Democrats will convene at 9 a.m., Sunday, Feb. 27 virtually and at the Patio at McGuiggan’s to elect seven delegates and four alternates to represent Whitman at the 2022 State Democratic Convention. This caucus will take place in line with public health guidance and attendees may participate remotely. To pre-register for remote participation, please contact Michael Hayes at 781-447-2550. 

Registered and pre-registered Democrats in Whitman 16 years old by Feb. 4, 2022 may vote and be elected as delegates or alternates during the caucus. Youth (age 16 to 35), people with disabilities, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ+ community not elected as delegates or alternates are encouraged to apply to be add-on delegates at the caucus or by visiting massdems.org/caucus. 

The 2022 Convention will be a hybrid convention, with in-person proceedings taking place alongside virtual participation options on June 3 and 4 at the DCU Center in Worcester. Delegates will convene to endorse candidates for statewide office ahead of the September Democratic Primary. The MassDems are closely monitoring changes in public health guidance and will update plans accordingly.

Those interested in becoming involved with the Whitman Democratic Town Committee should contact our chair Mike Hayes at 781-447-2550 or visit the Whitman MA Democratic Town Committee Facebook page, or find us at whitmandems.com and @DemsofWhitman on Twitter and Instagram.

The W-H Regional School District on Wednesday, Feb. 2 unveiled a $58,939,591 fiscal 2023 budget — a 3.7 percent increase that “adjusts to the needs of the post-COVID student.” 

The assessment for Hanson will be $13,372,100.76 — or 39.4 percent — and Whitman would be assessed $16,936,529.76 — or 60.6 percent of the total assessments.

“This is just a global view of what we feel we need, coming out of the gate, for the FY ’22-’23 school year — hopefully getting back to somewhat normal,” Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak said in introducing the presentation. “The past two years have been very difficult on us as a society, our community, our school system and, especially, our students. Masks, hybrid learning, remote learning missing school days due to COVID, being ill and quarantined, have affected our students, academically, socially and in ways that we have not yet determined.”

It was the first time the School Committee members were receiving the budget documents, according to Chairman Christopher Howard, and all members were given the opportunity to ask questions after Szymaniak’s presentation. School Committee member David Forth attended the meeting remotely.

“This is the start of the budget process,” Howard said. “The presentation is tonight, we will have time at the next meeting to go through it, as well.”

W-H Business Manager John Stanbrook, in reviewing the calculations involved in determining assessments said there are 26 financial documents posted on the district’s website (whrsd.org/school_committee_budget/budget). He said the districts excess and deficiency account — generally used to finance unexpected expenses — began the budget process with a balance of $1,868,318. Proposed uses of the funds are: year two and three of the Whitman water bill settlement ($123,885); half of the full-day kindergarten start-up cost of ($370,404.64); and for Chromebook purchases ($400,000) for a total of $894,288.64 in expenses, with an ending balance of $974,000. Szymaniak said all the district’s Circuit Breaker funding has also been used in calculating the budget. He said it was up to the committee to decide how much of E&D funds they wished to use to help balance the budget.

The meeting may be streamed on the WHCA-TV YouTube channel and is rebroadcast on its educational television channel. 

 In addition to fulfilling the needs post-COVID students, Szymaniak said the budget works toward the strategic plan initiatives that support School Committee goals while providing academic and social services to all 3,442 students in the district.

“Although the budget presented tonight doesn’t get the district to where I think I’d like us to be, it’s definitely a movement in the right direction for all of our kids,” he said.

School Committee priorities voted on last summer are tuition-free all-day kindergarten, one-to-one student personal electronic devices and a robust related arts curriculum.

Anticipated increases in the budget include contractual increases for staff, custodians and transportation; special ed services; insurance costs; moving staff salaries from expiring grants to the budget; building utilities; $740,000+ tuition for full-day K; and two special ed teachers (paid with federal funds). Unanticipated increases include an increase in charter school tuitions. He also reviewed setbacks and achievements of the past three years.

The student-to-teacher ratio is now 14.6:1 thanks to recent faculty additions, with the only larger ratios in the area at Bridgewater-Raynham and Abington. The state average is 13.4:1.

“We’re better than we were and I thank the communities for supporting our budget in the past,” Szymaniak said. 

Enrollment is dropping, however the district is starting to stabilize in the elementary grades. Student enrollments and departures during the school year make projections difficult, he said.

As student numbers decline Szymaniak said teachers now on staff may be used to fill retirement vacancies throughout the district.

There are 670 special education students now enrolled in the district with individual education plans (IEPs) — 456 are in full-inclusion within general classrooms. 95 in partial-enrollment programs, 78 substantially separate from general classrooms and 42 in separate school placements.

Full-day kindergarten implementation will require an additional three teachers and three paraprofessionals at $740,804.27 in FY ’23.

“I think it’s been on the docket for quite a while,” Szymaniak said.

School choice students at the high school, meanwhile should bring about $309,154 to the district. 

Szymaniak said that, since full-day kindergarten has been a topic of conversation for some time, he proposed three option to fund a fully tuition free program.

“I took the one right in the middle,” he said.

Option 1 would use no excess and deficiency funds and would increase assessments to $17,160,993.87 for Whitman and $13,518,039.80 for Hanson. Last year’s assessments were $16,104,903.22 for Whitman and $12,646,117.72 for Hanson.

Option 2 would use excess and deficiency for 50 percent of the startup cost — or $370,404.64 — and would put Whitman’s assessment at $16,936,529.27 and Hanson’s at $13,372,100.76.

Option 3 would use excess and deficiency to fully fund the $740,804.27 startup cost with Whitman’s assessment being $16,712,064.67 and Hanson’s at $13,226,161.73.

School choice

Tuition for students going to other districts will cost an estimated $222,684 and charter school tuition will cost $1,043,981 — up $229,827 from the current year.

“That was unexpected,” he said. “We do get some back, but it doesn’t cover that [gap].” 

Special education is one of a handful of uses for which the district may use federal ESSERIII (Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief Act) funds. ESSER II ($1,001,704 which must be spent by Sept. 30, 2023) and III ($2,314,697 which must be spent by Sept. 30, 2024) are multi-year grants. There are strict stipulations on how the ESSER funds can be used.

There are about 1,400 Chrombooks that are expected to reach end of life in June, meaning they are no longer useable for testing, assessments or the current curriculum. The district already has the replacements for those, but another 1,500 go out in 2026 and the district must begin planning to replace them, according to Assistant Superintendent George Ferro.

“We’re trying to get on a fiscal cycle of where we can earmark that money — keep that money, but now know that yearly we’re putting that through,” he said.

While the budget can be worked on up until the Monday, May 2 town meetings, it must be certified and sent to the towns by March 19, so Szymaniak has scheduled Wednesday, March 16 as the vote to meet that deadline.

HANSON — With a major winter storm being forecast for the weekend, the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Jan. 25 discussed potential conflicts involved in some town employees doing double duty as plow operators. One such issue surrounded a Water Department employee who has filed a routine disclosure of potential conflict of interest with the town. The Board approved his disclosure statement, permitting him to plow.

“I understand that it’s permitted and that a [legal] opinion has been received, but I think it’s poor precedent,” Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “I guess I’m concerned that it’s quite likely that in the middle of a storm — and this has definitely happened — there could be a water main break and where do those allegiances lie?”

She said she considers the Water Department to be a first responder and questioned how employees could be permitted to plow when an emergency could occur.

“As a public employee, your best interest falls with your employer, number one,” said Selectman Chairman Matt Dyer. “His first priority would be his job and I think as long as we clarify that is what is expected of you, I think that’s a good way to go about it.”

He said Water Department employees had been permitted to do snow plowing in the past.

“As long as it’s clear what the priorities are and [Green] as a procurement officer is comfortable that nothing inappropriate happened in the determination of who was being awarded a snow plowing contact …,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “I want to make sure there is no lapse in procurement in this and there’s not going to be any ambiguities whatsoever as far as what the priorities are here.”

Green said snow plowing contracts are not subject to procurement regulations because towns advertise for plow drivers every year instead of a bidding process.

FitzGerald-Kemmett asked if the town hires everyone who applies.

“I think this year, we are,” Dyer said.

“I have no problem if we hire everybody who applies,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “To the extent that if there’s ever a determination over who should and should not be hired, then I’m going to have a problem about it.”

She argued that, from an ethical standpoint, she didn’t see how an average person looking in from the outside could be comfortable with the process.

Green said the Highway Department normally takes the lead in that process and she does not monitor it, but said she would have a discussion with Highway Superintendent Jameson Shave about the issue. She noted that new Town Hall maintenance person Charlie Baker is also going to be plowing for the Highway Department.

“He called ethics … and filed a disclosure,” Green said.

Selectmen Joe Weeks said with the forecast for this weekend, plow drivers would likely be working all night long.

“I just want to make sure … if someone is plowing all night, and they’re going to be exhausted …there is ample coverage [for other emergencies], that people do have people there ready to go, backup for backup,” he said.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said the Water Department should also be apprised of the situation.

Green said she has made it clear to Baker that Town Hall snow and ice removal is his first priority, followed by the Library/Senior Center before his plowing work.

Town Meeting

Selectmen voted to open the annual Town Meeting warrant and discussed options for locations in case COVID variants were still a problem by the Monday, May 2.

As of Tuesday, Green reported there are 406 active cases of COVID in town. While that is higher than the last Selectment’s meeting, she said numbers statewide appear to be dropping and starting to stabilize.

FitzGerald-Kemmett stressed that the 400 represent calls to the Board of Health, which requires a PCR test and a medical provider has to report that finding. It does not mean there are only 400 cases in town.

Selectmen opted to retain the mandate for masks in town buildings until the board’s next meeting in two weeks.

“I would like to err on the side of caution,” said FitzGerald-Kemmett. “Although I am desperately hoping that we’ll be pleasantly surprised to not have COVID running rampant, but I think it would be foolish for us to assume that at this point.”

She said she would be much more comfortable seeking space at the high school as Town Administrator Lisa Green suggested.

Dyer said he really enjoyed having Town Meeting outside, noting that it was close to graduation and they could use the stage if it was up. The WHRHS calendar has graduation on Friday, June 3.

“If [the graduation stage is not up], I’m OK with inside the auditorium,” he said.

Green said she would be discussing the options in more detail with Town Clerk Elizabeth Sloan, Town Moderator Sean Kealy and school district officials.

“I just wanted an idea of what direction the board was moving into so we can look at those options,” Green said, noting cost issues would also be reviewed.

“I don’t want there to be a prohibition on people being engaged because they feel unsafe attending Town Meeting, that’s the bottom line for me,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

Technology update

IT Director Steve Moberg reported he has signed the town up for a state Security Awareness Grant which sends out “training” exercises throughout the year, including phishing tests to try to educate staff about safe practices.

“[They] try to trick our users into clicking on them, and if they do click on them, they’ll get an email back saying they clicked on something that they shouldn’t have clicked on and they’ll be assigned additional training,” Moberg said.

Dyer asked if everyone was aware of the tests. Moberg said they hadn’t been made aware of it, he would be making them aware of the program through an email to all staff by the end of the week. He is also looking into ATT’s FirstNet program, a platform operated by the government since 9/11 as a cell service dedicated to first responders with a 99.9 percent up time. If it fails, ATT could be fined by the government, unlike commercial programs. And it could save the town $4 to $5 per line — or $200 per month for the town’s 70 lines. It runs off the same cell towers but the FCC has authorized more power through the system.

Police Chief Michael Miksch doesn’t really want to move from Verizon, Moberg said, so Town Hall will be shifted to FirstNet and perhaps the chief might change his mind later. Moberg said that in the wake of the October Nor’Easter that knocked out cell towers all over the area, FirstNet should help the town.

He also said all the town’s servers should be upgraded or shut down by the end of the week.

WHITMAN — Town officials are working to set up the Town Hall to ensure proper social distancing is in place to safely conduct the Monday, Jan. 31 special Town Meeting, according to Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman.

“We’re thinking about having the check-in table in the foyer and having folks come in primarily through the front door,” he said, noting the lower-level handicapped entrance would still be accessible to those who need it. Six-foot spacing will be marked out on the floor.

The setup would also allow more seats in the auditorium at six-foot intervals.

“Since the Town Meeting warrant has been posted, it is the town moderator’s decision, in consultation with the Board of Selectmen and public safety officials, if he was considering postponing,” Heineman said. 

The town marked it’s 11th consecutive week of increases in the positivity rate for COVID-19 — now up to 28.6 percent, reported Heineman, who receives weekly reports from Fire Chief Timothy Clancy. The vaccination rate has also climbed among those eligible to be vaccinated. It’s been climbing at a rate of about 1 percent per week to about 65 percent fully vaccinated.

“I think that we’ve been knowing and believing that the omicron variant would peak and then quickly drop,” he said. “It’s very preliminary, but I was just looking at the numbers today, and the state positivity rate as of [Jan. 17] was 17.44 percent, down from 21.5 percent. So … it would appear as though we may be past the surge there, at least statewide. That’s a little glimmer of hope there.”

The town is also planning a second round of distribution of the COVID test kits it purchased from 1 to 3 p.m., Friday, Jan. 21 at Whitman Middle School. Any Whitman resident is eligible to receive a kit, which includes two tests. 

There is a half-day school session that day.

“We have looked into it,” Fire Chief Timothy Clancy said. “The school is booked on weekends from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. until March 17. We had looked at pulling it off this Monday — Martin Luther King Day — when school was [closed]. Obviously, the weather didn’t cooperate.”

Another is being planned for Wednesday, Feb. 9.

Residents are limited to one self-test kit per vehicle. Kits will be distributed on a first-come-first-served basis while supplies last. Residents will be required to show proof of residency at the beginning of the line when picking up the self-test kits.

The Biden Administration also began making orders of four test kits per household available free by mail at covidtests.gov on Tuesday, Jan. 18.

The town’s final planned Moderna booster clinic is slated for 2:30 to 7:30 p.m., today at the Knights of Columbus [see box below]. 

School audit update

Heineman also updated the board on the bid process for selecting a school audit firm. He has met with Hanson Town Administrator Lisa Green, and selectmen liasions to the School Committee Randy LaMattina of Whitman and Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett of Hanson, to discuss Hanson Selectmen’s decision to proceed with the audit and reissue the invitations to bid and look at the previous invitation to bid.

The only changes were that CARES Act and American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) funds are for funding COVID-19 efforts and not under consideration for funding audit costs. They also discussed Circuit Breaker funds.

The invitation to bid has been put together and disseminated to potential bidders with a deadline of Jan. 28, 2022.

“In light of the Circuit Breaker issue, it makes it more pertinent now than ever to just make sure that both towns are receiving and benefiting from the funds we’re getting and [that] they’re going in the right place,” LaMattina said.

WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen, voted on Tuesday, Jan. 11 to reject a Board of Health consensus that all municipal employees be vaccinated in the wake of the omicron variant of COVID-19 and the rise of positive cases in the town. 

It was one of four recommendations from the Board of Health, which met earlier in the day.  Selectmen had asked for guidance from the health board at the Jan. 4 Selectmen’s meeting.

Selectmen also voted against the health board’s recommendation to continue the closure of buildings — except by appointment — until Jan. 25, and said buildings would be opened on Thursday, Jan. 13 and therefore not require remote meeting participation. But approved a recommendation to mandate masks in public buildings.

“[The health board] require masks in all town-owned buildings, including individual work spaces … and, by implication they said the building should remain closed,” said Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski, acknowledging that health officials had not voted on the appointment-only provision.

The vaccine mandate recommendation — that employees would have a six-month leave time to comply, with only medical or religious objection — met with considerable objection by some Selectmen.

“I am against this,” Selectman Brian Bezanson said. “This particular information is before the Supreme Court even as we speak and I think it is a bit premature for us to make a decision without hearing [the high court’s] decision.”

Selectman Justin Evans, as an employee of the state who is required to be vaccinated, said he had no objections to mandating it as he knows of no one who has left their job because of it.

“It was a minor inconvenience to prove we were vaccinated at the time,” he said, asking if the board would consider a strong recommendation with the requirement of weekly tests for those who object.

Selectman Randy LaMattina, who is fully vaccinated and has received a booster, also objected to the vaccine mandate, both as a policy decision that rests with Selectmen and argued that not only is the science changing on COVID, the town could be financially crippled by a lawsuit.

 “I do think people should be vaccinated, it’s a personal protection,” LaMattina said. “Why is this town, at this time, going to get into that, when we know there’s severe legal fights already out there with this, that are in the courts, with people with far deeper pockets than we have from the federal level on down.”

He agreed with incentivizing vaccination, but not a mandate.

“If you haven’t done it by now, you’re not going to do it,” Bezanson said.

LaMattina asked what the benefit of a mandate would be, to which Selectman Justin Evans said the vaccines are literally life-saving.

“I agree with it,” LaMattina said. “I agree that the vaccine is providing protection, absolutely, but if you don’t want that … I don’t see a situation to win for us.”

Town buildings

Regarding the reopening of Town Hall, Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman said no other town he has contacted on the South Shore has indicated they are open by appointment only.

“What matters to me are the employees, and I have not had one employee say they are happy with the building being closed,” Bezanson said. He also noted that residents are noting that stores and restaurants are open.

Grocery stores, however, never closed — while, at the height of the pandemic, they limited numbers of people inside at a time — because they were deemed an essential service.

“I think this board made a fantastic decision Christmas week – a slow week,” LaMattina said. “That being said … the risk is worth the reward.”

He said there has been enough time to see how omicron was going to go and it is time to open again.

A health board’s recommendation that attendance be permitted at the senior center by pods of 10 people at a time, if public buildings continued to be closed except for appointments was passed by Selectmen, but rendered moot by the building opening vote.

Selectmen did vote in agreement with the health board’s unanimous recommendation to require masks be worn at all times in public buildings at least until the next Board of Health meeting on Jan. 25.

Bezanson, however, said he was not “100 percent on board” with keeping buildings closed, since other area towns, and especially the regional school district, are open.

“I don’t see our consistency in our methodology in how we’re looking at this,” he said. “While the district is not part of our purview, it is still part of the town and, for me, we should be consistent. If it was such a risk, those children wouldn’t be there and they’d be on virtual learning.”

Masks required

While he said town employees are equally valued, Bezanson argued Selectmen need to be consistent. 

“I think the mask mandate is perfectly fine because, when you go around, when you are out in your Stop & Shops and Walmarts and the liquor stores, you’re wearing a mask,” he said. “It’s certainly your choice, but we have to decide about being in the building as an employee.”

Evans moved to separate the mask recommendation and building opening into separate votes.

Selectman Daniel Salvucci asked if an employee is in an office by themselves and why.

“Remember that [Selectman] Randy’s [LaMattina] original motion a couple of weeks ago was to protect the infrastructure, protect the workers” Kowalski said. “We don’t want to have DPW guy out sick, we don’t want to have it in the police department. We don’t want to have it in the fire department. What this does, is it gives us another two weeks of insurance.”

LaMattina said he was more concerned with someone deciding their own level of comfort, and their own medical decision on what’s safe for someone else. If someone is in an office alone and are sneezing or coughing, people who walk in are walking into those droplets.

“It’s continuity of a decision-making process,” LaMattina. “If you are going to induce a mask madate, you are doing it all the time.”

Health Board member Danielle Clancy had told Selectmen on Dec. 21 that there have been “incidents” with town employees in recent days, that made her reconsider the desirability for a vaccine mandate.

But LaMattina strenuously disagreed with vaccine or remote meeting requirements.

Selectmen also, in voting to open Town Hall, effectively negated the Health Board’s decision to require remote meeting sessions, which is already permitted by the state until April 1.

“With a couple of these, you’re seeing a drastic overreach by the Board of Health,” LaMattina said. “They’re getting into policy decisions, and not health decisions.” 

meetings

Determining how meetings can convene and noted that the determination on opening buildings would steer the decision on meetings.

“I think what they are doing, though is what we discussed last week,” Kowalski said.

Heineman said he informed the health board what Selectmen had advised last week, even as the Board of Selectmen had not voted on with attention to following the Open Meeting Law. He said he spoke with the health board to ensure, whatever they chose to recommend about meeting protocols, that they were in compliance with the Open Meeting Law.

Senior Center Director Mary Holland spoke about the importance of opening that building to help combat the isolation many seniors are experiencing who live alone and far from family.

“The choice for the seniors to be able to come is their choice,” said Senior Center Director Mary Holland. “The social isolation of leaving these seniors shut out of the building is a greater detriment than opening the doors and allowing them that option.”

Kowalski said, while he favored allowing small groups of seniors back into the center, he argued that the staff holds a responsibility to protect the health of the elder population.

More than 95 percent of people over 65 are vaccinated, Heineman said. Holland said they also have a scanning system to track attendance at the senior center, which has been in place before COVID, so they can track any positive cases that occur.

“I respect what you are saying, but I have trouble opening that door to people who may hurt themselves if they enter that door,” Kowalski said.

“They make their choices of where they want to go … No one is forcing them to come to that building, they can chose to come,” she said.

“The most vulnerable people in the pandemic are the people who are older and have other conditions,” Kowalski said. “And what we are saying is, ‘Let’s open it up to the most vulnerable people because, heck, they are lonely,’” Kowalski said.

Holland countered that elders are adults who can choose what they want to do.

WHITMAN — Vaccine and mask mandates are being considered by town officials as the closure of Town Hall and other town buildings has been continued until at least Jan. 11 — with all people working in or visiting buildings required to wear masks at all times.

“It’s a tremendously fluid situation and we’re seeing a lot of change,” Selectman Randy LaMattina said. “A lot of us took some heat for closing last week, but it turned out to be a really good decision.” 

He advocated maintaining the building closures until Jan. 11 and to institute a full-time mask mandate in the buildings. Health Board member Danielle Clancy agreed with LaMattina’s motion, and while noting she is not speaking for the board, suggested it could go beyond Jan. 11.

Selectman Justin Evans said the push for vaccines, demand for test kits and a requirement for masks initially tempted him to believe town buildings could be reopened Jan. 10, but agreed the health board should have more time to consider it. He did note the library and senior center provide important social-emotional connections for elders and other residents.

“I don’t want this [building closure] to go on much longer than it has to,” he said.

Public meetings are also strongly urged to meet remotely or in a hybrid in-person/remote fashion for the foreseeable future. The ZBA, a board that “very much wants to meet in person,” according to Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman, is the only board to meet before the Board of Health can meet to decide the issues at 9:30 a.m., Tuesday, Jan. 11. Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski said he would encourage the ZBA to delay the meeting until after the Board of Health’s meeting.

Selectmen held a brief session with the Board of Health on Tuesday, Jan. 4 regarding COVID response guidelines [see below] as well as discussing possible vaccine and mask mandates for town employees.

“I think that one of the most important things about this is that the definition of fully vaccinated has changed,” said Clancy. “Those who have not had a booster and were vaccinated more than six months ago — or two months ago with J&J — are not considered fully vaccinated at this time, and we urge everyone to become vaccinated. Get a booster as soon as possible.”

Kowalski asked if the health board has considered mandating vaccines for town employees. Clancy said it is one of the issues being discussed Jan. 11.

“Like everyone else, we are chasing our tails with Omicron, — it’s coming around faster than anybody thought,” Clancy said, noting there have been “incidents” with town employees in recent days, that are making her — and possibly other health board members — reconsider the vaccine mandate.

“We have discussed it, and we will probably be discussing it again,” she said. “It’s one of the reasons I’ve asked for another meeting this month.”

Kowalski suggested Selectmen might be more supportive of it at this time.

She also urged continued vaccine boosters and mask upgrades as people have been known to get COVID more than once.

Selectman Brian Bezanson, who suggested the mild case most people get could “move us toward herd immunity,” and encouraged people to get an antibody test, which Clancy said is not widely available. Kowalski countered that for some, such as vulnerable infants, it is not a mild illness to be taken lightly.

Immunity is reducing more quickly between vaccines, Clancy also cautioned. 

“But, if you get the booster, it’s bringing you back up,” she added. “There’s a question now as to whether they’re going to reduce the time between your shots and your booster. They’re discussing that with Pfizer.” 

The booster may be moved up to within five months of the initial series.

“People are getting Omicron, unfortunately, but they are staying out of the hospital, and that’s the goal right now,” Clancy said. “And we’re asking town employees, if you’re sick, please don’t come to work. Period. It’s not up to you to decide if it’s COVID or not COVID until you are tested.”

Kowalski also advocated revising mask guidelines. The health board had voted at its last meeting to require masks when away from their desks in common areas of Town Hall. They had left it up to staff working in small “bubbles,” and who know each others’ vaccination status and are comfortable with each other to decide whether they felt that they didn’t need to sit for eight hours with a mask on.

“Unfortunately, we’ve been proved wrong recently, so we’re going to revisit this,” Clancy said. “People are coming to work sick and assuming it’s not COVID and it’s turning out to be COVID.”

Kowalski agreed with the need for that discussion.

“Some of us are getting uncomfortable with that definition of ‘as long as you’re comfortable’ you can go without [a mask],” Kowalski said.

“Comfort levels and friendships are not what medical decisions are made over and I think if we replayed that same situation this past week, we would have had some problems,” LaMattina said. “Yes, it’s uncomfortable to wear a mask all day long, but our kids are doing it every single day, Monday to Friday.” 

Clancy said health officials are trying to get past pandemic and into the endemic stage, which means COVID can be dealt with on a day-to-day basis.

Selectmen also voted to accept revised COVID quarantine guidelines, which Heineman suggested they do, given that the Board of Health, which has not yet to voted on them, plans to do so during the Jan. 11 meeting.

“They haven’t changed in any significant way, except to respond to, within the last week, or slightly more than a week the changes recommended by the CDC and the state Department of Public Health … about PCR tests being required, rather than rapid tests,” Heineman said. Guidelines are available on the town’s website whitman-ma.gov.

WHITMAN – The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Dec. 21 voted to close and limit access to Town Hall and other town-owned buildings to appointment-only business as of Monday, Dec. 27 for a minimum of two weeks – as well as to establish a testing site as soon as the state can furnish testing supplies, in the face of the fast-spreading Omicron variant of COVID-19.

Selectmen will revisit the issue on Tuesday, Jan. 4.

Staff would be in the buildings at socially safe distances, with office phone numbers posted at doors. Simple transactions could be handled at the door or bringing the resident in to larger spaces in Town Hall to help them.

Selectmen also asked that the Board of Health consider mandating masks in town-owned buildings, as well as revisiting vaccination mandates as federal courts and agencies have not agreed on the issue.

Scheduled interviews with finalists for the assistant town administrator position were postponed until 6 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 4.

“From everything we’ve heard on the news, we’re about to hit a pretty big wave of Omicron,” said Selectman Randy LaMattina. “My question was, should we try to get in front of it tonight and do what we can to protect our infrastructure – protect our employees, possibly?”

He suggested going into a two-week “bunkered-down situation” with Christmas as the starting point and limiting interaction with employees and closing town buildings – Town Hall, the library, senior center, DPW, police and fire stations. In the meantime, he suggested the town work on getting a testing site ready for residents.

“For the last seven weeks, our positivity rate has risen week-to-week,” said Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman. “These past two weeks … it is about 10 percent, so it has plateaued a little bit in the last two weeks, but plateaued at a pretty alarming rate.”

Heineman added the Health Inspector Daniel Kelly polled the board’s members about closing building to appointment-only status and said perhaps two weeks was not long enough. A third member also supported it.

Scheduled vaccinations has continued to “creep up” by about 1 percent per week, he said. The town is now 63 percent fully vaccinated.

“It’s cranking along,” Fire Chief and Emergency Management Director Timothy Clancy said. “We see the numbers, I send them to you every week. … We’re concerned about the infrastructure. If it comes through the Town Hall, we’re crippled – and our police, fire and DPW, as well as the library. If it gets into our buildings, it’s going to cripple us and the effects could be devastating to the town.”

Booster clinics

Chief Clancy, the town’s COVID-19 clinical coordinator and health officials have worked to made sure booster clinics, with more than 300 residents receiving their booster shots in the past two weeks. Upcoming clinics – 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Jan. 5 and from 2:30 to 7:30 p.m., Jan. 20 – can be signed up for on the town’s newly redesigned website. The state has purchased rapid tests for communities where a qualifying percentage of residents are below the federal poverty line. Whitman is not one of those communities, but the town will be able to purchase the much cheaper rapid tests by January.

Clancy said a drive-in test facility, if that’s what the town prefers, could be set up after the New Year. 

“My only concern is that there is a limit on them right now,” Clancy said of the tests. “If we are looking to buy the ones the state is going to provide, I think we’re pushing this down the road a little bit.” 

Clancy added they can get the tests on hand to the town’s high-risk residents in the meantime.

Heineman has been discussing with health officials whether Whitman should purchase some of those tests for residents and whether the town wants to use American Rescue Plan funds for that.

“That would be the natural source of funds,” he said.

President Biden announced earlier in the day that the federal government “is prepared today for what’s coming” with enough gowns, masks and ventilators (PPE) to deal with the surge in hospitalizations among the unvaccinated, and plans to reinforce hospitals.

Vaccination and booster shot efforts have been stepped up “significantly,” the president said, and more than 20,000 free testing sites have been set up nationally, and the Defense Production Act has been used to spend more than $3 billion to purchase enough at-home testing kits for purchase at the pharmacy or online. Hospital-administered PCR tests will be covered by insurance. National Guard troops are also being deployed to support, and FEMA ordered to provide additional hospital beds, ambulances and EMTs to overwhelmed hospitals and first responders.

Starting in January, private insurance will also cover at-home testing by private insurance via reimbursement, Biden said. The federal government also moved to set up emergency testing sites in areas that need additional testing capacity – the first in New York City. Google search for more information by: “COVID tests near me.”

Another 500 million free, at-home rapid test kits have been ordered by the federal government, with delivery also starting in January. 

A federal court order for requiring vaccination or test orders for employees and adult school staffs are being used to support businesses and K-12 schools to keep them open based on a “test to stay” CDC order.

Selectman Brian Bezanson said he listened to the president’s speech Tuesday about Omicron and the home test kits being made available.

“I thought that’s a great opportunity, because I’ve tried to get some (testing kits) for the last two weeks and, though I did end up getting some for family members, they are scarce,” he said. “It’s good news.”

Selectmen also discussed the option of using its ARPA funds to purchase its own test kits to distribute to residents.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Bezanson said.

LaMattina said his only concern was in how the town would be able to do contact tracing. Selectman Dan Salvucci asked if the whole issue shouldn’t be addressed in concert with the Board of Health.

“How do we track positivity rates? That’s what scares me about the home [tests],” he said.

Bezanson suggested taking a page from the Fire Department’s notebook and have firefighters administer tests, which would make contact tracing easier.

Clancy said he had already spoken to Heineman about that issue.

Test kits

“My main concern with home test kits is there’s a 15 percent false positive,” Clancy said. “I would not want people doing home test kits thinking they can go to a family function and they’re great, when in all actuality there’s maybe that 15 percent chance that they’re not. … We’d be able to track them if we were doing, but it would be an undertaking – but that’s OK.”

Of a possible drive-up rapid test, Clancy said it could be done and he has plans already laid out for that type of thing. He just needs to know how many tests, and how long they would be used, The PCR test is the “Golden Rule” of COVID tests, according to Clancy.

Selectman Justin Evans said the odds of two false positives is about 2 percent, and the home tests are supposed to be done twice over two or three days.

“That brings it right in line with the PCR test,” he said. PCR tests are not likely to mean people will wait at home two or three days for the results.

“This is [the Board of Health’s] territory, basically,” Salvucci said.

Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski asked if the health board had been discussing the variant and its implicatons.

“The  Board of Health needs to be involved,” Kowalski said.

Member Dawn Varley, who attended the Selectmen’s meeting said that panel wouldn’t meet until Dec. 30.

LaMattina said the board was giving the Board of Health time to meet with the fire chief and develop a plan as they “limit the battlefield.”

Varley also said, as Town Clerk, she does not feel comfortable having her staff meeting with people at the doors in the dark when offices were closed before.

“It made our work harder,” she said of the need to run from door to door.

“It’s nine days,” Bezason said. “That’s all it is – and it’s a holiday week when, probably, not a lot goes on.”

“When all COVID spending is considered, after Dec. 31, there’s a difference how we, as a town, should look at it,” Heineman said. CARES Act money must be spent before the stroke-of-midnight end of 2021 on Dec. 31, and they must be spent on COVID response issues. ARPA funds passed earlier this year, may be spent on a broader context of things, according to Heineman. He envisions one of those “other things” would be in providing great relief to sewer rate payers to reduce the amount of money needed to be borrowed and paid for the sewer force main project.

“Obviously, public health is paramount, and obviously, whatever is the wise public health decision to address COVID, I think almost everyone would agree, should be the primary use of the ARPA money,” Heineman said.

Bezanson said reporting he has heard from South Africa indicates the wave may last about three weeks.

The Fire Department has about 140 tests in stock as of Dec. 21, for which the department paid nearly $25 per test kit, but about a week and a half ago, the state put out a mass procurement request for tests, but Heineman said he does not think a response has come back yet.

“I’m not sure that they’re $5,” he said. “That’s what we’ve been promised by the state Department of Public Health, but frankly, I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Heineman also said the rapid tests coming from the federal government are less expensive than those on the market today, but also will not be available until January, and are therefore ineligible for CARES Act funding.

Biden’s advice to Americans also includes vaccinations.

“If you’re not fully vaccinated, you have good reason to be concerned, you’re at a high risk of getting sick and, if you’re sick you’re at a high risk of spreading it to others, including friends and family,” Biden said. “The unvaccinated have a significantly higher risk of ending up in a hospital, or even dying.”

The president stressed that almost everyone who has died during the course of the pandemic since March 2020 has been unvaccinated. While some fully vaccinated people will contract COVID, because Omicron spreads so easily, he said, such cases are highly unlikely to lead to serious illness. Getting the booster shot reduces the reason for concern.

Fully vaccinated people are advised to wear properly fitting, secure masks indoors and in public settings – preferably N-95 masks.