WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen are holding a day-long strategic planning workshop on Saturday, Oct. 23 and are seeking selected members of the public to participate in or observe sessions.

Five members of the public will be selected from those expressing interest to Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman to participate in the morning session articulating the town’s mission and the general public is welcome and encouraged to attend and observe that and an afternoon discussion session.

“I just want to make sure the right people are in the room there, who the board wants,” Heineman said. Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski said there has to be enough publicity about the workshop so that interested citizens know about it. “This is a public meeting, so anyone can attend. I think the key is who is participating actively in the small groups and who isn’t.”

Heineman said there have already been some members of the public who have expressed interest in participating.

“There are some members of the public you would expect to show an interest, who didn’t know about it,” Kowalski said. “We do need to make sure that we reach out enough so that enough interested people are here at the meeting. … Otherwise it’s not a vision that’s shared with the town — it’s something that a small group of people come up with.”

Consultant Ann Donner updated the board on the process at it’s Tuesday, Oct. 12 meeting.

“One part is focused on Phase 2 strategy development and assessment,” Donner said. “Following that is Phase 3, which is really developing and articulating mission, vision, values and priorities and providing a framework for the two over the next five years.”

The morning mission session will focus on “defining and prioritizing a range of overarching strategic priorities” and to think about what the outcomes would be — “coming up with the language that people feel captures what the town of Whitman stands for,” she said.

Donner will facilitate that activity.

“It’s a great solace to know that we’re not just sitting there with a blank piece of paper,” Kowalski said.

The afternoon session will discuss how “everything that we all do contributes to all those strategic priorities” even though it may not be obvious.

She offered mission statements and strategic outlines of communities around the nation, including Fort Collins, Colo.

Selectman Justin Evans asked who else the board should be inviting to the meeting, besides Selectmen, Whitman School Committee, department heads and members of the public to ensure a productive session Oct. 23.

“Or are we getting too big,” he asked.

“The number of participants shouldn’t matter,” Donner said. “Whoever you would like to participate, there’s a way to participate through the way it’s organized.”

Kowalski asked how she envisioned the physical makeup of the Town Hall auditorium for the most effective session — whether, for example, there would be people seated at “a set of tables with X-number of people at it and sharing the results of our conversation at those tables?”

Donner said that was a good setup and that, often, there are guiding questions, depending on the number of people, providing opportunites for breakout sessions.

Selectman Randy LaMattina asked how the regional school district could be completely included.

“To just come up with Whitman’s strategic plan for the school district is only including half the team,” he said, asking how Donner would advise integrating the Hanson School Committee members or that town’s officials, perhaps taking part in their own breakout meeting.

“I see a complete conflict that, we go ahead and establish something that works for Whitman, but it really isn’t a strategic plan for education in the regional school district,” he said.

Donner conceded that is an excellent point, saying critical information to examine prior to Oct. 23 is the district’s own recently completed strategic plan to ensure they are in alignment so there are not two competing documents.

Evans said that it is important that what comes out of the Oct. 23 session should be coming from Whitman residents and town employees for the credibility of the strategic plan, but it is also worth at least inviting at least School Committee Chairman Chris Howard, who is a Hanson resident to at least be in the audience for questions. He also suggested Hanson’s Selectmen Chairman Matt Dyer would be a good person to invite as an observer.

 “It does make sense if the town’s financial plan is in line with their plan, where we’ve struggled with that and still — unfortunately, even with this — will not be addressed,” LaMattina said. “We run on parallel roads, but financially we’re not in the same place.”

Donner suggested a priority could be concerning the schools and the town’s role in the schools with meeting focused on that.

Selectman Dan Salvucci noted that most town departments also have five-year plans, if not written then in mind, a financial strategic plan would also have to be formulated to achieve those goals.

Salvucci also pointed to the previous survey of residents about strategic goals as a way that the public has been given a voice.

Donner also said there would be a public comment period for people unable to attend to make their voices heard.

“I’m slightly disappointed because I thought we were a little beyond this, that we were actually going to implement a plan, that we were beyond the fact-finding,” LaMattina said, noting there has already been a public survey. “When are we actually going to get the team together and develop a plan?”

He also wondered if the five or six public participants would really be providing a snapshot of what the town wants, or what they want.

“If the success of this plan is dependent on buy-in and a shared vision, then the most important people are the other department heads,” LaMattina said. “I think it will make for a more productive meeting, personally.”

Pubic forum

In other business, Selectmen discussed the public forum process, which had recently been suspended.

“We have to make sure that we still observe the Open Meeting Law,” Kowalski said. “People should know what we’re going to be discussing and acting upon each week when they get an agenda.”

But, he agreed, there ought to be a way to raise concerns with the board that are not on an agenda, so long as they understand that no action nor meaningful discussion will be taken up at that time, but that may be placed on a future agenda.

Evans noted that the School Committee had made a similar decision earlier this year.

Selectmen also extended an invitation to DPW Highway and Parks Supervisor Bruce Martin to attend an upcoming meeting to discuss why the DPW Commissioners had recommended placement of cameras in Whitman Park.

Selectmen voted not to put park cameras on the Capital Improvement plan at this time. 

HANSON – Voters at Hanson’s special Town Meeting Monday, Oct. 4, took several steps to make local government more transparent, including postponing one citizens’ petition article on residency requirements for holding office to the May Town Meeting.

An article seeking special legislation outlining the process for removal for cause of appointed board, committee or commission officials, amended to remove contradictory language about the petition signature process, was approved.

Selectman Joseph Weeks said that article’s purpose was to trigger a hearing by the appointing board.

“This article is designed to give a voice to people that, if they truly feel an appointed official that they do not have direct control over, is doing something that’s against what the wishes of Hanson are, this triggers that hearing,” he said.

An article proposed by the Board of Selectmen, requiring that all Hanson office-holders have their primary residence in Hanson was also approved, without comment.

A non-binding citizen’s petition, seeking the immediate removal of the entire membership of the Zoning Board of Appeals, by the Board of Selectmen as the ZBA’s appointing authority, was also approved. Kevin Cohen of Spring Street, and 167 co-signers, asked that the ZBA be removed at the first possible meeting after Town Meeting.

“The Hanson ZBA has recently reorganized three times,” Cohen said. “A lot of people in town were not aware of this. … There’s also been many complaints to the state ethics commission with regard to several members of the board, involving alleged self-dealing. The state Ethics Commission is looking into the personal relationships on this board. … It does warrant an investigation.”

Another article approved Monday night, revised a bylaw to require all board and committee members report to the Board of Selectmen, any potential conflicts of interest.

When the Town Meeting — held in the McEwan Performing Arts Center at WHRHS — was posted, masks for the session were optional, but since the high school is mandated to require them until Nov. 1, Moderator Sean Kealy urged residents to observe that rule, even though he was not willing to remove anyone for failure to do so.

“It is a state law, however, and the school is very concerned about it,” Kealy said. Not everyone complied.

Former School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes was honored for his service on that committee.

Before the night’s business got under way, there was $2,210,786 in free cash; $1,365,131 in the stabilization fund; $187,182 in the school stabilization fund; $1,540,002 in water surplus; $20,949 in the Recreation retained earnings; and $25,058 in the solid waste retained earnings account.

Funds for a temporary recording secretary for the Selectmen’s office and a proposed .75-percent meals tax were among the few articles rejected or passed over.

 A requested $9,179 for a recording secretary in the Selectmen’s office was rejected by a 63-41 vote. The meals tax request was passed over by a vote of 56-52.

Recording secretary 

The Finance Committee did not recommend the recording secretary expense, which was intended to help catch up with a meeting minutes backlog and assist with Economic Development Committee minutes, according to Town Administrator Lisa Green. The part-time, temporary employee would have had no benefits and the requested funds were expected to cover pay for the position through July 1, 2022.

“Since we are mid-budget cycle, adding staff or hours just, for us, we prefer to see that at the beginning of the budget cycle,” said Finance Committee member Patrick Powers.

Resident Bruce Young urged voters to follow the Finance Committee’s recommendation and moved that each of the lines up for adjustment in Article 2 be voted separately. When that was approved, the motion to reject the recording secretary line was approved.

“The executive assistant to the Board of Selectmen has always handled the preparation and the transcribing of the minutes,” he said. “The minutes are as difficult as you want to make them.”

Selectmen Chairman Matt Dyer countered that the office is only staffed with two people and the work hasn’t been accomplished within a 40-hour work week in years.

“In the past, we’ve had a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful  employee — [Meredith] Merry Marini — who would stay and work 60 hours a week,” Dyer said. “She would come in during the weekends, she would do the minutes from home — she took a lot of work, and she did it on her own time.”

He said the town benefitted from Marini’s work over the years, but that over time, state mandates have increased. The office is understaffed.

“We had a global pandemic come through, and that really took a lot of our bandwidth and we got a little bit behind in our minutes and this is just to help us get caught up,” Dyer said.

Meals tax

The narrow vote margin to pass over an article instituting a .75-percent meals tax meant that the town continues as one of only three in the region to fail to adopt a meals tax. Opponents argued that, on the heels of the COVID pandemic, it is not the time to impose a new tax.

“My only concern is that, at this particular time, after the pandemic, I’m not sure imposing a meals tax on our restaurants in town — where we don’t have an awful lot of them and they’re struggling — I just don’t think it should be brought up at this particular time,” said resident Kathleen Marini, moving to pass over the article.

Dyer explained the sales tax is on diners, not restaurants and that the small difference the tax would make, in an effort to fund municipal and school costs, would not affect business. He said a $100 tab and Venus III, for example, would only bring a 75-cent meals tax.

Pond management

Discussion of two pond management articles, for treatment and preventive measures and establishing a budget line item, was also the focus of much of the evening’s discussion.

Woodbine Avenue resident Joe Campbell asked if the $25,000 from free cash sought for Article 12 included litigation costs against surrounding towns that are violating waterways.

Conservation Commission Chairman Phil Clemons said Article 11 doesn’t provide funding, but rather a mechanism for possible future funding. 

“They don’t dictate what we do and don’t spend the money on, it’s just that, at the moment, the town doesn’t have a mechanism for spending any money to fund anything regarding any pond,” Clemons said. “This is simply a way to begin paying that attention. … This will enable us to start doing something.”

For one Lakeside Avenue resident said that it appeared to her that Pembroke officials play a role in clearing up the algae.

“I’ve lived there over 40 years and the ponds are getting worse,” she said, noting she has joined a Pembroke watershed group, but now finds Hanson is not treating its side of the pond. “I don’t know how that works out, because I’ve got all this green algae growing everywhere.”

Powers again pointed to the Finance Committee’s preference that the proposal wait for a full budget year to seek funding. Kealy added that while Article 11 puts the budget line in place, Article 12 puts some money into it until the May Town Meeting, but that the fiscal 2023 budget cycle really begins to get going in November. 

Resident Frank Milisi expressed concern over bladderwort, which contain small, hollow sacs that digest tiny animals such as insect larvae and water fleas, would be a plant at the Cranberry Cove beach that Recreation officials want to get rid of by the time swimming starts. May would be too late for that.

“I appreciate that Finance has to do their job and go through and make recommendations at the May Town Meeting, but we really need to start getting a handle on at least the Cranberry Cove bladderwort issue,” he said, describing the situation as dangerous to have children learning how to swim there until the plants are eradicated.

Former Finance Committee member Pepper Santalucia, while he greatly respects the work that they do, said that the October Town Meeting is to meet needs and address issues that have come up since the May Town Meeting and may need to be addressed before the spring.

“It strikes me that it’s a good policy to be cautious about what expenditures you might recommend or approve at the October Town Meeting, but to make a blanket assertion that, because it’s coming up as a need in October, it’s not worthy of consideration … I’m asking for some clarification,” he said.

Powers said the Finance Committee did not recommend Article 11 at this time because it adds and establishes a budget line, which is procedurally done in May.

Both articles were approved, with Milisi’s request to add an additional $10,000 for what Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said would fund not only a study, but plans to do something to address the ponds.

Union contracts

Union ratified contracts for public employees were also funded, including the police union — which received public funds in support of their education through the Quinn Bill and base raises (2 percent for the first year and 2 ¼ for the last two) added over the course of three years, a tenure step increase, and an increase for a sergeant to differentiate his rank from the top patrolman, Town Counsel Kate Feodoroff said.

All unions received Juneteenth as a contractual holiday. Juneteenth for nonunion personnel was approved in a later article recognizing it as a local holiday, as well as on the state and federal designations.

The fire department’s union personnel agreement contained the same base raises as the police contract, a 10-year step, an increased for the paramedic certification stipend and EMT basic stipend.

The administrative professionals’ union settled for a flat 2-percent raise over three years, some library positions — children’s, youth and reference librarians —were added to the union, assistants in the collector, treasurer and clerk’s offices will receive a $1,000 stipend for certifications they have attained and a $350 stipend to maintain a certification for the conservation clerk and eye glasses reimbursements up to $500 every three years.

The Highway Department contract carried no further appropriation for the fiscal year.

WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Sept. 28 engaged in a terse discussion about mask mandates, during which one derogatory name for the protective face coverings was tossed out in an argument supporting CDC mask and vaccine guidelines.

While the Board of Health’s recent recommendation in accordance with the CDC, to wear masks in Town Hall and it’s two main meeting rooms and limiting the number of public attendees, was in place, three Selectmen — Randy LaMattina, Dan Salvucci and Brian Bezanson — did not wear masks at the Tuesday meeting. Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski, Selectman Justin Evans and Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman wore masks and all were seated at six-foot intervals.

“We’re not in the torrid zone, but we’re not in the easy zone, but we still have to be careful and we have to remember that this is something that is still with us,” Kowalski said in opening the meeting.

No one in the public gallery wore masks at the meeting.

Heineman said Fire Chief Timothy Clancy continues to provide weekly updates about positivity rates. There are 52 new cases in town out of 1,220 tests administered as of Sept. 22.

The town’s COVID positivity rate is now 4.28 percent, the same as the week before, but higher than the state rate of 1.99 percent and while there has been an increase in vaccination rates of all ages between 16 and 74 over the past three weeks, the town’s vaccination rate is only 57 percent, compared to the state’s 67.8 percent percent rate of fully vaccinated persons and 77.3 percent for those having received at least one dose. All ages from 12 to 110 are tracked, but 12 to 74 was the only range showing an increase in vaccinations.

“No rise, so take your masks off,” Salvucci joked, but Kowalski chided him for making a silly remark.

“You can not follow the advice of our Board of Health, that’s on the front door,” he said. “It’s OK, Dan, it’s fine.”

The discussion became more tense after that.

Heineman noted there are signs around town, most notably on the message board out front of Town Hall, the urging in conjunction with the Board of Health to be fully vaccinated — for those in eligible age groups.

“I’d like to think the outreach effort has had some effect over the prior three and a half weeks,” Heineman said.

While there is a Pfizer vaccine booster available to ages 65 and over or persons in certain occupations, the Moderna vaccine, which the town administered — and is still being used now —because it was the one available, has not yet been approved by the FDA for boosters.

Clancy has been working toward being able to administer the boosters once the FDA green-lights it.

“As this board knows, there was an OSHA [vaccine] mandate that has not been issued officially yet,” Heineman said concerning an earlier discussion by the board about vaccine mandates. “We know it’s coming, that will certainly apply to private businesses with 100 or more employees. What’s not clear … is whether or not it may apply to public employers, municipalities, in Massachusetts.”

Heineman said there is some question as to whether the OSHA mandate even exists. Most municipalities are awaiting the outcome of legal challenges with the state’s mandate for public employees before taking any action.

“Throughout the pandemic, the board [Selectmen] has been choosing to follow the Board of Health’s advice with respect to COVID-19 issues,” he said. That morning the health board voted to recommend that in the Selectmen’s meeting room and another in the basement attendance be limited to the board members and support staff — and no more than eight members of the public at one time.

Town counsel said the Selectmen have the authority to enforce that recommendation.

“I think administering this would be difficult, because … while the board may have the authority … I think the reality is I don’t know how we would enforce that absent having a police officer [do it],” Heineman said. He said the ability to meet remotely is in effect until April and suggested that might be an option or individual members could choose to attend remotely.

Kowalski wondered why those two meeting rooms were chosen, when the Finance Committee meets in a much smaller room.

“They’re packed in like sardines,” when holding budget discussions with departments, Kowalski noted. “I’d like you to find out from the Board of Health how did the Finance Committee room escape?”

He also noted that planning and zoning board meetings can attract a lot of people.

“I understand the spirit of worrying about capacity, but the logic, frankly escapes me,” Kowalski said.

Bezanson then remarked on the number of school board meetings, especially, around the country that have become flash points for people angry about masks, and football games are fully attended with masks rarely seen.

“I’d hate to see us go down that road,” Bezanson said of the mask protests. “I’m typically not a mandate person, I think it’s personal responsibility, and I think as we get higher vaccination rates … I would like to ask more questions of the Board of Health.”

LaMattina, like Bezanson, pointed to the Select Board’s continued adherence to Board of Health and CDC recommendations, but using a derogatory term for masks, he expressed his frustration with the issue.

“We have no change in our positivity percentage, but now we start enforcing stronger restrictions,” he said. “Why? … I don’t think we need to argue each other’s personal feelings or personal comfort level during the pandemic.”

He stressed the CDC also recommends vaccinations, which 47 percent of the town is not doing. He said he was not wearing a mask “for theater at this meeting,” because he doesn’t wear one anywhere else.

LaMattina said he and his family have been fully vaccinated so they wouldn’t have to wear masks.

“That is my comfort level with the vaccine,” he said, adding he was in favor of vaccine mandates, but would never vote for one. “I feel the mask is being used, not as a tool, but a pressure point right now to get people vaccinated.”

He argued that vaccines should be incentivized.

Evans noted that the Board of Health has been in step with DPH and the CDC, but seem out of sync with state and federal recommendations here.