WHITMAN – Select Board members heard concerns about potential municipal layoffs as a result of budget pressures, public meeting decorum and progress on a proposed DPW building during their Tuesday, April 11 meeting.
In the wake of last week’s joint select board meeting with Hanson counterparts, the board received a bleak financial forecast.
“We have presented a level budget here,” said Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter, adding that the town has used almost $293,999 in free cash to balance the budget, making their calculations based on a 5-percent increase in the school assessment. Most of that free cash is used between the warrant articles and closing the gap on the budget, with only about $9,000 left
“We’ve used everything on this budget, so it’s very tight,” she said. “I trimmed a lot as I went through the budget. It’s balanced.”
Chair Randy LaMattina warned of “significant cuts” to town services if the school budget not reduced. He said that, at some point, the board must be ready to make close to $600,000 in cuts if the schools do not make reductions at the Wednesday, April 12 School Committee meeting.
“The cuts are going to be real, so we’re probably talking about multiple firefighters, multiple police officers, possibly closing the library, and it’s unfortunate,” he said.
“We’re talking about significant cuts,” Carter agreed noting that, considering municipal salary levels, some 10 to 12 positions might be lost. The town personnel staff is “a little over 100 people, she said.
“It will be significant and several departments will be impacted, there’s no way around it,” she said if the schools do not make budget cuts.
Meeting decorum
The budget picture, and some of the emotional discourse surrounding it, has motivated former Town Administrator Frank Lynam, who had been serving as an interim TA until Carter was hired, to sponsor a citizen’s petition article for the Town Meeting warrant on public meeting decorum and the recording of public sessions as a way of ensuring it, while furthering transparency.
The bylaw revision would require all town boards and committees to make either an audio or video recording of all meetings, excluding executive sessions, and transmit the recordings to WHCA for broadcast or streaming on its YouTube channel for future access.
He noted that a number of boards and committees meet publicly and the information they discuss and the presentation of those meetings are public.
“I have an issue with a particular board that seems not to be very concerned about either propriety or professionalism – and I am talking about the Finance Committee,” he said. “In several meetings that I have listened to audio recordings of, they participate in a bantering discussion that belittles the employees of the town that present to them, myself included.”
While Lynam said he is “not that thin-skinned,” he finds it difficult to understand why a board charged with the responsibility to make financial recommendations to the town “would take such a side road into personal attacks on the various people that present to them.”
He suggested the way to sure that is to make sure everyone participates in the public process.
“If it was going on cable rather than for the benefit of the nine members of the committee and perhaps the four or five people present from the public, you would see a different demeanor and a different presentation,” he said.
Town employees work very hard and diligently to do their jobs often facing public scrutiny and concern about what they are being paid, what they “really do” and how hard they work, Lynam. Still, he doesn’t take umbrage when people unfamiliar with town government ask such questions.
“But I really resent it when somebody who should understand it, and has been involved in the process, chooses the route of character assassination to talk about the town administrator, or the director of technology or any of the other department heads that have appeared before them to present budgets,” he said.
Lynam said he has listened to it enough and thinks it’s time to professionalize things.
“In the end, you’ll have access to more information,” he said.
Select Board member Shawn Kain, expressing mixed feelings on the issue because he has served on the Finance Committee, but he has also felt some of the tension Lynam referred to.
“For selfish reasons, I’d like it if [meetings] were either on cable or if there was an audio because I’d like to – on my own time – just to go through and listen to some of the meeting to gain more knowledge,” he said, adding that transparency in that way does hold people accountable.
Lynam said he received recordings under public records request in researching the petition. The logistics are relatively simple, he argued because the technology already exists, but current practice for some boards and committees has been keeping an audio recoding until minutes are done – at which time they are supposed to be deleted. He was able to obtain them as a result of his request because that process is not fully followed.
“We are accountable for how we conduct business,” he said. “I don’t see it as punitive, I see it as informative.”
He pointed out that Hanson already follows the practice of either audio or video recording all of their committee meetings, posting them on YouTube.
Lynam has discussed the issue with the Finance Committee chair, who is opposed to it out of concern that recordings would make people less likely to speak candidly.
LaMattina said he “100-percent agrees” with the article Lynam proposes.
“Although we’re on TV and we might have a crowd sometimes, the lack of a crowd does not mean you can just talk about people, slander people, lie about people and think, ‘this is what we do,’” he said.
Recent discourse at the Finance Committee meetings have centered on Carter allegedly receiving a job she didn’t deserve, that Lynam’s service didn’t amount to much.
“It’s pretty disgusting, to be honest with you,” LaMattina said.
While Cultural Council Secretary Julia Manigan expressed concern over the discomfort cameras in meetings could cause, School Committee Vice Chair Christoper Scriven argued it’s “the least we can do to be as transparent as possible.”
“I think we owe it to the residents of this town to conduct all of our business in a civil manner,” he said.
Select Board Vice Chair Dan Salvucci said all meetings should be recorded to avoid finger-pointing at a specific committee.
Select Board member Justin Evans agreed it is a “good move toward transparency.”
DPW project
DPW Commissioner Kevin Cleary updated the board on what the DPW is doing to educate the public about the new building project, upcoming events and current cost estimates. The Building Committee has been working on the project since $1.1 million was appropriated at the last annual Town Meeting for hiring the owner’s project manager (OPM) and architect/engineer, and they have been working through schematic designs over the past four months, he said.
Another day of public tours is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., on Saturday, April 22. A few trucks will be available for children to explore, and hamburgers and hot dogs will be available as refreshments on that date.
A question-and-answer presentation on the project is slated for 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 26 in Town Hall auditorium. The OPM and architect and Building Committee members will attend and provide a short presentation.
The website is also up and running at whitmandpw.com.
Cleary said the project’s design work began with three different options and went with the option for a complete facility with administrative, storage and mechanic’s workspace.
The front building will be demolished and the back building refurbished, using as much as they can retain. The design work is between 50 and 60 percent complete at this point.
Initial cost estimates make for an warrant article seeking $17.8 million in addition to what has already been appropriated. Cleary said he was confident in the cost estimates he has been receiving.
“We are still looking at that number, talking about what we can do to lessen it without taking away from the size of the building,” Cleary said. Sub-bids would be sought in early to mid-June if the article is successful, followed by general bids and a 12-to-13-month construction period.
Evans and Kain expressed their concern about holding a Town Meeting vote before the numbers are firm. LaMattina said it just makes sense to finish the building right, rather than have an outlying building that will need serious renovation after that.
“The cost is in the forefront of everybody’s mind, which I greatly appreciate,” he said.
“What we’re doing now is trying to lower the cost,” Cleary said. “We’re not going to add anything more that’s going to increase it…. We’re getting information so, if anything, we lower the cost.”
Kain was impressed by the building design and agreed it is warranted and necessary, but he also has reservations about the timing.
“Especially with the climate of us borrowing money and the number of projects on the table I think really being thorough and taking time and doing things right, I would rather wait and have the number in hand rather than go without the number,” Kain said.
Building Committee member Frank Lynam said the project cannot go to bid before Town Meeting votes even if all the numbers and estimates are in hand.
“Until Town Meeting votes, we don’t have a project,” he said.
COVID update
Giving the regular COVID update in Fire Chief Timothy Clancy’s absence, LaMattina reported that there were 212 tests performed since the last board meeting, with five positive cases for a positivity rate of 2.36 percent.
“Once again, [it’s] trending in the right direction,” LaMattina said.

HANSON – Members of the Hanson and Whitman select boards unanimously voted, in a joint meeting on Tuesday, April 4, against either endorsing or supporting the fiscal 2024 WHRSD budget as presented to the two towns. Each board voted separately on the motion.
They have requested their respective town administrators to send letters to the district about the vote, and stressed it was not intended to signal a lack of support for education.
“The thing that I really love about you guys being here is that this opens up a dialog between the two boards which is very much needed, in fact, it’s a dialog between the two towns, which is very much needed and, in fact a dialog between all parties is very much needed,” Hanson Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said in opening the session she termed historic. “We’re here to talk about the elephant in the room, which is the school assessment.”
Members of both boards stressed their concerns and votes were not an indication of any lack of support for education, but of fiscal sustainability for their communities. The boards met in a joint session at Hanson Town Hall to discuss the financial implications of the school spending plam on municipal budgets, the urgent need for sustainable school budgets and their disappointment that there was a need for the towns to unite on budget issues in an effort to prevent cuts in other departments
“We’re really struggling right now,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said of her town’s budget, which she said could afford a 3.75-percent assessment increase, but still has more than $600,000 worth of cuts to make somewhere – after one round of budget trimming had already been done.
“When I say cuts, I want to be crystal clear that we have not targeted a department or people or positions, or anything. We may have to look at capital improvements and the like.”
She said cuts do not always translate to people’s jobs being cut.
Whitman Select Board Chair Randy LaMattina said that community is at a point where it can shoulder a 5-percent assessment increase right now, but “not a single penny more.”
“Anything more than that, we will have to start cutting,” he said. “If this [school] budget, as presented, were to go through, we would be facing crippling cuts within our town departments.”
While LaMattina declined to speculate on cuts, he cautioned they will be real, they would include jobs and would be “disastrous” for the town.
“I don’t think it’s the same as previous budget years,” he said. “We’re basically less than two weeks away from having to post our budget and I don’t think we’ve ever come down, since I’ve been involved in town politics, to a situation like this where it doesn’t seem we’ve really been listened to.”
He said that while Whitman has been pretty clear for a while about what the town could afford, “it seems to have gone over people’s heads” and he hopes the boards’ unified position will be clear.
“Their ask is what we’re really here to talk about,” LaMattina said.
FitzGerald-Kemmett agreed that the budget the towns are being asked to agree to would eviscerate Hanson’s budget.
“I don’t even want to speculate about what it would look like,” she said, making it clear that the Hanson Select Board is one that supports education, and she expressed confidence that Whitman officials feel the same way.
“You are looking at the daughter of a career high school history teacher,” she said. “I am not an anti-education person by any stretch of the imagination. I’ve spent years of my life raising money for the schools in a variety of capacities.”
When budget asks are reasonable – or even slightly beyond – she said she could probably support it.
A couple of years ago an override effort carried the threat that, without it police and fire layoffs would be needed, FitzGerald-Kemmett said, adding she is certain the residents do not ever want to see the town go through that again.
“There’s no way that this board can include the budget presented to us in our warrant,” she said. “We just can’t.”
Hanson Select Board members Joe Weeks, Ed Heal, Ann Rein and Jim Hickey were especially vocal in agreeing with FitzGerald-Kemmett that, while education is important, there are members of the Hanson community that simply cannot afford what is being asked.
“My grandparents live in town, and other people’s grandparents also live in town and we don’t want to tax people out of the town,” Weeks said, noting that, as Hickey has pointed out before, that a third of Hanson residents are of retirement age and on fixed incomes.
“We have to be mindful that we are advocating for the entirety of our constituency – not just a portion of it,” Weeks said, adding that the schools are doing their job advocating for education. “I may agree with that, but in tough times like this, it becomes incredibly more difficult, for us as leaders, to make incredibly hard decisions and lead and try to come to a decision that makes sense for everybody,”
“I’m against mismanagement,” Hickey said, emphasizing that he is not against education. “There are positions that are not needed. … The district got money from COVID, as the towns did, what did [the schools] do with that money if we were giving so much more of the one-time money?”
LaMattina said the boards, as policy makers in their respective towns, cannot support the school budget, but also stressed it’s not an education issue.
He also said the boards have to look at what got them to this point with the school budget, arguing it’s the district’s use of COVID funds such as the one-time ESSER grants for recurring cost positions, that concern him most.
“I actually used the word ‘reckless’ last year,” he said.
Using the funds to institute all-day K, while a predictable and needed risk, was still a risk and Whitman is having to use some one-time funds of its own this year to afford the 5 percent.
“We’re not seeing any growth in any other department,” he said, noting that both towns have been very vocal in where they’ve made cuts and what they can afford.
He said he was also disheartened to learn that the budget has not been included in the Wednesday, April 5 School Committee agenda.
Whitman Vice Chair Dan Salvucci said even a 5-percent increase would hurt other departments and that, like Hanson, Whitman has already made cuts.
“We’re running real thin to get to 5 percent,” he said.
Ambulance service challenges as well as staffing issues have cropped up in both towns due to the need to transport patients to hospitals at greater distances since the Brockton Hospital fire late last year.
Whitman’s Shawn Kain also pointed to sustainability as a key concern.
“We’ve gone to great lengths to understand how to create a financial plan that’s going to keep us in a sustainable situation,” Kain said, noting that Whitman has been lean on public safety over the last few years, but that the hold-harmless situation with the schools is eating most of the revenue.
“I think the 5 percent represents a number that allows us to fund the schools at a level that is sustainable, but also gives us some revenue to work with in other departments,” he said, but added a argument could be made that even that is not enough. “It’s not an easy dilemma.”
Whitman Select Board member Justin Evans also pointed out that, even at 5 percent the town is projecting about $270,000 in free cash.
“Because the schools are building the one-time money they used last year into their budget, into the assessment this year, we are using one-time money to keep up with it,” he said.

WHITMAN – The timing of a debt exclusion vote on the Whitman Middle School building project is still an open question, as the Select Board works through the process of deciding when to schedule a vote and how many ballots would be involved.
The Board on Tuesday, March 21, again discussed whether a separate election day should be set for a school funding vote, or whether it could be included on another voting day, since 2024 is also a state Presidential Primary election year.
The Board is slated to take up the issue again at its Tuesday, April 4 meeting.
“I’m most curious on what the impact would be on your department, either holding a special Town Election before a Presidential Primary – when we’re probably already early voting – or is it possible to have it concurrently with a single, two-ballot election?” Select Board member Justin Evans asked Town Clerk Dawn Varley.
Varley strongly cautioned against scheduling it for the same day as a March Presidential primary election day, because that election always involves more than two ballots.
“You’ve got three parties, then you have absentee/early voting ballots,” she said. “Now there’s six ballots, then you have the debt exclusion ballots, plus, that has to have an absentee ballot, so you’re talking about my office juggling eight ballots.”
A special election in conjunction with the annual Town Election is the simplest, cheapest way to accomplish the goal, Varley said, describing it as a “whole election,” including both ballots. She said if the town can’t wait that long, the best alternative is a special election.
“My position has always been that I think we need to look at what draws more of the voting population out,” Chair Randy LaMattina said. “We have to look at this and say, consistently, we have more voting population brought out during a Presidential Primary.”
Vice Chair Dan Salvucci agreed.
“The voices of as many town residents that we can get on the vote is the main thing,” he said.
Evans said the turnout numbers are certainly higher on the Presidential primaries, but in years where one party did not had a competitive primary, the numbers are more in line with an debt exclusion election.
Member Shawn Kain said the decision should hinge on whether it is the right thing to do.
“I’m not concerned with more work and more money,” he told Varley. “If it’s the right thing to do I think we can find a way to help you out.”
Varley said she was more concerned about confusion.
“The whole process is very confusing,” she said.
“A single day, two-ballot election is disastrous, especially with it being a Presidential Primary,” Varley said. “What happens is, you basically run two elections. You have to have two check-ins … You can’t “sell” the ballot [ask people if they want a school election ballot when a person asks for a primary ballot]. … I would strongly recommend not to do that.”
Presidential primaries generally have a higher turnout – 34 percent in 2000, 16 percent in 2004 – and in 2002, 22 percent of Whitman voters cast ballots in an initiative for the Fire Department. Other override elections have had turnouts in the range of 39 to 48 percent, however.
Varley said that her only requirement would be 35 days’ notice in which to schedule a vote.
“If it’s advertised – which I think it would be – and the interest is there, you would have the voters come,” she said.
Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter said having a single election with two ballots would save the town the cost of a separate election in some ways, and would reimburse some costs, but not for two elections.
The town does not use check-out tables any more. The town also “owns” the school referendum ballot, she said, explaining Whitman wouldn’t obtain state reimbursement for election costs and early voting would also be required because the state permits it for the primary.
Varley said mail-in ballots for absentee voting in the school election would have to be mailed separately with different labels on them. She also has them printed on different colored paper along with the needed instructions.
It would also not be possible to know – or check – to see if the ballots were put in the wrong directions, she said, adding that Town Clerk staff would not be permitted to switch ballots if they believe ballots are in the wrong envelopes.
In the last election using two separate ballots, Varley said she mailed them out separately about a week apart to help with confusion, but early ballot depositing would also necessitate the rental check-in machines to maintain separate voting lists for each ballot.
A person voting in the primary, however, could return to Town Hall to cast a vote in the school vote, because they are separate elections.
Evans asked if it would be possible to schedule the special Town Meeting required before the school project goes to the ballot, in early enough before the MSBA vote in the fall before to capture the remaining excess levy before the tax rate is set.
That would be sometime in late September, according to Building Committee member John Galvin. He and Evans both made the point that the Board could schedule the process early enough to provide the 35-day window to schedule the special election, and permit the special Town Meeting on the ballot question for 14 days before that.
Galvin said both the owner-project manager on the Whitman Middle School project, and the designer said the full financial documents could be available to the Select Board in time for an end of September Town Meeting.
Both would take place before the final MSBA vote.
“We have been told by both the OPM and the designer – the MSBA meeting is on Oct. 26 – but the meeting is pretty much a celebratory meeting,” Galvin said. Whitman would not even be scheduled for that meeting if the answer was going to be no.
Carter said she was not sure if the excess levy capacity could be known by November.
“It is definitely an artistic science,” Galvin said.
Kain said any confusion about the timing of a vote would not be helpful.
In other business, Fire Chief Timothy Clancy gave his regular COVID-19 report, saying the town had only 11 cases out of 227 tests performed, for a positivity rate of 4.85 percent.
“This number is remaining steady … since two weeks ago when it went down 50 percent,” he said. “Overall, we are trending down with our COVID numbers.”
The town has also been approved for the wastewater testing machine, which will help with the monitoring of COVID levels in wastewater.

The School Committee approved a fiscal 2024 budget of $60,638,657.69 an increase of 3.67 percent over last year, on Wednesday, March 15. The spending plan adds foreign language and STEM/robotics programs to a level-services package.
Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak had presented the level-service budget of $60,485,257.69 – an increase of 3.41 percent over last year – but said his recommendation was that $153,400 for foreign language Option 1 and a STEM/robotics curriculum be added to it.
The foreign language option costs $98,400, which would add $60,083.04, or .36-percent increase for Whitman, and $38,316.96, or a .29-percent increase in grades six through eight and to add robotics in K-grade eight curricula.
STEM and robotics costs $55,000, which would add $33,583 – or a .2 percent-increase to Whitman’s budget and $21,417 to Hanson’s budget for 1.6 percent increase to Hanson.
“At minimum, I recommend this committee sets the budget at $60,485,257.69 – or a 3.41-percent increase – but seriously consider adding foreign language Option 1 and STEM and robotics, which adds $153,400, or adjusting the budget to $60,638,675.69, to put us at an overall increase of 3.67 percent over last year,” Szymaniak said. He said the committee has heard from students and curriculum administrators about how students are progressing.
“I think they need opportunities as presented, but at minimum stick with our level service and a 3.41-percent increase to our budget,” he said. “I felt I need the committee to know where we’re at. … You’ve been able to see what the towns have presented us and, I appreciate what they’ve presented us.”
“My fear is the towns just don’t have the funds,” said member Fred Small, noting that Whitman had penciled in a 5-percent increase in the assessment. “I just don’t know where they come up with the money to pay.”
Hanson’s interim Town Accountant’s letter indicated even a 3-percent increase would leave them with deficits, Small said.
“One of two things happens, it’ll get shot down on the Town Hall floor, or their going to divvy is up and push it on an override,” he said. “My opinion is, if it comes to an override I’’d rather see us hold firm.”
Vice Chair Christopher Scriven said he came to discuss and vote on assessments as it stated in the agenda, to have the extra consideration of language and STEM/robotics program costs at that point made him pause and need time to consider it.
“I don’t know if I’m really ready to consider this,” Scriven said.
Chair Howard said a budget had to be voted that night.
“I’ve presented a budget with those two options in February, and they’ve been there,” Szymaniak said. “It’s something the committee doesn’t have to approve.”
He said district counsel Andrew Waugh recommended the budget not be increased after March 15.
Small, while supporting the students supported the original level-service budget minus the lanquages and STEM/robotics because the towns’ fiscal positions are so tenuous.
Member Beth Stafford stressed that, while the towns are facing financial challenges, the committee and school district are not asking the towns to foot the bill for the data breach they had last summer.
“This is level-service,” she said. “Level service is not always the greatest thing, folks [it] means you don’t go anywhere further.”
She also noted the familiar territory of the strain between town and school committee roles.
“This is the conversation that always comes up,” Stafford said. “And the conversation is, ‘What’s our job here on the School Committee?’ Yes, we represent the towns, but our main focus is the students and what we have to do.”
Member Dawn Byers noted the budget doesn’t address start times or strengthening the school-community connection, but while they could do better, she said the budget reflects the real cost of the district’s needs for education. She also argued that an increase of 3.41 percent is below what both towns have certified with the DOR as their annual municipal revenue growth factor – 4 percent for Whitman and 3.9 percent for Hanson this year.
Whitman Selectmen Shawn Kain and Justin Evans also weighed in on the school budget.
Kain said the hold-harmless situation created the “tragic dilemma” for the towns.
“Because we’ve been in hold-harmless for so long, we aren’t getting enough state aid t sustain the budget,” he said. “That’s the answer. That’s it.”
The situation frequently pits town departments and the school district against each other at Town Meeting, often forcing a decision between funding other town departments or seeking an override.
Evans said the 4.3 percent projected municipal revenue growth comes to a bit less than $1.7 million of total growth to spend everywhere.
Between the level-service plus two additional programs for the schools and the Plymouth County retirement assessment of about $300,000, all that money is used, he said.
Finance Committee member Kathlen Ottina, however urged the committee to hold fast to Szymaniak’s recommendation.
“It’s early in the budget process,” she said. “We still have budgets to be heard at the Finance Committee level and, if you don’t ask for it tonight, you can’t ask for it later.”
Member David Forth advocated for the language and technology programs to prepare for the long-term needs of educating students for the future.
“If we don’t add services now, we kick the can once again for level services,” he said. “What are we doing next year? … We really need to think about the long-term aspect.”
Howard said figures reviewed the five-year in September that included a budget with a 3.13 percent increase for level services.
“Our students are not getting anything more with this budget,” member Hillary Kniffen said. “A level-serviced budget is the best that we have. The cost of educating children has increased.”
“I will not accept that there’s a surprise when we start talking about some of these numbers because we’ve talked about them for over a year,” he said.
Szymaniak said the South Shore Superintendent’s group met with legislators and informed them how problematic a 14-percent increase in out-of-district special education tuition was, but he has not included that increase in the FY ’24 budget.
The final figure is still to be determined, he said.
“They’re bringing some of those thoughts back to the House,” Szymaniak said. “However, if nothing is done, we will receive tuition bills this summer, and we’re obligated to pay them.”
The committee, last year, decided to keep a one-year Circuit Breaker allowance in reserve to either apply to the following fiscal year’s budget or to use it for extenuating costs or circumstances.
A portion it is being used for the budget and a portion will be used for the latter, using them once they are appropriated in October to pay off the debt for that increase.
“I’m hoping it won’t be 14 percent, but I doubt that it will be the 3 percent that I allocated within the budget,” Szymaniak said. “Best case, it may be 7 [percent].”
If Circuit Breaker is not needed, it will go toward the FY ’25 budget next year.
Where excess and deficiency is concerned, $1.718 million is in that account, and the district will have to access $605,000 to pay invoices in excess of our insurance coverage to make the district whole in the wake of the computer and data breach it sustained in July 2022.
“We’re not going to the towns to make us whole from that breach,” he said. “The transfer will leave $1.13 million in E&D for FY ’24.”
Whitman has made its town budget available to the district and information has been received from Hanson regarding the funds they have earmarked for the district.
Member Steve Bois agreed with Howard that the committee has had all the numbers and criteria for the budget.
“We can do better,” she said. “It’s not in this budget right now, but we have room for improvement.”

HANSON – The Select Board voted, on Tuesday, March 14 to establish a task force to determine the direction for operations at the Transfer Station and the most economical way to dispose of trash, following a presentation by and discussion with Health Board Chair Melissa Pinnetti.
Pinnetti, Town Accountant Eric Kinscherf and Finance Committee Chair Michael Dugan, who have already been working on the issue, were officially named members of the task force.
Citing cost considerations and quotes from hauling firms, Pinnetti said there is a need to make the transfer station’s vital operation for residents more economical, especially for seniors, who cannot afford private trash hauling services. While no exact length of the task force’s work has been made, she said the hope is to have something prepared for the special Town Meeting in October.
“Significantly more than half the town does not utilize the transfer station, so that means they are paying for their trash to be handled some other way,” she said. “They are also paying through their taxes for funding the transfer station.”
Select Board member Joe Weeks pointed to the “substantial amount of folks in this town that are on fixed income and depend heavily on the transfer station.”
“What we’re trying to do right now is be able to gather other data to make informed decisions about what has the operational cost [been] over the past five to 10 years, and how can we use that to project into the future?” he said. “This is protecting the citizens, but also being able to stretch the tax dollar as far as we can possibly go and [use] it in a meaningful way.”
Weeks said the task force is necessary to allow town officials to hone in and try to figure out what kind of recommendations can be made to the town.
“We kind of need to get everybody’s input on this,” he said. “We want the town to be part of it.”
Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said she liked the “cross-pollination” of the different groups working together.
“Everybody’s coming together, looking at what’s best for the town and cohesively making a recommendation, and I just love that,” she said.
Pinnetti was asked in September to have the Board of Health to outline ways to address long-standing budget issues at the transfer station. The town has issued 1,800 stickers, for a fee, to residents who use the transfer station.
“I know more about trash and transfer stations now than I thought I would,” she said in outlining what has been done in the interim and an article being presented to Town Meeting.
The contract for hauling and disposal of refuse from the transfer station had been expired for quite some time, Pinnetti said, causing recycling expenses to go in flux with the market since China stopped accepting bulk recycling shipments.
“We may have been paying much more than we needed to over those many years,” she said, adding that she and Health Agent Gil Amado had met with Waste Management officials about obtaining a quote for their services both at the transfer station and for town-wide pickup. She also requested a quote from E.L. Harvey out of Westborough, which now services the transfer station.
She called comparing the two quotes “eye-opening.”
The Health Board plans to enter a one-year contract with Harvey, which came in “substantially lower” with their quote than Waste Management. The cost for the rental compactors alone was about five times higher for WM than for Harvey, she said.
There has been a 23-percent increase in hauling and a 25-percent increase in the cost for equipment rental at the transfer station operating expenses from 2016 to now, according to Pinnetti. But it has been 116-percent higher for tipping fee for mainstream waste per ton in addition to the cost of getting rid of recycling.
“The overwhelming cost of operations comes from our hauling and municipal disposal,” Pinnetti said. “We started discussing in our meetings how we could tonnage of mainstream waste, which included the decision to open the Swap Shop, which seems to be a hit.”
Pinnetti said she hopes to see more residents “shopping” the Swap Shop as the weather improves in the spring.
“Kudos on that, Melissa,”FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “That was a great idea, and our thanks to the board for that, because it showed great initiative.”
Pinnetti also credited transfer station attendants for doing a great job in trying to deal with the frustrations involved in starting any such project from scratch, and said the Board of Health is looking to bringing on some volunteers to help run the Swap Shop on a long-term basis and has discussed grant opportunites with Claire Galkowski, executive director of the South Shore Recycling Cooperative to help improve transfer station operations, as well.
Pinnetti said he has also been reviewing the 2014 Town Meeting article that established the transfer station enterprise fund and revenue trends since.
“The wheels on this are going to turn very slowly,” said Dugan. “I’m not saying this will be the end result, but if this was something where you moved to curbside for the entire town, this is about a two-year project.”
Costs for any new equipment, including additional trucks and drivers a compnay might need, among other considerations would mean a longer ramp-up.
“Nothing is going to change today,” Dugan said. “Nothing is going to change a year from now. Quite frankly, we’re looking at a budget that is projecting $200,000 in revenue generated to support $420,000 worth of expenses.”
He said the town would be better off looking to other options, adding it may end up back in the same place, but it’s time to work on finding out what can and can’t be done, rather than just keep filling the revenue gap.
“At this point, because of the dynamics changing so significantly that really couldn’t have ever been predicted … I think it would be irresponsible for us not to explore other options,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “I want to be super-clear that we will at all times take into consideration that we have employees working there and think about what their long-term impact would be and how we might best serve them, as well.”
Joe Weeks lauded the work Pinnetti, Dugan and Kinscherf have already done and sought to make clear that the presentation was in the interest of transparency, so the public can become involved and help brainstorm new ideas.
Select Board member Jim Hickey also pointed to the fuel costs, as diesel has remained high even while gas prices have come down a bit. He also asked for a ballpark figure for curbside pickup.
WM provided a quote of $1.5 million for the 3,800 homes using the service, based on comparable towns, but that a more specific figure would take a couple weeks to calculate.
Resident Frank Milisi said that estimate is comparable to what residents are paying for private hauling, about $112 per quarter, right now. He also said a 20-percent fuel surcharge had been added to the residential customers’ bills last quarter.
“I really want to emphasize that, whatever happens has to be affordable for those people that are not using curbside pickup,” Select Board member Ann Rein said. “And there’s a reason why. I don’t use curbside. I use the transfer station and I know many people my age and older who do the same thing, because it’s too expensive to have curbside pickup for us. … I’m afraid about my neighbors.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett said she, also, is a transfer station user and loves that trash doesn’t have to sit around waiting to be picked up.
“But what I’ve heard these guys say, is they’re going to try to do a Herculean task to figure out what’s in the best interests of the entire town of Hanson,” she said. “We’ve got competing needs, we need cost-efficiencies, we want convenience, we don’t want to bankrupt anybody.”
In other business, Town Administrator Lisa Green updated the board on the progress Building Inspector Kerry Glass was making in obtaining the licensing credentials required by the state.
“He has been taking courses and has taken a couple of exams,” Green said. “I’m not sure if he’s found out whether he’s passed them or not.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett asked for a more through update at next week’s meeting.
Glass, who was on vacation, left a list of projects in town he has been overseeing with Green, who read them to the board.

WHITMAN – A decision on how to proceed with the timing and logistics of a special Town Meeting and ballot question on the Whitman Middle School project has been delayed to Tuesday, March 21, so Town Clerk Dawn Varley can attend a Select Board meeting to answer some lingering questions on how the board might proceed.
Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter, at the Select Board’s Tuesday, March 7, meeting reported that delaying the Town Meeting and election for the project would add three months to the schedule and .5 percent monthly to the cost.
“Our last meeting was basically a brain-storming session of what this board felt … we needed to question a bit and find some solutions, and I don’t think, at any point any decisions were made,” Select Board Chair Randy LaMattina said, noting that Carter had researched the issue of timing the special Town Meeting and ballot initiative for the project. “Whether or not we get a date this evening – I think we definitely should by the next meeting.”
Carter said she met with Project Manager John Bates to discuss the timeline and the difference waiting to hold the ballot question to the March Presidential Primary Election might make.
“The WMS project is a massive project,” she said. It would be the largest municipal building project to date in Whitman, with an estimated borrowing cost to the town of about $72 million. The added .5 percent monthy cost from a delay could come to and additional $1,530,000.
The total cost of the project is estimated to be $127 million, with the Massachusetts School Building Authority funding about $55 million.
While a portion of the $1.5 million escalation cost would also be partially reimbursed by MSBA, the town would still have to pay more than $800,000 the cost of delay.
Carter said that waiting until the Presidential Primary vote would ensure the question that would be seen by the most voters.
“I think we’ve all seen that per the last major single-ballot vote we had was on the marijuana issue that fell on a holiday time – we did not have an extensive turnout for that,” LaMattina said.
The WMS Town Meeting was initially scheduled around Thanksgiving with a ballot question soon after.
“I personally would hate to see a borrowing and funding vote, that would be historical for this town, fall with minimum turnout,” he said.
“It makes all kinds of sense to try to attract the greatest number of people because it is an expensive item and it is such an important item for the parents of the town,” Select Board member Dr. Carl Kowalski agreed.
Select Board member Justin Evans, who had initially suggested tying the ballot question to the Presidential Primary date, said the $800,000 impact of such a delay is “a little hard for me to swallow,” however.
“I agree we should try to get as high turnout as possible, but to do so and really raise the cost of the project on the taxpayers – I don’t know if that’s the right move for this board,” Evans said.
Vice Chair Dan Salvucci, maintained that it is more important to give the most people possible a chance to voice their opinion and vote.
“My feeling is this project has been out there for a couple of years now, and to be able to move forward as quickly as possible, is not irresponsible,” he said, agreeing with LaMattina that holding a vote or Town Meeting during the holidays is not a good idea.
“You’re trying to fight a Thanksgiving turkey, Santa Claus, etc.,” he said.
But he suggested a January 2024 special Town Meeting followed by a ballot initiative in February would bring out people interested in the project, good and bad.
“If it can be earlier for the ballot vote, that’s fine, too,” Small said.
Building Committee member John Galvin asked for clarification on the necessary timeline for voting on the project, noting that an Oct. 26 MSBA meeting is being looked to for its final vote, but said there is no reason the Select Board has to wait for that date.
“That [MSBA] meeting is more or less a ceremonial approval to move forward to the vote,” he said, suggesting that the Town Meeting could be as early as Oct. 30.
Galvin also asked what the required time span is between Town Meeting and a ballot initiative.
Former Town Administrator Frank Lynam said 35 days are required between the two votes. While the annual Town Meeting and elections are set in the by-law.
“They are considered one event,” he said. “The meeting and the election comprise one event, and that’s why there isn’t a further expanse of time between the two,” he said. Otherwise, the Town Clerk must be given 35 days to present the ballot.
“There is no negotiating that,” Lynam said.
LaMattina noted that the building committee is also working on a deadline. They have 980 days to get it on a ballot from the time MSBA invites a community into the process.
The Whitman project already has had to file an extention because the Building Committee had to seek an RFS for the OPM twice. A January special Town Meeting, meanwhile, would require a primary day ballot anyway.
Another wrinkle, as Galvin brought to the board’s attention that only the list of candidates for president are included on a Presidential Primary ballot.
“You would need a second ballot at that election,” he said.
“I see that as an issue,” Salvucci said.
Evans suggested asking the Town Clerk’s office about whether or not they can even process two ballots simultaneously. Carter said the town consulted the Secretary of the Commonwealth said including a second ballot is not a problem at all.
Evans said a high early vote, which is used in Presidential primaries and general elections also presents a separate problem.
“I think for the turnout, it’s worthwhile and, for logistical, I’d think the timeline is going to be there anyway,” Evans said.
“You may want to think about that before you take a vote, because that will be a separatee cost,” Galvin said.
Thanks, Frank!
Before the meeting got down to business, Kowalski thanked Lynam for serving as interim town administrator,
“We have had the good fortune of having our former town administrator serve as the interim town administrator and as an assistant to Mary Beth in this transition period,” Kowalski said. “On behalf of the board, even though they don’t know I’m doing this, I’d like to thank Frank for doing so. As we all know, Frank was a town administrator for a very long time – a lot of good things happened while he was.”
He ticked off accomplishments such as a comparatively low tax rate, a new police station, improvements to the Town Hall and fire station and a new high school among them.
“But this interim period has been a tricky one and Frank jumped into it,” he said. “He didn’t have to. He was home with his grandchildren, and I just wanted to say thank you [to] him.”
Then Kowalski, leaning on his noted sense of humor, presented Lynam with a gift of cookies made by Leslie Diorio, bearing the “town seal” – an illustration of the marine animal balancing a ball bearing the official town seal, on its nose.
“One of the more interesting things we had happen during [Frank’s] tenure, was the cookie fiasco,” Kowalski said.
The design referenced an incident earlier in the year, when she had made cookies with the official Town Seal as refreshments for a joint Select Board/Finance Committee, which led to a complaint filed by the Keeper of the Seal for misuse of the official seal. A second cookie design featured the words, “Thanks for leading our circus.”
“You’ve done a great service to the town,” LaMattina said about Lynam.
Carter also thanked him “You stepped in, and I know you didn’t think you’d be here this long, it did take us a bit, but I think the wait was worth it and I think things worked out great for the town and I personally wanted to thank you.”
“And I really want to thank you,” Carter added. “I’ll never be a Frank Lynam, but I’ll do my best.”

W-H school district officials presented a potential plan for how school start times are viewed, among other transportation topics, during their Wednesday, Feb. 15 meeting.
Start Times were changed in 2012 to help trim budget costs, in an effort to save money on transportation costs in a tough budget year. It was only intended as a temporary measure but has not been changed in 11 years, Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak said.
One option to changing start times again – moving middle school starts earlier, followed by high school and elementary school starts – would have required 13 buses and was rejected
“First of all, I can’t do it in the middle of the contract, secondly … my transportation director said, ‘You’re never going to get the drivers,’” Szymaniak Said. “First Student does not have those drivers right now.”
Of three other scenarios, would cost $10,000 per day more.
Despite some initial confusion over past discussions of the start time issue and agenda language, School Committee Chair Christopher Howard said no vote would be taken at the meeting.
The members of the Student Advisory Council, speaking during the meeting’s public forum, said their peers in W-H schools, particularly at Conley and Indian Head Elementary schools, a majority supported starting earlier – even before 7 a.m. – concerned that starting later would interfere with school activities.
Noah Roberts said the Council members had visited students at the elementary and middle schools to survey them on a number of topics, which they said they would report to the committee at another time.
“[Conley students] felt that having an earlier start time would allow them to do more social activities and participate in their schedule more,” he said. But Hanson students, were more split. The Council found that the students would love to participate in more after-school activities, especially those curtailed by COVID.
A proposed change – out of a range of options discussed by the School Committee – would change the high school day to 7:20 a.m. to 1:55 p.m.; middle schools to 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; Conley to 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Duval to 9:35 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. and Indian Head to 9:05 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. with no additional cost to the district.
Before the start time change, the high school started classes at 7:25 a.m., elementary grades at about 8:30 a.m., with middle schools beginning their day at 7:45 a.m. The district ran 10 more buses at that time.
A past concern of Hanson parents that students were dealing with extremely long bus rides, it became apparent that drivers on some routes were stopping at every house instead of designated stops.
Szymaniak said that has been stopped.
“We started looking at different drivers who were accommodating different people,” he said, noting the school district did not have its own tracking devices to get a handle on it sooner. “I don’t want to throw it on First Student, but the driver shortage has impacted who we have. … If the kids say, ‘drop me off here,’ they’re dropping them off there.”
Szymaniak said he believes that having the right technology would stop it completely.
The current First Student contract stipulates that the district assigns the bus stops.
“But no parent’s going complain that their kid gets picked up at their house,” Committee member Glen DiGravio said. “That’s why it’s never been brought up.”
He admitted with a laugh that he complains about the time on the bus all the time, but is also happy his kid gets picked up at his house.
Another challenge to any change in start times is the need to align the elementary schools to a 6.5-hour day that the fifth-graders in Hanson have, Szymaniak said.
Committee member Dawn Byers said that is the most important aspect of the start time discussions.
“It involves zero expense increase,” she said last week. “Moving the high school start time also involves zero expense increase.”
Szymaniak said during the Feb. 15 meeting that the added costs came into play in attempting to align elementary start times.
He said that, while students at the high school want later start times, but many they have also said they don’t want to leave for the day past 2 p.m. Athletic Director Bob Rodgers has assured Szymaniak that, if high school students get out by 2:30 p.m., he can get student-athletes to games.
Committee member Fred Small asked if any start time change would have to be bargained with the teacher’s union. Szymaniak said it would be a bargaining point.
“What’s important is that we talk about the facts vs. the myths,” Byers said. “Talk about science, and the wellness of students.”
She said the issue included considerations of social-emotional wellness as well as physical health and nutrition.
“If the science says they should start later, then we should go with science before we go with the kids saying what they want,” Vice Chair Christopher Scriven said, noting he did not want to discourage students from voicing their concerns.
“We’re focused on the start times, but the CDC recommends ‘reasonable curfews’ at night for students,” said Committee member Michelle Bourgelas. “What time are these kids going to bed? … High school kids can be parented.” She also expressed concern that, in the interest of ending the high school day in time for sports, other extra-curricular activities lose out.
Any school start time has to be bargained with the teacher unions, Szymaniak said, but the School Committee first has to make a decision on a change.
“What no one wants to admit is that we are hurting kids,” Byers said, advocating an 8:30 high school start time student health and well-being. “We are intentional about that … the 7:05 a.m. [high school start] can’t continue.”
Committee member Hillary Kniffen said elementary school kids who do extra-curricular activities are not being included in the conversation.
“Might I remind everybody we are dealing with children,” she said “The kids who will be in fifth-grade next year, were in first grade when the world shut down [during the pandemic]. These are kids who have not had the opportunity to develop responsibility and social skills and things [that other] children had because they’re older.”
She advocated educating all families on the potential effects of school start times, because the high school students seem to be the primary focus of concern.
“I am 100-percent in favor of getting healthy start times for all of our students, but I think we have seen some tunnel vision and we need to … get out there with the solutions to this problem,” Kniffen said.
DiGravio agreed that there is no ideal solution, but argued if parents send their kids to bed early enough to get eight hours of sleep the start times are workable, noting the average start time in the state is 7:50 and in the country at 8 a.m. For high schoolers.
“It’s a lot of money and a lot of moving parts for 20 emails,” he said. “How many people truly want this besides voices we hear here? I’m not sold.”
Start time issue aside, Committee member David Forth said it was good to see the 20 to 30 emails from parents on the issue.
“Since I’ve been on the School Committee, there’s very few instances that I’ve seen parental outreach that much,” he said. “They took the time to reach out to the School Committee and voice their opinion. It’s nice to have their input, it’s nice to have student input, and these are things we haven’t had much of in the past.”
Howard calculated that, if the latest they want an elementary school to let out is 3:30 p.m., then the earliest they can open is 8 a.m.
“We know the early part,” he said. “There’s certainly a concern about starting school too early, but we need to understand the back-end.”
He concluded the committee needs more information from more people.
Parent Chris George of Whitman stressed that circadian body rhythms were the concern for healthy students, noting while school events in the lower grades start before 7 p.m., high school events are another matter.
“We have school-sponsored, high school events that go until late at night,” he said. “If we’re not willing to move the start time, are we prepared to tell Bob Rodgers he can’t have a 7:30 p.m. Basketball game? … Those are the things that you need to start doing if you can adjust the front [end].”
George argued moving the high school start time affects the most amount of kids and is the best choice for the current situation, but it has to come with a long-term plan. His kids, who no longer go to school in the W-H district both get up after the high school bus has come and gone in the morning and they both play sports and enjoy after-school activities.
Another parent said the survey sent out focused on high school students, but felt the other grades have not been sufficently considered.

WHITMAN — The Select Board on Tuesday, Feb. 21 discussed the timing of a special Town Election in which to vote on a proposed new Whitman Middle School, as is required by the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA).
Chair Randy LaMattina provided an update on the Whitman Middle School project, forecast to cost about $127.5 million for a grade five through eight school with an auditorium. The town’s portion is estimated in the range of $67.1 million to $73.1 million, depending on the MSBA reimbursement.
A website is being set up by the owner’s project manager, dedicated to straight information, with a lot of the documents presented at the Building Committee meetings posted to it, LaMattina said. The board voted to permit IT Director Josh MacNeil to link that site to the town’s website. MacNeil and Finance Committee member Kathleen Ottina have also been added to the Building Committee.
MSBA is looking to the town to hold a special Town Meeting that would later go to a ballot initiative on the project in November 2023, LaMattina said.
“What was discovered was there was no funding source within the feasibility study for [the special election],” he said. “We need to make arrangements to have that placed in the Town Clerk’s budget line.”
LaMattina said he discussed with the Building Committee that November Town Meetings and special elections are not really the norm.
Former Town Administrator Frank Lynam said the town has about $23,000 on hand in voter reimbursement from the state, which could certainly be a source from which to pay for a meeting and election. It would not require further appropriation.
“Is there a time frame in November they’re looking at?” Select Board member Justin Evans asked, noting that since there is a presidential primary in March anyway, it might make more sense to hold a special election at that time, since that is a high-voter turnout canvass.
“How specific are the MSBA guidelines?” Evans asked.
“What we have is, ‘Any time in November,’” LaMattina said.
“We will have an election already, being held in Town Hall which will probably have a higher turnout,” Evans said. “It makes sense to me to run a second ballot alongside the primary ballot, so every voter comes and grabs two and casts a yes or no on a new middle school.”
Evans said he wasn’t certain how a March 2024 ballot question would impact the school timeline.
LaMattina said he would send the appropriate emails to explore that option.
In other business, Whitman needs to use all of its renewable revenue, School Committee member Dawn Byers said during the public forum, prepared remarks about the town’s levy capacity.
“We are not doing that right now, from what I see,” she said “When you, the Board of Selectmen vote to set the tax rate and the tax levy in the fall, if you do so, and it is not at the full 2.5 percent as permitted by Mass. General Law, then the difference is called the excess levy capacity,” she said.
She recalled that she had stood at the podium in March 2019 to ask questions about a revenue problem, when residents were told that the town faced, when in fact, it was related to the tax levy revenue collections. Byers pointed to an excess levy of about $350,000 available and former Town Administrator Frank Lynam made corrections and was able to collect it.
“We see this online in the Department of Revenue Certified Data,” she said. The Madden report also referenced the correction done in 2020, Byers noted. “This is one more indication of Whitman’s need to use all of its available renewable revenue to balance its budget and other obligations.”
She also recounted how the Select Board approved a tax levy with only $10,000 remaining, and in 2022, that amount was $18,000. “[That’s] a major improvement, however it doesn’t erase the collection deficit from prior years totaling more than $4 million in tax revenue not collected,” she said. “Something looks off this year, as well. The excess is up to $278,000.”
Board Vice Chair Dan Salvucci reminded Byers that the board routinely votes for a property tax factor of one, meaning businesses and homeowners pay the same tax rate as recommended by the Board of Assessors.
Lynam explained that the excess levy is established when the assessor prepares the tax status for the town with the recap sheet used to calculate an estimated levy.
“The actual levy is not calculated until they receive all the certified values from Patriot and they complete all of the reviews in their office to enter into the DOR gateway system,” he said.
The DOR calculates the numbers for us. At the time this year’s special Town Meeting convened, the town didn’t know what the levy was. Two weeks before the tax classification hearing the town was reported to be $268,000 over the levy limit.
“We have no control over what is calculated until it’s presented to this board,” Lynam said, adding that there are methods that can be used to capture that additional levy. Typically towns will underestimate revenues in an effort to increase the amount of the levy to back into the total number. “But in this particular instance, we didn’t know what that number was,” he said. “I’d love to be able to capture it, but I’d have to have the tools to do it.”
LaMattina said Byers had mentioned the issue before and asked Lynam to explain 2013 again – the year National Grid caused a ballooning of its personal property taxes.
Lynam said the town had been struggling to come up with numbers then, too, while dealing with a payment on the police station inside the levy. When he plans a budget, he said he asks the assessor for estimates of growth and numbers for the increase in the levy on Proposition 2 ½.
“In 2013, we were told our growth was … $240,000,” he said. “No matter how we looked at it, those were the numbers we had. We didn’t see the $1.1 million until the night of the classification hearing. … I was really taken aback by that number. It was a huge number. We were actually stunned.”
The funds were all in utilities, which changed last year, which used to send a letter to the town stating increases in assets and personal property. That became the basis for the tax, according to Lynam. The letters, date-stamped in January, were never presented to the town through the entire budget cycle.
“We had no idea that kind of growth was out there,” he said. “We didn’t know about that until it was too late to do anything with it.”
It was personal property growth that best estimates showed it would be gone in six to eight years, but it increases real estate assessments increase to maintain the levy when the personal property values drop.
“There’s no vote by anyone, there’s no action by anyone, it’s just a consequence of balances,” he said. “There’s no provision for reducing your assessments unless all of the numbers drop in value. It was an unfortunate situation. It was crazy, actually.”
Select Board member Shawn Kain said he would be looking into the issue and said he appreciated her willingness to ask hard questions.
To help the town recoup needed revenue, Byers has also suggested the town consider increasing the lease on the Self Help Inc.-operated Head Start program building opposite Whitman Park at 168 Whitman Ave.
Self Help is a nonprofit agency operated out of Brockton that also manages a fuel assistance program among others.
She noted the property could be valued at potentially $1 million.
“Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fantastic program,” Byers said. “It’s one of six locations in southeastern Mass., licenced by DEEC and supports low-income families throughout the year. You will not find a greater supporter of early childhood education than myself – I’ve gone on record about that.” But, she said, her concern is not about the programs provided by Self Help to the community, but whether the town can afford to “give away a building for free.”
Byers said the building is a valuable revenue stream the town may be letting slip away while telling taxpayers the town can’t afford other areas of a budget.

HANSON – People may complain about their cable bill, but they seem to value the services of the local cable access channels – especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, when people felt isolated during the health restrictions on public gatherings.
The Hanson Select Board held a public hearing with Comcast Communications LLC of Massachusetts during its Tuesday, Feb. 7 meeting regarding renewal of the Whitman Hanson Community Access contract with the town of Hanson.
Select Board member Ann Rein was unable to attend the meeting.The process aims to identify the future cable-related community needs and interest in reviewing the contract under the current provider. The current 10-year contract expires June 1, 2025.
“It’s required to start this renewal process well in advance because of all the formalities that need to take place,” Town Administrator Lisa Green said. Attorney William Sullivan, who represents the town in the renewal process took part in the hearing to go over the specifications.
“Never has community television and the assistance they have provided to both towns – Whitman and Hanson – and the Commonwealth … has it been recognized as such an essential part of the community,” he said of the cable access company’s service during the COVID pandemic. “Those were [among] the essential workers who allowed democracy and government to continue.”
Without it, for several months, local government would have ceased.
Cable access has continued to see public access coverage of government activities make up more of their schedule.
“If you show me a community that has strong local television, I’ll show you a town that works together toward democracy as its goals,” Sullivan said.
He has worked with Hanson during the two previous renewal processes and said his role is to determine how the federal cable law incentivizes both sides to figure out what’s important for the town to negotiate a license.
Comcast began as a small local company whose employees “understand localism,” according to Sullivan.
WHCA-TV executive director Eric Dresser made a presentation on the history of the access channel’s service to the town. He has been with WHCA since 2017. Hanson had 2,292 subscribers out of 10,639 residents as of 2021, and Whitman had 2,160 subscribers out of 15,121 residents in that same year.
Established in 2002, WHCA has gained a production truck for live TV programming, outfitted auditoriums for town meeting broadcasts and moved to tapeless production during that time.
Hanson Veterans’ Agent Timothy White said WHCA provided the ability for him to honor the community’s fallen when public health restrictions on the number of people allowed to gather in public during COVID threatened the event in 2020.
“It was a very difficult situation,” he said. “We really didn’t have clear or set guidelines on what to do, we didn’t have a parade. … The ability to project [that year’s program] and send that out to the community was huge … WHCA was a great partner on that day and every day.”
Indian Head Elementary Principal Dr. Joel Jocelyn said he has also had a very beneficial and constructive partnership with WHCA, which has taped events at the school so the community can see what type of programs are offered.
“But, even more than that, it’s valuable in enhancing the leadership skills of some of our students,” he said, noting the fourth-grade student council members have been able to learn about for their own video work. “You can’t put a price on something like this.”
Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak told the Select Board that the 10 members of the School Committee, representing both towns, unanimously endorsed WHCA.
“Being a [school administrator], I live in a world of Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook, and I think ‘old reliable’ is TV,” he said. “It’s a real medium for us to get our message out. … They’re professional. They’re always unbiased in how they approach things and they’re always available.”
Carlos Caldas of 87 Waltham St., asked if the town has a cable committee, which Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said the town does not have, and what has Comcast offered. FitzGerald-Kemmett said the negotiation process had not yet reached that point.
Caldas said he should like to serve on any Cable Committee the town might establish and has undergone the ethics training.
FitzGerald-Kemmett said it might be a good time to establish a subcommittee for the negotiations, but Select Board Vice Chair Joe Weeks said the board had dissolved the committee last year, when Caldas was the only active member.
“I think that was an opportunity for us to, before we talk of removing things, figuring out how to utilize talent appropriately, and we never circled back to it,”: Weeks said. “To me, it makes sense that, if we have people who are willing to help out in some way, if we already had a foundation that existed … maybe it’s worthwhile to come back to it.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett said at the time people expressing an interest in applying, thought they were actually applying to the W-H Cable Access board,” she said, asking Sullivan what he saw in other communities.
He said there are varying degrees of acitivity with cable committees around the state.
“There are a lot of things a committee could do,.” he said. “The best committees are those that stay together in some way [during] the 10-year period.”
The Select Board will discuss reviving the Cable Committee at the board’s next meeting on Tuesday, Feb.21.
Whether or not that committee is re-establish, Select Board member Jim Hickey recommended getting Caldas to advise the board on what would be best for the town. The Select Board agreed to that.
Historical Commission member Teresa Santalucia also voiced support for WHCA for its help with an interview project recording the memories of Hanson residents as part of the town’s 200th anniversary project.
WHCA has also covered her family’s Red Acres Christmas Sing event for several years.
“You’re finding in the aftermath of COVID that people are feeling disconnected and isolated, and sometimes that connectivity, even if it’s just through cable, watching an event or meeting, does help people feel a little bit more connected,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
Green also expressed support for WHCA, in her role as a private citizen who hosts a Halloween car show to benefit Dollars for Scholars.
“It’s a great way to see … what went on in their neighborhood and community,” she said.
FitzGerald-Kemmett said WHCA’s broadcasting of events and meetings in both towns helps inform Hanson residents about their partner town in the regional school district, as well.
Dresser said WHCA serves more than 200 nonprofit groups, 43 departments and committees – broadcasting 412 government meetings since 2018. They have covered 82 events at the schools over the past 10 years, as well as 1,400 unique programs produced by their staff.
WHCA also devoted time and resources for extensive information about the pandemic and coverage of events during COVID.
“We remain ready to stay dynamic and ready to pivot for whatever might come in the future, and with sufficient resources … we stand ready to continue to proudly fulfil our mission statement,” he said.
More information, as well as opportunities to comment are still available on the WHCA website, whca.tv.