WHITMAN — Voters in the town’s Saturday, March 17 special Town Meeting voted nearly two-to-one in favor of a protective zoning bylaw banning all forms of recreational marijuana sales in Whitman.

The vote was 543 supporting the bylaw and 307 against the ban with 850 registered voters casting ballots. Town Clerk Dawn Varley said the light turnout was not entirely surprising for a one-issue special election and that quite a few voters had questions about the wording in a situation where a “yes” vote was against recreational sales while a “no” vote would support it.

“I think it was pretty much the average for a special election and a special interest,” she said. “I think people knew what they were voting for … they weren’t undecided.”

The wording of the question was “the worst part about it,” Varley noted.

“Some people were unsure of what ‘yes’ meant and what ‘no’ meant,” she said. “My election workers were told that, if there were any questions to send them to our office so it couldn’t be misconstrued that they were directing someone to vote a certain way.”

Two town officials — Selectmen Vice Chairman Dan Salvucci and School Committee member Fred Small — attending the results reading following the 5 p.m., polls closing expressed satisfaction at the result.

“No pot shops in Whitman,” Salvucci said. “Although the people want marijuana [legalized] in the state of Massachusetts and in Whitman, but the town of Whitman does not want it sold here.”

Voters had supported the 2016 state ballot question that legalized recreational marijuana in the Bay State.

“I voted yes,” Salvucci said of the ban. “I did not want the sale of marijuana in Whitman.”

Small described himself as a “happy School Committee member” in view of the result during an interview with WHCA-TV at Town Hall.

“I’m very glad, personally, that this didn’t pass,” Small said. “Although I do understand it is legal, it’s just not the image that I want to see projected for our hometown.”

Salvucci said marijuana could be a gateway drug to more addictive narcotics.

“I can understand the medical [use],” Salvucci said.

Due to the power outage at out Newspaper’s print production location in Hanover, mailed copies of the Whitman Hanson issue will be delayed this week. We apologize for any inconvenience this leaves our readers.

~ The Express Newspapers

WHITMAN — After a 45-minute start delay in an effort to meet the 150-voter quorum requirement, Whitman’s special Town Meeting took only 10 minutes or so to pass the three warrant articles by wide margins.

A transfer of $256,752.62 from capital stabilization was passed by an 83 percent to 17 percent margin to fund costs involved in structural changes at WHRHS to accommodate moving the district’s pre-kindergarten program from Maquan School.

Voters also authorized the town — through the Board of Selectmen and Town Administrator — to enter into contracts for energy purchases or net metering contracts for terms of up to 20 years. The measure passed by an 87 percent to 13-percent margin.

Both articles passed with no discussion.

Voters also moved forward a protective zoning bylaw prohibiting all types of non-medical marijuana establishments in town by an 81 percent to 19-percent margin.

The issue must now pass a special Town Election from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, March 17 for the ban to go on the books. All precincts vote in the Town Hall Auditorium.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner expressed gratitude for the passage of pre-K transfer costs, noting the passage allows work at the high school to begin over April vacation week.

Quorum scramble

Officials were, however, dismayed by the time taken to reach a quorum.  At the 7:30 p.m. start time there were only about 105 voters in the Town Hall auditorium, prompting a flurry of texting friends, family and neighbors to attract more voters. Town Administrator Frank Lynam also broadcast about a half-dozen appeals over the live cable access feed, urging viewers to drive over to the meeting and guaranteeing they would be done in less than a half hour.

He was right, as even with the pre-vote refresher on using electronic voting devices and reading of the meeting call took less than 15 minutes.

Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski chalked up the sparse attendance to the upcoming storm and the fact that people were likely at the store stocking up on milk and bread or gassing up generators.

“It’s tough to get people out sometimes,” Town Moderator Michael Seele agreed. “There’s a storm coming and everything else. It was great that we got the quorum, we got the business done that we needed to get done.”

When quorum was achieved it was greeted with an enthusiastic round of applause.

Lynam, however, said the struggle for a quorum was more likely a symptom of apathy.

“People are becoming very apathetic,” Lynam said. “Governing is work.”

He said that makes it hard for the Town Meeting system to remain viable.

“Certainly in the last few meetings [it would] indicate that there is not a lot of enthusiasm for Town Meeting,” Lynam said.

MariJuana bylaw

The only questions asked during the session involved the exact result of a yes vs. a no vote on the marijuana prohibition bylaw and why a special election is also required.

“If this sounds familiar, it’s because we already voted in a general bylaw,” Lynam told voters. “The Canabis Control Commission is also seeking towns vote to establish a protective zoning bylaw. A yes vote will prohibit the sale of recreational marijuana for the town of Whitman.”

He also explained that the March 17 special Town Election is necessary due to state requirements. That ballot, containing only the marijuana question, has exactly the same language as the warrant article.

After the meeting, Kowalski noted that Whitman voters had voted to legalize recreational marijuana in 2016 and might repeat that vote. But Lynam said he wasn’t so sure that the vote would be reprised.

“I think the majority will support the prohibition question,” Lynam said. “The question is why. What did they vote for [in 2016]? Did they vote to have marijuana in Whitman or did they vote to decriminalize it so that young people being arrested for having marijuana would not have their lives ruined by a conviction?”

He said people he has talked to about the issue have indicated that, while they voted for the legalization ballot question, they only wanted to prevent making people criminals for possession of marijuana alone.

The familiar buzz of chainsaws could be heard throughout neighborhoods in Hanson and Whitman over the last few days as storm cleanup and damage assessment efforts also continued — nearly 72 hours after Friday’s historic winter storm Riley battered the east coast.

The storm, which reportedly underwent bombogenesis (intense strengthening) off the coast of New England, was relentless with winds recorded as high as 70 mph and higher closer to the shoreline, according to weather reports.

Whitman Fire Chief Timothy Grenno also cautioned residents, during the Tuesday, March 6 Board of Selectmen’s meeting to be wary of damaged trees that could fall during this week’s storm.

“It came in a little bit stronger than we expected it to,” Grenno said of the March 2 storm. “The big concern right now is I know of three or four trees that are partially uprooted and are unstable.”

Winds through Thursday, March 6 re expected to gust to about 45 mph.

“It’s going to bring those trees right down,” he said. “There’s a lot of damaged trees out there.”

If the root ball of a tree is already lifting up, that is wind-storm damage almost certain to bring a tree down in the second storm, officials said.

Both towns fielded dozens of storm related calls into Tuesday related to flooding of homes, power outages, gas leaks and downed wires among other issues.

During the peak of the storm — Friday into Saturday — both towns’ public safety departments were fully staffed. Hanson’s first responders were operating at full capacity, including three 911 dispatchers. Whitman-Holbrook dispatch regional center and EOC was in full operations.

Humongous trees were falling while responders were trying to reach those in need making for demanding and hazardous conditions. Hanson police and fire responded to an urgent tree-down call with three cars trapped with their occupants still inside at 680 Liberty St., just before 7 p.m. Friday near Gorwin Drive.

“Live wires came down with the tree so the occupants had to remain in their cars for approximately half an hour. Fortunately, there were no injuries,” said Hanson Police Lt. Michael Casey. “There were many close calls.”

Route 58 (Liberty Street) was closed down for over eight hours in Hanson, which impeded travel times for emergency crews. Route 58 is a main point of access for Hanson.

With impassible conditions in both towns, utility crews brought in from other states, DPW and highway, and tree crews worked around the clock as giant tree trunks freshly ripped from the earth littered the roadways. Piles of branches and tree limbs line many streets throughout Plymouth County.

Commending all first responders Lt. Casey said he was proud of all his officers who performed incredibly under the extremely dangerous conditions. Several police cruisers including Chief Michael Miksch’s vehicle sustained damage by falling tree limbs while responding to calls, he said.  The officers were not injured.

Whitman was dispatched to 130 calls Friday, March 2 through Tuesday night, 90 percent of them storm-related, said Grenno, who estimated the Police Department responded to between 150 and 160 calls in that period.

Trees had fallen on several homes in Whitman.

“ I want to thank the residents for their patience and to the public safety responders, fire, police, DPW and the school district for their cooperation through the storm,” said Grenno. WHRHS had been opened as a warming center during the day while power was out, even though limited staffing prevented overnight shelter provisions. The DPW was able to divert some crews to Easton, where more than 200 trees were felled be the storm, to help that community try to clear streets on Tuesday in preparation for the next storm, Grenno said.

He noted that Whitman was back to “just about 100-percent power” as of 6 p.m., Monday and school, which was still out due to a continued lack of power at Hanson’s elementary schools, was to be back in session Wednesday. At the height of the storm Grenno estimated that 75 to 80 percent of the town had been plunged into darkness — some as long as three days.

“National Grid experienced catastrophic damage to their infrastructure system,” he said.

Hanson Fire/Rescue responded to 162 storm-related calls from 7 p.m., Friday through 7 p.m. Monday. They were also involved in assisting with 20 medical calls, offered EMS support two times and received EMS support on mutual aid for three calls.

One Plymouth County Dive technician was activated from Hanson for a swift water rescue to a Norwell staging location. The department provided mutual aid at the Halifax structure fire Monday night at 8:30 pm on Oak Place. There were a total of 12 reported fallen trees on homes, which sustained damage, according to Fire Chief Jerome Thompson Jr.

He commended town department officials and first responders from Whitman and Hanson who worked seamlessly together.

“I would like to thank all of the departments and W-H school district who were in contact with us throughout the storm. It was through great co-operation that made facilitation of a warming and charging center possible at the high school,” said Thompson.

The library in Hanson experienced “several significant leaks” during the storm in different areas from past leaks that prompted the town to replace the roof  two years ago.

Building Commissioner Robert Curran was slated to inspect the damage this week, noting “it is likely wind-driven rain entering the sidewall.

WHITMAN — The town’s planned purchase of LED streetlights is aimed at shedding light on safety while saving the town money down the road.

Assistant Town Administrator Lisa Green presented the proposal, which the board supported 5-0, to Selectmen at the Tuesday, Feb. 20 meeting. The purchase will next go before voters at the annual Town Meeting on Monday, May 7.

The town’s roads are illuminated by 856 streetlights, each currently powered by high-pressure sodium technology, Green noted.

“Over the last few years, many Massachusetts cities and towns have been purchasing their streetlights from National Grid and converting [them] to LED (light-emitting diode) technology,” she said.

The streetlights now cost Whitman an average of $152,600 per year to power them. LED lights cost less and use less power to operate, and National Grid has provided the town with a quote for purchasing the streetlights.

“That quote is zero,” she said. “It’s going to cost us zero dollars to purchase the streetlights from National Grid.”

There is also a $49,263 grant available, and National Grid is also providing a reimbursable utility incentive of around $70,000. Total construction cost for converting the lights to LED technology would cost an estimated $278,364.

The grants will bring the cost to the town to $158,309.

The LED lights would save Whitman an estimated $51,396 annually in operating costs.

“As you know, Whitman is a Green Community and converting streetlights to LED is an energy-saving measure, so you are able to include that number [$158,309] on our next Green Communities grant application,” she said. “If we were awarded the next Green Communities money, this project could be funded 100 percent [through grants]. … That is an incredibly huge benefit to the town of Whitman.”

“There is a possibility that we will not receive that grant,” Town Administrator Frank Lynam said. “The way I’ve recommended structuring this program is that we will seek permission to borrow $280,000 at the annual Town Meeting.”

He is looking into Statehouse Notes for the possibility of subsidized borrowing for the funds. The Metropolitan Planning Council may also be an alternative funding source but the expectation is that by moving ahead with the project even without grant funding, the cost could be recovered within four years through the savings in the streetlight account.

“It’s a win-win,” he said.

Selectman Dan Salvucci asked if the change to LED streetlights would be brighter than the current ones.

“LEDs can be purchased in different illuminations,” Green said. “They do tend to be brighter, but not you-need-sunglasses-type brighter.”

Salvucci also asked if residents of a street with no streetlight can purchase one and pay operating costs, as is done in Hanson on some private roadways.

Lynam said there are two lights being privately built right now. He also stressed that the Green Communities grant is a competitive process.

Green said the project was ready to start Wednesday, Feb. 21 by entering into an agreement with the Metropolitan Planning Council to begin an audit and the process of reconstruction of the lights. To fund by Green Communities, the town would have to wait for that grant approval, sometime in July.

“The whole project has to be completed by Dec. 31, 2018 and right now everything is falling into place for us to meet that deadline,” Green said.

The town would have to contract for a maintenance plan for the streetlights.

In other business, Selectmen voted to decline its right of first refusal for an affordable housing unit at 100 Franklin St., which was a 40-B project containing five affordable units in the facility, according to Lynam.

“When an affordable unit is sold, the town reserves the right of first refusal,” he said. “Certainly we have no desire to own this property.”

Lynam contacted the Housing Authority, which did not wish to commit the funds to purchase it, so he asked the board to vote to decline the right of first refusal.

Selectman Scott Lambiase questioned the terms of sale, which indicated if a buyer is not found through a lottery sale – which would not be unusual – a sale at market rate would be allowed with any profits going to the town of North Andover.

“Whoever typed that [the letter outlining sale terms] got a few things wrong.” Lynam said. “But the money, if it’s sold in open market conditions, any profit over the acquisition would come to the town to be used for affordable housing [in Whitman].”

Whitman does not have an affordable housing trust, so the sale proceeds, “after consideration, probably would be turned over to the Housing Authority to use to supplement affordable housing,” according to Lynam.

“This isn’t how I typically see it done,” Lambiase said.

Another procedural error with the sale is that the right of first refusal notice had been sent to the Board of Appeals a week and a half earlier, instead of Selectmen, Lynam noted.

“North Andover is an error all the way around,” he said in response to Lambiase’s concern that that community had taken over the lottery sale process. “Obviously this is a form letter they use in surveys.”

Lynam will note that the town of Whitman has voted to decline its right of first refusal and point out that any proceeds, should it go in the public market are to go to the town of Whitman.

WHRHS Principal Jeffrey Szymaniak was the School Committee’s unanimous choice to become the school district’s new superintendent after final interviews were conducted in a special meeting Thursday, Feb. 15.

“The search committee put a tremendous amount of time into winnowing down what started out as a 19-candidate pool of people,” said by School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes in thanking them for their work to kick-off the interviews. “We had a great mix of teachers, union people, principals, a student, School Committee members, parents at-large and they put a lot of time in.”

The next step is negotiating a contract with Szymaniak, which will be voted on at a Wednesday, Feb. 28 meeting. If the committee and Szymaniak fail to reach agreement on a contract, it could then be offered to the panel’s second choice, Sharon Schools Assistant Superintendent for Information Systems and Administration John M. Marcus. If he should be unavailable or fail to reach agreement with the committee, the committee would meet to consider re-posting the position.

The committee decided the job would not be offered to the third candidate, Lincoln (R.I.) High School Principal Kevin J. McNamara. Differences in Rhode Island and Massachusetts school systems, uncertainly over whether he would be interested in a superintendent job opening up in his current district since he applied at W-H, and a less impressive interview than he gave in the first round, were among the committee’s concerns.

Marcus was visibly disappointed when Hayes gave him news of the vote after the meeting in the main office where Marcus was waiting. An Easton resident, he had expressed a keen desire for the position during his 55-minute interview, noting that he and his wife had spent a weekend touring Whitman and Hanson — eating breakfast at the Olde Hitching Post and sampling the coffee at Mary Lou’s in Whitman center while chatting with residents.

“A year ago, when I wasn’t made the superintendent in Sharon, people told me, ‘Oh, well, things happen for a reason,’” Marcus said in his opening remarks. “But, then, last week I came here. … I have never seen a school so vibrant, a community feeling so alive. … The people I met are good, honest, hard-working people who really just want the best for their kids and that’s what I’m all about.”

Szymaniak’s opening remarks stressed his accomplishments in the district including a reduction in the drop-out rate while increasing the number of advanced-placement courses, the addition of a transition room for students returning to school after extended absences and positive changes to school culture and climate.

QUESTION TIME

Questions all three candidates faced centered on curriculum needs and how changes would be made, their vision for central office staff, priorities for programs not currently funded in the budget, how they would conduct a campaign for passage of a general budget, experience with budget cuts, and how they would supervise the district’s custodial contract.

Both Szymaniak and Marcus gave nearly equal weight to trying to fund elementary school social workers and no-cost, all-day kindergarten.

“Prioritizing is a challenging question, but … right now, given the state of where we’re at, I think elementary social workers in health is huge,” Szymaniak said. “Social-emotional learning right now is elevated to a point that we’re at a critical stage. You see what happened in Florida [Feb. 14].”

He said identifying and instituting support systems for kids who have social-emotional needs can benefit everyone. He lost an assistant principal due to budget cuts a few years ago, but when the funding was returned he put it into adjustment counselors for that reason.

“I also like the idea of full-day K,” Szymaniak said. “I think, if we establish full-day K in this district, we’ll reduce [the number of] our charter school students.”

There are currently 45 W-H children who attend charter school and have “never set foot in this district,” he noted. “I don’t know but if we offered that full-day K if parents would give us an opportunity to educate their kids.”

He also advocates an incremental build-up of middle school foreign language programs with an eye to adding either Chinese or Arabic at the high school later on.

“That’s a tough one to pick just one,” Marcus agreed, noting he would look to input from the community and staff to support kids as much as possible. “Personally, especially in light of [the Feb. 14] awful events, our mission of supporting students, in their mental health and their social-emotional strength and well-being, has got to be paramount for us these days.”

But he stressed he also feels one of the most important curricular changes he’s seen in his 25-year career is full-day kindergarten.

“How you get there is really tricky,” Marcus said. When he worked in Stoughton, that district obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to help get its program started about 15 years ago.

Szymaniak also impressed the committee by voicing his wish to hire an assistant superintendent — to fill the current vacancy from Patrick Dillon’s departure in the fall — with someone who is “opposite my skill set” who is also a multi-talented team player.

“That person has to be a communicator,” he said. “That person has to be an ally and a confidant of myself as superintendent.”

He also advocated an evaluation of central office staff to determine if it is efficient and effective before considering if changes would be made.

He sees a “definite need for improvement of curriculum at the elementary level,” affording teachers more buy-in to what is being done with literacy and numeracy.

“I think teachers have to play an active role in developing the curriculum,” he said. “They’re the masters of what they’re doing in their classroom — I think our curriculum directors are supplemental,” Szymaniak said.

He pledged to take an active role in campaigning for budget support.

“I have no problem getting out in the community and talking to people. I think that’s the job of the superintendent,” Szymaniak said. “It’s a priority of the superintendent to market and talk about the district. … I’m going to be honest with [the public] and I’m going to tell you hard facts.”

He is an advocate of face-to-face talks with town officials as well as social media to communicate with district parents.

Szymaniak also scored points with his knowledge of the current custodial contractor and the ways in which he has dealt with problems in the past.

All three candidates, when given a chance to question the committee asked what its vision of the ideal candidate is. They mentioned qualities such as bringing passion to the job, communication with staff, encouraging use of independent judgment of what’s best for kids, public relations about curriculum and budget needs and the social-emotional needs of  students.

Committee member Fred Small used a football analogy.

“I want to see the GOAT — the greatest of all time,” he said. “Someone that can take our team, be collaborative, and inspire and lift everybody to the next level and once you get to that level, inspire them to climb higher.”

SITE VISITS

Site visits were conducted at all three schools last week as well, with W-H ready to go first.

“Everybody loved all three of these candidates, site visit-wise,” Hayes said.

School Committee member Robert O’Brien Jr., was impressed that one of the students they spoke with had initially circulated a petition against Szymaniak’s change from trimester to semester schedule.

“He and Mr. Szymaniak actually had a sit-down about it and discussed it and, come to find out, that student and a lot of others actually liked it,” O’Brien said. “Their enthusiasm about all the positive things going on at the high school was something nice to hear. Usually, we don’t get to hear nice things in our position.”

He also said district principals voiced a wish to have a superintendent who can hit the ground running.

School Committee member Fred Small said Szymaniak was also strong on school safety.

“In light of the tragic events [in Florida Feb. 14], that’s probably in our minds as well,” he said. “Also that he’s open-minded and willing to listen.”

In fact, the reports from all three site visits were universally positive of administrators who put the interests of students first.

O’Brien said the sentiment in Sharon was that “they absolutely loved [Marcus]. They’d hate to see him go.”

They were also impressed with his technology acumen and how Marcus instituted a program through which high school students were dispatched to elderly housing and senior centers to tutor seniors on computers and use of social media. Small, however, was surprised that Marcus was not afforded the opportunity to interview as a finalist when Sharon hired a new superintendent a few months ago.

“They wanted a change is the way it was told to us by someone who was on their search committee,” Small said.

“It was a really positive environment there,” which was attributed to Marcus School Committee member Kevin Lynam said. “He really seems to work wherever he’s needed.”

School Committee member Robert Trotta, who taught in Stoughton when Marcus worked there validated those reports.

“He transformed the school that he was at,” Trotta said. “I saw that myself.”

McNamara was credited with improving the culture of his high school to compete with both charter and private schools. The school’s wood and auto shops as well as robotic programs also puts the Lincoln, R.I., high school on a level playing field with some vo-tech  programs, Small said.

“The guy’s there every day, even Saturdays and Sundays,” School Committee member Dan Cullity said.