They are a family on a mission.

For the past year and a half, Whitman native Mark Chauppetta’s Wheelchair Strong Foundation has spearheaded fundraising efforts in support of Duchenne muscular dystrophy research donations to third-party 501(c) 3 organizations such as the Kingston- based Jett Foundation. Wheelchair Strong has raised more than $30,000 in the last two years for the Jett Foundation, which also raises money for Duchenne research, and a series of 10 grants of $1,000 to families with children with various disabling diseases.

Funds are also used for advocacy.

The three-part goal of the foundation is to raise awareness for Duchenne, help all children that have diseases and to keep his twin sons Troy and Andrew Chauppetta, 23, who suffer from Duchenne, active, participating in life and proving what people in wheelchairs can achieve.

“Wheelchair Strong Foundation wouldn’t be in existence if I didn’t have those two boys … mainly because they are very bright, and they are computer savvy and graduated from [Southeastern Regional] trade school,” he said Friday. “They have degrees in design, visual communications and they know how to write code.”

Troy and Andrew built and manage the foundation’s website wheelchairstrong.com as well as their dad’s private investigations site. They also design graphics for the Wheelchair Strong logo and marketing materials for foundation events, which they also work — selling products from their own business twinteeshirts.com.

“The cool thing about the Wheelchair Strong Foundation is everything we do is entertainment- based,” Chauppetta said. “Everything we do is fun.

… I think laughter and fun and involvement have been the best medicine that Troy and Andrew could have ever had. I think it’s what’s kept them healthy and smiling and laughing and the karma has been amazing for them.”

A big part of that focus on fun has been its annual comedy fundraiser.

Comedy show

The third annual comedy night benefit for the Wheelchair Strong Foundation — Komedy for a Kause 3 — will take the stage Saturday, Oct. 6 at Plymouth Memorial Hall, 83 Court St, Plymouth. A VIP reception with appearances by Boston sports teams legends, will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m., with doors opening to the public at 7 p.m.

Headlining this year is “Police Academy” movie actor Michael Winslow, the “Man of 10,000 Sound Effects.” Also appearing will be Brockton standup comedian Dan Miller, Boston comic Dave Russo, Jerry Thornton of Barstool Sports and newcomer Harrison Stebbins, with Easy 99.1’s Tom Stewart hosting the program.

Chauppetta said The Hollywood Reporter recently ran a story announcing a new “Police Academy” movie is in the works, to feature Winslow and Steve Guttenberg as academy instructors this time out.

Tickets are now on sale at wheelchairstrong.com.

TV puppeteer Paul Fusco, the voice of cat-eating alien “ALF” has recorded a promotional spot for the show, which can be viewed on the wheelchairstrong.com site.

“My youngest, Max, who is 12 is a huge fan of ALFs,” Chauppetta said, so as a private investigator, he decided to find the actor who voiced the Alien Life Form. “I hunted down Paul Fusco, who is the creator and the voice of ALF.”

He found Fusco’s people and was able to get him a message, and agreed to do the 30-second public service announcement, with a picture of ALF seen wearing a Wheelchair Strong T-shirt from Troy and Andrew Chauppetta’s business site twinteeshirts.com.

“It’s been a great success,” Chaupetta has said of the Komedy for a Kause shows. “What I like to do every year is bring in a celebrity from the past. I’m a product of the ’80s, my wife says I’m stuck in the ’80s, I get great joy out of connecting with people, like ALF, from the ’80s.”

Chauppetta also recently sent a Wheelchair Strong Tshirt to iconic ’80s villain in shows and the move “Vision Quest,” Frank Jasper, who has also helped the foundation raise funds. “Sopranos” heavy Steve Schirripa has also been a long-time supporter of the foundation.

“It’s good exposure for us and they like helping out, Chauppetta said. “Anyone who’s seen Troy and Andrew’s story, how could they say no? They’re these motivated boys that believe in ability and not disability.”

Better perspective

The twins drive a van operated with hand-controls that look like something out of a video game, own a business and live life to the fullest, their proud dad points out.

“Probably more so than ambulatory people, because I think they have a better perspective on life because of their disease,” he said. “Their time is limited — they’re 23 years old, they’re defying the odds. They weren’t even supposed to live this long and they are extremely high-functioning, they’re extremely happy, they’re never not smiling.”

Chauppetta said they do have tough moments behind closed doors, but that the family deals with those moments as a family. “They just bring strength to everyone in our life,” he said, noting he always comes back to Whitman as a 1987 graduate of WHRHS and volunteer with the W-H wrestling team and his youngest son attends Hanson Middle School.

“I’m still active in the community here,” he said. A successful pig roast held in July at the Whitman VFW offered an opportunity for advocacy and to outline the foundation’s purpose for the public.

Chaupetta is also working to complete a feature-length documentary titled “A Father’s Fight,” slated for a local premier in January, on his journey as a father struggling to raise handicapped children.

A trailer can be viewed at wheelchairstrong.com for the film that also features Chauppetta and his sons Troy and Andrew, comic Lenny Clarke, Patrick Renna from the move “The Sandlot” and the Netflix series “Glow,” UFC fighter Joe Lauzon and a lot of family and friends. The film follows Chauppetta who, as a 50-year-old dad, trains while struggling with the decision whether he should get back in the UFC ring to raise money for his kids’ illness.

HANSON — Selectmen voted to close and sign the warrant for the Monday, Oct. 1 special Town Meeting, which will include three new articles — two dealing with potential future uses of the Maquan School building.

A half-dozen other agenda items were tabled due to the illness of Town Administrator Michael McCue, including those involving votes on adoption of an Economic Opportunity Area designation for Main Street, a contract with an auctioneer for tax title properties, possible appointment of an IT director, an intermunicipal agreement with East Bridgewater and a committee appointment policy. The items will be added to the Tuesday, Sept. 18 agenda.

Selectmen voted, on McCue’s recommendation, to remove a Highway Department cul-de-sac maintenance article. After the department received quotes for the cost, they determined the project could be funded within the current budget, according to the Selectmen’s Administrative Assistant Meredith Marini.

Replacing the Highway project as Article 10 will be an assessment of the Senior Center, one of the board’s goals recently suggested by Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett.

“This [also] came up in the Maquan Reuse Committee,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “One of the things we’re thinking about is somehow could a portion of Maquan be used for the Senior Center, but of course we don’t want to move forward with that until we have a needs assessment done by the Senior Center and we know what it is they need.”

The article was placed, but no vote has yet been cast on recommending it until a dollar amount is available. Another placement without recommendation pending a dollar amount is one to protect the school building over the winter.

“Mike has now changed the [article seeking funds for] demolition of the Maquan School to securing and winterizing the building and conducting a hazardous [materials] assessment of the school,” Marini said. “We’re not going to do demolition at this time, but we’re going to button it up until some decisions are made regarding the building.”

FitzGerald-Kemmett said the winterizing and assessment article stemmed from a conversation at a recent meeting of the Maquan Reuse Committee based on preliminary work she and McCue have done. Requests for proposals and for possible plans from commercial real estate brokers were not provided and demolition estimates had run between $600,000 and $700,000.

Maquan committee

“None of that sat right with us,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “The more we talked about it, the more we all agreed that, because of where that property is located and the emotional attachment to that school and the property [being] contiguous to the library, senior center and the [Indian Head] school, we really want to maintain control over that property.”

Among the possible uses is keeping the gym/cafeteria area for community use, while razing the rest to use the property for playing fields or accessible playground.

“Fundamentally, it just doesn’t feel right to not try to use some portion of that building,” she said. “Right now the plan is to mothball — winterize — the building so it doesn’t deteriorate.”

FitzGerald-Kemmett noted the town is negotiating with the school district on extending the turnover deadline from Sept. 30 to mid-October.

The senior center assessment could also help in determining how a portion of Maquan could help both the center and library with their space needs.

“I’m really hopeful we’ll have something by spring Town Meeting,” FitzGerald- Kemmett said. “It’s ambitious, but we’re going to try.”

Marini said the estimate for insuring the vacant building was $26,000 and suggested that cost may “put a fire under everybody” to have a recommendation within the year.

“We don’t want it to turn into another High Street situation,” Marini said. McCue has also added an article designating an Economic Opportunity Area as Article 23, which Selectmen voted to place and recommend, after Article 15 — seeking an assessment of the transfer station has also been pulled, this one by the Board of Health, pending an opportunity to meet with Selectmen on the issue.

By Tracy F. Seelye and James Bentley
Express staff

Proclaiming it “our moment” and staking out the theme that U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren “has let us down,” state Rep. Geoffrey Diehl greeted supporters at the Whitman VFW Tuesday night to bask in his Republican primary win.

His margin of victory was 54.8 percent of the vote compared to 27 percent for John Kingston and 18.1 percent for Beth Lindstrom.

“While Warren has spent the last six years building a national political profile for herself, I’ve been fighting for you, and most importantly, listening to you,” Diehl said after greeting supporters with hugs as the song “This is My House,” by Flo Rida.

He is casting Warren as an out-of-touch person using Massachusetts as a stepping-stone while ignoring the benefit of the GOP tax cut, the need for immigration control and support for law enforcement, and failing her constituents on the opioid crisis.

“I will make the fight against opioid addiction a priority,” Diehl said. “We’re losing about 2,000 people to opioid-related overdoses here in Massachusetts each year. What has Senator Warren done about it? Nothing.”

He also took the opportunity to again underscore that the ballot initiative he backed to repeal automatic gas tax hikes a few years ago has saved Massachusetts residents $2 billion.

In Whitman, his hometown, voters gave Diehl 1,361, according to unofficial tallies at the close of polls with Kingston receiving 76 and Lindstrom 65 of the 25.3 percent of 10,684 registered voters casting ballots. In Hanson, with 21 percent of the town’s voters casting ballots, Diehl had 789 votes to 107 for Kingston and 57 for Lindstrom. Meanwhile, the race to fill the state representative seat Diehl is vacating will be an all-Abington contest as former Selectman Alex Bezanson staved off a challenge from Whitman union advocate Kevin Higgins to face Plymouth County DA’s office victim advocate Alyson Sullivan for the Nov. 6 general election.

“I’m going to concentrate on being a state representative, that’s all I want to do and I’m not sure any of my (Republican) opponents can say that,” Bezanson told supporters at J.R. Ryan’s Sports Bar in Abington after claiming victory.

“I am the only candidate in this race that is a working-class candidate, the only candidate who’s going to go to Beacon Hill every single day full time to be your state representative. … I’m not going to go to law school, I’m not going to use this as a stepping stone. I’ll be your full-time state representative.”

Bezanson and Higgins each carried their hometowns, with Abington giving Bezanson 939 votes to Higgins’ 369 — and Whitman supporting Higgins with 735 votes to Bezanson’s 408 — before East Bridgewater decided the matter with 340 votes for Bezanson and 214 for Higgins.

“My hometown really showed up for me and I’m really proud,” Higgins said Wednesday morning, vowing to stay involved in politics in the future.

“I was thrilled. Obviously we spend a lot of time on this campaign,” Bezanson said. “It was a tough race, it really was, but I think now’s the time to join forces, unite the party, and take this seat back to a Democrat.”

Democrats are holding a unity breakfast on Sunday, Sept. 7 at the Post 22 American Legion in Whitman hosted by state Sen. Michael Brady, D-Brockton. He said the opioid epidemic, funding for public education and taxation remain issues to watch in the run-up to November.

“Until we have a progressive graduated income tax rate, we’re not going to be able to make the significant investments in our public schools and our public services that we need to,” Higgins said. “The other important piece to that is, if we don’t fix the regressive personal income tax in Massachusetts, then our property taxes are going to continue to rise.”

Defeated Republican Greg Eaton also vowed unity in the effort to keep the seat in his party, as he attended Diehl’s victory party later that evening.

“It was not close,” he said of his own result outside of Whitman. “I am absolutely backing Alyson. She’s a good Republican, she comes from a good family and she stands for what we stand for in this party.”

Sullivan carried all three towns — 742 to 629 for Eaton in his hometown of Whitman, 1,170 to Eaton’s 151 in her hometown of Abington and 528 to 271 for Eaton in East Bridgewater. Bezanson and Higgins had both knocked on a lot of doors in their race.

“I am honored and humbled to have received the trust, confidence and support from so many people in Abington, East Bridgewater and Whitman,” Sullivan stated Wednesday. “Over these next two months, I will build upon that support, as I continue to share my goals of working with others to tackle the opioid crisis, advocating for local aid and reforming our school aid formula, and building the economy, as I seek to be the new voice for the people of Abington, East Bridgewater and Whitman.

“We contacted 1,200 people in the district that either switched to Democrat or registered as Democrat since 2016,” Bezanson said. “That’s a lot of people in this district.”

He touted his experience as the difference.

Higgins agreed he needed a smaller margin in Abington to take the district as East Bridgewater was so close.

“I’m going to concentrate on being a state representative, that’s all I want to do and I’m not sure any of my (Republican) opponents can say that,” he said before the result of the Republican Primary.

Whitman Selectman Brian Bezanson, no relation to Alex Bezanson, said Dr. Scott Lively’s showing in Whitman’s primary voting vs. Gov. Charlie Baker shows the strength of conservatism in the town. Lively garnered 499 votes in Whitman and 347 in Hanson to Baker’s 921 in Whitman and 598 in Hanson.

“Everybody wrote him off to be just a flash in the pan, but he’s had some support, and I think that should send a message to Gov. Baker that there is a conservative wing of the Republican Party and he needs to listen to them,” Brian Bezanson said. In the state representative GOP primary he said both candidates were “decent candidates that could do a good job and I think now the party will unite.”

Both Brian Bezanson and Selectman Randy LaMattina, a Democrat, expressed a degree of surprise at Higgins’ strong showing in Whitman.

WHITMAN — As the town begins work on the fiscal 2020 budget next month, Town Administrator Frank Lynam informed the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Aug. 28 that early calculations show a very preliminary structural deficit of $1.9 million.

A budget committee is being formed with the aim of beginning its work in mid-September. Selectmen to serve on the panel will include Scott Lambiase, who is spearheading the project and Brian Bezanson. Finance and School committee representatives will also be named to the committee, which Lambiase said could also include department heads. The Finance Committee met jointly with Selectmen Tuesday before going into its own scheduled meeting.

“I want to put a working group together, as we discussed, with some members of Finance Committee, members of this board and we talked about hopefully including the School Committee, a couple department heads, Frank [Lynam] of course,” Lambiase said. “What we want to come up with, at least in my opinion — in my thoughts — was a sort of a formula that we’ll follow this year and then, hopefully, every year going forward.”

Lynam said Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak has also expressed an interest in that work and that WHRSD Business Director Christine Suckow would also be very involved. Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski also advocated including one or two at-large community members.

Early calculations

Lynam said he has been crunching numbers to get an early picture — “a very, very rough draft” — of what an FY 2020 budget may look like.

“There’s no magic associated with this,” he said explaining that the levy limit is increased by 2 ½ percent and then by new growth taxable this year. “The tax levy that we expect to see for 2020 is $26,514,684.”

Roughly $11 million additional funds are anticipated to come in from “all other sources.”

Under contracts for employees in effect for 2020, a 2 percent increase is factored in. The school budget is estimated to be up 5 percent, or $1.5 million over the previous year, according to Suckow.

“The 5 percent in and of itself is not necessarily a back-breaker until you consider that the $23 million we get from the state for Chapter 70 money, last year increased by $100,000,” Lynam said. “It’s minimal, which means virtually all the increase will be on the burden of the two towns.”

Other educational costs such as South Shore Vocational Technical High School and Norfolk Aggie are also expected to increase for the coming fiscal year, according to Lynam.

“When you factor in the money that we’re looking at for fiscal 2020, we have a structural deficit of $1.9 million,” he said. “That’s based on everything we know right now.”

He argued that the meetings Lambiase has in mind are intended to “look at how we look at the budget,” how it is estimated and if it can be broken down to critical and non-critical components.

Joint session

Lambiase said Tuesday’s joint meeting was meant to determine what each board is looking for and information they are obtaining to avoid duplication of effort.

“How can we work together to do it?” he said.

Finance Committee Chairman Richard Anderson said his board is “definitely encouraged” by the opportunity to meet with the Selectmen and said better communications would be helpful, suggesting that the Selectmen’s liaisons with various town departments could be helpful in that effort.

“We start meeting with department heads and talking about budgets, I think more communication would be better,” Anderson said.

Lambiase agreed and said he encourages participation by all boards concerned with the budget.

“They know their departments,” Selectman Dan Salvucci said, arguing they could help find alternative ways of funding equipment they need. “They know what they can and cannot do.”

Anderson also lauded the Community Assessment as a way “to find out what kind of community we really want to be” as Kowalski has said in the past. Lambiase said that process will be helpful, but that most of the information gleaned from the assessment will be more useful for long-term planning.

Anderson said planning is vital.

“[An] override, if that’s the direction that the town goes, fails at the ballot box, we need to have a backup plan,” he said. “You can’t make it in the short amount of time that we have and that we worked with last year.”

Regional agreement

In other business, Board of Selectmen voted to table a vote on the revised WHRSD Regional Agreement due to a change in Section 9B pertaining to the process by which amendments may be made.

Amendments other than withdrawal from the region must be initiated by a vote of the School Committee through a petition signed by 10 percent of the registered voters.

“The question raised is, if the Board of Selectmen in its role as the executive board of the town had a concern or issue with the agreement … prior to signing this agreement, the board would sign a proposal for an amendment, discuss it with the schools and if the board wishes to move forward, would place it on a Town Meeting warrant,” Lynam said. “Now we need 990 registered voters to sign a petition before we can raise that question.”

Lynam said he has sent word to the School Committee that he understands its wish to maintain its responsibilities and control, but the new language takes away the Board of Selectmen’s authority to act as an executive board for the town on an issue that may involve presenting an amendment.

“The question is whether that’s important enough to hash out,” he said.

Salvucci said, as elected officials, the School Committee has authority over the region.

“Wouldn’t that be in their hands and not ours?” he asked.

“They’re not accountable to us,” Lynam said, noting the region was set up as a separate political subdivision of the state. “The question that rises here, is whether the Board of Selectmen for town of Whitman or the town of Hanson — or any town that’s in the region — should be permitted to present a proposal to amend the agreement?”

Lynam said it only requires 10 citizens to put an article on a Town Meeting warrant and suggested it is an effort to make certain that it takes a super-majority of the towns to make a change in the agreement. Bezanson noted the town doesn’t always see 990 voters turn out for an election.

“That’s been my view all along,” said Selectman Randy LaMattina. “We’ve gone from powers of this board that have worked [and] now, for no apparent reason, giving them away.”

LaMatinna urged the board to make specific recommendations for how the agreement should be changed, but Lambiase had already made the motion to table it and declined to withdraw his motion.

Lynam said he had other concerns with portions of the agreement that were required by statute, but the amendment procedure is not covered by statute.

WHITMAN — How questions would be placed before residents on a planned community assessment survey were discussed in detail during a meeting with town stakeholders — representatives of W-H and South Shore Vo-Tech schools, the DPW, police and fire departments, town clerk’s office, Finance Committee and Board of Selectmen — and residents in the Town Hall Auditorium on Wednesday, Aug. 15.

“I guess the question is, between the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee, once those questions are answered … is, ‘Are you willing to have your taxes increased to pay for those [services] or do you expect other areas to be cut back?’” Selectman Daniel Salvucci said. “We can do anything that people want, but they  have to be willing to pay for it.”

Anyone with questions they would like included in the survey to be used to guide budgetary decisions should submit them to Bridgewater State University Assistant Political Science Professor Dr. Melinda Tarsi by Friday, Aug. 31.

Submissions should be sent to Tarsi at melinda.tarsi@bridgew.edu or by leaving phone messages with her office at 508-531-2404. She said email is the easiest way to reach her. Contact information will also be available on the town website whitman-ma.gov or questions can be submitted through the Selectmen’s office.

About two dozen town and school officials and residents heard a presentation by Tarsi spent about an hour outlining the process and format under which a community assessment survey would be conducted. She stressed that she is not being paid or receiving a commission for assisting with Whitman’s survey.

“I’m really honored to be asked to help out with this process and I think it’s going to be a great opportunity, not only for the town of Whitman, but also for my students because they are very community service-driven and very interested in doing things in the classroom that they can see the effects of in real life,” she said.

Tarsi said her students would be assisting her in analyzing the survey data when classes start in September with the aim of having surveys completed within four to six weeks to permit Tarsi to preset a full report to the town by December.

Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski said the stakeholders’ meeting was intended to establish some statements of value as the groundwork for the coming survey to guide long-term planning.

“We have some short-term things to deal with, in terms of budget for next year … but then we’re going to take the opportunity to maybe think about the town of Whitman over the long term,” he said. “Basically, the question that we are asking ourselves is what kind of town would we like to have — what do we value?”

A joint meeting between the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee is also scheduled for 7 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 28 to discuss the fiscal 2020 budget. FinCom Chairman Richard Anderson said they would be looking for some guidance in making plans based on information from the survey.

Kowalski noted that his job at Massasoit Community College has involved planning, adding that the survey was suggested by his wife, whose job as director at High Point Treatment Center frequently involves surveys about the opioid crisis.

Town Administrator Frank Lynam contacted Tarsi to help Whitman conduct a survey that produces the largest possible response while protecting the integrity of survey results.

Tarsi said her students’ assistance in the project is part of Bridgewater State’s program of community service learning, which connects classroom lessons with community needs. Her students have conducted a past survey and results report for Millbury said Tarsi who is also chairman of the Halifax Finance Committee.

In Millbury, close to 20 percent of surveys were completed and returned in a tight window during which the survey was in the field. Incentives such as raffled gift cards, could help increase responses or answers could be weighted according to U.S. Census data to account for the representation of entire town.

Result analysis can include both weighted and non-weighted information Tarsi said.

“Everyone in this room has taken a survey, or hung up on someone who called to ask them to take a survey — which I’ve even done — so we’re all sort of familiar with the respondent side of things,” Tarsi said. “But I wanted to get all of us on the same page as far as the data analysis side of things.”

She said survey data could provide a sense of people’s attitudes and preferences, patterns of attitude across different demographics or time in their lives, as well as the potential relationships of the two. But, she cautioned, survey data cannot provide information on people’s core beliefs and predispositions, their views on sensitive issues, their past preferences, cause and affect or produce unbiased responses.

She said identical responses can’t give information on how opinions were developed and that people are not always willing to admit opinions on sensitive issues. Measures can be taken to limit bias, but because human beings are involved, Tarsi stressed that no survey can be completely bias-free.

How the survey will be distributed, the length of the survey, as well as the wording and order of questions were all considerations Tarsi said had to be addressed.

She said the order of questions can be shuffled in random order for every respondent for the online copy and alphabetized on paper copies of the survey.

“I want to hear from folks the kind of questions that you think are important to ask,” she said to town officials attending the meeting. “What information is it that you need to do your job better or to make better decisions?”

She advocated both an online survey through the Qualtrex platform as well as a paper ballot, which are numbered and can be provided to town departments such as the Senior Center or Library as a pdf document to provide to the public. The latter prompted a question as to how it would affect the numbering of paper surveys.

Tarsi said she could think of potential coding mechanisms for the paper survey to track them while making them available to more people.

Length, especially for online surveys, has to be considered to help get the information required while respecting people’s time.

Wording a question order will be an important consideration.

“We know from survey research that the way you write a question has a direct influence on the way someone’s going to respond to the question,” she said. “If you answer certain questions before others, it’ll change your response to subsequent questions.”

Most of the questions during her hour-long presentation dealt with how the survey would be conducted, publicized, distributed and safe-guarded against individuals submitting multiple responses while allowing that more than one voter might live in a house using the same computer for online responding.

Multiple paper copies could be mailed to a single address and they could also bear a QR code, which could direct people to the online survey, if they preferred, according to Tarsi.

“Qualtrex does allow us to block repeated attempts from one IP address,” she said. “That’s the only identifiable information that Qualtrex collects.” All IP address information is stripped off before data analysis is conducted. Data analysis can help determine if IP addresses indicate a few people filled out the survey from an out-of-town work site or whether others try to affect the outcome.

“The incidence rates for double-dipping are really low because it would require people to really want to go out and expend additional time,” Tarsi said, noting that checks could be included to determine if a person has responded to more than one survey. The cost could be paid by a research budget Tarsi has through Bridgewater State and using the university’s mailing system as a way to demonstrate to BSU how such programs need to be budgeted.

Businesses could also be included in the survey.

“The more information we can collect, the better,” Tarsi said.

One homeowner wanted to know how the information would be used.

Tarsi said it is intended to help town boards with short- and long-term planning based on information they would receive from residents, some of whom may not feel comfortable making comments or asking questions at town meetings.

In Millbury, 77 percent of people answering the survey indicated they had never attended a town meeting, according to Tarsi.

She also noted social media is not a reliable method for people to express those opinions.

Lynam asked how detailed questions would be.

Tarsi said critical issues would be included, but the Bridgewater State internal review board’s confidentiality requirements limit how detailed responses can be.

Another resident asked how the survey would be publicized.

“If you drive into our town right now, you know that it’s time to sign up for Youth Soccer because there’s a sign on every yard,” he said. “But this meeting tonight, there’s not even anything on the town sign.”

Tarsi advocated for advertising by as many means as possible, including signs and the town’s online platforms. She said the concern about how town meetings are publicized could also be the subject of a question on the survey.

Opinions of young residents, who tend to respond to online surveys, are just as important as older residents as are those of new as well as established residents and those with or without children.

Resident Mary Box, former teacher, said this is an opportunity for residents to support the schools.

“I think what it’s going to come down to is money … and the primary things in this town are services for old and young,” she said. “You owe what you are today, a taxpayer, a citizen, to a teacher. … I’ve invested my life and I will gladly invest taxes in the youth because they are our future.”

HANSON — The Board of Selectmen has begun its review and discussion of proposed warrant articles for the Monday, Oct. 1 special Town Meeting.

Articles are due to the Selectmen’s office by Friday. Aug. 24 and will be closed on Tuesday, Aug. 28. Selectmen have to sign the warrant by Tuesday, Sept. 11 for posting by Sept. 13.

Town Administrator Michael McCue will be asking town counsel to review the amended recall article passed at the May Town Meeting to see if it covers ethical implications of situations like that of reports about an alleged affair between Rockland’s selectmen chairman and vice chairman.

Selectman Jim Hickey had suggested at the Tuesday, Aug. 14 meeting that Hanson return the recall issue to Town Meeting to address possible collusion that could result from a situation like Rockland’s.

“The collusion between the two of them outside the office — where they’d only need one other selectman to agree with them — yet, according to our recall right now, they could not be removed from office,” Hickey said.

“I don’t think that that’s true,” said Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett. “We’ve got a clause … about some type of moral behavior.”

She said Hickey’s concern does not reflect an accurate interpretation of what the recall revision said. Selectmen Chairman Kenny Mitchell agreed with FitzGerald-Kemmett.

“Based on our current recall, if that happened here, those parties would be recalled,” Mitchell said, urging McCue, who said he was not certain that FitzGerald-Kemmett’s and Mitchell’s interpretation was entirely accurate, to have town counsel review it.

“I think the voters have already spoken on what they thought a recall law should say,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “I do realize that there is a vocal minority that was uncomfortable with where it was landing, but I do think the voters spoke … and they were pretty unanimous about it.”

Mitchell argued that bringing it back to Town Meeting six months later is “going down the wrong path.”

McCue noted that Hickey’s request was an effort to determine that Hanson’s recall provisions would apply in a situation like Rockland’s.

“I assure you it’s not going to happen here,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “This is like the perfect storm – I don’t think you could ever recreate this particular situation. Again, at least while I’m sitting on the board, it won’t be happening.”

She doubted it was possible to legislate to account for bizarre situations, but supported obtaining town counsel’s opinion.

“This was put on the agenda [in case] anybody has articles to put on it or any suggestions they want to talk about,” Mitchell said of the warrant article review. “Now would be the time to do that.”

FitzGerald-Kemmett suggested an article looking at the process for accepting private roads. McCue said that was not necessary as the process is governed by policy, not a by-law.

McCue did say that Selectman Wes Blauss’ suggested ban on one-use plastic shopping bags could be included on an upcoming warrant, perhaps in May.

“I think we’ve both come to the agreement that we’d want to get the word out — a little more information — before we go to the voters and ask them to make a decision,” McCue said. “As far as other articles [for October], I really can’t think of anything else we talked about that we need an article for.”

He did suggest, however, a fund to study rubbish pickup and the transfer station concerning the facility’s ability to support itself going forward. Studies of staffing needs at the Board of Health and Planning Board were also discussed.

FitzGerald-Kemmett urged funding a study of the needs at the Hanson Multi-Service Senior Center.

“Mary [Collins, the Center’s director] is quite excellent at what she does and she’s very humble — she’s not going to ask for all types of stuff — but anybody that visits that Senior Center knows that is a very confined space [and] we need to do something to help out with that situation,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “If she hasn’t already gotten a study, I think we need to figure out what it is that they need for space and then maybe looking at existing space.”

There are frequent occasions when there are two or more programs going on in addition to the daily Adult Supportive Day Program in the same room, she noted.

McCue suggested a placeholder article, which may be passed over if necessary, that could include some future use for Maquan School, which could help solve both issues. He is still looking for and at public comment on the school matter.

Standard articles for the warrant will include unpaid bills, the supplemental budget, the tax classification plan, a stabilization article from the Finance Committee and school stabilization articles.

A proposed Tax Incentive Financing (TIF) program will also be on the warrant as well as a parcel of more than an acre near Hanson Middle School — 0 Liberty St. — to be sold as surplus property similar to the plan for Plymouth County Hospital superintendent’s house. Two general by-law articles on marijuana sale establishments are on the warrant, as well.

FitzGerald-Kemmett also suggested exploring what funding might be required for interim help for the Highway Department, on a project basis, to catch up with work created by the large number of trees felled by the March wind storm and street projects. McCue said it is in the works to rather explore bringing in a tree-removal or landscape firm to assist.

Can now be informed of early releases from rehab commitments

Massachusetts has taken another “step in the right direction” in the fight against the opioid addiction epidemic with the success of legislation to keep families apprised of early releases from rehab commitments.

Its success is largely due to one family’s resolve to save another family from the pain of losing a loved one to an overdose.

“You have to stay persistent,” former Hanson Selectman David Soper said. “That’s what this story is all about — persistence and luck and good people.”

Soper is the uncle of overdose victim Stephen Berry, who became addicted to opioids after oxycontin was prescribed for him to deal with pain following a dirt bike accident.

An amendment to the state’s Section 35 involuntary commitment law — requiring that a family member/petitioner is notified of any early release from the program — sponsored by Rep. Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, and state Sen. Viriato DeMacedo, R-Plymouth, has been included in the opioid bill that Gov. Charlie Baker is set to sign.

For Soper, the news came as a bittersweet victory after months of work toward saving another family from his own anguish.

“As you can imagine David was very passionate about making sure that this doesn’t happen to another family like happened to them,” DeMacedo said Monday, Aug. 6. “I’m honored to have participated in a small way in getting this amendment passed so this won’t happen to another family.”

Cutler was traveling and could not be reached for comment. No information was avaiable at presstime regarding the signing date.

“The closer we got [to the amendment’s passage] the more we started to reflect on what actually happened to us to get this done, and somebody had to die to get it done,” Soper said Friday, Aug. 3. “This is probably one of the most difficult things I have ever accomplished in my life. I had to stay on this.”

The change in the notification process was driven by family members of an overdose victim in Plymouth County and DA Timothy Cruz and the family of Soper, who testified in May on the bill.

“It spirals out of control so fast,” Berry’s father Thomas told television reporters after testifying in the May at a bill hearing.

Thomas Berry explained addiction runs in his family and all his son needed was “a couple of those puppies” to become addicted. Before long Stephen’s habit was deemed serious enough to have him involuntarily committed to the Bridgewater State Rehabilitation Center on April 3, 2017.

He was supposed to be there for 90 days, but was released after two weeks because he had a pending court date.

Soper said there was no professional guidance offered to his nephew, nor any notification to his family that he was being released.

DeMacedo said he was compelled by the common sense of the request and noted most people do not understand that many people committed to treatment under Section 35 do not complete the entire 30-day hold.

“I think this gets us one step closer to addressing these issues,” DeMacedo said Monday. “When we Section 35 somebody it’s because they are a harm to themselves or others and we want to make sure they are getting the help necessary.”

Soper credited DeMacedo, Cutler and Cruz for their work in support of the change, particularly DeMacedo after the bill died in House Committee.

“Senator DeMacedo took the verbiage and created an amendment to Gov. Baker’s Care Bill Section 35,” Soper said. “That’s pretty much what saved it.”

The late filing of the House Bill had put it at risk because of timing contraints, Soper said.

“The bill was strong enough to get a hearing, but there was just too  much work in front of them,” he said. What started as a 587 line bill had more the doubled in length by the time it passed.

He noted that state representatives serve about 49,000 residents, fielding some 500 calls a week for constituent services. State senators serve some 100,000 people, resulting in hundreds more calls for assistance.

“So many people fear government and say, ‘You have to be connected to make this happen,’” Soper said. “That’s absolutely false. If you just continue to ask questions, there is not a politician alive that will not return your call because it’s what they’re supposed to do, it’s in their best interest and they’re here to serve the people.”

Soper said Cruz was very warm and understanding to his brother in-law’s family as one of the most nimble divisions in government “that sees this opioid crisis for what it is” and is working with the medical community to get people the help they need.

“When we went up to Boston and testified, everybody seemed very receptive to the idea, because it really wasn’t a big change per se — but an important change,” Cruz said Friday, Aug. 3. “All it’s really doing is making sure whoever files the appropriate petition under Section 35, is they get notified if there’s a release.”

That’s where HIPAA privacy regulations had to be dealt with, Soper said. It took several meetings with Health and Human Services, the Department of Mental Health and other agencies to work the bill through.

“I talked to many people who said it was a violation of federal law,” Soper said. “People are dying. Since when does Massachusetts shy away from leading the way.”

DeMacedo said the federal law considers substance abuse rehabilitation a medical situation to which HIPAA applies, prohibiting the release of information without patient consent.

“We worked to try to find a way to get this idea passed,” he said. That meant the inclusion of a consent form at the time of commitment for a patient to sign permitting notification of their family should they be released early.

“If we were not able to get the consent, we would not have been able to do this,” DeMacedo said.

Cruz called the change an “important additional tool” to keep families informed as they try to help loved ones fight addiction.

“Everybody knows somebody, unfortunately, or a family that’s dealing with this terrible epidemic,” Cruz said. “It’s an ongoing fight. We have a lot of good things going on in our county, from Plymouth County Outreach and Plymouth County HOPE, the Drug Abuse Task Force, but even though I think we’re leading the charge, we’re still fighting the battle.”

He described the Section 35 amendment as one step to give hope to families, keeping their loved ones safe as they work to get them into another facility when the commitment is over or they are to be released early.

“Stephen Berry was an adult, so [the rehab center] didn’t notify the parents and there was a terrible circumstance in that they had things all lined up for him and because he was released earlier that what they were told, he ended up unfortunately relapsing and getting more drugs and passing away,” Cruz said last week.

Working group set to roll up sleeves to start budget process

WHITMAN — Selectmen agreed on Tuesday, July 24, to create a working group — to likely include the two members of the Finance Committee, two Selectmen, department heads and representatives from the School Committee — to draw up a set of policies, guidelines and procedures to direct work on the fiscal 2020 budget cycle and beyond.

The aim is to kick off the process with a joint meeting with the Finance Committee the first week in August. Vice Chairman David Codero said the Finance Committee supports the idea of a working group and the August kickoff meeting.

“The things we’re looking at in this particular context is: what is the information we need, how fast can we get this information and what can we do with this information — and are we duplicating efforts,” said Selectman Scott Lambiase. “We’re not looking to drag our feet on this. I’m passionate about getting this done and getting it out.”

Lambiase said he would like to see budgets coming from department heads by September.

“We’re asking for level-funded budgets, and we’re asking for budgets showing cuts,” he said. “We have to ask for that now. … We have to ask how cuts will affect a department. We’re not saying we’re going to put these cuts into effect, but we need to know … what are the effects going to be if we do go this route?”

Lambiase said he is hopeful budget figures could show a much rosier picture, but stressed he is not optimistic.

Town Administrator Frank Lynam stressed that fiscal 2018 still has not been closed out. Growth numbers to be used in the next budget will not be available until September or October, but draft numbers can be calculated.

Whitman resident Shawn Kain, a former member of the Finance Committee, said during the meeting’s public form, that it would be helpful for Selectmen to publish a budget document.

“People need to know the complexities of this budget,” he said. “They need to know why.”

Selectman Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski had stopped him at that point because the budget review is now a permanent agenda item and public forum is intended to permit the public to address items of concern not already on the agenda.

Finishing his statement, Kain said he was concerned about Kowalski’s consideration to privatize ambulance service.

“That’s not what I said,” Kowalski said. “I made it very clear that I was against privatizing the ambulance service.”

Kain stressed his point was that people need to understand why the state is not fully funding the regional schools and that town and school finances are going to get better when the town reaches target share for funding schools.

“The people need to know just how big the override is going to be,” he said. “Transparency is essential during this process if people are going to have confidence in you. Lots of people were upset when you mentioned privatizing the ambulance service. That, to me, is not only jumping the gun, it’s unethical.”

Kowalski said a budget document will be prepared.

“We’re going to go with whatever speed this committee — this town — can go on,” Kowalski said. “I made no recommendation … we have suggested that we invite department heads in and that we talk about the possibility of having either no increase next year or a small decrease in their budgets and to talk about those things.”

He had used a comparison study of the “costs to run the ambulance service as opposed to out-sourcing” as an example of that.

Resident Mary Box also argued for budget transparency and against expenses for out-of-state travel for staff development or networking. She also argued for pay freezes for town employees.

“This gentleman has been up at every meeting and he’s scoffed [at] every time,” she said about Kain. “You sit there, arrogant, and say we’re not giving you a timeline. Things don’t work that fast. Well, you can spend our money fast enough and I say no.”

Kowalski said the town is actually ahead of schedule in its budget preparations and planning.

“You can be safe in the assumption that our ambulance service is not going to be privatized,” he also said. “When people get excited about a possible override they have to have a reason to get excited about a possible override and they have to see what the cost is going to be. If we don’t come up with some other ways of dealing with our finances, there are things beyond our control — but there are things we can control.”

Resident Nita Sault reminded Box that there are federal and state training requirements for public safety officers that can include travel to out-of-state conferences. She also said that, while he has some good points, Kain often presents them negatively and that rumor has it he is laying the groundwork to run for selectman himself.

“Maybe you can be a little more positive and listen to what they’re saying so that, when you come up [to speak], we can actually learn from you,” Sault said.

Capital plan

Kain also spoke during the public forum portion of the meeting to ask if the Buildings and Capital Needs Committee had made progress on the town’s capital improvement plan.

He noted that Kowalski had said, during a recent meeting, that the Finance Committee failed to meet that objective last year. Kain, reminded Selectmen that such a statement was unfair.

“FinCom simply does not have the authority to implement policy,” Kain said. “That, as you know, is the role of the Board of Selectmen and, it is with this in mind, that the Capital Committee took a lead role on this last spring.”

He also referred to the state’s seven-step process toward developing a five-year capital plan, which the Capital Committee has begun reviewing.

“Nothing has changes since we last met,” Lynam said. “The office is awaiting fixed asset reports to use to build the model. Mr. Kain, I understand you have a driving wish to see everything done in a timeframe that you feel is appropriate. It doesn’t work when you’re dealing with that many people and that many pieces.”

Lynam said the state model has not yet been adopted.

“We have not completed that process,” he said, adding that work is continuing.

Sullivan’s say

In other business, state Rep. candidate Alyson Sullivan, submitted a letter to the Board of Selectmen regarding the Tuesday, July 10 discussion about events at the July 4 Family Fun Day in Whitman Park because she was discussed, but did not have the prior notice to be at the meeting.

Selectman Randy LaMattina asked if it proper to read her letter without Recreation Director Oliver Amado being present.

Kowalski said Sullivan’s letter was not intended as a complaint against a public official, but merely an attempt to set the record straight based on what she observed at the park. Sullivan began her letter by saying she had a great time at the event.

Based on her interaction with many Whitman residents of all ages, she wrote, Sullivan was surprised her attendance and participation were criticized.

“After watching a video of your meeting, I was shocked — shocked at the numerous false statements made to the board,” she wrote. “To be clear, what you and your fellow board members heard was simply not true.”

Sullivan said her campaign was specifically told they could have no political signs, T-shirts, buttons, balloons with her name on them, literature or politicking.

These clearly communicated prohibitions by the department head prompted a polite call to the town administrator to determine what was and was not allowed,” she wrote. “The town administrator expressed his disagreement with the restrictions being imposed by the department head and said he would get back to our campaign.”

Sullivan stated she was then called and told she could campaign without the restrictions communicated by the department head. She also contested the statements that: her campaign showed up with banners — plural — the “size of station wagons; her staff encroached on picnic tables and were instructed to move; that she had 20 signs planted in the ground; her group were an unruly entourage nearly all the residents stiff-armed; the group tried to use the event’s of DJ’s microphones and were unsuccessful.

Sullivan said a small table with a cloth bearing her name had been set up at one of the furthest points from the events while other candidates were allowed to set up near the picnic tables. Her staff was instructed to turn their table so her name faced the street, turning it back around only after other candidates put out materials bearing their names visible from the park. There were only four to five Sullivan signs near their table, like other candidates. Her group was made up of friends and family members, including a member of the Abington Board of Health, military veterans and young children, not one of whom was “stiff-armed” by Whitman residents. No one from her group asked for permission to use a microphone and no attempt was made to hold a rally or disrupt the event.

“It was obvious when I arrived, and during the day, the department head was offended and angry with my participation,” Sullivan wrote. “While I don’t agree with it, I understand it. What I don’t understand, and find most troubling, is a department head making knowingly false and malicious statements to you and your board about me and my participation at the event, knowing it could affect my reputation and decisions you and your board may be called upon to make.”

Liaison roles, ambulance comments challenged

WHITMAN — Selectman Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski received approval from the Board of Selectmen Tuesday, July 24 to assign Assistant Town Administrator Lisa Green to research how other select boards make liaison assignments to determine if there is a practice the board can formally discuss and adopt. Selectman Randy LaMattina voted against it in the 4-1 vote.

Selectman Scott Lambiase said the issue should be resolved at the next meeting in August after assignments caused conflict last month.

Selectman Dan Salvucci said conflict of interest, and equality of   workload should be the main guidelines, other than expertise, considered in liaison assignments.

LaMattina had been removed from his role as a Fire Department liaison and posted his feelings on the matter on Facebook. Kowalski read a portion of the post at the July 24 meeting. LaMattina had also asked that the assignments be placed on the agenda and to be provided documentation of the board chairman’s authority regarding reassignments.

After providing some background on the issue and reaction to social media criticism of the move, Kowalski said there is no documentation such as LaMattina was demanding.

“It’s been a long-standing practice from years before I was on the board, but like a lot of other things, we don’t have written policies governing the way the Board of Selectmen itself carries itself,” he said.

background

The late Selectman Peg McGilvary was the Fire Department liaison for years, Kowalski noted. He assigned himself as her substitute following her death, holding the post for two years —fiscal 2012 and 2013. He appointed Lisa Green as liaison while he was undergoing cancer surgery and treatments, with Scott Lambiase appointed in 2017 when Green stepped down to become assistant town administrator. LaMattina was appointed in fiscal year 2018 because of his fire service experience and because Kowalski was scheduled to undergo surgery in the fall.

“I intended at that time to take it back if I got strong enough,” Kowalski said. “I did.”

He said he enjoyed his earlier two years as liaison and working with the fire service, especially as his great uncle, Bert Dyer, was the Whitman fire chief in the 1920s. Kowalski taught a number of firefighters in courses at Massasoit, including Chief Timothy Grenno, Tom Ford, Pat Travers, John Norton, Lloyd Plasse and Skip Fletcher.

Kowalski said that combatting the opioid crisis is also important to him and that he is proud of the way in which Whitman Police and Fire personnel have stepped up to the plate in that effort.

“Randy and I have not discussed his reassignment,” Kowalski said. “I learned about his thoughts on his reassignment when somebody forwarded me his Facebook post from July 13.”

On that post he noted he had been notified of the change at the July 10 meeting.

“I question this decision and I find it troubling in light of the chair’s remarks about privatizing our ambulance service,” Kowalski quoted from LaMattina’s Facebook post. Firefighter Richard McKinnon also posted a comment on the social media site.

“What type of a liaison will Mr. Kowalski be when, just this week he announced he wanted to look at the possibility of privatizing Whitman’s ambulance service?” Kowalski read.

“Somehow a connection was drawn between liaison assignment and our budget review,” Kowalski said. “There is no connection whatsoever between the liaison reassignment of Randy LaMattina and the discussion of ambulance service.”

He said LaMattina and McKinnon seemed to be inferring that there was “some sort of an anti-union bias on my part” — a point picked up by Whitman resident and former Finance Committee member Shawn Kain, who posted that “Maybe they’ll start busting unions as [Kowalski] suggested.”

“Never did I say anything about busting unions,” Kowalski said. “Both of those inferences are totally incorrect.”

He said any argument that he advocated privatizing ambulance service was fiction.

“Anyone reading the Whitman-Hanson Express or viewing the videotape of our meeting [on Whitman-Hanson Community Access TV] with anywhere close to an open mind can easily see that,” Kowalski said. “The idea that I have an anti-union bias is equally absurd.”

As an educator, Kowalski noted he has been a member of the MTA-NEA Mass. Teachers’ Association-National Education Association) since 1972, except for the years 1979-83 when he was dean of economic affairs at Massasoit Community College and could not belong.

“I am, however, sorry that my remarks on July 10 seemed to have caused such confusion, no matter what the motives are for those who were confused,” he said.

open meeting
complaint

Kowalski also said that, if he is found to have violated the Open Meeting law regarding the issue during the July 10 meeting, he would gladly apologize. An executive session on the matter was held at the July 24 meeting, adding that he takes the Open Meeting Law seriously.

“You can’t go into a little diatribe,” LaMattina said, interrupting at one point in Kowalski’s remarks. “Now you’re steering the conversation away from what I actually wanted to discuss about it and I have an issue with that, but that is my point of order.”

Kowalski said he was ignoring the point of order until he completed his remarks and then a discussion could take place.

LaMattina said he appreciated Kowalski’s sentiments after the chairman completed his explanation and background for the decision.

“I’d like to say I bought into it, but I don’t,” LaMattina said. “Because it’s not just the Fire [Department] that you took, it’s also Board of Health on which I formally have come to you with an issue you have overlooked. It’s also Recreation which we also had an issue recently and we’re going to get to that, obviously, next, and I lose that that night.”

LaMattina said he doesn’t have an uncle that was in the fire service.

“I was in the fire service,” he said. “I know what it’s like to be up on top of the roof. I know what it’s like to hold the line. I know what these guys go through on a daily basis.”

He said he also knows the concerns of fire management and there is no one on the board more qualified to be Fire Department liaison anymore than there is anyone more qualified than Salvucci to be liaison to South Shore Vo-Tech.

“In the time that we’re in, I think we have to play to our strengths for success,” LaMattina said. He argued being named liaison to W-H schools is not playing to his strength and had he known Kowalski would take back the fire assignment he wouldn’t have spent hours in negotiations with the Fire Department or researched several years of contracts in preparation for negotiating the chief’s contract.

LaMattina said he has attended Recreation events, Firefighters’ Memorial Sunday, Grenno’s swearing-in ceremony as president of the state fire chief’s association and he had not seen Kowalski at those events.

“For me, it’s [the reassignment] punitive and I’m sorry about that,” he said.

Travel expenses

Selectmen voted to impose a one-year out-of-state travel moratorium due to the budget outlook, in combination with new policy guidelines to be in place when the fiscal outlook improves. Selectman Brian Bezanson suggested the moratorium.

Lynam maintained his support for placing the authorization control of travel expenses with Selectmen. Lambiase — who has argued that while the proposed travel and expense policy is “well-thought out and fairly comprehensive,” he questioned whether such a detailed policy is needed —urging a completion of the issue “one way or the other” that night. He advocates a line-item approach as a guideline over a prior-approval approach.

“It’s extra work for me that I’m not interested in as a board member, it’s extra work for Frank that I think is unnecessary because a good policy … lets them know what they can and can’t do,” he said. “When they [department heads] don’t handle themselves appropriately, we’ll deal with it.”

HANSON — Questions still remain in the minds of Selectmen and Police Chief Michael Miksch, but the Board of Selectmen is aiming to make a decision by the end of September on whether Hanson will join the member communities of the Regional Old Colony Communications Center (ROCCC) in Duxbury.

The center’s Lead Dispatcher Michael Mahoney, a Hanson native, and Duxbury Fire Department Capt. Rob Reardon briefed Hanson Selectmen on the background, operations and benefits of the center on Tuesday, July 24.

“Over the past six to eight months we’ve been having an ongoing discussion about possibly switching from the [dispatch program] we have now, as far as 911 goes,” Selectmen Chairman Kenny Mitchell said. “For me, saving money would not be the reason why I would go down this avenue — it would be a better product, from what I saw. … It would be nice to save money but that wouldn’t be my number one goal.”

In that six to eight months, Mahoney said ROCCC has made some changes and improvements to the facility’s operations.

Should Hanson opt to join, the time frame for implementation would depend on the time it takes to ensure departments are ready to go with the proper technology equipment — radios, repeaters, hammer systems.

Plympton and Rochester needed upgrades to phone systems and Rochester needed an alarm and camera system as their station was going dark with no overnight desk staff.

Among the questions selectmen have heard from residents are: how an out-of-town dispatcher can know local geographical references; what will become of current local dispatchers and overnight staff of the police station, which is located on a busy travel route and sees more overnight walk-ins than many other area stations.

Selectman Matt Dyer also wanted to hear some of the pitfalls to regional dispatch.

Mahoney said that, among his concerns was that the town would have to decide about overnight staffing of the Hanson Police station.

“That’s come up in every single town, whether they’re going to have a dark station or not,” he said. Rochester made the decision to go dark based on the low number of walk-ins to their station at night.

Miksch has said that is not the situation in Hanson.

“My issue becomes what’s the positives and negatives for Hanson,” Miksch said, noting that all the towns that have joined ROCCC so far are happy with it. “On average 218 people [per month] walk into the station and not everybody’s coming in for a pistol permit. I’m just not comfortable letting the place go dark. … You know as well as I do that someone walking in that station between midnight and 8 a.m. isn’t asking for directions. Usually, there’s a problem.”

Roots of ROCCC

“I was lucky enough to be the one who started this — to build the ROCCC,” Reardon said. “I saw where it came from and where it’s going.”

Duxbury was similar to Hanson when the project was started with one dispatcher also working the desk, he noted.

“It can get overwhelming,” Reardon said. “What we’re doing is different than the towns that have one dispatcher, not that they’re doing a bad job, but they don’t have the resources that we have.”

Foot traffic that can be distracting for a dispatcher working a call in a police station, is not a problem at ROCCC.

Established in 2013 as the Duxbury Regional Communications Center, it now also serves Plympton, Rochester and Halifax with all emergency 911 calls and business telephone traffic; calls for police, fire and EMS service; animal control calls as well as those for DPW and other municipal services are routed through the ROCCC.

“ROCCC was the first regional 911 center to deploy next-generation 911 [service],” Mahoney said, explaining that a fiber-optic network-based system with mapping software was installed two years ago. “It overlays house numbers and addresses right on the satellite picture and provides tremendous accuracy for dispatch.”

While Mahoney grew up in Hanson and “knows the town like the back of my hand,” Reardon said he could not remember the last time he hired a Duxbury dispatcher who grew up in the town or was familiar with it.

“That’s where we rely on technology,” he said. “I’m not going to know where Mary Smith lives, but I’m going to tell by the phone call you made where you are and I’m going to get you help.”

It is the first communications center outside Boston to take direct 911 calls from cell phones, Mahoney said. Currently, Hanson 911 calls are routed through the State Police, where calls are vetted by type of emergency and location and transferred to local responders.

“In a time where seconds count, that takes several,” Mahoney said. “In our facility, you call 911 and hit a tower anywhere in any other jurisdiction we serve, it rings in our room immediately — no transfer, no nothing.”

From the time the phone rings at ROCCC to the time a local responder rolls out of the station is 10 seconds, he said.

“That’s substantially below the national average,” Mahoney said. The national standard is 90 seconds, according to Reardon.

“Seconds really do matter,” he said.

ROCCC currently serves a population of 30,629 over 105 square miles with a capacity of 100,000 people. Hanson and Plymouth, which is also considering joining would come near to that limit, according to Mahoney.

Town input

Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett has already toured the center and, while she still has questions about switching to a regional dispatch center, she urged the other members of the board to visit ROCCC for themselves. That said, she expressed concern that all member towns have “an equal voice” in the governance of the center.

“I want a completely equal say [for Hanson] at the table,” she said.

Right now the center is under the administration of the town of Duxbury, Mahoney said, noting that member communities pay an assessment to Duxbury. He works directly with member fire chiefs who have an equal voice and added that the state has approved allowing regional safety services to adopt a district form of government.

“Everyone hears the word district and associates it with the school system, especially here,” he said. “This is very different.”

A board of directors, made up of a selectman or town administrator from each town oversee the district, according to Mahoney and an operations board made up of police and fire chiefs deciding day-to-day operations.

The center features a fire communications desk as well as one for police and lead dispatcher. There are close to 100 monitors in operation as well as dispatch consoles, with all equipment funded by the state via 911 fees on cell phone bills. They also have the capability to monitor schools and do so already in Duxbury. ROCCC has just received authorization to do so in Rochester.

“If, god forbid, there’s a school shooting [reported] we can, at the push of a button, see what’s happening — who’s in there, where they are,” Mahoney said.

State grants are also available through its 911 Department, which has established funding tiers — with regional emergency communications centers the top priority.

“What that means for Hanson is that the cost of transition to ROCCC could, should and probably would be subsidized by state [funds],” Mahoney said. “Any wish-list items you have — the police department has, the fire department has, the town has — we can roll into future development grants.”

A grant is already permitting the center to expand its building in Duxbury.

ROCCC has three to five dispatchers, including a lead dispatcher around the clock, on duty at any given time so one person talks with the caller, another contacts local police and another contacts local fire departments to reduce response times, he explained.

Local dispatchers

While switching to ROCCC could save personnel costs to towns from payroll, benefits and other post-employment benefits (OPEB), according to Mahoney, that is not a guarantee for Hanson officials said.

“Besides whether the product is good, is this the right choice for Hanson,” Reardon said is the question officials must answer to their own satisfaction. “Rochester, without giving numbers away, cut their bill by almost two-thirds to come to us. They got a better service, they’re not paying benefits [to dispatchers] anymore, the state kicks in quite a bit to pay every year for them.”

Reardon and Mahoney also said current local dispatchers are able to apply for a position at ROCCC if Hanson joins, and that 100 percent of those local applicants have been hired despite what Reardon described as a rigorous process.

“With each town, we’ve added staff,” Mahoney said. “We’ve added positions. By doing that, we attract the best and the brightest in the dispatch community.”

“Why wouldn’t we want to take employees that know this town and have worked in this dispatch center and know the officers and firefighters?” Reardon said. “I think it makes for a much easier transition.”