WHITMAN – Could Whitman and Hanson share accounting services?

Interim Town Administrator Frank Lynam asked that question during the Tuesday, Dec. 20 Select Board meeting. The board expressed their willingness to give Lynam authority to explore the issue.

“I would like to look at the possibility of engaging either an accountant or an accounting service – probably, preferably an accountant that could divide his or her time between the towns of Whitman and Hanson and the formula should be relatively easily based on transactional workload,” Lynam said, suggesting a formula could be formulated that is acceptable to both. He stressed that he is not saying the town would hire someone right away.

“All I’m asking for is to see if the board is amenable to my pursuing this a little further in finding out what the level of interest might be in Hanson and whether or not it’s in our mutual interest to do something like this,” Lynam said. “If there isn’t, nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

Both towns are currently without an accountant after their accountants – who in both cases, were working one day per week – resigned in Hanson’s case,

[see related story page 1] and accepted a position as treasurer/collector in Whitman.

Whitman is currently contracting with Eric Kinscherf, who had also offered his services to Hanson, but that town is issuing a request for proposals for the work.

Lynam said that, while the arrangement with Kinscherf is working out well, it raised the question of what the town really needs in terms of accounting services.

Whitman is a town of 14,000 people with a budget of $43 million. Hanson has about 9,000 people with a budget of between $31 million and $32 million.

“The logical thought that occurs to me is, ‘Can we team together and take a regional approach to accounting,” Lynam said. “Franklin County Council of Government does that very well.

Hanson’s former accountant Todd Hassett also provided services for several towns, with Hanson being a one-day-a-week service, he noted. Whitman also has had accounting services for one day a week and it has been working.

With today’s technology, he said it is easier to maintain operations and records electronically, which takes a lot of the concern out of it.

Vice Chair Dan Salvucci asked if a larger group of towns would be worth looking into for a regional approach, but was in favor of exploring the idea.

The larger the group, the more demands are going to be placed on a person,” Lynam said about a larger regional effort.

Select Board member Shawn Kain said he felt having someone like former accountant Ken Lytle on staff is a valuable resource for the town and the Select Board, and a new town administrator might want to take a different path.

“I wouldn’t mind doing something like this for short term to get us through a period of time, but I feel like it’s a big decision to make as far as the financial team is concerned,” he said.

Select Board member Justin Evans said it is an interesting thing to explore and went a step further, asking if – since the two towns are already in a region with regard to the schools – there might be precedent for adding accounting services to that mix.

“Boy, what could go wrong with that?” Select Board member Dr. Carl Kowalski said.

“I think that our work load for the two towns vs the region are significant enough that I wouldn’t want to put one service handling all three,” Lynam said.

Meanwhile, Lynam is working to “develop a potential candidate” for the Town Administrator search in the wake of the withdrawals of one of the three finalists before the scheduled interviews at the last meeting.

However, he said he as not in the position to publicly “out” that person because they were not prepared for that at this point.

“But we may have an opportunity in the very near future to address that need,” he said.

Regional agreement

In other business, Evans sought the board’s consensus regarding issues they see are important during the regional agreement as the committee plans to meet next on Jan. 9.

“This is the third go at amending a regional agreement in the last five years or so,” Evans said. “Assuming that all the work we’ve done with MARS (Mass. Association of Regional Schools) and DESE (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) and we use that as kind of a template for where we want to take the new regional agreement – and including the statutory method that we incorporated in 2020 – if we just take that as a framework, I’m looking at any other direction that the board would like to go.”

First on Evans’ list is middle school field leases, but that is further down the agenda and can wait. He also wants to focus on the way busing is handled in the district, especially since there initially wasn’t the financial incentive to discover deficiencies like they did last year.

“If we wrote into the regional agreement [that] non-mandated students wil be bused to school … that puts the effort back on the district to find savings,” he said.

Kowalski agreed that non-mandated busing must be formalized and the whole relationship clarified, including reimbursement questions, in the regional agreement.

WHITMAN – The Select Board on Tuesday, Dec. 13 to offer host community agreements (HCAs) to three of four applicants —Flower & Soul, Berkeley Botanicals and Stories — affording them the opportunity to move forward with the process of opening a retail recreational cannabis business in town.
All five board members selected Flowers & Soul and Berkely Botanicals and four selected Stories. Mitchell Cannabis Co. was not selected based primarily on the order in which applications came in.
“You can make a decision on the whole,” Town Counsel Peter Sumners said. “The decision should be based on the benefit to the town, weighing the pros and cons of each business.
The criteria were: geographic diversity of businesses coming in, anticipated impacts on the town or surrounding neighborhood where a business would locate; experience of applicants, anticipated tax revenue to the town; apparent ability of an applicant to actually open their business and succeed and the applicants’ social equity status.
No one reason should be the determining factor, and it is not “an exhaustive list,” but examples of pros and cons for the towns that the board should consider, according to Sumners. As a tie-breaker, if there was one, the board should consider the order in which applications were presented, he said.
Before the board’s decision, Sumners also presented amendments to the town’s host community agreement (HCA). While the board had not taken a formal vote on the HCA at previous meetings, it had agreed to move forward by consensus, according to Sumners, who said comments from applicants on how the agreement works in practice led to the changes.
“We’ve taken [the comments] into consideration and made a few minor changes to the form HCA that I’m recommending you use as your final version,” he said.
Those changes are: requiring the HCA to be signed by all the members of the board instead of only the chair with authorization of the board; corrections to some typographical errors; changed an unrealistic requirement that no air be allowed to enter or leave a premises, rather requiring that installation of equipment to filter air entering or exiting a facility to mitigate any odor issues; and clarifying the payment of impact fees to other municipalities.
“The new law requires impact fees to be directly related to impacts in your individual town,” Sumners said. “If another town gets more money from an impact fee than you, that’s not grounds for reopening [negotiations], that’s the terms and conditions of the agreement. You still have to identify the impacts in your own town.”
Sumners said he did not think any of the changes would be objected to by any of the applicants seeking an agreement and did not require a vote on the changes unless the board decided to enter into an agreement with any of the applicants by the end of the meeting.
The board concurred that the agreements would be in the form reflecting those corrections.
“At our last meeting, we heard four presentations from four very qualified applicants,” Chair Randy LaMattina said. “The town Zoning Bylaw only permits up to three recreational retailers. The mission of the board this evening is to determine which of the interested applicants … with whom it wishes to execute a host community agreement.”
Voters at the May 2022, accepted an amendment to the town Zoning Bylaw to allow siting of marijuana businesses within Whitman, with the condition that applicants must execute an HCA with the town. The decision to reach an agreement is at the discretion of the Select Board.
Sumners said the board must have a rational basis for its decision under the standards for accepting any retail marijuana businesses.
“This is a discretionary decision for the board,” he said. “You should have a reason for doing that.” The selection of any applicant over any other should also be based in a reason, he said, noting there is no specific criteria the board has to consider, but there are things the board should not consider, including any personal reasons based on personal relationships or discrimination on any basis toward any protected class.
Each board member went over the applicants they felt met the criteria before a consensus was reached and LaMattina asked for a motion to adopt a new HDA and to execute it with up to three applicants. Ranking of the applicants was permissible, Sumners said.
Shawn Kain pointed to his support of only two of the applicants; Flowers & Soul – because of its location 356 South Ave., in Whitman (operating as SoulFlower), in an area of Whitman identified as one the board wanted to see developed, its layers of a new and professional business and the fact that owner Brian Wall is from Whitman, has a strong financial background and currently owns another retail store in Halifax – Berkely Botanicals – because of the strong industry experience of the owner/mangement team, the location 305 Bedford St., is a good complement to the Regal Shoe building and the research put into their presentation.
“For a lot of reasons Shawn said, I thing Flower & Soul … differentiated their business,” said Justin Evans, of the proposal for three distinct businesses in an area the town wants to develop. He also favored Berkely Botanicals, which “had a great team, great location [and] a lot of experience,” with a good business plan and Stories.
“I really believe in their mission,” he said and cited their great management at security teams. “It also helps that those were, sequentially, the first three teams to apply.”
Vice Chair Dan Salvucci also preferred the Flowers Soul presentation as well as Berkely Botanicals and Stories.
“They’re on three ends of the town, and I think that that would cover the needs of the town in all areas,” Salvucci said.
Dr. Carl Kowalski concurred with the choices of Kain, Evans and Salvucci.
“I live in the neighborhood where Flowers & Soul is going in, and I’m really happy about that,” he said. “I was particularly impressed by the philosophy that Stories described.”
Kowalski noted that his wife had worked in the substance abuse field for nearly 50 years, and the emphasis on their knowledge of the opioid epidemic discussed by Stories affected him.
“I like their philosophy,” he said, adding that Berkely Botanicals also knows what they’re doing. “So does Mitchell Cannabis Co. All four of the applicants are qualified to have a position here.”
Kowalski leaned on the order in which the businesses applied to make his final decision for Flowers & Soul, Stories and Berkely Botanicals.
“When I thought about it, it was all about impact for me community and financial,” LaMattina said he said in support of Flowers & Soul. “Growing up in the east end, I worried about what happens to that building down there, and I think the development and the investment in that piece of property is absolutely outstanding.”
He also echoed Kowalski’s concerns about the opioid issue in preferring the medical aspect of Stories’ business plan at 769 Bedford St..
“I do want to thank everyone who applied and has an interest in this town,” he said before announcing his third choice. “My decision, again goes back to impact, community and financial. I would rather keep this in a commercial area, not so much between homes. For that, I would go with Berkely Botanicals.”

WHITMAN – The Select Board on Tuesday, Nov. 29, heard a sobering viewpoint about work being done on the fiscal 2024 budget by the working group of interim Town Administrator Frank Lynam, Treasurer/Collector Ken Lytle and Select Board member Shawn Kain.

“It’s not going to be the easiest conversation, but it’s certainly necessary,” Kain said. “I feel like there’s kind of three options. … We could hold firm to our financial policy and make up that gap through efficiencies and budget cuts. A second option is we could potentially use some one-time funds to bridge that gap, which is against our financial policy … or we could potentially look at an override.”

Lynam noted that the town has been “dancing around this thing for five years.”

“Talking about overrides in November, when no money has been finalized [and] the school budget hasn’t been set, is far too preliminary,” said Select Board Chair Randy LaMattina.

The budget working group was started a few months ago to determine the town’s fiscal outlook before entering budget season.

“A financial forecast is part of the strategic plan and we want to start to formalize that process,” Kain said, noting the school district has been doing similar work. “It’s been helpful for us to work together.”

Looking at the current tax levy, plus 2.5 percent, is a little over $700,000, Kain reported, with new growth totaling just about $380,000.

“We’re talking about new revenue of about a little over $1 million,” he said.

Other revenue sources such as meals and excise taxes, ambulance receipts and the lottery funds available from the state are governed by a policy of being conservative in making projections – with which Kain agrees.

“We’re looking to be relatively conservative, especially given the economic times, about how much we can realistically depend on or expect from those things in FY ‘24,” he said. 

Running a simulation of Article 2, including basic assumptions of costs and revenue, Kain said, the schools’ preliminary projections are a little over 6 percent – which in itself is a little over $1 million.

The budget group also ran a simulation at 5 percent, which the Madden Group consultants said should keep services level-funded without an override, and that comes out to about $850,000.

Lynam said that, in a regional school system, town officials don’t have that control, specifically hot-button issues like the starting times, which could have a significant financial impact should they be changed.

“All things being equal, 5 percent would be a balanced budget, but there’s one particular line that’s killing us – Plymouth County retirement,” Kain said. “We thought it would be 8 percent, and were hoping for 4 percent.”

What it will likely be, according to numbers received in the last couple of weeks, is 17 percent  – or  $457,000.

“That’s not good news,” he said.

Not calculated at this point is marijuana revenue, which could begin coming in near the end of FY ’24.

“This is the time to really start thinking about what do we want our future to look like,” Lynam said.

LaMattina bristled at talk of overrides so early in the budget process.

 “When you start talking about overrides to people and you get that panic based off running speculation,” he said. “I stood in a School Committee meeting and told the superintendent last year what he was doing was wreckless.”

He reminded the board that the schools put one-time funds into recurring cost programs, which the Select Board has pledged not to do under the Madden group’s recommendations.

“I will not see a single member of this town get laid off because of poor decision-making,” LaMattina said. “If they’re going to do an override, then it should absolutely be on them to do.”

Lynam and Salvucci agrees with LaMattina, but Kain respectfully disagreed, noting that the schools have made a lot of their preliminary budget work public this year, and the town has been mirroring that. Before hearing what department heads need, which Kain said would likely include some big asks, there are things that can be calculated now and come up with a forecast under the strategic plan. That forecast can spur earlier budget conversations in the late fall that were previously taking place just before Town Meeting in the spring.

“I’m not saying we should have an override,” Kain said. “I’m saying is what we’re seeing right now … is our FY ’24 budget [with] our initial projections, is not balanced … and it’s fairly significant.”

LaMattina stressed that the town was poised to take in slightly over $1 million while the schools have already projected a $1.4 million – not including the retirement increase.

“And they’re talking about adding,” he said. “They’re not wondering, ‘how are we going to pay for this?’ It was wreckless last year and I knew it was going to happen.”

Resident John Galvin, who attended the School Budget subcommittee meeting earlier on Nov. 29, said another preliminary forecast, not much different than projections the district was making back in June.

“The good thing discussed that the superintendent plans for sometime in December is to … have a preliminary look at the budget,” Galvin said. “It’s basically going to be expenditures.” The schools revenue forecast is going to be difficult because incoming governors receive extra time to work up a state budget.

Schools were told that day that Gov. Healey’s budget would be released March 1 including Chapter 70 funds. Fiscal 2022 property evaluations instead of fiscal 2020 and fiscal ‘20 income values will be used to calculate the town’s hold harmless formula. He said the new formula could mean a “significant increase” in the required contribution from the town.

“I think the schools are trying to make an effort, to come forward, so hopefully we do have an idea sooner rather than later,” he said, repeating that the later governor’s budget release, Chapter 70 funds won’t be available.

“I’m looking at department heads in the back of the room right now, and the School Department thinks it’s OK to take every single dollar,” La Mattina said. “We have residents asking for sidewalks … we have residents asking for a littany of things.”

Sidewalks

Lynam told the board earlier that he and the board had received two emails from a resident of an over-55 community on Auburn Street concerning

“Apparently the folks have attempted to involve our various elected representatives at the state and federal level to participate in a discussion with a small group of people from that development who are seeking to have sidewalks installed on Auburn Street,” he said. “My original understanding was, they wanted it from the over-55 community to the Brockton line. As we all know, the town is working on a number of plans to develop sidewalks and better roads.”

Lynam said there are several areas in town that have lacked sidewalks for a long time, including Pleasant Street/Route 58 where there has also been a new residential development with absolutely no sidewalks.

The projected cost for sidewalks requested along Auburn Street is about $1.3 million, according to DPW Highway Supervisor Bruce Martin’s calculations. Federal funds are being looked at, Lynam reported.

“But we are not aware of any federal funds that are going to help us get there,” he said. “Nonetheless, they have requested an opportunity to meet with the board publicly to address their concerns for the sidewalks and to invite other elected representatives.”

He suggested looking at scheduling a session sometime in early January.

LaMattina, who said he also reached out to Martin about the concern, said he saw no issue with such a meeting.

“I was somewhat puzzled by a statement in that email that the state was going to fund those sidewalks,” he said. “In no uncertain terms, Bruce – [who] has checked with state officials – they will not pay for those sidewalks. … I would hate to see a mix-up and people starting to think the state was going to pay for this, and they’re not.”

Select Board Vice Chair Dan Salvucci added that, while Auburn Street residents might not like to hear it, funds are already committed to projects out to 2026 and there are more important projects concerning road safety that need to be taken care of first.

“I agree, but nonetheless, we will listen,” LaMattina said.

WHITMAN – The Select Board on Tuesday, Nov. 29 heard presentations from four cannabis retailers, each seeking one of the three licenses available to establish a recreational retail business in town.

Four applicants – Flower & Soul, Berkeley Botanicals, Stories and Mitchell Cannabis Co. – presented their business proposals to the board, which anticipates voting on the licenses at its Dec. 13 meeting. The applicants’ full presentations can be viewed on the Whitman-Hanson Community Access TV YouTube channel.

There were some familiar faces involved in ownership or leadership positions of two companies. Former Whitman Police Chief Scott Benton is the security advisor for Stories LLC, and former Hanson Selectman Kenny Mitchell is CFO of Mitchell Cannabis Co.

The applicants all proposed adult-use retail establishments involving tier-one cultivation and manufacturing components as well as transportation licenses for business-to-business transport.

Selectman Justin Evans asked if any of the four would try for one of the medical or grow facility licenses if they did not receive a retail permit, but all of them indicated that their business models were planned around the retail aspect, with more than one indicating the buildings they have invested in are either not ideally located or designed for a grow facility.

“We’re picking the locations based on the current uses,” Wall said.

“We’re pretty committed to cultivation and product manufacturing,” Berkeley attorney Shawn Reilly said. Owner Matt Raderbach noted the town’s bylaw does not permit cultivation in different areas off Route 18, including their location where the site plan has already been approved and built out.

“Under the state’s new community agreement law, the days of 3-percent community impact fee being the default are over,” said Flower & Soul attorney Blake Mensing, who is a local regulator has worked on 100 cannabis licenses in the state. “Everything single product grown and manufactured that gets retailed through the store here would be subject to the 3-percent local option tax.”

Whitman has just over 15,000 residents, of which about 10,000 are over age 21 — and could legally buy from the businesses, possibly bringing in  $7.5 to $10 million in revenue between the three licenses, according to Wall. That amount is relatively low because of Brockton’s 13 licenses, Abington’s four and two each for Marshfield and Natick.

“It’s like an Apple store,” said Valerio Romano, a co-author of the ballot initiative that legalized cannabis in Massachusetts, and who represents Stories LLC, planned for 769 Bedford St. Dr. Davis Patel, an internist at Brown University, and Stories CFO and Benton also attended the meeting.

Patel’s research into medical uses of cannabis indicated shifting pain management to cannabis, rather than opioids, would help limit addiction problems.

“I was very impressed,” Benton said of his conversation with the Stories ownership. “As you know, we do have things going on — especially even here in our town — with regard to opioids and things like that, and just to get their perspective … I found interesting.”

He vetted the company and its officers.

“They are as good as they sound,” Benton said. “Believe me I looked.”

Flower & Soul founder/CEO Brian Wall, a Whitman native, said the business would operate at 356 South Ave., in Whitman as SoulFlower, separate from his Halifax business model, in half of a building that was a former show manufacture building. 

Reilly, who represented the first cannabis business in Abington, and Raderbach, owner of Berkeley Botanicals, has operated a cannabis retailer in Bridgewater since 2014. Berkeley, which owns other business locations in southern New England, Philadelphia and Arizona in several business capacities, and has worked with DPH before it became the CCC.

In Whitman, the business would operate as Renew Cannabis Co. at 305 Bedford St. (Route 18), owned by Sweezey properties. His father runs medical marijuana businesses in several towns, including Bridgewater.

“This isn’t a day job for me,” Raderbach said. “This is my life.”

Security, from controlled entry to a separate exit, physical security inside and outside the building and appointment-only operations at least to start, have been a priority.

“What’s important tonight is to get to know the folks and the team members and who’s going to be part of it,” said Peter D’Agostino, representing Mitchell Cannabis Co. “A lot of this stuff is very heavily regulated.”

Kenneth Mitchell Sr., CFO of the family company has also been general manager of Newcomb’s Tree Service.

A minority-owned business, Mitchell is also applying to the state as a social equity applicant for their proposed business at 519 Auburn St., the location of the former Toll House motel, with plans to keep the relatively historic building while restoring the exterior.

SoulFlower, Renew Cannabis and Stories use a wellness approach to cannabis treating customers based on their individual needs, and all four companies already do, or have pledged to, work with local police and drug abuse prevention organizations and support local community groups.

The board asked questions of each company following their presentations.

“We don’t look to be a business, we look to be a partner,” Wall said, noting his contributions to the Halifax community and pledged to prioritize local contractors. “We’re here to work with the chief, not to be an obstacle to him.”

The stores would all be looking at a nine- to 11-month timeline from town license approval to opening.

WHITMAN – The Select Board on Tuesday, Nov. 15 voted, in agreement with the Board of Assessor’s recommendation, to maintain a single tax rate for all property classifications for fiscal 2023. 

Neither the residential nor small commercial exemptions were approved, as has been the board’s usual course of action.

The excess levy capacity is estimated to be $286,521.94.

“That was calculated last week [before the Nov. 14 special Town Meeting],” said Assessor Kathleen Keefe. “That number is going to change.”

Interim Town Administrator Frank Lynam said the number should go down a little bit because of corrections the town is making, including funds from the DPW as indirect charges and they are not supposed to be assessed that way. After the Town Meeting votes are entered and the Department of Revenue (DOR) approves corrections on estimated revenue, a final number will be available.

“We have more than one variable going on,” Keefe agreed.

“The revenue estimates are going to change slightly, too,” Lynam said. “This process is intended to give you an idea of what happens if you tax everyone the same or you tax people differently.”

The actual tax rate is set after the board decides how to assess and the assessor compiles all that information.

“There’s not going to be a huge difference,” he said. “I learned a long time ago, don’t tell people what the tax rate is and then change it.”

“This is not the tax rate,” Keefe said.

Keefe presented her annual report concerning the town’s options regarding how the town’s fiscal 2023 tax rate would be set for the property classifications – residential, commercial, industrial and personal property, referred to by the shorthand CIP.

The DOR reviews and approves the adjusted values approved by the assessor’s office.

The assessed residential value is based on a comparable sales market analysis, which looks at the prices for which properties sell each year to determine a property’s worth. Commercial value is based on income and expenses incurred by businesses as well as sale prices for properties analysis. Assessments are set on values as of Jan. 1 each year.

A more in-depth analysis – which Whitman underwent in fiscal 2022 – is done every five years.

The DOR approved the following valuations for Whitman in fiscal 2023:  $2,007,037,255 for residential value or 89.69 percent of the town’s total valuation; the other three classes combined total 10 percent of the total valuation or $130,891,654 – $110,906,557 for commercial; $26,240,515 for industrial and $93,554,562 for personal property.

“That’s [the residential to CIP ratio] an important ratio that the board looks at when they’re trying to determine whether or not to split the tax rate or go with a single tax rate,” Keefe said.

She said there has been some industrial growth this year – in the form of 11 warehouse condos on Bedford Street, on land that had already been classified as industrial, so they were calculated that way.

Keeping in mind that the numbers she presented regarding the fiscal ’23 tax levy will be changing following the Nov. 14 special Town Meeting, Keefe used figures approved at the May Town Meeting to demonstrate what tax rate shifts would look like.

The town voted in May to raise $48,404,502.82. Subtracting $18,046,704.76 in estimated receipts puts the town’s tax levy at $30,357,798.06. 

“To come up with a tax rate, it’s simply that $30 million divided by the valuation that was approved [by the DOR],” Keefe said. “That gives us a tax rate.”

Towns are allowed to use a shift in tax rates between 1 and 1.5 percent. With a 1 percent shift, all taxpayers pay the same rate. A 1.5 percent shift reduces residential rates while increasing rates for the other classes.

Whitman does not tax open space.

If the board approved small commercial exemptions it would affect only sole owners or partnerships with no more than 10 employees and a total property value of $1 million or less. The business must be certified by the Dept. of Labor & Workforce Development. If a business owner does not own the property the company occupies the tax benefit goes directly to the property owner instead.

“It’s really difficult to track and businesses we’re talking about are just run out of someone’s home,” Keefe said. “It’s really muddy water, so the board [so far] has voted not to recommend that option.”

A residential exemption shifts the tax burden from lower-priced homes to higher-priced homes. The Board of Assessors recommended against that shift as well.

Resident John Galvin asked about several new “split-use” buildings with retail businesses on the ground floor and apartments on upper floors.

Keefe said they are classified as mixed use, with each use tallied in the proper classification.

“It’s a single valuation,” she said. But the valuations for the commercial space would go into that classification and the remainder into residential. “The bill is going to be the bill no matter which class of property.” With two public construction projects moving forward during tight budget times, Galvin said they would present a “significant impact to the taxpayers.”

“I’m not sure that there’s anything we can do here that’s going to affect, necessarily, the impact of these project, but we have to do something,” he said. “We’re kind of stuck at what we can do here. … I would make a suggestion that a residential exception, not necessarily this year, but in the future, is something that we need to strongly consider.”

With two large debt exclusion votes coming, Galvin argued the town has to think about the people who can least afford it. He suggested something like a budget override committee – not necessarily called that – to evaluate what the town can do somehow increase revenue that evaluates who is going to get hit the hardest and what can be done to help taxpayers who can’t afford increases.

Lynam said any shift in commercial taxes would be significant and there would be nothing to keep those businesses in town.

“I have yet to come up with an example where it would make more sense for us to shift the tax burden because the businesses we have in this community are very small,” he said. “All the big businesses are gone.”

Lynam did agree that this year’s new growth was disappointing and he doesn’t expect it to get much better next year.

“We’re going to have to get more creative,” he said.

That challenge, Galvin said was his only reason for commenting.

Budget Committee member and Selectman Shawn Kain said he hears the message and noted that discussion about creative revenue options is being discussed.

Select Board member Justin Evans said Galvin makes a good point on the question of the residential exemption.

“It’s probably something I’ll think about for the next year,” Evans said. “If this board complies with the MBTA communities, really revitalizes east Whitman and sees an increase in more mixed-use development, more rental properties, that’s probably something we’ll want to look at as a way to save the families that need it the most.”

With Town Accountant Kenneth Lytle moving into the treasurer/collector position, the board voted to appoint CPA Eric Kinsherf as a consulting accountant until the town hires a permenent person.

Town Administrator Frank Lynam made the recommendation, saying he met two weeks previous to the board meeting with CPA Eric Kinsherf, who is a Whitman native. His practice specializes in advising, providing accounting services for municipalities, forensic accounting and other financial services.

Kinsherf has offered to serve as a consulting accountant for 90 days or until the town hires it’s own accountant. His hourly rate is $115 per hour and the responsibilities would “probably require the better part of a day per week” to accomplish what the town needs done now, Lynam said, recommending he be hired under a consulting agreement. The existing town accountant salary line will cover that cost.

WHITMAN — With 101 voters present on Monday, Nov. 14 — just one over the required quorum minimum of 100 — voters backed Select Board requests to change the Treasurer/Collector position to an appointed one and increased the salary being offered a new Town Administrator.

The Treasurer/Collector question will appear on the May 20, 2023 Town election ballot to be ratified, now that Town Meeting has approved it.

Interim Town Administrator Frank Lynam argued in his report, initially placed on the warrant as Article 12 from the board, that both moves were in recognition of recent changes that mean people serving in those positions these days require more advanced certifications. The report was taken out of order and made the first item of business for the evening.

“As an elected position, the sole requirement for the [Treasurer/Collector] role is to receive more than one more of 50 percent of the votes,” Lynam said. “There is no requirement that the candidate have any experience in managing and handling cash or in collecting municipal bills.”

He and former Treasurer/Collector Mary Beth Carter listed some of he requirements of the job today, as the financial market is more sophisticates and a town’s financial security leans mainly on the person in that post.

Carter was appointed by Selectmen Oct. 15, 2005 “following turmoil and resignation in the Collector’s Department.” She was subsequently appointed Treasurer on Dec. 2, 2008 after a retirement, Lynam outlined.

Questions about the appointment route, from Finance Committee member Rosemary Connolly, Town Clerk Dawn Varley and a resident centered on their concerns over taking away the voice of voters in that hiring decision.

Carter echoed Lynam’s remarks that the article is vital to the financial well-being of the town.

“I experienced first-hand the sense of duty and accountability of this position and the integral role this position plays in the town’s finances,” she said.

The positions require one to test for certifications and demand daily that the office-holder maintain cash book and record of all receipts, disbursement, cash balances as well as playing a major role in issuance of payments on all town debts, Carter enumerated. She recited a long list of job obligations including payroll, personnel  insurance, trust funds, enterprise funds and investments. On the collectors side, the responsiblilities include for collecting all money the municipality takes in, payments of refunds, accuracy of information and initiates tax-takings. Basically they handle every single penny that comes into the town and goes out of it.

“If the position is not changed to an appointed position, the town runs the risk of possibly having a person who is unqualified or is inexperienced as a treasurer/collector,” she said. “This position is too important to … have a person who may be popular, however is not qualified for this job.” 

In response to a question about who is responsible for paying for the educational credentials needed, Lynam said the town has always encouraged employees to further their education, but the initiative to learn the job requirements rests solely with the individual. But an elected officer cannot be directed or managed by anyone other than a town election, he said.

“It is very much in the town’s interest to thoroughly scrutinize the qualifications and skills of someone who will have access to and authority to invest, at various times, up to $45 million of taxpayer and ratepayer money on behalf of the town,” Lynam said.

There is little option to address an elected treasurer/collector is not performing, he cautioned, beyond a recall or superior court process.

Appointed persons go through a very public application process before they are hired. The majority of treasurer/collectors in both the area and the state are appointed, Lynam said.

Town administrators, meanwhile, present a salary problem, as Lynam’s research has shown average salaries have increased “well over 25 percent” since he retired in 2020 after 19 years on the job.

Extending the salary range by $10,000 – to a top level of $160,000 – has resulted in better responses to advertisements for the job.

He provided voters with a list of 30 municipalities on the South Shore in which administrator/manager salaries ranged from $142,500 in Acushnet to $215,000 in Scituate. Closer to Whitman, Bridgewater pays $178,607; East Bridgewater $150,000; West Bridewater $156,005; Hanover $158,200; Hanson $145,800 and Abington $150,000.

Whitman’s offering of between $143,000 to $150,000 “produced limited results” Lynam said and market conditions require more compensation than the town was offering. Increasing the range to $160,000 on the top end has already resulted in better responses, he said.

“But unless we are willing to offer competitive compensation, our ability to recruit is extremely limited,” he said.

The $10,000 for potentially increasing the town administrator salary was passed, along with eight other salary line adjustments in Article 13, which had to be amended from a total of $21,065 to 23,065 because of a typographical error. In fact, discussing whether that represented increasing a warrant article raised more attention than the $10,000 request.

Town counsel pointed out that it was, indeed, not an increase because adding up the figures for each line – none of which had changed – added up to the $23,065 figure and not the lower number originally printed in the warrant. In that way, voters were informed of the amount of the article, which was passed.

WHITMAN — How to make use of the former Police Station at the rear of Town Hall has been an open question for some time. During the Tuesday, Oct. 25 Select Board Meeting, Whitman Historical Commission member Marie Lailer made the organization’s pitch to use at least part of the facility, among possible locations for a Whitman Museum.

“We have a lot of town support for this,” she said. “The pieces of history that have found their way into our office, the DPW office, the Fire Station, the Police Station, just to mention a few, deserve a place to be preserved and protected.”

Concerns discussed involved the presence of asbestos, load-bearing walls, the need for secure storage areas for current town documents and ADA-compliant access to the site.

Lailer cited a Select Board discussion in January 2022, during which the commission asked the board to commit to moving the commission’s office and establishing a museum at the former station.

“The space is ideal, given it’s location in a current town building with handicapped access, but much work would need to be done before a move of our valuable historical collection could be completed,” she said. “All of this will take funding to make the interior suitable for this type of endeavor.”

South Shore Tech has already offered it’s assistance, but Lailer added, it would take great commitment of both time and money to make the proposal a reality.

The Commission is “at the gateway — for the first time — to request funding through the town’s newly approved participation in the Community Preservation Act and have applied to the CPC for additional funding “above the 10 percent automatically provided through the program to historical ventures,” according to Lailer. All donated historical documents, maps and memorabilia will be displayed in a way that residents can access for information and “enjoy the detailed history that is currently crammed into our office.”

In order to request the CPC funds, a sign-off is needed from the Select Board. That also involves allocating a space for the museum.

“We have talked to many residents regarding our hope, and feel this location is perfect for many reasons,” Lailer said, mentioning parking and accessibility at a town building with historic importance — and a part of it that has sat, empty, for many years.

“I would love other suggestions, but where are they?” she said.

That long-vacant status may continue for a while.

“We have discovered some challenges down there,” Select Board Chair Randy LaMattina said. “Such as asbestos, that needs to be removed. We also have some disability compliance issues that would have to be rectified because of the stone steps up and the steps down … from room to room.”

“It’s not a level facility,” interim Town Administrator Frank Lynam said. He also expressed concern about building security since the lower-level emergency exit goes out that way and, he said, the cells should be considered as vault areas.

Lailer said the cells were not included in the space the commission is considering, and agreed that a walk-through with Lynam might help the board envision the proposal better.

“I thought that would be a perfect place, too, until I started walking through it again,” Vice Chair Dan Salvucci said. “But that was way back when. … now we have more things to look into.”

Accessibility codes now take into consideration the width of doors and the height of steps. He also said the asbestos removal would have to be completed before SST students would be allowed to do any work there.

Salvucci also expressed concern over the fact that all the walls in the police station area are load-bearing, which could effect the cost of any renovation work.

Lailer suggested that the museum could work with existing walls, each room could be dedicated to a different aspect of town life and services.

Select Board member Justin Evans noted that the Historical Commission had been asked to return estimated costs for renovating and retrofitting the building to the board. He also said the board needed to hear recommendations as to what to do with unneeded existing equipment, “odds and ends the town is using and where the funding would come from.

Lailer said the commission is only interested in using the old police station, and stated that CPA money can be held in saving for a future project. She also asked for former Building Inspector Bob Curran to provide a walk-through to discuss cost factors during which he pointed out electrical work and other things that needed to be done.

She said the recent building inspector informed them that a walk-through wasn’t in his job description.

“I don’t know where to go from there,” Lailer said.

Evans said a $90,000 request for state funds through state Rep. Allyson Sullivan did not make the cut in budget discussions. Lailer said she is looking for additional grants.

Lynam also suggested the possible use of the former Park Avenue School and has consulted town counsel opinion.

“The process of taking over that particular property requires us filing a complaint in Superior Court, getting the attorney general to join us in setting aside a restriction that should never have been in the deed,” he said. Several ideas have been considered for its use in the past, but the deed specified the land be used for “school purposes” only.

They are also in talks to invite John Campbell to bring his extensive historical museum to the facility in the future. If he does make that decision, the commission would like to name the facility in his honor — the John Campbell Historical Museum — in recognition of the collection he displays in the former Regal Shoe Building on South Avenue.