WHITMAN —The Whitman Police Department is actively investigating an allegation of inappropriate contact between a teacher and a student, according to Police Chief Scott D. Benton.

At approximately 9:45 a.m. Wednesday, May 15, a Whitman Police School Resource Officer was notified of alleged inappropriate contact between a teacher and a student at the Duval Elementary School.

“On Wednesday, the principal of the Duval Elementary School in Whitman, Dr. Darlene Foley, was informed of an allegation of misconduct by a staff member,” according to a statement issued by Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jeffrey Szymaniak on Thursday, May 16. “Dr. Foley contacted the Central Office Administration and the School Resource Officer. The allegation is being investigated by the Whitman Police Department. The staff member has been placed on paid administrative leave as the School District and police investigate the allegation.”

Because the alleged incident involves a minor, further details cannot be released at this time.

As of Thursday morning, the investigation remains ongoing and no charges have been filed.

“A positive learning environment and the safety of all members of our school community are a priority in the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District,” Szymaniak stated. “The District appreciates its strong working relationship with both the Whitman and Hanson Public Safety departments to ensure the well-being of our community.

 

WHITMAN — Voters in a lengthy Town Meeting Monday night approved the $33.4 million fiscal 2020 budget following nearly 90 minutes of deliberation on various line items — with concern centering on town administrative salaries and school budgets.

The session adjourned after voting to pass over Article 29, regarding the amended W-H Regional School District Regional Agreement — due to concern over how Chapter 70 funds would be allocated — with 29 more to be addressed when Town Meeting reconvenes at 7:30 p.m., Monday, June 17 after voters cast ballots on a debt exclusion to fund those articles at the Saturday, May 18 annual Town Election. Town Meeting convened nearly 20 minutes behind schedule, due to the time needed to check in the 369 voters who attended.

Zeroing-out?

Lazel Street resident Marshall Ottina started the budget debate with a request to amend the town administrator salary line to $1, which ultimatelty failed.

The Finance Committee had recommended a $129,000 salary for Town Administrator Frank Lynam, to send a message about what Ottina termed a failure to adequately prepare solutions to Whitman’s financial problems. Lynam’s fiscal 2019 salary is $126,900 and he earned $122,000 in fiscal 2018.

“A year full of negligence and broken promises have brought the town of Whitman to where we are today,” Ottina said. “At Town Meeting last year, and the lead-up to it, the messaging from our town administrator, Board of Selectmen and Finance Committee indicated we were heading to a financial crisis … We face tonight, a year later, departmental budget cuts across the board.”

He also noted that W-H schools, while seeing a budget increase, is still experiencing cuts that will reduce services next year and is losing 19 employees, along with cuts to DPW, public safety and library — among other departments.

“We were told [last year] that an operational override was how we could make these departments whole again,” Ottina said. “And then they sat. Where is our plan for the override?”

Ottina said the money itself is not the problem, he does see the salary as a “failed investment on our part,” charging that Lynam has “offered us less and less” for the salary increases he has received.

Forest Street resident Shawn Kain, however, disagreed with
Ottina’s amendment despite his own long-standing budget disagreements with Lynam.

“I believe that [this] is one of the most important items in the budget,” Kain said. “The town administrator plays a critical role in the budget process. The position should be paid for — for the well-being of the community very much depends upon this individual.”

Kain said it is obvious the community is in a precarious situation and financial crisis, missing “essential best practices to protect us,”

“I thought about this long and hard,” Kain said about the salary issue. “Should we take aggressive action, zero out this line and make demands of the Board of Selectmen? … I don’t think we should and here’s why — the solution to this problem is very complex and will demand cooperation and strategy where there are  logistical differences in plans and policy. It needs to be thorough if it’s going to be done right. It cannot be done by force, it must be willfully chosen by all parties involved, but especially by the town administrator.”

He advocated putting partisan and aggressive politics aside and directly asked Lynam to shoulder the burden and meet the community’s demanding expectations. While noting the large turnout, Kain also recognized the recent tension in the community.

“If you are sitting in this hall, though, you have my respect,” Kain said. “Apathy and a lack of civic engagement is the true enemy. It’s an honor to be here tonight.”

Lynam responded that, while he “doesn’t make a habit of talking about my position or my salary,” the pointed comments prompted him to do so. He said there are things pending to help the town move forward, including last year’s contracting of the Collins Center at UMass, Boston to conduct a capital study and a budget analysis to enable a more thorough and supportable budget could be presented to the town. A draft that had been presented to him on May 1 had to be returned because some basic information was missing, Lynam said.

“If you’re unhappy with my performance, talk to the people who hired me, the Board of Selectmen, but you don’t zero-out a line, you don’t eliminate the possibility of having someone work — that’s just foolish,” he said.

While the salary amendment failed by 257 against to 82 in favor, but the $128,169 salary recommendation also failed 196 against to 156 in favor, until a resident on the prevailing side moved for a reconsideration, which passed by a vote of 259 in favor to 95 against.

Town Clerk Dawn Varley said final vote totals will not be released until after Town Meeting business concludes on June 17.

“I understand, as much as anyone, what’s going on,” said Animal Control Officer Laura Howe, noting that as a part-time employee with no benefits she practically pays the town to work for it. “I have never seen our town so divided in my entire 52 years of life. I am truly saddened and disheartened that we would discuss [zeroing out the salary line]. … Everyone who works for this town is a good person and I don’t know when we started picking up pitchforks and flames. … This man is a good man.”

After the meeting, Lynam said he was not surprised by the attempt to reduce his salary so drastically.

“I know that there was a small group of people who were discussing that,” he said. “It’s really the wrong way to do things. If you’re not happy about the way something’s done you advocate for change, you don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.”

Pay cuts

Finance Committee Chairman Richard Anderson and Fire Chief Timothy Grenno explained that, while union employees are receiving higher pay raises, administrators agreed to take a cut to an increase of only 1 percent to help the town save money.

“All of the department heads voted, because of the situation of the town, we’d take a 1-percent [raise],” Grenno said.

Because of the budget situation, a line item to fund a planned administrative deputy chief at the Fire Department was withdrawn as well, saving the town the planned $130,000 salary.

“There was a lot of discussion,” Anderson agreed. “The discussions were about reining in salaries and this Finance Committee is committed to making sure we make every effort to rein-in salaries. What we propose … is we are hoping that this 1-percent raise is the beginning of other departments and other collective bargaining units to consider reining in future salaries. This is something that the Finance Committee is wholly committed to.”

After Lynam’s salary was passed, challenges to several other administrative and non-union clerical salaries were set aside and those line items were passed.

WHITMAN — Selectmen agreed by consensus on Tuesday, April 30 to recommend the Finance Committee put forth an Article 2 budget with an 8.5-percent assessment increase for the schools — including $350,000 in estimated excess levy funds.

Selectmen did not, however, favor a 1-percent cut to non-union clerical and administrative staff salary increases, or reducing the health agent position to part-time status, and opted to leave the question of reductions to non-mandated school busing to Town Meeting.

Town Administrator Frank Lynam also asked the board to permit estimation of excess levy.

“As long as we vote to appropriate it, it will be used to set the tax rate, and I’m estimating $350,000,” he said. “If we take that number and treat that as part of our levy, then the value of that $350,000 is reflected in the tax rate we set.”

Lynam described it as a conservative number based on the last seven to 10 years.

The budget discussion followed a presentation on excess levy capacity — the difference between the levy limit and what the town ends up actually levying — by Assessor Kathleen Keefe. Lynam said the issue had been commented on over the last several days on social media platforms.

“It alludes to some nefarious plan on my part to keep the schools from getting additional money by not capitalizing on the excess levy number that we’re presenting when we hold a [tax] classification hearing,” he said of the posts. “I want to be clear on what our process is and what our process has always been.”

Lynam noted that Whitman does not typically hold a fall Town Meeting unless there is a need to make additional appropriations. Revenues presented at Town Meeting based on growth over the previous year’s tax limit and additional property development or construction.

Department of Revenue software is used to show the town’s potential tax rate and would the levy would be and to indicate any excess levy the town may have.

“In order for us to utilize that money, we have to appropriate it,” Lynam said. “We can’t just spend it. … We would have to hold a Town Meeting to make appropriations and there is insufficient time between the time we become aware of what that number is and the time we need to set a tax rate.”

The town holds its tax classification hearings in late October to mid-November, largely because the town contracts with Patriot Property to conduct assessments of property, new construction and renovations in town. Patriot typically files that report in August, because the contract payment limits the firm to beginning July 1, according to Keefe. In Hanson, where Keefe serves on the Board of Assessors, the town uses in-house staff in the assessor’s office to inspect for the building permits as the permits come in, allowing them to “capture that growth as it comes in.”

New building permits from July 1 from one year to June 30 the next are included in the calculation.

Selectman Randy LaMattina estimated that “left $4.1 million on the table” over the last several years in Whitman and asked how the town could get that information sooner.

“The answer to that is to try to get these numbers sooner,” Keefe said, noting it would involve more collaboration between Town Hall departments. “If we get these numbers sooner, then we know where we are going into things.”

Keefe agreed “100 percent” that Lynam has been, as he described, “border-line harassing” her for the excess levy capacity figures.

The DOR requires that information by at least Thanksgiving Day to provide the town’s revenue information by December to permit the town to set a tax rate by Jan. 1 to permit billing for third-quarter taxes — or the town will have to wait until April to bill semi-annually.

The levy limit is calculated based on new growth, non-allocated local receipts, enterprise funds and free cash not yet certified until the fall.

Budget
recommendations

The Finance Committee last week voted most of Article 2, with the exception of the issues from which they sought recommendations from selectmen, including school assessment — where they support 8.5 percent — non-mandated busing, cuts to non-union clerical and administrative pay increases from 2 percent to 1 percent, and reduction of the health agent’s hours.

The Finance Committee’s recommended amount for the schools line is $14,398,151, which represents the 8.5-percent assessment increase over last year, Lynam said. Lynam said any proposals the Selectmen wanted to keep would not affect the 8.5 percent.

The requested number for non-mandated busing was $396,604, which the Finance Committee reducing to $173,471 to cover the need for transport children whose parents might not be able to afford other means.

“The decision on that is obviously one that would have to be made at Town Meeting,” Lynam said.

School Committee member Fred Small said Commissioner of Education Jay Sullivan has told him that pupils on the Free and Reduced Lunch Program would be eligible to ride the bus free of charge, but Lynam said he has not received confirmation on that information. Selectmen also wanted to know more information on the number of families potentially affected as well as any need for more crossing guards.

“We have to deal with the schools on some items like that, and we haven’t done it yet,” said Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski, citing inequities between Whitman and Hanson on how programs, including foreign languages, are offered. “It doesn’t seem right to me that the kids in Hanson don’t have to be in a lottery [to win a seat in a Spanish class] and the kids in Whitman do.”

“It’s pathetic,” Small agreed.

The requested budget for a full-time health inspector was $66,789 — a 1-percent increase over last year — with the Finance Committee’s recommended budget being $40,531, reducing it to part-time status.

Selectmen objected to the cutback, citing concern for public health and the need for timely food inspections as well as the increasing number of condemnations and two hoarding situations within the past year.

The DPW superintendent’s salary was also recommended by the Finance Committee to be trimmed from the requested $100,356 (identical to the Parks and Highway superintendent’s pay) to $90,000 — a 17-percent decrease.

HANSON — Selectmen have tabled a vote on joining the  Regional Old Colony Communications Center (ROCCC) for 911 dispatch services over lingering questions of cost and equal representation for the town.

The concerns, voiced again Tuesday, April 16 by Selectmen Matt Dyer and Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett came after the board had a chance to review the contract they were slated to approve and sign the agreement.

Headquartered in Duxbury, the ROCCC already handles 911 calls, police, fire and EMS dispatching for the towns of Duxbury, Plympton, Halifax and Rochester.

The cost for Hanson would be $400,000 minus $200,000 received through a grant from state 911 officials, the result of a meeting between state and officials and ROCCC.

Before the discussion over the vote, the board, in executive session voted to approve memorandum of agreement with the dispatchers’ union to pay a one-time severance payment based on their years of service with the Hanson Police Department in anticipation of acceptance of the ROCCC contract. Dispatchers working four years or less would receive $2,500; less than six years, but more than four would receive $4,000; six years or more would receive $5,000 — a stipend for them to stay until the end of the transition period to ROCCC. The union has agreed to stay on during the transition period — if the board was to vote to join ROCCC, which is planned to go into effect by July 1, 2020.

The talks for the transition began more than a year ago.

“I think this board and all the departments, the chiefs, have done their due diligence to look at making a change in our dispatch,” Selectmen Chairman Kenny Mitchell said. “Our dispatchers are great and they do a great job, it’s just sometimes they get multiple calls and one person can only handle so many calls at one time.”

All five Hanson Selectmen have toured the facility.

“There are a couple of concerns to overcome, and I believe we can, but at the end of the day, I truly believe this is a better decision for the residents and a public safety decision,” Mitchell said.

ROCCC staff in Duxbury, Mitchell, Town Administrator Michael McCue, Police Chief Michael Miksch and Fire Chief Jerome Thompson Jr., Police Lt. Michael Casey and Deputy Fire Chief Robert O’Brien Jr., would all be involved in the transition work.

“I’m very happy with what I’ve seen so far,” Mitchell said of what he termed a “standard agreement” for all member municipalities.

Dyer questioned a contract provision that Hanson would be responsible for maintaining service or support agreements that Hanson may have for it’s own radio or computer equipment, for which the town would continue to be responsible.

“When we went and toured the facility, I thought the chief over there and the director said that we wouldn’t have to worry about licensing or anything like that for software, that we wouldn’t have to worry about maintaining our radios here in Hanson, that they were all going to take care of it,” he said.

Mitchell said that provision involved radios the town already has.

FitzGerald-Kemmett questioned what software Hanson would need if the ROCCC was going to be operating it.

McCue agreed with Mitchell’s assessment that the clause meant ROCCC is not going to assume responsibility for equipment Hanson already owns.

“I respect the questions that some members of the board have in terms of [the clause] being a little too loose,” McCue said, suggesting the board vote the contract and he would work to clarify the language.

Dyer also noted he had also requested “hard math” on the cost of maintaining operations in Hanson, bringing on extra dispatchers and ensuring that the police station does not go dark.

“We both asked for that, and we were told that they couldn’t give us the numbers until they applied to the state and heard back from the state,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “Now that they’ve got [the $200,000] we need the information we asked them for.”

She also questioned who would be staffing the station and how often it would be staffed as well as her continuing request for Hanson to have equal representation.

“I specifically asked that, in this agreement, that there be a stipulation that, as soon as they can, we have an equal seat at that damn table to be voting,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “I don’t see anything in here that says that. This is acting like, forever and a day we’re going to be under Duxbury’s domain, and I am not OK with that.”

She reminded the board that she has mentioned her concern about representation every time she has talked with ROCCC officials.

“It’s not going to go away,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said, suggesting language supporting equal representation as a goal would be sufficient. “I’m OK with it if it’s temporary, but the way this is structured, that’s not the way it reads.”

Selectman Jim Hickey, who also opposes a dark police station, said he wanted to see cost figures and expressed concerns about a 90-day transition if Hanson opts to leave the center.

“That seems like a steep hill to climb,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

Budget questions

In other business, the board tabled Article 5 on the annual Town Meeting warrant — the budget — over uncertainty surrounding the assessment the town faces over school costs.

McCue also reported to Selectmen that the town could support a 6.5 percent assessment for the schools, a figure recommended by the Finance Committee.

Selectman Wes Blauss asked what would happen if Town Meeting approved the 12.5 percent currently being sought by the schools. McCue said that scenario would require an override in October. The Town Meeting cannot adjourn until the budget is balanced, meaning cuts would have to be made on the floor with an override needed to make up any cuts, in the event that a 12.5 percent assessment were to pass.

“I don’t feel comfortable voting on this until the eagle’s landed and I just don’t think the eagle’s quite landed yet,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

But he also stressed that the School Committee is slated to discuss the budget again before Town Meeting.

“It feels weird to be voting on the 6.5 percent and I’m not seeing anybody from the School Committee here or [Superintendent of Schools] Jeff Szymaniak here to talk to us about what will happen if we go with 6.5 percent,” FitzGerald Kemmett said.

McCue said school representatives had met with Hanson’s Finance Committee last week.

“I think because we’ve been quite clear from the beginning of what we could afford — and that number has not moved — that they know where we stand,” McCue said.

WHITMAN — Selectmen on Tuesday, April 9 approved the presentation of a debt exclusion question at the Monday, May 6 Town Meeting and on the annual Town Election ballot on Saturday, May 18 — and to wait until the fall to seek an operational override.

The debt exclusion removes the cost of the new police station and renovations made to Town Hall and the fire station from within the levy limit. Selectmen faced an April 13 deadline to approve a ballot question. The planned pre-Town Meeting informational session has been moved to 6 to 8 p.m., Wednesday, April 17.

In an often-contentious joint session with the Finance Committee — attended by a large crowd of department heads, town employees, School committee members, educators and school supporters — the question of whether to seek both financial approaches at the same time or the order in which they should be approached separately.

“We’ve gone through several iterations of budget estimates,” Town Administrator Frank Lynam said. “We’ve had differing opinions on how to proceed, based on at least in part, whether we believe we will get the support we need.” He reminded Selectmen that a long-term capital plan and budget model is in the works, with completion expected at the end of the month. That work would provide an idea what kind of override would be sought in the fall.

Lynam suggested a debt exclusion would be the most effective method to start with the aim being to free up some capital money and to build a long-term plan based on increased revenue from an override.

Free cash and capital stabilization would be used to pay for previous budget commitments, which would leave a balance of $460,000 in free cash and stabilization.

That would fund essential warrant articles through Article 29, include the debt exclusion to fund the bond and adjourn the Town Meeting until June 3, after the Town Election decides on the debt exclusion question, either funding the remaining articles if it passes or making cuts if it does not.

The budget under current consideration by the Finance Committee would include $13,800,992, a 4-percent increase to the W-H school assessment — and a request that Lynam recalculate the remaining lines on Article 2. Lynam countered that his proposal gives the schools a 6.5 percent assessment increase.

Finance Committee Chairman Richard Anderson and Vice Chairman David Codero expressed reservations with the approach taken.

“The day after the Selectmen’s meeting of last week, I sent an email to the members of the board to relay the unanimous concern we have for the newest direction you appear to be taking with respect to a recommendation to Town Meeting,” Anderson said about the new Article 2 based on a meeting called by department heads and to which Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski and Vice Chairman Dan Salvucci were invited. “The biggest concern we have at this point is eliminating the Proposition 2 ½ override as part of the recommendation.”

Anderson said the Finance Committee views an override as a critical component of this year’s budget discussion. Codero was more blunt, while he commended department heads for their budget cuts made to avoid layoffs.

“It’s not a sustainable approach, that’s the headline,” Codero said of the new Article 2 recommendation. “It’s my understanding that the department heads’ Article 2 is reliant on both passing the override and the debt exclusion. It’s a dangerous way to play with the sustainability of our future.”

He also characterized the department heads’ meetings with Kowalski and Salvucci as being done “in the shadows of [the] Open Meeting” law, and that the first such meeting excluded the schools. Lynam vigorously countered that department heads are not governed by that provision.

“The fact that they held a meeting and I wasn’t aware of it and wasn’t invited to attend, does not shake me as being something inappropriate or untoward,” Lynam said. “If they choose to meet that way, then they meet that way. They are not obligated to post meetings, they are not obligated to invite the public, they have an opportunity to sit down and plan together.”

Whether or not the schools were invited was up to the organizers of the meeting and Lynam made sure school representatives were invited to the second department head meeting.

“We had town employees that were fearful of losing their jobs,” said Salvucci, who attended both department head meetings. “They took … your Article 2 and made cuts where they could to save people’s jobs.”

He said they agreed to make additional cuts to bring the school increase up to the 6.5-percent level Hanson is offering.

School Committee member Fred Small vigorously argued that the schools are part of the town, too.

“We’ve got high school students going to school in the black of the dark of morning because we’re able to save $300,000 on busing,” he said. “We have done so many things over the years — cutting, cutting, cutting — the only thing left to cut, for us, is bodies.”

Small also said he understood the 4-percent increase was only intended as a discussion point.

“I certainly never intended the number to be used by department heads to formulate a separate Article 2,” Anderson said. “We’re working on two separate budgets. … This is not the recommendation to Town Meeting. This is a working document for the Finance Committee and the Board of Selectman.”

He said the Selectman and Finance Committee are basically in agreement over what needs to be done, it is just a question of when.

Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak echoed Small’s commending of town departments, but said the 6.5 percent assessment would mean the loss of three non-union employees, middle school foreign language, six paraprofessionals, three duty aides, the part-time elementary music teacher, a guidance staff member and 19 teachers — with 4 percent meaning an elementary math curriculum and 23 teachers in addition to the other cuts. Special education costs have run over by $630,000 this year. There are 82 staff members paid through federal grants.

Rosemary Connolly noted the Finance Committee makes decisions based on demographics, rather than a whole town.

“They did it in a bubble,” she said. “It will not be in the best interests of the town … and I hope to not see things like this in the future.”

Kowalski said that, at some point the residents of town will have to agree to spend more money, but that the department head meetings could sustain the town for awhile as they build the budget sustainability by increments.

“There’s a fear that a Proposition 2 ½ override will not pass,” he said.

Selectmen, for a time Tuesday night, seemed close to opting to seek both and override and a debt exclusion at the same time, or to look toward an override first.

“I, for one, am not willing to wait to fix it in the fall,” Anderson said.

Selectman Randy LaMattina said the debt exclusion option works because departments would use it to fill their budgets and he has “seen a budget that works with a debt exclusion.” He has also advocated for the debt exclusion for years.

“The problem with an override is you can’t just ask for a blank number and that’s what I think we’d be doing with an override,” he said. “I have faith that we can pass an override. It needs to be completely detailed where the money’s going.”

LaMattina also said he had concerns after hearing about the first department head meeting, but after attending the second one, he could “only applaud the department heads.”

“I could understand where they are coming from,” he said. “When your back’s against the wall you want to fight your way out of it.”

Whitman Middle School

In other business, Selectmen approved beginning the statement of interest process to the MSBA for a new or renovated grade five to eight Whitman Middle School. The School Committee has already approved the SOI.

Szymaniak said ongoing issues represent challenges for the future health and safety of students and teachers as well as ongoing repair costs.

“This could be a short-term process — probably not — but it could also be a five- or six-year process before they accept us,” Szymaniak said. “It depends on the severity of what they deem is important to our middle school.”

South Shore Tech has been in the queue for five years on a renovation project for which they are seeking MSBA funding.

Facilities Director Ernest Sandland offered a lengthy explanation of the selection process, including the forms that must be submitted to the state. Need outlines, budget process, history of the school and past upgrades, safety concerns such as mold and vermin (termites, bees and mice) problems, and the timeline proposed must all be submitted by April 12. The MSBA Board of Directors will comprise a list of approved projects in December. If Whitman is approved, selecting and creating a schematic design and budget could take about two years more.

“We’re spending so much on repairs over there, that it’s a budget-killer,” Sandland said.

WHITMAN — When the Board of Selectmen and Finance Committee meet again in joint session on Tuesday, April 9, they will be discussing a “what-if” budget scenario in which the W-H school assessment would increase by 4 percent and other departments — while making cuts — would skirt layoffs. The School Committee approved a 15-percent assessment increase last month.

The school budget in Whitman would still be $500,000 higher than fiscal 2019 Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski noted.

“It’s not what they say they need,” Kowalski said. “But at this stage of the game, there’s nothing we can do as a town to satisfy [that need].”

Town Administrator Frank Lynam said the proposal, drafted during a meeting between town department heads, Kowalski and vice chair Dan Salvucci Tuesday, April 2, is aimed at creating a budget worksheet — and should not be considered a budget projection.

“The casualty in this budget, if you can call it that, is the request for W-H vs. what we proposed to fund,” he said. “But, in this scenario, every other department goes back to 2019 and subtracts from it, rather than adding to it. Of all the options we’ve looked at, this is the one that I’d like to bring to the Finance Committee.”

That worksheet, if adopted as a budget, would hinge on getting the current bond debt approved as a debt exclusion, which could free up $1 million, according to Lynam. He also expects to have the first draft of a capital plan completed by the end of April and a final plan by late summer.

Resident Shawn Kain asked if there was a timeline for a financial policy and strategic plan. Lynam replied that the financial policy is part of the capital plan process, but the strategic plan has not yet begun.

“I feel like this stuff is important and timelines are becoming really urgent,” Kain said. “I think having them implemented sooner, rather than later, would be very helpful to people at home — or for you, even — to decide whether an override or a debt exclusion would be appropriate.”

Kain and Selectman Randy LaMattina questioned the transparency of the department head meeting with members of the Board of Selectmen.

Kowalski countered that it was a strategy session and to call it a closed-door meeting was “insulting.”’

LaMattina, who said he agreed with a large portion of the “what if” scenario, said there was also a large risk of almost $1 million in capital funds.

“I don’t view it as a great success,” LaMattina said, asking for the board’s liaison from the Finance Committee David Codero step into the meeting. “We have an Article 2 coming out every other week. … If I don’t know what’s going on, how is the public to know what’s going on?”

Lynam countered that the Finance Committee has not prepared any of the budgets yet, but when the Finance Committee voted to set the school budget at 4 percent and reset the other numbers, they asked him to adjust the budget accordingly.

“We made no vote to recommend,” Codero said when he got to the Selectmen’s meeting. “We made a vote to discuss.”

Codero said the Finance Committee voted to place a dollar value on the school budget to act as a place-holder in the budget as a whole.

Lynam said that was the information with which he worked.

“The results were very close to a scenario I had been working on,” Lynam said of the work done at the meeting Kowalski and Salvucci had with department heads. “Their recommendation is based on their belief that the likelihood of getting both an override and a debt exclusion did not hold a lot of hope.”

The schools were not represented at the meeting and Kowalski and Salvucci attended at the request of department heads, Lynam said.

“Over the last week, I’ve been working on a number of scenarios, taking different budget approaches with cuts identified by departments and reductions identified by the size of the budget’s ability to withstand the cuts,” Lynam said noting he met with the Finance Committee Tuesday, March 26 and they requested the change to a 4-percent increase for the school district.

Salvucci and Kowalski lauded the budget meeting with department heads.

“I think they did a great job of coming together as town employees working for the town, doing the job that was really good,” Salvucci said. “They know exactly where budgets should be cut that will not effect the operation — or have as little effect on their operation as possible. … They showed us another way apart from cutting staff.”

Kowalski agreed, noting that pro-school and pro-town department Selectmen were invited to the meeting.

“What pleased me about the meeting was, in working with Frank over the last week in different scenarios, one of his scenarios looked almost exactly like what the department heads came up with,” Kowalski said. “Every department accepts the responsibility for wage increases by having to cut in other areas of the department.”

Selectman Brian Bezanson said the discussion pointed to the need for a pre-Town Meeting informational meeting, which Lynam said could be slated for Saturday, April 13.

Lynam took the budget bottom line of $32,880,556 and added payment obligations of $34,280,000. The estimated available levy is $33,972,338 leaving a “small shortfall.” Free cash would be used to fund most of the capital articles on the Town Meeting warrant leaving a net available cash position of $583,000. He said he stopped at that point because “I don’t think it would make sense to vote a budget that leaves us no available funds for other issues.”

LaMattina said that, before he voted to support a budget, a policy should be adopted requiring that at least a percentage of free cash be guaranteed for capital spending.

“That’s how we will develop a capital plan,” he said. Lynam said that was a good idea.

Lynam said the problem is that the first 29 articles in the draft warrant are articles that can be funded both through the levy and other revenue sources, including the ambulance fund ($456,402), police fine account ($29,664), sewer/water enterprise fund ($918,100), the Title 5 ($7,352) revenue account that pays for septic loans the town has issued and the Chapter 90 ($388,036) funds.

For seven of the articles the town has to raise $545,120. Articles 30 through 46 would cost and additional $973,947.

Lynam suggested adjourning the Town Meeting after Article 29 and resuming at a date after the annual election so officials would know if the money was available to appropriate for the remaining requests or to prioritize which of them the town can afford.

“If this proposed budget were adopted, and if we took no other action to increase our revenue, we would not have enough money to fund those additional articles,” Lynam said. “The issue here is sustainability. We need to reach a point where we can fund, and continue to fund, the ongoing operations of the town.”

WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen voted Tuesday, March 26 to advise the Finance Committee, it could not support a 10-percent increase in the town’s assessment for the W-H School District.

Last week, Selectmen, meeting with the Finance Committee discussed two budget scenarios, one of which provided for a 6-percent school assessment increase and the other, 10 percent.

“Of those two scenarios, one of them would be devastating to every other department in the town — the one with the 10-percent increase,” Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski said. “The other column still presents cuts in the amount of money that goes to departments, some of which would have to be personnel, and all of that rests on an override to overcome it.”

Kowalski said with the schools asking for 15 percent, the Finance Committee’s seeming willingness to give them 10 percent and the potential effect on the town’s services, he would entertain a motion to inform the FinCom that “the 10-percent option is really not on the board.”

“The idea right now is 10 percent isn’t going to work for anybody and you know how hard it is for me to say that with my history with the schools,” said Kowalski, who has served on the School Committee in the past and is an educator himself.

Selectmen Daniel Salvucci, making the motion for discussion said any budget option should leave the town “as harmless as possible.”

“It seems like we’re controlling our [costs] and holding down the raises .. and I’d like to see that maintained,” he said. “[The schools] need to look at their budget and come up with something that helps both communities.”

Kowalski said Hanson is willing to give the schools somewhere between 5 and 6 percent — amounting to a 6.5-percent increase for Whitman, or $862,562, and $579,367 to Hanson.

Town Administrator Frank Lynam said his talks with Hanson Town Administrator Michael McCue indicated Hanson could afford 6.5 percent.

“They’re not going to be happy with 10, so obviously, they’re not going to be happy with 6 … however, it’s more realistic to say that at this point in the game, we need to think not just about the schools, but the other departments, too,” Kowalski said. “I think I’d like to send a signal that 10 percent is not something that we can consider at this time.”

He said he wanted to avoid  splitting the town up between the schools and the other departments.

Lynam is also working to reduce the override needed to close the budget gap and, if the debt exclusion to remove the police station from within the levy is approved, that could also add to the funds available.

“What we’re trying to do is keep everybody as harmless as possible,” Kowalski said. “I don’t want a situation where everyone is thinking an override is just for the schools — it’s an override for the town.”

“As I understand it, you are working on a version of the budget yourself, somewhat different from the Finance Committee,” Kowalski asked Lynam. “What should happen between now and next week [when Selectmen next meet] is you’ll give us a report in writing and we’ll be able to discuss it as a board … so that we can give direction to the Finance Committee.”

Kowalski said it made sense to give the Finance Committee a bit of direction that night as school officials were meeting with the FinCom at the same time, and Lynam was scheduled to join the Finance Committee’s meeting after Selectmen concluded their meeting.

In other business, Salvucci said the MBTA advisory board has indicated Whitman’s assessment will be reduced from $74,166 to $49,908 — a 30-percent saving of $24,258.

“I’m really afraid to ask why,” Lynam said, suggesting that Whitman is also part of Brockton Area Transit an suggested perhaps the reason was that the BAT assessment increased.

Salvucci said the MBTA pointed to the “make-up of the town” and fare increases for the reasoning.

Selectmen also approved a Class II Auto Dealer’s license for Ally Motors, 934 Temple St., limiting the amount of cars permitted to 60, as currently allowed by the license, and giving the owners 14 days to remove an additional 25 cars now on the property.

Building Inspector Bob Curran, after he and Lynam visited the site last week, said there had been complaints about vehicles blocking sidewalk access in the area and that there were too many cars on the property.

Abutter Craig Donahue, who lives behind the business on Sportsmans Trail, said he and an elderly neighbor said Donahue had purchased a buffer lot between the two homes and the business.

“They’ve been fairly good neighbors,” he said of the car lot. “But over a period of time, they have been parking more and more vehicles in that field behind their business.”

He expressed concern that a dump truck, used to spread substrate for a parking lot hit utility wires, causing a power failure to the area last summer. They are also concerned about how a building on the site is being used.

Business owners apologized for the dump truck incident and pointed out they called the fire department and NStar as soon as it happened and that the building in question is used only for detailing, no mechanic work.

WHITMAN — The unveiling of Whitman’s latest draft version of the fiscal 2020 municipal budget on Tuesday, March 19, led to more than an 90 minutes of often heated debate, in which charges of failure and political grandstanding were exchanged between Selectmen.

The board met in a joint session with the Finance Committee.

The budget document offered two financial scenarios — both of which would require an operational override to prevent layoffs.

The budget’s reduction of $3.3 million features uniform cuts to al departments and cuts $676,779 — a 10-percent cut — rom the school district and $2,623,221 from all other departments, Town Administrator Frank Lynam said.

“These reductions will cause significant impacts on all of town services,” Lynam said, noting the town will be seeking an override. “To implement this would be devastating to the town. This is worse than [Proposition] 2 ½ was, because 2 ½ caused us to redefine our structure as a town and there have been very few additions to employees since then. … What we’re talking about is a cut that would wipe out anything we have done over the last 20 years and would make many of our services part time.”

Without an override, cuts would include $36,176 in the best-case scenario to $65,728 in the worst without an override to the three employees involved in the Selectmen’s budget; $14,123 or $25,660 for the two employees in the accountant’s office; $19,813 or $35,998 to the assessors office; $45,310 or $82,325 from the collector’s office; $40,496 or $73,578 from technology; $20,306 or $36,895 from the clerk’s office; $22,930 or $41,662 from the single maintenance employee; $428,886 or $779,254 from the 26 sworn officers and three other Police Department employees; $482,354 or $876,402 from the Fire Department; $19,397 or $35,243 from inspectional services; $80,560 or $146,372 for the DPW; $21,374 or $38,836 from health; $28,879 or $52,471 from the Council on Aging; and $54,322 or $95,065 from the library. The vocational school assessments remain the same and a best-worst case scenario could not be offered for WHRSD because of financial commitments.

Other reductions being looked at involve street lighting, park maintenance, bylaw committees, veterans’ graves and Whitman Counseling.

Unemployment compensation would increase because of layoffs.

Some lines, such as the law account, are required and cannot be cut.

questions raised

“Has this board, in the last seven or eight months, done anything to bring us any further to an answer [of] what sustainability would mean in this town, and the answer is no,” Selectman Randy LaMattina said, to applause from police and firefighters’ union members in attendance. “We should be embarrassed. … We’ve heard the phrase ‘kicking the can down the road,’ well, are we going to keep kicking it or are we going to fix it?”

Lynam said he met with the Finance Committee last week to discuss reductions to bring the town’s finances within the levy limit.

“The Finance Committee continued to evaluate the most effective approach to conclude this budget cycle,” said Chairman Richard Anderson, who said they followed Lynam’s recommendation to suspend a second round of meeting with department heads in order to devote the entire March 5 meeting to drafting a budget for Article 2. But, he added, the committee continues to meet in an “often contentious process” with the town departments to review budget requests and provide them with a “real time update of where the board stands” for a recommendation to Town Meeting.

The result, Anderson said, was a “responsible draft for an extremely difficult recommendation.”

The deficit was calculated at 6 percent of the total budget, basing cuts on the percentage each department had been allocated in the previous budget cycle.

“It was generally agreed that this approach was the most fair and equitable distribution of the liability,” Anderson said. “In a narrow majority, the board most recently recommended increasing the line item to fund a larger percentage of the school’s estimate … then to further redistribute the additional liability to all the other departments.”

While Lynam said there are no villains in the process, the elephant in the room is the cost of education and is something with which the town can’t keep pace.

The recent Community Assessment Survey, conducted through the offices of Bridgewater State University showed that 62 percent indicated support for an override, Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski noted. Of those people, 69 percent said some of the money from an override should go to the schools, 56 to the police and fire departments and 40 percent wanted to fund the DPW with it.

Kowalski also acknowledged “some talk” around town questioning the need for Assistant Town Administrator Lisa Green’s position.

“I’d like to remind people that over the two years that she has been serving, Lisa has been responsible for  $676,000 worth of grants, some of which will decrease our payments in the future on things like energy,” he said. That figure is more than 7 ½ times her $87,800 salary.

LaMattina pointed to a firefighter in the audience and said he risked his life at the Commercial Street fire and is one of those who will likely be laid off.

“What’s the value of that?” he said. “We are getting to be a joke. Imagine being that person whose job is on the line — and I’ve been in that situation — and it’s horrible, not knowing what’s going to happen. By this time, we should be able to provide some answers and we’re not.”

heated exchange

Near the end of the meeting, Selectman Brian Bezanson and LaMattina became involved in a shouting match over whether LaMattina’s comments reflected genuine concern or a political stump speech.

“We could have met every stinking day, all year, and never would have come up with that money,” Bezanson said. “So to say that this board is not doing its due diligence I find it to be outrageous.”

“I’m sorry you think that,” LaMattina said.

“You’ve had your time,” Bezanson continued. “That was a soap box speech.”

“What have you done in the last year?” LaMattina demanded.

“Not once has anybody here tonight mentioned the elephant in the room, which is the taxpayers in this town, the ones that have to foot the bill,” Bezanson said. “Everybody here has been worrying about what they have had, what they do. What about the people that pay the darned bill? Nobody here brings up the fact that some people are losing their houses, foreclosures are up — why don’t they ever get any consideration?”

Connolly tried to interject in support of resident Shawn Kain’s position that doing due diligence on the concerns of the residents, but Bezanson held his hand up to stop her.

“It’s time we started worrying about them,” he said, advocating his previous suggestion for a pre-town meeting session to outline what cuts will mean. “It’s our job to present the facts, the good, the bad and the ugly.”

Kowalski said that has been all the meeting had been discussing.

“We’re going to end this meeting and there’s not an employee or a department head that knows what’s going on,” LaMattina said. “It’s a failure, admit it.”

“No, I won’t admit it,” Bezanson  said. “Get off your stump speech, that’s bull.”

“We knew [after last year’s Town Meeting] and we did nothing,” LaMattina said.

“And what did you do?” Bezanson retorted. “Zero.”

“Here’s my budget, Brian,” LaMattina said holding papers up. “Here’s my budget, where’s yours? Here’s a legitimate budget with the taxpayer in mind, and what I have for a budget is to protect services, because that’s what I want to do.”

“You know, these used to have power,” Kowalski said, holding is gavel.

“What I’m saying is we should have done, as a board, a better job — maybe staying on top of these two people [motioning toward Lynam and Green] so that they got more got done so information could have gotten out to the public in a more timely manner,” LaMattina said. “We shouldn’t be in this position March 19 when we knew a year ago what we had in front of us.”

“They’ve been working on it ever since,” Bezanson said.

“What have we done?” LaMattina shouted. “Give me some tangibles — do you have any tangibles?”

LaMattina also questioned the regional agreement’s financial formula, in view of what he termed Whitman’s being short-changed on $450,000 in Chapter 70 funds that go instead to the region.

School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes argued the main problem is the state’s unfunded mandates. School Committee member Fred Small said he could not obtain the information after two hours on the phone with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Finance Committee member Rosemary Connolly said she had obtained that information, but not until earlier Tuesday afternoon.

“The last thing I want to see is one department against another,” Small said.

Both Small and Hayes also pointed to a an $897,000 spike in special education  transportation costs and $650,000 in unexpected tuition costs, for part of the school budget increase.

Selectman Dan Salvucci said the town side of the budget is within the $970,000 in new growth and that, if that was their only budget obligation, there would be no layoffs.

“You’ve got to look at controllable numbers,” he said.

Lynam countered that most communities devote 70 percent of their annual economic growth to the schools, which at about $680,000 for Whitman would still put the town side at $500,000 or so on the town budget would also be in excess of the town’s growth.

LaMattina then asked Salvucci, who is the representative to the South Shore Tech School Committee, why that school is thriving while the W-H budget is in such difficulty.

“It’s because you constantly get your assessments,” LaMattina said. “We’re not funding [W-H] properly, yet South Shore Tech gets their full assessment and they are a thriving school. … Why not have an override for the vo-tech?”

Hayes argued that South Shore offers a different program and that charter schools present a bigger concern.

“[SSVT] offers a way different service — it’s a fabulous school. We lose kids to charter schools that don’t even come to W-H because we don’t have all-day kindergarten … it costs us,” he said. “I don’t think anybody’s questioning the professionalism of [any department], it’s how do we fund this runaway train?”

Kowalski also raised the issue of wage freezes. Salvucci said payroll is the largest portion of all department budgets.

Anderson said the Finance Committee recognizes and has prioritized the need for a sustainable financial plan, but also has to address the town’s immediate financial need.

Fire union President Scott Figgins expressed frustration that nothing has been accomplished on the budget front.

“We’re looking at losing half our department and you’re talking about giving us wage freezes,” he said. “We bargained faithfully with this board, we’ve given up things. … That override passes, there’s no guarantee that money comes to the department.”

He said he supports the schools, but the school budget keeps increasing while others have been cut.

“It’s very unfair to put that on the employees of this town,” Figgins said.

“I’m trying to think of as many ways as possible for us to avoid that,” Kowalski replied. “A wage freeze shouldn’t be a magic bullet to fix everything.”

Lynam said his two conversations with unions, and his request that the schools have to do the same, have been met with some support and some skepticism, over school employees’ continuing to receive step and lane increases.

Hayes said the school employees’ unions are still in discussions on the wage freeze issue.

“Hanson has its own assessment issues,” said Lynam, who said he was told by Hanson Town Administrator Michael McCue and town Accountant Todd Hassett that the most Hanson can increase is 6.5 percent.

A Whitman override must provide enough to meet the current budget as well as capital needs, Lynam warned.

Selectmen began the meeting with a 4-0 vote — Selectman Scott Lambiase was absent — to approve the sale of the $5,235,000 general obligation refunding bonds of the town for the police station debt to Fidelity Capital Markets for $5,836,956.07 and accrued interest, if any. The bond, payable on June 1 2020 through 2030, saves the town $564,631.09 or about $50,000 in saving per year for the next 11 years.