WHITMAN – The town has again received a green light to design a new DPW building.

During the special Town Meeting on Monday, May 2, Whitman voters unanimously approved the expenditure of $1,098,100 for creating shovel-ready architectural plans for a new DPW building at 100 Essex St.

The funds, to be spent under the oversight of the Building Committe and Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman will also be used to hire an owner’s project manager.

The funds would come from three sources  – $713,765 from water and sewer retained earnings, $234,335 from free cash and $150,000 from the capital stabilization fund.

Engineer Ziad Kary from Environmental Partners Group, who worked with the DPW on the conceptual design, gave a brief PowerPoint presentation on his work.

“The existing facility is dated, it is beyond repair, and the driver behind this is a new facility to replace the old one,” he said. The 170-foot by 100-foot – or 17,500-square-foot – plan replaces the 200-by-100 plan the town had previously rejected. The old building would be razed and utilities would be relocated into the new facility.

“This would bring in all water, sewer and highway [equipment] under one roof,” he said. “This is a basic, basic building, comprised of structural steel and insulated panels.”

There will be vehicle wash bays, storage and maintenance space as well. The next step is to appoint an owner’s project manager, who would bring in a design engineer to see it through construction – anticipated to be a two-year project. 

Harvard Street resident Cindy Landeville asked if the town has looked into any grants for the building.

Heineman said the project is still in the early stages.

“Certainly, if there are any grants that may be available, we [the town] will agressively seek them,” he said. “At this time, there’s no grants that we’re aware of, that would assist us in building the Department of Public Works building. … These monies, if approved by Town Meeting, would allow for the project to move forward.”

He said the two DPW superintendents are always looking for grants and the town is working to fill a position, part of which would entail writing grant applications.

Elm Place resident Jerry Blumenthal asked if the building plan includes the DPW administrative offices and where equipment will be maintained and stored while the new building is being constructed after the old one is torn down.

The administrative offices will remain in the current building and equipment will be maintained and stored where they in other buildings on the property.

Highway and parks Superintendent Bruce Martin said the maintenance operation will stay in the back garage, where it is currently run, and costs have been calculated for temporary buildings so employees can work and equipment that must be inside can be stored. Some equipment would be outside during construction.

Another resident asked whether the funds for the actual construction work would come out of a debt exclusion or free cash.

Beyond seeking grants, Heineman said that since 60 percent of the building would be used by the Water and Sewer Department, they would seek funds from the retained earnings balance in the water/sewer enterprise fund.

“After all those pieces are drawn down, I think it’s likely to assume that there will be some portion that will be in a debt exclusion,” he said.

If the Town Meeting does not approve the funds for a debt exclusion, the building would not be built, according to Heineman. 

“The overall expectation of the project includes these monies this evening, and if these monies are appropriates by Town Meeting this evening, it would reduce the overall projected cost of the project,” he said.

Two residents asked why the design and OPM costs would be sought when the funds had not been secured to build the building.

Building Committee member Fred Small said the Whitman Middle School funding process, governed by the state’s MSBA, operates in a similar way. It provides an accurate barometer as to what a building is going to cost.

“This is the right way to do this, it’s proper and lord knows, it’s overdue,” he said,

Former Town Adminstrator and member of the DPW Building Committee Frank Lynam noted that he has been through a number of projects with the town.

“In order to appreciate what’s being presented to you today, you need to understand the ground rules,” he said. The Public Works Law requires that any building project exceeding $2 million done by any municipality to hire an OPM and a designer or architect can’t be selected until an OPM is hired.

“In order to start this process – and we have been looking at this since 2008 – we first have to get enough money to hire an OPM and to seek an architect to design the building,” he said.

With the final designs and cost estimates are done, it can be brought back to Town Meeting for ultimate approval and funding.

In other business, the Town Meeting approved a raise in the minimum wage paid to seniors taking part in the tax abatement program.

Article 47 on the annual warrant sought to set the maximum seniors can work off their property taxes to 125 service hours each year. In response to a resident’s question, Heineman said if the article passed the Select Board would discuss the amount each participant could receive in exemption per hour. Right now the maximum amount a single person could work off is $800, roughly coming out to $8 per hour, working a total of 100 hours.

“If this passes … I want to suggest that $8 an hour is not enough and that is should be higher,” he said, noting that the board had recently adopted a policy to pay all municipal hourly employees at least the minimum wage.

While the minimum wage is not necessarily what will be decided on, he said, it would be higher than $8 per hour.

Municipalities are exempt from minimum wage regulations, but may choose to raise salaries.

An article to lower the number of people required to achieve a quorum at town meetings – to 50 for an annual town meeting and 100 for a special town meeting – was also adopted, without discussion.

Whitman and Hanson select boards discussed outstanding issues in their last meetings before the Monday, May 2 town meetings in both communities — though most of those issues were concentrated in Hanson as the town continues to work its way out of a deficit.

Hanson’s annual “dress rehearsal” for it’s town meeting on Tuesday, April 26 saw several articles up for a final recommendation vote by Selectmen, following Finance Committee votes — some of which featured a strong difference of opinion between the two boards.

Articles concerning the request for an outreach person for the Council on Aging and requiring the audio or video recording of all town boards and committees were the subject of particular debate.

“We’d love to add more people to provide better services for this town, but the money is not there,” Finance Committee Chairman Kevin Sullivan said. “You’re digging a bigger hole.”

“That is part of the social contract we all sign when we’re in a town and we have to provide services — to our elder folks, to the schools and highway, etc.,” Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said, arguing that the town has given “extremely short shrift” to senior residents.

“I look at this as the need for my snowplow,” Collins said, noting that the town’s mission in budgeting is to give departments what they need to successfully do their jobs. “Services are equally as important as the tools that you need to clean off the roads.”

The snowplows, meanwhile — sought by the Highway Department — to replace vehicles that were 18 and 22 years old were recommended by both boards — at a total of $299,000.

In Whitman, Selectmen briefly discussed the warrant article seeking security cameras at Whitman Park in view of an agenda item concerning a draft of a security camera policy for the police and fire station and Town Hall where they are already in place and for and the library parking lot, where cameras are planned.

No action was taken, as it was the first time the draft appeared on the agenda, but Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman noted that, after conversations with IT Director Josh MacNeil, it made sense to have a policy in place regarding authority over cameras and data storage.

Hanson’s debate over a Council on Aging outreach position began before the full Select Board convened, as the Wage and Personnel Board took issue with the Finance Committee’s unanimous vote against recommending it. Selectmen Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett and Jim Hickey were especially vocal in their disagreement, but postponed the conversation until the full meeting, which Senior Center Director Mary Collins was attending.

Selectmen voted to recommend the article.

“This past year, during open enrollment for Medicare, I saw over 100 clients in about a 30-day period,” Collins told the joint meeting of Selectmen and the Finance Committee. “It was incredibly intense, it took up a great portion of my time and I had other issues that I needed to attend to in my position as the director of Elder Affairs.”

She requested a part-time outreach person be hired to assist with both the Medicare paperwork as well as the outreach she now does.

“I find that I have to be in two places at the same time, which is virtually impossible,” Collins said.

The annual budget for the Hanson Multi-Service Senior Center is a little over $100,000, including Collins’ salary as well as a 19-hour administrative assistant and part-time custodial position.

She classified the expenditure as a “very small amount in the $32 million budget for the town.”

“The last few years have been very, very difficult with COVID in addressing the issues that our seniors have,” she said, noting that many have become quite isolated and have needs that need to be identified. That work is more difficult when the time is not allotted to get out of the office and address the need.

The position Collins is seeking pays $19 per hour. Selectmen Chairman Matt Dyer said the yearly salary range on the position is $14,381 to $22,824 for a position without benefits.

Even attracting a qualified person at the midpoint of that range might be challenging, Collins said.

“It is a very competitive job market,” FitzGerald-Kemmett noted.

Hickey said he and Collins have talked about the need for an outreach assistant quite a lot, and he told her he would speak for it to both boards and let the voters at Town Meeting decide.

“I know you can’t change your vote,” he said to FinCom Chair Kevin Sullivan and member Erin Barr. “But I would be talking directly to you and to the rest of the board tonight.”

He argued that the article language describing 30 percent of Hanson’s population as being over 55 is wrong. It’s really 41 percent, with 33 percent being age 60 or over.

“That’s why, in the last couple of years it has become more of a workload for Mary and her staff,” he said. Hickey serves as the board’s liaison to the Senior Center and is there at least three times a week. He also said that older residents throw away less trash, which affects the solvency of the transfer station and their lower incomes affect the school budget.

FitzGerald-Kemmett suggested that, perhaps, people don’t understand that the senior center provides a social outlet as well as assistance for benefits and legal services.

“You are literally a connector for all of these services,” she said to Collins. “I’m not surprised that our population over 55 has increased dramatically, and in fact, we’re going to continue to see it increase.” She pointed to recent developments of over-55 housing communities in town and said the trend can be expected to continue as school enrollment decreases.

“I’ve said it many times, and I’ll say it until the day I die, ‘Mary is a saint and we’re lucky to have her,’” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “We’ve [received] a lot of positive feedback over the years about an unsung hero she is.”

But that unsung hero status has translated into many years when FitzGerald-Kemmett suspected deeply that Collins needed help, but didn’t want to ask for it. 

“The fact that you’re here asking for help says a lot to me and I would like to find a way to 100-percent support this,” she said, noting that the vote taken that night to remove the free cash subsidy from the transfer station could help with that.

Sullivan said that, starting with a deficit of more than $1.1 million in the town budget, cuts had to be made, the use of free cash carefully controlled and none of the staffing requests from any department were funded.

“The only way to [add positions] is through free cash and free cash isn’t quite free,” he said. “So how do you hire these people and then fire them next year?”

Right now, he said free cash is the only way to pay for the position. The override last year was enough to keep the town above water, but Sullivan warned that taxes would have to be raised in the next few years as it is.

“That is a fact,” he said. “We pay the lowest taxes around. … That is unsustainable. The only way to add these positions is to raise taxes.”

FitzGerald-Kemmett acknowledged the hard work the Finance Committee has done to close the gap as closely as it has, but suggested there were other areas where more savings were possible. She offered the suggestion of not refinishing the gym floor for $25,000, citing the opportunities to raise the meal tax as all surrounding communities have done, revenue from taxes and community impact fees from the new marijuana business, and new building projects are also in the pipeline.

“This is $22,000 and I, in all good conscience, cannot vote against it,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

On recording equipment for meetings, Sullivan said the money to purchase equipment was not available, but Dyer indicated WCHA-TV has cameras available for use. Health Board member Arlene Dias said the community access station also trains volunteers to use the equipment. Sullivan argued that could pose an undue burden on committee members, to which Dyer objected, noting that he also has used his own computer to audio record meetings and prepare minutes.

“I think this is what the town needs because there’s a lot of speculation out there where we don’t know what’s going on on these committees” he said.

FitzGerald-Kemmett agreed, saying that minutes frequently don’t capture the nuance of a meeting the way a recording does.

“If we’re going to have a more transparent town government … I think [this] is very important to the town,” she said. 

The Health Board has approved the $100 transfer station sticker fees, according to Health Agent Gil Amado projected it would take three years to make the facility solvent and no longer in need of free cash subsidies. This year’s subsidy is $165,000. Other towns working on a pay-as-you-throw basis are “hitting the fees pretty hard,” he said.

“I asked for a plan, a sheet to be able to break everything down instead of just throwing numbers around, and we don’t have that tonight,” Dyer said. “I don’t support just continuing to use free cash to fund the transfer station. … There doesn’t seem to be the will from the Board of Health to charge what it costs to operate the transfer station.”

Sullivan said the FinCom is taking the transfer station on as its focus to try turning things around.

WHITMAN — There are three school playground-related articles — Articles 20 through 22 — on the annual Town Meeting warrant, according to Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman.

The three projects total $700,000.

“The schools had requested that those all be in one article,” Heineman told Selectmen at the Tuesday, April 12 meeting. “My recommendation is that, I think they are different things.”

Heineman said there will be plenty of masks and test kits will be available at the Town Meeting, Monday, May 2 but no other COVID-19 protocols are being planned at this time.

There are two different playgrounds at Conley and another at Duval.

“Two [articles involve] entirely new playgrounds and one would be a retro-fit,” he said, leaving it to the Board whether they wanted three articles or one.

The Capital Committee also discussed that there is about a bit more than $250,000 in the Duval roof account that Heineman suggested the funds maybe needed for “incidental, smaller repairs,” but not for a larger replacement because the town would not be eligible for the MSBA’s accelerated roof repair program for at least a few more years. 

“Rather than have that money sit there and not be put to good use, we in the warrant apply $235,000 of toward the same building [Duval] for a playground that the schools are indicating is in dire need of replacement,” he said. “There wasn’t any objection to that from the superintendent.”

Selectman Dan Salvucci asked how long the schools could keep the roof repair money and if they could use it for what they want, or do they need the town’s approval.

“It was appropriated for a specific task and they didn’t do it,” he said. “Should that money come back to the town after a certain time?”

Heineman said the town accountant has aggressively looked at capital appropriations more than two years old in every department and asking about the status of projects for which the funds were appropriated.

“If it’s already been done and this is the remainder, fine, great, we’re going to take it back and put it back to free cash so it can be re-appropriated somewhere else,” he said. “That’s an activity we have gone through with the schools and will continue to do so.”

“Why aren’t the schools … on a regular basis, repairing and getting something fixed for $500 instead of $5,000 when they let it go,” Salvucci said. “That’s my question, and probably what I’ll raise at Town Meeting. They need to look at the equipment at each of the schools and maintain them like we do at our town park.”

Selectman Justin Evans, who also serves on the Capital Committee said the Duval playground was installed in 2000 and they have been maintaining. But, he noted, a lot of the maintenance has become a question of if it breaks, you take it out.

The school district had requested an article for $54,002 for mold remediation at Whitman Middle School, but it is not on the Town Meeting warrant. Town officials have stated that they do not view the work as a capital expense.

Heineman noted the School Committee would be discussing the budget the next evening [Wednesday, April 13], with the non-mandated busing issue possibly up for discussion. He noted that Whitman town counsel has opined any change to non-mandated busing should be contained in a warrant article submitted to the town from the schools.

“We don’t know if that may happen tomorrow night,” he said. “We don’t know what the schools may do regarding either the main operating assessment or the current non-mandated busing assessment that is on the warrant, as that is the number right now that is certified by the schools.”

Heineman said he and Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski are considering calling a Select Board meeting at 10 a.m., Friday, April 15 to react to whatever action the school takes.

“It makes sense for us to vote our final opinion on the warrant once we have that information from the schools,” Kowalski said. 

Selectman Randy LaMattina reminded the board there is now a formula that would save the towns of Whitman and Hanson “considerable amounts of money” in non-mandated busing costs and the state’s reimbursement.

“I think the town of Whitman saves, from just the assessment alone, about $271,000,” he said. The total for the towns of Whitman, Hanson and the district with the assessment change is about $583,000, he said.

“To see the full benefit, we need to see an assessment change,” LaMattina said. “Things are moving in the right direction on that.”

He credited the work School Committee Chairman Christopher Howard has done in trying to work out a solution to the issue.

HANSON — The owners of an Anatolian Shepherd dog have until Tuesday, April 26, when the Board of Selectmen meet again to review the case after a dangerous or nuisance dog complaint was filed against their pet.

The Board would then follow up to ensure a fence has been completed, secured and inspected, and to check into whether the owners of the injured dog were offered some restitution.

“You’ve got to assure us that you take this seriously and that it won’t happen again,” Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “There needs to be follow-up here.”

Selectmen held a hearing Tuesday, April 5 on the complaint filed by David and Louise Coates after an incident on Saw Mill Lane Thursday, March 24.

Animal Control officer Joseph Kenney recommended that fences be secured and non-breeding animals be altered. He also recommended the dog be muzzled and kept on a six-foot leash when walking off the property and confined on the property by a six-foot fence.

Coates said he would not be comfortable so long as the dog was there and urged the dog be removed from the neighborhood.

“We have no authority to have that dog moved for one incident,” Selectman Jim Hickey said. “You can’t ask us to do something that is out of the question.”

The attacking dog came from the address 808 West Washington St., according to the incident report, Town Administrator Lisa Green said. 

“We had a small dog that was attacked by a larger dog,” Green said of the complaint. “There were significant injuries to the smaller dog and the police were called.”

Incident described

The Coates, of 59 Saw Mill Lane, said that when David had taken the dog out for it’s morning walk around 6 a.m., and was walking through his side yard to the front of the house, what he initially thought was a coyote that attacked his dog.

“I tried to get the dog off [his dog], I was holding onto the leash, and trying to kick it,” he said tearfully. “I’m fine until I have to talk about it.”

He said his dog slipped her leash and all he could do was hit the attacking dog with the leash. His dog ran to the front porch with him behind her and the other dog seemed to follow them, he added.

“It didn’t seem interested in me, it wanted the dog,” he said.

After he was able to get in the house, he called the police.

“The dog was just wandering around the front, over the neighbor’s yard … tail wagging,” David Coates said about what he could see out his window. “It didn’t seem like the police had any issues to get it under their control.”

Police walked the dog down the street.

“It wasn’t just a bite, it was a mauling,” Louise Coates said.

“The extent of the damage to your dog is significant,” Selectmen Chairman Matt Dyer agreed, looking over the photos accompanying the complaint.

Louise said they had just taken their dog to the vet Monday and said her pet had to be anesthetized so redo everything because there was so much dead skin the stitches weren’t holding.

“I’m sorry you went through that,” Selectman Joe Weeks said, asking how the Coates’ dog is doing.

David Coates said she us under medication to keep her quiet.

“Physically, they say she should be fine, mentally, I’m not sure,” he said. “She’s certainly acting different and we’re leery about going out at night, now, knowing the dog is still over there.”

Louise Coates said she arms herself with a golf club when she has to take her pet for a walk.

“You should be able to go out in your own yard and feel safe and secure and not have to take out a golf club just because there’s a dog in the neighborhood,” Dyer said.

The dog’s owners Hassan Prashkov of 808 Washington St., had just moved to the address four months ago, but had bought it two years ago.

“The dog got over the fence,” he said of a garden fence that he had just repaired. He said his dog’s breed was developed for guarding livestock.

Anatolian shepherds

The American Kennel Club does not recommend that the breed be around other dogs, stating that the mastiff-type sighthounds, may be aggressive toward people and dogs they don’t know, especially without adequate socialization when they are young.

“It’s an accident,” Prashkov said. “Every time the dog barks, now, I’m nervous, too. I never expect[ed] something like that from this dog, because we’re still calling him puppy.”

The dog is 2 years old. Dogs usually mature mentally at between 1 and 2 years of age, depending on size, breed, socialization and other factors, according to the AKC.

“They’re very friendly with the kids and the humans,” Prashkov said. “They’re great to protect the unprotected people.”

He suggested the dog had been chasing a fox or something when it got out of the yard and saw the Coates’ dog.

“I don’t know what pulled the trigger,” he said.

FitzGerald-Kemmett asked the Coates how much their vet bill had been. Louise Coates said it was up to nearly $3,700.

“And we’re not done,” she said.

Selectman Kenny Mitchell asked Prashkov if he was willing to help the Coates’ with their veterinary bills. He indicated he would and would secure the fencing. Prashkov said his dog has never had other incidents and is licensed. He indicated that about 75 percent of the property is secured with a chain-link fence. The remainder out back was old wire livestock fence, similar to chicken wire in appearance, because the previous property owner had horses.

FitzGerald-Kemmett asked if he was confident a chain-link fence was sufficient and if he would consider an electric fence for livestock.

“That’s, I think, one of the solutions,” Prashkov said, noting he also has friends with a farm in Maine where the dog could be sent.

“I can’t afford for this to happen again,” he said, noting the breed is hard to train.

“I understand what he’s saying,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said, noting her family owned a sheep dog when she was younger.

Hickey had questions for Hanson police officer Brian Rodday, who responded to the call, including how he managed to control the dog.

Rodday said he carries a leash in his duty bag because he frequently receives calls about stray dogs. He waited in his cruiser while the dog circled the vehicle a time or two so he could judge how it was behaving.

“It approached me, it didn’t appear aggressive,” Rodday said about its behavior after he got out of the vehicle. “It wasn’t showing its teeth, it wasn’t growling — anything like that.”

When another officer arrived, they used treats to try to calm the dog and get it into the cruiser, but walked it home when it refused. Rodday said there was an incident over the summer when the puppies got out, which was how he recognized the breed.

“It’s a unique dog for around here,” Rodday said, indicating that  Prashkov owned the male involved in the March 24 incident and a female that was at the property in July when the puppies were born. He said the litter of puppies was not planned.

“I’m a cat person,” Hickey said, “but I’ve never had an ‘accident’ with my cats. … We’ve always had our cats spayed or neutered.”

He asked if the dogs were altered. Prashkov said he was waiting until the dog involved in the attack to become 2 years old before having it neutered. Kenney said he was on vacation during the incident, but had been called when the puppy got out last summer.

“It sounds to me like it’s a perimeter issue and a security issue,” Selectman Joe Weeks said. 

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has reimbursed districts based on a mileage calculation, and would be amenable to considering a mileage-based non-mandated busing formula for Whitman-Hanson rather than the current per-pupil calculation, according to Associate Commissioner for District and School Finance Jay Sullivan.

He made the comment in a Friday, March 25 Zoom call with district and Whitman Town officials.

“That’s a viable methodology for allocating your costs,” Sullivan said, noting few districts use the mileage method, but it is viable and it is an acceptable methodology. 

“That would count every student in the district, whose butt is in a bus seat,” Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak said. “That’s what we’re working on through the Budget Subcommittee here.”

He said they are calculating based on every student to whom they must provide a seat based on distances from school of between a half-mile and 1.5 miles from schools.

School Committee members Christopher Howard, Dawn Byers, David Forth and Steve Bois as well as Galvin, Selectmen Randy LaMattina and Justin Evans and Whitman Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman joined the March 25 call with DESE.

“That makes a lot of sense,” Sullivan said of Szymaniak’s question, but he cautioned that every rider has to be assigned some level of cost, with two options for calculation — per pupil or mileage.

“The good thing about the mileage method is, the houses don’t move,” Sullivan said.

W-H has been using the per-pupil method, having just encountered the mileage method.

The Budget Subcommittee planned to meet Wednesday, March 30 to get a turnaround on a formula method to DESE as soon as possible, because time is a concern.

“If we can come up with an alternative methodology that allows us to appropriately capture a higher reimbursement amount, which will benefit both towns in the district, then that is our goal,” Howard said. 

Sullivan said such a method could maximize the district’s reimbursement, which Szymaniak said is the ultimate goal.

Galvin and Whitman Selectman Randy LaMattina reached out about a second meeting following the March 14 call, feeling there was a better way to explain their methodology to DESE.

“After watching the last Zoom Call you had with the superintendent, the town has a position that some of our concerns and points we were trying to look for clarification on, may not have been addressed fully,” LaMattina said.

While being part of a region comes with some benefits — one being regional transportation reimbursement, he conceded, the board feels, as things stand right now, the district is not submitting their true mandated or what you classified as eligible, bus costs.

“We think that by using the district’s own documents, that we can actually prove that,” he said, noting that they forwarded a copy of Whitman residents John Galvin and Shawn Kain’s proposal to DESE. “We feel the actual cost of non-mandated busing is slightly higher than $1.6 million as opposed to the 1.1 million, which gets submitted.”

LaMattina said his point was bolstered by a vote at the last School Committee meeting when a vote was taken against funding non-mandated transportation.

Galvin pointed to a Feb. 9 School Committee meeting when Szymaniak outlined what would happen if Whitman opted against providing non-mandated busing.

“Several scenarios were presented. … There were discussions in the last Zoom meeting that these were simulations,” he said. “I don’t really believe that to be true, because for several year now, Whitman has had a significant concern over the way we were being charged for non-mandated busing to the [point] where the superintendent felt the need to address it to the School Committee on what would happen if, this year, Whitman decided not to fund non-mandated busing.”

Galvin said a document produced by district Business Manager John Stanbrook broke it all down. Even removing Whitman only saved a total of $131,000, Galvin said, yet Whitman is being assessed $487,000.

He argued the actual cost for Hanson is $101,000 — not $121,000.

“It didn’t make sense to us that the district wasn’t filing for what it would actually cost them if the two town meetings voted not to support non-mandated busing,” he said.

“Number one, the town meetings can’t tell the School Committee how to spend their money,” Sullivan said.

“It was a little concerning hearing that the towns were making the decision as to whether or not to transport non-mandated students,” said Christine Lynch of the DESE District and School Finance office, repeating what she had told Szymaniak on March 10. “I don’t know what might happen moving forward.”

LaMattina said where they came up with 20 buses is because, by the district’s own admission, according to the district’s bus structure documentation, that is the number required to provide mandated transportation.

“Why is that number not the true mandated cost?” he asked, noting that, in addition, the School Committee voted at its last meeting not to fund non-mandated transportation and asked if that was their decision to make.

“It’s the School Committee’s decision to set the policy of who they’re going to transport and who they’re not going to transport,” Sullivan said, asking if that meant the district would not be transporting between 750 and 900 students to school next year.

School Committee Chairman Christopher Howard said it was not correct.

“We looked at the regional agreement … and we looked at that section specifically related to transportation,” he said, noting it reads that transportation shall be provided by the regional school district, with the cost apportioned to the member towns as an operating cost. Every year the committee votes to decide whether non-mandated busing will be paid for by the regional school district.

“The vote that was taken was that the regional School Committee would not be paying for the cost of non-mandated busing,” Howard said.

If the School Committee decides against providing non-mandated busing, which Howard stressed, they did not do, an article for Town Meeting would be presented to the selectmen of each town for approval by the voters. He said the School Committee would be seeking clarification from legal counsel what the intent of that second section means, but right now the focus is on calculating the cost.

“We’re talking about a subjective scenario here, that really has not come to fruition,” Sullivan said, noting that in 2019 — before the pandemic — the district transported between 3,000 and 3,200 students. While mandated busing is required for students living two miles or more from school, but towns are reimbursed for transporting students more than 1.5 miles of a school.

“That’s the incentive to provide the service,” Sullivan said, noting that reports from the district over the past five years indicate two-thirds of students (more than 1,500 students) live 1.5 miles or more from school and nearly 725 under 1.5 miles away. Last year the cost was $1.6 million for bus transportation — $1.12 million over 1.5 miles and $543,000 for under 1.5 miles.

Sullivan also said buses must run at least 75-percent capacity.

“The way this has always been handled is we vote the assessment, and there is a non-mandated busing cost that has been provided to both towns, and that has been handled, I believe, in both towns as a separate article,” Howard said. 

Heineman clarified that, for many years, after the School Committee votes against funding non-mandated busing, it then gets a separate assessment number … only to be interrupted by Howard, who countered that it was a decision of the School Committee and not the Budget Subcommittee, while agreeing it does pertain to the town and transportation.

Later in the video meeting, Heineman was able to ask his question about whether DESE agreed with Whitman Town Counsel, which has opined that the school district may only assess an operating and a capital assessment — and not a separate non-mandated busing assessment. An article for the latter must be done via a separate article unless non-mandated busing costs are included in the operating budget. Whitman’s town counsel is also a legal representative for several school districts.

“I’m not necessarily suggesting it’s illegal,” Lynch said of separate busing assessments. “I’m suggesting it’s problematic” because if one town does not approve it, services would not be equal for all students in the district.

She said most regional agreements divide the cost by number of students, but recently districts are looking for new ways to calculate costs when methodology no longer works for them.

“You can’t steer the conversation away from topics you don’t want to address,” LaMattina said, explaining to DESE that the towns receive an operating assessment, a capital assessment and line for non-mandated busing that the district calls a special operating cost.

“If Town Meeting votes not to fund it, then we’ve got a problem,” he said. 

Howard asked if DESE would approve changing mandated busing costs based on the analysis they have.

“Right now there’s no intent to do it this way,” he said.

“Somehow this world is turned upside down here,” Sullivan said. “A decision’s got to be made by the School Committee about the service that they’re going to provide, they send the bill to the town and, if they don’t want to fund it, that’s fine — then you won’t have a budget, then you’ll have to go through the 1/12 process.”

“It should be one assessment number, first of all,” Lynch said. “But regardless, it is, again, the School Committee’s discretion in terms of what it’s going to offer the preK to 12 population — In both towns.”

The School Committee certified a $58,492,314.12 budget, with a general fund increase of $1,694,734 — or 2.98 percent — for fiscal 2023 at its Wednesday, March 16 meeting. Whitman’s assessment would be $16,889,943.66 — an increase of $785,040, or 4.87 percent — and Hanson’s would be $13,341,812 — an increase of $695,694 or 5.5 percent to the operating assessment.

The budget Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak presented includes: two more special education teachers; implementation of full-day kindergarten without the use of from excess and deficiency (E&D) funds; using $400,000 (E&D) for Chromebooks; and $123,000 from E&D for paying the Whitman water bill settlement — all under Scenario 3 of 11 possible spending options presented on March 9 [see related story].

Budget documents reflecting Scenario 3 have been uploaded to the school district website whrsd.org under the school district heading in the “select a school” drop-down menu. The seven professional staff members covered by ESSER3 funds, one of the uses permitted under the grant program, are also listed. The funds have to be spent by September 2024.

“This is what these monies are for — so we can provide remediation for these kids,” School Committee member Fred Small said. “To me, this is the perfect thing we should be spending this money on. … I don’t see how we don’t do this.”

Committee member Dawn Byers had urged a budget that added the $400,000 for Chromebooks, instead of using E&D funds, placing the budget at $58,892,314.12. That motion was later withdrawn, when Business Manager John Stanbrook said it would be merely a shift of the funding source for the Chromebooks, not a dollar amount voted. By moving the funding source out of E&D, he explained it could possibly increase the assessment to the towns for that expense. The committee then voted to use $523,885 from the $1.8 million in E&D to be used for a Whitman water bill settlement and the Chromebooks. There was an influx of funds in E&D from one-time COVID relief funds. 

“I feel this is extremely dangerous, but that we are facing a fiscal cliff and if we have $1.8 million in E&D right now, we are by law allowed to [retain] 5 percent, so we could keep an E&D balance of $2.9 million for emergency,” Byers had said. “Reducing this down to $1 million puts us in a position to not replenish very much next year.”

“We have to look at why our enrollment is declining,” Byers said in her initial argument for including Chromebooks in the general budget. She said it it may be more about programs they lack, rather than declining birth rates. As technology is changing education, not including Chromebooks in the general budget would be more realistic.

Committee member David Forth also said he has heard from residents who moved to Whitman and were planning families, not realizing the district didn’t offer free all-day kindergarten already.

“I know that we can do better and this is a path forward to let the towns know that this is the actual cost of education,” Byers said.

“We have a plan, too,” Szymaniak said.

The committee also voted against paying non-mandated busing costs — $121,475 for Hanson and $487,839 for Whitman — sending the cost to the individual towns as has been past practice.

Without a reduction in the non-mandated busing assessment from a purely financial concern, Whitman Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman said, his town’s budget would be out of balance by about $224,000. He reminded the committee that Hanson Town Administrator Lisa Green has said her town can only handle a 3 percent assessment increase.

ESSER funds

The district is also one of six in the state taking part in a Rennie Center study, at no cost to the district, on how school districts are spending the ESSER affects learning and what happens when the grant ends, according to Szymaniak. W-H has partnered with the Rennie Center on social-emotional learning studies in the past.

Szymaniak said he is also hearing that eight retirements are coming by the time the grant expires.

The blueprint that’s going to be developed should show the district whether and how the ESSER benefit is sustainable and how they can move forward and keep it sustainable, according to Assistant Superintendent George Ferro.

Chairman Christopher Howard said he had approached Heineman for information on the town’s budget figures. Hanson was still working on their numbers, as of that meeting, Howard said. As soon as he obtains the rest of the numbers, he said it would be shared in another meeting.

Szymaniak reported about the meeting he and the Whitman Finance Committee had the previous night, adding that he requested that the schools be added to the Finance Committee’s budget schedule earlier next year.

“It was a good discussion,” Szymaniak said. “Not many questions were asked and we were able to present the budget to them … and I appreciated their dialog with us and continued work.”

Howard said he had reached out to Hanson Finance Committee Chairman Kevin Sullivan to reach an  understanding of where the town is and Sullivan had extended a tentative invitation for the schools to meet with Hanson FinCom on Tuesday, March 22.

“That would be after our assessment, so it really wouldn’t be a budget presentation, it would be simply [to] understand where the town is,” Howard said.

He left it to the committee to determine if such a meeting would be helpful. Committee members said that, while they could see no reason not to hold the meeting, their job was to certify the budget that night, Szymaniak indicated he would attend, if a firm invitation was issued.

In discussing the use of ESSER funds, School Committee member Hillary Kniffen warned that, while there are teacher retirements ahead that may help the budget, the interventionists that have been brought on to help students catch up, might need to be kept around past 2024.

“Kids need more these days and we need to give it to them, so far as funding public schools,” Kniffen said.

“It’s up to make a responsible decision on a budget,” Byers said, noting that next year — despite planning — the budget may look very different. “One of those is to accurately reflect what the cost is of education.”

Ferro said it was a recommendation that $275,000 be set aside annually for the next large numbers of Chromebooks that are expected to go off line in 2026 and 2029. The current $400,000 sought is to replace the large number of Chromebooks going offline in June.

Three curriculum purchases have been off with between three and four years before the next purchases are due, Ferro said.

“We will be OK as long as this money comes back for the next cycle that we need,” he said.

Howard said that is one reason the five-year plan is something on which the committee will continue work.

Small advocated including all the district’s needs in a comprehensive budget and make the case for it.

“This doesn’t reflect our needs, but it’s a beginning,” Byers said. Increasing programs equals increasing enrollment and getting nearer to the minimum local contribution to the budget and target share that will eventually bring more state aid.

Both Selectman Randy LaMattina and resident John Galvin both cautioned the committee about Whitman’s fiscal health if the school budget was passed at the current funding level.

“Passing this budget the way it is, you’re putting services at risk, whether they be town services or services within the school district itself,” he said. “And then it compounds, and then the use of E&D.”

He said that forcing it on the towns would endanger the school district in the end.