Whitman-Hanson Express

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Attracting more qualified TA candidates

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WHITMAN – The lack of qualified candidates within a reasonable geographic area has motivated town officials to seek a higher salary ceiling when the special Town Meeting convenes next month.

The Select Board voted at its Tuesday, Oct. 25 meeting to add an article setting the salary range for the post to $160,000 on the Monday, Nov. 14 special Town Meeting warrant. Select Board member Shawn Kain abstained.

“What we’re doing is setting a ceiling,” Chair Randy LaMattina said. “We’re not actually negotiating or actually setting a salary … but I’ve yet to see someone come in and think they’re just qualified for the base level. But hearing that we’re not pulling candidates is kind of disheartening because it is something we have to move on.” 

Interim Town Administrator Frank Lynam said he has issued a draft of the special Town Meeting warrant, with the current articles under consideration, but said he wanted to place an article about the administrator’s salary.

“There is an article that addresses shortfalls in budgets for fiscal year 2023,” he said, but earlier that day the Town Administrator Search Committee met and found responses led them to the conclusion that the salary now being offered is hampering its work.

“If we’re going to attract a qualified administrator, we’re going to have to consider increasing the amount of money that we have budgeted,” Lynam reported.

The town is currently quoting a salary of “$150,000 and change.” The search committee is recommending that the Select Board consider increasing the salary ceiling figure to $160,000. That would require an additional $10,000 transfer at the Nov. 14 Town Meeting. 

“I don’t make this recommendation lightly,” he said. “It’s certainly a far cry from what we’ve seen in the past, but the reality is the market has gone crazy.”

There have been a “huge number” of retirements and people who have left public administration and Whitman is struggling to attract qualified candidates, in part because the town is competing with communities willing to pay more.

“It is what it is,” Vice Chair Dan Salvucci said.

“The special Town Meeting is the appropriate time to ask for more money for this position,” agreed  Select Board member Justin Evans. “I think the timing is right, it is what it is.”

Kain said he had definite reservations about it.

“I feel like it’s not an easy recommendation to seek,” he said, noting he respects the search committee’s recommendation. “We have to think carefully about this, because for obvious reasons, we’re going to see multiple effects throughout the budget.”

He said, while hiring the right person for that role, he felt he would like more time to process it.

“We can increase it to a higher level,” Salvucci said. “We can bargain, but at least the money is there in case any person we decide to go with chooses to go the full $160,000.”

LaMattina asked how many applicants the committee has seen.

The town received 14 applications.

“We very easily went through and disqualified nine of them today,” Lynam said. “It was a clear decision that there was no merit to considering those persons to recommend for the position due to lack of experience, ability, education – you name it.

“It’s been disappointing,” he continued. “And it isn’t for lack of reaching out.”

Lynam said that, in addition to advertising in municipal management publications, he has personally reached out to both Bridgewater State and Suffolk University alumni associations because they are turning out the most people with MPA degrees right now. But only one applicant has resulted so far.

Search Committee member John Galvin said the flexibility in negotiations that Salvucci mentioned was one reason for seeking the increase. Parting a bit from Lynam, he said there are really only two applicants so far that are worth considering.

“There are a couple from Arizona and Kansas and it’s like, ‘really?’” Galvin said. Although, while not comparable posititons, the school district recently hired someone from Alabama as its new facilities director.

They also did research into what town administrators are getting paid and the average is around $200,000.

Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak also met with the board briefly to discuss how the School Committee will be conducting joint budget meetings with the towns.

Such a joint meeting was held last year, at which time the select boards said they wanted to get more information and have more dialog prior to the budget season, Szymaniak said.

He has already presented his budget roll-out plan for fiscal 2024 to the School Committee.

“I’m going to present a tentative budget, without hard numbers  – which I won’t get until February – to the School Committee on Dec. 21,” he said. He said he would like to present either in a joint forum to the committee and both boards, or to each board with its Finance Committee in attendance, during the week of Jan. 9, 2023.

He also plans to meet with Hanson’s Select Board on Tuesday, Nov. 15 to hear what they want to say, and was seeking feedback from Whitman Select Board members this week.

“What I really don’t want to do is six individual meetings,” he said. “I’d like to do it collaboratively.”

The annual public forum focusing on the formal presentation of the school budget will be on Feb.1.

“Then we’ll get into the nitty gritty of questions that people have, but I wanted to give you an overview of what I’m thinking … and I wanted to hear from you what you were thinking and if that works with you in your timeline,” Szymaniak said. 

Kain said he thinks that Szymaniak and the budget subcommittee are doing excellent work, and should continue to help the process.

“I think it’s giving us a baseline of how we move forward,” Szymaniak said.

Salvucci asked whether one presentation to a joint meeting of both select boards and town finance committees would be more productive, and would ensure both towns received the same information in the same way.

“That’s my preference,” Szymaniak said, noting he would try to arrange it during the same week in January as the individual meetings were being considered. “I want feedback.”

Charged up?

In other business, the board also discussed the potential for electric and/or hybrid municipal vehicles after declaring five municipal vehicles – a 2004 Crown Victoria, a 2003 F250 pickup truck, a 2004 F250 utility body, a 2006 F250 pickup truck and a 1999 International 4900 – as surplus.

National Grid is fostering a MassFLEET Advisory Services Program, according to Evans, who has recused himself from being the contact person because funding is coming from National Grid, one of the companies he works to regulate as a state Department of Public Utilities employee.

Evans said Abington Town Manager Scott Lambiase, a former member of the Whitman Select Board, contacted hime about the program, as Abington is considering participation and Lambiase thought it might be a good fit for Whitman, as well.

A third-party company, working with National Grid funding, is offering to do fleet advisory services for public entities such as towns, school districts and community colleges, among others. 

“They will look at our current vehicle list, do an analysis – including our vehicle replacement timeline – of the cost and benefits of switching to battery electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and present it back to the town at no cost,” Evans said.

The town’s only financial commitment would be about 10 hours of staff time.

“If I’m reading this correctly, it also addresses infrastructure needs to set up for electric vehicles and further things down the line,” LaMattina said, noting that 2035 is when Massachusetts will be going full EV. “You’re starting to see [the change] – the first electric fire truck just rolled out in California and you are starting to see more and more larger trucks and things go this way.” 

LaMattina said he thinks it sets up the town for issues officials have to begin considering, especially with the new DPW building and a new middle school being planned – what infrastructure will need to be in place when the new policies start coming online.

“It’s definitely something to think about,” he said.

Hanson thinks Lizzie did it

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HANSON – Well, Hanson thinks she was guilty.

By a vote of about 35 to 22, the audience at Camp Kiwanee’s Needles Lodge Thursday, Oct. 20 convicted Fall River resident Lizzie Borden of the murders of her father and step-mother in 1892, despite her acquittal of the crimes in her lifetime.

“District Attorney Hosea Knowlton,” portrayed by Lynn’s Delvena Theater Company actor Joseph Zamparelli then advised the residents to gather the appropriate lumber and materials to construct a scaffold in the center of town, as “Lizzie,” portrayed by Lynne Moulton protested her innocence. 

The pair acted out vignettes about events surrounding the crime, in “Lizzie and the Forty Whacks,” which included Knowlton’s questioning of Borden during a coroner’s inquest and her defense attorney, George Dexter Robinson – also portrayed by Zamparelli. Both actors portrayed several roles.

The presentation by local author Richard Little on Thursday, Oct. 13 at the Hanson Public Library, meanwhile, revealed that the Rockland educator’s review of the circumstantial evidence of the case leads him to believe Borden was, in fact, not guilty.

That does pose a problem.

Where the productions agreed were some of the grisly details of the crime. While there were not 40 whacks for dad and 40-plus-one for the step-mother Lizzie wasn’t overly fond of – there were really 18 for step-mother Abby and 17 for dear old dad, Andrew Jackson Borden – both programs agreed that there had been two autopsies on the Bordens, including the exhumation of the remains, their decapitation and the boiling of the heads so their skulls could be examined in a coroner’s inquest and at Lizzie’s trial in front of her. 

An ax blade missing a handle, found in the basement, was even fit into the cavity at the top of Andrew Borden’s head during the trial to demonstrate it was the alleged murder weapon.

During his Oct. 13 talk, Little focused on the business arguments between Lizzie’s Uncle John Morse and her father in his book, “Cold Case to Case Closed: Lizbeth Borden, My Story.”

“We’re here to talk about poor Lizzie and she can’t wait to tell her story,” Little had said to open his program.

“Despite what you’ve heard, it was not the hottest day of the year,” he said. “It was actually a rather cool Thursday morning – so cold, that when Bridget Sullivan [the Borden’s maid] got up early that morning, she had a shawl on.”

At the trial, however, and echoed in the Delvena Theatre production on Oct. 20, it was referred to as “one of the hottest days of the summer.”

“The summer had been hot,” Little said. “But in August, it had started to cool off.”

As Little, put it, 32-year-old Lizzie Borden had two lives – the one before Aug. 4, and the one after. She had been a world traveler, embarking on a European vacation famed at the time as “the Grand Tour,” along with some of her friends. Active in civic events, Lizzie had volunteered for the Hospital League and was treasurer of the Ladies’ Flower and Fruit Society – church group that sent floral and fruit baskets to people who had been in the hospital. She also taught English to immigrants.

“She was really involved in society, and was really a pillar of society, until Aug. 4,” he said.

Where the play refers to them as the murders, Little called the deaths “the tragedies” in his talk.

Little focused on the backgrounds of the people staying in the house that day – the victims, Lizzie, Bridget and Morse, who was the brother of the first Mrs. Borden, who had died when Lizzie was a small child. Morse and Mr. Borden were in business together, shipping horses and cattle from Iowa to Swansea.

Morse, Little said, being in the livestock business, was also trained as a butcher.

“He carried with him at all times, an implement to do that,” he said. “It really looks similar to a hatchet, but it’s a type of cleaver. … This is, who I think, was the culprit.”

He theorized that the murder of Mrs. Borden was an act of rage because she was trying to talk her husband into dissolving the business. Morse returned to Iowa after the murders.

“That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it,” Little said.

Lizzie’s father had been a successful businessman, as well as a slum lord by some accounts and his livestock business was having problems that caused an argument between him and Uncle John Morse, according to Lizzie’s testimony. Mr. Borden’s estate would be valued at close to $13 million in today’s currency.

Zamparelli and Moulton focused on the inheritance in much of their play, as they acted out a portion of the transcript of her inquest testimony before the audience, serving as the jury, were invited to ask their own questions.

Lizzie explained that her tearful, often contradictory testimony was due to the heavy doses of morphine she was given after the murders.

Little also spoke of the amount of morphine with which Lizzie had been dosed. He also mentioned that the annual Fall River Police Department excurison to Rocky Point – attended by half the department – rendered the police at half-strength that day.

In the play, Lizzie also, in a winking aside, reported that the judge in her trial, was appointed to the bench by her lawyer when he was governor of Massachusetts.

“He and the governor were very dear friends,” she said, on the audience’s promise not to tell anyone. “So, it made it a lot easier being put on trial in front of Justice Dewey.”

In character as a spoiled, well-connected woman of society before the suffrage movement, Moulton’s “Lizzie” told her lawyer that the women of the audience wouldn’t know what he was talking about as “Robinson” explained the cross-examination process at her trial.

Audience questions ranged from when and why Lizzie burned her clothes, who stood to inherit her father’s money before his death, where she was during the murders, why she was allegedly shopping for poison before the murders and why she was so heavily medicated.

“You ladies understand this, don’t you?” Moulton said. “Your husband puts you on lots and lots of morphine to keep you quiet.”

Little said a doctor had given Lizzie morphine for her anxiety.

He initially gave her four-grain tablets.

“Then he doubled the dose to eight to take as needed,” Little said. “She was on morphine on Friday and the funeral was Saturday.”

Motive has been a subject of conjecture over the years, with focus honing in on Mr. Borden’s estate and his past refusal to spend much on his daughters.

“My sister and I were single women – we’re unclaimed treasures, as they say,” Moulton’s “Lizzie” said, outlining her anger over Andrew Borden’s purchase of a house for their step-mother’s sister. “We were going to need that property to take care of us as we aged – we were quite upset about it.”

Older sister Emma Borden was visiting in Fairhaven at the time of the murders. With the death of both parents, the sisters divided the estate.

When an audience member asked about whether Lizzie was coming upstairs or going downstairs when her father’s body was discovered, she said – “Oh, my goodness, she was paying attention during the inquest! Were the rest of you paying attention during the inquest?”

The district attorney asked the woman’s name.

“Angie, it is a pity you are a woman, you could be an attorney, that’s an exellent question,” he said.

The murders have become the stuff of New England legend, and people may never agree on Lizzie’s guilt or innocence – so, what do you think?

Hanson moves its TM to Nov. 9

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HANSON — Since the Oct. 3 special Town Meeting failed to reach the needed quorum of 100 voters, the Select Board voted that night to reschedule the Town Meeting to Wednesday, Nov. 9.

The Town Meeting would begin at 7:30 p.m., Nov. 9 at Hanson Middle School Auditorium. Free day care services are being arranged for parents as well as reserving use of the school facility.

Town Administrator Lisa Green said that date was arrived at after discussion with Moderator Sean Kealy.

“We are in the process of getting new covers [for the warrant] that have the correct date on it,” she said at the Tuesday, Oct. 11 Select Board meeting. “We will update the website with all the correct information, we will place the warrants back out for folks to pick up that evening.”

One new “wrinkle,” as Green put it, is the fact that Tuesday, Nov. 8 is Election Day.

“That will be a very busy time for our town clerk and assistant town clerk and registrars,” she said, noting that she and the board’s executive assistant may be taking on some additional responsibilities as Town Clerk Elizabeth Sloan instructs or asks.

“Obviously, the quorum was the issue,” said Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald Kemmett. “So, what can we do to try to increase the level of engagement?”

She suggested notices on the town’s Facebook page, advertising or use of the Police Department’s electronic message board could be employed.

Smoke forces evacuation at Hanson school

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WHITMAN — Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak and Principal Dr. Joel Jocelyn report that a school within the district was evacuated today after smoke was found in the school library.

At 12:06 p.m., students and staff at the Indian Head Elementary School in Hanson saw smoke in the school library accompanied by an odor in the hallway. The school was evacuated immediately and Hanson Police and Fire were notified.

After their initial investigation, Hanson Fire deemed the school gymnasium safe, and students were moved into the gymnasium while the situation was investigated further. The school also remained in constant contact with Whitman-Hanson central administration during the entire incident.

Hanson Fire has determined that the smoke and odor stemmed from a piece of rubber from a motor in one of the school’s boilers, which had pushed light smoke through the library and a residual odor into the hallway. The fire department ventilated the entire building to eliminate the residual odor, and also checked all classrooms, bathrooms, the cafeteria and gymnasium to confirm the environment was safe for students to return.

Principal Jocelyn and Hanson Fire Chief Jerome Thompson addressed all students as they gathered in the gymnasium and explained the situation. Lunch and recess proceeded, and school was dismissed at the regularly-scheduled time.

“There is nothing more important than the health and safety of our students, and we are extremely grateful for the support and guidance we received today from the Hanson Fire and Police Departments,” Principal Jocelyn said. “We are happy to report that all students are safe and we were able to conclude the day as usual.”

District looks to school bus monitors

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Bus transportation has been an issue since this summer, with school buses now at capacity students, drivers and parents feeling stressed, Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak reported during the Wednesday, Oct. 12 meeting of the School Committee.

Szymaniak announced at the meeting that monitors are being added to the district’s “high-impact” buses. He also said he has already had a couple of people volunteer.

“In COVID times we advertised for monitors [but] got no hits,” he said. “This would really be to oversee and assist the bus drivers in maintaining some control over the buses.”

The aim was to have them on board early this week.

The state requires 75 percent capacity on buses to qualify for regional transportation reimbursement, which further complicates the matter. Not every bus needs to be at 75 percent capacity.

A Hanson mother had given an extensive and detailed report during the public comment period about the emotional toll on her children of noisy, crowded buses that are stressing out drivers as well as students.

“Our buses are at capacity in Whitman and we’re a little lighter in Hanson, due to the fact that you have a wider space [in Hanson],” Szymaniak said, noting that initially meant, since Hanson buses had fewer students on them, Transportation Director Karen Villanueva crunched the numbers and Hanson ended up losing four of its 12 buses, he said.

Whitman’s area is about 5 square miles, while Hanson’s is about 15.6 square miles.

“It seems to be an issue at the elementary level with noise,” Szymaniak said. “I think putting more kids on a bus – and we seat them at capacity, which used to be two in a seat. It’s [now] three in a seat by law, by what we can do.”

Assistant Superintendent George Ferro said the goal is to use existing school district staff as monitors.

“It’s people the students recognize – whether it’s paraprofessionals, people who work in the lunch system, whether it’s a teacher or two – our goal is to encourage our staff and to work with out staff so that they can keep those positive relationships, hopefully, going or establish positive relationships so we can get kids home safe and go from there,” Ferro said.

Szymaniak said the district will continue to look at numbers in an effort to make more adjustments. 

“Hanson has been affected much more greatly than the town of Whitman,” he said. “These were the numbers we had when we presented our budget … and I absolutely will provide information to the finance committees.”

Whitman Finance Committee member Rosemary Connolly had made a specific request for that information during the meeting’s public forum.

“You did say that Hanson is more impacted, but they are both at capacity, so basically Whitman has consistently been impacted and Hanson is just beginning to feel the same impact … I think is a better way to describe it,” Connolly replied. “We probably should have had the fix of somebody on the bus before.”

Szymaniak thanked Connolly and fellow Whitman Finance Committee member Kathleen Ottina for bringing the bus capacity issue to the district’s attention.

School Committee member Dawn Byers said spreadsheet information available last year showed capacity problems.

“There are elementary schools in the district last year and the year before and the year before … with the same complaints – loud buses, bus drivers pulling over,” she said, indicating her children has similar complaints 10 years ago. “It’s consistently been that way for Whitman schools. … Something has to be fixed.”

She said the average ridership for Indian Head Schools 12 buses had been an average of 38 students and she asked about any savings. Conley School, with a similar number of students has eight buses serving the school.

Szymaniak said there was a $55,000 savings overall by moving tiers of bus routes, which is where distance traveled enters the equation.

“If that’s the past, now that we know what we need to do going forward, I’m hopeful that your solution of monitors on the buses will provide kids a safe and comfortable ride,” Committee member Fred Small said, addressing Szymaniak, who said he would like to put monitors on every bus.

“Right now, we’re going to hit the high-impact buses we’re having issues with,” Szymaniak said.

Chair Christopher Howard noted that there appears to be a “host of problems:” size of towns, bus routes were changed, post-pandemic concerns – “a whole bunch of moving parts to this issue.”

“You have to have an opportunity to manage and figure it out, but at the same time, I’m not sure I’m excited or comfortable about waiting until a November meeting to address the issue, ” he said to Szymaniak, asking what he saw as the next step and how he wanted to proceed. “This seems to be an issue that’s been here since the beginning of school.”
Szymaniak said the monitors are a solution he can control. 

“I can’t control the reimbursables, I can’t control the routes right now,” he said.

He said he has heard from elementary-level educators that it’s taking time for children to learn to resocialize following the pandemic and more kids on a bus raises the noise and anxiety level.

Szymaniak said he would need the time until the November meeting to work the problem and Howard encouraged people with questions to email them to the superintendent.

Hanson School Committee member Hillary Kniffen suggested another short-term aid would be to communicate with families how they should be helping adjust their children’s behavior on the bus.

Ferro also gave the annual MCAS report. While scores had been higher pre-pandemic, he said trends are now heading upward again, based on a three-year overview of scores.

“The state has basically said COVID is over,” he said. “They said you now have accountability status once again beginning this year for those schools that will get it. … This is the baseline year.”

There were no exams in 2020 because of COVID and, in the last two years there was a dip in reading scores, but math is already improving. The district is also conducting a curriculum analysis to identify strengths and areas where improvement is needed.

“We are still behind [standards] but we are making gains,” Ferro said.

Hanson ZBA posts tabled again

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HANSON — The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Oct. 11 tabled the appointments of a Zoning Board of Appeals member and associate member. A meeting will be held Tuesday, Oct. 25 to again take up the matter.

William Cushing and Charles White were re-applying, or applying for the post of member for a three-year term. Christopher Costello and Joshua Pratti were applying, or reapplying for the post of associate member for a three-year term.

White withdrew his application the next day.

Despite being admonished at the outset by Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett — on the advice of town counsel — not to mention “the I-word,” as she later in the meeting described the term “investigation,” it was nonetheless invoked nearly two dozen times by various participants in the 21:30-minute discussion. Town Administrator Lisa Green said the probe has been completed.

Select Board member Jim Hickey made the motion to table the appointments following discussions with White and Cushing.

“We were all set to go last Friday, when we thought there was a [ZBA] meeting tonight,” he said. “There wasn’t, so I’d like a few days, or possibly a week, depending on when the Zoning Board has their next meeting to look at this report.”

FitzGerald-Kemmett countered that while the board would read the report quickly, they would not do so as if they “had a gun to their heads” and say they would make the decision within a week. A ZBA meeting was scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 18, but chair Kevin Perkins said they should have the necessary three people.

“I want to be able to look through [the report],” Select Board member Joe weeks said, advocating for waiting until Oct. 25 “I want to make sure everybody gets a fair shake.”

For the parameters of the meeting, in addition, the investigation would not be an issue.

“We will not be discussing, or answering any questions regarding the ongoing ZBA investigation,” she said. “We will not be rehashing the events of our Sept. 27 meeting. Our legal counsel has advised us that we able to proceed with filling these vacancies tonight as we see fit.”

As the Select Board is the appointing authority, it is the board’s decision who will fill the vacancies, “and nobody else’s decision,” she stressed.

FitzGerald-Kemmett, admonishing would-be speakers that profanity or inappropriate behavior disrespectful of the board would not be tolerated, noting that those in violation would be asked to leave and, if they refused, the police would be summoned.

White, who was recently appointed to the Cemetery Commission, said he was interested in the full-time position as a way to become more involved in the town. A retired Weymouth firefighter and 20-year resident of Hanson, White worked as the fire prevention and training officer, explaining that the work made him familiar with building codes. While he knows “a little bit of zoning,” he admitted his knowledge is not extensive, but said he has also worked as an environmental engineer and is familiar with MGL 21E and state contingency plans. He said he didn’t know whether he knows anyone now serving on the ZBA.

Hickey said he has ethics disclosures from the other members, whether or not they are applying, but he hadn’t received one from White.

White said he was not aware of the requirement, but he was happy to do it.

Cushing, who had resigned, along with Pratti, on Sept. 27, when the board balked at approving another temporary appointment until town counsel had offered guidance, is a developer and builder — a fact he has always been open about.

“I always thought that would be an attribute to add to the town of Hanson because it’s important to understand the Zoning Board rules and regulation,” he said. “The think I think is hard with zoning is the people who try to learn it without any background in it.”

Cushing has served on the ZBA since 2015, starting as an alternate member, becoming a permanent one about six years ago. He has a bachelor’s degree in management and finance from Curry College and is in the real estate business, specializing in permitting and zoning.

Despite the caution against raising the topic, Cushing asked if the ZBA investigation was complete. FitzGerald-Kemmett repeated the admonition and asked if he had any other questions.

“I think the citizens should know,” he persisted. “Is the investigation complete, yet?”

“Not to the best of my knowledge,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

“Beyond that, I’m sure you’re aware that I’m more than qualified for the position,” he said, suggesting that White had a relationship with Select Board members Ann Rein and Ed Heal, saying he had seen “pictures of him on their election campaign.” 

He compared that to “the biggest misconception” with the ZBA is that “some of us happen to be in the same industry and that might be misconstrued.

He then said he was not sure if the position for which he was applying should be filled until the investigation is complete, saying he felt the presumption was guilty until proven innocent with him.

“I was pretty clear at the beginning that we’re not talking about that,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

“It’s important,” Cushing retorted.

“The reason we’re here tonight is that [Kevin] Perkins emphasized that you guys are in peril of not having a quorum,” she said.

Cushing then argued that, if a permanent seat was not filled that night, two associate members should be appointed to help with the quorum problem.

FitzGerald-Kemmett explained that was not posted on the agenda for the meeting.

“You’ve already made your mind up, I can’t convince you of anything,” he charged.

17:25

Gourd-geous day in the pumpkin patch

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Volunteers Casey Coots and Gail Clement, above, quality check some of the nearly 1600 pumpkins for sale at Whitman First Congregational Church, 519 Washington St. last weekend. Sophia Coletti, right, hoists a hefty pumpkin. Pumpkins are available from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday to Friday and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday and Sunday.  Proceeds help the church’s mission and operating programs as well as Pumpkin Patch USA mission programs. See more photos, page 6.

Photos by Carol Livingstone

Whitman eyes complete streets project

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WHITMAN – The Select Board on Tuesday, Oct. 11, heard a program proposal aimed at making South Avenue a “more vibrant, welcoming location.”

That balance would be ironed out through dialog with the community, town officials and MassDOT. 

Jim Fitzgerald and Benny Hung of Environmental Partners, as well as members of the DPW Commissioners, appeared before the board to provide an overview of the Connecting Communities proposal and the MassDOT Transportation Investment Program (TIP) and a potential project on South Avenue.

“What could the vision be?” Fitzgerald asked. “That depends on the town and where things balance out.” But, he stressed, the program allows communities to use existing opportunities to achieve continuous complete strees improvements while improving safety and green space making and promoting economic vitality.

Fitzgerald is the director of transportation at Environmental Partners, in Quincy.

The TIP program funds larger-scale roadway projects, which would be manages by MassDOT. The only cost incurred by a town is for project design, according to Commission Chair Kevin Cleary.

He said the commissioners could get Environmental Partners going on the MassDOT application process and the commission would keep the Select Board updates as the approval process starts.

“Over the last few years, the DPW Commissioners and Highway Superintendent Bruce Martin have been working with Environmental Partners trying to find as many open sources for roadway/sidewalk work,”  Cleary said. There has been some success in obtaining a couple of Complete Streets grants.

Select Board Chair Randy LaMattina asked how much the design costs might be, which Fitzgerald put at, on average, it could be about 14 percent of the total cost, warning that the figure was a “very rough mumber.”

Interim Town Administrator Frank Lynam asked what a total cost estimate for the plan illustration Environmental Partners presented might be.

“With construction costs right now a little all over the place, it’s a tough one,” Fitzgerald said, putting it at possibly $10 million.

The first step for any community would be an online application at which time the state DOT investigates to see it a proposal passes the “smell test” for viability.

“Based on the merits of this project, we would anticipate it would,” Fitzgerald said. “It ticks off a lot of boxes – and the fact that Whitman has not requested a lot of funds in the past, also.”

He suggested the town tackle the 25 percent of it – the design phase – first, and having MassDOT involved early in the process is also important to make sure they are aligned with their expectations.

The width of South Avenue could also work in the town’s favor, as it offers room to address the design aims.

The lengthy application process means any project – encompassing an approximately one-mile stretch of South Avenue from Commercial to Plymouth streets, would take four to five years to complete.

“We took a look at the corridor and identified a series of opportunities that really lends itself nicely for something like a TIP project,” Fitzgerald said, noting that the Commuter Rail station on South Avenue is an asset to the community. “We also looked at connectivity to things like bike and pedestrian [traffic], with Colebrook Boulevard connecting northerly to Essex [Street] and Memorial Field.”

The entire South Avenue corridor, and its current width, were also examined regarding multimodal transportation and how it could be “more comfortable” for bikes and pedestrians as well as safer for motorists in key locations, according to Fitzgerald. Residential neighborhoods along the roadway and their proximity to things like the Commuter Rail station were also studied within both a seven-minute and three-minute walk to the station. Similar radii were studied around Duval Elementary School. The redevelopment or revitalization of businesses now located on South Avenue has also been done and the opportunites within complete streets.

“Studies have proven that complete streets have many benefits, including safety and promoting bike and pedestrian use, but also for the economic vitality of locations,” he said.

Traffic safety studies have also shown that the area nearest the Commuter Rail tracks have seen the highest number of crashes – and rates within the top 5 percent of all crashes statewide. The intersection of South Avenue with Franklin and Pleasant streets is ranked within the top 10 among crashes causing injury statewide.

“It’s [also] a very odd configuration,” Fitzgerald said. “Given the development in the area, the configuration of the roads have morphed over the years. Instead of one intersection, it’s really three, which can make it pretty challenging or confusing when it comes to motorists traveling through it, especially if they’re not familiar with the location.”

It also has long pedestrian crossings – ranging from 60 to 100 feet – and have ADA compliance issues. Crossings in the Raynor Avenue area also have the same problem for pedestrians with movement issues.

Work to narrow pedestrian crossings would also provide greenscapes and ease drainage in the areas.

Traffic speeds would also be addressed to establish a well-balanced design.

The TIP program of federal funds, which Whitman has not proposed in recent years, would “address a lot of the issues we’re looking at along South Avenue.

Select Board member Justin Evans noted his board had recently asked the DPW to look into a Section 40R overlay in the Commuter Rail area, asking if this project would impact that. Fitzgerald said he does not believe it would.

“But it does make it more attractive,” LaMattina said, to Fitzgerald’s agreement.

“There are so many things going for this project,” he said. “It can only be a feather in the cap to have this sort of redevelopment.”

LaMattina said he grew up in the area and was told by an older resident at the time, “Oh, you live on that side of the tracks.”

“I think any development down there would be fantastic,” he said. “It opens up the other things we’re trying to do.”

MBTA train fire snarls traffic

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HANSON – It was a slow commute either by road or rail through Hanson Friday evening as an MBTA Commuter Rail train 055 broke down at the Route 27 crossing of the 1100 block of Main Street, blocking traffic for about three hours.

MBTA announcements in South Station indicated that train 055 had been terminated in Hanson “due to fire department activity,” according to published reports.

No injuries were reported and there is no official information about the potential cause of the damage. No additional information about the cause of the fire was available from Keolis this week.

According to the Hanson Fire Department, firefighters were called to the scene for a fire in the engine compartment aboard the train at 4:52 p.m.

“The train was evacuated as a precaution and crews investigated a smoke condition in the cab,” according to a statement on the department’s Facebook page. “Fire crews quickly found and isolated a piece of electrical equipment that had caught fire. The electrical equipment was removed and the incident was isolated.”

Fire officials emphasized that no water or extinguishing agents were needed and passengers were not in danger at any time.

Keolis representatives, MBTA Transit Police and Hanson Police were on scene, clearing just after 7 p.m.

Main Street in Hanson (Route 27) was blocked during the incident.

Train 058 on the Kingston Line was delayed by nearly two and a half hours between South Station and Hanson. Trains were making flag stops so riders were told to make themselves visible on the platform, WATD radio reported that evening. 

Regional Agreement panel reps named

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Select boards in both Whitman and Hanson came to independent agreement on the number of members they wished to see — and whom to appoint — to the next Regional Agreement Subcommittee during their respective meetings on Tuesday, Oct. 11.

The School Committee was scheduled to discuss the matter again Wednesday, Oct. 12, and perhaps finalize the panel. The School Committee’s preference was for six voting members — two of their members (School Committee Chair Christopher Howard and Vice Chair Christopher Scriven), two selectmen and the two town administrators. 

The original non-voting contingent was two citizens at-large, two finance committee members, the superintendent and assistant superintendent of schools.

“We wanted to keep it nimble,” Howard said, noting that dialog and consensus are also the aims.

“We’re trying to move this forward, and I think a  smaller committee does that,” Whitman Select Board Chair Randy LaMattina said.

The towns preferred four voting members, with the administrators serving in a non-voting capacity.

“That makes sense to me,” said Whitman Selectman Dr. Carl Kowalski of the four-person panel representing the two towns and their regional schools. “That’s sort of equal representation and it’s a smaller group.”

Hanson Selectmen did not want to include town administrators as voting members, largely because they are town employees.

The Whitman board said they could accept the administrators serving as non-voting members, as they are analogous to the position of superintendent of school. The towns also agreed to send one member to the subcommittee, although Hanson expressed a preference for two. 

Hanson voted to appoint Jim Hickey to the subcommittee, and Whitman voted to name Justin Evans to it. Hanson Select Board member Joe Weeks had also indicated a willingness to serve, but said his schedule limits his availability to Mondays.

“I find it a little odd to have the town administrators as a voting member since they are employees,” Hanson Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “I definitely could see them being an advisory member — they definitely have to be part of the conversation.”

She preferred the smaller, more streamlined, four voting members approach.

Whitman Town Administrator Frank Lynam agreed.

“From my perspecitive, the town administrator represents the interests of the Board of Selectmen,” he said. “With a member of the Board of Selectmen there, I think it becomes less important for the TA to have a vote because the decisions that are made are going to be made after they’re presented to the individual boards.”

As long as it does not affect the ability of the group to move and for administrators to be heard over their concerns, it wouldn’t matter to him if it was a voting or non-voting role.

Whitman Selectmen Vice Chair Dan Salvucci argued that one member from each select board should be enough, because they would be able to report back to their boards.

Select Board members from both towns said residents would be encouraged to attend meetings and let their opinions be known.

School Committee Chair Christopher Howard attended both board’s meetings Tuesday night to get a sense of their preferences after his committee formed the regional agreement panel last month. 

“I wanted to get a little more feedback before we go fully forward and talk about timing,” Howard told the Hanson board.

Hickey said he thought the Hanson board had expressed their preference for two Selectmen on the committee. Select Board member Ann Rein expressed concern that Green was a Pembroke resident — saying that all parties should be residents of either town. She withdrew her concern when it was pointed out that Green is a Whitman resident.

Green said that as a Hanson town employee living in Whitman, she would most likely recuse herself from any votes because of that conflict.

“We took feedback from both boards and we tried to get … a fairly small contingent of voting members,” Howard said, noting any decisions must be approved by DESE, then back to the select boards and both town meetings. “I’d rather kind of all be on the same page before we start.”

Howard said he would favor removing the citizen at-large non-voting member.

“I would encourage anyone that’s a resident of Hanson or Whitman that wants to participate, to come to the meeting,” he said. “There’s no difference to me between a posted, public meeting where anyone can participate or having a non-voting citizen at-large member.”

He also wants to get the work started and was concerned the selection of citizen at-large members could slow things down.

FitzGerald-Kemmett also asked if a mediator was considered in case disagreements surfaced and to help avoid tie votes some board members were concerned about.

“I think it’s hard because of some of the lines that have been drawn and past actions for people to be able to get to that place on our own,” she said.

“I think it’s going to be more difficult than people think, and there are some issues that really are contentious,” Whitman Select Board member Shawn Kain said, arguing for two select board members from each town. Having two members could help determine a middle ground where agreements might be reached, he said.

Evans noted that monetary issues were a main sticking point that the last regional agreement panel worked out, and this committee could move on to other issues.