WHITMAN —Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman has resigned from that position, effective Monday, Aug. 15 Select Board Chair Randy LaMattina announced following an executive session of the board during a special meeting on Thursday, Aug. 25.

The board had also voted, during that executive session on the topic, to appoint Frank Lynam as interim town administrator, a post he has been working in an acting capacity since Aug. 9.

Lynam suggested that a search committee be appointed to hire a new administrator, which the board approved. Serving on the committee will be Select Board member Dr. Carl Kowalski, Finance Committee Chair Richard Anderson, a public safety chief and Lynam and resident John Galvin as citizens at-large.

“I would suggest we start it fairly quickly,” he said of the selection. “If, for no other reason, that I would love to see someone come here and I will go back to my previous most recent occupation, which is playing with my grandchildren and relaxing at home.” 

When the town conducted its last administrator search, the firm of Community Paradigm was hired to do that work, Lynam noted.

“My concern with that process is, it seems — particularly with all the activity occurring now among different towns with administrators and managers retiring or otherwise leaving for other positions — that a list develops of available people,” he said. “It’s the same type of list that’s continually recycling.”

He said that, with the collective talent among the Select Board, and with the assistance of some citizens, they could do “as good or better” a job than the consultant firm did.

Kowalski volunteered his services on the search committee as did Galvin, who was attending the meeting. Lynam offered his services based on his experience on the Finance and Select boards as well as 18 years as town administrator.

“I think I have some value to offer the board in serving on that search committee,” he told the board. “My only vested interest is seeing someone who can lead the community with your direction in a more productive and positive way.”

Galvin has been very active on town committees in recent years and has a skill for research, Lynam said indicating he was “reasonably sure” Galvin would accept. He did.

Kowalski said all members of the Select Board would have the opportunity to review résumés and ask questions of applicants.

Select Board Vice Chair Dan Salvucci asked if they would be looking at hiring an assistant administrator at the same time.

“I think it would be very difficult for a committee to try to fill both positions at the same time,” Lynam said, but he said the responses for the administrator post may point to some applicants who, while they might not be prepared to be a town administrator, could have something to offer on that track.

He said the board’s focus on someone to work primarily on grants and personnel management as an assistant town administrator.

Select Board member Shawn Kain suggested that town employees be asked for their feedback to give them a voice in the process, which Lynam thought would be helpful.

The town is also working to replace departing Treasurer/Collector Mary Beth Carter.

“I had hoped to bring some encouraging news here,” Lynam said about that position. “We had reached out, with the help of our current TC, who, we hoped would be able to step in for us.”

Unfortunately, the person spent 4.5 hours on Wednesday, Aug. 24 and left “with a migraine, and said ‘this is way too much work,’” he said. “It kind of sheds a little light on the sophistication and level of what’s required in Whitman for a treasurer/collector.”

While the person had more than 18 years of experience, she had not done utility or trash billing, which are routine for the office in Whitman.

Lynam recommended that he reach out to another candidate he has in mind who is currently serving in a municipal treasurer role as well as the Select Board’s consideration of the practicality of an elected treasurer and give thought to reaching out to the citizens of Whitman with the aim of changing it to an appointed one.

“The majority of such positions around the state are appointed, and for good reason,” he said. “While an election does allow the voters to say, ‘This is the person I want,’ an appointment allows the town to evaluate the qualifications and the skillset of the person who would be handling the investment of town money and working to collect taxes and discharge all the duties that a treasurer and collector are required to do under Mass. law.”

He encouraged the board to place the issue on it’s next agenda.

HANSON — How, and how much does it cost, to get a private way accepted as a public street in order to keep it in good repair?

A group of frustrated residents of three unaccepted roadways — Alden Way, Gray Lane and Stringer Lane — attended the Tuesday, Aug. 23 Select Board meeting to ask about the legal status of their streets. The session’s agenda had been amended at 10:50 a.m. that day to include the discussion.

Aware that the issue is often an understandably emotional one, Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett set ground rules that speakers remove emotion and “talk about facts” and what the town can and cannot do.

“This board’s job is to look out for the interests of the entire town — not just one group of people vs. another,” she said. 

“At the very least, I think [residents] need to think about having a homeowners’ association at this point,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “You’ve got to think about organizing together and getting an HOA because what we’re hearing is there’s no one point of contact to deal with from the town.”

If they would prefer, they could also continue addressing the issue as a concerned group of neighbors.

One neighbor suggested the discussion leads her to believe another meeting is in order.

“I don’t know how it’s fallen apart this bad that we have to go looking at an HOA or coming up with hundreds of thousands of dollars to correct this ‘terrible neighborhood,’ which in my eyes is one of the nicest neighborhoods that people want to move into,” said Carol Jensen, a 25-year resident of Gray Lane.

Alden Way resident Sandra Crawford, who wrote the letter to Town Administrator Lisa Green asking to be included on the agenda, because residents of the area “have grave concerns about our streets and inaction” surrounding them over the years. Town Counsel land use expert Brian Winner and Planning Board Chair Joseph Campbell also attended the meeting virtually.

Campbell said there are “tons” of unaccepted private ways in Hanson.

Winner stressed the need for a clear point of contact for residents as well as the possible need for a workshop meeting with that town liaison regarding road conditions and infrastructure and potential costs in order to have something to focus on.

“We need for you guys to organize,” FitzGerald-Kemmett told area residents. We won’t use that dreaded three-letter [HOA] acronym, but it allows us to have one point of contact.”

She said the board would decide on one or two members willing to have workshops with them and continue the conversation.

“I was not aware that we purchased [a home] on a private way or private street,” she said. “All my documentation said that it was a public road.”

She and her husband have lived on Alden Way for about two and a half years, discovering last month that it was not an accepted public roadway. All three streets are considered private ways on the town’s list of unaccepted streets.

Crawford has since spent “quite a bit of time at Town Hall” asking questions of Green and the Planning Board as well as reviewing the minutes of Planning Board meetings covering the 11 years.

“We’ve come to realize quite a few things,” she said. “The town had to send a bond back [following one developer’s lawsuit], but I’m still a little confused about how we jumped from what I think everybody in that neighborhood thought — they lived on public roads.”

While that is the past, Crawford said the past affects now and will affect the future. In reviewing the minutes, she found that her home’s previous owners frequently attended Planning Board meetings to ask similar questions.

“It seemed nobody was listening and nobody cared,” she said. “There’s been a lot of talk about the developer not doing what he was supposed to, what the town did not do correctly, how it wasn’t rectified way back in 2011 — but I can tell you this, it is not the fault of the residents that live on that street.”

Residents are not responsible for making road repairs or fixing what was not done correctly, she said. They want to know where Select Board stands on the issue and they want some maintenance attention given to the roads.

“We don’t want to live on one of those roads that is not safe to travel on,” Crawford said.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said that, while she understands the concerns and demand for road repair and maintenance, she said there are “a number of unintended consequences as a result” of any decision to do so on the town’s part.

“We’re setting a precedent,” she said. “There are a lot of private ways in Hanson and we are a town that’s struggling financially. … I think we have to figure out what is the town’s responsibility and then what is the right thing to do here.”

Select Board member Jim Hickey said that, as a board, they have to do better, and volunteered to get together with residents in an effort to find out what is needed to be done.

“Somebody dropped the ball somewhere,” he said. “So, now who’s going to pick it up?”

The town’s Highway Department does plow unaccepted streets, and grades the unaccepted dirt roads, but state Chapter 90 funds used by towns to repair public ways are not available to fund work on unaccepted streets, FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

Town Planner Antonio DeFrias, who said he only had history to go by, said the development in question was approved in 1997 and the developer withdrew and completed the road, but deficiencies in that road were discovered when the developer sought road acceptance. The town hired an outside consultant to review the road.

“That company did a less than stellar job, I guess,” he said, noting that the Planning Board had refused to return the bond money because of continued deficiencies in the road, leading to the lawsuit to which Crawford referred.

“At this point, there is no bond money for this project,” he said.

Campbell said the Planning Board, over the past 10-12 years, has had changes take place over the years either through elections or resignations, leaving open the question as to whether private roads are a priority.

“This, as well as a few other projects have come up almost quarterly,” he said, explaining it was meant to keep track of deficiencies. “For everybody who lives on a private way in Hanson, or that lives on a subdivision – streets are not public ways.”

Gaining acceptance as a public way is a fairly lengthy process, Campbell added, including the need for a Town Meeting vote.

FitzGerald-Kemmett asked what the deficiencies are and how they can be fixed.

A survey needs to be conducted to determine that as well as how doing the work would impact the town before the situation can be corrected, Campbell said. Problems with costs, from prevailing wage costs to actual work needed make the final cost difficult to afford.

“There’s very little that we could do without trespass or something of that nature,” he added.

There will also be hidden problems that are not visible during an assessment, officials said.

“It’s like buying used car,” DiFrias said. “You’re going to do your due diligence to see, ‘Do I want this car as is, or are there things I need to fix before I take it on?’”

He said the town could go back to Environmental Partners and use the 2019 report, paid for with $3,500 from the original bond, or ask them to do another, in-depth report now. The cost is tough to predict, but he said it would cost a couple of thousand dollars.

“I don’t see [it costing] $20,000, but I see it costing between $5,000 and $10,000,” he said.

“We’ve always used Alden Way as the exact reason for how not to build a development [road],” said Select Board member Joe Weeks, who once served on the Planning Board. “I really want to be able to help.”

But he said, the previous court decision forcing the town to return a developer’s bond, causes a concern because once the town accepts such a street, the town owns it.

“What’s clear is improvements need to be made … before the town accepts it as a public way,” said FitzGerald-Kemmett. “In order to do that, you have to look at the funding. Who’s going to fund it, the town or the people who live there?”

She expressed doubt that Town Meeting would be willing to spend the money to make acceptance possible. 

WHITMAN – Voters may be asked, at a Town Meeting this fall, to change the way the town’s treasurer-collector is chosen for that job. The position is currently an elected one, but recent developments at Town Hall have convinced acting Town Administrator Frank Lynam that it is time to consider making it an appointed office.

Treasurer-Collector MaryBeth Carter has accepted a position as a treasurer-collector in Norwell, leaving her position in Whitman on Aug. 26.

“It is going to be difficult to replace her mid-year,” said acting Town Administrator Frank Lynam, noting that it is an elected position. “I had discussed with her in the past, and most recently two days ago, in the event that she agreed to stay on, that I believe the town needs to revisit that [elected] status and go to Town Meeting and the ballot with a request to reclassify the treasurer-collector as an appointed official … so the town is able to select best-qualified candidates.”

Carter’s departure was among the staffing needs and vacancies discussed by Lynam the board at it’s Tuesday, Aug. 16 meeting.

“The treasurer’s responsibility is very significant,” Lynam said. “It invests, at various times an aggregate of $30 million and it’s important that we know the person doing that work has the proper qualifications and credentials.”

While, he wasn’t presenting it as an item to be voted this week, Lynam said Carter has recommended that former Abington treasuer-collector Thomas Connolly be appointed on an interim basis and said he and at least one member of the board should meet with Connolly to discuss the responsibilities and working conditions of the position. Board member Shawn Kain agreed to attend that meeting.

“There shouldn’t be a learning curve in this type of position – just getting to know the town,” Lynam said.

Select Board member Dr. Carl Kowalski said the board was under the understanding that she would be able to do that in time for a vote Tuesday night. Lynam said he and Kain could solidify the details of Connolly’s appointment.

“[Connolly] is an Abington resident,” Lynam said. “None of the candidates were Whitman residents, which is what would be required for an election.”

Select Board Chair Randy LaMattina noted that the board does have the power to appoint a non-resident in an interim capacity.

“He’s also worked in Duxbury and a couple other municipalities since his retirement,” LaMattina said.

Connolly had been an elected treasurer-collector in Abington, but lost his race after that town held a financial reorganization which changed that post as an appointed one, Lynam said. He has since done work in Mashpee, Hull, Duxbury and Bridgewater, as well.

Other vacancies causing concern are that of an assistant IT director, a clerk in the assessor’s office, which will be posted, a recording secretary for the Conservation Commission, a recording secretary with the Finance Committee and a custodian.

There are also two positions on the Conservation Commission also need to be filled, as well as one vacancy on the Bylaw Study Committee, two on the Capital Committee and likely another on the Zoning Board of Appeals.

“We really have an issue with getting an assistant IT director in place,” Lynam said, noting an opportunity has come up in the last couple of weeks.”

Director of Technology Steve Burke at WHRSD as left that position and Lynam is interested in talking to him.

“The challenge, of course, is going to be salary,” he said. The median salary for the position is between $80,000 and $90,000 for a systems engineer-qualified person. He and IT Director Josh MacNeil have discussed engaging Burke as a contract employee until Oct. 1, when the salary can be met within the town’s appropriation.

“This is another issue that makes me really recommend that we have a fall Town Meeting so that we can address all of these needs in a public forum,” Lynam said.

Select Board member Justin Evans agreed, noting the board had recommended a $50,000 salary and Town Meeting approved $65,000.

Kain said that Burke is very qualified and “worth the risk” of contracting with him now, even if Town Meeting doesn’t support the change. The board voted to offer the contracted post.