemons said.

“Mowing [alone] wouldn’t do a thing,” he said. “It would probably just encourage it. There’s multiple steps over multiple years.”

The phragmities, a common reed, is an invasive species from other continents.

“We never used to have it around here until a few decades ago,” Clemons said. “When I was growing up there was none of this in Hanson. It comes in and takes over a wetland and wipes out all the other native plants.”

Cattails, lilypads and other native plants have all paid the price of the phragmities’ success in the region, according to Clemons. It also has few animals feeding off it. The plant’s “impenetrable mass” chokes shallow water bogs and natural marshes, with negative effects to stream flow and native wildlife.

“Nothing eats it,” Clemons said, noting phragmities is one of 100 plant varieties that are now illegal to sell in Massachusetts. “It is a wolf in environmental sheeps’ clothing. It’s an environmental disaster, is what it is.”

Removing the phragmities will permit the return of native plants that want to come back and insects, fish, amphibian and bird species that use that wide diversity of plants can also return.

“They will get much more benefit from that diverse mix of vegetation instead of a solid wall of junk.” Clemons said.

Common in alkaline habitats, phragmities also tolerate  brakish water and is associated with larger methane emissions and greater carbon dioxide uptake than native New England salt marsh vegetation that occurs at higher marsh elevations, according to plant researchers in a 2015 environmental report. Both the state and federal governments have policies that seek to control the spread of phragmities wherever possible.

“The only thing is, it’s difficult to control and this will be a multi-year task,” Clemons said.

Federal funds are paying for the project.

“At the moment, we’re working and the contractors are working, I’m sure they will catch up with us,” he said of the potential financial impact of the federal government shutdown.

A new officer eyed

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HANSON — In a brief meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 15, the Board of Selectmen approved the provisional appointment of full-time police officer David Munn.

Selectmen Jim Hickey and Wes Blauss were unable to attend the meeting.

Police Chief Michael Miksch said the appointment was necessitated by a pending vacancy in the department as Sgt. Gene Andrews has given notice of his plans to retire in December.

“The past two people that we hired came with academies already,” said Miksch, noting he is working to get Munn, who has applied to be an officer in the past, into a spring police academy class. Munn is currently a full-time public safety dispatcher for the town for five years.

Munn is a combat veteran of the Marine Corps who has served a tour in Afghanistan in 2011, is a lifelong Hanson resident and graduate of South Shore Tech.

“I like his background,” said Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett. “I like the fact that he’s been in that dispatch role and he is also a veteran … and then he’s going to go off to the academy. It just really seems like a great fit.”

Miksch praised Munn’s loyalty to the department and work ethic as well.

“If we can’t fill a shift, he’s stepped up to the plate and taken it,” Miksch said. “He’s been a great employee.”

The provisional hire would be contingent on his also passing a medical and psychological exam, background check and other tests and exams required by the department.

Selectmen Chairman Kenny Mitchell said he is familiar with Munn and lauded his character, especially in light of his work as a dispatcher.

A discussion of Green Community Grant applications was tabled until the Tuesday, Jan. 22 meeting.

A resident attending the meeting to request the lifting of “no trespassing” restrictions on Factory Pond, was informed the board could not discuss the matter as it was not on the agenda, but Town Administrator Michael McCue said he would seek an opinion on the issue from town counsel.

Selectmen approved a one-day liquor license request for a birthday party at Camp Kiwanee Jan. 19.

Hanson Recreation looks to changes

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Director’s resignation raises Selectmen’s questions

HANSON — The Board of Selectmen and Recreation Commission are working to determine the future direction of the commission going forward with the start of a new year.

Town Administrator Mike McCue, in December, announced to Selectmen that Recreation Director Joshua Wolf has resigned from the post, effective Dec. 31.

“We’re working on a transition,” McCue said. “If there’s a good time for this to happen, this is an optimal time, since it’s a slow time.”

Selectman Matt Dyer will be directly involved in the process, since the Board had voted to place him in the Recreation liaison position. He indicated that the Recreation Commission preferred a town-wide mission.

“We’ll take a look to see do we move forward as things are now or are there things that we want to shift and change?” McCue said.

He also said he was glad to see a willingness to change direction on Recreation as a town-wide mission, instead of solely on Camp Kiwanee as has happened over the last several years.

Selectman Wes Blauss had pointed out — and Administrative Assistant Merry Marini has confirmed —that over the last several years there had been an addition of responsibility to the commission rather than the exclusion of town-wide recreation.

“I have been talking for quite some time about redefining what the Recreation Commission does to handle everything in town,” McCue said. “I think now that we need to brush off what was always there — it’s not something that’s going to happen overnight.”

That authority has always been there, but for a lot of different reasons attention had been drawn more toward Kiwanee, he explained.

“I think [McCue] just called it ‘mission drift,’” Blauss agreed. A Cranberry Cove Management Committee had been formed in the 1940s to oversee the beach area and in 1972 the Recreation Commission was formed to do town-wide recreation. In 1979 the town bought the Camp and the Camp Kiwanee Management Committee was formed with three committees at work on their own projects by that time.

“There came a point when the Camp Kiwanee Committee and the Cranberry Cove Committee were at each others’ throats over drainage and Recreation was sort of withering,” Blauss recalled. “The executive secretary said … we’re going to combine them all into Recreation.”

The only changes since have been the reduction in commission membership from nine to seven.

“Recreation has never been about Camp Kiwanee, but I do think … it’s drifted over the last 10 years and more attention was on the camp … and everything sort of drifted,” he said. “I don’t think the mission needs to change, I just think we need to remember it was a town-wide thing.”

That was good news to the ears of Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett and Dyer, who described a meeting a few weeks before where Recreation Commission members had said they were focusing on the Camp because that was what they had been told to do, despite wanting to do town-wide projects.

The position of Town Planner, meanwhile, is being redefined as primarily town planning and support of the Planning Board and ZBA has been supported by the Planning Board, McCue reported.

“But, as I think we’ve seen, subdivisions and things that the Planning Board needs to deal with sometimes peak and valley,” he said, noting he had initially proposed a new position of community development director to support Planning and Appeals. “However, in those slower times, the responsibilities would shift to grant-writing and economic development.”

But creating the new position would have required a Town Meeting vote, meaning a longer process, so McCue argued that rolling the extra development responsibilities into the current job description made more sense. Making the position full time is possible because of extra funds voted at special Town Meeting into the salary line.

It will now pertain to the interim Planner, but the position will also be posted to allow anyone with the needed experience to apply for the post. The Selectmen were asked, in their role as the Personnel Board, to amend the job description last month.

Rec Commission eyes increases for weddings, beach passes

HANSON — The Recreation Commission is again faced with the need to replace a Recreation Director with the resignation last month of Joshua Wolf. The commission, which met in the library of the camp’s Needles Lodge Monday, Jan. 7, also discussed potential increases in lodge rentals and beach passes for the coming year.

Chairman Diane Cohen said she would be meeting with Town Administrator Michael McCue the next day [Tuesday, Jan. 8] to discuss future plans for the director’s position.

Commission members did opt to take no action toward further consideration of a proposal from former member Rachel Gross, who works in the event-planning industry. While some had doubts about Gross’ time commitment, Cohen and Selectmen Matt Dyer, who serves as the board’s liaison to the Recreation Commission, urged that the decision be limited to what McCue and Dyer termed “sketchy optics” of a former Recreation Commission member presenting a proposal that could benefit a company they own.

McCue does not recommend going that route, Dyer said.

“It’s almost like we’re vendoring out the Rec director’s job,” commission member Brian Smith said. “Can we do that?”

Member Brian Fruzetti had questioned Gross’ follow-through and noted that some of her proposals were “similar to other Recreation programs in other local towns” or had previously been discussed by Hanson’s Recreation Commission.

Cohen said Gross, a single parent, had been “very torn” about her decision to leave the Recreation Commission and said that had little to do with her proposal.

“Is this a route we want to go, whether it’s with Rachel or anybody else is really the matter at hand, I’d say,” Cohen argued.

Fruzetti said the proposal was akin to privatizing the recreation programs and had been raised a long time ago.

“It didn’t turn out to be very good,” he said.

Cohen disagreed with that characterization.

“To me, it’s more of a, ‘What can we get going here, who can we make connections with?’ [scenario],” she said. “I view it as someone to get us started and us maintaining once the [three- to six-month] contract is up.”

But Cohen appreciated the other members’ concerns.

“Before you go off and privatize, I would recommend that the commission hold one or two events per month just to hold yourselves over until you get another Recreation Director,” Dyer said.

While the Recreation Commission agreed to hold off on a vote about increasing wedding fees at this time, they did voice support for increasing fees for weddings in the lodge and beach passes for 2020.

Fee action delay

Both were tabled and are planned to be on the agenda for the commission’s next meeting at 6 p.m., Monday, Jan. 28 at Needles Lodge.

“I think it’s time to go up on everything,” Fruzetti said. But Dyer urged caution on beach fees.

Smith argued the Recreation Commission is “taking a beating” at the Cove and are not even breaking even.

“The Cove is always going to be in the red because it’s supposed to be offset by things at the lodge,” Dyer said. “That’s how we set up the business plan for the Cove. You guys can change that business plan if you want, but I would highly advise against it because this is a service you provide the public, it is not a revenue center.”

It is also the nature of providing a public service.

“You guys are in the business or providing a service,” Dyer said. “We lose money on the schools, we loose money on the police and we lose money on fire services. You are just as equal as any other government department. We’re here to provide service, we’re not here to make money off residents.”

He said that, while it is OK to charge a fee to keep afloat, the Recreation commission should look to wedding fees to support other programs.

Beach passes

Beach Director Emma Mousette outlined the beach pass proposal.

She and Cohen had discussed creating an individual season pass in addition to family passes because they had been approached by residents requesting single passes. Day passes would stay at $5 per person.

Individual senior passes — senior citizen rates kick in at age 65 — would be $30 per person and $50 for other individuals age 16 and over. Non-resident individual passes would be $60.

In-town family passes would increase in price by $5, bringing them to $85 each. A $5 increase for non-resident passes would move the cost up to $155 for the season.

“That’s basically to cover minimum wage going up,” Mousette said. “We sold a lot of day passes last year — more than we’ve ever sold — and I do not see that happening again if we increase it by $5.”

The increases, as well as the unpopular “adult swim” periods are necessary to fund lifeguard minimum wages as well as providing required break times to ensure public safety, according to Mousette.

“The guard needs a break for 15 minutes every hour by law, so they can rest, recharge and rehydrate so they can come back and be attentive to the water,” she said. “The Cove has used adult swim rather than a rotating guard because it saves money since you’re not paying a fourth guard.”

The law requires that at least two guards on duty at one time.

Dyer also said an increase in day pass prices would increase the need to keep cash at the gate for change and would create the need for a secure place to keep that extra cash after the bank closes at 5 p.m.

“When you run out of ones, whose going to bring in ones?” he said. “If you go up to $10 for an entry, it’s way too much.”

Adult swim saves money, Dyer said.

Lockers, also requested by beach-goers last year were not approved because the commission did not want to be responsible for overnight storage or chasing down residents at the end of the season to have them clear out their lockers.

Wedding fees

Wedding fee increases will be steeper, if the commission approves Cohen’s recommendation.

Cohen was seeking a $500 — or 10-percent increase — for weddings. She sited needed repairs in the kitchen and pending minimum wage increases as driving forces behind the suggestion. Utility costs are also increasing.

Dyer said the commission could look at two different business plans for weddings — a higher cost for more luxury weddings apart from the regular prices or set a lower rate to bring in a larger number of weddings. But the camp is already booked from April through to the beginning of November.

Dyer also suggested a peak and off-season price breakdown. Currently the lodge is not booked for winter weddings.

Commission member John Zucco recommended researching similar venues in the region before going ahead with any increases.

“One of the draws to having a wedding at Camp Kiwanee is you get to be outside,” Cohen said.

Members said there are people who plan outdoor weddings in the winter for photos in the snow.

“Another piece to the puzzle in figuring out your rates will be your baseline operating costs,” Dyer said.

Cohen said they would seek McCue’s recommendation, but still preferred a 10-percent fee increase, although she would consider a seasonal price breakdown before voting on the issue.

“Some money is better than none,” she said.

Sobering financial forecast

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WHITMAN — The Finance Committee has been hearing dismal predictions of layoffs and reduced services as a result of even a 3-percent budget cut from almost all town departments in November and December — with projections of a 6-percent cut being even worse — as it has met with department heads in planning a fiscal 2020 budget.

Only the School District has yet to file a specific impact statement, but that is expected by the time it formally rolls out a budget next month.

The Finance Committee reported on the status of meetings with department heads at the Tuesday, Jan. 8 meeting of the Board of Selectmen.

“We appreciate the opportunity to present this information,” Chairman Richard Anderson said. “This committee … started the budget review cycle three months early with a very specific plan — to evaluate this community’s economic distress in fiscal 2020.”

He then provided a thumbnail outline of each department’s impact forecasts [see box at right].

“We’re looking for sustainability,” Anderson said.

“We have to get this information out that these are the impacts,” Selectman Scott Lambiase agreed.

Initial meetings with the departments have been held, and more are planned, to evaluate the impact of 3- or 6-percent cuts to level-service budgets.

“These percentages were not arbitrary,” Anderson said. “They were based on the estimate of a $1.8 million [budget] shortfall for this fiscal year.”

The Finance Committee has also been updating Selectmen on a regular basis to inform them as well as the public for a “clearer understanding of the need to improve communication with all the stakeholders in this process,” according to Anderson.

“I think we’re getting a comprehensive look at what these funding cuts would mean to the town,” he added, noting there is still two weeks of work ahead of them.

Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski said the forecast was “sobering, but not unexpected” and asked about suggestions the Finance Committee might have.

Anderson said that, while they continue meeting with department heads, while developing a draft Article 2 budget with which to work in the second round of meetings.

“We need several different budget scenarios,” he said. “We can’t be caught at the last minute, as we have in years past, with no battle plan.”

Town Administrator Frank Lynam said there was a bit of good financial news — meals tax revenues were up to $166,000 from $140,000 and National Grid has finally worked with the town in time to obtain the grant for LED conversion of streetlights, which should be completed this month, which will “have a meaningful effect on our budget,” at a $35,000 savings.

But Lynam also cautioned that a power-share agreement to rebate 22 percent of electrical costs through National Grid, won’t be realized until the third quarter of 2019.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said.

National Grid’s property tax boost to the town is amortizing at a rate where the benefit will disappear in two years, and the tax burden is already shifting to homeowners.

“This board has to take a solid look at freeing up levy space,” said Selectman Randy LaMattina. He again argued for moving the debt for the new police station and Town Hall/Fire Station renovations to a debt exclusion. Officials agreed that, while funding the work within the levy limit seemed right at the time, things have changed.

“The town needs to look at some type of long-term investment back into the community,” he said. “I think the taxpayers will help us out, but we need to help them out.”

Lynam agreed.

“There’s no question that some expenditures have to be reduced,” he said. “The question is how do we do it in a way that makes sense. … To continue operating the kind of town that people are living in and happy to be in — we’re going to have to spend some money, there’s no way around that.”

Finance Committee Vice Chairman David Codero also reminded Selectmen that voters at the 2018 Town Meeting voted to spend $800,000 of capital stabilization funds to provide pay increases for department heads and capital spending.

“Infusing a budget with money from outside sources is not a solution,” he said. “That one-time money is no longer there. … I emplore the Board of Selectmen not to take another kick-the-can-down-the-road type of strategy this year. It’s not a great solution.”

School Committee member Fred Small said transportation reimbursement to the district is up a bit and the Maquan closing is beginning to be calculated.

If social media commentary is to be believed, as Selectman Brian Bezanson reported, there is no appetite in town for an override of any kind.

“You might get 1 percent who are in favor of any kind of increase. Period,” Bezanson said. “If you expect them to just stand in line, lock-step and go for whatever we can come up with … you’re not going to get the support for it. I believe they are tapped out.”

Lambiase said Bezanson was probably right, but the board still has to put a plan together.

Lynam and Kowalski reminded the board and residents “screaming on social media” that the town’s tax rate and actual tax bills are lower than those of surrounding communities.

The Bridgewater State Community Assessment Survey’s 19 percent — or 1,037 residents (632 online, 405 on paper) — has been completed and will be available for review as a value statement of the town’s residents.