HANSON – The Select Board on Tuesday, Jan. 14, voted 4-0 after nearly an hour of discussion, to use Guilfoil Public Relations to assist them in presenting the case for an override in the run-up to the annual Town Meeting and Town Election in May. Member Joe Weeks was absent from the meeting
Guilfoil, already on a retainer of unused hours under which had initially been hired with ARPA money, to help the board deal with an election-related issue at the town’s water tower in October, had presented a media plan, including guest editorials to the Express and website information on the potential financial effects to the town if an override failed.
Select Board member Ed Heal balked at the whole idea, before finally voting on the proposal, because of concerns about cost and ownership of the site, how much of the work the board might be expected to do and whether it might come cross as an attempt to “sell” the public on supporting an override.
“When you say ‘educate the community,’ I think there’s probably going to be people out there who are going to say, ‘You’re not educating us, you’re trying to sell us,’” George said.
Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said the intent is that the board is fulfilling its job responsibilities of fully informing the public.
“We’re not trying to sell anybody,” she said. “It’s just the facts. … I would say ‘inform’ is a better term [than educate].”
Concerns aired
All four members present had some initial concerns on one point or another, but were swayed by the closing window for getting information before the public.
“I’m looking for the value in it, and I’m not seeing the value in what they are providing,” Heal said at the outset. “We’re still providing the data and information to them. They’re just going to host it.”
“They are going to work with us,” Town Administrator Lisa Green said, noting that her office had approached John Guilfoil Public Relations Agency and said they would be working with the town on press releases, the website posts, fliers and mailers, slide show presentations and guest columns for the Express.
“They were very good with helping us respond to inquiries and things like that,” Green said about the water tower issue. “With the hours that they gave us for that proposal, we only used about seven hours out of 36 [contracted for]. We still have 29 hours, which they [can use] to help us with communication of budget education and override education for our residents and the public.”
Green also pointed out that, at mid-January, time is not on the board’s side for getting information before the public to be of use for a May Town Meeting and Town Election and that, if not used, the ARPA funds would be lost. She had already spoken to department heads to have them start getting information to Guilfoil.
“We are working as quickly as we possibly can to start getting this information to them,” she said. “There’s a lot of moving pieces on this.”
She said their proposal includes creating a website for the town that will present all information regarding the budgets the budget process, an override and that process, look at town departments to provide “as much information as we can get out there” on town finances, services it provides to residents, to potential effects if an override fails.
“Their proposal was very, very reasonable,” Green said. “We will be using ARPA money to pay for this. They [will] keep the website up to date …”
“Can we talk about funding?” asked FitzGerald-Kemmett. “Where is the money coming from for this? We are in fiscal crisis and we’re heading into an even bigger fiscal crisis.”
Green said the town had ARPA money that had already been paid for the October crisis communications services and the remaining contracted hours will be used toward the budget education services.
“In other words, we bought a package of hours and we didn’t use them all up,” said member Ann Rein.
The $9,000 in ARPA funds would now be used toward the website design, Green explained.
“We have a year’s worth of service on this and the website is ours always,” she said. “I believe they’ll make a link to it so that people can go on our website and click on the link and come right to this website that will have calculators, questions, answers, it will have budget information for each department …”
Website
FitzGerald-Kemmett asked if it would be similar to the one that South Shore Technical High School has for their project, which is like a micro-site devoted to the building project.
“Which I really love, because it I don’t want to read about everything else related to [SST] I don’t need to,” she said. “I can just go to this thing to read about the SST article and everything I want to know is right on that link. … It’s been very thoughtfully put together.”
Green said Guilfoil has done the same type of project for other towns and school districts, noting that they are professionals who know how to word things.
“And they understand that we’re not advocating…” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
“It’s the facts only,” Green said. “It’s going to be beneficial because we’ve never had something like this before. We haven’t had an IT director, so having somebody with this knowledge build [the site] and, once we do get our IT director on board, they can help build it, as well.”
Earlier in the meeting the Select Board had voted to approve the hiring of Steve Burke as IT director on the recommendation of Green and Planning Board Chair Joseph Campbell (who has extensive professional experience in IT and helped with the interview process).
“But for now, we have these folks on board and they can start the process,” she said.. “We’re going to start feeding them the information – the budget process, and things like that.”
“If it’s ours afterward, I would truly love to use it prospectively, for future town meetings, to help with all the information that people need for Town Meeting on that one site,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
Rein said the town is paying the monthly fee after the first year of the website for domain registration.
“We’re going to own that, all we have to do is host it,” she said.
Heal said he had asked the same questions FitzGerald-Kemmett was posing and made notes on the proposal sheet and hadn’t received answers.
“Basically, we get the first year for free,” Green said of a budge webpage. “There’s no charge for the first year of hosting and supporting a website. After that, it’s $199 a month that we put into the technology line, but they will continue to host the site, software updates, nightly backup .. 24/7/365 support.’
He countered that, while the town owns the domain, and as long as the town pays Guilfoil, they will keep the site up and the town’s URLs will work.
“The minute we stop paying them, our URL that somebody gave somebody else is gone and we can’t get it back,” Heal said. “We can’t take it in-house. The domain is not the data.”
Rein said she would want the details looked over with respect that the town would have the ability to take the site over.
“This does not allow that,” he said.
“We could negotiate it, is my point,” Rein replied. “We can’t afford $200 a month. … It would be nice to know that we have that option to buy our stuff outright.”
“We could make it more sustainable for us to take the wheel,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
FitzGerald-Kemmett said it wasn’t a deal-breaker, but that the board would feel “a lot more encouraged about it” if they were able to get some assurances that Guilfoil would be good partners and give the town the wheel at some point.
“For at least one year, they’ll get us through, the information we need to get out there,” Green said.
But Heal’s objection was that Hanson would be providing the data and words to Guilfoil.
“They’re not massaging our words,” he said. “They’re basically putting them up on the site. Correct?”
Seeking value
Green said that was, indeed, correct, but if Guilfoil decided a submission could be worded better, they will put their PR skills to work. She said she would ask the firm for the specifics Heal and George were seeking.
Heal agreed on that point, but said he was “looking for the value in it.”
“They need to clear it up,” George suggested.
“The reason you hire a PR firm is to do this kind of work,” Rein said. “I don’t think there’s anything nefarious here. I think we’re getting what, at least we understood what we’re going to get.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett said that, when she spoke to them, Guilfoil staff said that is what they said they would be doing.
“They’re going to be managing the communication project, which we do not have the staff to do,” she said, including suggested website postings and press releases.
“I would feel comfortable if Steve Burke feels comfortable with this,” Heal said of the data management plans. FitzGerald-Kemmett said she would like to hear his thinking on sustainability and cost.

WHITMAN – The Select Board on Tuesday, Jan. 7 accepted a recommendation from Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter to set up a joint meeting with the Board of Assessors as soon as possible.
In her report to the board, Carter outlined in a lengthy statement, billing errors by the Assessors that have could have cost Whitman taxpayers millions of dollars on real estate bills before they were due, while failing to collect boat excise taxes or to mail other bills last year.
The current Board of Assessors has a total of 21 years of combined experience as board members, Carter noted.
When the Select Board holds its joint meeting on the budget with the Finance Committee on Tuesday, Jan. 21, the will schedule a February meeting with the Assessors.
“The magnitude of these recent errors is alarming to both the assistant town administrator and me,” Carter said, noting that just this past weekend the town’s printing vendor had found a fiscal 2025 Actual Real Estate Bill issue: the square footage on the bills is incorrect and it was confirmed that the file sent to the temporary treasurer-collector for printing by the Board of Assessors contained a database error.
Similarly, in December 2023, warrants to collect for actual real estate bill liens totaling $926,534.32 were not voted or signed by the Board of Assessors until May 21, 2024.
Warrants to collect are required by the Department of Revenue to be issued by the Board of Assessors to the treasurer-collector before payments can be accepted, Carter pointed out.
On Dec. 17, 2024, the Board of Assessors signed the official fiscal 2025 Actual Real Estate Warrant to Collect – the document empowering the treasurer-collector authority to collect real estate payments for the town. However the warrant and the corresponding billing file initially sent to temporary treasurer-collector Sharon LoPiccolo for third and fourth quarter real estate bills had an erroneous total that was $16,124,289.21 greater than what should have been billed to taxpayers. The fiscal 2025 real estate lien file, which should have consisted of unpaid water, sewer, trash and water bills from fiscal 2024, had an erroneous total $750,508.24 less than what should have been billed to taxpayers, according to Carter.
“Luckily the new temporary treasurer-collector realized there was an issue, and she reached out to me to review the warrants to collect before she posted the bills for printing and mailing to our taxpayers,” she said. LoPiccolo alerted the Board of Assessors of the erroneous files, which were replaced with corrected real estate and lien files.
“These two recent billing issues are quite concerning,” Carter said. “If the real estate bills had been sent out, as a result of these bills, the taxpayers would have been billed for basically a total of six quarters instead of the usual four quarters in fiscal 2025.”
They were only some recent examples.
In April 2024, the Board of Assessors sent a warrant to collect to both the treasurer-collector and the interim town accountant for 11 boat excise tax bills. But the Assessor’s office never sent the corresponding billing file, Carter said. As a result, the May 2024 boat excise bills were never issued and the revenue unable to be realized last fiscal year.
It was, in fact, never sent to the treasurer-collector for billing and the file was deleted from the Assessors’ software module titled “Add new accounts and omitted bills” on Nov. 25, 2024.
“I am hopeful that the Board of Assessors will commit the 2024 boat excise bill in fiscal 2025, so the revenue can be realized this fiscal year,” Carter said. “An additional concern is the fact that only 11 bills were voted on by the Board of Assessors. In the previous five years the town billed about 53 bills each year.”
From the data that Carter and Keefe were able to review, they “strongly believe” that data voted for the 2025 boat excise bills should have contained about 53 bills, as I has for the last several years, not just the 11 bills they intended to commit.
“The assessments and the related billing produced by the Assessors’ Office, which are under the control of the Board of Assessors, directly impact the revenue and, therefore, the town budget,” Carter said. “I feel it is imperative that the Select Board and the Board of Assessors meet in open session to discuss the numerous issues that have come to light regarding billing issues, as the enormity of the issue has escalated over the past year and a half.”
Carter also said that the Board of Assessors had made it “abundantly clear” in open sessions during more than one of their meetings last year that they “didn’t want any interference from the Assistant Town Administrator or me.”
“For well over a year now, the Assistant Town Administrator Kathy Keefe and I have been extremely concerned about several billing issues, which have been brought to our attention regarding the Assessor’s Office,” Carter read from her prepared remarks. “To avoid any confusion, it’s worth noting that the Select Board does not govern the Board of Assessors. The Board of Assessors is a separately elected board that is comprised of three members. Thw Board of Assessors is solely responsible for the operations in the Assessor’s Office.”
She added that, while the Select Board does not have authority over Assessors, “I feel that we need to take this action to call for a joint meeting between the two boards to better discuss our ongoing concerns.”
Carter had met with the Chair of the Board of Assessors John Noska early last year and in August with another Board of Assessors member she described as interested in those ongoing concerns.
“I presented and reviewed the issues that were brought to our attention up to that point,” she said. “Rather than Board of Assessors being receptive to our comments and concerns, they instead issued a letter dated Aug. 29 to the Select Board, accusing both Kathy and me of harassment and interference. More importantly, to date, the Board of Assessors has not taken corrective action on several of the billing issues that were revealed to them.”
The Select Board sent a letter to the Board of Assessors on Oct. 24, 2024 to inform them that, after reviewing the information in the Assessors’ letter, they had determined that the Board of Assessors allegations of harassment and interference were not supported and asked Carter and Keefe to continue making them aware of any future concerns about billing.

HANSON – Sometimes just because you’re told you could, doesn’t mean you can.
The Select Board on Tuesday, Dec. 10 reviewed the cannabis social equity policy in the wake of new regulations recently put forth by the Cannabis Control Commission, and unanimously approved it – more as a protection vehicle than anything else, they said.
This requirement gives teeth to the CCC determination that social equity factors such as race and gender must be considered in awarding cannabis licenses by communities.
“The CCC requires each community to adopt and put into place a social equity policy with regard to cannabis, whether its retail or medical type of sales within a community,” Town Administrator Lisa Green said.
Hanson’s specific policy was drafted by town counsel, and Green reminded the board that Hanson has not approved any retail licenses, and that Town Meeting voted not to allow types of that business in town.
The language under consideration, however, is language town counsel added showing that Hanson has restricted cannabis to the point where, so far, a grow facility is the only marijuana business in town.
Once adopted, the bylaw just outlines the social equity guidelines in the program and how the town would go about making decisions on the license applications, if anything would change in the future.
“This policy [also] contemplates that we will limit the licensing to the one license we already have, but that we would not be offering any additional licenses,” Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “That’s more protective of us and more in keeping with what we talked about. Absent that language, we don’t have any limits on the number of establishments.
She did point out than any applicants would still have to meet planning requirements and location limitations.
“That’s just additional protection for us,” she said.
Selectman Ed Heal said the limit on the present business the town has is not clearly spelled out.
Town Planner Anthony DeFrias said, in a purely hypothetical example, if someone wanted to increase the number of cannabis businesses to two or three, and a social equity business applies to the town, they must receive the second license first. Until that business is up and running, if a third business applied, but did not meet social equity criteria that business could not be approved for a license until the social equity business is up and running.
“Right now, you have just one license,” DeFrias said. “This is almost like a liquor license. You have only X-amount of licenses.”
Board members, including FitzGerald-Kemmett and Heal were left with the impression they could hold at the one licensee they approved.
“This is your policy,” DeFrias said. “You’d have to go to town meeting is you want more than one license.”
“Which we’re not planning on doing,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
“This keeps you in conformance with the law,” DeFrias said.
The Select Board voted to accept, with regret, Frank Milisi’s resignation from both the Camp Kiwanee and Capital Improvement committees – a development Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said was “rather sad.”
Milisi is going back to school, which she said is a wonderful thing for him and his family.
“We fully support that and really want to thank Frank for all the excellent work that he’s done over both of those committees and a number of other things,” she said.
Heal asked, in a light-hearted vein, if she had tried to talk him out of it.
“That’s the first thing I did when I got the call was, ‘What can I do to keep you?,’” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

With a new year, comes a new budget season.
Superintendent Jeff Szymaniak, who attended a Nov. 12 Whitman Select Board meeting in which budget forecasts were reviewed – and the school budget came up – urged residents and the School Committee member to view it on the W-H Cable Access YouTube channel because it was a valuable budget discussion.
“I know we’re talking budget and nobody ever wants to talk budget and it’s always not great,” he said during the Wednesday, Dec. 11 meeting. “The financial forecast from the state, from the towns are not ever outstanding, like, ‘Hey, whatever you want, you’re going to get.’”
Szymaniak reported to his committee that Kain wants Whitman to work collaboratively with the school district.
“It was positive,” Szymaniak said of the Whitman Select Board’s overview presentation. “I’m glad that I went and heard some things, and I’’m cautiously optimistic that we can work together to make things happen.”
He added his pleasure that the Select Board took up the issue and that they voiced the fact that it is, in fact, the School Committee’s decision to set the assessment.
“He made a very clear statement that the assessment is set by the regional school district school committee, with the hopes that we collaborate together to see where the towns are at,” Szymaniak said. “Some of the ideas that he came up with were pushing against some other selectmen and some ideas out of the box, being up-front, saying that 44 percent of the town budget goes to the school district … and 44 percent of the growth would always go to the school district.”
Of the communities that do that, some go over, and they run a deficit, which they also have to work against. Szymaniak said he would challenge the School Committee to do better, because 44 percent is a little bit lower than most towns.
But, he noted, Select Board member Shawn Kain gave a presentation to the Whitman Select Board that night, clarifying some points that have been “out and about,” according to Szymaniak, and described the dialog in the Nov. 12 meeting as decent and that he will build on that as the School Committee compares where the district compares on the charts to other communities in the commitment of resources from the town – is it percentage-based, or is it a percentage increase of the budget every year as some communities do it.
“Not an assessment,” he stressed. “We’re not talking about assessment. A typical overall percentage of your budget, you’re only allowed to go up 3 percent, or 3.5 percent.”
He noted that some communities do that, going over and sometimes they go over and end up running a deficit.
“It’s something that I would talk to our committee about and do a little research about what the towns are actually contributing out of their budget to educate the students in their communities,” he said, and stressed to the School Committee that he would like t to work together with the towns.
“I’m glad it was voiced out loud to the public that it is [our] decision to set the assessment,” he said. “We’d, again, like to get all sides involved – Selectmen, finance committee and school committees – but, it is up to the School Committee to vote an assessment 45 days before Town Meeting, and that assessment would go on a Town Meeting warrant as an assessment for the community.”
Szymaniak also recalled that Kain talked about looking at other sources of revenue that haven’t been looked at before as supplementals, including the meals tax in Whitman, instead of moving it over from accounts such as free cash or OPEB [other post-employment benefits] liabilities.
“There was some discussion back and forth and I’m cautiously optimistic that we can have those discussions,” he said. “I don’t know if we’ll ever agree, eye-to-eye, because the Select Boards in each community really want to make sure that taxpayers in their communities are serviced. Our charge here, and my charge are to make sure that our students are taken care of.”
School Committee member Rosemary Connolly, who also watched the Nov. 12 Whitman Select Board’s meeting and budget presentation, said she, too, is cautiously optimistic. She was a member of the Finance Committee during the last budget cycle.
“Where we can meet both places – that’s where you usually start when you compromise,” she said. “Where do we agree?”
Connolly said Whitman has borrowed for its largest projects, through the schools. … Not having a real investment in OPEB makes a difference, having bad excess and deficiency, makes a difference and they negatively affect the taxpayer.
“We can talk about that,” both Szymaniak and School Committee Chair Beth Stafford agreed.
“That’s a place where we can land,” Connolly said. “Forty-four percent is way below the average, so rolling forward at a low, continually keeps us frozen, at a place where we can’t address E&D, we can’t address the flexibility in the classroom that some of the letters from parents are talking about.”
She stressed that the school’s mission is to educate students who can then go out into the world and be active citizens in an equitable way.
“The word I heard repeated by Mr. Kain a couple of times was ‘hold-harmless,’” member Dawn Byers said. “This committee has to have the opportunity to have the same conversations that are happening in our town halls. … It’s a difference in foundation aid. The difference that we got last year, the aid that we’re eligible going forward in the next year, and when that aid is reduced, our aid payment from the state is not reduced. We get the same amount of money.”
Sometimes changes in inflation factors, property values, income, wage-adjustment factor and enrollment – and the municipal growth factor – “we don’t talk about the MGF, but it is a major factor going forward,” she said.
“You’re not incorrect,” Szymaniak said.

WHITMAN – In it’s last meeting of 2024 on Tuesday, Dec. 17 the Select Board heard a sobering assessment of what lies ahead for the town next year as officials calculate the fiscal 2026 budget.
Bottom-line, according to board member Shawn Kain, is that preliminary budget numbers indicate that an override is necessary to maintain level services. He had based his preliminary budget on 2.5-percent salary increases plus contractual step increases, final terms of union contract negotiations and the level-funding of expenses except for major known increases.
“We’re trying to get some things out there in the public view as early as we possibly could,” Chair Dr. Carl Kowalski said, noting that such an update was most likely what the Finance Committee wanted to do anyway.
“Our goal here is a level-service simulation – roughly a level- service simulation,” Kain said, noting that all five municipal union contracts are up for negotiation and the schools are negotiating their contracts. “You need to keep that present on your mind, but we’re looking for a simulation that’s roughly level-service.”
Total revenues are forecasted to be $45,784,975, with expenses calculated at $47,914,340, putting the current deficit at $1,729,385.
“[This is] basically announcing that, this year, we can’t avoid doing an override in order to pay for the services that we want to have,” Kowalski said.
“That’s right,” Kain said. “We thought it would be best to get these numbers out now, let people marinate and think about them, and then we can think about – over the next month or so – what the scope of the override would be … the details.”
Kowalski said he hoped the Finance Committee has seen and been discussing the numbers to help decide how much of an override will be needed. And it would need to include all departments.
“It’s the kind of advice I’ve been looking for from the Finance Committee for a long time,” he said. “[We] haven’t really received it. … It’s been pretty clear to us for a long time that, in order to have these things that we say that we value as a town … that we’ve needed an override for a while.”
He said there’s never been an inclination to pay for what the town says it values.
A joint meeting the Select Board had planned to have with the Finance Committee, didn’t happen because the Finance Committee, hadn’t officially posted it, with their agenda, Kowalski had said earlier in the meeting.
Vice Chair Dan Salvucci said departments need to understand that an override is not “an open wallet.”
Member Justin Evans said the town has already made all the cuts that can be made.
“I don’t know where else we can cut looking forward,” he said, echoing Kain’s assessment that they are down to the bone now.
Kain had noted noted that the budget process represents a community’s primary policy statement and establishes government priorities, beginning in the fall with a financial forecast.
“That is what this is tonight,” he said. A joint meeting with the Finance Committee and involving the schools will be held in order to coordinate concerning Whitman’s financial projections ans decide how to move forward on the same page.
The current levy is at $31,919,007. Adding $797,975 under the Proposition 2.5 and $200,000 in projected new growth brings that figure to an anticipated $32,916,982.
Kain said the new growth projection is low, as Whitman’s average is over $400,000.
“But the thing is, in a couple of those [previous] years the new growth was obvious,” he said. “We had a couple of projects that were over $600,000 and it made sense, but this year, we don’t have any new projects on the books, and based on the feedback we get from the assessor’s office, it really does make sense for that number to be as low as it is at $200,000.”
Adding excluded debt of $2,990,347 does just that – it goes to excluded debt and can’t be used for any part of the operating budget.
The maximum allowable levy for the town in $35,907,329.
Local receipts brought in $10,599,540 for a total revenue of $46,506,779. Subtracting charges and offsets of $721,804 brings the total available funds to $45,764,975
“We’ve been getting better and better at projecting our local receipts,” he said. “It’s guided by financial policy, and Mary Beth has been working closely with a really high-level financial consultant, which has allowed us to do be able to do this in a way that is reasonable, but also conservative.”
In January and February, as the first commitment comes out for excise tax, the town will have some more realistic evidence to know where those numbers are going to come in. The final calculation of $45,784,975 in available funds if $819,689 above where the town was last year in terms of new revenue that can be put toward the operating budget.
Carter has also put out a message to department heads to include a 2.5-percent increase for all non-unions employees without contracts; include that increase to employees who are contracted; and include step raises due for union employees; and all departments should be level-funding all of their expenses.
“That’s a hard ask, because every year, expenses go up,” Kain said.
All five contracts are under negotiation this year, as well.
Key budgetary lines will continue to be Plymouth County retirement, medical and health insurance, the W-H Regional School budget, level funding SST because enrollment is down, fire department retirements, solid waste disposal and free cash used last year.
“Plymouth County Retirement is killing us,” he said. “That’s up 11 percent this year. … That one line item is very difficult for us to account for in our budget.”

HANSON – The Select Board took a virtual tour of employment ups and downs on Tuesday, Dec. 3 as they heard a report of public safety staffing concerns, welcomed a new master mechanic and celebrated the silver jubilee years of two Town Hall employees.
Police Chief Michael Miksch outlined his department’s staffing picture – which struck a somber tone, but pointed to a potential silver lining.
Hanson’s department is down two officers and is “kind of struggling” to rehire, but he added, that is nothing new to any police department, pretty much, in the northeast, he said.
The department has advertised and received a lot of applications from “brand new officers” that would have to be sent to the police academy.
“We anticipate two more openings going into the next fiscal year,” he said. “That’s a great pool to start with, because it will take us six months just to get somebody into an academy. So, we’re in a good spot on that side.”
To try filling the vacancies in the meantime, and maintain proper staffing levels, he said the department has put out an ad seeking people interested in lateral transfers.
“We had, I think it was, five total that had come in at that point,” he said, indicating that Thomas Malloy was one of them. “Three of the five did not meet the requirements that we held out there for a lateral.”
The chief asked the board to vote favorably on hiring Malloy with a start date of Monday, Dec. 23.
Miksch said Malloy was interviewed and proved to be a “very strong candidate.” They had another potential candidate slated for an interview on Thursday, Dec. 5.
“You might see me again in two to three weeks, or maybe after Christmas,” he said. “We’ll see how that goes.”
Currently a Plymouth Police officer, Malloy graduated from the academy in 2023. He is also a graduate of Whitman-Hanson Regional High School and attended Massasoit Community College for a year, studying fire science, before entering the Marine Corps, serving for 11 years.
“He seems like a very good candidate,” Miksch said. “He was his class president in the academy [and] has been very well-regarded and is coming to us with high recommendations.”
Longevity lauded
The board honored two of the Town Hall’s administrative staff members of town departments for their longevity and dedication to serving residents during the meeting.
“We know you’re behind the scenes making it all happen,” said FitzGerald-Kemmett, noting that most people think in terms of a conservation agent or building inspector running departments, but they don’t realize there is a cast of people supporting them and getting the day-to-day work done.
“We are fortunate to have two such people,” she said. “And I think it’s pretty monumental to have people that have been in a job as long as you ladies have.”
Ann Merlin, who works in the assessor’s office, and Virginia Costley received citations from the board “expressing [their] sincere appreciation in recognition of 25 years of service and commitment to the residents of Hanson.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett also lauded Merlin for everything she did to help organize the town’s 200th Anniversary party in 2020. The party was one of the few events not canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“If you were fortunate enough to have been there, then you saw Ann Merlin’s decorating skills … amazing,” she said. “The details that this woman put in. It looked like it was otherworldly, it was just amazing.”
She also performed the Patsy Cline classic “Walking After Midnight.”
“She’s a very, very talented lady in many ways,” Green said. “I’m very privileged to work with her.”
“Virginia is just unparalleled in her knowledge,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “[She] has overseen all types of personalities and abilities and kept us on track.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett termed the Appeals Board one of the most important boards in town.
“People don’t realize that a lot of the exceptions that are made there are what defines what our town looks like,” she said. “You’ve been a huge, critical part of that, and I thank you.”
An emotional Costley thanked the board.
Master mechanic
The Select Board also voted to welcome it’s newest employee – hiring Kevin Simms of Bridgewater as the Highway Department’s master mechanic, contingent upon a successful background check and physical when he is recovered from planned surgery. His start date is anticipated to be Dec. 30.
“We conducted quite a search,” said Town Administrator Lisa Green, noting the position had been posted a few times. “Finally, we did get three candidates. Unfortunately, two withdrew, but the final candidate we did interview, turns out was a top person.”
Simms has at least 30 years of experience in automotive repair, ranging from diesel mechanics to aerial hydraulics and he has been a fleet supervisor with additional experience in welding and meal fabrication. He has also been a maintenance supervisor and shop foreman. He has schooling in air brakes and is a certified ASE master technician, which promotes excellence in vehicle repair. He has also worked on tires and is familiar with HVAC.
While he did have a Class B CDL license, he had let it lapse because his prior employer didn’t require it, he is looking into whether he can get it reinstated as well as pursing his 2A Hoisting license as well.
Simms was not able to attend the meeting because he was having surgery the next day, and his doctor advised him against going out and risking becoming ill.
“As you know, we’ve been short a mechanic for little bit of time,” Highway Director Richard Jasmin said. “Kevin comes with a wealth of experience that I think is going to help us get a fleet maintenance program up and running.”
He said Simms is not looking to “bounce around” any more as a lot of mechanics do in the course of their careers.
“He just wants a home, now, and he’s more than happy to make it Hanson.” Jamison said. “On top of that, we’re going to save a lot of money, because now we send everything out – from oil changes to minor weld jobs [and] it’s getting pretty pricey.”
While highway equipment will be Simms’ priority, the plan is to expand the job description to include other municipal vehicles.
“When he gets here, he’s going to have a little bit of list to get through, especially going into the winter,” Jamison said. “But I don’t see there being a terrible issue helping out. … I’d love to be able to lend a helping hand it [we] could.”
Simms’ will have the normal probationary period for the Highway Department of 90 days, with the town negotiating with the union to give him up to a year to obtain the CDL and Hoisting licenses, Green said.
“We don’t believe it will take that long, but they are willing to go that long,” she said, adding that, within six months he needs to at least show progress towards obtaining those licenses. Once he does obtain them, he will have another 90-day probationary period.
“We have spoken to him [and] he is agreeable to that,” she said. It will not impact vacation time, personal days or holidays. She said he is also taking quite a large pay cut to come work for the town.

WHITMAN – This time, when the town asked for what it needed – they got it.
In a special Town Meeting on Monday, Dec. 2, it took the 101 voters just over 20 minutes to approve an amendment to the South Shore Tech Regional Agreement, as well as two bill-paying articles and pay for cable access coverage of public, education and government programming.
“This article is about fairness,” said former Finance Committee member Rick Anderson of the SST amendment. “I just want to take this opportunity to thank Superintendent Hickey and his school district, South Shore Tech, for listening to the concerns of Whitman
The article was passed by a unanimous vote.
Town Moderator Michael Seele noted with appreciation the work of the Finance Committee as the meeting got underway.
“The work they do is important to the town,” he said, putting in a plug for residents interested in serving on the Finance Committee to see him about how to do that.
“I truly appreciate the time you’ve taken from your busy schedules to attend tonight,” said Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter, thanking those voters attending. “The primary reason for this meeting is to take a vote on the proposed amendment to the Regional Agreement for the South Shore Regional School District, which was previously approved by a vote of the [SST] School Committee on Aug. 19. This amendment will impact the way in which future debt will be apportioned to the nine member towns within the South Shore Regional School District.”
SST Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey drew the most applause from the audience after explaining any potential impact the amendment would have on the school’s existing debt.
“We currently have no debt,” he had said.
“Great, I love to hear that,” the man said adding that he fully supports the article which makes things fair for Whitman.
Only the regional agreement article was the source of much discussion on the night.
“It was about a year ago that we were holding a public forum here in Whitman, talking about being in the pipeline for a potential school building project, when it was suggested to us that we take a closer look at our regional agreement language, specifically at how debt share is calculated,” Hickey had said to open the discussion.
The current agreement, written in 1960, calls for the debt share among member towns to be fixed for the life of the borrowing, based on enrollment at the time a project is approved. The suggestion was a potential 30-year borrowing is a long time and Whitman is the community sending the most students to SST now, but that has not always been the case – and it could go lower in the future.
“Doing a look-back, I can tell you, enrollment trends can change over time,” Hickey said. “A town that has low enrollment could increase, and vice-versa, so why not consider a model to where you can move debt-share language to something that’s more pay-as-you-go?”
Working with its school committee and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), Hickey said SST has brought back an amendment that debt-share will be calculated based on a four-year rolling average. That is what Whitman was voting on Monday night.
To illustrate: if a town’s debt share is being calculated for the FY28 budget, the school committee will certify the budget in FY27, and it will use the enrollment reports from FY26, FY25, FY24, and FY23 to determine the debt share. 
“The second part of this amendment also addresses, with a little more detail, the arrival of our newest community – the town of Marshfield,” he said.
The SST Regional Agreement had already been amended in Spring 2023 to bring Marshfield into the district. Through that, Marshfield will pay its debt share on an annual basis for now, because they do not yet have an enrollment history.
“As their enrollment grows overtime, their debt-share will grow, and their share will be used to offset the costs,” he said. At Marshfield’s current enrollment of 38 students, they are at about 5.4 percent of total enrollment. That would adjust upward over time as more students enroll.
Whitman’s current enrollment is at about 24 percent of the student body, which was why Whitman asked for the regional agreement amendment.
Following an unrelated question on per-pupil averages, which Hickey explained does not enter into this calculation.
“Tonight’s vote is to change the formula for how we borrow money,” he said. The question of per-pupil has more to do with the annual budget.”
Anderson then called the question.
“The reason this article is on this Town Meeting Warrant is because Whitman asked to have a fairer share of the debt assessment, and I think they responded in a way that Whitman really needs to approve tonight at this meeting,” he said.
He also asked the town to support the SST building project going before the voters in January.
“I ask the meeting to support, not only this article, but the project – for the future generations of students that are going to be attending the South Shore Vo-Tech,” he said.
Articles 1 and 2 were seeking free cash transfers to fund unpaid bills from the previous fiscal years. Voters agreed to pay, without much of any discussion concerning a payment to either of Article 1 – seeking to use free cash to pay 1,501.80 for bill from the previous fiscal year as requested by the Public Works Commissioners. Likewise, there was little debate over Article 2, to pay 306.04 previous fiscal year bills for Treasurer-Collector’s office supplies. Both were approved after amendments to the final amounts were approved.
Article 3, seeking $161,099.25 from the Reserve for Appropriation Cable Access Account to fund those services was approved with no discussion at all.

With the Mass. Comprehensive Assessment System of exams (MCAS) defeated as a graduation requirement at the ballot box on Tuesday, Nov. 5, and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has updated the district “a little bit,” according to Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak at the School Committee’s Wednesday, Nov. 13 meeting, he provided as much information as is available to the committee and public.
There doesn’t seem to be much at the moment.
“They’re kind of [up in the air],” he indicated abut DESE with a gesture. “There’s no real plan. However, it’s a local requirement, now. I’ll brief you more in December.”
In the meantime, he assured the committee, “We have standards.”
He said if MCAS wasn’t there, the district’s standards would be – and people can depend on their quality.
“The core requirements are there, and our teachers are teaching to the standards that are set by the state,” he said. “I don’t know if the state’s going to move those standards, now that they don’t have the general assessment or not. I’m a little concerned about that, without a benchmark.”
But he sought to reassure parents.
“People in this community should feel, whether or not their child took the MCAS, got the old score of 220 or 280, or whatever, the diploma they receive from Whitman-Hanson is a valid high school diploma based on high standards, a grading rubric and high-quality educational instruction,” he said. “We’ve added highly qualified educational materials, K-10, we never used to have them.”
He said that, even now, students have a better, or a more consistent education than five or six years ago.
But the MCAS requirement does end as a graduation reqirement on Dec. 4.
“So this affects the class of 2025, moving forward,” Szymaniak said. “It doesn’t seem that DESE had a plan in place in July to say, ‘What if this doesn’t happen? What do we do?’”
He said his personal knock on the MCAS was that, giving it as a graduation requirement in grade 10 was a signal to some kids that the needn’t stay in school to graduate.
Vice Chair Hillary Kniffen, who teaches in another school district, said parents may also be overlooking the fact that students in grades three, five and six still have to take the MCAS.
“It’s not going away,” she said. “This is a thing that people were not accurately informed of – we are still losing those instructional days, because the retakes are [still] happening.” She said the March test will also have students missing classroom time.
“When you hear people in the community saying, ‘Oh, it’s gone!’ Please tell them that it’s not,” she said, adding she has read news reports to the effect that there is some push back planned throught state legislation.
Contract
negotiations
The W-H Regional School District has entered contract negotiations with all four units of the WHEA teacher’s union and per the regional agreement, either the town administrator from Whitman or Hanson must be appointed as a voting member for votes to approve the contract, according to Szymaniak.
The requirement is, in fact, a state regulation – 603 CMR 41.04 under DESE’s Education Laws and Regulations.
Szymaniak opened the floor to nominations, noting that Whitman Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter, who had been at the meeting had to leave earlier.
“I see one back there,” he said sighting Hanson Town Administrator Lisa Green. “I think we have one nomination.”
Member Rosemary Connolly said the appointment is not required by the Regional Agreement.
“This is a request from the towns to be part of a negotiating practice within the schools … so the teachers don’t have school autonomy, essentially,” she said. “The towns are involved in how we pay our teachers.”
Szymaniak said he believed it is in the Regional Agreement.
“I don’t have it in front of me,” he said. “But I believe it’s in the Regional Agreement.
The reference is included in the “Regional Agreement” Section of DESE’s laws and regulations.
“I don’t want to vote on something on the day it’s presented,” Connolly then said. “I don’t think we’re supposed to be voting on the day it’s presented.”
Chair Beth Stafford also pointed out that Green would not attend negotiation sessions, she would just come in at the time the full committee is voting to approve them. Szymaniak said she is also able to attend executive sessions to hear updates.
Green was appointed by an 8-1-1 vote – one opposing and one abstaining.
Student survey
Whitman Hanson Will provided a summary of the results of their annual student surveys to the School Committee.
Hillary DuBois-Farquharson, chief communication and prevention for High Point, who has worked with W-H since 2013 and Gabby Sullivan, High Point’s grant manager, asked for permission to survey students again this school year, and to add questions related to three indicators at the middle school and four indicators at the high school survey, Sullivan said.
DuBois- Farquharson because they were able to secure a grant through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The indicators are a key component of the SAMSA grant that would replace a previous iteration of the survey to build program capacity, put it in place and to later evaluate their efforts, Sullivan added.
This would be the first of a five-year series of $375,000 to cover all 11 communities aimed at reducing the onset and progression of substance misuse and its related problems as well as increasing the development and delivery of mental health promotion among youths somewhere between grades five to 12.
The committee approved the survey with the changes described by a 9-1 vote.
W-H WILL is required to tailor initiatives to the needs of different school districts with at least 50 percent of under-served populations most significantly impacted by substance use disorder. W-H WILL chose the LGBTQ+ community, students in vocational-technical schools and students deemed high-needs.
“Surveying is really helpful, because we’re asking the young people what their own personal experience is, what they see, and we bring that data back to you and are able to personalize and target our efforts to best-benefit children at this local level,” DuBois- Farquharson said.
An additional indicator for the LGBTQ+ issues at the high school level, which mimics the state’s risk behavioral survey, she said. It would not be put forward to surveys in grades five through eight.
Middle school students would see questions stemming from another indicator of mental health.
Middle schools would be seeing only two mental health indicators and one on nicotine’s effect on students concerning nicotine patches. Those three indicator questions will also be included in surveys at the high school.
Surveys will be available to all students in their first language.
“Even if you just need one survey translated, we will do that,” DuBois- Farquharson said.
There were 1,000 responses to the optional survey, or 80 percent, of students. The district didn’t do the survey in grades 9 and 10 last year.

WHITMAN – Fire Chief Timothy Clancy has banned all outside burning in Whitman through 6 p.m., Friday, Nov. 15.
“The current fire danger in the entire New England region is at an all-time high,” he stated in a message read by Select Board Chair Dr. Carl Kowalski during the Tuesday, Nov. 12 meeting. “Depending on the weather conditions this may be extended.”
Clancy has cautioned residents if outside fires do occur, “they have the potential to develop rapidly and spread over large areas of ground cover.”
The red-flag conditions will continue until the area receives measurable precipitation, the chief stated.
Kowalski also read a letter from the state’s Secretary of the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security Terence Reidy, received by the Fire Department on Oct. 2.
The Ready commended firefighter-paramedics Russell Lucas, Jerry Thompson, Zachary Baldwin, Justin Everson and Joseph Lasko will be honored for outstanding acts of heroism and bravery at the 35th annual Firefighter of the Year Awards ceremonies at 10 a.m., Monday, Nov. 18 at Mechanics Hall in Worcester.
Drass honored
The board had opened the meeting by honoring officer Stephen Drass on his retirement from the Whitman Police Department.
Police Chief Timothy Hanlon said Drass had been an auxiliary officer for a long time, making his way through the ranks, including reserve officer, full-time officer, detective for a number of years and he also did other assignments. Drass had been the department firearms instructor, the RAD and RAD kids self defense instructor and was an evidence officer, as well.
“He’s done a lot of work here on the department,” Hanlon said. “He came on before me full-time – he came on in 1999 and I was 2000, with my academy mates, but by 2005, we were both assigned to the detective unit and we worked together closely on many cases.”
Drass has always been looking to attend training, using his knowledge and experience to keep the town safe, Hanlon said.
“He exemplifies what it means to be a police officer and, through his dedication to the profession, he has brought many suspects to justice and helped many victims along the way,” the chief said, congratulating Drass and presenting him with his retirement badge “to add to his collection.”
Union President Kevin Shanteler also honored Drass with congratulations and wished him a long and happy life with his family, as well as a plaque in recognition of his “25 years of service and dedication to the Whitman Police Department and the citizens of Whitman.”
Kowalski then read a proclamation from the board in recognition of his 39 years of service to the community.
Celebrating Whitman
Richard Rosen then updated the Board on plans for the town’s 150th anniversary celebrations next year.
“As you know, 25 years ago, the town had asked me to organize and conduct the events for the 125th anniversary,” Rosen said. “We did a number of events – I think there were a lot of very good events that went on – and as you know, some months ago, I was asked to organize and conduct the events for the 150th anniversary. I agreed and contacted a lot of the people who were on the 125th and, frankly, I don’t know why they answer the phone when I call.
“But I can guarantee you that I will not be standing here doing the 175th,” he said.
In a very short time, Rosen said, the committee as met, discussed and organized what they wanted to do.
“We want to make it a fun event,” he said. “A fun series of events with some historical value moved in.”
The kick-off dinner had been held at Ridder’s Country Club 25 years ago. This time, the kick-off dinner will be held the evening of Saturday, April 5 at the Spellman Center.
“There’s a lot of people in this town that don’t realize that Cardinal Spellman, who they referred to as the American pope, was actually born and raised in Whitman,” Rosen said. “There is some historical value in conducting [the kick-off dinner] there.”
A time capsule will be buried, as was done 25 years ago, with both remaining in the ground until another 75 years has passed for each.
North Easton Savings Bank is helping procure the time capsule itself, and run the project, including serving as the drop-off point for artifacts to be included.
Other activities planned include a talent show, cornhole tournament, chicken bake, a road race and a concert and fireworks display on Whitman Day, June 14. All the events are planned for the period between April 5 and the end of June.
The final event the committee has planned is what Rosen hopes will be the “largest parade Whitman has ever seen.”
“We said that 25 years ago and I think we did have the largest parade Whitman had ever seen,” he said. Scavenger hunts for both kids and adults, with an historical theme as well as an historical quiz tournament are also planned.
Among the projects the Historical Commission is planning is refurbishing and a rededication of the WWI Memorial Arch next to the Fire Station. A students’ essay contest is also among the events planned so far.
“We have a lot more things coming,” Rosen said. “There will be merchandise, like for the 125th anniversary – in terms of sweatshirts, T-shirts, hats and those metal mug things, whatever they are.” Anniversary flags are also being made – not with the town seal, but with an updated, color version of the 125th anniversary logo.