Whitman-Hanson Express

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Whitman CPC gets down to business

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WHITMAN — After approving participation in the Community Preservation Act at this year’s Town Meeting, residents might ask, “What’s next?”

The received some answers recently as the Whitman Preservation Committee on Tuesday, Sept. 20 held an informational meeting on the Community Preservation Act, approved in 2000 and adopted by Whitman at this year’s annual Town Meeting.

“On the one hand, our job is to, obviously, look at these applications and make recommendations at Town Meeting about the use of Community  Preservation funds, but I also think this is a good opportunity to find out what the community wants,”  Chair Ryan Tressel said. “I’m very excited about the possibilities that this act and this law brings to Whitman and the ability that we’ll have to hopefully fund some really terrific projects to help preserve our community.”

The law requires such an informational session and review of the way the board is set up.

Five of the nine members are from town committees, as required by the state law – Elaine Bergeron of the Historical Commission, Jake Dodge of the Conservation Commission, Brandon Griffin of the Planning Board, Michelle LaMattina of the Recreation commission and Patricia McKay of the Housing Authority. At-large citizens on the commission are Tressel, Vice Chair John Goldrosen, Melissa Lothrop and Richard Rosen.

“Part of the purpose of this meeting … is to inform the people of Whitman about the CPA (Community Preservation Act), especially because our application for CPA projects has been released and is on the town website,” Tressel said. The review also covered what is and is not allowed and the application process.

The CPA was inspired by a Nantucket group that created a system for buying up open-space land for preservation, which interested a lot of other communities around the state that wanted to do the same thing.

Projects must fall under any of four categories: Open space; Historic Preservation; Recreation and Affordable housing.

The program is funded by a 1-percent surcharge on real estate property taxes for both residential and business properties which goes into a CPA fund. Of those funds, 10 percent has to go toward each of the open space, housing and historic preservation categories each year, matched by the state. Town Meeting can vote to invest more, but the 10 percent is required. Five percent of funds may be retained for administrative expenses.

“This year, the [state] match was 35 percent, but it varies every year,” Tressel said. Much of the variation depands on revenue raised by the state.

“The law is very complex and there’s no governing body on the law in this state,” he said. “It’s not run by or overseen by anything, so a lot of the restrictions that are put on community preservation projects have come from courts as citizens in various towns have raised lawsuits against certain community preservation projects, so it is a little tricky to get through them.”

For example, Town Meeting can approve measures to acquire, create or preserve open space, but funds cannot be used to support, rehabilitate or restore open space. Applicants will, therefore be asked about additional funding sources for projects.

Likewise, while historic places can be acquired or preseerved, but not created or supported. CPC funds cannot support recreation spaces, either, but can be created, acquired, rehabilitated, restored and preserved. Housing has the least amount of restrictions on it.

“We will be giving recommendations to Town Meeting and Town Meeting will appropriate the money,” Tressel said. “We are not a body that will oversee these projects.”

Applicants and relevant town committees will be charged with oversight.

Looking to the procedures of other towns, Whitman has set up a two-step application process: pre-application outlining project basics and a timeline, advancing to the application process if projects are deemed allowable under state law. Sponsoring parties and estimated costs and the amount sought from the CPC would also be covered in the pre-application process.

“We felt the two-step [application] made the most sense from our end [and applicants’],” he said.

WHRHS inducts 10 to Hall of Fame

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HINGHAM — Ten Whitman-Hanson alumni scholar athletes were inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame during a dinner ceremony at the South Shore Country Club on Sunday, Oct. 9.

From a champion wrestler who returned to coach his sport, to a three-sport athlete who went on to lead cross country and track teams — as well as fellow soldiers after graduating West Point, to a member of the women’s soccer U.S. National Team, to an NFL career, these are among embodiments of excellence representing the high school in the world.

According to the program for the event, there were more than 50 nominations for induction.

“We know there are many more student-atlethes and coaches who are also deserving,” the program stated. With the next induction planned for October 2024, Athletic Director Bob Rodgers hopes to identify and welcome another group of worthy candidates.

To nominate an athlete or coach, visit whathletics.com, where the criteria for nominations is also included.

All the Hall of Fame members inducted this year, and all future inductees will be prominently displayed on banners in the athletics foyer and in the stadium as on the digital video board in the gym.

This years inductees are:

Student atletes

Tom Lynch, Class of 1973

Kevin Broderick, Class of 1988

Tim O’Brien, Class of 1991

Liz Hassan, Class of 2001

Kristie Mewis, Class of 2009

Samantha Coletti, Class of 2016

Coaches

Bob Teahan, Football/Athletic Director

Bob Gay, Wrestling/Principal

Teams

2001 Super Bowl Champion Football Team

2011 State Champion Girls Crosss Country 

Hanson Town Meeting postponed

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HANSON — The town budgets $7,000 a year in advertising and printing costs to hold it’s two town meetings — including the special Town Meeting scheduled Monday, Oct. 3 — but as the session fell 13 short of the required forum of 100, they’ll have to reuse some of those materials and try again. 

The quorum deficit meant only 87 people in a town of about 10,150 attended.

They are now out of pocket $350 for the attendance of Town Counsel Kate Feodoroff for two hours, during which she didn’t get to say anything. The town also paid for printing the warrant and several booklets of supporting materials, including a 26-page booklet on “Our Commitment to the Community” by La Flora LLC regarding the warrant article for Impressed LLC’s proposal for a cannabis delivery aspect to its business at 15 Commercial Way.

“We continue to be challenged by the fact that folks aren’t as engaged as we would hope they would be,” Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said Tuesday morning. “I think that’s a problem for us and it’s a problem for the town because we want to make sure, when we have town meeting, we have elections, that we have a good cross-section of everybody so the results are reflective of who we’ve got in town. It’s definitely a nut we need to crack.”

The warrant and supporting materials won’t need reprinting, but a new cover for the warrant, bearing the new date will be necessary, according to Green.

“The town needs the Town Meeting to be able to conduct business,” said Town Administrator Lisa Green on Tuesday morning. “That includes funding of bills and a number of different things that we cannot move forward without Town Meeting approval.”

FitzGerald-Kemmett said the Select Board asked them if there were any budget items that could not wait until May and the transfer station was at the top of the list.

“They only got one half of their budget, so if we don’t meet again, they will have operated a whole year on half of their budget,” she said. “We don’t want that to happen. That would effectively close the transfer station down.”

The Town Meeting has been rescheduled for 7:30 p.m., at the Hanson Middle School, Wednesday, Nov. 9, but that date brings concerns of its own, according to Green, noting the Tuesday, Nov. 8 state election requires Town Clerk Elizabeth Sloan and her Assistant Clerk Jean Kelley to have paperwork completed about the election result.

“It’s very disappointing,” Sloan said. “Especially because they [now] want to have it the day after the election. That’s a 20-hour day and then trying to prepare for a Town Meeting.”

Sloan said it was the first time in her career that she saw a town meeting unable to conduct business because of a failure to meet the quorum requirements.

 “What complicates it a little bit more is that this [the rescheduled Town Meeting] is the day after the election,” Green said. “We may be limited – Town Clerk has other obligations and requirements mandated by the state with her reporting and follow-up work – so we will be without our town clerk, most likely. Someone else will have to take up those responsibilities.”

Sloan’s office typically puts in at least a 20-hour day on a state-wide or national election.

“There’s a lot we need to shuffle,” she said. “There’s a lot of work and costs involved in a Town Meeting.”

The preferred date of Wednesday, Nov. 16, suggested by Town Moderator Sean Kealy, however, ran into a clash with parent-teacher conferences in the district’s schools already-scheduled for that week.

School Committee member Hillary Kniffen also said that committee is already slated to meet Nov. 16.

“That’s not going to work,” Kealy said, asking for objections to Nov. 9. Hearing none, the Select Board voted to set that date for the “Town Meeting 2.0.”

“It’s unfortunate,” Kealy said after the session adjourned. “We’ve got to get more people to come out.”

He said a controversial article is usually enough to get people to come to Town Meeting.

“But, then again, you never know what that controversial article is going to be,” he said. “We just put the town business on [the warrant] and hope that people come out.”

Where the warrant articles that went without action Monday night are concerned, keeping the transfer station open and functioning until the May 2023 Town Meeting depends on budget votes in October.

“This is the type of government that the town residents want, and they need to understand that we need Town Meeting to be able to conduct business,” she said. 

Green also expressed dismay at the absence of members of the Zoning Board of Appeals and several Town Hall employees.

“There were some there,” she said. “[But] no on from the ZBA was there. Not one.”

She was also surprised that the owners of cannabis firm, Impressed LLC, was not there.

“It’s a little concerning,” Select Board member Joe Weeks said Monday night. “I understand people are busy and a lot of things are happening, but there are important issues that we’re trying to push forward.”

He pointed to by-law reviews, zoning and budgetary issues — the latter involving raises — as well as investment in the capital plans just get stalled when a Town Meeting can’t get down to work. The cannabis article, which he said “could have a very positive impact on the budget” also went without action that night.

“There’s a lot of important reasons why we want to try to have people come out here,” Weeks said. “You try to balance that with school starting up and everything going on in people’s lives, but it’s real tax dollars, it’s real capital investments, it’s real policy change — really important things.”

Weeks expressed pride in the work the town was able to conduct at the last town meeting without raising taxes.

“We can’t continue that if we don’t have a quorum,” he said. He also pointed to the coming of snow season, stressing that the funds for plowing contracts have to be approved at Town Meeting.

“I’m very disappointed,” said Select Board member Ed Heal noting it was the first time a failure to reach quorum halted the work at hand. “It feels like you have a firework going off and it’s the duds — you’re waiting and hoping that it’s going to be going off.”

Heal said he wasn’t certain if it was the lack of controversial articles that failed to being people in, which he said was also a good thing.

“Hopefully, they’ll be able to m

Cushing, Pratti resign Hanson ZBA

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HANSON — ZBA members William Cushing and Joshua Pratti effectively resigned on Tuesday, Sept. 27, as they declined to accept another temporary reappointment by the Select Board as the investigation into ZBA — spurred a citizens’ petition passed at Town Meeting — drags on and the board did not advance a motion to re-appoint the two to another full term.

Cushing said the Select Board should consider the non-reappointment his resignation. Pratti said he, too, would refuse to accept a temporary reappointment.

Select Board member Jim Hickey, whose motion to reappoint both men to a full term failed, resigned from his role as liaison to the Zoning Board of Appeals because his motions on the situation had been repeatedly ignored and he felt one of the other members would be better suited for the role.

The Select Board then voted to accept all three resignations.

“I appreciate the effort and the time that you have both put in, but we really are in a position where we are trying to do what’s in the best interests of the town,” Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said, expressing regret at the resignation. “We got a very strong read from town meeting and the citizens’ petition begging us to look into this, so I don’t see, as an elected board, how we could possibly do anything other than what we’ve been compelled to do.”

Cushing said he appreciated the position the Select Board is in and asked to see the final report when the investigation is complete. Pratti also indicated his willingness to be reappointed, if the Select Board was agreeable, after the investigation concludes.

“At that point in time, if you’d like to re-evaluate, I’d love to be reappointed,” Cushing said. Between now and then he said he would rather step aside.

Town Administrator Lisa Green said and email from Hull Town Counsel Jim Lampke on Aug. 25, indicated he is awaiting material the Building Department and Board of Health as requested. At that news, FitzGerald-Kemmett suggested the board could repeat its one-month appointment vote. Lampke was appointed to investigate the issue last November.

“We don’t want to give the impression that we’re trying to rush the investigation, or just the impression that we may have flawed it because we tried to rush it,” said Green. “We can’t take that chance.”

FitzGerald-Kemmett asked Green to press Lampke for a date when they could expect his findings. Green said on Monday, Oct. 3 that Lampke is hopeful that a final draft report will be submitted to the Select Board this week and the subject should be on the agenda for the Tuesday, Oct. 11 meeting.

ZBA member Kevin Perkins had been ejected from the meeting before the discussion — which had followed a heated dog hearing — really got started for what FitzGerald-Kemmett described as abusive language.

She had noted that the last time the appointments had come before the board there was a suggestion from town counsel that Cushing and Pratti be reappointed for only a month because the investigation into the ZBA should be first completed, which has still has not been done.

 “If we appoint for the full term then we have to have a hearing for Mr. Cushing and Mr. Pratti,” she said.

FitzGerald-Kemmett reminded the public that the Select Board had not unilaterally decided to conduct an investigation into the ZBA, that was the subject of a citizens’ petition warrant article presented and approved at Town Meeting. There were 167 votes in favor of the investigation.

“Although I am disheartened at how long it’s taken, I think that generally the board has been of the opinion that we want to be thorough in this investigation,” she said. “We don’t want to close the investigation and not have Mr. Lampke feel as though he hasn’t done his due diligence.”

She did say she had the opinion that, about the time Green received his email that a decision was imminent, possibly only a couple of weeks away, but she asked Green to contact him to get a definitive update.

Hickey said he had been texting Perkins about ZBA issues, who gave a similar estimate of the time needed to complete the investigation.

“Two weeks is up and it’s still not done,” Hickey said.

Cushing said the reappointment was for three months approved on June 30, not one.

FitzGerald-Kemmett accepted that correction.

“This was supposed to be done in June,” Cushing said of the investigation. “This has been almost a year now.”

While he said he understands that the Select Board is doing what’s in the best interests of Hanson residents, Cushing said that, at the same time, if there is cause ZBA members should be removed, but they should not arbitrarily decide against re-appointing them because the investigation is incomplete.

“I think that you’ve had more than enough time,” he said. 

Cushing advocated for his and Pratti’s reappointment, understanding that if the investigation determines there is cause, they could be removed.

“I don’t want a temporary reappointment,” he said. “I either want a full term and then be removed, or don’t reappoint me at all.”

Pratti also said he would not accept a temporary appointment.

“It sounds to me like not reappointing is more allowing you guys some latitude to not reappoint us if you don’t like what you hear, not necessarily with any malfeasance found with any of the board [members],”  Pratti said.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said factors contributing to any decision against reappointment would not have to rise to the level of malfeasance. If sufficient concerns arose with Select Board members to where  they might not feel comfortable reinstating them, that would be enough to warrant such action.

Pratti said he doesn’t see why non-reappointment or temporary reappointment are even options.

“We’re going to clog up an agenda regardless,” he said.

“I tend to think if we pay town counsel to give us an opinion, we ought to take town counsel’s opinion, FitzGerald-Kemmett replied, noting she did not feel she should act as an attorney and second-guess their reasoning.

Hickey said he argued for reappointment to full terms three months ago because the investigation was not complete. He advocated going through a hearing process, if necessary, when the investigation was complete and improprieties were discovered, but no one had seconded his motion.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said she did not offer a second because the motions went against town counsel’s advice. She also said she thinks a decision is immanent.

“My feeling is that we have a duty to the citizens of the town, who asked to have this investigated, and asked for us to be prudent in what we’re doing,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “Although I feel bad that it’s taken this long, there isn’t much that the five of us can do about how long it’s taken.”

She said Lampke has been hired to do a job and he has to do the job he’s been paid to do.

“I don’t feel comfortable appointing both them for the full term,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

Cushing, meanwhile pointed out that the delay was affecting the ZBA’s work.

“We just missed a meeting tonight because we don’t want to open meetings unless,” he said. “I don’t know if I’m going to be here.”

There was a ZBA meeting scheduled for that night, he said.

“They’re waiting upstairs,” Pratti said.

Without them there would be no quorum for that meeting. Cushing added.

Hickey noted that if they board is working on something and they resign or are removed, all the work that’s been done has to start over again, and Cushing added it could also result in legal action regarding such a case.

Hickey then moved that both men be reappointed for their full terms and, again, it’s not going to be seconded. It was not.

“For me, it’s hard because I’m incredibly frustrated with how long this has been going on,” said Select Board member Joe Weeks. “I feel we are in a position right now … I have no idea what’s going on with this investigation. I have no idea why it’s taking so long.”

But, he added, as maddening as the situation is, the town is already committed to the process and he hopes it can see it through.

He also lauded Cushing and Pratti for their cooperation.

 For that reason, Weeks said he would like to see more pressure brought to conclude the investigation, but lacking more information he supported incremental appointments until the investigation is done.

Fall fun at All Saints

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Rain or shine, indoors or outside, All Saints Episcopal Church offered seasonal events for all ages over the past two weeknds. Above, an elaborate Halloween-themed quilt, created by Pat Clemons, had many admirers at the church’s Quilt Show on Saturday, Oct. 1. At left, Aaliyah Correia and Nike get ready to take a ride at the Saturday, Sept.24 Animal Fair at All Saint’s Church. Free pony rides, a petting zoo, Zoomobile and new animal-themed toys at reduced prices were featured at the event aimed at children ages 10 to 12. See more photos, page 6.

Photos by Carol Livingstone

Whitman sets aside TM date

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WHITMAN — The Select Board on Tuesday, Sept. 27 voted to call for a special Town Meeting at some time in November, and discussed the salary issues that could affect hiring of a new Town Administrator.

“We have appointed, effective Oct. 1, our town accountant to the position of acting treasurer/collector,” interim Town Administrator Frank Lynam said. “In order to make a permanent appointment, we would need to change the status of the position from that of elected to that of appointed.”

He recommended a special Town Meeting be scheduled for Monday, Nov. 14, which, he said, seems to be the most popular choice for a meeting night to address that and “other financial issues that may need to be addressed.”

The meeting is not officially scheduled until Select Board members sign a warrant.

Lynam said there are also a “number of budgets” that need to be adjusted, which would more appropriately be addressed in a special Town Meeting than to wait until May.

 “It takes off some of the concern departments may have about possibly running out of money before that event occurs,” he said, noting he expects the session to be minimal in scope.

The new quorum requirements approved at last year’s annual Town Meeting calls for only 100 registered voters, rather than the 150 that used to be needed to convene a special Town Meeting.

If the question is held off for the May Town Meeting, the board will effectively have already placed a question on the ballot before the Town Meeting has voted to take that action.

Thirty-five days are required to vote on a ballot issue before it head to the ballot, and there is only two weeks separating Town Meeting and Town Election.

“I think it’s cleaner,” Lynam said. “It’s not essential, but it’s a good idea, in my mind.”

Select Board member Shawn Kain expressed a concern about scheduling a Town Meeting unnecessarily, saying that while he does have concern about the budget, he also feels confident about the work town officials are doing.

“Once we update the public I think those kinds of budgetary concerns will be alleviated,” he said, noting that he had no objection to holding a special Town Meeting if the board agreed it was necessary.

Lynam informed the board that Plymouth County, which oversees COVID funds, issued the town a final disposition declining Whitman the use of $160,000 some three weeks ago.

“That doesn’t mean we’re out of money,” he said. “It means we have to go to the ARPA fund to seek funding for those.”

He added that he did challenge some of the decisions and last week the town received a check for $42,559. That leaves $120,000 that must be appealed through ARPA.

In other business, Lynam updated the board on the work of the Town Administrator search committee, which met for the first time as a committee the week before.

He said an important observation had been made by one member that Whitman will be conducting its search with a combined budget for the position of $150,000 — more than $140,000 plus vacation buy-back time that was included in the actual budget.

“I am waiting for survey results, but I believe $150,000 is an absolute minimum that would enable us to recruit for this position,” he said. “I know that sounds crazy, given what the numbers were over the years, but town managers and administrators are now being hired and several towns broke the $200,000 mark this year, and they’re not heavily experienced people.”

Lynam sought permission to prepare an ad and advertise [a salary of up to ] $150,000, but cautioned the board the salary might have to be revisited.

“It’s going to be difficult to fill the position,” he said.

The board approved the ad for a salary ranging to about $150, depending on experience.

Lynam also addressed a communication gap with some granted use of the Town Hall.

A battle of the bands, for which use of the Town Hall Auditorim was sought by the Cultural Council, approved by the board, and the hall had been set up for it — only to find out via Facebook that the event had been canceled.

“I think it bodes well for us to ask for more communication when people request use of the Town Hall, because it involves other people and other efforts,” he said.

Step forward for energy plan

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HANSON – The Select Board, on Tuesday, Sept. 27 approved closure of the public comment period and submission of the town’s energy aggregation plan to the state Department of Public Utilities for final approval.

That process is expected to take at least a year, with an eye toward an official launch by next winter, according to consultant Patrick Roche of Good Energy.

“Only after we’re approved by DPU would we be allowed to go out to bid for electricity,” he said. “Once we have done that, then we would do a big education and outreach period before the program starts, so people will know they can choose not to participate [if that is what] they want.”

Roche stressed that the aggregation does not become the town’s electric company. The only portion of a customer’s electricity bill the plan can change is the electricity generation costs.

The aggregate would buy electricity on behalf of Hanson residents as a group, with those who prefer other plans given the right to opt out.

“A lot of towns have been doing this and, in the process of doing it, we mitigate the risk,” said Energy Committee Vice Chair James Armstrong, noting that utility companies buy energy every four to six months in that way, depending on the tariff they are under. “They buy it at the same time every year. We have a little more flexibility in how we do ours — that’s why we have a consultant.”

The vote followed a public hearing with the board, which closed out a public comment period on the plan, with Roche, who attended remotely. The firm helps the town know when to buy energy, what to look at and whether they should shorten or lengthen purchase contracts — currently done by the year — if it makes sense in the market to do so.

“We can play the market, whereas the utilities cannot,” Armstrong said. “At the end of the day, it’s all about trying to save money for the citizens of Hanson, and it’s also about giving options to the citizens of Hanson to buy more green power.”

He explained this was the second hearing conducted on the proposed energy aggregate plan for Hanson.

“We actually submitted [it] to the DPU,” Armstrong said. “They made some modifications and sent it back. We had to modify our plan, that’s why we needed to have another hearing.”

The current public comment period on the DPU’s revisions had been open since Aug. 10. The proposal was approved at Town Meeting last year, Armstrong reminded the board, so it is not something new.

Only two comments had been received, both asking if the program was live yet and how they could sign on.

“Ironically, National Grid has actually announced a 40-percent increase in our electric bills, starting next month,” he said. “What we’re trying to do is mitigate that risk, and that was always our intention.”

Roche said that increase is already “baked in,” but the aggregation could help protect the town from similar price spikes in the future.

With no public comment at Tuesday’s meeting, Select Board members made their comments and/or asked questions.

“I’m very new to all this,” Select Board member Ann Rein said, asking if an incident similar to last winter’s electrical grid failure in Texas could happen here.

“I suppose it’s possible that could happen here,” Roche said. “[But] your program would not change, whether or not that could happen.”

He explained the Texas crisis was rooted in the failure to adequately assess how much transmission on the grid was possible on the part of the state’s regional grid operator as well as regulatory shortcomings.

Armstrong added that, despite growth in use over the last 10 years, because of energy efficiency programs, the amount of electricity used has not changed. There are no more coal-fueled energy plants left in New England, he said, noting those that are left, are fueled by natural gas. The state is also encouraging battery storage to more easily handle demand spikes.

The state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard requires utilities to purchase a certain percentage of green energy. Hanson is now at about 25 percent and is seeing that ratio go up by 2 percent every year, according to Armstrong.

“We’re trying to buy 5-percent more than we’re required to,” he said. “That’s it — just a little bit more to be a little bit greener as we do things, and at the same time, save ourselves some green, too.”

Select Board member Ed Heal, while he likes the program, expressed skepticism at the effectiveness of renewable energy sources and was concerned that people had to request to opt out.

“I don’t like forcing people into something where they need to opt out,” he said. “I would rather it be you opt into this program.”

Armstrong said that residents who already have such a third-party source will not automatically be added to the aggregation. But urged vigilance. He said he has a third-party energy source at home already, but wasn’t following it and there was a price spike. 

“I’m an energy engineer … but I wasn’t watching myself,” he said. “What this does, is allow someone else to watch out for you on that issue.”

Heal’s objections stem from a lack of choice, he said, and expressed concern that the program would not prevent electricity costs to go through the roof.

“Eventually, we’re not going to have a choice, it’s going to be whatever these people say we’re going to have,” he said. “It’s going to be green, and that’s it — for better or worse.”

Roche said the aggregation will also govern its purchase of renewable energy in a way to be more cost-effective than National Grid.

Among other business, the Select Board conducted its final review of warrant articles ahead of the Monday, Oct. 3 special Town Meeting.

The Finance Committee, which met at the same time as the Select Board on Tuesday, Sept. 13, had already expressed concern to that their final recommendations would not be ready until the Tuesday, Sept. 27 meeting.

By Tuesday’s meeting the Finance Committee had recommended all articles except those with salary implications out of sustainability concerns.

The Capital Improvement Committee Chair Frank Milisi, Vice Chair Kurt Travis II and members Ken Sweezey and Pat Wheeler met with the Select Board, of which two members also serve on the Capital Committee – Ed Heal and Joe Weeks on Sept. 13.

Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said at that meeting that she has spoken with both Fire Chief Jerome Thompson Jr., and Library Director Karen Stolfer, both of whom indicated their capital request articles presented for the October special Town Meeting Warrant “were not dire” and they were not concerned if the articles were deferred to the May 2023 annual Town Meeting. 

The articles dealt with a Fire Station feasibility study and an HVAC study for the library.

“There were also some concerns about adding positions,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said, noting that the part-time position for the Select Board office was, indeed necessary. 

“I guess the biggest question is how much money are they willing to let us spend on capital expenses?” Milisi asked, noting that longer waits for some projects would translate to higher costs.

A home-grown hero

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WHITMAN — While the cause of the house fire at 137 West St., has not been determined, according to Deputy Fire Chief Al Cunningham —indicating it could have been anything from an electrical malfunction to a candle — what is known is that the house is uninhabitable. Damage has been estimated at between $100,000 and $150,000.

Cunningham said he knows that the family sleeping in upstairs bedrooms inside was lucky a passerby was out walking his dog at the time.

“It’s a good thing he pounded on the door,” said Cunningham, adding the family would likely have been unaware of the fire until smoke entered the building. “Good job on him for helping.”

The neighborhood had been buzzing in the immediate aftermath of the blaze over who the “Mystery man” could have been.

For Rock Street resident Kenneth Sheehan, however, there was no mystery — it was him.

Sheehan, a corrections officer in a rehabilitation center at the Bridgewater Corrections Facilty, he said he has walked his dog past the 137 West St., house just about every day at 5 a.m.

On Thursday, Sept. 15 as they were walking by, something caught his attention behind the house.

“I walk every day at 5 in the morning in that area around my block and I came across the house,” Sheehan said last week. “I thought someone was having a campfire at first, but then I got a little closer and it was a raging inferno — fire on the deck.”

He said the flames were already going up the side of the house when he walked down the family’s short driveway to see where the flames were coming from.

“I pounded on the front door and rang the bell,” Sheehan said. He said he has seen the couple when he has walked by in the past, but didn’t really know them. They’ve met a couple of times since, though.

 “They got up and got out just in time. If I had been a few minutes earlier, I might not have seen it. I might have been too late.”

Sheehan called 911, but said he left after he saw that everyone was safe and firefighters were on the scene.

The couple — who asked that the Express use only their first names Dave and Tiffany — are so glad Sheehan was there when he was. They and their three children escaped the fire along with the family dog, but the family’s two pet cats perished in the fire.

“I did not know what was going on before the gentleman knocked on the door,” Dave said Tuesday. “I kind of knew as soon as I woke up when he was banging on the door. I actually turned to my wide and said, ‘Is the house on fire?’ It’s not a normal thing first thing in the morning.”

He is a firefighter in Quincy and his wife is an employee of the EverSource call center. He said he was glad he was able to track down Sheehan’s number in order to call and thank him.

“He saved our lives,” Dave said. “We were very lucky to have had him coming by that day.”

On a day since the fire, when the couple was back in Whitman to check on the house and run a couple errands, Tiffany and their son recognized Sheehan and his dog and the two of them hopped out of the car and gave him a big hug.

Dave said his children are coping with the upheaval well enough, noting the oldest may be having a slightly harder time dealing with the loss of their home, even temporarily, but the younger ones are bouncing back.

“They feel like rock stars,” he said. “They like the attention.”

Sheehan said Monday revisiting the scene that, had he known there were two cats still in the house he would have tried going in with his black Lab, Syrus, to rescue them. He said he and Syrus  often plays a “find the cat” game with their feline.

“She was calm,” he said about her reaction to the fire. “I really didn’t pay much attention to her, I was just pulling her along with me.”

And, while Sheehan seemed flattered by talk of him being a hero, he said he would not refer to himself that way. The family disagrees.

“As much gratitude as that guy can get, he deserves it, 100 percent,” Dave said. “I hope people around town maybe get him a coffee or buy him a beer.”

“I just did what I had to do,” said Sheehan, who chalked his response up to reflex from 30 years on the job with the Department of Corrections. “I did my job and it was over.”

While he may not have known the family before, there have been hugs of thanks since.

“They called me to say thanks and that, ‘You’ve saved our lives,” he said. “They thought I did great and that I’m a hero. I don’t like to say that about myself, but somebody said it. It feels good that I saved a family of five.”

Dave said he considered the contents of his home a total loss because of smoke and water damage, but he said he has had a “ton of support from the community and friends” and the family is in a stable living situation until they can rebuild.

He is looking forward to returning to Whitman.

“We love Whitman and we want to continue to live there,” he said.

SST has ‘close to normal’ opening

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HANOVER – South Shore Tech had as “close to a normal school opening as we’ve had in a while” on Tuesday, Aug. 30, Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas Hickey told the School Committee at its meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 21.

“It’s a good feeling,” he said. “A full, high-energy school is what people in education want to [be a part of] and that’s what I think we had to start out the year.”

Assistant Principal Sandra Baldner said most in the school – from students to administrators and staff – agreed that by the end of the first week, a day at SST felt “just like a warm October day.”

Directed study periods after school now offer more flexibility and independence for the ways students seek extra help or study, so long as respectful noise levels are maintained. Two teachers in every session allow faculty members more flexibility in how they work as well.

Co-curricular Fridays allow students to attend Student Council, Skills USA, Gay/Straight Alliance, Future Famers of America meetings and the like.

“They give students an opportunity to be involved who might not otherwise attend,” she said. “They still have an opportunity to meet after school and extend learning, but students who are interested can get a taste of it during the school day.”

Hall passes have also advanced – as E-Hall passes replace the traditional paper pass so teachers can track movement across the day.

“It is not a GPS system” Baldner stressed. “It just allows the school to see trends and patterns in movement beyond the classroom.”

A virtual all-student meeting has been started as well. The junior class used the virtual meeting to teach the student body to use the E-Hall passes. The video is archived to parents can watch and learn what’s going on in school, as well.

Principal Mark Aubrey reported on recruitment for School Councils – which are made up of students, parents and members of the community. The councils meet virtually.

“That’s where I’m looking right now,” he said of his search for community members. “We have a good core of students and parents … that are raring to go, wanting to talk about things such as our bullying plan and other things going on in the building.”

SST’s window replacement work has been proceeding with the panel work being done, Hickey said. While there have been some delays with some of the custom work on the panels, school officials are working to stay on top of the situation and it’s not interfering with school operations, he said.

A school finance workshop planned with Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) Chapter 70 expert Roger Hatch, canceled when was unavailable, can be rescheduled now that “he is back on the grid” Hickey said.

Hickey will be communicating with member towns through select board offices and town administrators to remind them that the district wants to run the program and offer prospective dates – perhaps in late fall or winter – to review the Chapter 70 formula and how it works, either in-person or by Zoom. That would allow a more in-depth discussion when the district arrives at assessment numbers.

“The good news is we could use fiscal ’22 assessment data, for people who are getting in the weeds, not just us,” Hickey said. “In general, how are these numbers arrived at?”

Marshfield has also returned to consideration of joining the South Shore district, but the required negotiations including an amendment to the Regional Agreement, and DESE and Mass. Association of School Committees (ASC) review, won’t begin until there is a vote of the School Committee. It is not planned for consideration until November or December at this point.

Hickey does not envision it going before town meetings until the spring of 2023. Marshfield and two-thirds of existing member towns must vote to support the expansion before the commissioner of education sign off on it before the end of the calendar year to be effective July 1, 2024.

“It’s a long process, but we definitely have a timeline,” he said.

Hickey also reported that “things are moving forward” with the Mass. School  Building Authority (MSBA) on the school’s renovation/expansion project.

“That is a relative term, but there is progress,” he said. He expects the next round of discussion will be on enrollment analysis, which could lead to renovation as-is, an eight-town model acknowledging that waiting lists must be addressed that allows a ceiling of 805 students, and a model that includes Marshfield with an enrollment ceiling of 975 students.

“They have said to me very politely that their mission is not to eliminate waiting lists,” Hickey said. “There is also the potential for reimbursement incentive points for expanding a region.”

He still has questions about that for which he is awaiting an answer from MSBA, he said.

“That’s exactly why getting the engineers involved,” he said. “You want to hire a firm that wants to be creative, because we’ve got size 10 ideas and a size 8 shoe.”

Feasibility study agreements are the next step, Hickey said, adding that he believes the MSBA will discuss the project next on Oct. 26 where there will be a recommendation to move the project to the next step and convene as a building committee and hire a project manager, which should take about three months. He doesn’t expect a project to be complete before the 2028-29 school year.

Hanson’s moments in time

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Hanson’s 2020 bicentennial plans underwent a deal of improvisation over the last two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the time capsule had to go in the ground eventually. Above, Marcus Linn vice chairman of the 200th Year anniversary committee, seals the capsule, with an assist from Lee Gamache, holding her grandson Jack (left). In a nod to bipartisanship, after the time capsule was lowered into the ground,  incumbent state representatives Dave DeCoste, R-Norwell, (who now represents part of Hanson) and Josh Cutler, D-Pembroke, were joined by Republican candidate Kenneth Sweezey ceremoniously bury it.  See more  photos, page 6.

Photos by Carol Livingstone