Whitman-Hanson Express

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Whitman man charged with motor vehicle homicide

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PLYMOUTH – A Whitman man has been arraigned on charges that he was operating under the influence of alcohol when he caused a crash that killed a Carver man, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz announced Wednesday afternoon, March 28.

Alec Dowie, 51, of Whitman, was arraigned in Plymouth District Court on one count each of Motor Vehicle Homicide and Operating Under the Influence, third offense. He pleaded not guilty today in Plymouth District Court and was held on $5,000 cash bail with conditions that he does not drive, he submit to daily drug and alcohol monitoring, and that he surrender his passport.

On Febr. 6, at 6:45 p.m., Halifax Police and Fire personnel responded to the area of 38 Monponsett Str., for a report of a two-car crash. Upon arrival, police found that a 2018 Dodge Challenger operated by Dowie, had crossed into oncoming traffic and collided with a 2005 Honda CRV operated by Richard March, 78, of Carver. Both operators were transported from the crash scene for treatment of their injuries.

March was taken to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston where he succumbed to his injuries just after 9 p.m. that same night.

Halifax Police contacted State Police Detectives with the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office and an investigation commenced with the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department BCI and State Police CARS Unit.

The investigation found that Dowie had a Blood Alcohol Content Level of 0.084 and Dowie tested positive for Fentanyl, Heroin, Cocaine and Opiates in his system. Dowie told investigators that he took a Percocet prior to the crash.

Dowie was arrested by Whitman Police on Monday, March 26 on an outstanding warrant. He is next scheduled to appear in court on June 6 for pretrial conference.

Assistant District Attorney Russell Eonas is prosecuting the case, which was investigated by State Police Detectives assigned to the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office, Halifax Police, the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department BCI and State Police CARS Unit.

Whitman writer finds muse on old block

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WHITMAN — Sometimes a safe corner can change your whole life.

Whitman artist and writer Russell DuPont has explored his world on canvas, through a camera lens and with poetry. Now he has turned his direction toward prose, and his lightly fictionalized memoir “King and Train,” the story of his youth on the tough streets of South Boston and Dorchester — available as an e-book through Amazon — is the result.

Names are changed and characters he has developed for the story are composites based on “a number of people” or invented to serve the story, according to DuPont.

“I try to keep the incidents, what actually occurred, as close to fact as possible,” he said of his writing process. “It’s sitting down [to write] and seeing where these characters take me.”

The title refers to the intersection of two streets in Dorchester where he and his friends would hang out “in what I consider one of the most significant periods of my life,” DuPont, who moved to Whitman in 1975, said in a recent interview.

“I grew up in the projects in South Boston, where every day I fought,” he said. “I had to fight — I wasn’t a member of a gang — the local gang was the Mustangs, and for some reason, I was targeted.”

One reason could have been that his girlfriend at the time was connected in some way to one of the gang members. His family moved to Train Street in Dorchester when his fights “reached a danger point.”

“I ran into a group of guys there who were just terrific guys,” he said of the corner at “King and Train.” The concept of fights and gangs was unheard of there and when the owner of the corner store, “a grouchy elderly woman who hated to see us around there,” sold it to two Armenian brothers, and the new owners allowed the guys to hang out there.

“In turn, we’d do things for them and clean up, and make sure there was no mess and no noise,” he said. “It was just the opposite of South Boston. I never had to look over my shoulder or around corners.”

The non-fiction piece published as “The Corner” in the poetry anthology, Streets of Echo, was expanded and fictionalized to become the novel, “King and Train.”

While DuPont says his poetry is based on observation of detail in a scene, his prose, both fiction and non-fiction is based on large incidents and experiences that have affected his life: including “canoe trips over dams and finding, up in Wisconsin, hearing my name in the middle of nowhere.”

One of his two non-fiction works, “Up in Wisconsin,” had brought him face-to-face with another Russell DuPont in a bar in a remote community on the Michigan border.

“We tossed that around for awhile,” he said. In fact checking for his story, he called a county office and was told “we have loads of DuPonts here, they all came down to log from Canada. She said the whole county is full of them.”

If he had it to over again, DuPont said he would still be moved to write the book, but would hold out for a book-publishing contract for “King and Train” as he is doing for a subsequent book, despite the time and effort agents and publishers now require.

“I feel like I rushed into Amazon [eBooks] too quickly,” he said. “I wish I had not been so anxious to get it out there.”

He just finished another novel titled “Waiting for the Turk,” which stems from an old football saying about the process of making cuts during training camp. It’s the kind of noir-ish detective story DuPont says he’s always wanted to write. Set in South Boston it’s about a former football player who reluctantly joins the Vermont-based detective agency started by his father, a retired Boston Police detective.

He has also started a sequel to “King and Train.”

DuPont has done four previous limited-edition, hand-made books — two of poetry and two non-fiction — as well as in Streets of Echo and in two issues of Boston Seniority, a magazine published by the city for its elder population. He has also been a freelance sportswriter for the Patriot-Ledger and has also reported for the Melrose Free Press and the Dorchester Community News, where much of his writing was columns on politics — particularly the Boston school busing issue which engulfed much of the ’70s.

“I started writing poetry in my late teens and had some published in local literary magazines,” he said. “I had my own magazine, The Albatross, back then and I was working both in journalism and [creative] writing.”

When his family began to include children, however, he found that carving out time to “lock myself in a little room after work” was difficult to fit into family obligations. That’s when he put down his literary pen and picked up a camera.

While he became a teacher in the Sharon School District to support his family, he eventually became interested in painting, and a grant from the school of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts helped him take a year off from teaching in 1993 to develop his talents in that genre.

“It was one of the most wonderful, productive years of my life,” he says. “When I was there, I decided this was it, as soon as my kids are gone, this is what I’m going to do.”

In 1990, he resigned his teaching job and obtained the first of a couple of different studio spaces, which included Rockland’s erstwhile Fourth Floor Artists, which he had helped found. In 2010, he returned to photography and about two years ago began working through Boston’s Elder Affairs office Memoir Project to hone his prose skills.

“That got me back into writing again regularly and I produced the piece for the anthology and pieces for the city of Boston,” he said.

Hanson revisiting by-laws

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HANSON — Selectmen have appointed an enforcement officer for a town earth removal bylaw already on the books, as well as a placeholder article on the May 7 Town Meeting for a resident’s proposed petition bylaw to govern the storage of sand, soil, mulch and similar materials.

The storage measure will have to be reviewed by Town Counsel before the board votes on specific language, however. The removal bylaw was approved by a vote of 4-1, with Selectman Kenny Mitchell voting against it during an unusual Thursday night session — due to last week’s nor’easter — on March 15.

Town Administrator Michael McCue said the draft soils storage bylaw was composed by Town Counsel Jay Talerman of Mead, Talerman & Costa LLC, and was given back to Talerman and concerned residents in the Robinson Street area where an ongoing agricultural soil removal operation has been an issue.

McCue suggested that a placeholder article sponsored by Selectmen would negate the need for the resident seeking the bylaw to rush for signatures before the vote to close the warrant March 20. The board was not voting on any proposed language yet.

“The feeling that I’ve gotten from the board, in a general sense, is that the board would be in favor of putting something like this in place as long as it was reasonable and didn’t unduly burden the average person,” he said. An example would be someone with a small pile of mulch they are going to spread around their property.

Specifics would be ironed out before the warrant is printed.

“You don’t have to vote the same way every time you look at it,” said Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett. “If this evolves and you don’t like it, then you can vote against it.”

Town attorney Katherine M. Feodoroff of MTC said the petitioner had wanted the language to include retail enterprises in the bylaw’s regulations, but businesses are already governed by existing regulations. Commercial farms could be included under the retail umbrella.

Selectmen Chairman James McGahan said his only concerns centered on defining limits to amounts allowed for storage and

“Anybody who has large amounts of material of this type on their property, its impacting other people’s quality of life,” he said.

The board voted 5-0 to sponsor the placeholder article.

The earth removal bylaw vote was a revision of the existing bylaw, intended to clarify that the enforcement authority would be the building inspector.

“When you look at the bylaw online, there’s a small link at the bottom that says enforcement, and that basically says who enforces these bylaws,” McGahan said. “I clicked onto that, and I was educated to know the Board of Selectmen do that. … I didn’t know that we were the policemen of that bylaw.”

The board has the authority to appoint a different enforcement officer, with McGahan suggesting Building Inspector Bob Curran, adding that Curran had agreed to take on that responsibility.

McGahan also urged a review of other policies in which the board does not have expertise in an effort to appoint enforcement officers who do.

“I think it is appropriate, very appropriate, for the Board of Selectmen to authorize — and in all honesty, I think it should be the building inspector, to authorize someone as the enforcement officer, aside from the Police Department,” McCue said. “I wouldn’t expect an officer of the law to go out and interpret these sorts of bylaws.”

He did suggest he come back to the board at a future meeting with an omnibus recommendation of enforcement authority for other bylaws as well.

“I think it makes sense to do it all together instead of piecemeal,” McCue said.

McGahan argued that recent windstorms made the earth removal bylaw enforcement more urgent and the issue has been going on with no enforcement officer for too long.

“I think he might have other things he may be enforcement officer over,” Mitchell said of Curran. “I think we should take a couple weeks and have [McCue] review everything so we’re not calling Bob every other week, going, ‘Here’s another one.’”

FitzGerald-Kemmett agreed with McGahan that residents have become frustrated and that she has been receiving calls on the issue and enforcement of the bylaw, especially centering on the soil removal operation near Robinson Street

Planning Board member Joe Campbell suggested an alternate from either the building or health departments for situations when issues come under one of those two agencies. McCue said he wanted to confer with potential alternates to ensure they could do the job before they were appointed.

In other business, Campbell and Planning Board members Don Ellis and Joe Weeks attended the Selectmen’s meeting to discuss street and private road acceptance policies.

McCue agrees with them that there were some key gaps that could be filled. A private way is a road not yet accepted by the town as a public road, which requires betterments to bring a roadway up to standard first.

“The town is very limited on the funding and the man hours that can be spent in this kind of repairs,” Campbell said. “This way, we’d have a policy in place to actually have those roads accepted onto public roadways.”

McCue added that a policy would also ensure consistency.

Ellis said the problem arises when a developer fails to meet requirements for seeking acceptance of development roads when projects are completed.

“Some of these guys just don’t care,” he said. “The poor citizens on that street want it accepted at that time.”

McGahan said that’s where it gets complicated as people are paying town taxes and they can’t receive services for the upkeep of their road.

“The developer owns the road until he wants to relinquish it.” Ellis said. Some towns take those roads by eminent domain when the road is complete.

Feodoroff said the question becomes whether the town wants to accept a private road with all the expenses that the process incurs. She said a policy does a good job of educating the Planning Board about the condition of a road before it is accepted and hearings should be required first.

Engineer, attorney and construction costs must be borne by residents of the road — another source of concern for Feodoroff.

“For the residents to be able to afford that on the front end is probably very unlikely,” she said, especially on shorter streets and cul de-sacs. The language also has to clarify whether the street residents or the town bear the cost of betterments and urged that the language be refined.

“I think with a couple minor tweaks we’re good to go,” she said.

Campbell said it is meant to indicate the costs should be shared.

Pot sales ban is passed

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WHITMAN — Voters in the town’s Saturday, March 17 special Town Meeting voted nearly two-to-one in favor of a protective zoning bylaw banning all forms of recreational marijuana sales in Whitman.

The vote was 543 supporting the bylaw and 307 against the ban with 850 registered voters casting ballots. Town Clerk Dawn Varley said the light turnout was not entirely surprising for a one-issue special election and that quite a few voters had questions about the wording in a situation where a “yes” vote was against recreational sales while a “no” vote would support it.

“I think it was pretty much the average for a special election and a special interest,” she said. “I think people knew what they were voting for … they weren’t undecided.”

The wording of the question was “the worst part about it,” Varley noted.

“Some people were unsure of what ‘yes’ meant and what ‘no’ meant,” she said. “My election workers were told that, if there were any questions to send them to our office so it couldn’t be misconstrued that they were directing someone to vote a certain way.”

Two town officials — Selectmen Vice Chairman Dan Salvucci and School Committee member Fred Small — attending the results reading following the 5 p.m., polls closing expressed satisfaction at the result.

“No pot shops in Whitman,” Salvucci said. “Although the people want marijuana [legalized] in the state of Massachusetts and in Whitman, but the town of Whitman does not want it sold here.”

Voters had supported the 2016 state ballot question that legalized recreational marijuana in the Bay State.

“I voted yes,” Salvucci said of the ban. “I did not want the sale of marijuana in Whitman.”

Small described himself as a “happy School Committee member” in view of the result during an interview with WHCA-TV at Town Hall.

“I’m very glad, personally, that this didn’t pass,” Small said. “Although I do understand it is legal, it’s just not the image that I want to see projected for our hometown.”

Salvucci said marijuana could be a gateway drug to more addictive narcotics.

“I can understand the medical [use],” Salvucci said.

School budget certified

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The School Committee has certified a fiscal 2019 budget at an 11 percent assessment increase to the towns — a $1,387,777 increase in Whitman and an $840,705 increase in Hanson over last year. Without that assessment, the school budget is in deficit by $2,228,482 after transferring $450,000 from excess and deficiency last week.

The fiscal 2019 a foundation budget of $50,706,972 is up 4.1 percent from fiscal 2018. The current fiscal 2018 budget is $48,688,029.

The 11 percent assessment increase would fund a level service-plus budget that adds two middle school special education teachers, an elementary-level family liaison, the first of a multi-year technology plan and adds curriculum materials for the elementary science program.

“At 11 percent, we’re not going backward, we’re going forward,” said Committee member Fred Small. “There are items that the leadership did recommend that are in the 11 percent. … It is moving forward.”

The 7-3 vote, with Chairman Bob Hayes joining members Steven Bois and Alexandra Taylor in opposition, came during a rare Tuesday session. The March 20 meeting was pushed up a day due to a pending fourth nor’easter this month.

A first vote, to seek a 13.65-percent increase to include free all-day kindergarten, failed to garner the two-thirds vote margin with only Bois, Taylor, Michael Jones and Robert Trotta voting in favor of that assessment level. That assessment would have meant a $1,654,229 increase in Whitman and a $1,111,115.09 increase in Hanson over last year.

All 10 members support full-day kindergarten as a vital addition to the W-H curriculum, but several members argued it was more responsible to bring the budget closer to the minimum local share sought by the state for its funding formulas. Several members favored placing an all-day kindergarten program as an override issue, but that can’t be done with a program that must be funded through the year-to-year operating budget.

“That’s what we do here at W-H, we’re ideas,” Bois said. “We’re moving forward, we’re innovative.”

“The only way to have full-day K is in the operating budget?” member Christopher Howard asked. “We’ve looked out there and there’s no other mechanism?”

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner confirmed that, as salaries for the teachers involved in such a program are annual expenses, there is no other mechanism. She did add that, with recent budget increase, the district towns are much closer to target share.

“An increase of this magnitude could possibly put us at target share or very close, so down the road we could start to get the Chapter 70 [funds] we would need to get [to full-day kindergarten],” she said of the effort she has supported for 18 years. “The problem is revenue.”

She said the only way to obtain the funds outside of town budgets and state Chapter 70 funds is for state transportation and per-pupil costs, as well as the special education circuit-breaker to be fully funded.

“We get whacked on transportation,” she said. “We can meet with FinComs until we’re blue in the face and it’s not going to matter. … I do think we’re being ripped off on regional transportation and circuit-breaker, and the charges for Charter Schools are killing us.”

Small said he would “kick, scream and yell” for anything less than level services while taking small steps ahead.

“I don’t see what harm there is in asking for it,” Taylor said in view of the fact that the committee’s support of full-day kindergarten is well known.

“It’s our responsibility to do what’s best for our school district,” Trotta said in support of full-day kindergarten. “I think it’s about time we pushed ahead.”

“No one is against all-day K,” Howard said. “Everyone is for that. It’s just that what we have to do is build a sustainable budget.”

But member Kevin Lynam joined Dan Cullity, Robert O’Brien Jr., and Small in urging planning toward keeping the budget healthy year-to-year and keep kindergarten in mind for when the budget is healthier. O’Brien also said there is a critical need for social-emotional support for elementary students now.

“Last year we got 10 percent and we came back with an almost $2 million deficit,” Lynam said. “If you add just enough to close the gap and you add all-day K on top of it, next year is going to be another big deficit.”

Cullity was concerned that, if the committee shoots too high, the towns could counter with assessments lower than the 11 percent increase.

“There is absolutely no guarantee that you’re going to get 11,” Hayes said.

Duval Elementary School Principal Julie McKillop said full-day kindergarten is no longer a want, it is a need.

“We are dealing with haves and have-nots,” she said. “We are doing everything we can to catch these kids up, but no matter what, I can’t stand here and say half-day and full-day are exactly the same and they all get the same amount [of instruction]. They don’t.”

She also said full-day kindergarten improves property values.

And the band played on …

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By Chelsea Getchell
W-H student intern

The show will go on.

Postponed from March 3 due to a storm, a planned performance by the Whitman-Hanson Alumni Band has been rescheduled for 7 p.m., Friday, March 23 in the Dr. John F. McEwan Performing Arts Center at WHRHS.

Devin Dondero, the head of the Whitman Hanson band, is the conductor for the The Whitman-Hanson Alumni Band event — a night in which past band members, current band members and educators play about eight tunes together. It is widely agreed among those involved that having the community involved is exciting and beneficial. The evening is filled with music, knowledge and fun.

The pops concert brings current W-H students together with recent and veteran graduates for the eighth year.

“It’s nice to have the old guys come down and play with us. It’s interesting because the community band guys get to show people who haven’t been doing this for as long and give some advice,” said bassist James Segel, a senior from Hanson.

Not only do the student musicians get to perform in front of audience members, but they also get the positive learning experience that comes hand in hand with playing alongside other musicians. The alumni event offers more than one benefit to any beginner musicians in the high school band program.

This event attracts alumni and current Whitman-Hanson players alike, giving inspiration to the younger musicians who may be considering a future in music.

Matthew Gallagher, junior trumpeter, adds “It’s wonderful to have such a diverse group of players come down to the school and perform as one for entertainment.”

Networking notes

Many players love this event particularly because they can get tips and notes from mentors in their community, unlike any other event. The combination of community members serves to pass valuable knowledge onto young musicians and  to offer a night of fun.

The Whitman-Hanson Alumni Band event has been running annually for about seven or eight years, and the band program intends to grow and continue to host it. Each year more people participate in the great night making it bigger and more successful. Musicians of all ages are invited to join in on the fun and perform with the community.

Maeve Rooney, trumpeter, says “I’ve been playing since fifth grade and this concert is especially fun because we get to see our Whitman-Hanson alumni.”

Inspired to help others

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The School Committee on Wednesday, March 7 saluted current eighth-grade Project 351 ambassadors Allie Erikson of Whitman Middle School and T.J. Woodward of Hanson Middle School, as well as recent program alumni now attending WHRHS and serving as adviser/mentors to this year’s ambassadors.

“When I first found out what Project 351 is, it inspired me,” Erikson said. “I truly did not understand how many people needed our help.”

She is conducting a sock drive at WMS on March 26 and has volunteered at Boston’s Pine Street Inn.

“It’s such a great organization and I’m so glad that I was chosen,” said Woodward, whose sister Courtney was also a Project 351 ambassador. “I’m looking forward to doing clothing drives and a canned food drive later on. I just think it’s a great organization to be part of.”

On launch day he was working with a group of students at the State House assembling school kits for Haitian children moving to Massachusetts and hygiene kits for families who can’t afford a lot of those items for their children.

The program, begun in 2011 as a student service project in coordination with the observance of Martin Luther King Jr., Day and incorporated that first year as part of Gov. Deval Patrick’s inaugural festivities. An eighth-grader from each of the state’s 351 cities and towns travel to Boston to participate in the service learning program’s day of service.

It now has been expanded to include fall and spring service projects and leadership training.

School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes shook each student’s hand, telling them how proud the committee is of their work, “What you’re doing is really making a change,” he said. “Keep up this good work.”

“Project 351 is honestly one of the best experiences I’ve ever had,” said Chris Blackman, now a W-H freshman. “It’s incredible to have the feeling of helping people and the community who you may not even know, but you know need help.”

An annual clothing drive for Cradles to Crayons is a key aspect of the W-H students’ work.

“ My experience has been life-changing, because it kind of opens you up to the real world, in that more people need help and there’s always a lending hand to give,” said W-H junior Abigail Trongone of Hanson. “When you give that lending hand, people give it back – one act of kindness leads to another.”

Whitman junior Rachel Putur, who still volunteers for the community at the Whitman Food Pantry, also spoke of the good feeling derived from helping others.

“People come together as a community and make a great difference,” she said.

“Project 351 is the most fulfilling and inspiring experience a kid my age could take part in,” said freshman Emma Rodgers of Hanson, who conducted a clothing drive through her dance school, Boss Academy and St. Joseph the Worker Church. “[It] also taught me to express gratitude to people who help me along the way because every little thing really matters.”

“I’ve been able to help a group of 10 eighth-graders through their year of service so far and was with them on launch day,” sophomore Courtney Woodward. “My experience with Project 351 has been pretty amazing. I changed my attitude on how everything is in the world around me and have been able to give back to my community and help people.”

W-H senior Regan Hayes said she has seen a lot of personal growth within herself through participation in the program.

“You can see that there’s a lot of hope for the future,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner said. “These are wonderful leaders and they will become even better leaders as a result of Project 351 and the work that they do.”

School Committee member Robert Trotta said he hopes the students’ enthusiasm continues as they grow older.

“I think your generation is the one that can hopefully make a positive change in the world,” he said.

School Committee member Steven Bois, who works at the JFK Library in visitor relations, where last year’s program culminated, urged all the students to visit the library and remarked how they reminded him of some of the points President Kennedy made in his inaugural address.

“He talked about how [change] would not take place in the first 100 days, or the first 1,000 days, or the lifetime of his administration, or of us on this planet, but said, ‘Let us begin,’” Bois said. “Those are such strong words but I think it resonates in everything that you do.”

Funds voted for Pre-K transfer

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WHITMAN — After a 45-minute start delay in an effort to meet the 150-voter quorum requirement, Whitman’s special Town Meeting took only 10 minutes or so to pass the three warrant articles by wide margins.

A transfer of $256,752.62 from capital stabilization was passed by an 83 percent to 17 percent margin to fund costs involved in structural changes at WHRHS to accommodate moving the district’s pre-kindergarten program from Maquan School.

Voters also authorized the town — through the Board of Selectmen and Town Administrator — to enter into contracts for energy purchases or net metering contracts for terms of up to 20 years. The measure passed by an 87 percent to 13-percent margin.

Both articles passed with no discussion.

Voters also moved forward a protective zoning bylaw prohibiting all types of non-medical marijuana establishments in town by an 81 percent to 19-percent margin.

The issue must now pass a special Town Election from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, March 17 for the ban to go on the books. All precincts vote in the Town Hall Auditorium.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner expressed gratitude for the passage of pre-K transfer costs, noting the passage allows work at the high school to begin over April vacation week.

Quorum scramble

Officials were, however, dismayed by the time taken to reach a quorum.  At the 7:30 p.m. start time there were only about 105 voters in the Town Hall auditorium, prompting a flurry of texting friends, family and neighbors to attract more voters. Town Administrator Frank Lynam also broadcast about a half-dozen appeals over the live cable access feed, urging viewers to drive over to the meeting and guaranteeing they would be done in less than a half hour.

He was right, as even with the pre-vote refresher on using electronic voting devices and reading of the meeting call took less than 15 minutes.

Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski chalked up the sparse attendance to the upcoming storm and the fact that people were likely at the store stocking up on milk and bread or gassing up generators.

“It’s tough to get people out sometimes,” Town Moderator Michael Seele agreed. “There’s a storm coming and everything else. It was great that we got the quorum, we got the business done that we needed to get done.”

When quorum was achieved it was greeted with an enthusiastic round of applause.

Lynam, however, said the struggle for a quorum was more likely a symptom of apathy.

“People are becoming very apathetic,” Lynam said. “Governing is work.”

He said that makes it hard for the Town Meeting system to remain viable.

“Certainly in the last few meetings [it would] indicate that there is not a lot of enthusiasm for Town Meeting,” Lynam said.

MariJuana bylaw

The only questions asked during the session involved the exact result of a yes vs. a no vote on the marijuana prohibition bylaw and why a special election is also required.

“If this sounds familiar, it’s because we already voted in a general bylaw,” Lynam told voters. “The Canabis Control Commission is also seeking towns vote to establish a protective zoning bylaw. A yes vote will prohibit the sale of recreational marijuana for the town of Whitman.”

He also explained that the March 17 special Town Election is necessary due to state requirements. That ballot, containing only the marijuana question, has exactly the same language as the warrant article.

After the meeting, Kowalski noted that Whitman voters had voted to legalize recreational marijuana in 2016 and might repeat that vote. But Lynam said he wasn’t so sure that the vote would be reprised.

“I think the majority will support the prohibition question,” Lynam said. “The question is why. What did they vote for [in 2016]? Did they vote to have marijuana in Whitman or did they vote to decriminalize it so that young people being arrested for having marijuana would not have their lives ruined by a conviction?”

He said people he has talked to about the issue have indicated that, while they voted for the legalization ballot question, they only wanted to prevent making people criminals for possession of marijuana alone.

Working to close gap

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The School Committee on Wednesday, March 7 reluctantly voted to transfer $450,000 from the excess and deficiency fund to help a bit in closing the $2.6 million gap in the fiscal 2019 budget.

A $450,000 transfer from E&D would mean an 11 percent assessment increase to the towns to fully fund the budget – a $1,387,777 increase in Whitman and an $840,705 increase in Hanson over last year’s assessments.

Every 1 percentage of assessment is worth about $200,000 from both towns with about a 60/40 percent split based on population.

The enrollment certified Oct. 1, 2017 shows 2,333 or 59.82 percent of district students live in Whitman and 1,567 or 40.18 percent live in Hanson. The dollar amount swing at a level (equal to last  year assessment) is an increase to Whitman of $ 54,699 and a decrease to Hanson of ( $ 54,699) before any potential assessment increase is voted by school committee.

School Committee members Fred Small and Dan Cullity voted against the transfer in the 6-2 vote. Members Kevin Lynam and Robert O’Brien Jr., were absent.

The committee was slated to vote on certifying the budget at its Wednesday, March 14 meeting. The committee also supported by consensus the drafting of a separate warrant article for full-day kindergarten for a possible vote March 14.

The proposed $43 million fiscal 2019 budget is level service-plus package.

“We have added some other items,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner. “One of those is a position we’re calling family liaison.”

A person with a social work or school adjustment counselor background would work with the three elementary schools as a liaison between the schools, the school community and with families to direct them to programs to provide help and to work with social work interns though North River Collaborative.

A $40,000 multi-year, one-to-one electronic device effort, the addition of a special education teacher to bolster the science curriculum at each of the middle schools and resources to fund the elementary science program, now funded by a grant, are also included in the spending plan.

“I’m not confident that we’ll see much more in terms of Chapter 70 state aid to schools unless we see it as an increase in per-pupil,” Gilbert-Whitner said. Right now, the formula adds $20 per pupil. There is, however some effort to increase that to perhaps an additional $75 to $100 at the State House level.

“Unfortunately, that’s not a number we’re going to have for you on March 14,” she said.

Regional transportation – which is supposed to be funded at 100 percent – comes in at around 60 to 70 percent at most, as do special education circuit-breaker funds. The last time the district was fully funded for regional transportation was 2007.

“We need to stay involved with our legislators,” Gilbert-Whitner said. “All of that will help with the deficit we’re trying to control.”

Special education costs have been a concern as well.

Small asked if the board was at a point where it would consider suing the commonwealth for full regional transportation reimbursement.

“The state auditor has issued a report saying that regional transportation should be funded at 100 percent,” he said. “There’s a lot of money at stake. … There is a bill that, I believe moved out of House Ways & Means [Monday], to take a look at how school regions are being funded.”

He also urged residents to write their state representatives to demand improvements in regional funding. Because of its status as a region, W-H cannot charge for busing, either.

“I get that that’s an aggressive move Mr. Small is proposing,” said School Committee member Christopher Howard. “But we’re again staring at a budget none of us like, so at some point we have to do something.”

In the past four years, the region has lost about $4 million in unfunded regional transportation reimbursements.

School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes suggested bringing in state legislators to ask for legislation to increase that funding, which the committee supported by consensus.

“Doing nothing is not an option,” he said.

The committee then turned its focus to the annual decision over tapping into E&D funds.

“Every year, in the last few years, we’ve been hitting excess and deficiency,” Hayes said. “Right now, there’s $936,000 in E&D.”

In June 2016 E&D was certified at $1.2 million with $750,000 taken to help balance the current budget with just over $400,000 returned. Over the past three years amounts put back into E&D have decreased with the use of more exacting budget software – $422,000 last year, $600,000 the year before and close to $800,000 the year before that.

“I want to be very cautious,” Small said.

“The trend we’re taking – E&D isn’t supposed to balance the budget, it’s supposed to be for emergencies,” Dan Cullity agreed. “We’re chipping away at what we’re supposed to have for reserves to pay for the budget. … This is dire. We can’t keep putting that E&D to pay for the budget.”

Hayes predicted that, at the current rate, there will be no E&D money within a year to two years.

Since the School Committee is able to budget only once a year, it is permitted to keep an excess and deficiency fund up to 5 percent of the budget, which would be $2.5 million if fully endowed, for emergencies during the year, including unforeseen special education costs.

A $500,000 transfer from E&D would mean a 10.75 assessment increase to the towns to fully fund the budget – a $1,302,781 increase in Whitman and an $875,054 increase in Hanson. A $400,000 transfer from E&D would mean an 11.25 assessment increase to the towns to fully fund the budget – a $1,363,375 increase in Whitman and a $915,754 increase in Hanson.

School Committee member Steven Bois, suggested the $450,000 transfer.

“I can’t see taking more than what we put back last year and we’ve been trending down, down, down with what we’re putting back,” Small said. “My comfort zone is $400,000.”

Bois said he would not consider a suggestion by Small to reduce the amount to $400,000.

“I’m not withdrawing [his motion for amendment],” Bois said. “Discuss the merits of the $450,000. … We’re ushering in a new superintendent, we’re ushering in a new assistant superintendent, we’re ushering in a new high school principal. I’m sorry, I’m not willing to [BS] around with this.”

He added he is ready to vote for an assessment equal to the balance of the budget.

“I just feel we’re playing with one-time money – and it’s supposed to be emergency money,” Small said.

Building panel hears Duval roof update

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WHITMAN – Progress on the roof and windows repair project at Duval Elementary School and school district capital projects proposed for the May 7 Town Meeting were reviewed by the Buildings, Facilities and Capital Projects Committee on Thursday, March 1.

Representatives of project engineers Gale Associates — project manager Sam Moore and Ed Stewart — and the W-H Regional School District members met with the Buildings Committee in an effort to assess progress with the project design and budget and prioritize other capital projects. Gale was contracted a year ago to perform an evaluation on Duval to determine the cause of deterioration and leaks traced to the exterior wall systems in the school’s newer addition and areas where severe ice damming occurred during the winter of 2014-15.

“Because of the budgeting it is going to be extended over a multi-year period of time,” Stewart said. Moore updated the committee on the schedule and budgeting for phasing-in the project.

“We know we want to perform the construction work for the first phase over the summer,” Moore said. “These [budget] numbers are not hard numbers, it’s stuff that [Schools Business Director] Christine [Suckow] and Gale will be working on to refine the percentages.”

The project is estimated to cost a total of $1.1 million with $600,000 already appropriated by a Town Meeting appropriation.

“This is probably not the way to go into a project — with partial funding,” Town Administrator Frank Lynam said, noting he would be discussing the issue with Selectmen regarding a possible article at Town Meeting to fund the difference. “Initially, we thought we’d be doing an initial repair, evaluating it and then coming back, but it we’re all-in, then I think we have to look at how we fund [it].”

If the project is done in three phases, the first would remove all existing wall cladding and exterior insulating finish system (EIFS) on the second floor, replace windows and repair the low asphalt-shingled roof and sloped roof below it. Phases two and three would replace the upper roof areas.

“The question is, ‘Do we bid it out as one project and then look at, essentially, that single contractor or general contractor being contracted for three years?’ of course, sticking with the phasing plan,” Moore said.

Stewart said Gale has done multi-year contracts before, with a benefit being a single warranty in place. Inflation considerations for materials and labor would have to be factored in. A stipulation would have to be included that follow-up phases are subject to appropriation.

Building Inspector Robert Curran asked if the committee could specify the type of windows used in Phase I be used for subsequent phases if multiple contractors are used.

Stewart said the board could vote to require a proprietary product.

Leak tests will also be conducted during construction.

Committee member Dan Salvucci asked how the phased contract approach was taken.

“It’s three-phase because we asked them to do it,” Lynam said. “It’s not their preferred approach — it’s budget-driven.”

Backing up Phase I would be the repair of “active leaks” that are going on now.

“One of the biggest concerns we have right now is just the scheduling,” Moore said, especially centering on the 16 commercial-grade windows that have to be ordered to match existing windows, to be installed before school reopens in late August.

Lynam asked if any of the active leaks were located in the non-contracted area, below the lower roofline. School officials said they would know after the Friday, March 2 nor’easter and would be checking the building throughout the storm. Based on Gale’s study none have been found in that area so far.

Gale will be backing up its bid-phase services with submittal review, pre-construction meetings with the contractor and bi-weekly meetings during construction.

School priorities

District officials were asked during the same meeting to prioritize the most important of more than 15 projects on their matrix at Whitman schools and about a dozen more at the high school flagged for possible action in 2018.

“We know we’re not going to be able to do all of them,” Lynam said.

In addition to the Duval roof, security upgrades to Conley and Duval schools; fire alarm and smoke detector replacement at Conley and Whitman Middle schools; updating security cameras at Duval and replacement of rooftop units at Whitman Middle all totaling between about $200,000 and $250,000.

“It is extraordinarily important for us to beef up that area of security so we can minimize the exposure in the schools because there’s a stop point,” Lynam said. “It’s our job to make sure our kids are safe.”

School Committee member Fred Small, who chairs the Facilities Subcommittee, said if Conley fire alarms could be replaced at about $55,000 and saved for parts to support the system at WMS, it could be a cost-effective solution to get through the year.

Facilities Director Ernest Sandland said the difference in new security cameras at Hanson’s Indian Head School last year is “phenomenal in what you can see.”

At the high school, Whitman’s 59.82 percent share of $210,000 in roadway repairs; $225,000 for resurfacing the outdoor track and $60,000 for security camera upgrades were cited as top priorities. A total of about $495,000 with Whitman’s share at $296,109.

“This is overwhelming,” Curran said of the complete matrix list. “In my opinion, you’ve got to take care of what you’ve got before it gets broke, but it’s kind of a lot.”

“We have to put it down somewhere,” Sandland said. “You’ve got to make the decision, but I think it’s up to us to identify what our needs are. … We’re in a tough spot because if we don’t identify [needs] people will come back and say, ‘You should have told us about this two years ago and we would have given you the money.’ We hear that all the time.”

“Or, ‘You don’t take care of it,’” Gilbert-Whitner agreed.