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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Booster clinics

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Test kits

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Biden’s advice to Americans also includes vaccinations.

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

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

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

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
editor@whitmanhansonexpress.com

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.