Whitman-Hanson Express

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Standing with Ukraine

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 A Whitman homeowner banded trees on the front lawn with the colors of Ukraine’s flag in support of the nation now under invasion by Russia. Americans have been stepping up to help in many ways, including thousands of veterans from the United States volunteering for miltary service to Ukriane. Americans are also donating to charities like Chéf Jose Andrés’ World Central Kitchen, which is feeding refugees, and to Airbnb, through which donors are booking stays in Ukraine homes with no intention of traveling there — to raise funds for Ukranian families. As of Sunday 61,000 nights were booked by Airbnb donors in the U.S., U.K., and Canada.

Photo by Tracy Seelye

Whitman budget moves ahead

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WHITMAN — Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman updated the Board of Selectmen on the fiscal 2023 operating budget, during the Tuesday, March 2 meeting, noting that the Finance Committee is currently reviewing items department by department.

The topic will remain a regular item on the Selectmen’s agendas until Town Meeting in case there is a need for discussion about it.

Selectman Justin Evans, noting that iy came up at a recent Finance Committee meeting, pointed out that under the current budget proposal, there is no one-time money being used in the operating budget.

“I know that’s been a misconception out there in certain circles and that is correct,” Heineman said. “There will be no use of one-time monies used toward the operating budget under this scenario.”

During the meeting Selectmen also voted to accept the resignation of June O’Leary from the position of Member of the Recreation Commission, effective Feb. 16., and approved her appointment as a non-voting Associate Member for a three-year term, through June 30, 2022, in order to fill an existing vacancy.

Selectman Brian Bezanson thanked O’Leary for all she has done for the community.

“Between Recreation, the Historical, Friends of the Park, and, I’m sure, many other boards and committees, she’s been [volunteering] for a long time,” he said. “I want to personally thank her, I know her work ethic and what Whitman means to her. I wish the best to her family, and hope she can find time to occasionally come to the meetings.”

“Well said and well-deserved,” Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski said to punctuate Bezanson’s remarks.

Selectman Dan Salvucci noted, after the board voted to appoint Ryan Tully to the Recreation Commission to fill the remainder of a vacant three-year seat. Tully’s appointment is through June 30.

Salvucci also asked if there was any plan to change the bylaws to permit, if a Recreation Commission seat goes unfilled for an extended period, an associate member “can step in and become a voting member.”

Heineman said he was working on a draft warrant article for town meeting calling for such a change.

“That may resolve some of the issues that they have,” Salvucci said, noting that he and Heineman recently  discussed the Recreation Commission’s recent difficulty filling its vacancies, making a few phone calls to find some volunteers.

“I thank all who volunteered, and I’m hoping now, in a couple of weeks, we’ll be having a meeting … so they can start the business of getting things started in the parks program and the pool program,” Salvucci said, indicating his intention to attend remotely. “Hopefully this ends the problem and, right now, the Recreation Commission will come in and get the job done and do the great job that they’ve always done for the kids in the park.”

Next steps in Whitman’s front office?

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WHITMAN — Does the town need a new assistant town administrator or would a human resources, procurement and grants director better meet the town’s administrative needs?

The Board of Selectmen discussed the issue on Tuesday, March 1. Their selection to become assistant town administrator, Rogeria Medeiros-Kowalczykowski of Stoughton, and the town were unable to reach a contract agreement last month. The board will continue the conversation at its March 15 meeting and will work to develop a common list of expectations in the meantime.

Selectman Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski said the board received two job descriptions — one for a human resources, procurement and grants director and one for the assistant town administrator position — as the board had requested.

Selectman Dan Salvucci noted there were no schedules included, such as a five-day work week or a requirement to attend all the different meetings. Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman said he would ordinarily include that information in the job posting, but it could be added to the job description.

“This is basically a choice that we can make, whether to look for an assistant town administrator or someone who is specifically labled as a human resources, procurement and grants director,” Kowalski said.

Salvucci said his question would be which position is more valuable to the town.

“The fact that we have an assistant town administrator, first of all, when Lincoln goes on vacation, or is sick or something like that, who steps into your shoes at that time?” Salvucci said. He also had questions about responsibilities of making certain decisions and getting things done on a day-to-day basis.

If an assistant town administrator was opted for, he asked if that person would take on a human resources role, or would that stay with Heineman?

Heineman said he called some colleagues in other towns to “shake the trees a bit more” and get some more comparison points.

“If the board’s intention is that the town would post a position at maybe a slightly lesser range for a salary … that if it is not titled assistant town administrator, but instead, an HR director — I would suggest focused on HR director and grants —  if the board’s intention is we pay a little less, we might attract some other folks,” he said. “We won’t know for sure until we get it out there.”

He said there are communities in the midrange, are whatever reasons, are offering salaries a bit less than the midrange for town administrator positions.

“I think it’s true, with all these factors in play, that we … would likely be offering less than a very similar position in similar community,” he said.

Salvucci touched on some of the areas on which the town had some flexibility, Heineman suggested — the possibility of working from home on Fridays and attendance at night meetings, for example.

Selectman Brian Bezanson said he did some research on the positions through some of the online employment sites, and got the sense that the nationwide average for a straight HR position was about $70,000.

“I do think we could pay less than a town administrator,” he said. “But, based on the climate you described in the localities you talked about, I’m no sure how much less we’d be paying and would we be putting ourselves in a little bit of a pickle not having a town administrator.”

He said that was one reason he made the suggestion about an HR director/grant writer.

“It’s a give and take as to do you want to save money or do you want to have the proper people in place?” he said. “I think we have to decide what the real goal is here.”

Kowalski said at this point, he is not certain on the issue.

Selectman Justin Evans said he is concerned that making the switch may make it harder to return to the current model down the road, and favored keeping the assistant town administrator position.

“There’s a certain amount of work that needs to be done, and two people [himself and executive assistant Laurie O’Brien] aren’t enough to do that,” Heineman said. Grants are a concern because there hasn’t been enough people to tackle the mountain of paperwork involved.

He did see it as a professional position, rather than a leadership position.

“I personally don’t want to get bogged down by the title,” Selectman Randy LaMattina said. “I think it’s the qualifications that we need to, as a board, decide that we’re looking to fill.”

Besides the human resources and grant writing, he said going to meetings is important.

Heineman said dealing with HR issues such as COVID requirements, family medical leave and other matters is a lot and is growing all the time, making it difficult for him to take care of that since Whitman has been without an assistant town administrator.

Kowalski agreed that asking them to work in the office on Fridays and attend meetings should not be an untoward requirement.

“The problem I’m trying for us to avoid is repeating what we just went through,” Bezanson said. 

Talking budgets

A joint meeting with Hanson Selectmen, and Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak has been set for 6 p.m., Tuesday, March 8 to review the school district’s fiscal 2023 budget and long-range school district sustainability, Heineman said.

“It’s not like a command performance,” Kowalski asked about an invitation extended to Szymaniak, schools Business manager John Stanbrook and School Committee Chairman Christopher Howard.

“We’re inviting them,” Heineman said. “I just heard before this meeting, that the School Committee might have posted that [meeting], it’s up t the School Committee. If the choose to post it, if they intend to have a quorum there, but our intent is a joint meeting between the two boards of selectmen.”

A meeting must be posted if at least a quorum of a board’s members plan to attend any given meeting or decide to gather to discuss committee or board business.

Kowalski said he had been texting with Howard that day, noting that Howard expressed  a concern that the two boards intentions were different.

“He had heard that the Hanson board wanted a budget presentation, and I said that wasn’t really part of our intention,” Kowalski said. “Our intention was to, hopefully, come together with the Hanson board and come up with some common views about the budget that would help the School Committee in their deliberations.”

Heineman agreed that was Whitman’s intention.

LaMattina said he spoke with Hanson Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett and said that, while there may be individual intentions regarding questions, he does not believe that they were looking for a full [budget] presentation.

“I think the superintendent should be there to speak on a budget that he presented,” LaMattina said. “We should be able to ask questions about it.”

Salvucci suggested any selectman with questions could also watch a recording on WHCA-TV’s YouTube channel of the School Committee meeting in which the budget was presented.

“I’m thinking maybe the schools are looking for direction as to where both boards are standing as far as funding goes,” Salvucci said.

“I think that’s our intent,” Kowalski agreed.

“There’s been so much conversation over partnerships and, ‘We’re all in it together,’ I’m kind of taken aback that some people seem to think it’s unreasonable that two entities that fund this are not entitled to ask questions,” LaMattina said.

Sewer update

The town’s sewer force main project has received a bid that came in about $2 million under the amount appropriated, Heineman reported.

“Another piece of hoped-for, and we’re cautiously optimistic about [news] regarding the cost of the project, is that part of the force main is going underneath an old dump in Brockton,” he said. The land is between Whitman and Massasoit.

The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) had previously said it would require directional drilling rather than trenching, which would be more expensive. The town’s consultant is inquiring about the possibility of being permitted to do some test borings in the dump area to see if digging a trench for that stretch of the pipeline would be environmentally permissible. The DEP is considering the request.

Estimated cost savings would be between $500,000 and $1 million in total project costs, if a trench is permitted.

In other business, Heineman reported that, on the COVID-19 front, the Board of Health had voted on Tuesday, Feb.15 to recommended removal of the mask mandate in town buildings. The state DPH has removed the mask recommendation effective except for those at increased risk due to health reasons, age or someone in the household with health risks or is in an at-risk age group. The mask requirement for schools ended Monday, Feb. 28.

The DPH continues to recommend masks for unvaccinated persons and in settings such as health care and public transportation. The CDC is recommending masks for people in “zones of high transimission.”

“We are now, according to their guidelines, in a low-transmission zone,” Heineman said, noting the people who are sick or coming off a five-day quarantine continue to mask. 

The CDC is no longer requiring masks on school buses, Heineman reported.

Whitman capital panel weighs budget role

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WHITMAN – The Capital Committee members, meeting remotely Thursday, Feb. 17, took a look in the mirror to assess the panel’s role in addressing the funding of capital projects for the town.

They also reviewed some of the DPW’s requests for capital equipment in the fiscal 2023 budget.

“For the longest time, I’ve struggled with seeing if our role actually meant something,” said Chairman Don Esson, who has served on the committee for almost five years. “It didn’t seem like we had funding information to support the capital projects, so that’s what I’d to try to get my arms around.”

Essen said he was willing to take suggestions from anyone on the committee.

“The best way to understand what we can spend in capital improvements is to understand what we have for money, first of all,” he said. “If we don’t have the money, we’re talking about things we just can’t get, or we’d have to go out and get some bonds or something else.”

He said it would be easier to pick the low-hanging fruit if it was clear how much was on the tree. That way they would be able to at least authorize funds for immediate needs — and then come up with a long-term plan for projects the town really needs, but can’t afford right now.

Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman sought to redirect committee members to remembering and reviewing what was approved by Town Meeting last year via amendments to what had been the Building Improvements and Capital Expenditures Committee — the precursor to the Capital Committee. 

The new committee’s charge is to evaluate the town’s capital needs, and facilities with the assistance of the town’s facilities manager, and presenting projects and funding requests to Town Meeting. The committee also makes recommendations for purchasing equipment such as vehicles and equipment, including IT devices and software worth $20,000 or more.

“That’s where our authority flows from – from that vote of Town Meeting,” Heineman said. He said an evaluation of available funds will make those funds apparent as they receive final capital requests from town departments.

Free cash, the primary funding source for most capital needs, appears sufficient to cover all requests received so far, he said.

“The only caveat to that is the schools’ budget request is not directly in our purview as the Capital Committee, but it affects how much free cash we have and it affects what we have to spend for our one-time revenue source,” Heineman said. The schools have until March 19 to certify their budget and Heineman said they intend to take that vote by March 16.

Esson asked Heineman to take a first pass at the budget to determine what projects the Committee could afford to recommend to Town Meeting. Heineman suggested he would be able to that by early last week.

Esson also asked for Committee members’ input on whether his concern was in determining the panel’s direction.

“I think this committee, the last couple of years, has been most effective when we get into some of the technical aspects of projects, such as the generators at the elementary schools,” said member Justin Evans, who is also a Selectman. “We’d rather the projects be done right than done fast and we kind of pushed back on those.”

Evans said the question isn’t always one of determining what they can afford to address through free cash, but one of vetting out the projects themselves.

“With the technical skill set here, I think that is what we bring to the table,” Esson agreed. “I just don’t want to spend a ton of time on things that we just can’t afford.”

Member Fred Small, who also serves on the School Committee asked if is up to them to decide what the town can’t afford or, rather to make a recommendation on a project’s validity and, if it is wanted, how it could be paid for, because — technically —  anything could be affordable through a debt exclusion.

“I sort of look at our committee as being the vetting [agents],” he said.

Esson said he sees the committee’s charge is one of prioritizing.

“It’s important to vet and push back,” Member Justin Casanova-Davis said, noting that it’s easier to achieve capital goals when the free cash is more than the bottom line for the capital improvement projects. But he sees a role for the committee.

“I do think it’s the roll of the committee to present a priority list, [when there it not enough free cash to fund everything] for Town Meeting to know what we would do with X amount of funds,” he said.

“It’s up to Town Meeting to decide if they want to fund something, whether we recommend it or not,” said member Aaron Taylor.

Member Josh MacNeill, the town’s IT director, agreed, noting there is now a lot of confusion going on as far as who’s actually doing what, pointing to instances when the committee’s recommendation against a project had been overturned by the Finance Committee.

“We’ve got multiple decisions being made across various committees,” he said.

Esson agreed, but said he does not see the Committee’s role as overruling department heads, deciding that projects are a “waste or money” or not necessary.

“We need to let our department heads run their departments, but maybe with some our skill sets that we can bring to the table,” Esson said. “Maybe to help them look at things a little bit different or to actually expedite something or to make it a better system or a different design — or whatever.”

Esson said he didn’t think they should ever nix a project, but could perhaps add to it.

The Committee members agreed solidly with that approach.

Building Inspector Robert Curran pointed to the Madden Report’s recommendation that the town should be putting so much money a year into a capital improvement account.

“We don’t have that number,” he said. “I think we should start getting that.”

Absent that, Curran suggested asking departments if there is a funding source for projects, and where there isn’t one, “they’ll have to go somewhere else to figure that out.”  He said, however, such an admonition should come from the town administrator.

Heineman said money is being set aside. In June 2021, Town Meeting voted to set aside $100,000 to the capital stabilization fund. He is cautiously optimistic that funds could be added to the fund this year.

In other business, the Committee discussed DPW requests, including the need for a new building, which Esson fully supports.

“I drive by it three or four times a week and I can see that it’s falling apart,” he said. “I know they need a building.”

He does have questions, however, including whether enough time is allotted to study and analyze data concerning requests. 

Curran said requests for public safety vehicles or generators need not always be put off for further study. 

The tool truck used for response to water main breaks needs replacement, Water Superintendent Dennis Smith said a new vehicle could allow the department to place a compressor and generator in it. The estimated cost is just under $160,000 with all equipment on it, but because of supply chain concerns, he said it could be at least a year until they obtain it. The vehicle would be used daily — as the present truck is. The funding source is water and sewer retained earnings. Additional emergency generators, to replace those lost during the January nor’easter, are also being sought.

“That was certainly an unexpected storm and we certainly learned a lot of lessons of how [for example] we can’t rely on the cell carriers — that was probably the biggest lesson. How they fell down,” Heineman said. “People should know how much we need this.”

Esson also said he would like to see a five to 10-year plan for more stationary generators.

Heineman urged that a vote on the capital requests be delayed until all departments’ capital requests are in, to vote on them at the same time.

“I think the time that would make the most sense is probably early April,” he said. The Capital Committee is slated to meet with the Finance Committee on April 19.

Rec policies under review

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HANSON – The Board of Selectmen has approved a revised policy and procedures document – minus a few points of concern on which they sought clarification or amendments.

Recreation Commission Chairman Frank Milisi reported on its revised policies and procedures for the Board of Selectmen’s approval at its Tuesday, Feb. 22 meeting.

The 20-page document, according to Milisi, corrects previous amendments not yet approved by Selectmen and adoption of a clause in the vendor contract, as well as fixing typographical errors. 

“There was some Recreation director positions that were in here and we added to some teams we had at the commission level, and things like that,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve had Board of Selectmen voted-on policies and procedures from four-to-five-years, so we’re just trying to shore things up with the rate increase that we did.”

Selectmen Chairman Matt Dyer said he had a question and a comment about the changes.

“I know that we have a relatively new commission up there,” he said.

“Very new,” Milisi agreed.

“One thing I’ve been asking for [over] the last four years … was that we really need a business plan to really understand what’s going on up there operationally, because … the camp’s going to need another subsidy and one thing I would like to see, maybe before Town Meeting, would be a financial plan – a projection of what you guys are going to see over the next couple of years, just so we can get an understanding, because we keep hearing ‘it’s another subsidy, another subsidy.’”

Milisi said a meeting was scheduled for Monday, Feb. 28, and he was willing to out that on the agenda, but that he and Audrey Flanagan had previously present such a document with a rate increase that showed projected revenue for fiscal 2022 and 2023 with different rate increases that didn’t get voted on. That proposal could be shored up.

“We keep hearing it’s going to get better,” Dyer said. While he stressed that no one is going to be critical because of the global effects of COVID, it has been something he has been asking for and it always fell short.

“Yeah, we had the pandemic, but we still need to make a level business up there, that’s what it is, is essentially a business,” Milisi said, noting that they have other ways of generating revenue, including applications for American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) funds and similar programs.

“Obviously those rate increases will do us a lot of good,” he said.

The Camp lodge is already booked for 2022 and the commission is now booking for 2023 when the new fees should take effect, according to Milisi.

He pledged to get a business plan before Selectmen before Town Meeting.

“I don’t take going to Town Meeting and asking for money lightly,” he said. “But we had a discussion the other day about ‘do we have enough money to have the caretaker paint the wall?’”

“That’s getting real,” said Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett.

Milisi said it’s a double-edged sword – if they can’t pay caretakers for upkeep, then the camp will deteriorate faster and will then be unappealing for prospective leasees.

Dyer also mentioned that town counsel had advised against 80-20 fee splits anymore, and suggested another look be taken. Milisi agreed the split is also hard to audit.

Town Counsel Kate Feodoroff said she has asked them to shore up the contracts and is less concerned than she has been in the past about liability, but that Selectmen dictate policy.

“We shouldn’t be subsidizing people’s business, but we shouldn’t be making a huge profit off recreation – we make our profit off of weddings and things like that,” Milisi said.

He also said he believes the 80-20 split is equitable, but that the commission could try to rewrite the contracts to make them equitable, since Selectman Joe Weeks had indicated he would favor putting the issue off to another meeting to decide it and prepare for a discussion with the board.

“Twenty percent of one person’s revenue is not necessarily the same as 20 percent of somebody else’s, but there’s some programs that don’t make that much money, and 20 percent to them is still a good amount of money,” he said.

Dyer also mentioned the pre-COVID intention of the Commission to raise the rates at Cranberry Cove. While he voted for it, he said he was against the principal of raising the rates and an agreement – never really implemented – was placing two day passes with the Hanson Public Library to be checked out by families, as museum passes are already made available. He said he still wants to see that implemented.

Milisi said that could certainly be added to the policy.

“I applaud this, I think it’s very thorough,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. She did note “some ethics things,” including public meeting concerns, and advocated including a clause indicating that town bylaws and state ethics laws prevail over the policies.

Milisi indicated that policies where it is concern, that legal concern would be footnoted.

Preparing for spring at South Shore Tech

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BUDDING CAREERS: The hard work of spring goes on while the snow is still on the ground. Seniors Ryan Franceschini of Hanson and Jaylise Oehlschlagel of Whitman, above from left, and freshman Ryan McCosker of Rockland, from left at left, and seniors Ryan Franceschini and Brady Cook of Hanson, were among freshman and senior students practicing plant identification. The students will be taking part in the upcoming FFA State competition being held in Sturbridge in the middle of March and are all enrolled in SST’s new horticulture program. See more photos, page 7.

Courtesy photos, Keith Boyle, SST

Hanson faces tough budget season

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HANSON — The town is close to $1 million in the red going into the fiscal 2023 budget season, according to Town Accountant Todd Hassett.

“We’re not in the position to present you with a balanced budget, like we typically attempt to do,” he said. “We’ve got a bit of work to do over the next few weeks.”

He and Finance Committee Chairman Kevin Sullivan and made their initial budget presentation to the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Feb. 22. “Where we’re at right now, based on the requests, is that we have about a $966,000 shortfall,” he said, adding that he and Sullivan would be working closely together in an effort to close the budget gap in the town’s best interest. “We’ve got a number of decisions that we’ve got to really grapple with over the next few weeks.” He indicated the town would require “some partnership and cooperation” from the regional school district, or “we’re not in a position to fund the budget as initially requested.”

The $300,000 snow budget is already in a deficit position, as well, with more snow forecast on Friday, Feb. 26, Hassett said.

“We’re starting behind where we normally are,” Sullivan agreed, noting that he had little to add to Hassett’s report. “Even though the town came together last year with some heroic efforts, we still have a deficit to overcome — a fairly significant deficit — and I think we need to look at the individual departments.”

He said that, as personnel is a huge cost, he questions whether this is the right time to add new personnel and pointed to the subsidies provided to both the Transfer Station and Recreation Commission as the usual questions to be considered because the retained earnings “just aren’t there anymore.”

The school assessment is less of a gap than the town has had to cover in previous years, but is still a concern. [See related story, page 1].

Hassett indicated Hanson would not be able to afford much more than a 3.5 percent increase in the school assessment.

“We are a little behind schedule, as you know, in terms of pushing forward the FY ’23 operating budget,” Hassett said, noting that they have developed a sense of the town’s recurring and nonrecurring funding sources available to support that spending plan.

The town’s primary source of revenue is property taxes, Hassett noted, followed by local receipts and, to a lesser extent, state aid, with the governor’s budget showing about a $41,000 increase in revenue — about 2.5 percent higher than current state aid.

Hassett said he anticipates a 5 percent increase in local receipts, related to motor vehicle excise taxes, permits, licenses and other departmental fees.

Property taxes in total are projected to go up about 3.4 percent — a combination of the statutory 2 ½ percent available, which represents about $613,000 — and estimated new growth estimated at about $250,000 — or about 1 percent. Hassett noted that figure is lower than in recent years as there has been a slow-down in construction related to the pandemic and subsequent supply chain issues. There has also been a reduction in permit revenue.

Recurring revenue is projected to increase about 3.5 percent, Hassett said.

There are also debt exclusions still on the books from the police station and the regional high school.

“The state aid is more of a factor for the regional school district that it is in the town,” he said.

“We have a healthy free cash [fund], the two enterprise funds have retained earnings — or their free cash — both of which are on the low side compared to prior years,” he said of funds available for one-time expenses.

Free cash is just over $1.7 million right now, but Hassett said he could foresee that being reduced to around $100,000 by the time Town Meeting is concluded.

Departmental requests include a second of a three-year collective bargaining agreement for all town unions except the water union, which is on a different cycle; 2-percent non-union cost of living adjustments; a few reclassified positions at the Library; the IT director being increased to a full-time position; and a change to full-time status for the building inspector and a request for another police officer. The Highway Department also filled a position and a part-time outreach position for the Council on Aging has been added.

A $5,000 audit bill for required oversight of federal grant programs, including the CARES Act and ARPA is also included in the budget. Every other year an actuarial review of OPEB is required, costing about $7,000 this year. A $20,000 increase has been requested for legal services.

There are also more expenses around elections for the year as 2022 is a midterm election year.

Projected subsidies for the Recreation and Transfer Station accounts were also included in Hassett’s presentation — about $300,000 from the general fund breaking out as $135,000 for Recreation and $165,000 for thee Transfer Station. The latter, a recurring cost, came from free cash this year. There was no subsidy in FY ’22 for Recreation. 

They propose to use $35,000 of about $36,000 in Transfer Station retained earnings to support the operating budget.

Hassett said the town’s five-year plan — which must be voted in May — will also depend on some input from Recreation, the Board of Selectmen and more than $13 million in system improvements from the Water Department.

In other business, Selectmen voted to refer a citizen’s petition to the Town Meeting Warrant to the Planning Board to ensure the proper language is included. 

The petition had been brought before the October special Town Meeting, but the petitioner agreed to table it so the language could be refined for the annual Town Meeting on May 2. Town Counsel Kate Feodoroff will be attending the Monday, Feb. 28 Planning Board meeting remotely to discuss the article, indicating it may be split into two articles.

“The good news for Hanson is that we’ve had a couple of runs at this so we have some templates to go off of,” Feodoroff said. “With all the iterations that went back and forth through various town meetings, etc., there needs to be a cleanup of that particular bylaw, regardless of whether the town wants retail marijuana or not.”

The first article would incorporate that overhaul and the second would involve a potential retail facility and where locations might be permitted.

Selectmen Chairman Matt Dyer asked if the article was limited to retail or if it included all the new business opportunities, including cafés.

Feodoroff said no one need worry about cafés, as the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) still has not “gotten its arms around cafés. A pilot program is still underway and Hanson would not even be eligible because the 12 communities selected for it has led to a need to tweak the regulations. 

“I just want to make sure we don’t unwittingly cut our legs off for what has already been permitted,” Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “A grow facility, delivery, those are already kind of there and have gotten support.”

Feodoroff said that was a good point.

“That’s where I thought it was good to do two separate articles because retail is the one that’s going to generate discussion at Town Meeting,” she said, stressing the first article is purely to clean up legal language. If it were to fail, the old bylaw would remain in force.

“It’s just a messy old bylaw,” she said.

Selectman Joe Weeks wanted to be certain there is enough time to do all that work before Town Meeting.

“One of the things I don’t want to do is try and give too much of an expedient timeline on this and then have that be the reason for debate on Town Meeting floor vs the merits of the actual article,” he said.

Feodoroff said there is enough time, especially if the Planning Board submits a report.

“Because we have such a long history here in Hanson of various iterations of marijuana, it’s not going to be so big of a haul,” she said.

Frank Milisi, who brought the citizen’s petition to the October special Town Meeting, thanked Feodoroff and the board for working on it.

“I don’t think there’s any more of a clear indication for what Todd and Kevin just said, that we need some revenue in this town, how ever we get it,” he said. “Three percent [tax] on any [marijuana] business that’s in here could fund a new police car or fund things like that.”

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School budget figures adjusted

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Unanswered questions about one-time federal funding, long-term financial planning and some initial budget calculation errors were the focus of the W-H School Committee, on Wednesday, Feb. 16

Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak said he had three goals for the meeting – to hear feedback from the School Committee, to answer any questions about the district’s budget presentation and, looking ahead, what to do when federal funds run out in fiscal 2025 to maintain sustainability of programs. The meeting can be streamed at youtube.com/user/WHCA9TV/videos and is rebroadcast on the WHCA cable access channel.

Szymaniak also indicated there was “a couple of calculation mistakes” to clarify where assessments to the towns announced at an earlier meeting were concerned.

“We’ve gone through this a lot,” he said of the budget figures. “We try to do the best we can and give accurate information, and we found another [figure] doubled up today.”

Two people included in the ESSER figures had also been calculated into the district budget when it was presented on Wednesday, Feb. 9.

The new calculations, using a bottom-line budget of $58,543,037, put Hanson’s assessment at 4.51 percent and Whitman’s at 3.67 percent — including full-day kindergarten paid for with half of the funds in excess and deficiency and $400,000 for Chromebooks. Depending on what the committee wants to do with the budget, some things may still have to be moved around, Szymaniak said.

The bottom line figure is still 3.07 percent higher than last year’s budget.

Hanson’s original assessment had been 5.74 percent and Whitman’s had been calculated at 5.16 percent. The new budget document includes $370,000 for full-day kindergarten, $400,000 for Chromebooks and $123,885 for the Whitman water bill.

There is $974,000 remaining in excess and deficiency (E&D).

Without E&D, the assessments would be $5.66 for Hanson and $5.07 for Whitman, Szymaniak said. Using all of E&D, the assessments would be $3.35 for Hanson and $2.28 for Whitman, which is not sustainable.

Committee member Hillary Kniffen expressed concern about the sustainability of full-day kindergarten if it is started with E&D funds. Chairman Christopher Howard noted the start-up cost would be $740,000. The second year is forecast in the five-year plan at $763,000; the third year would be $785,000. The numbers reflect salaries.

Previous full-day kindergarten discussions had presented the start-up costs as high, but that subsequent years would be lower.

Committee member Christopher Scriven said deciding how the committee wants to proceed is vital.

“It’s not only about having enough information to vote for it or not,” he said. “It’s about voting something we believe in and going into the community and supporting it. So its very important that we have an accurate and understanding what we’re trying to accomplish.”

Howard asked Szymaniak to continue crunching the numbers.

“I really want to thank [Business Manager John] Stanbrook,” Szymaniak said. “He’s kind of been working tirelessly since January putting documents together.” Szyamaniak said he and Stanbrook would try to answer as many questions as possible during the meeting.

“Last year, when we were here, we were projecting a budget for kids to return to school,” he said, noting there are still a “lot of moving parts” in the budget. “We still weren’t in school yet. We were in a hybrid mode. I still had home-school students, and I had more than 500 students in a remote program that we were paying for.”

Committee member Dawn Byers, while lauding the reports, asked if they could be consolidated into a booklet of PDFs.

Effects of ESSER

The district had some federal money that “came out of the blue” [ESSER II and III funds], but they didn’t provide any rules to follow.

Howard noted that, as long as he had been on the committee, there had not been any long-range financial planning.

“I think one thing that we’ve all collectively introduced to the process this year is that long-term planning,” he said. “Some of the challenges that we may have in doing it right now are probably helpful because it’s ‘pay me now or pay me later.’”

Howard noted that the long-range planning being undertaken made for a very different budget process. 

Committee member Fred Small stressed that, for the short-term planning they still have to think of next year and the year after.

“I think a long-term plan is a great thing, but we have to be cognizant of what we may do now that can affect next year and the year after,” he said.

“To me that is the definition of long-term planning,” Howard said. “I couldn’t agree more.”

Committee member Beth Stafford, pointed to the changes COVID has brought to teaching over the last two years as an illustration of how difficult long-range planning is for schools.

“It’s more difficult, I think, than a town budget because we’re talking children’s needs and we never know,” she said. “If you had done a five-year plan four years ago, it would have fallen apart because [of] COVID.”

While long-range planning is needed, Stafford said, she also wanted to talk about what is being done now.

Howard replied that he just doesn’t want to be sitting at the same table in three years discussing lay-offs because of any decision made today, even as he recognizes the need for the programs they are discussing.

“If we’re saying there’s a need today, and we’re falling into the trap of using one-time federal funding to support that need, I can assure you that we’ll be sitting here in three years and we’ll be cutting positions,” he said. “The money is not going to just flow from the sky.”

Szymaniak said the budget process has taken into account the current program needs plus the committee’s wish to offer full-day kindergarten while maintaining reasonable assessments to the towns. He added that interventionist/coaches were included in last year’s budget prior to knowing the ESSER III guidelines because they couldn’t get it into the operating budget.

“Tell me what you want me to spend, or tell me what you don’t want me to spend and I can make those changes,” Szymaniak said.

Committee member Steve Bois said he had been asked what the total expenditure of everything sought in the budget amounts to. 

“I seem to hear that we’re looking for more, but it’s not coming out of the general fund, per se,” he said, asking for a comparison or all the revenues and all the spending included in the FY ’23 budget. [Budget documents are accessible on the school district website whrsd.org].

Vice Chairman Christopher Scriven suggested that the question might be closer to whether one-time funding sources are being used for funding, which is inflating the overall budget for future years. 

The district received a total of $3,608,374 through all three Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) programs over three years.

“I am concerned about the ESSER funds going away in FY 2025, but if we look at it big picture again, that one-time money is for learning loss. … we’re looking to do that through our coaches [interventionists] and special education.”

In fiscal 2022 a total of $1,881,655 in one-time grants and federal program funds (largely from ESSER II) were spent on technology, para-professional support and tutors, employee benefits, data and technology software, according to Szymaniak. The district is looking to use $1,305,385 million in fiscal 2023 allocations to add interventionists — now being called coaches — and staff to help students catch up in the classroom, substitutes, para-professionals, supplies, COVID cleaning, and summer buses all of which — except benefits —can be moved within a budget by an amendment through DESE. ESSER II funding goes away in 2024, leaving $1.3 million in ESSER III funds. The plan to pull expenditures for inclusion, a curriculum director for special education and the Hanson Middle School TLC program with the aim of integrating them into the general budget. 

“Most of those people were integrated into this budget,” Szymaniak said. “We would like to see them maintained, and through this FY 2023 budget we may move some of those folks over … and keep the assessments to the towns as low as possible.” 

Other federal programs, such as Title 3, for which the district my soon qualify due to an increase in ESL students, may also help the budget picture, Szymaniak said.

“I’m really cautious about FY ‘25, because I don’t know what we’re going to need in ’25,’ he said.

“To me, there’s a real danger if we’re using one-time federal money to satisfy those positions,” Howard said of special ed positions paid for through ESSER funds. “You need to make that decision. Are they real positions that we’re going to maintain, because then, to me, they should be in the operating budget.”

Other federal funds

Szymaniak said there are seven positions being funded by federal dollars in the FY ’23 budget, including two English language teachers, a behavioral specialist, a technology coach, two interventionist/coaches and a math interventionist/coach position not yet filled.

Kniffen said the ESL and behavioral positions can’t be paid for with one-time funds.

“I have significant concerns about providing services to students who need them,” she said. Szymaniak agreed that the use of para-professionals does need to be re-evaluated. “We front-loaded this year and we front-loaded for FY ’23, and it’s going to give us two years to really evaluate if we need the amount of paras that we have.”

Regarding the behavioral specialist, Szymaniak said that, while there is a need for on this year, it isn’t clear if it will be needed by 2025. Small said he was not questioning the need, just whether there is another dollar source to fund it. He suggested looking the ESSER funds as a two-or three-year plan the district can wean itself off.

Szymaniak termed ESSER funds a “blessing and a curse,” because they are sent as “free money” but can only be used once, leaving school districts trying to decide how to spend that money.

While there has been an overall decrease in the number of special education students, there has been an increase in needs among the students in the district, Szymaniak said during discussion of the program’s budget impact. Stanbrook said $1.7 million projected to be left in Circuit Breaker is the amount forecast to remain in the account at the end of fiscal ’22 as the amount the district is required to spend in fiscal ’23. The official filing for fiscal ’23 has not been done yet, so a definite figure is not known at this point.

Whitman Selectman Randy LaMattina said that, the school budget as presented would deplete E&D by 2025 and creating a $1.5 million deficit.

“I’m not here to speak on the validity of the services you’re asking for … I truly believe they will make our district stronger,” he said. “I’m here to speak on how reckless this budget actually is. You will not only put services at risk by using one-time money, you’ll be putting teachers’ careers at risk.”

He said a plan is needed and suggested that the obvious plan is that an override would be needed.

“As a citizen of [Whitman], I ask you to come up with a better plan to put forward, rather then risk services, because I think that is what this does, ultimately, in 2025,” LaMattina said.

Szymaniak agreed that sustainability and planning are important.

Whitman strategic plan OK’d

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WHITMAN — Consultant Ann Donner presented the final version of the town’s strategic plan to the Board of Selectmen during the Tuesday, Feb. 15 meeting.

Selectmen voted to approve the plan, which is now posted on the town website and may be obtained as a paper copy as well. The plan will be used to guide budgetary decisions through 2027.

“We’ve been looking at this version of it for a couple of weeks,” said Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski, noting that officials were welcome to call Donner if they felt changes or revisions were needed.

“From what I understand, nothing needed changing,” Kowalski said. “It’s an impressive document. …We need to hold ourselves accountable, and hopefully, there will be people who hold us accountable, too.”

Kowalski credited Forest Street resident Shawn Kain for ensuring the board stayed on-task with the project.

“He saw the importance of it, and we’re seeing the fruit of that right now,” Kowalski said.

Donner thanked the board for the opportunity to work with them on the plan.

“What was impressive was the amount of care and effort that everyone put into this,” she said. “The success of any strategic plan is that everyone’s got their shoulder to the wheel … in order to achieve those results, part of it is keeping track of it.”

Donner said the town’s goals for the plan were realistic, and encouraged them to review how it is being followed, whether on a bi-annual or quarterly basis.

Kowalski agreed that a biannual review is a good idea.

“What we don’t want is for something that you’ve all put so much work into to sit on the shelf,” she said. “I think the way the plan was formulated, it’s really a plan that can be shared with people.”

Budget update

On the heels of approving the strategic plan to help guide budgeting decisions, the board heard Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman’s budget update.

He noted that the Finance Committee is now working on its review of the budget.

“We went through the broad strokes two weeks ago,” he said, noting that he wanted to provide the board with opportunity to take a more nuanced look at it.

Heineman pointed to a couple savings options that, he said, demonstrate “how we can succeed in different areas and find some efficiencies.”

He has instructed IT Director Josh MacNeil to “take a look globally at our telephone operations” with an eye to perhaps buying less expensive plans for some phones or to get rid of some landlines altogether. He also looked into a new firm to oversee ambulance billing, which resulted in some savings in exchange for better service.

Heineman said he is also looking to return the visiting nurse fund to what historically has been there, after the service funding had been transferred to CARES Act funds that are now ended. Additional funding to senior citizens’ bus transportation as well as veteran services, are also being sought in the budget.

Assistant TA

In other business, Selectmen discussed the process for finding a new assistant town administrator.

Selectmen, were forced to table next steps in the assistant town administrator search after the town failed to agree to terms in contract negotiations with designate Rogeria Medeiros-Kowalczykowski last month.

 “What needs to be done now … is to advertise it [again] and go through anther search process,” Kowalski said. “Hopefully, one that will end in having someone in the position.”

He also asked Heineman to consider another position, one that could be called a human resources and operations director, one that could include procurement responsibilities, “with grant-writing on the side.”

Kowalski said such a position, by its very title, would be more focused. He asked that Heineman work on it and present a couple of alternatives to the board for continued discussion at the board’s meeting the first week of March.

When Building Inspector Robert Curran retires on May 26, the town will also be looking into the possible hiring of a full-time building commissioner. A transfer of funds at the May Town Meeting would be required to make a full-time position possible.

“I think now is the time,” Heineman said, proposing that a new job description be drawn up for the position. He argued that the position include a requirement that more support and advice be provided the ZBA and Conservation Commission.

While many towns of a similar size have a town planner and conservation agent, it may not be something Whitman is looking at now, but a full-time building commissioner would be a help.

“I don’t think that anytime soon it’s anything the town wants to look at, but I do think, and the chairs of that board and that commission seem to agree, it would be worthwhile to have some professional assistance for them in their work,” he said.

Selectman Justin Evans agreed that it was a good idea long overdue. Selectman Randy LaMattina said zoning issues and code enforcement also need to be big part of the position, but he didn’t want to get too far ahead on it until the budget is better firmed up.

SST certifies $14.9 M budget

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HANOVER — Brevity was the name of the game at the South Shore School Committee, meeting in the Brass Lantern Restaurant at the school on Wednesday, Feb. 16 as the FY 2023 budget was certified and a new mask policy was adopted.

“We’ve got a lot of little nuggets we’re going to talk about tonight, no big boulders,” Principal Mark Aubrey said, reporting that the school has started to return to a “little bit of normalcy.”

The Committee voted to certify a fiscal 2023 budget of $14,944,722. The assessment for Whitman would be $1,636,552  and Hanson’s would be $1,182,596.

The complete budget document is available on the school’s website www.southshore.tech.

Committee members also approved a revised face covering policy, suspending the normal two-month approval policy.

“As you know, the state has lifted the mask mandate, effective Feb. 28,” said Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey. “We have a policy on the books … which we voted on — it feels like a thousand years ago — back in August 2020. This revised policy would make mask-wearing optional as of Feb. 20, 2022 with the exception of the nurse’s office, school vehicles and individuals returning to school after a positive COVID diagnosis for days six to 10 of their recovery period.”

The policy also provides that, if the federal government removes the requirement for masks on school transport vehicles, the SST policy would automatically revert to an automatic one.

There are 111 students now out in work environments in the co-op program, Aubrey said, including 17 juniors who have only been able to go out within the last week.

“The highest number we’ve ever had as of this date is 89,” he said. “This, I think, is due in part to the team, but also I think we really cut into that cultural change in this building, where the students know they are expected to go out, they know they’re making money, and that’s just what we do here.”

The mission of instilling first-hand preparation for the job market is becoming almost second-nature.

“When you are a junior and a senior, you go out on the job site, you learn about your trade from other people who are doing the work in the trenches,” Aubrey said.

The Credit For Life event is also returning, on Wednesday, April 13 with a twist.

“The students are going to be learning how to talk and relate to other people, maybe while you’re holding a cup of coffee or a croissant, or something like that,” Aubrey said.

All students are eating in the school’s lunchroom at the same time, but desks are available along the sides of the cafeteria for students who still prefer to separate under COVID precautions.

Athletics are also returning to a somewhat normal atmosphere, and there are achievements there that Aubrey reported, including two wrestlers headed for the state tournament in Fitchburg and the girls’ basketball team [14-4] are headed to the tournament. The ice hockey team is also headed to the state tournament for the first time in a decade, he said.

Eighteen of 20 students taking repeat MCAS tests in January passed, with one student needing to pass English and another needing to pass math. There were 17 SST students who did not pass parts of the MCAS exam last year, and did retake exam.

A program has been set up during the school day to provide extra help for students who need it.

Hickey said school representatives have already met virtually with the Abington Finance Committee on Feb. 2 and Scituate’s Select Board on Feb. 15 to review the fiscal 2023 budget.

They will be meeting with Scituate’s Advisory Committee on Feb. 24, Norwell’s Advisory Committee March 15 and Whitman’s Finance Committee on March 22 (in person).