Whitman-Hanson Express

You are here: Home / Archives for Breaking News

Recalculating busing costs

By

WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen, on Tuesday, March 15, heard suggestions on dealing with the issue of non-mandated busing and its cost pertaining to school funding from residents John Galvin and Shawn Kain.

Kain pointed to pressure the finance Committee had placed on the schools last year to do more research in an effort to find efficiencies in non-mandated busing.

“It’s been a standing item on their agenda,” Kain said. “I’ve been trying to pay attention to those guys and it’s obviously a priority for them.”

Selectman Randy LaMattina, noting the board’s support of non-mandated busing in Whitman, said he, a couple School Committee members, some Finance Committee members and Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman met about 14 months ago to discuss the escalating cost and whether there was a more fiscally sound way to bill the towns for it. The session included a presentation on the issue by Superintendent Jeff Szymaniak. A quorum of the School Committee attended Whitman’s Finance Committee meeting at the time Galvin and Kain made their presentation March 15.

 “We also had a commitment from him that he was going to look into it,” LaMattina said, indicating that the schools would be getting back to them before the school year started on ways it could be better handled.

Kain said the meeting had been helpful in outlining how non-mandated busing worked, but not the numbers behind it.

“This year, when they followed up with another presentation, we had the numbers,” he said.

The town is being charged a service for non-mandated busing.

Heineman said the cost is $411,000 paid by Whitman for non-mandated busing in the current budget, with the fiscal 2023 school budget’s initial numbers calling for $478,000. Galvin and Kain’s data indicated the actual cost is between $100,000 to $131,000.

The state reimburses for mandated busing costs.

“When they did the math on what would happen if we got rid of non-mandated busing, the savings didn’t equate to what we were being charged,” Kain said. “That just doesn’t sit well with me.”

While he noted there could be legitimate reasons for the discrepancy, but the numbers did not adequately explain it to him. For example, if the town got rid of non-mandated busing the state’s reimbursement to the district for transportation was shown to increase by $350,000.

Galvin said the district calculates their cost by every rider, whether mandated or not — about 2,700 riders — and come up with a cost of $646 per pupil, which they then multiply by the number on non-mandated riders they have — 755 in Whitman — to arrive at the $478,000 they indicated Whitman would be assessed. The same calculations are done for Hanson.

“Isn’t that a double payment?” Selectman Dan Salvucci asked.

Kain said that was his first conclusion.

If the non-mandated students were taken out of the equation, Galvin said the numbers provided by the school district showed only about $131,000.

“Isn’t that the true cost of our non-mandated busing?” Galvin asked. By Galvin’s calculations, Hanson’s saving would be $101,000.

Galvin said the group that met 14 months ago, including Business Manager John Stanbrook, have agreed that the formula he and Kain are suggesting is one that made more sense than the way they are doing it now. He said state officials have told them that there is no state guidance on the matter because all regions are different. Heineman suggested there might also be a concern with the fact that it has already been assessed to the towns and therefor not reimburseable and Galvin said there is also a concern that DESE might ask for an audit.

“This is far from a simple topic, there’s no question about it,” Galvin said. “But we’re all in agreement that the way they do it now, isn’t the way we’re going to accept it anymore.”

“It may be that this exact formula doesn’t work,” Kain said of their work. “But something like this could be really beneficial.” While the towns could be paying less in busing costs, the district could stand to receive more in state aid.

“It’s a win-win,” he said.

Galvin said the distribution of savings would have to be done carefully. There are four other busing scenarios the school district has been calculating as well.

“When you make the shift … it’s the second year you see the savings and the bid reimbursement coming back from the state,” Kain said, regardless of what formula is used.

“You’d think you’d want to file your actual costs on your end-of-year report,” Galvin said. “It almost falls into the perfect use of one-time funds.”

That added to frustration among Whitman Selectmen about the previous week’s joint meeting with the Hanson board.

“That time came and went and, as you may be aware, a couple of weeks ago this hit a School Committee agenda where I don’t believe our board was painted in the best light,” LaMattia said. “We were kind of portrayed as looking to cut this out to save a few dollars, which I don’t believe was ever the case.”

LaMattina contends the Board of Selectmen has always supported non-mandated busing and the service it provides for parents and their kids.

“The fruits of that meeting were actual numbers placed on this,” he said. “Once you saw the numbers, it’s pretty obvious that the town is subsidizing non-mandated costs, as well as possibly the town of Hanson to a far lesser extent.”

“Both towns have been hurt by this — Whitman considerably,” LaMattina said.

Whitman could only cover its costs in a certified school budget if the town realizes savings on non-mandated busing, Heineman said.

“The [district’s] numbers didn’t make sense,” LaMattina said.

Selectman Brian Bezanson asked if the School District has either questioned or challenged Galvin’s numbers.

“I don’t even know if this has even been presented to the full School Committee yet,” LaMattina said. “It’s been handled by the budget subcommittee.”

That subcommittee sent an email indicating the members agree with Whitman’s numbers, according to LaMattina.

“At our meeting last week, we were chided as not being good partners,” Bezanson said. “Is it disingenuous? Is it a shell game? Is it mistakes? … It’s a little bit of the Boy Who Cried Wolf.”

Bezanson said he found the situation offensive and that Whitman officials are owed an apology from the chairman and vice chair of the School Committee.

“To me, this just reinforces the need for an audit,” Selectman Justin Evans said.

“I’ve always been an advocate of the town taking care of its non-mandated busing people, because I know that the impetus for that came from townspeople a long time ago,” said Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski. “But, I tell you, my faith is shaken right now.”

On the COVID-19 front, Heineman said Whitman has now registered its lowest positivity rate — 2.64 percent — since Aug. 5, 2021, and the lowest number of positive cases at 17 since that date.

Boards debate budget partnership

By

What had been billed as a discussion of the effect of the school district’s budget on town finances, on Tuesday, March 8, devolved for a time into a debate on the intentions of the Whitman and Hanson Select boards and the meaning of partnership, but concluded with some firm ideas of how future budget planning should be conducted.

Whitman Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski chaired the joint select board meeting, as Hanson Selectmen Chairman Matt Dyer unable to attend due to work commitments.

Kowalski said he and Dyer “had a nice talk” about the meeting objectives on Monday. 

“There’s been, apparently, some varying opinions about what this meeting was all about,” Kowalski said, opening the session. “Matt and I kind of agree [on] what we think the meeting is about, so we wanted that, in his absence, I communicate that to you all, too.”

That focus was to be simply a joint meeting of the two select boards, stemming from a meeting among the town administrators and selectmen Randy LaMattina of Whitman and Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett of Hanson, who thought it would be a good idea for the two boards to meet together to look at the fiscal 2023 district budget and — at some point, pay some attention to the long-range school district sustainability, according to Kowalski.

While he concluded the meeting saying it may have been a mistake to set up a meeting just between the select boards, even as he said some objectives had been met. What needs to be worked on, he said is a process for next year’s budget cycle, not this year’s.

 “I see the meeting as our giving the schools advice for their certification meeting next week,” Kowalski said. “As the two boards of selectmen get together, might be able to let them know what we think we can handle for the next year over this year and what might happen in the future.”

When Hanson Selectman Joe Weeks offered appreciation for both the Whitman Selectmen and the School Committee for meeting with them, less than 20 minutes into the session, School Committee Chairman Christopher Howard complained that he was not invited, although Whitman Selectmen did express their intention that Howard, Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak and Business Manager John Stanbrook to be invited to the meeting.

“Wow,” someone could be heard whispering into an open mic.

“We’re here to observe,” Howard said. “Before we talk about partnerships, we’re here to listen, but we were not included or invited to this conversation.”

Hanson Selectman Jim Hickey said he was against the meeting, while he favored the premise, but excused himself because he was under the impression that a formal invitation had been extended.

“I don’t have any authority,” Howard said, stressing that he is only one of 10 votes on the School Committee.

Kowalski suggested there may have been a communication problem between himself and Howard.

“I made it clear that I did not want the Superintendent to feel he needed to make a presentation … and was clear that they be included in the meeting,” Kowalski said.

Heineman wanted to make it clear that he wanted to send a formal email invitation … but his explanation was cut short by Hickey’s walkout. He later said that Szymaniak asked him to hold off on a formal email until he could talk to Howard, who issued his own email saying he would be there.

“The question is not the invitation, it’s the expectation,” Howard said. “We do not have the authority to work with the boards of selectmen on the budget.”

FitzGerald-Kemmett said a process needed to be documented to settle the issue by discussing best practice and a possible timeline for solving it, for another meeting.

Whitman resident Shawn Kain lauded Howard’s five-year budget plan to foster sustainability in the regional budget.

“If the schools are laying all their cards on the table for the next five years, it would be very helpful for both towns to do the same,” he said. “Then you have a more productive conversation about this year and you could predict what’s going to happen in the next couple of years.”

Whitman Selectman Justin Evans had expressed concern at the outset about the schedule of budget talks between the towns and the school district, which has, over recent years, waited until the statutory deadline to vote a budget before presenting it to the towns.

“That begins our process of trying to make everything work out,” Evans said. “If the whole process could be moved forward a little bit, it would make balancing the town budgets a lot easier on our side, for Whitman, at least.”

He said that he imagined Hanson was in a similar predicament.

“If we wait until we get numbers from the schools, it’s often mid-March, late March mid-April by the time we’re all sort of in agreement — one year, even up to town meetings,” he said.

Kowalski asked the town administrators about what they foresee as the assessment figures their towns could handle.

Whitman Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman said the assessment figure, which called for a 5.76 percent increase, presented by Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak on Feb. 2, would require the use of one-time revenue — free cash — in Whitman. The 3.67 percent increase quoted on Feb. 16 would fit within Whitman’s levy without the use of free cash, but he expressed concern about that being the case for fiscal 2025 and beyond.

“What the schools are asking now we can handle within our levy,” Kowalski confirmed.

Hanson Town Administrator Lisa Green said she and Town Accountant Todd Hackett had to use some placeholders to calculate the budget, working with a 3.25, 3.5 and 4 percent assessment variables. 

“We thought we were safe with a 3.5 percent assessment [increase],” she said. “When we came to the meeting and saw the 5.76 [percent] and they rounded it down to 3.7 [percent] … The tuition-free all-day kindergarten is a huge chunk of money ($740,000) … Hanson cannot afford that.”

She said Hanson is hoping to find some ground with schools so they don’t have to tap into one-time funds to make the budget work.

“We don’t want to decimate our town departments, which we have just really built up to where they need to be,” she said.

Kowalski asked what percentage Hanson can handle. Green said Hackett is comfortable with 3 percent. Whitman was comfortable with the 3.67 percent figure the town had already received from the schools.

Whitman Selectman Dan Salvucci said that, while W-H doesn’t need to certify a budget as early as South Shore Tech, which has member towns that hold April town meetings, but said budget figures should be available sooner than they currently are.

He urged using the governor’s January budget numbers, which he said were “99 percent” solid and develop a budget to present to the towns in January or early February.

“The sooner we know the numbers, the better,” Salvucci said.

FitzGerald-Kemmett agreed with Salvucci’s suggestion, adding that, “something has jumped the tracks in the last couple of years.” In past years, selectmen received the budget in an email from the superintendent, who would come to a selectmen’s meeting to make a case for the budget they were presenting.

“I recognize COVID may have complicated that, from happening — I think it still could have happened virtually — but I would like to see us get back on track with an earlier conversation, more documentation, more engagement and partnership with the two boards of selectmen so that we aren’t making hasty decisions on the fly. That really isn’t a way for us to make budget decisions.”

While she said selectmen to a person value and respect schools, but that it is disrespectful to town employees to have to make important budget decisions last-minute.

LaMattina said he is looking for a more transparent process.

“If we’ve learned anything over the last few months of the school budget, it’s been active citizens that have notified us … of Circuit Breaker issues,” he said. “We now see a transportation issue that wasn’t addressed over a year and a half ago that, with better management, you’ll see a savings to both towns.”

He also reminded those at the meeting that he has called the FY ’23 school budget reckless because it is not a 3.94 percent overall increase.

“If you look at the amount of money that’s being tucked into this budget with one-time funds … dedicated last year and now have somehow changed … the process has jumped the tracks,” he said.

“We talk about partnerships, well, where is the partnership?”

LaMattina said he really does not see much partnership from the school district, pointing specifically to a remark at the last school committee meeting that Whitman Selectmen were trying to cut transportation to save a dollar, when they were merely advocating for better management of it.

“This budget is disastrous for the towns,” LaMattina said. “If they’re allowed to put this much one-time money in, by their business manager’s own accounting … serious deficit in 2025.”

He’s said the same thing for the last three or four years.

“If we’re talking partnerships, then be a good partner,” he said.

Weeks agreed that the towns are looking at a massive fiscal issue that won’t be solved this year and that it was important to have a civil conversation about it.

“I think there was some confusion around what was the purpose of this meeting,” Howard said. “I said [Szymaniak] and I would be at the meeting to listen … we are certainly willing to share and add perspective but we [were] not preparing any presentation or prepared to discuss what should or should not be in the budget.”

FitzGerald-Kemmett said she never thought there was an intention to negotiate any portion of the budget, so a full presence of the School Committee was not needed.

“There was never any notion that we’d be asking you guys to negotiate, on the spot, some budget thing,” she said. “That wasn’t ever a concept, so it was unnecessary to have a full School Committee there.”

Salvucci said he doesn’t understand why it is so difficult to provide a number of what they may need to run the school district, recalling past W-H budget presentations on a Saturday with all members of the towns Select boards and Finance committees attending.

Szymaniak said those weekend budget releases fizzled out because half the people didn’t show up. He said budget work begins when enrollment figures are available in October, but it’s the January governor’s budget that really sets the tone.

“I don’t know what Whitman and Hanson can afford because no one has given me the numbers, either,” he said. “So when I say it works both ways in a partnership — send me something.” He admitted that the budget uses one-time funds, but said it was the best that could be done.

“I have a solid office, now, financially,” he said. “If we need to have a joint meeting like this, I’m all for it … I can make a presentation.”

But he needs a commitment from both towns that people will attend. Weeks said a substantial amount of time had been spent on an email, and he wanted to see some process in place to get beyond the email conversation.

“We have to move forward,” he said.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said that, while there’s a lot of work to be done by all three partners, what she was hearing was a willingness to partner and to process.

“That gives me hope,” she said.

Next steps in Whitman’s front office?

By

WHITMAN — Does the town need a new assistant town administrator or would a human resources, procurement and grants director better meet the town’s administrative needs?

The Board of Selectmen discussed the issue on Tuesday, March 1. Their selection to become assistant town administrator, Rogeria Medeiros-Kowalczykowski of Stoughton, and the town were unable to reach a contract agreement last month. The board will continue the conversation at its March 15 meeting and will work to develop a common list of expectations in the meantime.

Selectman Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski said the board received two job descriptions — one for a human resources, procurement and grants director and one for the assistant town administrator position — as the board had requested.

Selectman Dan Salvucci noted there were no schedules included, such as a five-day work week or a requirement to attend all the different meetings. Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman said he would ordinarily include that information in the job posting, but it could be added to the job description.

“This is basically a choice that we can make, whether to look for an assistant town administrator or someone who is specifically labled as a human resources, procurement and grants director,” Kowalski said.

Salvucci said his question would be which position is more valuable to the town.

“The fact that we have an assistant town administrator, first of all, when Lincoln goes on vacation, or is sick or something like that, who steps into your shoes at that time?” Salvucci said. He also had questions about responsibilities of making certain decisions and getting things done on a day-to-day basis.

If an assistant town administrator was opted for, he asked if that person would take on a human resources role, or would that stay with Heineman?

Heineman said he called some colleagues in other towns to “shake the trees a bit more” and get some more comparison points.

“If the board’s intention is that the town would post a position at maybe a slightly lesser range for a salary … that if it is not titled assistant town administrator, but instead, an HR director — I would suggest focused on HR director and grants —  if the board’s intention is we pay a little less, we might attract some other folks,” he said. “We won’t know for sure until we get it out there.”

He said there are communities in the midrange, are whatever reasons, are offering salaries a bit less than the midrange for town administrator positions.

“I think it’s true, with all these factors in play, that we … would likely be offering less than a very similar position in similar community,” he said.

Salvucci touched on some of the areas on which the town had some flexibility, Heineman suggested — the possibility of working from home on Fridays and attendance at night meetings, for example.

Selectman Brian Bezanson said he did some research on the positions through some of the online employment sites, and got the sense that the nationwide average for a straight HR position was about $70,000.

“I do think we could pay less than a town administrator,” he said. “But, based on the climate you described in the localities you talked about, I’m no sure how much less we’d be paying and would we be putting ourselves in a little bit of a pickle not having a town administrator.”

He said that was one reason he made the suggestion about an HR director/grant writer.

“It’s a give and take as to do you want to save money or do you want to have the proper people in place?” he said. “I think we have to decide what the real goal is here.”

Kowalski said at this point, he is not certain on the issue.

Selectman Justin Evans said he is concerned that making the switch may make it harder to return to the current model down the road, and favored keeping the assistant town administrator position.

“There’s a certain amount of work that needs to be done, and two people [himself and executive assistant Laurie O’Brien] aren’t enough to do that,” Heineman said. Grants are a concern because there hasn’t been enough people to tackle the mountain of paperwork involved.

He did see it as a professional position, rather than a leadership position.

“I personally don’t want to get bogged down by the title,” Selectman Randy LaMattina said. “I think it’s the qualifications that we need to, as a board, decide that we’re looking to fill.”

Besides the human resources and grant writing, he said going to meetings is important.

Heineman said dealing with HR issues such as COVID requirements, family medical leave and other matters is a lot and is growing all the time, making it difficult for him to take care of that since Whitman has been without an assistant town administrator.

Kowalski agreed that asking them to work in the office on Fridays and attend meetings should not be an untoward requirement.

“The problem I’m trying for us to avoid is repeating what we just went through,” Bezanson said. 

Talking budgets

A joint meeting with Hanson Selectmen, and Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak has been set for 6 p.m., Tuesday, March 8 to review the school district’s fiscal 2023 budget and long-range school district sustainability, Heineman said.

“It’s not like a command performance,” Kowalski asked about an invitation extended to Szymaniak, schools Business manager John Stanbrook and School Committee Chairman Christopher Howard.

“We’re inviting them,” Heineman said. “I just heard before this meeting, that the School Committee might have posted that [meeting], it’s up t the School Committee. If the choose to post it, if they intend to have a quorum there, but our intent is a joint meeting between the two boards of selectmen.”

A meeting must be posted if at least a quorum of a board’s members plan to attend any given meeting or decide to gather to discuss committee or board business.

Kowalski said he had been texting with Howard that day, noting that Howard expressed  a concern that the two boards intentions were different.

“He had heard that the Hanson board wanted a budget presentation, and I said that wasn’t really part of our intention,” Kowalski said. “Our intention was to, hopefully, come together with the Hanson board and come up with some common views about the budget that would help the School Committee in their deliberations.”

Heineman agreed that was Whitman’s intention.

LaMattina said he spoke with Hanson Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett and said that, while there may be individual intentions regarding questions, he does not believe that they were looking for a full [budget] presentation.

“I think the superintendent should be there to speak on a budget that he presented,” LaMattina said. “We should be able to ask questions about it.”

Salvucci suggested any selectman with questions could also watch a recording on WHCA-TV’s YouTube channel of the School Committee meeting in which the budget was presented.

“I’m thinking maybe the schools are looking for direction as to where both boards are standing as far as funding goes,” Salvucci said.

“I think that’s our intent,” Kowalski agreed.

“There’s been so much conversation over partnerships and, ‘We’re all in it together,’ I’m kind of taken aback that some people seem to think it’s unreasonable that two entities that fund this are not entitled to ask questions,” LaMattina said.

Sewer update

The town’s sewer force main project has received a bid that came in about $2 million under the amount appropriated, Heineman reported.

“Another piece of hoped-for, and we’re cautiously optimistic about [news] regarding the cost of the project, is that part of the force main is going underneath an old dump in Brockton,” he said. The land is between Whitman and Massasoit.

The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) had previously said it would require directional drilling rather than trenching, which would be more expensive. The town’s consultant is inquiring about the possibility of being permitted to do some test borings in the dump area to see if digging a trench for that stretch of the pipeline would be environmentally permissible. The DEP is considering the request.

Estimated cost savings would be between $500,000 and $1 million in total project costs, if a trench is permitted.

In other business, Heineman reported that, on the COVID-19 front, the Board of Health had voted on Tuesday, Feb.15 to recommended removal of the mask mandate in town buildings. The state DPH has removed the mask recommendation effective except for those at increased risk due to health reasons, age or someone in the household with health risks or is in an at-risk age group. The mask requirement for schools ended Monday, Feb. 28.

The DPH continues to recommend masks for unvaccinated persons and in settings such as health care and public transportation. The CDC is recommending masks for people in “zones of high transimission.”

“We are now, according to their guidelines, in a low-transmission zone,” Heineman said, noting the people who are sick or coming off a five-day quarantine continue to mask. 

The CDC is no longer requiring masks on school buses, Heineman reported.

Hanson faces tough budget season

By

HANSON — The town is close to $1 million in the red going into the fiscal 2023 budget season, according to Town Accountant Todd Hassett.

“We’re not in the position to present you with a balanced budget, like we typically attempt to do,” he said. “We’ve got a bit of work to do over the next few weeks.”

He and Finance Committee Chairman Kevin Sullivan and made their initial budget presentation to the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Feb. 22. “Where we’re at right now, based on the requests, is that we have about a $966,000 shortfall,” he said, adding that he and Sullivan would be working closely together in an effort to close the budget gap in the town’s best interest. “We’ve got a number of decisions that we’ve got to really grapple with over the next few weeks.” He indicated the town would require “some partnership and cooperation” from the regional school district, or “we’re not in a position to fund the budget as initially requested.”

The $300,000 snow budget is already in a deficit position, as well, with more snow forecast on Friday, Feb. 26, Hassett said.

“We’re starting behind where we normally are,” Sullivan agreed, noting that he had little to add to Hassett’s report. “Even though the town came together last year with some heroic efforts, we still have a deficit to overcome — a fairly significant deficit — and I think we need to look at the individual departments.”

He said that, as personnel is a huge cost, he questions whether this is the right time to add new personnel and pointed to the subsidies provided to both the Transfer Station and Recreation Commission as the usual questions to be considered because the retained earnings “just aren’t there anymore.”

The school assessment is less of a gap than the town has had to cover in previous years, but is still a concern. [See related story, page 1].

Hassett indicated Hanson would not be able to afford much more than a 3.5 percent increase in the school assessment.

“We are a little behind schedule, as you know, in terms of pushing forward the FY ’23 operating budget,” Hassett said, noting that they have developed a sense of the town’s recurring and nonrecurring funding sources available to support that spending plan.

The town’s primary source of revenue is property taxes, Hassett noted, followed by local receipts and, to a lesser extent, state aid, with the governor’s budget showing about a $41,000 increase in revenue — about 2.5 percent higher than current state aid.

Hassett said he anticipates a 5 percent increase in local receipts, related to motor vehicle excise taxes, permits, licenses and other departmental fees.

Property taxes in total are projected to go up about 3.4 percent — a combination of the statutory 2 ½ percent available, which represents about $613,000 — and estimated new growth estimated at about $250,000 — or about 1 percent. Hassett noted that figure is lower than in recent years as there has been a slow-down in construction related to the pandemic and subsequent supply chain issues. There has also been a reduction in permit revenue.

Recurring revenue is projected to increase about 3.5 percent, Hassett said.

There are also debt exclusions still on the books from the police station and the regional high school.

“The state aid is more of a factor for the regional school district that it is in the town,” he said.

“We have a healthy free cash [fund], the two enterprise funds have retained earnings — or their free cash — both of which are on the low side compared to prior years,” he said of funds available for one-time expenses.

Free cash is just over $1.7 million right now, but Hassett said he could foresee that being reduced to around $100,000 by the time Town Meeting is concluded.

Departmental requests include a second of a three-year collective bargaining agreement for all town unions except the water union, which is on a different cycle; 2-percent non-union cost of living adjustments; a few reclassified positions at the Library; the IT director being increased to a full-time position; and a change to full-time status for the building inspector and a request for another police officer. The Highway Department also filled a position and a part-time outreach position for the Council on Aging has been added.

A $5,000 audit bill for required oversight of federal grant programs, including the CARES Act and ARPA is also included in the budget. Every other year an actuarial review of OPEB is required, costing about $7,000 this year. A $20,000 increase has been requested for legal services.

There are also more expenses around elections for the year as 2022 is a midterm election year.

Projected subsidies for the Recreation and Transfer Station accounts were also included in Hassett’s presentation — about $300,000 from the general fund breaking out as $135,000 for Recreation and $165,000 for thee Transfer Station. The latter, a recurring cost, came from free cash this year. There was no subsidy in FY ’22 for Recreation. 

They propose to use $35,000 of about $36,000 in Transfer Station retained earnings to support the operating budget.

Hassett said the town’s five-year plan — which must be voted in May — will also depend on some input from Recreation, the Board of Selectmen and more than $13 million in system improvements from the Water Department.

In other business, Selectmen voted to refer a citizen’s petition to the Town Meeting Warrant to the Planning Board to ensure the proper language is included. 

The petition had been brought before the October special Town Meeting, but the petitioner agreed to table it so the language could be refined for the annual Town Meeting on May 2. Town Counsel Kate Feodoroff will be attending the Monday, Feb. 28 Planning Board meeting remotely to discuss the article, indicating it may be split into two articles.

“The good news for Hanson is that we’ve had a couple of runs at this so we have some templates to go off of,” Feodoroff said. “With all the iterations that went back and forth through various town meetings, etc., there needs to be a cleanup of that particular bylaw, regardless of whether the town wants retail marijuana or not.”

The first article would incorporate that overhaul and the second would involve a potential retail facility and where locations might be permitted.

Selectmen Chairman Matt Dyer asked if the article was limited to retail or if it included all the new business opportunities, including cafés.

Feodoroff said no one need worry about cafés, as the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) still has not “gotten its arms around cafés. A pilot program is still underway and Hanson would not even be eligible because the 12 communities selected for it has led to a need to tweak the regulations. 

“I just want to make sure we don’t unwittingly cut our legs off for what has already been permitted,” Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “A grow facility, delivery, those are already kind of there and have gotten support.”

Feodoroff said that was a good point.

“That’s where I thought it was good to do two separate articles because retail is the one that’s going to generate discussion at Town Meeting,” she said, stressing the first article is purely to clean up legal language. If it were to fail, the old bylaw would remain in force.

“It’s just a messy old bylaw,” she said.

Selectman Joe Weeks wanted to be certain there is enough time to do all that work before Town Meeting.

“One of the things I don’t want to do is try and give too much of an expedient timeline on this and then have that be the reason for debate on Town Meeting floor vs the merits of the actual article,” he said.

Feodoroff said there is enough time, especially if the Planning Board submits a report.

“Because we have such a long history here in Hanson of various iterations of marijuana, it’s not going to be so big of a haul,” she said.

Frank Milisi, who brought the citizen’s petition to the October special Town Meeting, thanked Feodoroff and the board for working on it.

“I don’t think there’s any more of a clear indication for what Todd and Kevin just said, that we need some revenue in this town, how ever we get it,” he said. “Three percent [tax] on any [marijuana] business that’s in here could fund a new police car or fund things like that.”

• 

Whitman Democrats to elect delegates to Democratic State Convention

By

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.

Whitman receives more CARES Act $

By

WHITMAN — More funds to help with the town’s COVID expenses and a measure to amend town bylaws to permit marijuana retail as well as medical facilities came before Selectmen on Tuesday, Feb. 15.

Plymouth County Commissioners Sandra Wright and Jared Valanzola presented $171,116.39 in CARES Act funding for further applications approved by the County to Whitman during an appearance before the Board of Selectmen Tuesday, Feb. 15. Wright is chairman of the commissioners.

“The County and the Commissioners, together with Treasurer Tom O’Brien, for a year and a half have been distributing money to us from the federal CARES Act through the County,” Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman said. “We’re very appreciative of that. The funds have gone to a myriad of things in Whitman and have really helped a lot.” 

To date, Whitman has received 19 checks totaling $1,950,726.41 in funds for COVID-related expenses, as well as 10,620 COVID-19 rapid test kits — two per the 5,310 boxes packed in 59 cartons, according to Wright.

Among those funds has been more than $1 million to the regional school district, $199,636.37 for South Shore Tech, and funds for Whitman-Hanson Community Access TV, which broadcasts and streams government meetings, a new ambulance for COVID response, vaccination clinics and distribution of masks and COVID test kits.

“The CARES Act program has been a total success and we’re so happy that we’ve been able to manage the program [since March 2020],” said Wright, who noted the commissioners’ management of it was not very popular when the program first began. “We’ve certainly done it at a much cheaper rate and faster than any of the other entities could have done.”

A portion of the new Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s funds will also be administered directly by the nation’s county governments, which own half the roads and four out of 10 bridges across the country, according to the National Association of Counties.

Valanzola also acknowledged Selectman Vice Chairman Dan Salvucci, who serves on the Commissioners’ Advisory Board, which is the legislative branch of the PCC, which is the executive branch of the county government.

“We’re very proud of this program, and whenever we have the opportunity to come before boards of selectmen, we really like to highlight how successful the Plymouth County CARES program really was,” Valanzola said. “This won’t be the last time we’re here bringing you some money.”

The cap Whitman has from Plymouth County, which Valanzola said he was “pretty certain” the town will reach, was more than 50 percent greater than similar-sized communities outside Plymouth County. Whitman received $1 million more than Swampscott — Gov. Charlie Baker’s hometown — received.

Whitman has so far received about 81 percent of its expected total funding.

The PCC assigned Treasurer O’Brien and his staff to executing the program with no extra help, to keep administrative costs low and translated into more money for communities like Whitman, Valanzola said.

“We’re going to close this program out using less than 1 percent of these funds to administer the program to the cities and towns of Plymouth County,” he said. “The state, we’re not really sure how much they spent.”

The state capped comparable communities at $45 million, while  Plymouth County capped its communities to “a hair under $90 million.” Brockton, for example, was capped at $19.3 million and New Bedford at $8,4 million, to date receiving only 25 percent of that, while Brockton has received close to 100 percent of the funding it was promised. Boston, which received its funding directly from the federal government, was the only city in the state receiving more money than Brockton.

“It tells a fantastic story and we’re very proud of this program,” he said.

Valanzola also noted the speed with which Plymouth County obtained COVID test kits after receiving a call on Dec. 29, 2021 informing the PCC that there was an opportunity to buy them.

“We had COVID CARES Act money left. A lot of communities didn’t get to their caps,” he said. “We couldn’t have thought of a better way to have used it.”

Wright and Valazola said the state, meanwhile, “arbitrarily” gave test kits to some towns and not others.

“It was sort of a random and arbitrary formula,” he said. “As always, with Plymouth County, the formula is population-based and every community from Plympton to Whitman and every community in between, was able to receive test kits.”

Salvucci said he recalled that, when the program began, several members of the Advisory Board were concerned that the job might be too difficult for the County to handle, but O’Brien’s presentation seemed to convince them that they could get it done.

“We wanted to make sure it ended up in Plymouth County, to make sure it was all given out,” Salvucci said. “You’ve done an outstanding job. It worked and we were right, even though we upset some people in the state, we proved them wrong.”

He said Plymouth County worked the program professionally and faster, with less administrative costs than the state.

“I believe, since taking this on, we’ve now been recognized nationally for what and how we did it,” Wright said, sharing credit for the program’s success with town officials and legislators.

While the state had to claw back funds misused by some communities, where Plymouth County has not issues any claw-backs.

Valanzola said the PCC as been so successful with CARES Act funds, every single eligible county in Massachusetts has adopted the approach for distributing ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) money and has asked the PCC to take the lead on programming it.

“It’s obviously huge team effort,” Heineman said, offering kudos to town and school district staff who helped with the paperwork involved in accessing the funds. “Every person here has been key in providing all those services on behalf of the residents of Whitman.”

Wright and Valanzola also presented Selectmen with an updated highway map of Whitman’s streets.

marijuana bylaw

Selectmen also, during the meeting, voted to recommend to Town Meeting a draft bylaw for consideration in May that would allow for both recreational and medical marijuana facilities in town.

On Wednesday, Feb. 9, the Bylaw Study Committee unanimously recommended the draft cannabis bylaw, according to Heineman. 

The draft bylaw can be viewed on the town website — whitman-ma.gov.

Like any zoning bylaw coming before Town Meeting, it must be referred to the Planning Board by Selectmen for a hearing and produce a report on the proposed bylaw before Town Meeting. Selectmen would then have to approve the Town Meeting warrant including it.

The draft bylaw would remove the current ban on recreational and medical marijuana facilities in town, allow no more than five establishments in town — with no more than three of them permitted to be for retail sales of recreational marijuana — and would also permit other types of marijuana businesses such as cultivation and manufacturing facilities. Co-sitings, such as a cultivator and a retailer, could be permitted and would count as one of the five facilities.

The businesses would only be allowed in the highway business district, the industrial district north of South Avenue, and must go before Selectmen to negotiate a host community agreement, which would include community impact fees. The usual site plan approval and special permit process would also be required.

A section of state law would also be adopted to impose an additional 3 percent tax. The draft also stipulates that business signs would not include “marijuana lingo” such as “weed” or “pot,” and seeks to control odors.

Selectman Brian Bezanson, who serves on the Bylaw Study Committee with Heineman, said the panel has been “banging this around for quite a while, now,” while lauding the research done by Heineman, Building Inspector Robert Curran and the town’s legal advisers.

“When I first started getting into this, I was a little apprehensive,” he said. “But I’ve come around to this because of … how much revenue the town is missing.”

He compared the prospect of missing the revenue opportunity to that of having the extra sales tax on restaurants and missing that chance.

“We all thought it wouldn’t amount to much and would probably hurt restaurants, when in fact it didn’t hurt the restaurants and we did receive far more than we thought we were going to get,” Bezanson said. “I think, the folks that want this product, if we don’t have it, they’re going to go to one of our neighbors.”

He said he was fully on board with what had been a unanimous vote by the Bylaw Study Committee.

“I think it would be in the best interests of Whitman if we pushed this along,” he said, comparing the establishments to liquor stores.

Salvucci asked if the board was favoring it by voting yes, or merely recommending it go to Town Meeting, because he said he personally is against it.

“I would not vote against anything that has to go before Town meeting,” he said. “But, at Town Meeting, I’d probably vote against it. I think we’re just walking into an issue.”

Selectman Randy LaMattina said he was all in favor of the bylaw.

“It’s in all our surrounding communities and, at this point, we’re just losing money,” he said, urging that a draft copy be posted on the town website immediately.

Selectman Justin Evans also thought the bylaw was a great idea.

“I thought the town may have been a little too hasty a couple of years ago [in] prohibiting this,” he said.

$58M budget for the needs of ‘post-COVID students’

By

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.

Town Meeting fails quorum

By

WHITMAN — Resets seemed to be the order of things on Monday, Jan. 31 as officials, unable to achieve a required quorum — checking in only 127 of the needed 150 — were unable to take action on about half the seven-article warrant at the special Town Meeting. 

Selectmen, meeting both in open and executive session before the Town Meeting,  were forced to table next steps in the assistant town administrator search after contract negotiations with designate Rogeria Medeiros-Kowalczykowski proved fruitless.

The special Town Meeting warrants not acted on Monday will likely have to be delayed until the annual Town Meeting in May, according to Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman on Tuesday, Feb.1.

 Selectmen will take up the assistant town administrator situation at an upcoming meeting.

Medeiros-Kowalczykowski, currently the assistant to the town manager in Stoughton, had impressed the board both on paper and in her interviews.

The search attracted some 90 applicants, of which the search subcommittee of Kowalski, Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman and Selectman Justin Evans interviewed eight semi-finalists to narrow the field to the three interviewed by the entire board on Jan. 11.

 “I’d say we have three really strong candidates, and they all have their own strengths and, perhaps, weaknesses or errors of opportunity,” Heineman said. “I think, in many ways, [Medeiros-Kowalczykowski’s] skill set and past match – quite precisely, in many ways – the job description that we identified.”

Heineman said after the meeting that the town was not able to come to an agreement with Medeiros-Kowalczykowski.

When it came to the main business of the night — the special Town Meeting — the lack of a quorum meant that the wait of more than half an hour past the scheduled 7:30 p.m. start, was longer than the meeting which clocked in at about 16:30 minutes. With only 127 voters attending, only three of seven warrant articles could be acted on.

Heineman said Tuesday that falling 14 short of a quorum was disappointing.

“Unfortunately, on the warrant, there are several articles that we cannot act on … but there are a couple that we can,” said Moderator Michael Seele. “So if the meeting is going to be OK with that, I think that we can. The rest of it will have to be considered at a later time.”

Of the three articles that were acted on, two calling for approval of land donations to the town took up the bulk of discussion.

Article 1, calling for authorization for the town to appropriate from sewer-water retained earnings, $352.50 to pay a professional engineering services invoice from fiscal 2021. A 9/10 vote was required. The Town Meeting voted to approve the article.

Discussion centered on Article 5 a gift of land at Little Comfort Circle on Assessors map 23D, block 23D, lot 46 and — after that was approved, Article 6 concerning land on Hogg Memorial Drive shown on Assessors map 22A, block 8, lot 124 was also passed quickly.

A Harvard Street resident asked to know exactly how much tax money the town would be losing by accepting the land.

Heineman said the Little Comfort land, offered as a donation by the landowner was billed $5,484.75 in fiscal 2022.

“So, by accepting this land donation, that means that this town loses $5,484.75 in taxes?” she asked.

“The town would no longer be collecting those taxes,” he replied. “Correct. Beginning in fiscal year 2023.”

She also asked if the land is buildable.

“I cannot speak to that directly,” Heineman said.

Developer Steve Egan, who made the offer to donate both parcels of property in Articles 5 and 6, spoke in favor of the gift.

“One of the arguments that we always get, when we’re doing any type of project is about open space,” he said. “Where is area for the animals and some conservation areas.”

He noted that people don’t want to see all the trees come down and every available space developed.

“As part of most of our projects now, we try to incorporate areas of open space and conservation, whether it be in Whitman or other towns that we work in,” Egan said. Both parcels being donated are in the same area off Auburn Street.

The Planning Board approved plans that allowed for smaller lots on both sites, which left the company the ability to donate a couple of large sections of open space, with plans to donate them to the town when the projects were completed. One of the plots in the Hogg Memorial site is a 19-acre section of land abutting the Whitman Middle School. Another section of the donation abuts another 4.5 acres of town property to the south of their land, giving the town a contiguous area of about 58 acres.

At the Little Comfort development, a 15-acre piece was left as an open space area, abutting a 48-acre piece in East Bridgewater — more than 60 acres of land bridging both towns.

“I think it’s important that we develop responsibly, trying to create come open space area,” Egan said. “These two projects did both.”

He said both properties had been vacant, bringing Whitman under $10,000 in taxes. Meanwhile, the Little Comfort development added $400,000 to town coffers in property taxes. Another $250,000 in taxes was brought in via the Heritage Park/Hogg Memorial Drive project.

“I don’t think the town is losing by accepting some open space,” he said. There is both wetland and upland — or buildable — areas in the donated land. 

Finance Chairman Richard Anderson said the reason his board voted against recommending the article because not enough information was available when they voted.

Selectman Vice Chairman Dan Salvucci had opened Town Meeting by asking that articles 1,2,3,4 and 7 be passed over because there was a failure to draw a quorum.

Frank Lynam, the retired town administrator, pointed out that Article 1 was an unpaid bill.

“It doesn’t fall under the limitations for $25,000, so we can act on Article 1,” Lynam said. “I would like to exclude that from the motion.”

Salvucci agreed to remove Article 1 from his motion.

COVID update

Updating the COVID-19 situation prior to adjourning to Town Meeting, Heineman said legal opinions had been sought from town counsel about the mask policy at the session.

“After much discussion, getting some opinion from town counsel and much discussion with Selectmen Chairman [Dr. Carl] Kowalski and Town Moderator [Seele], regarding what to do if a voter wants to come in to Town Meeting and refuses to wear a mask … in the first instance, myself [or other Town Hall personnel] would ask them to please wear a mask,” he said. If a person still refused, they would be asked to sit in a roped-off section to the left-rear of the hall. No one had to be seated there during Town Meeting.

Two COVID test kits (containing two tests per box) were also handed out to everyone attending — from 5,310 given to Whitman out of the supply purchased by the county. Vaccination rate in town is now at 66 percent, and another Moderna booster clinic is scheduled for 3 to 6 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 9 at the Knights of Columbus on Bedford Street. Appointment slots are still available.

Clearing town plow drivers

By

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.

Ready for Town Meeting

By

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.