HANSON — When Troop 68 Life Scout Liam Keane began planning his Eagle Badge project, he was also looking for a way to make a difference in the world. His mom Patricia showed him the USA for Africa video of the Michael Jackson/Lionel Ritchie song “We Are the World” for some inspiration.

Dozens of music industry giants had left the Grammy Awards ceremony Jan. 21, 1985 and entered a recording studio to record the song — seven weeks after the Christmas 1984 record of UK Band Aid anthem “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” produced by Bob Geldof raised funds for African famine relief. The American recording, released in March 1985, also set aside funds for combatting hunger at home.

Fighting hunger at home was a concept that resonated with Keane, a junior at Whitman-Hanson Regional High School. WHRHS Guidance Counselor Courtney Selig thought a community garden at the school would be a good way to achieve both his goals.

“I wanted to change the world and help people,” Keane said. “Since we’ve been doing it, I realized so much about kids who you wouldn’t even think of going to the food pantry getting food or on free and reduced lunch.”

In some district elementary schools, nearly a quarter of students depend on free and reduced lunch programs, principals have reported at past School Committee meetings.

Keane’s idea was the beginning of what became Food for Thought, a school activity club of about 20 charter members working with Keane to bring awareness within the school about childhood hunger.

“School, community, home — we’re always looking for different ways to make that partnership and connection,” Selig said. “I think this was one great way to do that.”

The first project of the club was to build a garden out behind the school with produce going to the school’s culinary program as well as the pantries.

“We built it Memorial Day weekend, and club members have taken turns maintaining it, watering it, and harvesting it throughout the summer,” Keane said. “We have donated over 100 pounds of food to both Whitman and Hanson Food Pantries.”

He hopes the club keeps going long after he graduates and so long as there is a need in both communities. Members of Food for Thought have signed a meeting table they painted in hopes future members of the club will add their names for years to come.

“This project has become very personal for me and it has gone above and beyond my expectations,” he said.

Selig joked that the group thought they would be lucky to harvest a single tomato and it yielded 200 pounds of vegetables divided between both food pantries as well as tomatoes for the culinary program and salad fixings for the cafeteria. The carrot harvest was also impressive, Keane said.

“I wanted to do something different,” he said.

Bottle and can drive

To help fund his Eagle project, Keane is conducting a bottle and can drive from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 9 at the Nathaniel Thomas Mill on Route 58/Liberty Street in Hanson. [See page 4]

“There’s a lot of beer bottles, beer cans — especially after the Super Bowl,” he said. His drive will not only recycle the containers but continue to help feed neighbors in need.

Throughout this school year, we have also held other events to help support these food pantries as well as letting people know the importance of ending hunger within our communities.

One event was World Food Day, on Oct. 16. The club sold bracelets and hung posters around the school stating facts about childhood hunger.

“We raised $300 which was split and donated to the food pantries,” Keane said. “We also have also started an indoor garden in the green house at Whitman-Hanson High School where we will begin our seedlings for the outdoor garden, but also develop it so that we can continue to grow fresh “salad” vegetables all year long for the food pantries.”

Hanson Food Pantry Director Christine Cameron said donations of fresh produce from the Greater Boston Food Bank, area farms such as Lipinski’s in Hanson and projects like Keane’s are vital for clients.

“Or goal is to have people eat healthy,” Cameron said. “We have great farmers in our communities that help us that are very generous. …  Anything we can get that’s fresh, we consider that much better.”

Youth involvement at the pantry has also included Hanson Girl Scout troops and the National Honor Society as well as the Boy Scouts.

“It’s great to see them involved because they are our future volunteers and they see what happens in their community,” she said. “We have some wonderful kids that come through and help.”

Last year the Hanson Food Pantry gave out more than 100,000 pounds of food last year, helping an average of 200 to 300 clients on a monthly basis.

“It is unfortunate, but we will always have people that need our help, and so we’re there,” Cameron said.

Two upcoming projects Food for Thought students are currently working on are a “Bagged Lunch” program for which they will be making 200 bagged lunches over February vacation and donating them to Main Spring House in Brockton and raising funds to enter a team into the Project Bread Walk for Hunger 5K in Boston which will take place in May.

To sponsor the group, contact Keane at lt.keane@icloud.com.

A Souper Bowl fundraiser also raised canned goods donations for the pantries.

HANSON — Selectmen gave the green light to talks aimed at a regional emergency dispatch agreement with Regional Old Colony Communications Center (ROCCC) and heard a preliminary budget presentation from Town Accountant Todd Hassett on Tuesday, Jan. 29.

Hassett said the town is looking a net reduction of $832,846 in total revenue, expecting $25,847,812 in combined levy, free cash, cherry sheet, fees, stabilization and other sources of revenue. Expenditures at this point are estimated to be at $26,333,328 or a $458,426 shortfall. Among those expenditures, Hassett said, he is working off calculations of a 6.5-percent increase in W-H assessment and a 6 percent South Shore Tech assessment increase.

SST released budget numbers last week forecasting a .92 percent — $9,167 — increase in fiscal 2020. [See story, page one].

“We still have some work to do on the budget to close a few gaps,” Hassett said. “Most of our budget is supported through property taxes, local receipts and state aid.”

The levy base is up by $2,029,740 to $25,263,740 with additional sources of revenue increased by $1,443,918; but expenses are up this year.

“The deficit might look a little daunting,” said Town Administrator Michael McCue. “It’s going to take a lot of work … a lot of cooperation on the parts of people that sit in this building and in the other town, but we’ve been able to come up with, in the last couple of years, a balanced budget that didn’t necessarily eviscerate either the schools or the municipalities. … We’ve got to live within our means.”

The budget was on Selectmen’s minds when it came to deciding whether to move forward with talks on joining the ROCCC. In a discussion spanning nearly an hour, board members hashed out concerns over the cost of a regional approach vs maintaining civilian dispatchers.

In the end, they approved a letter of intent to continue talks on a contract for the regional service center, funded by state 911 currently handling 911 calls, Police, Fire, and EMS dispatching for the Towns of Duxbury, Plympton, Halifax and Rochester.

Duxbury Fire Capt. Rob Reardon, however, assured Selectmen that the letter of intent had to be agreed to and signed before negotiations over the board’s concerns could begin. He oversaw the entry of Plympton, Halifax and Rochester into the ROCCC.

“We welcome the chiefs to come so we can negotiate that dollar figure,” he said. “I can tell you you’re going to get $200,000 [from state 911] … because I’ve done plenty of deals with other towns.”

But, he added, before that can be settled, it has to be determined what year is Hanson going to join and how long a contract the town is seeking.

“It’s not like we’re signing tonight and it’s a done deal,” Reardon said. “We have a ton of work to do.”

ROCCC Director Mike Mahoney, a Hanson native, also spoke at the meeting. He reminded Selectmen that 100 percent of current dispatchers who apply to be regional dispatchers are hired so long as they pass a required exam.

“We have to give Duxbury an answer,” said Selectmen Chairman Kenny Mitchell. “We’ve been — kicking the can’s probably not a good term — but we’ve been talking about this for awhile. Everyone’s been over to the ROCCC, and seen the facility over there. We’ve got to make some decisions.”

Mitchell said he felt the dispatch center is a “better product.”

“We have great dispatchers now, but when you get multiple calls, they can only do so much,” he said, noting that Police Chief Michael Miksch has concerns. Fire Chief Jerry Thompson, meanwhile, is a proponent of ROCCC.

“To be perfectly honest, I haven’t been a fan of this from the beginning, for a number of reasons,” Miksch said. “You have to understand that the communications [center] is in my building and falls under me. Fire has brought up some concerns, in this coming year’s budget we tried to address some of those concerns.”

He said he not only cares about the people who work for him, he does not need change.

Selectmen also wanted to see a spreadsheet on cost estimates before making a decision. But Reardon’s assurances over 911 reimbursements and Hassett said the proposal is relatively cost-neutral.

“The biggest thing is … I cannot shut the lights off in my station,” Miksch said. With no one in a station, other towns have an issue with officers on constant call-back to serve citizens at the station.

Civilian dispatchers also help keep an eye on prisoners and help with paperwork, according to Miksch. Also, people who stop in at the station during the night need real help.

“They don’t need directions, they’re not looking to use the bathroom,” Miksch said.

“I’ll be the first to say — I don’t know how the rest of the board feels — the station will never go dark. Ever,” Selectman Jim Hickey said.

“I am a proponent,” Thompson said of the program. “I think that it’s something that we need to look at.”

He pointed to some of the capital project benefits in the first year of a regional center would be tremendous and that, in the event of multiple calls overnight, especially, one person can’t do the work of a team of three. Mahoney stressed the letter of intent is a necessary first step toward that.

Thompson argued they are also hearing that, in coming years, the town could be forced to regionalize. Doing it now could mean the ability to bargain for benefits to Hanson.

“Whatever decision you make, I will support 100 percent,” he said.

Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett’s main concern is that Hanson get equal say — “an equal seat at the table” as she put it — as other member towns.

“It’s Duxbury that kind of runs the show,” she said. “We can give them feedback, but it’s not completely regionalized. … They’re not there yet.”

Mahoney said the intention is to go in that direction.

Both FitzGerald-Kemmett and Hickey characterized the vote as the most important decision they make as a selectman.

“There is going to be a cost and [Thompson] said once in a while, something’s going to happen at 2 a.m., I don’t want that once in a while to be in Hanson,” Hickey said. “I don’t want a dark station. … I want to be informed.”

Miksch also voiced concerns over the cost of negotiating contract issues with the clerical union that are not in police contracts if additional civilian dispatchers are needed.

Miksch said replacing the dispatchers with four additional police officers to avoid a dark station could cost $259,000 including a night shift differential for the first year.

Selectman Matt Dyer wanted to see an example of a contract to determine what the town is getting into and a spreadsheet of potential costs for each option on paper.

“I don’t think that’s much to ask for to make a decision on behalf of the town,” Dyer said.

FitzGerald-Kemmett strongly agreed.

Selectman Wes Blauss said he is an enthusiastic supporter of the regional dispatch center.

“Watching three dispatchers plus a shift supervisor talking a diabetic vomiting case through, while police and fire were responding — that in itself was impressive,” Blauss said of his tour of the ROCCC. “As an alarmist, I’ve been thinking ever since then, the big, big storm will come.”

Climate change almost guarantees such a scenario, according to Blauss, who can envision a situation in which a car vs truck accident with serious injuries happens.

“I will have a heart attack in my driveway shoveling snow within 15 minutes of [such an accident] and a house fire will start,” he said. “I could see where regional dispatch could handle that and even they would be [takes a deep breath] a little tense, but I could see where they could handle it, whereas we in Hanson … it would quickly be a crisis situation and I think life would be lost.”

He said he was a positive vote without question.

TA evaluation

The board also began McCue’s public evaluation, handing out copies of reviews of his judgment, leadership, communication, teamwork, organization, administrative, accountability, knowledge, task management and awareness.

“We haven’t looked at each others’ individual reviews,” Mitchell said.

While improvement was deemed necessary in several areas, based on written comments, Selectmen opted to wait until they can review each others’ comments before returning at the next meeting to set goals for an improved evaluation process.

“We could sit here in awkward silence and read through it and then  come back, but it is a lot to digest,” Dyer said.

“As an educator, I feel any evaluation should be a goal-driven evaluation, which this was not in any way,” Blauss said.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said stressing goals is the preferred method in the private sector.

“We all have things we need to work on, it’s just our job to tell you what yours are because that’s the way this is set up,” she said.

Administrative Assistant Meredith Marini compiled individual comments into a report without identification, as well as numeric scores.

“Some people were more detailed than others,” she said, noting some preferred to see the goals being evaluated before making a review. “Not everybody commented on every one of the 10 categories.”

At least three of five selectmen indicated they did not like the evaluation formula, that it needs work, according to Marini.

“It’s just redundant,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

McCue said he “certainly want to make sure that as I go along, I’m accomplishing what this board wants” him to achieve.

Whitman Police have issued an arrest warrant for Kevin MacAleese, 53, of Braintree. He is wanted for threatening to commit a crime stemming from a domestic violence-related incident in Whitman late last year. An arrest has not yet been made as of Tuesday, Jan. 15.

A police report in Brockton District Court records said that on Dec. 13, 2018, Whitman police were dispatched to a Jenkins Avenue address at approximately 10:30 p.m. for a report of a male party, later identified as MacAleese, en route threatening to assault a woman and her husband.

The documents report that the alleged victim and MacAleese had known each other since childhood and were involved in a dating relationship beginning about 18-months ago, although both had later returned to their spouses.

The alleged victim met police outside her residence, while still on the phone with MacAleese. The police report said that the responding officer heard MacAleese make several threats over the phone, including to “beat-up” the woman’s husband.

The alleged victim then said to MacAleese that she was going to call police, which MacAleese allegedly did not realize had already occurred.

MacAleese replied “go ahead.” The phone call was interrupted, according to the report, but MacAleese called back, saying to “go ahead; call the police,” and “I’m not afraid (of the police); I don’t care if they shoot me. I have nothing to lose.”

According to the report, the officer inferred a possible “suicide-by-cop” situation from the nature of the comments, in which a suicidal individual acts threatening in an attempt to be shot by police.

When MacAleese arrived at the Jenkins Street address, he passed by, but his vehicle fit the description provided by the alleged victim, said the report.

MacAleese briefly attempted to drive away at a high rate of speed, wrote the officer, but he eventually stopped and cooperated with police after being pulled-over several blocks away.

Although he was traveling at approximately 50 mph in a residential neighborhood when stopped, and court documents report police detected the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from his vehicle, there is no indication in the report whether police addressed either.

While this was occurring, the alleged victim was speaking to another Whitman police officer, whom she told that MacAleese was driving over to her house to “kill her” and “bury her.”

MacAleese was handcuffed, placed in a police cruiser and later sent to Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital for further evaluation because of the homicidal and suicidal statements he made, said the report.

The report indicates that MacAleese admitted to making unspecified threats, but that he “would never hurt her [the victim].”

MacAleese was later served with an emergency restraining order at Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital ordering him to stay away from the alleged victim, her home, workplace and another Braintree location.

The alleged victim is not MacAleese’s spouse. Other news outlets have identified his spouse as Karen MacAleese, who is listed as a Braintree Interim Deputy Police Chief, according to the Braintree Police website.

The Cape and Islands district attorney’s office will investigate the case once MacAleese is apprehended or turns himself in. The Express made several unsuccessful attempts to contact a spokesperson for that office.

Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz announced 2018 homicide and overdose statistics for Plymouth County on Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2019.

According to a press release, State Police Detectives assigned to the Plymouth County DA’s Office investigated 10 homicides last year.

In 2017, State Police responded to nine homicides. Both years do not include motor vehicle homicides.

“I commend State Police Detectives assigned to the District Attorney’s Office who work together with local police and federal authorities to solve these murders, investigate violent crimes and take guns and drugs off of our streets,” DA Cruz said. “We remain focused on eradicating gun violence and the deadly heroin and fentanyl drug markets to improve the quality of life for residents throughout Plymouth County,” Cruz said in the release.

State Police additionally responded to 112 fatal suspected overdoses in the county in 2018, with 81 of the victims being male, and 31 being female. In 2017, State Police responded to a total of 138 suspected overdoses in the county.

“The number of fatal overdoses that State Police responded to are down from last year and we are making strides, but we have work ahead of us,” DA Cruz said. “… I look forward to continuing to collaborate until we get well out in front of this addiction issue.”

Finally, last year, State Police Detectives assigned to the DA’s office were able to use “cellphone technology” to secure a manslaughter conviction against a Wareham man, Steven D. Foss, 37, who supplied the drugs in the fatal overdose of a 25-year-old Wareham woman, a first in the county, according to the office.

HANSON — The community is mourning the loss of Mary Margaret “Gret” Lozeau, 74, a dedicated teacher and community volunteer who died at her home, surrounded by her family on Thursday, Dec. 20.

She was a woman who lived by her favorite saying — “Be kind to someone who needs it,” as the Rev. Michael Hobson and her daughter, Teresa Santalucia, recalled during funeral services at St. Joseph the Worker Church Friday, Dec. 28.

In her reflection, Santalucia said her mother was a natural teacher who loved every day she spent in the classroom and a person who chose to love others and live every day with joy.

“I truly believe that everyone here has had the benefit of her life well-lived,” Santalucia said, relating how her mother felt she had lived a nearly perfect life. “She chose kindness every time. … Kindness was her mantra. It was her life’s lesson plan.”

Hobson related in his homily how Gret put her faith to work in her home and hometown.

“That lifelong teacher in her expresses someone that understood the importance in being an example for others … not only in word, but in deed as well,” Hobson said.

As a life-long parishioner of St. Joseph the Worker Church, Gret served as a Sodality Board Member and religious education teacher. An outstanding teacher for over 29 years, she was a member of Hanson Kiwanis and the Advisor for the Kiwanis-sponsored Hanson Middle School Builders Club, receiving a Kiwanis International Distinguished Service Award.

Those who knew her through her work with these organizations also felt Gret’s infinite capacity for kindness.

Dollars for Scholars President Michael Ganshirt remembered her great support for the program.

“I think it was an extension of her dedication to education and her commitment to students,” he said, noting how Lozeau had organized a holiday wreath fundraiser for DFS each year and had attended many other fundraising events. “She was just a very sweet person — someone you were always anxious to see and talk to. She was just a very nice person.”

Hanson Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett echoed Ganshirt’s sentiments.

“I knew Gret through Kiwanis and through her family,” said FitzGerald-Kemmett. “She was an incredibly kind, warm and caring person. She literally lit up any room she was in and I always felt better in her presence. The love she had for her family was boundless and they were her true source of joy. This world was simply a better place for her having been in it.”

State Rep. Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, who represents Hanson remembered her dedication to family and community, as well.

“Gret represented the best of Hanson –– a dedication to community, family and service,” Cutler stated. “She will be dearly missed.”

Gret was a dedicated life-long teacher on many levels and in a variety of settings. She loved each of her students without reservation and the written comments and thank you notes from students and parents indicated their admiration and gratitude.

“Gret was long retired by the time I got to Hanson Middle,” Principal William Tranter said last week, noting that her commitment to the school extended past her retirement from the classroom. “After retirement she was active in the Kiwanis Builders Club. Gret had a great passion for helping others and through her efforts with the Builders Club she was able to instill the ideas of service to others and giving back to the community. The students learned a great deal from her example of service.”

Gret won many awards as a 4-H member and Plymouth County leader of 4-H, including the distinction of being a state sheep-shearing champion.

Lozeau was selected for a Massachusetts Learning Teacher Leader Award; the Whitman-Hanson Express newspaper featured her as the Hanson Citizen of the Year for 2011; and, she was elected (2004 to present) as a Trustee of the Hanson Public Library Foundation, serving as secretary.

Library Foundation President Linda Wall, who worked as a librarian at Hanson Middle School when Lozeau taught there, said her friend as a kind, loving and giving person.

“Those traits underlined everything she did, all her contributions to the community,” Wall said. “I was fortunate to know her as a friend and a colleague at Hanson Middle and a volunteer at the library.”

Lozeau’s work was unpretentious but top-quality, Wall said, noting that she had worked with Gret on projects to help make learning more exciting and relevant to students. Lozeau was first elected to the Library Trustees in 2004 and was a founding member of the Library Foundation in 2006, serving as a corresponding secretary since that time.

“She brought her wisdom to anything that was brought before the Library Trustees,” Wall said.

“She was always a pleasure to work with in both the [Hanson Library] Foundation and as a Trustee,” said Corinne Cofardo chairman of the Library Trustees. “She always had a generous smile. I remember her as a woman of inspiration who was always willing to help out.”

Cofardo also said Lozeau was a fun person who will be greatly missed at the library.

She will also be missed at the Hanson Senior Center, where the Builders Club students still work on projects with senior citizens.

“She was instrumental in creating opportunities for young people to engage with people of older generations,” Center Director Mary Collins said Monday, Dec. 31. “She saw this as an opportunity to bring the two generations together. … She recognized that people can benefit from interation from people of a different generation.”

Gret also loved the outdoors. While in Colorado with her husband, she was a first-place champion in racquetball tournaments, skied, and participated in tennis leagues and tournaments. In addition, she represented the University of Rochester as an admissions volunteer, served as a Channel 2 Auction volunteer, and also served as Secretary of the Cranberry Cove Boosters.

HANSON — Hazardous material, specifically asbestos, has been found in the burnt remains of the former JJ’s pub, 16 Liberty St., Hanson. Town Administrator Michael McCue announced the findings to Selectmen at a brief Tuesday, Dec. 18, meeting. McCue has been in contact with Hanson town counsel Katherine Feodoroff and Building Commissioner Robert Curran, about to the ongoing situation.

McCue said that there was no public health hazard as the asbestos was not in the air, but that it would need to be cleaned up properly, causing costs to skyrocket from an original estimate of $14,000.

Feodoroff places a complete site cleanup at roughly $40,000 in an email to the board, which could rise due to procurement regulations, and because the debris will need to be hauled off-site for decontamination processing.

Town officials are bracing themselves to take on the full cost of a proper cleanup, as the Dec. 31 deadline for JJ’s owner Patricia Harrison, of Bourne, to erect a fence on the nuisance property approaches.

“I just want to clean the damn thing up,” said Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett.

Feodoroff states that it is not necessary for her to go to court, as Selectmen had previously requested, to further expand a court order obtained against Harrison as it is already quite expansive, quoting the order in her email:

“[S]hould the Defendant fail to satisfy [the court ordered requirements] on, or before, but in no event later than Dec. 31, 2018 then Plaintiff, Town of Hanson, may enter onto the subject Property, without the need for further action by this Honorable Court, and take any and all actions(s) reasonable and necessary to erect said fence and screening and abate the nuisance … [A]ll necessary expenses incurred by the Town shall be paid by the Defendant, and shall constitute a lien against the property … until it is paid in full,” ordered Superior Court Judge Rosemary Connolly earlier this December.

Feodoroff wants to record the order with the Plymouth County Registry of Deeds so that the order is binding on any subsequent owner of the property, she states.

Whether or not there is actually a buyer for the property is not readily apparent, according to McCue, although Harrison has asserted that she does to the town and to the Express, previously.

McCue said this has not been independently verified.

Selectman James Hickey pressed this point, visibly frustrated, asking, “Can we assume there’s no potential buyer?”

McCue noted that regardless of who pays for the cleanup, a lien on the property will mean that the town should eventually get its money back, whatever the cost.

Selectman Chairman Kenneth Mitchell said that the town must do its due diligence if it’s going to be spending so much money on the cleanup.

WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Dec. 4 approved an increase in the cost of the inter-municipal agreement for fire dispatch services. The Selectmen declined, however, to support a process by which the town could seek home rule legislation to increase the number of All Alcohol Package Goods Store Liquor licenses permitted in town.

Town Administrator Frank Lynam said the current fire dispatch agreement with Holbrook provides 911 primary answering service as well as Fire Department answering and dispatch. Holbrook is moving toward a major upgrade of their facility and systems, resulting in a request for more financial support from member towns.

“I was a little taken aback by the first proposal,” he said of an initial request for a 25-percent increase. “[Fire Chief Timothy Grenno] did go back to Holbrook to have a discussion on it.”

That led to a gradual increase of 10 percent in fiscal 2020, 16 percent in fiscal 2021 and 14 percent in fiscal 2022. That would increase the current assessment of $54,000 to $80,000 at the end of the three years, subject to funding at Town Meeting.

A civilian dispatch system for 911 services would be “the wrong side” of $250,000, Lynam said they were told at a conference on dispatch services several years ago.

“The need to have coverage for fire is really essential, because once two calls are out there’s nobody left in the station,” Lynam said. Holbrook takes the calls, analyzes them and dispatches servies.

Grenno said the new facility in Holbrook is largely funded by a $4 million grant from state 911, but increased operational costs were also expected.

“They are planning ahead,” Grenno said. A return to town dispatch would take a firefighter off the floor each shift and onto the dispatch desk and cost the town more than $300,000 per year in firefighter salaries.

The decision came with an eye to the town’s bottom line as officials grapple with costs of the budget in general.

“We’re going to develop a budget that’s sound for the town and the schools, and we’re going to present the arguments for why that budget is needed — and it will be tied to an override, because there’s no way the levy can support it,” Lynam said. “We also have to be prepared at that point, if the answer is no, to work with a small budget.”

The Selectmen were invited to the Wednesday, Dec. 12 School Committee meeting to discuss that issue. The School Committee has asked for guidance from the towns as they develop that spending plan.

Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski said he had recently spoken with a School Committee member who stressed the schools are only seeking a level-service budget, which Kowalski said is reasonable.

“But then, if you think of every other department … they would like to have a level-service budget this year, too, but they’re all being told to anticipate maybe a 3-percent or 6-percent cut in their budget,” Kowalski said. “So it’s not a enjoyable year to have.”

Selectman Brian Bezanson said the work being done doesn’t mean much until the citizens have the final say.

Kowalski said a pre-Town Meeting should be held, to which the voters would be invited and officials could explain their budget needs and options the town has.

“We are purveyors of information,” Bezanson said. “They decide what dollars get spent and where they get spent and sometimes we forget that.”

Kowalski said the community assessment survey being conducted with Bridgewater State University will give the town a clue about how voters are thinking.

Lynam indicated that the project has resulted in 576 online responses and 150 or more paper surveys waiting to be reviewed as of Dec. 4.

“I suspect we’re going to see more because I got my survey in the mail on Monday [Dec. 3],” Lynam said, forecasting that a total of between 1,000 and 1,500 surveys could be completed. “They were apparently divided up over time.”

He said he has seen posts on Facebook to the effect that the town is looking for validation for the need to increase revenue, and said he does not think that is the case.

“I think it was a very objective, structured survey that really asks what people think,” Lynam said. “It’s going to help us with [planning for] the long term.”

Alcohol licenses

Selectmen voted 3 to 2 not to consider the request of Dinesh Kumar Patel, of  DJ’s Country Store at 535 Plymouth St., for an additional All Alcohol Package Goods Store Liquor license in town.

Previous DJ’s co-owner Joel Richmond spoke for Patel at the meeting, noting that Patel has 30 years’ experience in the package store business, owning stores in Quincy and Canton.

“It’s a matter of competing and staying effective in the marketplace as small businesses,” he said of Patel’s request, noting DJ’s would be the only package store on that side of town.

Current licensees are located on Temple Street and on South Avenue.

“This is a license we don’t currently have the authority to issue yet,” Lynam said of Patel’s request. “Each community is limited by population as to how many licenses they can offer.”

Whitman is permitted 15 Section 12 licenses (on-premise consumption), three off-premise licenses and five package store licenses. Additional licenses must be approved by Selectmen as in the interest of the town and how many more the town would ask for, Town Meeting and Town Election approval, and home rule legislation in the General Court.

“The other question we have to ask is where that leaves us as a community,” Lynam said. There are three requests, including Patel’s, for package store licenses, he noted.

“The question out there is, ‘Is there a need for an additional package store?’” said Selectman Scott Lambiase. He and selectmen Randy LaMattina and Kowalski did not think there was such a need. Selectmen Dan Salvucci and Bezanson were willing to leave a decision on that to Town Meeting.