HANSON — The Board of Selectmen, on Tuesday, Dec. 14 voted to accept recommended rate increases for facility rentals at Camp Kiwanee and Needles Lodge.

Recreation Commission Vice Chairman Audrey Flanagan described that panel’s recommendation to Selectmen, and said the commission voted Dec. 1 to set the new wedding rate at $7,500, effective immediately upon the Selectmen’s approval.

“We looked at a couple of different numbers, and $7,500 is what made sense based on our yearly budget goal,” she said.

The additional income brings the annual bottom line to $373,250 — in line with their budget goals. The weekly operating cost for Camp Kiwanee is $5,096.15 not including insurance.

“I actually don’t know the date of the last time that we raised our rates, but it’s probably been close to 10 years since the rates at Camp Kiwanee have been reviewed and updated,” Flanagan said.

She presented current rates, recommended increases and where the commission would stand regarding camp operations if they did not make a change.

Flanagan said the commission’s budget goal is $350,000 a year, with projections for revenue expected this year bringing in $306,000.

The average rental fee is now $4,000 for a wedding, with an additional $500 charged for wedding members to camp in the south end of the facility.

There are already 56 weddings booked for fiscal 2023, which is a higher number than average number of 40 wedding bookings, because several were rescheduled due to COVID restrictions last year, with 34 dates for weddingsstill available for booking in fiscal 2023, according to Flanagan.

The data used for determining rate changes was based on a 40-wedding year.

“We’re not going to book all of those,” she said. “Realistically, maybe another 15 could come through. … So, leaving the rates where they are should bring in an additional $60,000 this year.”

Combined with the 56 dates already booked, income from weddings next year would be about $212,000. The commission also pulls in about 20 percent of the bar service at events — which averages about $2,500 per month. Bar service fees are out for bud right now, Flanagan said.

Weddings in which the ceremony is held elsewhere takes $500 off the rate.

There are 57 available dates for wedding bookings in fiscal 2024, which is when the commission hopes the rate increases are anticipated. Without the increases, Flanagan said they expect to be $194,000 “way under” their ideal budget.

With a $7,500 wedding fee and an increase to $1,000 for south end camping for wedding party members, “sort of brings us more in line with what we are charging.”

Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett asked if any kind of survey was done and if the commission was certain they could get $7,5000 for wedding bookings.

“It’s very hard to find an apples-to-apples [comparison] to Kiwannee,” Flanagan said. “The closest one that we found was — there was a campground in Vermont — but the closest one we found was Camp Wing in Duxbury, and they’re charging for a comparable weekend, $15,000.”

Catering is not included in the Camp Wing figure.

“These fees make sense to me,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “It’s overdue.”

“We talked about this a couple years ago and we never did anything,” Selectmen Vice Chairman Kenny Mitchell said.

Flanagan said a kitchen fee charged to the caterer is also being sought.

In other business, IT Director Steve Moberg outlined new Town Hall security protocols, including badges for entry purposes and photo identification and security cameras outside the building.

“I’m looking to get IT badges for all the town employees for identification purposes,” Moberg said. “The planner goes on site [they] can show who they are — same with our health agent, [and] anyone else who goes on site. Plus, around the Town Hall, people can be identified.”

The approximately $2,300 printer and badges have already been purchased, according to Moberg, with an eye to beginning the creation and disbursement of the badges after the first of the year.

The board voted to support the ID badges. 

“It’s really kind of shocking that we haven’t had them up until this point, to be honest with you,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “So I think that’s great, Steve.”

The badges are not the same as those used by public safety and school district personnel, but there are discussions underway to changing everything over to one system.

Fiber optic lines are in place for modernizing the phone system by connecting all the buildings, but the phones themselves have not yet as Moberg reviews some of the phones.

He is also awaiting quotes on security cameras, he said.

“There’s an extremely large shortage of cameras going across all different vendors that I’ve reached out to,” Moberg said. “I haven’t even gotten a quote yet.”

Most camera brands are made in Asia and supply chain problems stemming from a boost in internet buying during the pandemic has created bottlenecks at ports.

A small, consumer-based camera has already been placed behid the building to help identify the person(s) who have been dumping behind Town Hall.

HANSON — Residents will be able to participate in a public review period now underway surrounding the GoodEnergy aggregate energy savings plan approved by voters at the May Town Meeting. 

The review period, which began Tuesday, Dec. 14, will culminate in a public hearing slated for Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022, according to plan representative Patrick Roche who briefed Selectmen Tuesday.

Hanson Community Electricity will not launch this winter. It is not expected to go online until spring or summer 2023 Roche said.

After the public comment period, the Select Board will have the opportunity to vote on the plan, which would be followed by a state-level review by the Department of Public Utilities, while — at the same time —  review will be done by the Department of Energy Resources.

“I think we’ll be at the DPU for at least a year,” Roche said. “We’re hoping things can go faster.”

Hanson Energy Committee Chairman Marianne DiMascio said the panel has been working with Roche’s company as a consultant on an aggregation plan since the Town Meeting vote, following research and positive feedback from other towns.

“Community choice aggregation is almost like a buyer’s club for electricity, where we’ll be able to negotiate a rate for electricity and the town members will get that rate,” she said. “There are a lot of steps to go through.”

Hanson does not pay for the GoodEnergy consulting services, because it is part of a state law that provides for aggregation.

“This is a program to create new electricity supply choices for residents and businesses in the town of Hanson,” Roche said. His company worked with Town Administrator Lisa Green and the Energy Committee to develop a plan based on GoodEnergy’s best practices in working with about 50 communities around the state.

Now comes the chance for the public to comment.

“Once the state approves the plan — which is rather formulaic, they’ve now approved about 130 different plans — then the town is in a position to be going out to bid for an electricity supplier,” Roche said. “We would be the broker in that case, advising on when to go to bid, what conditions would be an acceptable bid. … You are never under an obligation to start this program.”

If the town dislikes a plan, it can opt to pause, or not go through with it, even after the DPU approval.

“We do an extensive public education period before launch,” he said. “We want to make everyone aware of this new program coming because it is, effectively, a new default electricity supply for the community.”

People can opt out — and come in and out of the program as they please. State law requires that consumers be automatically enrolled if they are not now in a savings program, but they may opt out within 30 days, with information made available to help with that choice.

Those already enrolled in other electricity savings programs will be able to stay with those programs unless they take individual action to opt into it. Solar panel or low-income programs are not affected by the existence of the aggregate program. National Grid will continue to handle billing and grid maintenance.

The goals are to expand consumer choice and provide predictable electricity rates as well as to go beyond state renewable energy demands. 

“We aim to provide savings, but it’s always relative to your electricity bills,” Roche said. “We’re looking at — for a typical household in Hanson … maybe $60 or $70 a year, so it’s not massive, for sure. But it is a little bit [more of a savings] and particularly with the stability.”

Selectman Jim Hickey agreed.

“It’s not about saving money, although you will, it’s about the energy that we use and using a cleaner energy,” Hickey said.

Hard copies of the plan are available on the program website (hansoncommunitypower.com) at Town Hall and the Hanson Public Library and informational notices will be posted on the town website, cable access channel and updates submitted to this newspaper and social media. Flyers will also be posted on bulletin boards around town.

WHITMAN — Selectmen approved a two-step process of a special Town Meeting in January and a clear plan of steps taken to set up a building committee, in order to prepare for a fall Town Meeting on a final plan for a new DPW building.

“What we buy from it is more planning, more details and some of the money in the final override kind of thing,” said Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski. 

The Board of Selectmen discussed the issue during a joint meeting with the Board of Public Works Commissioners on Tuesday, Dec. 7.

The new DPW Building Committee will have 10 members – two of the commissioners, the two superintendents, a Selectman, the town administrator and four residents at-large, some of whom may be DPW employees.

Heineman will be preparing a draft warrant article for Selectmen’s review for presentation at the Dec. 21 meeting, including funding sources for the 10 percent of the projected total cost of about $11 million – to be used to come up with a shovel-ready plan, or 10 percent, of the overall projected construction costs.
“There’s been an effort to figure out what to do with our dilapidated DPW barn on Essex Street for several years,” Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman said, noting that the Board of Public Works Commissioners has worked with Environmental Partners Group for about seven months to come up with a tentative plan and design schematics for what that new building might look like. Funds for that work had been appropriated at Town Meeting this spring. 

Consultant Ziad Kary from Environmental Partners Group made a presentation on what the drawings entail such as cost estimates, building design and layout to  reach the consensus achieved with Selectmen this week on the next steps for the project.

“This is something that’s very important to the DPW,” said Commissioner Kevin Cleary in introducing Kary, and his follow-up on decisions made so far by his board and where they would like to see the project go.

“The town had already hired a geotechincal investigation person who did some [test] borings,” Kary said. “The site was really not suitable for a typical foundation, so he came up with granite aggregate.” The material was chosen because of the site’s past use as a landfill and there was potentially materials in the soil that would rule out more typical foundation work.

“But we didn’t really do any subsurface exploration ourselves,” he said of the recommendation for stone columns.

The original design rejected by Town Meeting in 2016 included provisions such as separate locker rooms for female and male employees, drive-through garages for maintenance facilities and other amenities. Some utilities would have to be relocated beneath an existing building.

“This existing building would have to be demo’d,” Kary said of the present building, noting that the current plan involved a prefabricated metal building. “Really nothing would be salvaged out of it.”

A conceptual cost estimate of the pre-engineered steel building on a shallow foundation with steel columns, based on previous projects and current costs, is for $10.9 million, including a 25 percent contingency and estimates on the impact of COVID and resulting supply chain problems.

An independent cost estimate was sought to have “a second set of eyes” on the plan and costs, with that firm coming up with a price tag of $9,750,000

“The only difference is they did not include engineering and [owner project manager] costs,” Kary said. The second estimate was also based on a 15 percent contingency and escalation forecasts for midpoint and future bid date added about $750,000.

Schematic designs and the selection of an owners project manager are among the steps remaining before bids can be sought.

“Everyone knows the history,” Cleary said of the original process that began in 2008. “We got very good support at [the 2012] Town Meeting, but not at Town Election. … Unfortunately some things kept getting in front of it, whether it was some water line work, the sewer force main … unfortunately, the building kept getting pushed and we just can’t push it anymore.”

The building has continued to deteriorate and facilities such as bathrooms, break room and locker facilities are lacking.

“We have millions of dollars’ worth of equipment,” Cleary said. “The townspeople have invested a lot in the last few town meetings with truck upgrades.”

The DPW Board has voted they want to move forward with the full project at the next Town Meeting.

“We have a good concept and we have a good estimate,” he said. “We just need to move this forward. Any delays are only going to cost more.”

Kowalski said the town needs to move forward in a way that’s going to have the town’s support. 

“We’ve got to get this out there sooner rather than later,” Cleary said.

OSHA guidelines will soon pose a problem for the town if nothing is done, said  Selectman Dan Salvucci who was on the previous building committee.

“Time does not save us money, it costs us money,” Salvucci said.  “It’s that simple. … We’ve needed this building for many years, but people seem to think the DPW is just a large garage where you keep trucks,” he said. “They are as important as any department in this town.”

He said residents need to realize a new building is needed for the well-being of employees as well as the maintenance of new and expensive equipment.

Hieneman supported appropriating $1.1 million to come up with a shovel-ready plan, or 10 percent, of the overall projected construction costs – possibly at a special Town Meeting by February – then attempting a debt exclusion when “crystal clear” architectural plans are ready. He also suggested a building committee and research into a new location – the latter has already been done.

Kowalski asked how far back would that put the opening of any new building. Heineman estimated six months.

He argued if it adds six or even eight months, the flip side of it not passing in a ballot initiative is a much longer setback.

“We’d like to move forward with the full plan at Town Meeting in May,” Cleary said. “We could have a design ready for bid by fall and construction by the beginning of 2023.”

“There’s a lot to be said about keeping the current site,” Salvucci said of work done during the previous building effort to find alternate sites around town.

“Committees spend a lot of time talking and not a lot of time doing and I don’t want to push this down the road much,” Kowalski said. 

“I don’t want to see you guys in that building much longer.”

Selectman Randy LaMattina questioned why the new plan did not include and estimated cost of site work?

Demolition and foundation is included, but site improvements are limited to the buildings.

“Based off this alone, there’s a lot of variables,” he said. “I would say you are missing a ton of information …I don’t think anyone on this board is questioning the need for this building. I like Lincoln’s plan. We get a taste for where the public is on this.”

He said a building committee has to be set up and an OPM hired.

“It’s not to add a $1.2 million to the project, it’s to basically pay $1.2 million now and do some of the detail work that Randy sees,” Kowalski said. “It’s actually reducing the cost to the voters.”

Selectman Brian Bezanson said, conceptually he loves the plan.

“Nobody deserves it more than employees of that department,” he said. But he agreed with LaMattina’s concerns.

WHITMAN – In a ceremony delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Nov. 23 hosted the swearing-in of two firefighters who recently joined the Whitman Fire Department.

Firefighters Joshua Gray and Brian Feeney were sworn in together by Town Clerk Dawn Varley in the Town Hall auditorium during a brief ceremony before the Selectmen’s regular business meeting.

“This has been long overdue due to the pandemic and I’m glad we can gather tonight to swear them in,” said Fire Chief Timothy Clancy.

Feeney, a longtime Whitman resident was accompanied by his fiancée Jill and their two sons, Lincoln and Scott. A 2004 graduate of WHRHS, he holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology before attending EMT school and paramedic school. He scored the highest during the 2020 selection process and joined the department in April 2020. His uncle Joseph Feeney was a longtime deputy chief on the Whitman Fire Department.

Gray, who was pastor of the First Congregational Church in Whitman, where he still lives, and department chaplain before becoming a firefighter, was joined by his wife Ann and children Caroline, Jackson and Ryan. Their son Ethan died at a young age.

“While he was our chaplain, be became a call firefighter and fell in love with the fire service,” Clancy said, noting Gray then went on to EMT and paramedic schools before starting his professional career with the Halifax Fire Department. He worked with the Scituate Fire Department before joining the Whitman department when the opportunity arose.

Once reconvened in the Selectmen’s meeting room, the board held the annual joint tax classification hearing with the Board of Assessors during which Selectmen voted to follow the assessor’s recommendation for a uniform tax rate of $14.57 per $1,000 valuation – or or $5,569 on an average single family home valued at $384,354.

They also concurred with assessor’s recommendations against a split rate for residential, commercial, industrial and personal property taxes.

“To split the rate or not to split the rate, that’s the question,” Assessor Kathleen Keefe said to open the hearing. “The focus of tonight’s meeting is to opt for either a uniform rate or a split tax rate.”

Assessors annually brief Selectmen on the town’s financial status and the effects of the uniform or split rate.

The single tax rate was set at $14.57 per $1,000 on uniform tax rate. That rate is down from the current $15.50 per $1,000 valuation because assessments went up spread over more housing stock in town.

Whitman is the fourth-lowest area community in terms of tax bills per single family home, Keefe noted.

“This year, for the first year, there was a vote at Town Meeting in an outside article to tax fully to the levy … so we do not leave on the table any excess levy capacity under the restrictions of Proposition 2 1/2,” Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman said.

The state Department of Revenue annually reviews and approves the adjusted values proposed by the Assessor’s Office. The residential value is based on the sales market and commercial value is based on income and expenses as well as the comparable sales and cost analysis. Whitman’s values were approved Nov. 9. Fiscal 2022 completed a five-year revaluation, which is a more in-depth analysis of property values.

The town’s total property valuation for all classes is $2,030,707,351 of which almost 90 percent – $1,816,440,717 – of the town’s property is residential. Another 5 percent – or $101,920,205 – is commercial, 1.2 percent – or $25,329,423 – is industrial and 4.2 percent – or $87,017,006 – is personal property.

The fiscal 2022 budget required that $45,494,988 be raised as voted by Town Meeting. Receipts were estimated at $15,908,895 leaving $29,586,093 to be raised by the tax levy, divided by the different classifications.

Small commercial business exemptions are limited to firms with fewer than 10 employees with a total property value of $1 million or less and any exemption goes to the property owner, not the business, unless the property owner wishes to share that benefit. In business developments with more than one tenant, all the tenant businesses must meet the qualification criteria.

Residential exemptions are intended to benefit communities with a high number of non-owner-occupied properties.

Neither exemption was recommended by the Assessors or approved by Selectmen.

John Galvin, a member of the Finance Committee, who spoke as a private citizen voicing his own opinion, suggested after Keefe’s presentation that, at some point, Whitman should consider a split commercial tax rate.

“If you’re not going to consider it this year, I think the board needs to start considering the thought process of splitting the tax rate,” Galvin said, noting that they also will be “putting a tremendous demand” on taxpayers in the next couple years in view of infrastructure needs such as the sewer force main project, a DPW building and potentially a new Whitman Middle School.

 “Sewer rates have gone up and they will go up again,” he said. “Any amount that we can give back to the taxpayers, I think, is important and I honestly think splitting the rate is not going to impact the businesses that much. … I think we have to get creative because we’re going to be asking taxpayers for a lot.”

town employee vaxx mandate?

Selectmen also left a Board of Health request to mandate COVID vaccinations for new employees on the table, pending guidance fro OSHA.

The health board recommended in October that all new employees except those with “firmly held religious objections,” or medical exemptions signed by a doctor, be vaccinated.

“I don’t see the benefit of doing this for just new employees, given that we hire, what, five or six people a year,” Selectman Justin Evans said. “If we were going to consider a vaccine mandate it would probably be for all employees and I think, at least at this time, where there is potential OSHA guidance pending that I’d like to see, and other towns already fighting this out in court, I don’t think I want to see us use our legal expenses to pursue this right now.”

Selectman Brian Bezanson agreed.

He said all employees should be encouraged to be vaccinated, but it was ultimately up to them.

“We have a way to go, folks,” Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski said, noting that despite Whitman’s 60 percent vaccination rate, that means four out of every 10 people one encounters in public places are not vaccinated. “I understand the Board of Health’s intentions here, I believe, and let’s try to deal with this pandemic that we haven’t dealt with yet – and to have a 60-percent vaccination rate is not having dealt with it.”

By Tracy F. Seelye, Express editor
[email protected]

Enrollment is down historically from where it used to be, but leveling off, Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak reported to the School Committee on Wednesday, Nov. 17.

“That’s a national trend [seen] in the commonwealth, except we seem to be leveling off,” he said. “Will probably never get to that 200-plus kids [at Whitman Middle] we used to have in eighth grade. It’s not going to happen.”

Hanson middle school enrollment has also taken a dip, with grades forecast to number below 150 in the future.

Kindergarten enrollment trends are consistent with national trends, with the number of eighth-graders leaving for vocational high school programs also showing consistency.

“We can have some good information moving forward when we start looking at a five-year plan for budgets, based on enrollments,” he said.

Home-schooling has also made an impact, with 76 students learning at home this year, up from the pre-pandemic 33 students. There were 95 students home-schooling during last year’s lockdown.

“We did take a hit,” Szymaniak said. “I do think some students have enjoyed home schooling, or the curricula that their parents have purchased for them. I’m hoping to bring them back at some point, but I don’t know.”

There are students coming back to the district from home-schooling, already, he said. 

In the meantime, there is “tremendous growth” in English language learning students, which leads to an increase in costs for student support services, such as translation online services. There are 106 English language learning students and 126 families that do not speak English.

Whitman-Hanson WILL reviewed the annual student drug surveys with the committee, outlining the challenge that alternative cigarettes – particularly vapes pose for the district.

“These are our challenge right now,” Szymaniak said.

Szymaniak said the district is talking about developing an anti-vaping curriculum for the district in cooperation with W-H WILL and school resource officers in both towns, as well as alternative consequences/learning for students caught vaping at school.

Gabrielle Peruccio of the Brockton Area Opioid Abuse Prevention Collaborative and High Point Treatment Center’s prevention services team, briefed the committee on the annual state and federally grant-funded survey’s findings. About 1,100 students in grades six through 12 completed the survey last school year.

Few middle schoolers said they used alcohol, cigarettes e-cigarettes or marijuana or prescription drugs at least once over the past 30 days with seventh and eight-graders having a higher percentage of vaping use among the few students who said they tried any of the substances listed. In the high school, alcohol was the most reported substance used by juniors (14 percent) and seniors (27 percent). Reported use of vaping and marijuana also increased as the grade levels increased, Peruccio said.

“That’s a common trend we’ve been seeing,” she said. “That middle school level, when talking about prevention, and curriculum around these substances is key.”

Students were also asked about their perception of risk — how harmful do they view each of the substances mentioned in the survey. Middle school students showed a view of moderate to great risk, but the perception of risk for marijuana decreases as students reach higher grades, especially since the legalization of marijuana.

Students’ views of their parents’ risk perception of the substances showed most in the middle school grades saying their parents thought it was wrong or very wrong, fluctuating a little at the high school level.

However, at least 90 percent of students in all grades said their parents would feel any substance use was wrong or very wrong.

Peer disapproval, was a bit less stringent at all grade levels, especially at the high school.

“A while back our focus was on prescription drugs and opioids, because that’s what our students were really struggling with,” Peruccio said. “Now we’re seeing marijuana, THC, vaping and alcohol being those top substances that we’re facing.”

The School Committee voted to continuing to allow W-H WILL to share the data with the community and survey students again this year.

“When we talk about school and our students, while our elementary kids are not surveyed … those students might go home to a home that has parents who are addicted,” School Committee member Dawn Byers said. “We need to support students in our school who may struggle with this with other family members. … It’s a community-wide issue.”

She lauded Szymaniak for thinking about a curriculum.

WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen is planning a joint meeting with the Department of Public Works Commissioners and superintendents on Tuesday, Dec. 7 to discuss the town’s need for a new DPW building.

Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman told Selectmen on Nov. 9 that he had received the feasibility study for a new structure from Environmental Partners, which was funded by a Town Meeting-approved appropriation, examining the need and likely cost of a new DPW building.

“Certainly the board knows the condition that that building is in,” he said of the study. “It identifies an amount of $11 million in order to have a new DPW building.” 

Heineman also met with DPW Commission Chairman Kevin Cleary and the department’s two superintendents the week of Nov. 1-5 to discuss what the plan is going forward and how the town can envision the needs for the facility with the feasibility study in mind.

“I think it would make sense to have a joint meeting of the DPW commissioners and the Board of Selectmen to talk about the desirability of what’s before … the town if this is the project the town wants to pursue at this time and, if so, what the timing of that would be.”

Heineman’s preliminary recommendation is to pursue it in two pieces — seeking 10 percent of the cost at the May 2022 Town Meeting to fund clear architectural drawings and, at a future date, attempting to obtain the remainder of funds needed to actually build it.

“That would almost certainly require an operational override at that time,” he said. “The other key thing to think about, in addition to is this the building that the town wants and what the timing might be in achieving it, I think another thing to consider is whether at Town Meeting, or as an appointment from this board… is whether or not to have a building committee for the [project].”

As discussion of the issue progressed, Selectman Brian Bezanson broached the idea that perhaps the town could seek funds through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal, passed by the House of Representatives on Friday, Nov. 5 — and signed Monday, Nov.15 — to help reduce the financial burden of the project on the town.

“It’s a hazard down there,” he said, noting that earlier in the meeting they had been praising the DPW crews for the work they did during and after the recent nor’easter. “In the next breath we’re trying to figure out how to make their life safer, so we need to work on this and convince the citizens that this is an important part of going forward.”

He noted that, while he had not looked into it deeply as yet, it could be somewhere the town could look to “get something to help” because there was a lot of gray area there.

He suggested that the town’s representatives in Washington be asked to look into.

According to the White House’s updated state fact sheet for Massachusetts, the act includes $4.2 billion for federal-aid highway apportioned programs and $1.1 billion for bridge replacement and repairs under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act over five years for Massachusetts. Another $2.5 billion over that span is devoted to public transportation, $63 million for EV charging stations, $100 million for broadband coverage across the state, $5.8 million for wildfire prevention and $15.7 million for protection against cyber attacks. Another $1.1 billion is aimed at improving water infrastructure to remove lead pipes from water supply lines in Masschusetts, and $244 million for airport infrastructure.

Bezanson reminded the board that, if the Occupational Safety and Health Administration became involved with the building, the town would be in “deep trouble.”

 “The longer we wait, the more expensive it’s going to get,” Selectmen Vice Chairman Dan Salvucci said, noting it had been estimated at a similar price tag for “top line” buildings, or a less extensive one. “Eventually, we’re going to need a new building, and the people have to understand that.”

Selectman Randy LaMattina said he was among those voting against the previous DPW building request because he felt at the time that the need hadn’t been adequately proven to residents.

“It wasn’t sold properly to the town,” he said. “I certainly wasn’t convinced, sitting in the crowd that night… we were kind of presented with ‘vote for it now, or you know what? The price is going up.’”

He said, sitting in a different role right now, it is one the town absolutely can correct now what was then seen as a mistake. Already serving on the Whitman Middle School Building Committee, LaMattina said a DPW Building Committee was a good idea, but he did not want to be on it. 

“I would hate to think we’re trying to rush this for a May Town Meeting,” he said, arguing that Heineman’s two-phase approach would be a better approach.

WHITMAN — The town’s public safety crews received glowing praise for their work in response to the nor’easter that plunged the town into darkness Nov. 3. At the same time, Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman said there were lessons learned — on both the positive and negative sides of the leger — to help improve response to the next weather emergency.

“Obviously that was a really big event and affected everyone in town and certainly the town departments quite a lot,” Heineman said. “I certainly wanted to commend [and express] deep appreciation for the police department … fire department … and the DPW. Both the water and sewer departments and the highway, grounds and parks. They really did an amazing job.”

The cleanup and work done to ensure water and sewer services continued to function despite no power was lauded, as well as the quick cleanup of down trees and branches and leaf-covered streets.

Positives that Heineman said he would like to continue during any future power outages included Clancy’s efforts to keep the pressure on National Grid to hasten its response.

“We certainly fared a lot better than some of our surrounding communities … with a very similar level of damage, we certainly got our power back a lot more quickly than a lot of our neighbors,” he said. “A lot of it is in no small part due to his persistence with that.”

The decision to expand the use and hours of warming and charging stations at Town Hall and the Senior Center was also popular with residents, especially in view of the failure of cell service.

“That was really well-received, from what I heard, and that’s certainly something I’d like to continue in the future, particularly when it’s cold,” Heimeman said.

He also said he plans to speak with DPW Superintendent Bruce Martin about having a brush pile so residents have a place to get rid of felled branches.

Proof of residency would be required to deposit brush there.

Lack of responsiveness from National Grid and cell phone communications failure were pointed to as glaring negatives Heineman wants to see rectified following a storm recap meeting Thursday, Nov. 4.

“Some things are outside of our control,” Heineman said. “National Grid was not very responsive in terms of getting downed wires out of the road quickly so that [they could be] cleared in timely manner.”

Ultimately that could be a statewide issue, he said.

“I don’t think we’re going to solve it locally, but I wanted to make folks aware that was a very real challenge,” Heineman said.

Cell phone communications badly affected.

“That is a pretty new phenomenon,” he said pointing to a lack of back up generation for power at cell towers. “It was a real challenge for the town and for public safety folks.”

“I think it’s clear that because of the difficulty we had communicating without phones, if we didn’t have Josh McNeill it would have been more of a  disaster,” Selectman Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski said. He suggested that future budget planning should think seriously of getting some backup for him. He also lauded the Town Hall custodian Todd DeCouto, particularly in the setting up and assisting people at the charging station.

“The team came together,” Kowalski said.

“It’s the people who work behind the scenes that you don’t see that don’t get the recognition [they deserve],” Selectman Dan Salvucci. Heineman added kudos to the CERT team for their disaster respons

Heineman said it might be time think about targeted capital items to make town more resilient, including digital radios in case of future cell communications failures as well as more wood chippers and generator upgrades at sewer treatment plants.

Selectman Justin Evans asked how the streetlights fared in the first real test since the town took over maintenance responsibilities.

“We did not have any major loss. We may have lost one or two,” Heineman said.

The School Committee on Wednesday, Oct. 13 voted to support this year’s round of policy resolutions from the Mass. Association of School Committees.

The panel approved six of nine resolutions without discussion, but policies about zero tolerance, school committees in receivership and prohibiting use of Native American sports mascots drew discussion. A vote by the MASC delegate assembly is slated for Nov. 6, when it considers resolutions submitted in conformance to its by-laws.

“The School Committee voted 9-1 in favor of supporting Resolution 9. The resolution called for: ‘regulations prohibiting public schools from using an athletic team name, logo, or mascot which names, refers to, represents, or is associated with Native Americans, including aspects of Native American cultures and specific Native American tribes,’” Chairman Christopher Howard stated after the meeting. “The Whitman-Hanson Regional School District does not have any athletic team name, logo, or mascots associated with what is described within this resolution.”

Members submit resolutions to be considered at the Assembly, which often result in the filing of legislation by the MASC or the establishment of official positions on legislative or other issues, according to the MASC website.

Committee member Fred Small spoke up for the tradition behind sports names at some schools.

“I don’t think there’s any malice in any mascot name,” he said. “Granted, we’re Panthers, so it doesn’t effect us.”

Whitman member Beth Stafford noted that Hanson’s elementary school is called Indian Head and that the resolution specifically mentions images.

“We can’t change the name of a school in a town, I don’t think, as a School Committee,” Jones said.

Howard reminded the committee that the resolution focuses on mascots, not the name of schools.

Committee member Hillary Kniffen noted that two years ago Hanover changed it’s mascot from the Indians to the Hawks, after having Native Americans speak about how the Indian mascot was offensive to them because of their heritage.

“I’m not native American, so I can’t speak to the offensiveness of something, because that’s not me,” she said. “That’s what we have to keep in mind when we’re looking at this. We don’t know what’s offensive if we’re not that ethnicity, race, gender – any of those things.”

Committee member Christopher Scriven said among other members of his family his mother is a full-blooded Blackfoot Indian, so the subject is a sensitive one for him.

“If you go back in history, look at what we did to these people …” he said. “But, even now, you go into these communities and you see the devastation … It’s important for us to remember that.”

He asked if a name or logo change “really impacts us to the degree that it matters?” He said he doesn’t think so.

“I have a very hard time with people getting uppity about this because it comes from a position of privilege,” he said. “That’s just a matter of fact. You’re not on a reservation. Your culture wasn’t devastated, so that’s something to think about.”

Committee member Steve Bois, who volunteers at schools, said the Indian Head School students embraced a name change for its mascot to the Eagles several years ago.

“The kids embraced that like there’s no tomorrow,” he said. “We moved on.”

Committee member David Forth suggested that youth sports in both towns should be called the Panthers, as the high school teams are.

The committee voted to support the resolution.

Committee member Dawn Byers said that the zero tolerance advocated that the legislature enact or amend legislation to encourage the use of restorative, therapeutic and educational approaches to incidents as soon as possible over the use of “zero tolerance” policies in order to help keep students in the school system. Whitman resident Shawn Kain had spoken in the meeting’s public forum about such an approach to vape use at the high school.

“Sometimes those are necessary in certain circumstances … but there are other areas where we have zero tolerance in the district community and perhaps there are other alternatives to better support students so their first offense might not be a suspension so they are out of school and it might snowball from there,” she said.

Bois pointed to exceptions in the resolution language where violent, criminal or drug-related situations are involved and vaping could be considered drug use.

Thar policy was supported by the committee.

Byers also noted that online feedback sought to differentiate between receivership and state control of schools. The regional school committee advocacy group supports the measure because school committees lose all their powers when the state takes over under receivership. While W-H may never go into receivership, which happens when a district underperforms educationally, it should support other districts.

Small, however, argued if a School Committee performed so poorly that a district goes into receivership, that committee deserves to lose their jobs.

The committee voted to support the policy.

School council

Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak said school councils have been so far this year, set up at the elementary level, where there are formalized PTOs, which make it easier to do than at the middle and high school level.

PTOs vote as to who will serve on school councils, required by state law to help principals develop school improvement plans and/or discussion on the budget. Students, teachers, parents and  at-large community representatives are included on the councils.

“It has to be equitable,” he said. “If you have two students, you’re supposed to have two parents.” He said the elementary PTOs have selected parent representatives.

“The middles [schools] are struggling mightily,” he said, noting the principals in both towns have sent out “multiple communications to parents” with no response.

The high school does not have a PTO, so Principal Dr. Christopher Jones is holding a meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 27 to proceed with deciding how and who to elect to that School Council. The meetings to appoint council members are public meetings.

Howard asked that Jones outline the selection process for the high school, in view of a resident’s expression of concern on the matter in the meeting’s public forum.

“The fact that community members don’t necessarily want to participate is another challenge for us,” Szymaniak said.

He also said the law, on the books since before the Education Reform Act, needs to be updated regarding how members can be selected.

“The fact that community members don’t always want to participate is another challenge for us,” he said.

Szymaniak also asked committee members for ideas in getting the word out that he is seeking residents who wish to join a school council. Representatives are needed for all school levels.

The School Committee tabled a proposal for a Student Advisory Council at the high school. Szymaniak said he meets with all student councils in the district on a regular basis.

A state law provides that schools should have a Student Adisory Council, with five members elected by students.

“Kids deserve to be heard, especially now,” said committee member Michelle Bourgelas. “It’s not easy for them. It’s not.”

Howard said he knows students need to be heard and is a proponent of student engagement, but is concerned with putting the committee in a pretzel over process.

“I want to do what’s required, but I want to do things thoughtfully,” he said. He also wants to hear more than just from high school students, suggesting the committee give it more thought and return to the issue at its next meeting.

Forth pointed to Boston where the student rep is involved in meetings to the point of being an unofficial 11th member, and is seeking home rule legislation to give that student voting rights on the committee.

“That’s how much they believe it’s such a central role,” he said. “If there isn’t someone here to be the eyes of the students, how will the students know what is going on?”

Byers noted there is a W-H student on the Southeast Advisory Council, but Superintendent Jeff Szymaniak said that is a different committee.

Howard said the number of councils and committees is what makes the situation confusing. Scriven suggested the Policy Subcommittee be charged with forming such a council and really sell it to students to spark involvement.

COVID report

 Only one school district in Massachusetts has achieved the 80-percent vaccination rate required for rescinding mask requirements — but don’t plan on removing masks yet — with four more districts pending. W-H schools reported no cases of COVID at the high school as of Oct. 6, none at Hanson Middle School; three at Whitman middle and one staff member, two students and one staff member at Conley, one student at Duval, none at Indian Head and none at the preK program. No positive cases stemmed from contacts at school.

The high school has more vaccinated students than they had thought, according to Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak, mainly because reporting has been poor. When the district hits 80 percent, he said he would petition to be granted permission to lift the mask requirement.

MCAS report

For the 20th year in a row, W-H MCAS scores are in line with state averages, according to Assistant Superintendent George Ferro

“I’m not quite sure what MCAS measured last year during COVID,” he said. School districts had many different learning programs because of the pandemic, but W-H still had upwards of 90 percent of students taking the tests. He said a lot of districts had trouble even finding their students, let alone getting them to take the tests.

No district did well in writing essays W-H did well in constructed responses from prompts and short answer objectives. Ferro pointed to remote learning and the effort to keep students engaged, which does not translate into writing essays.

W-H did not do well in a lot of the grade seven and 10 math standards, which are generally taught at the end of sixth grade — during the pandemic lockdown and remote learning. The data does provide information on how to approach remediation of skills, according to Ferro.