WHITMAN — Whitman Selectmen on Tuesday, Nov. 1 voted, 4-0, to appoint Lisa Green of Whitman as assistant town administrator.

Green, an attorney who served as a Whitman Selectman from May 2011 until this past July 29, works as a disability examiner and adjudicator for the Center for Disability, Office of the Regional Commissioner at the Social Security Administration in Boston.

Green was one of two finalists for the position interviewed by selectmen Tuesday night.

Asked by Selectmen Chairman Carl Kowalski to list two adjectives to describe her candidacy, Green said “enthusiastic and motivated.”

After the meeting, Green said she knows she has a tough job ahead of her, learns quickly and she will do the best job she can for the citizens of the town.

“I want to thank the selectmen for entrusting me with the position. I will work hard to not let them down,” she said.

Kowalski and selectmen Scott Lambiase, Daniel Salvucci and Brian Bezanson voted to appoint Green.

They made the appointment Tuesday after interviewing Green and the other finalist, Michael Mullen of Rockland, who is a Rockland selectman and works as director of government affairs and communications for the Massachusetts Association of 766 Approved Private Schools (MAAPS) in Wakefield.

Board members Tuesday praised both finalists as strong candidates who could eventually step in for longtime Town Administrator Frank Lynam when he eventually retires in three or more years, and in the end voted to appoint Green to the assistant town administrator position.

“I have no doubt Lisa is the best candidate for the position at this time,” Kowalski said. “We know her. She’s a hard worker.”

Sixty-six people applied for the position. Two-thirds of them have master’s degrees and nine are attorneys. A subcommittee that included Lynam, Lambiase and Kowalski interviewed and screened them.

Selectmen Tuesday asked the finalists if they would feel comfortable if called upon to fill the town administrator’s shoes in the future should he retire, how they would balance their personal views of Proposition 2-1/2 with the will of the voters should there be conflict, and to discuss moments in their careers when they were at their personal or professional best.

During her interview, Green said the town administrator’s shoes are big shoes to fill. She said she lives five minutes away from Town Hall and would be able to work a full day during the day, have time to go home for supper and return to attend meetings of the finance committee and other town boards.

“I think I would be able to step into those shoes and hit the ground running,” she said. “I’m in awe of the many hats Frank wears. I’m well aware of all the hats that need to change and all of the directions he heads in.

“I’ve been a presence in Town Hall for five years,” she said. “I’m invested in the town. I live in the town.”

Green said she had to scale back her role as a Whitman selectman after she got a promotion at work and could no longer get the time off to attend Massachusetts Municipal Association conferences and training sessions.

Green has worked for the Social Security Administration for the past eight years, and said employment as assistant town administrator in Whitman would give her the time to make a full-time commitment to the town.

In her current role, Green serves as an authoritative specialist and program expert in the development and adjudication of Social Security Title II and Title XVI disability cases.

She communicates with claimants, attorneys and medical sources; reviews and summarizes medical records; evaluates case evidence, consults with medical and psychiatric doctors; performs multi-step sequential analysis according to Social Security disability rules and regulations; adjudicates and authorizes applications for disability benefits; and writes decisions and personal denial notices.

Green was also a case management specialist and team leader for the Office of General Counsel at the Social Security Administration in Boston.

In that role, Green provided comprehensive legal support to attorneys, supervisory attorneys, regional chief counsel and deputy regional chief counsel with Social Security disability and federal labor and employment litigation cases. She was also team leader of the paralegal staff and support department.

Green is certified as a notary public, has training in the fundamentals of appellate advocacy, privacy and disclosure of official records and information, Freedom of Information Act litigation, effective advocacy in disability litigation, business writing and plain-language writing, according to her resume.

As mother of a 17-year old Whitman-Hanson junior, Green said she can be passionate about Proposition 2-1/2 and school funding.

However, as an attorney, Green said she has been trained to separate personal and professional considerations. As assistant town administrator, Green said she could separate her personal feelings from the needs of the town on Proposition 2-1/2.

“You can’t let your personal feelings get involved in your professional decisions,” she said. “It’s got to be a balancing act. We know how Whitman and Hanson voters feel. We know how the schools feel. It’s got to be a balancing act and a tennis match.”

During his interview Tuesday, Mullen said he has strong passion for the “nuts and bolts” of local government, where, “the rubber meets the road.”

“It’s not a nine-to-five job and it never will be,” he said. “I know that going in with eyes wide open.”

Rockland experience

Mullen leads the annual budget and legislative efforts of the 86-member MAAPS association, to support the work of Chapter 766 special education schools, and coordinates and mobilizes participation in the association’s  grassroots network, which has nearly doubled in membership during the past two years.

Mullen was a chief of staff for the office of former Brockton mayor Linda Balzotti. He facilitated negotiations with

labor organizations, staff and department heads. He also directed day-to-day municipal operations and emergency response efforts in Brockton, the state’s seventh largest city, according to his resume.

Mullen coordinated project management efforts on the city’s $100-million downtown economic development initiative.

Mullen cited his efforts leading planning work on Brockton’s new $4.3-million City Hall Plaza renovation project. The city was awarded a grant for the project, and Mullen was asked to take the lead on it after he was hired. There is a firefighters’ memorial at the plaza that needed attention, and Mullen said he brought city firefighters into the planning process. He also worked with disability and accessibility advocates to address accessibility in the renovation project.

Mullen said he is able to bring people together to build respect and communicate.

“I’m proud of all that work and I hope to continue that work in Whitman,” he said.

Mullen, who served on the Rockland School Committee from 2007 to 2013, also cited his efforts as co-founder of the Rockland CARES Drug Abuse Coalition. He said two adjectives he would use to describe his candidacy are “passionate and caring.”

Mullen said Proposition 2-1/2 pre-dates him in terms of age.

“I view it to be a non-negotiable,” he said. “It’s the law of the land, unless there’s an override or debt-exclusion to go beyond the two-and-one-half levy limit. It’s a reality that every town has to live within, work within.”

Mullen said he is not sure he would be ready to take over for Lynam in three years should the incumbent town administrator should decide to retire at that time.

“I would really be interested. I would want to master the job as an assistant town administrator first,” he said.

‘tough decision’

After Tuesday’s interviews, Bezanson said Mullen offered quite a bit of municipal experience, which would be good for Whitman, but Green knows the players on the town committees and the intangibles of how Whitman operates.

“It’s a very tough decision to have to choose one. We’d like to have both of them, but we can’t,” he said.

Salvucci said both finalists are outstanding, but one of them, Green, made a statement about wanting to serve the people of Whitman that impressed him.

“That hit a home run,” he said.

Lambiase said both finalists are very strong candidates, but Green offers a lot of institutional knowledge and spent a lot of her time when she was a selectman acting as that board’s liaison to other town boards and committees.

Kowalski praised Mullen for his work with Rockland CARES and said the coalition has done good work in garnering the attention of parents, and that Whitman is still working toward that level of parent engagement.

Kowalski said Mullen should not be discouraged, and Lambiase predicted that people would be seeing a lot of Mullen in government in the future.

WHITMAN — Businessman David Federico has another 30 days to work with Building Commissioner Robert Curran on finalizing a new 45-vehicle plan for his Diesel Trucks lot at 575 Bedford St. Renewal of Federico’s Class II Auto Dealers’ License hinges on completion of such a plan.

The board approved the extension by a 3-1 vote, with Selectman Daniel Salvucci voting against it.

Selectmen had given Federico six months to develop the plan after a proposed 60-vehicle lot was not accepted in March. After some delays, Federico’s lawyer E. Pamela Salpoglou of Stoughton said she had received the new site plan just prior to the Tuesday, Oct. 25 meeting. Quincy Civil Engineer Patrick Rosengrave designed the site plan.

Salpoglou said she had made some edits to Rosengrave’s plan and provided both site plans for the board’s reference. She suggested that, if the plan met the town’s requirements, another hearing on the matter could be avoided.

“Mr. Rosengrave has confirmed that we can easily fit 59 spots on the property, and as you are aware, my client came in looking for 60,” Salpoglou said. “I don’t know why he did not take into account the discussion we had at the last hearing, but he clearly, I think, has made a pretty good plan.”

She also indicated that Federico wishes to amend five parking spaces in one area of the lot toward the rear of the property near a stonewall.

“That would create a little bit more space for customers to turn around,” she said. Moving other spaces and consolidating still others would reduce the number of spaces to the 45 Selectmen required, Salpoglou said.

Curran said he visited the site again on Tuesday, Oct. 25 and there were 45 vehicles there and that an effort had been made to clean up the area. He took photos to provide to Selectmen.

There were 50 vehicles on the site Sept. 27, and those were not in approved spaces, Curran said noting that, “the site remained an eye-sore” at that time. A subsequent visit on Oct. 6 revealed that, “nothing has been done since the number of cars has been reduced to 45 and that most of the vehicles had been there “for several months.”

“There’s not a big exchange of the vehicles that are coming and going,” Curran said. “I don’t have anything else to report other than today it looked a lot better than it has.”

Curran said he had not seen the new site plan and could not comment on it, but if the board approved it, he would recommend the lot be kept to the site plan.

“Our building inspector’s going to have to spend some time with it, too,” Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski told Federico and Salpoglou.

Selectmen, following a discussion on the matter, agreed with Curran’s proposal to allow 30 days to move the vehicles to spaces outlined on the site plan so he could review it on the ground and come back to the board.

Salvucci was still not happy with the state of the lot or the state of vehicles now on it.

“Out of all [45] vehicles, how many are for sale?” Salvucci asked, to which Federico replied all of them are and that all of them will pass state inspection before they are sold.

“What I’m looking at here are vehicles that I don’t think are saleable, because I don’t think they’ll pass state inspection,” Salvucci said. “I don’t even know if they’ll all start.”

Federico said they will be serviced before sale.

“We buy used vehicles that need service, we service the vehicles and then sell them,” Federico said, noting he is storing the vehicles that won’t fit on a 45-vehicle lot at another facility. “A customer comes in, I drive them to the storage place, they get turned off, they say no and I lose a sale.”

Salvucci conceded that improvements have been made at this site but that he still has concerns about the product offered. Salpoglou assured the board that her client would not permit the sale of a vehicle that could not pass a state inspection and has been making an effort to make the lot more appealing.

Kowalski cut that discussion short, saying he didn’t want to repeat past discussions.

“The last eight licenses I had from the town of Whitman didn’t have any limit of the number of vehicles,” Federico said.  “There were no stipulations.”

Town Administrator Frank Lynam said that was correct, noting that when a license is approved with an inventory limit, that number is noted on the license.

“For whatever reason, this particular license did not have a number on it and, when it was renewed the same language was used,” Lynam said.

In other business, Selectmen authorized Lynam to negotiate with companies with the aim of reaching a net metering agreement to give the town “a significant discount on the purchase of energy.” The vote also allows Lynam to enter into a 20-year agreement, once acceptable terms are reached.

Lynam said 20-year contracts are standard for the industry.

Report prompts policy revisions

HANSON —  The Board of Selectmen, Tuesday, Oct. 18, voted to accept all but one of Labor Counsel Leo J. Peloquin’s four recommendations for resolving issues with the management of Camp Kiwanee.

The board voted 4-0-1, with Selectman Don Howard abstaining, to go ahead with the hiring of a recreation director as funded by the Oct. 3 special Town Meeting, to require Selectmen and the town administrator to set rental rates and to require the commission to seek approval of discounted rates from the town administrator and a vote of Selectmen. The policies and procedures will be updated to reflect the votes.

They stopped short of requiring those who received past discounts to make up the difference.

“I’ve looked at the evidence,” said Selectmen Chairman James McGahan. “I think what we’re seeing here is evidence to support the claims that protocol is not being followed. I also see evidence here of poor record-keeping. It’s very clear.”

In a 31-page report to Selectmen, Peloquin of Collins, Loughran & Peloquin in Norwell concluded the Recreation Commission and senior caretaker “have often ignored the Board [of Selectmen]’s authority” and showed evidence of possible ethics violations in awarding rental contracts at Camp Kiwanee over the past six years.

“It’s a records-driven report,” Peloquin said during the meeting, repeating his assertion in the report that the conclusion might have changed had more witnesses cooperated.

Commissioners and Senior Caretaker James Flanagan refuted the report’s claims and will have until Nov. 30 to file corrections with Peloquin’s office.

“If someone has a [canceled] check for payment that we just missed for a payment, that’s one thing,” Peloquin said. “But when someone has some other correction that begs some question, and they haven’t answered the question before, you have to understand we’ve got to reserve the right to ask the question.”

He said corroborated challenges received by Nov. 30 could be reflected in an addendum to the report.

“After an initial reading of this report and noting the ‘evidence,’ we feel it is inflammatory, inaccurate, misleading, exaggerated, biased and offensive,” Sheila Morse read from a prepared statement by commission members in seeking 30 days to respond.

McGahan conceded some of the challenges — including an instance in which two contracts exist for the same event [see related story] — are worth looking into. He also advocates more security at the camp to protect the town.

“I feel pretty good about it,” Flanagan said after the meeting about the board’s action. “I’m a little disappointed that my name was mentioned so may times all over the newspapers. It kind of tarnished my name and the 10 years I did [work] up there. … I’m disappointed I’m not working there. I love the place.”

Flanagan resigned July 18 after problems scheduling an interview with investigators to work within the constraints of his full-time job as a second investigation stemming from an early July wedding arose.

“I find this report offensive and slanderous,” Flanagan had read from a statement during the meeting. “This report embellishes my job titles …. four different job titles that do not even exist in town bylaws. My job title was the same for nine years — part-time assistant caretaker.”

The report

Peloquin’s report dated Oct. 7  — supported by 276 pages of rental agreements, spreadsheets and contracts —  recommended that the town “needs a professional administrator to oversee Camp Kiwanee, including the management of Recreation Commission employees,” and that the town administrator should review all vendor contracts he has not signed to “determine whether to sign them, end them or renegotiate them.”

It also urged town officials to pursue fees owed from those who made personal use of Camp Kiwanee, at free or reduced rates, while serving on the commission or while working at the camp.

Peloquin indicated more cooperation with the investigation might have changed the outcome, and put the cost to the town for that lack of cooperation at more than $27,000.

“A lack of cooperation by key members of the Recreation Commission and all commission-appointed employees obstructed and delayed the completion of the investigation, not only increasing its cost, but also depriving the investigator of critical information.” Peloquin stated, adding, “Information withheld from the investigation may have resulted in different findings and conclusions.”

Peloquin charged that Recreation Commission members, employees, relatives or others connected to the Commission rented Camp Kiwanee for reduced rates — or paid nothing at all — on at least 50 occasions between 2010-16. The report charged that a program that allowed volunteers to transfer hours worked into “Kiwanee Cash,” which, “besides violating its own ‘no bartering’ policy … had clear ethics law implications.”

The report also singled out actions by former Commission Chairman David Blauss, commissioners Susan Lonergan and Flanagan as presenting ethical issues. Hickey’s actions centered on a refusal to cooperate with the investigation, while Blauss, Lonergan and Flanagan were singled out for improper use of the Camp.

Favoritism alleged

Blauss reportedy allowed his cousin, Tom Tobin, to stay for free at Camp Kiwanee cottage, which is supposed to rent for $100 per night, and arranged for his sister, Debbie Blauss, to contract with the commission to hold yoga classes in the lodge even after she stopped paying the 20 percent commission other vendors pay to conduct classes at the venues. Debbie Blauss was also permitted to post a sign at the base of Camp Kiwanee Road.

“How many times this happened cannot be determined, but Blauss himself admitted that he was doing it and believed it was acceptable because Tobin was serving as caretaker for Camp Kiwannee,” Peloquin reported about the cottage use.

Flanagan and Lonergan allegedly used the lodge on “several” occasions since 2010 without paying rent or paying a reduced rate, and the report charges Flanagan with improperly approving discounts for other users. Administrative Assistant Nicole Campbell and former Commissioner Maria McClellan — who cooperated in the investigation — also used or allowed relatives to use Needles Lodge free of charge.

Campbell, who had a contentious relationship with the commission before the investigation, dating back to the 2015 Hanson Day event when a group complained she had cut short its performance. An executive session during a commission  meeting led to her filing an Open Meeting Law (OML) violation complaint because she had not received advance notice and asked that the commission be disbanded, the report said. That complaint was upheld to the extent that the commission was ordered not to do it again and to watch an educational video on the OML. A second OML complaint she filed on whether she could use her personal tape recorder during meetings was resolved before it went to a decision.

The Commissioners also complained about Campbell’s job performance.

“Although neither side behaved appropriately, there was no illegal retaliation against Nicole Campbell, directly or indirectly, but he commissioners or commission employees because she fully cooperated with the investigation from the outset,” Peloquin also stated. Interim Town Administrator Richard LaCamera had warned potential witnesses against retaliation on March 24, 2016.

Recreation commissioners Raymond, Francis O’Kane and Janet Agius also fully cooperated with the investigation, as did former department administrative assistants Annemarie Bouzan and Stacey Reed, according to the report.

Under a law accepted by Hanson Town Meeting in 2001, Selectmen set Camp Kiwanee rental rates. Use of the lodge may be donated, specifically, to Scout troops for weekly meeting between September and May, town budgeted departments for meetings with Recreation Commission approval and for town departments to hold one free event from Tuesday through Thursday in a calendar year.

Bartering to cover rental fees is not permitted.

Peloquin said there are no longer records from the Kiwanee Cash program, administered by McClellan, and outlined how Town Administrator René Read ordered that practice to cease when he first learned of it in 2012. Town Administrator Ron San Angelo had also taken action to halt free use of the Camp cottage.

Selectman Bruce Young also pointed out that former Town Administrator Michael Finglas had “given his blessing” to the Kiwanee Cash program when it was first established.

A ‘costly lesson’ being learned

By Tracy F. Seelye, Express editor
editor@whitmanhansonexpress.com

HANSON — Unsigned rental contracts at Camp Kiwanee, which were at the center of concerns covered in Labor Counsel Leo J. Peloquin’s report to Selectmen regarding the Recreation Commission, can’t happen again, the board has warned.

“I can’t stress enough that our contracts have to be signed,” Selectmen Chairman James McGahan said after former commissioner Wes Blauss and his wife Joanne outlined repeated inconsistencies with approved contracts his mother Edna Howland obtained for the family’s annual Christmas party at Needles Lodge. “They have to be stamped with payment — all that. We have to be consistent with how this is done.”

All but two of the Howland contracts were not stamped and none were signed as the form required. Town Administrator Michael McCue said he has already begun to make those changes and has also revised the contract form to adhere to new policies and protocols — and to adhere to state ethics requirements.

“I’m already up there two to three times a week to review contracts,” McCue said. “I am signing them. We have revamped the whole contract.”

The Howland contracts provided a microcosm of the overall problem of a lack of adherence to protocol, Selectmen said of the decision to waive pursuit of funds lost to past questionable discounts.

“This has been a costly lesson for us, but I think it’s something that we needed to do in order to figure out what we need to fix,” McGahan said of the board’s decision.

“With everything that’s gone on, we don’t need to go after money,” Selectman Bill Scott said. “It’s a shame that we got to the point where we had to spend so much money to get to where we are. Hopefully, we can move forward as a result of this.”

The Blauss’ presentation featured enlarged copies of six of Howland’s contracts to rent the lodge over the years.

“This is data-driven from your report,” Joanne Blauss said.

“My mother’s name is mentioned more than a dozen times in this report,” Wes Blauss said, noting he represented her because of her poor health. “Edna Howland has no idea that she is named in this report — that she is in any way involved in this. … No one will say anything to Edna about this.”

Howland owed the town more than $1,000 because of discounts improperly approved for her, according to the report.

“Edna would never question. … Whatever she was told is what she paid,” he said.

There is a space for renters to sign the contracts, but neither Howland or anyone else did so, and all quoted a charge of $250 or $350 with no balance due, until a duplicate of the sixth contract was discovered for the party planned in 2015.

They contain four different dates on each form, and the contract they said is a duplicate includes hand-written amount of $110 owed after Howland’s sister, Maria McClellan had been told nothing was owed when she tried to pay the balance owed on a charge of $360. The original quoted a price of $250.

“I brought the original contract back to Mr. [interim Town Administrator Richard] LaCamera,” David Blauss said. “And you wonder why I did not cooperate with Mr. LaCamera? I brought that original one that said $250, that it was paid in full and, obviously, he never even shared it with town counsel.”

McGahan stressed that Peloquin’s point was that the Recreation Commission never approved the discounted price of $250.

Contracts for 2012 and 2013 were duplicates of each other, down to the date at the top of the contract, with a hand-written change of the date of the 2012 party — which originally read Dec. 15, 2011 and was altered to “Dec. 15, 2012.” The parties are always on a Saturday.

“As we sit here today, Edna Howland paid $250, she owes $110, but she doesn’t really, because someone told her $250 was OK,” Peloquin said, noting the commission voted to bill her.

“The bill was never sent out, and I want to make a point that Recreation Commission does not send out bills,” commissioner Susan Lonergan said.

McClellan said the family had taken the duplicate contract issue directly to LaCamera because they were aware of a conflict of interest, and that the Commission never knew about it.

“Probably 40 percent of the contracts [the report] refers to are not signed,” she said. “Therefore, they’re not contracts, they’re pieces of paper. They should be thrown out and not discussed.”

While he did not agree that the contracts should, or could, be discarded, McGahan agreed that, “This has got to be the worst case of record-keeping I have ever seen.”

The Blauss’ asserted that administrative assistants, and Annemarie Bouzan in particular, were not likely to be coerced by former Commission Chairman David Blauss or Senior Caretaker James Flanagan to approve improper contracts. They are seeking legal advice on the legality of the duplicate contracts.

“I have never in my life, told the administrative assistants what to charge anyone,” David Blauss said.

Wes Blauss said David Blauss, Flanagan, McCellan and Lonergan were “in a very vulnerable position” in the report because they stepped in to keep Camp Kiwanee operating with no support from Town Hall or the union when administrative assistants were out on extended sick or family leave time.

Resident Audrey Flanagan provided her own spreadsheets to Selectmen and Peloquin based on the rate sheets administrative assistants had been using in drawing up contracts.

“The spreadsheets Mr. Peloquin created were based on rates from 2010,” she said. “They changed over the years.”

Selectman Bruce Young maintained the board has always approved rates the Recreation Commission recommends, but takes issue with Peloquin’s assertion that if the commission wants to discount a rate, that selectmen had to approve it over the past six years, as that protocol had not been in place. He also questioned how it was possible that Flanagan could assume such power over camp responsibilities to the extend it is alleged he did.

“You can’t do it retroactively,” Young said of the rate protocols. “It isn’t fair to anybody.”

Others were concerned about apparent conflict of interest.

“When I read this report, a couple weeks ago or whatever, it was disappointing to me … as elected officials and appointed officials, we’re all municipal employees whether we get paid or not,” Selectman Kenny Mitchell said. “We still have to adhere to the laws of the state, especially [regarding] conflict of interest.”

“We really respect the volunteering and the work that’s been done in there, but technically we volunteer also,” Scott agreed. “If we break the rules or do something that people don’t like, they’re all over us like a wet suit. You don’t have the right to break the rules.”

Whitman mulls streamlined bill paying option

WHITMAN — Who should sign on the dotted line?

The Board of Selectmen is seeking more information from Town Counsel Michelle McNulty before designating a member to sign off on payroll warrants.

Chiefly, Selectmen want to know if an alternate can fill that role, or must it be a permanent assignment?

Right now, no fewer than three selectmen must sign each warrant before the town treasurer is authorized to release the funds.

The Municipal Modernization bill, MGL Ch 218 §57, allows a board to designate one selectman to sign the warrants on behalf of the board until it can meet for a vote, Town Administrator Frank Lynam.

“I’m suggesting the board consider this because sometimes it’s difficult to get warrants signed quickly enough to not hold checks for an additional week,” he said. “It would not necessarily change how the board views and approves warrants because the cover page of each warrant would be available to all members at the next meeting.”

Selectmen Chairman Carl Kowalski asked if obtaining the three signatures had ever been an issue. Lynam said it has proved to be so on occasion.

“What the state is recognizing is that, in the normal course of events, many times the selectmen don’t have an opportunity to review some of these things until they meet, and this provides an alternative,” Lynam said. “I’m not suggesting that you necessarily vote it tonight, but you be aware of the option.”

Lynam expressed doubt that a floater would be permitted because the chapter’s language is so particular in reference to “one selectman,” but that McNulty is reviewing it.

Selectman Dan Salvucci had suggested the review because he thought selection of an alternate, could work around vacations.

Lynam said there was always the option of going to the current requirement of three signatures in such a case.

In other business, the board granted the request of Robert Hayes’ Easy Auto Rentals Inc., DBA Auto Towne Truck Sales for a Class II Auto Dealer’s License at 808 Bedford St.

“He’s done a fantastic job at that location,” said Selectman Brian Bezanson. “The building has been transformed into a top-notch place.”

Hayes, who chairs the School Committee, returned the compliment to the Whitman DPW for work repairing frost-heave damage to sidewalks at Whitman schools and WHRHS. His remarks echoed those of Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner in a letter to the Board, which Kowalski read aloud.

Hayes said the School Committee had received some hefty bids on the project and that the DPW did the work at a savings to the town of a “substantial amount of money.”

“I think we came out with a better product than we might have done if we had bid it out,” he said.

“They did an amazing job fixing up those walkways,” Lynam agreed.

Hayes also stressed the importance of the strategic plan/budget discussion to which selectmen and finance committees from both towns were invited at the Wednesday, Oct. 12 School Committee meeting.

“The school district is trying to put forward and earlier budget meeting so … more people will come,” he said. “By getting everybody together earlier, it might be easier to understand the total budget and the impact on the towns.”

Selectmen also voted to maintain the $250 per year solid waste fee for fiscal 2017.

Hanson joins Community Compact

HANSON — Selectmen, state Rep. Josh Cutler, Town Hall employees and public safety leaders joined Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito Tuesday, Oct. 11 to celebrate Hanson’s becoming the 236th Commonwealth community to join the Commonwealth Community Compact Best Practices Program.

That means Hanson agrees to implement at least one best government practice outlined under an executive order signed by Gov. Charlie Baker in January 2015 — and brings with it more access to state grant funds.

Hanson town officials hope grants can help with the reuse of the former Plymouth County Hospital site as well as the Main Street Economic Target Area. The program also provides the expertise needed to help communities plan for uses that best suit the community and carries $500 million in MassWorks program for infrastructure improvements and leverages private dollars for investment, as well.

“This [compact] is yours,” Polito said. “No other community in the commonwealth has this kind of structure that you’re looking to reuse, and that’s the beauty of this kind of partnership.”

“We have reached out to the state to ask if we could become a member of the Commonwealth Community Compact,” Town Administrator Michael McCue said in opening the afternoon ceremony Tuesday, Oct. 11. “What the state is so graciously willing to do is lend its expertise — any sort of guidance, any sort of help they can — in a number of different areas.”

Selectmen Chairman James McGahan was working and unable to attend the event.

“The vision that the governor and I had I coming into office, and now in office, is to strengthen Massachusetts through every city and town across our state,” Polito said. “What we knew coming in, as former selectmen … is that the work that you do at the local level — you are on the front lines, literally — where people express their concerns, their frustrations, their hopes for their community. You need all the resources and tools to be able to do your job.”

The Commonwealth Community Compact was intended as a signal from the start that they appreciate local government, Polito said.

“In order for us to be successful, you need to be successful,” she said, listing the release of Chapter 90 funds to improve roads, increase Local Aid and use the Municipal Modernization bill to help local governments do the job.

Best Practices is also intended to strengthen ties between Beacon Hill and town halls, according to Polito.

“You choose to be part of this Community Compact,” she said. “It also needs to be funded. We know, as local officials, that we can’t have any more unfunded mandates. They just don’t work.”

Communities also decide what their priorities will be.

“I think all the towns and cities of Massachusetts appreciate the outreach the administration has done,” McCue said, noting the background both she and Baker bring to the table as former selectmen.

Polito nodded to Cutler in thanking legislators for supporting the program by funding the budget.

“The Baker-Polito Administration has been a terrific partner for municipalities,” Cutler said, noting the Municipal Modernization, or “weed-whacking,” bill the administration supported as well. “This particular [program] for Hanson is so important for economic development.”

He noted that the Plymouth County Hospital site and Route 27 corridor are keys to economic development in Hanson.

“As a Hanson state Rep., I’m delighted to see the town taking this proactive step,” Cutler said after the ceremony. “It’s great to have a lieutenant governor right here in Hanson talking about an issue that’s so important to so many residents, which is the Plymouth County Hospital redevelopment and Main Street.”

HANSON — Voters at special Town Meeting Monday, Oct. 3 voted to hire a Recreation Director — at least through June 30, 2017 — and to spend an estimated $1.8 million to tear down the former Plymouth County Hospital, but neither issue was the focus of much debate.

That distinction went largely to the ratification of a collective bargaining agreement between the Water Department, Board of Water Commissioners and members of the AFSCME Local 1700 Water Union.

The Board of Selectmen, which had previously voted to place a hold on the article, voted 4-0 against recommending its passage in a session before Town Meeting. Selectman Don Howard, who is also a Water Commissioner, abstained. The Finance Committee had voted to recommend it.

Selectmen’s concerns centered on the amount of the pay raise in the new contract, which the Town Meeting passed a counted vote of 54-31. The contract grants a 4-percent raise for the first year — 2 percent in salary and 2 percent in cost of living — and 3 percent cost of living increase in the second and third years.

“It was a strategic decision,” said Selectmen Chairman James McGahan, noting other unions negotiated 2-percent raises. “It was a fairness issue, also, for myself and most of the board.”

“It’s not in line with the other union [contracts] we just negotiated back in May,” said Selectman Kenny Mitchell. “In my opinion, the increases should be similar.”

“This article is a bargaining agreement between the Hanson Water Department and its union,” said Commissioner Gil Amado, who said the agreement does not bring the union members above any other town. “The Hanson Water Department negotiated in good faith with its union. … It’s not like were trying to give money away.”

Former Finance Committee member Pepper Santalucia said the issue comes town to Hanson’s organizational structure.

“There’s boards and commissions for everything, and, frankly, if the Board of Selectmen want to be more involved in how the Water Department and commission negotiates with its union, it should look at consolidating functions — perhaps a department of public works,” he said. “They negotiated with their union and we’re just here to formalize that.”

In consideration of another article seeking $50,000 to update the Water Department Master Plan, High Street resident Mark Vess asked if officials would commit to include designation of a second well site in that plan.

“I support the Water Department 100 percent,” Vess said, citing water problems going on across the country. “Right now, I’m concerned that you don’t have enough tools to do the job, with this drought that’s been with us for over a year. … We’ve run at 100-percent capacity of our well field this summer.”

He said the answer is not so much a new water tower as a new water supply.

“We need to make sure that Brockton Water never flows through our pipes again,” Vess said.

“I’m going to make sure on that,” Howard said.

PCH tear-down

The PCH demolition is overdue and likely to cost more the longer the facility is allowed to further deteriorate, voters were told. The annex building was partially razed into its foundation and encapsulated in plastic last week as an emergency measure after it collapsed.

“Each day, each month, each week, each year we let this go on it just costs more,” said abutter David Soper of 176 High St., a former selectman who had also served on the last PCH Reuse Committee. “Times have changed. There are developers out there who aren’t willing to take chances like they used to. It is time that we take this building down and move on and let Hanson close this chapter.”

The $1.8 million cost of the project, which will go out to bid, would include removal of the foundation and hazardous material — including asbestos, and PCBs contained in caulking — are also factored into the cost.

Selectman Bruce Young noted the sale of some tax title properties as well as the Streeter house on the PCH property would go toward reducing the cost to the town.

Young also explained that, in regard to the recreation director, a salary of $50,000 per year was approved at the May 2016 Town Meeting. The $35,000 sought in the article Monday reflected a six-month salary of $25,000 plus benefits. The ultimate salary would depend on the hours and pay grade negotiated between the town and the person hired.

Honoring Mann

Before getting underway the 118 voters convened in Town Meeting observed a moment of silence in honor of former Town Moderator Charles Mann.

“This is our first Town Meeting in a very long time without [him],” Moderator Sean Kealy said. “He started his public service back in 1963 when he got elected to the school board.”

Mann was Hanson’s state representative and moderator for many years.

“He was a great friend to me, one of the very first people I got to know when I moved to town,” Kealy said.

Kealy also offered public thanks to, and led a round of applause for, the public safety and school officials who ensured school children’s safe transportation home during a search for suspects in the Sept. 29 home invasion incident.

HALIFAX — Area residents filled the Great Hall of the Halifax Town Hall for a Water in Distress forum sponsored by Rep. Thomas J. Calter, D-Kingston, and Rep. Josh S. Cutler, D-Duxbury, Saturday, Sept. 24.

The standing-room-only crowd came to hear the many facets of the water situation, with Cathy Drinan, health agent for Halifax and Plympton, also representing the Monponsett Pond Watershed Association; Marianne Moore, Executive Secretary of the Monponsett Watershed Association; Jack O’Leary of Plympton, Chairman of the newly activated Central Plymouth County Water Commission, and Pine DuBois, Executive Chairman of the Jones River Watershed Association.

Calter began with an overview of the emergency legislation during a drought in 1964 that allowed Brockton to increase the level of Silver Lake, which has supplied Brockton with water since 1899. To do this, West Monponsett Lake would be dammed at Stump Brook, its natural outfall to the Taunton River, to force the water to flow backwards, through East Monponsett Lake, then to Silver Lake. This unnatural flow appears to be a major component in the stagnation of West Monponsett and the algae bloom of toxic cyanobacteria. Coupled with the huge increases in water demand by Brockton over the five decades since 1964, damage to West Monponsett Lake may be nearing irreversible, he said.

Calter said he wanted to bring together people who know the science behind the situation so a solution can be found.  Two Brockton city councilors also attended to learn about the concerns of Halifax, Hanson, and Pembroke citizens. Calter introduced Councilor at-Large Winthrop Farwell, Jr., and Ward 6 Councilor John Lally as friends of the negotiations.

Cutler, whose district includes Pembroke and Hanson told the assembly, we are all neighbors.  “We want to find a solution we can all live with,” he said.

Health Agent Cathy Drinan cited the measures that the Town of Halifax has taken to reduce phosphates in West Monponsett Pond which feed the  cyanobacteria.

Septic systems within 100 feet of the Lake must undergo complete Title V certification each year, cranberry growers have reduced the amount of fertilizer applied to the bogs when runoff goes into the lake; for cranberry growers to fertilize their bogs when the sluice gate is open to allow runoff to flow back to the Taunton River and not into the West Pond. Drinan outlined the grants she and the town of Halifax have applied for and received to treat West Pond with alum to bind with the phosphates and make them unusable as food for the toxic bacteria. DEP this year recommended a heavy alum treatment that will cost more than $400,000. The City of Brockton would need to contribute to the cost in order to make that happen, Drinan told the group.

Marianne Moore, who lives on the shores of East Monponsett Pond, is the executive secretary of the Monponsett Watershed Association, asked those present to become more active and aware, because even a small number of people can be heard, and legislators were very cooperative and eager to hear and help.

“Until four years ago, I had lived my busy little life – why would these legislators want to listen to me?” Moore said. “We reached out to them and they came to us — these four little people from Halifax. I believe the problem can be fixed.  I hope you all will become a little more active, more aware, of the active issues and try to keep moving the issue forward.”

Jack O’Leary, Chairman of the Central Plymouth County Water District Commission formed in 1964 encompasses eight communities: Brockton, East Bridgewater, Whitman, Hanson, Pembroke, Kingston, Halifax, and Plympton, to preserve the pre-existing recreational uses of the ponds … hunting, fishing, swimming, boating.

O’Leary has educated himself on the dangers of cyanobacteria and their toxicity.   

“What they are,” O’Leary said, “are single celled organisms mid-way between plant and animal.”

They have some chlorophyll in them so they react to sunlight by blooming and they are present everywhere, in every pond. It’s when they “bloom” and grow uncontrollably, and reach cell counts above 70,000 cells per milliliter, that they reach what the DEP considers to be toxic or harmful to humans.

O’Leary told the audience that stagnant water is a prime factor in cyanobacteria bloom.  He furthered that taking too much water from the ponds and reversing the flow of water from West Monponsett Pond leaves many areas in West Pond virtually stagnant, encouraging the algae bloom. If Brockton reduced its dependency on Halifax and Pembroke ponds by using other methods available to them, such as the Aquaria desalinization plant in Dartmouth, the ponds could be helped back to health.

“Our commission is answerable to all of our communities,” O’Leary said, and is working to protect the ponds.

As far as the health affects of the toxic bacteria, it can cause rash where it touches the skin.  He also told that he has read about cows that died after being allowed to drink water laden with cyanobacteria. There is also a new potential health affect – it appears that in communities that live around ponds with cyanobacteria infestation some long-term health affects are appearing due to the algae becoming airborne,  “which only makes it more urgent that we address this problem.”

Pine DuBois from Kingston, Executive Director of the Jones River Watershed Association, said what we are trying to accomplish is to make people aware of the dangers of diverting too much water.

The Jones River is the largest river draining into Cape Cod Bay. Silver Lake today is 5 feet down. As water is drained, the natural well springs collapse and they are gone for good, she explained.

“What we do to the environment day to day, matters to the people who come after us. So we really want to straighten out this problem,” DuBois said. “As I’ve explained to my friends over there from City Hall, Brockton does not have the ability to divert 30 million gallons a day from Monponsett Pond anymore.  They simply can’t. If DEP allows them to do that, they will not be living up to its obligation to protect the people of the Commonwealth and the environment.”

The drought is predicted to continue.

“So what can we do about it?  We cannot, nor should we, divert from Monponsett Pond or Furnace Pond into Silver Lake,” DuBois said. “Since 1964, there are so many more people living in this area, it’s not sustainable for them to be Brockton’s water supply any longer.”

Brockton spent an enormous amount of time, energy, and money – as did the rest of the Commonwealth – developing the Aquaria desalinization plant 20 miles south of Brockton on the Taunton River estuary.
From June 15 to Aug. 15, Brockton took 4 million gallons of water a day from Aquaria, then stopped.   

“In my humble opinion, they should be taking that 365 days a year,” DuBois said.  “Four million gallons a day would reduce the take from Silver Lake.  They take 10 million gallons a day each and every day from Silver Lake.”

In 1909 it was less than 2 million. By 1955 it was 4 million. By 1964 it was almost 5 million. By 1981 it became 18 million.

The issue was lack of attention to infrastructure, DuBois explained. The pipes are over 100 years old — and leaking.

Brockton had 30,000 people then and now, 116 years later, a city of a hundred thousand people cannot count on drawing its water from these ponds.

“Brockton should be using Aquaria and Brockton should be working to tie into the MWRA and we should be doing everything in our power to help them do that,” she said, to a large round of applause.

Silver Lake, to support this effort, can give Brockton a couple of million gallons a day, she said.  Not much more than that.

“You can’t take 30 million gallons a day from a six square mile resource and expect to sustain your population. I believe that the City of Brockton needs to reassess their finances to save their water resource. They need to use Aquaria and in the long run it would not be more expensive than using Silver Lake.”

She stressed Brockton should also be working toward getting onto the MWRA involved.

“Not a little bit in, but all in,” DuBois said. “Let’s start working on that now.”

HANSON — In just a few weeks, Barbara Meiggs of Hanson will be 101 years old.

Friends, family and members of the selectmen and congress were among those who attended a special pre-birthday event at the Meeting House Lane community room Tuesday. Selectman Bill Scott presented the Boston Post Cane to Meiggs.

Hanson state Rep. Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, presented her with a citation from the General Court and representatives of state Sen. Mike Brady, D-Brockton, and U.S. Rep. Bill Keating, D-Mass, were present as well as Veterans’ Agent Bob Arsenault and Town Administrator Michael McCue.

The tradition so honoring the oldest resident in town has been recently reestablished at McCue’s suggestion. He had presided over such programs in Mansfield and Avon — where worked with North Easton Savings Bank, which had started a program to replace missing Boston Post canes as a public service.

Jim Alfieri who was the presenter on behalf of the North Easton Savings Bank spoke briefly on the now-reinstated historical tradition.

The cane program was founded by the defunct Boston Post newspaper in 1909 as a promotional project. Canes made of ebony with gold grip and tip, for 700 towns in New England, including Maine, Massachusetts New Hampshire and Rhode Island.

No cities were included in the program, according to the Maynard town website, but some present-day cities were still towns in 1909.

In replacing the Boston Post Canes, Alfieri said it was discovered that the 700 original canes that were given out exclusively to male residents. Eventually women were recognized as the longest-living citizens in the 1930s, and thus were allowed the awarded canes.

Meiggs formerly of Whitman, was born Oct. 27, 1915. She graduated from Whitman High School at age 18. She was married to husband Carlton for 67 years. They raised two sons Russell and Weston.

Director of Hanson Multipurpose Senior Center Mary Collins told Barbara that her life has been inspirational to others. The center threw a 100th birthday party for Meiggs last year.

“If you ever want to see the most sparkling set of blue eyes… look no further than Barbara,” Collins said. “I believe the list of adjectives that best describes Barbara is absolutely endless. Inspirational is the strongest word. … I have had the pleasure of knowing Barbara for eight years and in that time I have witnessed her inspiring others.”

Many years of volunteering among the list of qualities she assembled in a life well lived, she said.

Collins quoted an essay from Ralph Waldo Emerson that she felt described how Meiggs lived her life.

“‘The purpose in life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.’ I believe this is truly how Barbara has lived her life.” Collins said.

Meiggs was a longtime volunteer at the Jordan Hospital starting in the late 1970’s at the receptionist office and eventually having a hand in the Bonnets for Every Baby program. Her hand knit bonnets were officially a welcome into the world for hundreds of infants over the years.

HANSON — Business owner and decorated World War II Army Air Corps veteran John J. Ferry was saluted for “a life well-lived” during the dedication of a memorial square in his honor Sunday, Sept. 11.

Ferry operated a gas and service station at the corner of Liberty and Winter streets for 50 years before his death on Dec. 20, 2015. John J. Ferry Square is now located at that intersection, next to the business his family continues to operate.

“We honor a common man, a working man, a family man, a man of God, a good neighbor — John Ferry,” said keynote speaker, retired Army Brig. Gen. Emory Maddocks, noting that Ferry had enlisted in the Army in 1942, the same year Aaron Copeland composed “Fanfare for the Common Man.”

Maddocks said he was honored to speak, and happy the occasion was not memorializing a person killed in war at a young age, “But rather to honor a gentleman who lived a full life in service to his country,” he said. “We gather today to honor a life well-lived.”

Ferry’s son Jack thanked the crowd gathered for their tribute to his father.

“If dad was here I think he’d shake his head over the fuss everybody’s making,” Jack Ferry said, noting he was a bit nervous about speaking. “He’d say, ‘It’s just another day, what are you worried about,’”

Jack Ferry also said the family had calculated that his father had driven by the corner somewhere in the neighborhood of 105,000 times in the 50 years he worked at his station, and thanked all those who helped organize the event.

The 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks was also on the minds of those in attendance.

“We pray for those who tragically lost their lives and for all those who continue to suffer the loss of their loved ones,” offered the Rev. Michael Hobson, pastor of St. Joseph the Worker Church, where Ferry was a communicant. “Today, we are especially mindful of the blessings that you’ve bestowed upon us in our local community of Hanson as we remember John J. Ferry — a man who gave of himself in so many ways in service to country and community.”

Ferry’s friend Jerry Coulstring Jr. of Hanson American Legion Post 226 outlined that service, which included 79 combat missions as a gunner on a B-25 medium bomber in the China-Burma-India theater of operations.

Coulstring recalled Ferry telling him he had to “get over there” and do his duty when war came.

“He just didn’t realize how far ‘over there’ would be,” Coulstring said. “‘Over there’ took him across Europe over to Burma.”

The rotation policy was supposed to send crews home after 25 combat missions — Ferry’s 79 exceeded that by more than three times, averaging three to five hours each in duration.

“He’s always been a hero to me,” Coulstring said.

His efforts —more than 300 hours of combat action — earned Ferry the Air Medal and Distinguished Flying Cross.

“I was proud to call him a friend and hold him in the highest esteem as both a hero and a great patriot,” Coulstring said.

Maddocks, too, spoke of Ferry’s military record, enlisting at a time when the Allied victory was far from certain, and recounted the service Ferry dedicated to his community after opening his first service station.

“John provided old-fashioned, Norman Rockwell, small-town service in capital letters,” he said. “This was a family business and his customers were neighbors and friends.”

Friend in deed

When those neighbors and friends ran into tough times, Ferry helped out.

“He became part of the economic foundation of his country, his commonwealth and our town,” Maddocks said. “John employed people … he paid his taxes, he was active in the community and became part of the fabric of this little town. … John would fix cars, sometimes, for nothing.”

He did a lot of things to help people get to work on time when times were tough.

“He’d give people gas so they could get to work and support their families,” Maddocks said. “To John, there was nothing more noble than somebody who worked for a living and tried to raise their family.”

A dedicated member of St. Joseph the Worker Church, Ferry was known to “bump somebody on the back of the head with a basket” if he thought one of his friends hadn’t dropped enough into the collection, Maddocks said with a laugh.

State Rep. Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, presented Jack Ferry with a citation from the General Court, state Senate and Gov. Charles Baker. Selectmen Don Howard, James, McGahan, Bill Scott and Bruce Young also attended the ceremony, which was presided over by Veterans’ Agent Bob Arsenault.

Arsenault and Jack Ferry then unveiled the square marker. Wyman’s Nursery donated the mulch for the garden area.

Hanson resident and former firefighter Donald Teague played bagpipes prior to the ceremony and performed “Amazing Grace” following Hobson’s closing prayer. Singer Mary Renny performed “God Bless America”  as a plane trailing a banner — reading “A true American Hero John J. Ferry” — circled overhead, before those attending were invited to a collation, catered by A Fork in the Road of Bryantville,  in the Ferry’s Sunoco parking lot.

Representatives from the Hanson American Legion, the Fire, Police and Highway departments assisted with preparations for the ceremony, display of a giant American flag and traffic control.

HANSON — Selectmen have voted 5-0 to amend language in a warrant article on the Oct. 3 special Town Meeting warrant to fund a recreation director position for January through June 2017.

Selectman Bruce Young said a professional recreation director should be hired, as Town Meeting voted to do in 2015, under the Recreation Commission as it stands.

The original wording of the article sought to authorize selectmen to issue a request for proposals for Camp Kiwanee management.

“This other Recreation Commission is down the line if it happens, that’s a whole other ball game,” he said. “Don’t get confused by the words ‘goals and objectives.’ … We agreed to consider it. We never agreed to adopt it.”

Young said that was the cause of his reaction to seeing the article in the warrant at the Aug. 23 meeting, and he apologized for his behavior when he walked out of that meeting.

“The timing of that article could not have been worse,” Young said. “We’re addressing that concern right now.”

Young’s amendment changed the article to request that Town Meeting transfer $35,000 from Recreation retained earnings to fund the recreation director position for the remainder of fiscal 2017 under the control of the Recreation Commission.

Town Administrator Michael McCue noted the change only provides funding unless or until Selectmen or a reconstituted Recreation Commission chooses to go forward. McCue would interview applicants, forwarding a list of recommendations to a Recreation Commission for a vote on hiring.

“It puts it on the table,” said Wes Blauss, noting Kiwanee is already fully booked for weddings in 2017. “We could at least start looking to 2018, restoring some balance.”

The Tuesday, Sept. 6 vote, greeted with loud applause, was among a handful of adjustments to the warrant — including the incorporation of two groups of articles and the deletion of two school repair projects — that Selectmen Chairman James McGahan stressed is normal practice for the warrant review process.

“I get a sense that most people think these articles, as they are written, are what they are,” McGahan said. “That’s not the case. The language of these articles changes … what they are, are place-holders that hold a spot so we can modify the language as we get closer to Town Meeting.”

The Selectmen’s vote on the recreation director position followed McGahan’s PowerPoint presentation on what the Open Space and Recreation Plan’s goals might accomplish. After his presentation, questions and comments from the overflow crowd in the Selectmen’s meeting room were then taken.

“There has been much said about this and it’s taken on a life of its own,” McGahan said. “There might be some confusion toward this article with the ongoing investigation that’s going on at Camp Kiwanee. Essentially, I’ve been told that the timing is bad. That’s on me.”

McGahan initially suggested the article should be pulled. But he later agreed with Young’s suggested language change.

A former Recreation Commission member, Kevin Cameron, expressed concern that, even as a half-year salary, $35,000 might be too low.

“I come from the hospitality industry, so I know of what I speak,” he said.

During his presentation, McGahan stressed that he was assigned to work with the Open Space Committee on a plan for the town, which would allow Hanson officials to apply for grants, once that plan is filed with the state. Meetings on the goal to review the current recreational and parks committees set by a previous Board of Selectmen in 2008 were held, including public visioning sessions on June 22 and Aug. 1.

“We had a goal here and the goal has been lingering for seven years,” McGahan said. “It made sense to me.”

Beach Director Margaret Hickey said she did not understand the consideration of the new goals, as the Recreation Commission has been doing its job.

“Why add another couple of groups to the mix? I just think it would make it more complicated,” she said.

McGahan said a new director would still be hired because Town Meeting voted for it last year.

Each “town department and stakeholder organization” was invited to the visioning sessions, he said, but the Recreation Commission members said they never received that invitation. McGahan noted that the June and August visioning sessions were also advertised to the public in the Express.

Communication
error

Former Recreation Chairman James Hickey said he never received an invitation despite holding regular meetings with McCue.

McGahan said the invitation had gone to previous Recreation Chairman, David Blauss, adding that the Recreation Commission was responsible, as all town boards are, to inform all other departments of changes in their officer organization.

“When you went to the June meeting and didn’t see Dave Blauss or any other member of the Recreation Commission members, a simple text — you knew I would be there,” Hickey said of the selectmen and McCue he has been in contact with by phone.

Former Recreation Commission member Susan Longergan also noted that in 416 meetings she attended, Selectmen never attended one until December 2015.

“You couldn’t pick me out of a crowd and I’ve been on the board for 16 years,” she said. “I’ve never seen this plan. … We have never written a letter [about reorganizations], we have never known to write a letter, so maybe this board could have come to one of our meetings and said, ‘Hey, we’re looking for a letter from you, where is it?’”

Many residents speaking at the meeting expressed concern over the suggestion that a vendor be hired — as one of three possibilities, including a town hire or a contractor — to manage Camp Kiwanee.

“I think that is what makes it a scare — that it would lose its identity,” Diane Cohen of Pleasant Street said of an outside vendor’s ability to hire its own staff.

“I don’t think the people who volunteer their time are as concerned with the risk as they are with the reward,” another resident said. “You give it to an outside person, they have no connection to it. … It becomes a money-making venture no one has any ties to and then all it is, is functions.”

Questions were also asked about how a recreation director would be overseen.

“Who would do the hiring of this person and how would we be sure it would be someone who would advocate for recreation?” a resident asked.

McGahan said the Recreation Commission would do that, saying at that point he supported withdrawing the article.

“I think the timing is bad, and I didn’t see that coming,” he said.

McGahan assured residents the current Recreation Commission would be invited to be part of the new panel, but that the commission’s mass resignation of the current commission is a problem.

“We’re not talking about doing away with the Recreation Commission,” McGahan   said. “We’re basically better managing cabins, functions, weddings, security and business. It changes the way we do things, but still puts control with the Recreation Commission.”

The Board of Selectmen would appoint the new commission, as in the past.

The board also approved Young’s request to change the Memorial Field Commission article to request a change, by the legislature, from elected to appointed membership in order to preserve that board instead of incorporating it into any expanded Recreation Commission.

“The Veterans’ Agent assures me that, if it moves in this direction, that there will be people willing to step forward to be appointed by the Board of Selectmen to oversee this,” McCue said. “It’s probably the best solution for this issue.”

Selectmen’s Administrative Assistant Meredith Marini explained the other article changes came at the suggestion of the town accountant in an effort to streamline the Town Meeting process. School repair articles formerly numbered 20-28 were merged into a matrix under Article 18 and two articles regarding the Middle School univents and a rooftop unit at Indian Head School were deleted until May, as they were not yet on the district’s capital improvement plan. Funding sources were also changed for articles regarding the Water Department and a septic project at Camp Kiwanee.

WHITMAN — Expecting a 75-percent turnout for the Tuesday, Nov. 8 presidential election, Town Clerk DawnVarley has asked for, and received, Selectmen’s support for safety procedures she plans to institute at Town Hall on that date.

The measures have been used before in high-turnout elections and center on restricting parking and charitable solicitations.

Varley said she had already discussed the moves with Town Administrator Frank Lynam, Police Chief Scott Benton and Council on Aging Director Barbara Garvey.

The deadline for registering to vote in the presidential election is Wednesday, Oct. 19.

“I urged everyone to register to vote,” Varley said.

With final details concerning use of the Council on Aging bus still to be finalized, Town Hall employees and election workers will be required to park at the police station on Election Day to free up Town Hall parking for voters. Employees and election workers will be shuttled to Town Hall.

Parking along South Avenue from Day Street to the center of town will be limited to a half-hour on a temporary basis.

“We have 10,000 voters now,” Varley said. “The only thing that could cut [traffic] down is something new that’s going on — early voting.”

The 150-foot “no electioneering” rule around Town Hall will be enforced, including fundraising efforts by Dollars for Scholars and other groups.

“I usually let people inside for other elections — like the Mothers Club and things like that — but this time I’m not going to allow any solicitation,” she said. “I think it’s too much traffic.”

She stressed there will also likely be exit pollsters and poll watchers present, over neither of which she has any control.

Benton said he agreed with the parking restrictions and noted he will add a “floating” officer to the detail usually assigned to the polling place on election days.

Early voting is also in place for the first time this year and Varley has asked the Finance Committee for $2,000 to cover those costs, as she is asking some of her election workers to help with that process between Monday, Oct. 24 and Friday, Nov. 4. She said the state has not yet released the needed forms, envelopes or details of what the process will entail as yet.

Early voting will be conducted in the Town Hall Auditorium and Varlet plans to provide locked ballot boxes to keep ballots secure. While the law only requires early voting to be conducted during Town Hall hours, Varley plans to be open Fridays as well as from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 29.

The state is providing incentive grants to encourage towns to provide extra early voting hours.

Municipalities with between 5,000 and 10,000 voters can get $500 to be open at least four weekend hours, with a $50 bonus for each additional two-hour increment they stay open during the weekend, according to Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin’s office.

Absentee voting will also be conducted as usual.

Varley also reminded residents that 16-year-olds may register to vote, even though they cannot cast a ballot until they turn 18.

“They’re trying to get the voter numbers up, but it just adds pressure to my office because we have to keep track of them for two years,” she said. “Who knows if they’re going to be in the same location in two years?”

Anyone with questions on their registration status, order absentee ballots or other election concerns may visit sec.state.ma.us.ele.

The town has received 34 applications for the assistant town administrator’s position, all based on an online posting before the position is advertised in print.

“We have a lot of interest in it,” said Selectmen Chairman Carl Kowalski. “We have a lot of qualified people that have showed some interest.”

The application deadline is Sept. 22.

Selectmen opted not to fill Selectman Lisa Green’s open seat based on the time constraints for a special election. The board members felt the could continue with the vacancy, created when Green resigned to apply for the position of assistant town administrator.