HANSON — The Board of Selectmen has begun its review and discussion of proposed warrant articles for the Monday, Oct. 1 special Town Meeting.

Articles are due to the Selectmen’s office by Friday. Aug. 24 and will be closed on Tuesday, Aug. 28. Selectmen have to sign the warrant by Tuesday, Sept. 11 for posting by Sept. 13.

Town Administrator Michael McCue will be asking town counsel to review the amended recall article passed at the May Town Meeting to see if it covers ethical implications of situations like that of reports about an alleged affair between Rockland’s selectmen chairman and vice chairman.

Selectman Jim Hickey had suggested at the Tuesday, Aug. 14 meeting that Hanson return the recall issue to Town Meeting to address possible collusion that could result from a situation like Rockland’s.

“The collusion between the two of them outside the office — where they’d only need one other selectman to agree with them — yet, according to our recall right now, they could not be removed from office,” Hickey said.

“I don’t think that that’s true,” said Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett. “We’ve got a clause … about some type of moral behavior.”

She said Hickey’s concern does not reflect an accurate interpretation of what the recall revision said. Selectmen Chairman Kenny Mitchell agreed with FitzGerald-Kemmett.

“Based on our current recall, if that happened here, those parties would be recalled,” Mitchell said, urging McCue, who said he was not certain that FitzGerald-Kemmett’s and Mitchell’s interpretation was entirely accurate, to have town counsel review it.

“I think the voters have already spoken on what they thought a recall law should say,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “I do realize that there is a vocal minority that was uncomfortable with where it was landing, but I do think the voters spoke … and they were pretty unanimous about it.”

Mitchell argued that bringing it back to Town Meeting six months later is “going down the wrong path.”

McCue noted that Hickey’s request was an effort to determine that Hanson’s recall provisions would apply in a situation like Rockland’s.

“I assure you it’s not going to happen here,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “This is like the perfect storm – I don’t think you could ever recreate this particular situation. Again, at least while I’m sitting on the board, it won’t be happening.”

She doubted it was possible to legislate to account for bizarre situations, but supported obtaining town counsel’s opinion.

“This was put on the agenda [in case] anybody has articles to put on it or any suggestions they want to talk about,” Mitchell said of the warrant article review. “Now would be the time to do that.”

FitzGerald-Kemmett suggested an article looking at the process for accepting private roads. McCue said that was not necessary as the process is governed by policy, not a by-law.

McCue did say that Selectman Wes Blauss’ suggested ban on one-use plastic shopping bags could be included on an upcoming warrant, perhaps in May.

“I think we’ve both come to the agreement that we’d want to get the word out — a little more information — before we go to the voters and ask them to make a decision,” McCue said. “As far as other articles [for October], I really can’t think of anything else we talked about that we need an article for.”

He did suggest, however, a fund to study rubbish pickup and the transfer station concerning the facility’s ability to support itself going forward. Studies of staffing needs at the Board of Health and Planning Board were also discussed.

FitzGerald-Kemmett urged funding a study of the needs at the Hanson Multi-Service Senior Center.

“Mary [Collins, the Center’s director] is quite excellent at what she does and she’s very humble — she’s not going to ask for all types of stuff — but anybody that visits that Senior Center knows that is a very confined space [and] we need to do something to help out with that situation,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “If she hasn’t already gotten a study, I think we need to figure out what it is that they need for space and then maybe looking at existing space.”

There are frequent occasions when there are two or more programs going on in addition to the daily Adult Supportive Day Program in the same room, she noted.

McCue suggested a placeholder article, which may be passed over if necessary, that could include some future use for Maquan School, which could help solve both issues. He is still looking for and at public comment on the school matter.

Standard articles for the warrant will include unpaid bills, the supplemental budget, the tax classification plan, a stabilization article from the Finance Committee and school stabilization articles.

A proposed Tax Incentive Financing (TIF) program will also be on the warrant as well as a parcel of more than an acre near Hanson Middle School — 0 Liberty St. — to be sold as surplus property similar to the plan for Plymouth County Hospital superintendent’s house. Two general by-law articles on marijuana sale establishments are on the warrant, as well.

FitzGerald-Kemmett also suggested exploring what funding might be required for interim help for the Highway Department, on a project basis, to catch up with work created by the large number of trees felled by the March wind storm and street projects. McCue said it is in the works to rather explore bringing in a tree-removal or landscape firm to assist.

Can now be informed of early releases from rehab commitments

Massachusetts has taken another “step in the right direction” in the fight against the opioid addiction epidemic with the success of legislation to keep families apprised of early releases from rehab commitments.

Its success is largely due to one family’s resolve to save another family from the pain of losing a loved one to an overdose.

“You have to stay persistent,” former Hanson Selectman David Soper said. “That’s what this story is all about — persistence and luck and good people.”

Soper is the uncle of overdose victim Stephen Berry, who became addicted to opioids after oxycontin was prescribed for him to deal with pain following a dirt bike accident.

An amendment to the state’s Section 35 involuntary commitment law — requiring that a family member/petitioner is notified of any early release from the program — sponsored by Rep. Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, and state Sen. Viriato DeMacedo, R-Plymouth, has been included in the opioid bill that Gov. Charlie Baker is set to sign.

For Soper, the news came as a bittersweet victory after months of work toward saving another family from his own anguish.

“As you can imagine David was very passionate about making sure that this doesn’t happen to another family like happened to them,” DeMacedo said Monday, Aug. 6. “I’m honored to have participated in a small way in getting this amendment passed so this won’t happen to another family.”

Cutler was traveling and could not be reached for comment. No information was avaiable at presstime regarding the signing date.

“The closer we got [to the amendment’s passage] the more we started to reflect on what actually happened to us to get this done, and somebody had to die to get it done,” Soper said Friday, Aug. 3. “This is probably one of the most difficult things I have ever accomplished in my life. I had to stay on this.”

The change in the notification process was driven by family members of an overdose victim in Plymouth County and DA Timothy Cruz and the family of Soper, who testified in May on the bill.

“It spirals out of control so fast,” Berry’s father Thomas told television reporters after testifying in the May at a bill hearing.

Thomas Berry explained addiction runs in his family and all his son needed was “a couple of those puppies” to become addicted. Before long Stephen’s habit was deemed serious enough to have him involuntarily committed to the Bridgewater State Rehabilitation Center on April 3, 2017.

He was supposed to be there for 90 days, but was released after two weeks because he had a pending court date.

Soper said there was no professional guidance offered to his nephew, nor any notification to his family that he was being released.

DeMacedo said he was compelled by the common sense of the request and noted most people do not understand that many people committed to treatment under Section 35 do not complete the entire 30-day hold.

“I think this gets us one step closer to addressing these issues,” DeMacedo said Monday. “When we Section 35 somebody it’s because they are a harm to themselves or others and we want to make sure they are getting the help necessary.”

Soper credited DeMacedo, Cutler and Cruz for their work in support of the change, particularly DeMacedo after the bill died in House Committee.

“Senator DeMacedo took the verbiage and created an amendment to Gov. Baker’s Care Bill Section 35,” Soper said. “That’s pretty much what saved it.”

The late filing of the House Bill had put it at risk because of timing contraints, Soper said.

“The bill was strong enough to get a hearing, but there was just too  much work in front of them,” he said. What started as a 587 line bill had more the doubled in length by the time it passed.

He noted that state representatives serve about 49,000 residents, fielding some 500 calls a week for constituent services. State senators serve some 100,000 people, resulting in hundreds more calls for assistance.

“So many people fear government and say, ‘You have to be connected to make this happen,’” Soper said. “That’s absolutely false. If you just continue to ask questions, there is not a politician alive that will not return your call because it’s what they’re supposed to do, it’s in their best interest and they’re here to serve the people.”

Soper said Cruz was very warm and understanding to his brother in-law’s family as one of the most nimble divisions in government “that sees this opioid crisis for what it is” and is working with the medical community to get people the help they need.

“When we went up to Boston and testified, everybody seemed very receptive to the idea, because it really wasn’t a big change per se — but an important change,” Cruz said Friday, Aug. 3. “All it’s really doing is making sure whoever files the appropriate petition under Section 35, is they get notified if there’s a release.”

That’s where HIPAA privacy regulations had to be dealt with, Soper said. It took several meetings with Health and Human Services, the Department of Mental Health and other agencies to work the bill through.

“I talked to many people who said it was a violation of federal law,” Soper said. “People are dying. Since when does Massachusetts shy away from leading the way.”

DeMacedo said the federal law considers substance abuse rehabilitation a medical situation to which HIPAA applies, prohibiting the release of information without patient consent.

“We worked to try to find a way to get this idea passed,” he said. That meant the inclusion of a consent form at the time of commitment for a patient to sign permitting notification of their family should they be released early.

“If we were not able to get the consent, we would not have been able to do this,” DeMacedo said.

Cruz called the change an “important additional tool” to keep families informed as they try to help loved ones fight addiction.

“Everybody knows somebody, unfortunately, or a family that’s dealing with this terrible epidemic,” Cruz said. “It’s an ongoing fight. We have a lot of good things going on in our county, from Plymouth County Outreach and Plymouth County HOPE, the Drug Abuse Task Force, but even though I think we’re leading the charge, we’re still fighting the battle.”

He described the Section 35 amendment as one step to give hope to families, keeping their loved ones safe as they work to get them into another facility when the commitment is over or they are to be released early.

“Stephen Berry was an adult, so [the rehab center] didn’t notify the parents and there was a terrible circumstance in that they had things all lined up for him and because he was released earlier that what they were told, he ended up unfortunately relapsing and getting more drugs and passing away,” Cruz said last week.

Working group set to roll up sleeves to start budget process

WHITMAN — Selectmen agreed on Tuesday, July 24, to create a working group — to likely include the two members of the Finance Committee, two Selectmen, department heads and representatives from the School Committee — to draw up a set of policies, guidelines and procedures to direct work on the fiscal 2020 budget cycle and beyond.

The aim is to kick off the process with a joint meeting with the Finance Committee the first week in August. Vice Chairman David Codero said the Finance Committee supports the idea of a working group and the August kickoff meeting.

“The things we’re looking at in this particular context is: what is the information we need, how fast can we get this information and what can we do with this information — and are we duplicating efforts,” said Selectman Scott Lambiase. “We’re not looking to drag our feet on this. I’m passionate about getting this done and getting it out.”

Lambiase said he would like to see budgets coming from department heads by September.

“We’re asking for level-funded budgets, and we’re asking for budgets showing cuts,” he said. “We have to ask for that now. … We have to ask how cuts will affect a department. We’re not saying we’re going to put these cuts into effect, but we need to know … what are the effects going to be if we do go this route?”

Lambiase said he is hopeful budget figures could show a much rosier picture, but stressed he is not optimistic.

Town Administrator Frank Lynam stressed that fiscal 2018 still has not been closed out. Growth numbers to be used in the next budget will not be available until September or October, but draft numbers can be calculated.

Whitman resident Shawn Kain, a former member of the Finance Committee, said during the meeting’s public form, that it would be helpful for Selectmen to publish a budget document.

“People need to know the complexities of this budget,” he said. “They need to know why.”

Selectman Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski had stopped him at that point because the budget review is now a permanent agenda item and public forum is intended to permit the public to address items of concern not already on the agenda.

Finishing his statement, Kain said he was concerned about Kowalski’s consideration to privatize ambulance service.

“That’s not what I said,” Kowalski said. “I made it very clear that I was against privatizing the ambulance service.”

Kain stressed his point was that people need to understand why the state is not fully funding the regional schools and that town and school finances are going to get better when the town reaches target share for funding schools.

“The people need to know just how big the override is going to be,” he said. “Transparency is essential during this process if people are going to have confidence in you. Lots of people were upset when you mentioned privatizing the ambulance service. That, to me, is not only jumping the gun, it’s unethical.”

Kowalski said a budget document will be prepared.

“We’re going to go with whatever speed this committee — this town — can go on,” Kowalski said. “I made no recommendation … we have suggested that we invite department heads in and that we talk about the possibility of having either no increase next year or a small decrease in their budgets and to talk about those things.”

He had used a comparison study of the “costs to run the ambulance service as opposed to out-sourcing” as an example of that.

Resident Mary Box also argued for budget transparency and against expenses for out-of-state travel for staff development or networking. She also argued for pay freezes for town employees.

“This gentleman has been up at every meeting and he’s scoffed [at] every time,” she said about Kain. “You sit there, arrogant, and say we’re not giving you a timeline. Things don’t work that fast. Well, you can spend our money fast enough and I say no.”

Kowalski said the town is actually ahead of schedule in its budget preparations and planning.

“You can be safe in the assumption that our ambulance service is not going to be privatized,” he also said. “When people get excited about a possible override they have to have a reason to get excited about a possible override and they have to see what the cost is going to be. If we don’t come up with some other ways of dealing with our finances, there are things beyond our control — but there are things we can control.”

Resident Nita Sault reminded Box that there are federal and state training requirements for public safety officers that can include travel to out-of-state conferences. She also said that, while he has some good points, Kain often presents them negatively and that rumor has it he is laying the groundwork to run for selectman himself.

“Maybe you can be a little more positive and listen to what they’re saying so that, when you come up [to speak], we can actually learn from you,” Sault said.

Capital plan

Kain also spoke during the public forum portion of the meeting to ask if the Buildings and Capital Needs Committee had made progress on the town’s capital improvement plan.

He noted that Kowalski had said, during a recent meeting, that the Finance Committee failed to meet that objective last year. Kain, reminded Selectmen that such a statement was unfair.

“FinCom simply does not have the authority to implement policy,” Kain said. “That, as you know, is the role of the Board of Selectmen and, it is with this in mind, that the Capital Committee took a lead role on this last spring.”

He also referred to the state’s seven-step process toward developing a five-year capital plan, which the Capital Committee has begun reviewing.

“Nothing has changes since we last met,” Lynam said. “The office is awaiting fixed asset reports to use to build the model. Mr. Kain, I understand you have a driving wish to see everything done in a timeframe that you feel is appropriate. It doesn’t work when you’re dealing with that many people and that many pieces.”

Lynam said the state model has not yet been adopted.

“We have not completed that process,” he said, adding that work is continuing.

Sullivan’s say

In other business, state Rep. candidate Alyson Sullivan, submitted a letter to the Board of Selectmen regarding the Tuesday, July 10 discussion about events at the July 4 Family Fun Day in Whitman Park because she was discussed, but did not have the prior notice to be at the meeting.

Selectman Randy LaMattina asked if it proper to read her letter without Recreation Director Oliver Amado being present.

Kowalski said Sullivan’s letter was not intended as a complaint against a public official, but merely an attempt to set the record straight based on what she observed at the park. Sullivan began her letter by saying she had a great time at the event.

Based on her interaction with many Whitman residents of all ages, she wrote, Sullivan was surprised her attendance and participation were criticized.

“After watching a video of your meeting, I was shocked — shocked at the numerous false statements made to the board,” she wrote. “To be clear, what you and your fellow board members heard was simply not true.”

Sullivan said her campaign was specifically told they could have no political signs, T-shirts, buttons, balloons with her name on them, literature or politicking.

These clearly communicated prohibitions by the department head prompted a polite call to the town administrator to determine what was and was not allowed,” she wrote. “The town administrator expressed his disagreement with the restrictions being imposed by the department head and said he would get back to our campaign.”

Sullivan stated she was then called and told she could campaign without the restrictions communicated by the department head. She also contested the statements that: her campaign showed up with banners — plural — the “size of station wagons; her staff encroached on picnic tables and were instructed to move; that she had 20 signs planted in the ground; her group were an unruly entourage nearly all the residents stiff-armed; the group tried to use the event’s of DJ’s microphones and were unsuccessful.

Sullivan said a small table with a cloth bearing her name had been set up at one of the furthest points from the events while other candidates were allowed to set up near the picnic tables. Her staff was instructed to turn their table so her name faced the street, turning it back around only after other candidates put out materials bearing their names visible from the park. There were only four to five Sullivan signs near their table, like other candidates. Her group was made up of friends and family members, including a member of the Abington Board of Health, military veterans and young children, not one of whom was “stiff-armed” by Whitman residents. No one from her group asked for permission to use a microphone and no attempt was made to hold a rally or disrupt the event.

“It was obvious when I arrived, and during the day, the department head was offended and angry with my participation,” Sullivan wrote. “While I don’t agree with it, I understand it. What I don’t understand, and find most troubling, is a department head making knowingly false and malicious statements to you and your board about me and my participation at the event, knowing it could affect my reputation and decisions you and your board may be called upon to make.”

Liaison roles, ambulance comments challenged

WHITMAN — Selectman Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski received approval from the Board of Selectmen Tuesday, July 24 to assign Assistant Town Administrator Lisa Green to research how other select boards make liaison assignments to determine if there is a practice the board can formally discuss and adopt. Selectman Randy LaMattina voted against it in the 4-1 vote.

Selectman Scott Lambiase said the issue should be resolved at the next meeting in August after assignments caused conflict last month.

Selectman Dan Salvucci said conflict of interest, and equality of   workload should be the main guidelines, other than expertise, considered in liaison assignments.

LaMattina had been removed from his role as a Fire Department liaison and posted his feelings on the matter on Facebook. Kowalski read a portion of the post at the July 24 meeting. LaMattina had also asked that the assignments be placed on the agenda and to be provided documentation of the board chairman’s authority regarding reassignments.

After providing some background on the issue and reaction to social media criticism of the move, Kowalski said there is no documentation such as LaMattina was demanding.

“It’s been a long-standing practice from years before I was on the board, but like a lot of other things, we don’t have written policies governing the way the Board of Selectmen itself carries itself,” he said.

background

The late Selectman Peg McGilvary was the Fire Department liaison for years, Kowalski noted. He assigned himself as her substitute following her death, holding the post for two years —fiscal 2012 and 2013. He appointed Lisa Green as liaison while he was undergoing cancer surgery and treatments, with Scott Lambiase appointed in 2017 when Green stepped down to become assistant town administrator. LaMattina was appointed in fiscal year 2018 because of his fire service experience and because Kowalski was scheduled to undergo surgery in the fall.

“I intended at that time to take it back if I got strong enough,” Kowalski said. “I did.”

He said he enjoyed his earlier two years as liaison and working with the fire service, especially as his great uncle, Bert Dyer, was the Whitman fire chief in the 1920s. Kowalski taught a number of firefighters in courses at Massasoit, including Chief Timothy Grenno, Tom Ford, Pat Travers, John Norton, Lloyd Plasse and Skip Fletcher.

Kowalski said that combatting the opioid crisis is also important to him and that he is proud of the way in which Whitman Police and Fire personnel have stepped up to the plate in that effort.

“Randy and I have not discussed his reassignment,” Kowalski said. “I learned about his thoughts on his reassignment when somebody forwarded me his Facebook post from July 13.”

On that post he noted he had been notified of the change at the July 10 meeting.

“I question this decision and I find it troubling in light of the chair’s remarks about privatizing our ambulance service,” Kowalski quoted from LaMattina’s Facebook post. Firefighter Richard McKinnon also posted a comment on the social media site.

“What type of a liaison will Mr. Kowalski be when, just this week he announced he wanted to look at the possibility of privatizing Whitman’s ambulance service?” Kowalski read.

“Somehow a connection was drawn between liaison assignment and our budget review,” Kowalski said. “There is no connection whatsoever between the liaison reassignment of Randy LaMattina and the discussion of ambulance service.”

He said LaMattina and McKinnon seemed to be inferring that there was “some sort of an anti-union bias on my part” — a point picked up by Whitman resident and former Finance Committee member Shawn Kain, who posted that “Maybe they’ll start busting unions as [Kowalski] suggested.”

“Never did I say anything about busting unions,” Kowalski said. “Both of those inferences are totally incorrect.”

He said any argument that he advocated privatizing ambulance service was fiction.

“Anyone reading the Whitman-Hanson Express or viewing the videotape of our meeting [on Whitman-Hanson Community Access TV] with anywhere close to an open mind can easily see that,” Kowalski said. “The idea that I have an anti-union bias is equally absurd.”

As an educator, Kowalski noted he has been a member of the MTA-NEA Mass. Teachers’ Association-National Education Association) since 1972, except for the years 1979-83 when he was dean of economic affairs at Massasoit Community College and could not belong.

“I am, however, sorry that my remarks on July 10 seemed to have caused such confusion, no matter what the motives are for those who were confused,” he said.

open meeting
complaint

Kowalski also said that, if he is found to have violated the Open Meeting law regarding the issue during the July 10 meeting, he would gladly apologize. An executive session on the matter was held at the July 24 meeting, adding that he takes the Open Meeting Law seriously.

“You can’t go into a little diatribe,” LaMattina said, interrupting at one point in Kowalski’s remarks. “Now you’re steering the conversation away from what I actually wanted to discuss about it and I have an issue with that, but that is my point of order.”

Kowalski said he was ignoring the point of order until he completed his remarks and then a discussion could take place.

LaMattina said he appreciated Kowalski’s sentiments after the chairman completed his explanation and background for the decision.

“I’d like to say I bought into it, but I don’t,” LaMattina said. “Because it’s not just the Fire [Department] that you took, it’s also Board of Health on which I formally have come to you with an issue you have overlooked. It’s also Recreation which we also had an issue recently and we’re going to get to that, obviously, next, and I lose that that night.”

LaMattina said he doesn’t have an uncle that was in the fire service.

“I was in the fire service,” he said. “I know what it’s like to be up on top of the roof. I know what it’s like to hold the line. I know what these guys go through on a daily basis.”

He said he also knows the concerns of fire management and there is no one on the board more qualified to be Fire Department liaison anymore than there is anyone more qualified than Salvucci to be liaison to South Shore Vo-Tech.

“In the time that we’re in, I think we have to play to our strengths for success,” LaMattina said. He argued being named liaison to W-H schools is not playing to his strength and had he known Kowalski would take back the fire assignment he wouldn’t have spent hours in negotiations with the Fire Department or researched several years of contracts in preparation for negotiating the chief’s contract.

LaMattina said he has attended Recreation events, Firefighters’ Memorial Sunday, Grenno’s swearing-in ceremony as president of the state fire chief’s association and he had not seen Kowalski at those events.

“For me, it’s [the reassignment] punitive and I’m sorry about that,” he said.

Travel expenses

Selectmen voted to impose a one-year out-of-state travel moratorium due to the budget outlook, in combination with new policy guidelines to be in place when the fiscal outlook improves. Selectman Brian Bezanson suggested the moratorium.

Lynam maintained his support for placing the authorization control of travel expenses with Selectmen. Lambiase — who has argued that while the proposed travel and expense policy is “well-thought out and fairly comprehensive,” he questioned whether such a detailed policy is needed —urging a completion of the issue “one way or the other” that night. He advocates a line-item approach as a guideline over a prior-approval approach.

“It’s extra work for me that I’m not interested in as a board member, it’s extra work for Frank that I think is unnecessary because a good policy … lets them know what they can and can’t do,” he said. “When they [department heads] don’t handle themselves appropriately, we’ll deal with it.”

HANSON — Questions still remain in the minds of Selectmen and Police Chief Michael Miksch, but the Board of Selectmen is aiming to make a decision by the end of September on whether Hanson will join the member communities of the Regional Old Colony Communications Center (ROCCC) in Duxbury.

The center’s Lead Dispatcher Michael Mahoney, a Hanson native, and Duxbury Fire Department Capt. Rob Reardon briefed Hanson Selectmen on the background, operations and benefits of the center on Tuesday, July 24.

“Over the past six to eight months we’ve been having an ongoing discussion about possibly switching from the [dispatch program] we have now, as far as 911 goes,” Selectmen Chairman Kenny Mitchell said. “For me, saving money would not be the reason why I would go down this avenue — it would be a better product, from what I saw. … It would be nice to save money but that wouldn’t be my number one goal.”

In that six to eight months, Mahoney said ROCCC has made some changes and improvements to the facility’s operations.

Should Hanson opt to join, the time frame for implementation would depend on the time it takes to ensure departments are ready to go with the proper technology equipment — radios, repeaters, hammer systems.

Plympton and Rochester needed upgrades to phone systems and Rochester needed an alarm and camera system as their station was going dark with no overnight desk staff.

Among the questions selectmen have heard from residents are: how an out-of-town dispatcher can know local geographical references; what will become of current local dispatchers and overnight staff of the police station, which is located on a busy travel route and sees more overnight walk-ins than many other area stations.

Selectman Matt Dyer also wanted to hear some of the pitfalls to regional dispatch.

Mahoney said that, among his concerns was that the town would have to decide about overnight staffing of the Hanson Police station.

“That’s come up in every single town, whether they’re going to have a dark station or not,” he said. Rochester made the decision to go dark based on the low number of walk-ins to their station at night.

Miksch has said that is not the situation in Hanson.

“My issue becomes what’s the positives and negatives for Hanson,” Miksch said, noting that all the towns that have joined ROCCC so far are happy with it. “On average 218 people [per month] walk into the station and not everybody’s coming in for a pistol permit. I’m just not comfortable letting the place go dark. … You know as well as I do that someone walking in that station between midnight and 8 a.m. isn’t asking for directions. Usually, there’s a problem.”

Roots of ROCCC

“I was lucky enough to be the one who started this — to build the ROCCC,” Reardon said. “I saw where it came from and where it’s going.”

Duxbury was similar to Hanson when the project was started with one dispatcher also working the desk, he noted.

“It can get overwhelming,” Reardon said. “What we’re doing is different than the towns that have one dispatcher, not that they’re doing a bad job, but they don’t have the resources that we have.”

Foot traffic that can be distracting for a dispatcher working a call in a police station, is not a problem at ROCCC.

Established in 2013 as the Duxbury Regional Communications Center, it now also serves Plympton, Rochester and Halifax with all emergency 911 calls and business telephone traffic; calls for police, fire and EMS service; animal control calls as well as those for DPW and other municipal services are routed through the ROCCC.

“ROCCC was the first regional 911 center to deploy next-generation 911 [service],” Mahoney said, explaining that a fiber-optic network-based system with mapping software was installed two years ago. “It overlays house numbers and addresses right on the satellite picture and provides tremendous accuracy for dispatch.”

While Mahoney grew up in Hanson and “knows the town like the back of my hand,” Reardon said he could not remember the last time he hired a Duxbury dispatcher who grew up in the town or was familiar with it.

“That’s where we rely on technology,” he said. “I’m not going to know where Mary Smith lives, but I’m going to tell by the phone call you made where you are and I’m going to get you help.”

It is the first communications center outside Boston to take direct 911 calls from cell phones, Mahoney said. Currently, Hanson 911 calls are routed through the State Police, where calls are vetted by type of emergency and location and transferred to local responders.

“In a time where seconds count, that takes several,” Mahoney said. “In our facility, you call 911 and hit a tower anywhere in any other jurisdiction we serve, it rings in our room immediately — no transfer, no nothing.”

From the time the phone rings at ROCCC to the time a local responder rolls out of the station is 10 seconds, he said.

“That’s substantially below the national average,” Mahoney said. The national standard is 90 seconds, according to Reardon.

“Seconds really do matter,” he said.

ROCCC currently serves a population of 30,629 over 105 square miles with a capacity of 100,000 people. Hanson and Plymouth, which is also considering joining would come near to that limit, according to Mahoney.

Town input

Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett has already toured the center and, while she still has questions about switching to a regional dispatch center, she urged the other members of the board to visit ROCCC for themselves. That said, she expressed concern that all member towns have “an equal voice” in the governance of the center.

“I want a completely equal say [for Hanson] at the table,” she said.

Right now the center is under the administration of the town of Duxbury, Mahoney said, noting that member communities pay an assessment to Duxbury. He works directly with member fire chiefs who have an equal voice and added that the state has approved allowing regional safety services to adopt a district form of government.

“Everyone hears the word district and associates it with the school system, especially here,” he said. “This is very different.”

A board of directors, made up of a selectman or town administrator from each town oversee the district, according to Mahoney and an operations board made up of police and fire chiefs deciding day-to-day operations.

The center features a fire communications desk as well as one for police and lead dispatcher. There are close to 100 monitors in operation as well as dispatch consoles, with all equipment funded by the state via 911 fees on cell phone bills. They also have the capability to monitor schools and do so already in Duxbury. ROCCC has just received authorization to do so in Rochester.

“If, god forbid, there’s a school shooting [reported] we can, at the push of a button, see what’s happening — who’s in there, where they are,” Mahoney said.

State grants are also available through its 911 Department, which has established funding tiers — with regional emergency communications centers the top priority.

“What that means for Hanson is that the cost of transition to ROCCC could, should and probably would be subsidized by state [funds],” Mahoney said. “Any wish-list items you have — the police department has, the fire department has, the town has — we can roll into future development grants.”

A grant is already permitting the center to expand its building in Duxbury.

ROCCC has three to five dispatchers, including a lead dispatcher around the clock, on duty at any given time so one person talks with the caller, another contacts local police and another contacts local fire departments to reduce response times, he explained.

Local dispatchers

While switching to ROCCC could save personnel costs to towns from payroll, benefits and other post-employment benefits (OPEB), according to Mahoney, that is not a guarantee for Hanson officials said.

“Besides whether the product is good, is this the right choice for Hanson,” Reardon said is the question officials must answer to their own satisfaction. “Rochester, without giving numbers away, cut their bill by almost two-thirds to come to us. They got a better service, they’re not paying benefits [to dispatchers] anymore, the state kicks in quite a bit to pay every year for them.”

Reardon and Mahoney also said current local dispatchers are able to apply for a position at ROCCC if Hanson joins, and that 100 percent of those local applicants have been hired despite what Reardon described as a rigorous process.

“With each town, we’ve added staff,” Mahoney said. “We’ve added positions. By doing that, we attract the best and the brightest in the dispatch community.”

“Why wouldn’t we want to take employees that know this town and have worked in this dispatch center and know the officers and firefighters?” Reardon said. “I think it makes for a much easier transition.”