Now it’s time to show their work, School Committee members say, as they gear up for town meetings and their mission of gaining passage of the budget completed at town meetings – as well as the ballot box.
This time, the overrides are aimed at funding all departments in Whitman and Hanson – not just the schools.
Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak recommended that the committee affirm the assessment figures he provided in the February – a $66,306,276,19 level-service spending plan that is up $3,375,931.19 over the $ 62,530,345 budgeted in FY 25 – a total budget increase of 5.6 percent.
As of now, operational assessment totals are 61.12 percent or ($20.9 million, a 9.65 percent increase over last year – $1,846,621.19 by dollars) for Whitman, and 38.88 percent ($16.4 million, a 9.87 percent increase – $1,477387.35 in dollars) for Hanson.
The committee voted to certify the fiscal 2025 operating budget at $66,306,219.,9 by a vote of 9-1. Both assessment increases, non-mandated busing costs and each town’s debt assessment were also approved by 9-1 votes.
Steve Cloutman of Hanson voted no each time.
“I’m coming from a different perspective,” said School Committee member Rosemary Connolly, a former Whitman Finance Committee member. “The town is supposed to be working from a financial perspective. The town is supposed to be working with numbers and a plan that we gave, although when we made this plan, we didn’t have the risk of pullback of state and federal aid that we do now.”
The day after the Wednesday, March 19 meeting President Trump signed an executive order eliminating the federal Department of Education, a president has no legal authority to do that to a Congressionally established department.
That action should be factored in by the towns Connolly said.
“Jeff [Szymaniak] put forward what would have been, to me, a responsible, level-service plan with some risks, that we might not get the aid,” she said. “So, I’m with some [in thinking] that this isn’t enough, because there are risks. We are the only department that holds so much aid and grants – risky finances.”
For those reasons Connolly said, while she understands the district’s position, there’s a risk that the budget – and by extension, the assessments – are too low.
“We want every kid to be successful and we want to be those roots for their lives, and if we don’t have a budget, we don’t have good roots for those kids,” she said noting that all district children, including those who go to South Shore Tech start in W-H Schools.
Szymaniak spoke about a legislative breakfast he had attended the week before when budgets were the topic of conversation.
There are 45 towns across the state going for overrides this year as of last week, and 245 districts are in hold-harmless right now, Szymaniak said.
“Everybody’s concerned about that,” he said. “What we got from the legislators is they are working on a safety net in case that happens because we wouldn’t be the only town or district devastated.”
“The only thing that can be done this year is, if this does not pass is we’re cutting people,” Chair Beth Stafford. “There’s no fat.
The district doesn’t have the E&D to do it, she said, adding the district have done their cuts there already, leaving it bare minimum last year.
“That’s not happening this year,” she said.
The state is also looking at the Fair Share Act as a potential funding mechanism, as well, he said.
“That is a risk that is uncertain,” he said.
In rough numbers, federal grants account for important programs, with the “heavy” one being the 240 Grant’s $1.9 million, Szymaniak said. Title 1, after-school grants are included in that figure.
“I don’t know if I could fiscally put that on the town in case that doesn’t happen,” he said. “There’s money out there that could be wiped away with the loss of [the Department of Education] and some funding.”
“I think that’s a concern for everybody, no matter where they are,” Stafford said. “We need to really push for this budget. We need to be really careful, but we need everybody to be at the Town Meeting when this does go through.”
Noting that both towns would likely seek an override, Stafford told School Committee members that they must be supportive and attend town meetings.
“If we don’t, and that override does not happen, we could lose, probably, if we don’t get what we need to get,” she said. That means a minimum of 21 employees – 14, plus another seven whose salaries would be needed to fund unemployment costs – could be lost.
“I’m all for foreign languages,” she said. “I’m all for robotics, and hopefully, when we are putting forth, that the town has requested, what we want coming up, we can put those in the budget,” she said. “It’s not just what we want, it’s what we need. … We need to show up, and have our voices heard, that’s our job.”
Hanson Committee member Glenn DiGravio asked if the assessment numbers could be rejected.
“They can’t be rejected,” Szymaniak said. “We can always lower that number.”
But he said it could end up back at the School Committee it will have to take up the issue than.
“To me that’s a financial crisis,” DiGravio said. “That’s a lot of money. What we’re asking is for us not to be affected by that money – we’re going to push this to the town, and either the taxpayers are going to pick up the slack or the town’s going to cut jobs, but we’re asking not to cut anything, correct? We don’t want to cut anything, you guys [the towns] have to cut and you guys have to pay, but we’re not changing what we’re doing.”
“We’re not changing because they say they’re going for an override,” Stafford said.
DiGravio asked if the other departments are making cuts, and schools officials said they don’t believe so.
Szymaniak said that, from what he’d seen in published reports, Hanson is not planning cuts to other departments at this point and Whitman is not offering up an alternative budget reflecting any forecast cuts.
Whitman Select Board member Justin Evans said his board has been working through various budget scenarios, as well.
“I think it would be our intent to vote the budgets as contingent budgets either way, The entire town and school budget as contingent,” he said. “If it fails on May 17 [as a ballot question], we have to come back and vote a budget, as well as it would be a rejection of the School Committee’s budget. We’re not sure exactly which way we’re going to go yet.”
South Shore Tech also has to keep a wary eye on school budget votes around its district, according to Evans.
“If Whitman and Hanson reject it, and one other town rejected it – there’s a lot of overrides on the table this year, that’s quite possible – their budget would also fail,” he said. “Actually, we’d need four of their nine towns to fail for SST to be rejected.”
Connolly said it seems as though select boards are not having honest conversations about what it reasonably costs to educate a child.
“In our history of our relationship with the towns, it has never been the question of anybody in the selectmen’s offices – are we really educating kids to go on and have great educations and good foundations?” she asked. “That’s really concerning, because it’s not a number. It’s a whole entire life, a foundation for every job they’re going to get.”
Szymaniak said, to be fair, neither town gave him a number to keep to.
“I just presented them with what was needed this year and neither town has said no,” he said.
Kara Moser, using a special education tuition line item, which doesn’t even reflect all placements because they are funded by grants and programs outside the budget, such as federal grants and circuit-breakers, as well as charter school costs. It also shows charter school reimbursement is down
“I think a lot of the chatter … is ‘Just stay within your budget,” she said adding that the district is given requirements for populations of our students that we don’t have an option to “lean down,” Moser said.
“The only option is it gets cut from other places,” she said.
Kniffen said she and Moser attended a Hanson Select Board meeting about the special education, “And I’m not sure it resonated,” Kniffen said. “If your child sees a counselor at school, those are mandated, she said. Schools are mandated to offer such programs – and the funding general education, not special ed and staff.”
Whitman Select Board member Shawn Kain, who has been very active in amassing the town’s budget said he would never want to send the message that the schools are easy to beat up on, as one School Committee member did. The real issue in Whitman is that it has only taken in about $1 million in revenue above last year.
“Just the district’s assessment [increase] is $1.8 million, so you can see how we’re in a difficult bind, just on what we can naturally afford,” Kain said. “I think you’re all good people, and I think you’re practical and logical, and if the override failed, I would respect your opinion and figure out how we can do this together.”
With one budget, if the override fails, a special town meeting would be needed anyway, Evans explained.

WHITMAN – The Select Board on Tuesday, March 11voted 3-0 to appoint a tax relief fund and committee to aid elderly and disabled taxpayers.
Committee members Justin Evans and Laura Howe were not present.
Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter said that the assessor had asked on Thursday, Feb. 27 about Whitman Aid Taxation Fund that had been approved under Article 65 of the May 2001 annual Town Meeting.
The provisions, under MGL Ch. 60 Sec. 3D authorizes the town to design and designate a place on municipal tax bills, motor vehicle excise tax bills or a separate form to mail with such bills to permit taxpayer the opportunity to voluntarily check off, donate or pledge and amount not less than $1or other designated amount. The tax bill would be increased by the amount designated, with proceeds to go into an Elderly and Disabled Taxation Fund in order to defray the real estate taxes of elderly and disabled persons of low income.
Donations received must be deposited into a special account in the custody of the treasurer,
Any town setting up such a fund must also form a Taxation Aid Committee consisting of the Board of Assessors Chair, city or town treasurer and three residents appointed by the mayor or select board. The Committee will adopt rules and regulations under which it will carry out its function and to identify recipients of tax aid.
“While this provision was voted in 2001, I can’t find any evidence that a Whitman Aid Taxation Committee was formed,” she stated. “Tonight, I’d like to ask the board to establish a Taxation Aid Committee. If it’s done, then any resident interested in serving on the committee can certainly contact the Select Board.”
“Twenty-four years ago and nothing’s happened,” Select Board Chair Dr. Carl Kowalski said before the board voted to change that.
Resident John Galvin volunteered to serve on the committee as soon as it was voted.
“I did hear about this and I want to commend the assessor’s office for finding this, because this is something I’ve been pushing for for a while,” he said. “The way I understand it, is that is would be like Community preservation, except it’s voluntary.”
Former Select Board Chair Randy LaMattina spoke during the public forum about questions he had for the Town Administrator concerning the schools’ bond position and how it will affect the overall payment for the WMS school project and whether there was any situation where a town employee would work 80 to 90 hours per week without compensation, as he recently saw posted on social media and for an explanation of the animal control officer position in town.
Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter said, regarding his first question that she attended a meeting with the state’s Municipal Finance Oversight Board as the WHRSD needed to contact them to become state-rated, rather than on their own, because the 2022 and the 2023 audits were not available to the district, as they are required to have to go out for bids on the open market. The MFOB approved the district’s request to go out to bid with state-rated bonds, which she said have a better rate than the district’s rating when they last had an active rating.
LaMAttina asked if the rating from MFOB is higher.
“Yes, it is a little higher,” Carter said. “I have a [preliminary] debt schedule right now … we plan on borrowing $30 million in May.” She said she thinks that rating is estimated at 5 percent.
On employee hours, Carter said she was not aware of any employee, whose hours match what LaMattina saw on town social media pages.
LaMattina said he knew there are two ACOs working for Whitman – one during the day and one at night who also covers, asking for information on the position’s pay scale and how it is covered.
Carter said both positions were 19 hours each and Carter confirmed they alternate weekends on call.
“It’s no one that I’m asking about specifically,” he said. “It’s just things I’ve read online and unfortunately, it comes from a person that represents this town, and it’s really bothered me for quite some time.”

HANSON – Back an override or make deep cuts in the budget – that’s a decision being made in town halls around the state this year.
Hanson Town Accountant Eric Kinsherf, who said all town department and school budgets were in, told the Select Board in a budget update at its last meeting on Feb. 25 the facts of budgeting life in town today.
“I’m going to just cut to the chase,” he said. “The best thing for the town to do financially, and maintain all these services, the town would need to vote an override. I’m thinking $2.9 million, and – if that happened – we’d be able to fund this [he said, holding up a sheaf of department budget documents] and we would not be touching any of our reserves, like free cash and so forth.”
An override amount could also go as high as $3.4 million, if new firefighter positions are included.
“It’s not an easy conversation to have,” he said.
“I think we need to have it, because people need to know, if we don’t pass an override, what’s going to happen – not in a threatening way, but in a factual way,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
That would bring the override question a $3.4 million one.
The board asked to see something more closely resmbling a final budget with harder numbers for Kinsherf’s next update.
Kinsherf argued there are two ways to decide the matter: Hold another department head working group session at Camp Kiwanee, as they did under the Madden Group’s strategic planning exercises; or give each department a dollar figure and ask them to come up with a budget to match it.
The bottom line is, if the override fails, the town would be see its reserves reduced to dangerously low levels and cutting services, Kinsherf said.
Town Administrator Lisa Green said the impact of an override failure would be devastating.
“All town departments, basically, are already operating on a minimal staff,” Green said. “So, this level of budget cuts is going to result in a loss of staff. The loss of staff is going to require office hours to be reduced significantly – 36 full-time employees will lose their jobs. That is taking most of the departments here in the town of Hanson, and putting them down to, maybe, one person.”
Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett asked if the $2.9 million included in those new positions Fire Chief Robert O’Brien Jr., has said his department needs.
“No. It does not,” Kinsherf replied, “That would have to be a separate vote.”
“In talking to the Finance Committee, they would like to have one amount,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said, “Is there a way you could work on getting that [included]?”
Kinsherf said that, if the Select Board wished, he could add the approximately $348,000 needed for the Fire Department position into the override figure.
“I don’t think we’d have to raise all that on the residents right away,” he said. “I think the chief is going to get a grant for the first three years.’
FitzGerald-Kemmett said O’Brien doesn’t know if it will happen or not.
“There’s no easy way to even do it, because it’s going to be impactful” Kinsherf said, recommending, as an alternative, using $1.1 million from free cash and cutting $1.8 million from the existing requests, including the schools. He said it would be hard to identify that many budget reductions.
“Mathematically, that would work, and the $1.8 million would include the schools, because the [W-H] schools are asking for a $1.1 million increase. If the town departments had to take that whole $7.8 million, it would not be good,” he said searching for a word to adequately describe the impact.
Thinking of contingency plans, Kinsherf said, a $1.1 million draw from free cash would leave the town with $1.1 million in unappropriated free cash and $1.7 million in the stabilization fund – or all the town’s reserves – forcing the need to drain those reserves almost to zero if the schools insisted on the full amount of their assessments.
Board member Joe Weeks, knowing the Select Board has already asked the question – asked if the rest of the town’s operating budget is limited to a 2.5 percent increase, how big an increase does the W-H school budget pose for Hanson?
Taking the non-fixed budget, Kinsherf said he calculated the school increase to be about a 9-percent increase.
The schools make up 47 percent of Hanson’s overall budget.
“To be fair to the schools, their total budget is only projected to go up 5.7 percent,” Kinsherf said. “But they’re in the same situation as we are … their state aid is next to zero [in terms of an increase].”
FitzGerald-Kemmett said the Select Board has a limited, if any influence on how the School Committee votes on a budget. They’ve had discussions with the Committee on the effect of school increases on town budgets in the past, as well.
“We really haven’t had a lot of success in partnering with the School Committee and with the district on tempering the spending there,” she said.
She acknowledged that they have no control over how the school budget reflects the Committee’s role in funding the education of the town’s children, but asked Green how they could handle the money the Select Board does control.
Green repeated that about 36 full-time positions will be lost.
“Everything has to be on the table,” she said. “It’s unfortunate because, again, we’re already operating with a minimal staff. Many offices only have two people, some have three … but all departments are going to be impacted in some way.”
Green said voters have to be aware of how budgeting works.
“People don’t understand that, once these cuts are made, and they go to the Senior Center the next day to find it closed, you can’t just say, ‘Oh, I didn’t realize that was going to happen, let’s put the money back,’” she said. “It can’t happen like that.”
She explained that, once services are cut, they are gone until the town goes through the whole process to bring them back with funding.
“These are services – and [Senior Center Director] Mary Collins is a perfect example of this – people need us,” Green said. “They need town services. Maybe people don’t realize it right away. You might not need us today, but you could possibly need us tomorrow.”
She had another question for people looking for the services after an override failure.
“Who are they going to turn to?” Green asked. “It’s not just Senior, it’s Highway.”
Weeks said he wasn’t certain the town even has 36 people they can cut, and said they’ve been through this before. Last year, positions were cut, only to be brought back at the October Town Meeting.
“I remember being very adamant that I didn’t want to bring them back because I knew we’d find ourselves right back to where we are now, where we’re talking about cutting things again,” he said.
Kinsherf was asked what decimating the cash reserves in an attempt to balance the budget do to the town’s bond ratings, but he was also concerned what would happen if the town needed those cash reserves.
“This is a little like DEFCON 5 on the budget cycle,” he said. “Good thing we have the reserves, because, if not, it would be even worse.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett asked what would happen if there was a catastrophic event after the town had tapped into its reserves.
Kinsherf said the town would need special permission from the Department of Revenue Division of Local Services to deficit spend and would have to go before the Emergency Finance Board and most likely placed under some type of receivership. Bonding companies would also likely put Hanson on a watch list if its reserves were low.
“I don’t want to over-dramatize it,” he said. “That’s what it is.”
Asked how the town got to this spot, Kinsherf reminded the board of past use of free cash. His first year on the job the town used $478,000 of that one-time money to fund the budget. Last year’s budget was balanced using $1 million in free cash plus $1.2 million in unused article money from past years.
“We have to make up that $1.2 million this year,” he said. Realistically, he said the override would be good for about three years unless something structurally changes the way it does business.
“It’s a misnomer that, over the years the budget’s been mishandled,” Weeks said. “We are on top of it.” He lauded Kinsherf for finding funds where no one had thought to look before.
“It was underneath the couch cushions and underneath those cushions,” he said. “It is not a manner of mismanagement. It is not a matter of money mismanagement. We just don’t have the dollars.”

HANSON – When the going gets tough, Americans have long found success in joining forces to meet the challenge.
Unions have provided that for laborers of nearly every stripe, chambers of commerce have represented the interests of the business communities at large and even the National Grange, and its local granges, was founded in the 1860s to provide a cultural outlet and work to improve quality of life in rural America, as well as helping farmers in some areas pool their finances to cooperatively purchase needed equipment.
Hanson businesses, may be able to benefit from that outlook, if not the same kind of practices, when they come together from 5:30 to 8 p.m., on Thursday, Feb. 27, for the inaugural Hanson Business Summit.
It’s certainly the intent.
“We’re trying to connect businesses with the resources they need, but may not know how to get in touch with,” said Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett, who chairs the Economic Development Committee and the Hanson Business Network and is chair of the Hanson Select Board, noting that, among groups attending for that purpose is Granite State Development and representatives from local and state government.
Government personnel will be able to answer questions about permitting and other regulatory requirements.
Ernie Foster, of Webster Printing, will be the keynote speaker addressing the session on, “Why he loves Hanson to do business in, why he’s stayed in Hanson and why he’s grown his business in Hanson,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “We’re going to have people that are [human resources] experts coming to talk to us, we’re going to have someone who’s a social media expert come and tell us how to use social media effectively – it’s going to be a mix of all kinds of resources for people.”
The Economic Development Committee is hosting the event and has been reaching out to the Hanson Business Network to encourage business owners and leaders to attend through emails to contact, mailed flyers, newspaper ads – and FitzGerald-Kemmett said the hope is that the town’s business community RSVPs, so they have an accurate headcount on how many people to set up for, as refreshments will also be provided.
“I think it just came about naturally,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said about the genesis of the event. “The Economic Development Committee was talking about what we could do to support businesses and, at the same time, I’m part of the Hanson Business Network and we were talking about how we could do that, and I don’t really know who came up with the idea for this summit, but I liked the idea of some kind of networking event.”
Once the idea was on the table, regardless of its pedigree, the members of both groups soon got down to discussing what they’d like it to look like. The program on which they settled was a short program of speakers followed by break-out sessions.
“It’s our first one, so I’m really hoping that we get people to attend,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “It’s tricky, though, when people are self-employed, getting anyone to do something after-hours [is difficult].”

HANSON – The Supreme Judicial Court may have ruled that the MBTA Communities Act is legal, if flawed, towns like Hanson are turning to their legislators for help in addressing those flaws.
Still, Town Counsel Elizabeth Lydon cautioned that, because the SJC’s ruling was that the statute is legal, “likey that any regulations that come out of the statute – as long as they fall within the parameters of the statute – will be deemed legal as well.”
State Rep. Ken Sweezey, R-Pembroke, also provided the Select Board with an update on the new legislative session so far, during the Tuesday, Jan. 28 meeting.
“I know the biggest interest right now is the MBTA [Communities Act], so I wanted to make sure that we spent the bulk of the time on that,” Sweezey said.
“… and Chapter 70 money,” said Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett.
While he said there “seems to be some appetite for amending the [Chapter 70] formula in general,” but he had not heard anything additional about efforts to influence Chapter 70 by MBTA Communities compliance.
Sweezey said that anyone who has attended Town Meeting, or paid attention to what is going on, is familiar with the MBTA Communities project.
“Hanson, as of Dec. 31 was not compliant,” he said, adding, “I’m sure you are also aware of the court case that was going on against Milton, which kind of put is in a different position.”
The Supreme Judicial Court, on Jan. 8, ruled that, while the state Attorney General’s office has the power to enforce MBTA Communities and can bring claims for objective relief, the existing regulations can’t be because the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) made mistakes in the way they issued them.
The state had requested to have someone appointed to write a zoning bylaw for non-compliant towns, which Lydon said would be a worst-case scenario, or to have the building inspector issue building permits for any multi-family building project within a half-mile of the MBTA station.
“That would take the ability of the town to control where the housing should be and what that zoning should look like, and leave it up to a third party who doesn’t have familiarity with the town itself,” Lydon said. “So, that would be the worst-case scenario, if the town doesn’t comply and then it does go to court and the court weighs in favor of the attorney general’s office –as they have already indicated that they would likely do. It’s just a matter of what that injunctive relief would look like and what they could enforce.”
For that reason, Lydon urged Hanson officials to file an action plan.
The Court primarily said it is likely that the statute would ultimately be ruled legal.
The SJC ruling requires the Healey Administration “should promulgate new regulations” as emergency placeholders with a comment period of from midnight Jan. 31, to 11:59 p.m. Feb. 21.
“If you really want to effectuate a change, then you need to participate in the public comment period, so the state is hearing from people, depth and breadth of the concerns that people have got,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
“We really want to get high participation in the comment period,” Sweezey agreed. “It should be hundreds, if not thousands of people, I suspect, across the state.”
He noted, however, that the first deadline is before the comment period ends, suggesting, he said, how much weight might be given to the comment period.
“I strongly still urge [that] a show of force during the comment period would be … a productive exercise,” he said.
FitzGerald-Kemmett sought to feel out the board’s attitude about sending a letter about their concerns during the comment period.
Sweezey, who represents five towns – four of which previously rejected MBTA Communities – to do the same. Pembroke, one of the first towns in the state to vote on it, opted to comply with MBTA Communities.
“I think that’s a good idea,” he said, adding that MBTA Communities bills are the “hallmark” of the legislation he has introduced:

• HD1420 seeks to exempt communities with no direct access to rail, bus or subway stations – or ferry terminals – from compliance wih MBTA Communities [such as Marshfield and Duxbury];
• HD1419 seeks to prohibit the state from using grant claw backs, unless explicitly stated in the statute, as a way to force towns to comply; and
• HD1421 seeks to repeal the MBTA Communities Act of Mass General Laws (Sec. 3A of MGL Ch 40A).
  “Really, all of the deadlines are quite arbitrary,” he said. “Every two years they do look at the rules package … for how they’re going to deal with them. I’ve been told that they’re looking at changing a few things to make it more transparent, so some of that stuff may be changing” from its current regulations to new ones, in addition to emergency place-holder regulations with a comment period from midnight Jan. 31 to Feb. 25.
  Every community is now back into interim compliance with a new action plan from each town due by Feb. 13.
  “An action plan is just a piece of paper we’re signing saying we’ll look at creating a zone,” Sweezey said.
  The board will be discussing that at its Tuesday Feb 11 meeting.
  Sworn in on Jan. 1, Sweezey, as a freshman representative, had a deadline of Jan. 16 to file his 26 pieces of legislation for the year, among 6,800 bills filed by the legislature’s 200 members. There were 23 bills filed by 11 lawmakers in both parties pertaining to MBTA zoning alone, according to Sweezey, who said the act has “taken on life of its own.”
  “It’s been a very busy, but productive 28 days,” he said. “This is a two-year term and all of us, in the House and Senate, have to get all of our bills filed for [that] two-year term in the first two weeks after they’re sworn into office.”
  “That is a mystifying deadline and would seem to not be very logical that you would expect, especially new legislators to do that,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said “Any thought to filing a bill to changing all that?”
  Sweezey said he was open to filing any bill that the Select Board deems fit to improve the process.
  “It puts new members at a very serious disadvantage,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “Essentially, you’’ve got to be doing the job before you’re doing the job.”
  Gov. Maura Healey filed her fiscal 2026 budget on Jan. 22. The House will debate and pass the budget by the end of April and the Senate will follow suit by the end of May.

HANSON – While the Select Board keeps an eye on the budget bottom line, they made a few hiring moves to bring some essential personnel on board during their Tuesday, Jan. 14 meeting – appointing a new police officer and an IT director.
The hires came amid a meeting in which the budget’s ability to maintain services frequently bubbled to the surface.
“We’ve never cut first responders in town, we don’t want to cut first responders in town,” Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said during a later discussion on the town’s efforts to inform residents of the need for an override. “We’ve done everything we can to attract people, to retain people, to treat those unions well.”
She echoed Vice Chair Ann Rein’s comment that more than 50 percent of the town budget is tied to the one area where the town has no control – the school budget.
“We’re supporting an elephant we can’t do anything about, and then we have to support the town services that they want,” Rein said. “They want good police officers. They want a good fire department.”
Town Administrator Lisa Green said her conversations with department heads have often included the conclusion that the housing growth in town over recent years means that Hanson has out-grown its public safety departments. Reductions in municipal services, especially the quality of the schools, could mean a decrease in the value of those homes, making the town less attractive to young families who could afford the necessary taxes to maintain public safety services.
“People don’t always act in the moment for their future needs,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “This is serious.”
In presenting his case for the new officer, Deputy Police Chief Michael Casey noted that the Hanson Police Department had lost two officers last year through transfers, and Chief Michael Miksch had been before the board just last month to bring on one replacement through a lateral transfer.
Since then, Casey said after the loss of the two who transferred elsewhere, the department posted two full-time academy-trained, MPTC-certified officers looking for laterals and had conducted several interviews after receiving applications and vet the officers through police consulting firm.
“We were able to hire officer Thomas Malloy, who started Dec. 23, and in that same process, we were able to then fill the second vacancy with an officer Kyle Crombie,” Casey said. “He is a graduate of Bridgewater State, and started over in Truro Police Department in 2023. Just finding an officer … you’re extremely fortunate, and Kyle, just like officer Malloy, is [a round peg for round hole] – they fit perfect.”
Casey asked for Crombie’s appointment as a full-time police officer and liquor control officer for the town of Hanson, contingent on passing a medical exam, background check and completion of a conditional offer, with a target start date of Feb, 3.
The board unanimously appointed Crombie by a 4-0 vote. Member Joe Weeks was absent.
The Board, also voted 4-0 to appoint Stephen Burke as the town’s new IT director.
Hanson has been without an IT Director since April, but recently conducted a search for new director and searched ed town records for information regarding salary, possibly removing it from the bylaw to make it a contractual position to provide more flexibility for the town, conducted a search and collected resumes. After a review of the resumes, Planning Board Chair Joe Campbell, who has professional experience in information technology, and Green, who said that process gave them a list of four candidates to bring in for interviews. Three of them interviewed, and one had withdrawn their name from consideration.
“After the interviews, we both agreed that the most qualified candidate to present to the Board this evening would be Stephen Burke,” she said, adding that [they wanted] to present to the board the recommendation written by Mr. Cambell.”
Describing the candidate vetting process as the best way to make its hiring decision and citing his own expertise of 30 years in both military and civilian IT work, stated that all the applicants were well-versed in municipal experiences as well as having an abundance of professional background, education applicable to most aspects of the position’s requirements, but the interviews made the difference.
“After the in-person interviews, it is my highest recommendation to the town to select Mr. Stephen Burke,” he said, noting Burke’s ability to learn and adapt, commit to the town and position – as well as having displayed critical out-of-the-box thinking. “[His] pedigree, educational experience and education surpassed my expectations.”
Green added that Burke has already been helping Hanson with its IT needs without any hiccoughs and has kept the town moving forward and added her highest recommendation to the Select Board to appoint him.
“We probably haven’t adequately expressed our appreciation for you for bailing us out, literally with no notice,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said of the sensitive position. “I was hoping that this [process] would ultimately result in you being the person that we hired, but we wanted to go through that.”
She asked Green when Burke’s effective date would be.
“Is it, like, five minutes ago or …?” she asked.
Green said she would meet with Burke to work out salary and contract terms as he provided his notice to the town of Whitman, where he had been employed, with the aim of Jan. 28 as his effective start date.
FitzGerald-Kemmett also thanked Campbell for his help to the town in the hiring process.
Board member Ed Heal echoed the appreciation for Burke’s assistance over the last months.
“He’s helped me out over the short period of time he’s been helping us,” Heal said. “It’s been very valuable to have him here.