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Hanson eyes busing article

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HANSON – The October special Town Meeting ballot will include a space-saver article addressing a potential change in school transportation costs.” Town Administrator Lisa Green said.
The town will seek some guidance on the issue before its Tuesday, Aug. 29 meeting.
“We’re going to have to figure out transportation,” she said of the need to transport a student to Norfolk County Agricultural High School. “I need to fashion an article that’s going to provide that extra money. … This is going to cost the town about $54,000.”
Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett asked if Green has checked with legal counsel as to whether the agreement in question with the school in question includes busing.
“Did I not read that there was an article for out-of-district busing thoroughly being contemplated by the legislative body?” FitzGerald-Kemmett asked.
Green said she didn’t know if it would happen in time, before the beginning of the school year on Aug. 30.
“I want to bring to the board’s attention a situation that came to light today,” Green said during the Tuesday, Aug. 15 meeting. “It has to do with transportation for a student.”
“That’s a lot of money,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. Initially hesitant to entertain the issue, she asked if it pertained to the Town Meeting warrant.
“Information was brought to my attention today regarding additional money that we’re most likely going to have to expend on transportation per student,” Green said, explaining there had been an issue pertaining to the town having to pay transportation costs for one new student from one new location to the school.
“It was brought to my attention today that the situation continues” she said. It leaves the town in a situation of having to figure out student transportation and where the money is going to come from. She said she needed time to write the article that is aimed at proving that need while she works with the town accountant to prove the need for it.
“I did make a call to DESE (the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education),” regarding what we can do regarding the situation,” Green said. She was expecting a call back from them.”
Town Accountant Eric Kinsherf said that when the numbers become known they can be entered into the agricultural line item.
“I’m curious,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “I’m seeing a lot of money articles in the warrant, and I’m curious as to whether you think if we have the money to pay for all of these?”
Kinsherf said he didn’t at that time, as he is in the process of closing the books. He said he would know more when he got an initial look at free cash.
“It just struck me as a lot of money for an October Town Meeting,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said to the agreement of other board members.

Maquan Street
The town has receive some good financial news recently.
Green announced that, thanks to the efforts of Hanson’s state Rep. Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, and state Sen. Michael Brady, D-Brockton, a fiscal 2024 budget earmark of $100,000 has been received to finance a subsurface enginering work on a water pipe below the road surface – which had delayed progress on the road work being funded through the MassDOT Transportation Improvement Project (TIP) program.
The subsurface work is required because of where the pipe, which supplies water to Abington and Rockland is located. Those communities were not interested in joining Hanson in having the engineering evaluation done, Green said.
“That was huge,” she said. “So a very big thank you to our legislators for helping us obtain this money.”
“Fortunately, our legislative partners stepped in and put in for an earmark of $100,000 and the governor just signed that budget, including the $100,000,” she said.
That engineering study can provide the town the green light to move forward on the $13 million road project funded by state grants.
A $90,000 grant,provided by the Mass. One Stop for Growth program and applied for by Planner Anthoney DeFrais, has been received by the town to begin engineering work on the pedestrian improvements at the Hanson Commuter Rail station on Main Street/Route 27.

What’s new at WHCA

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WHITMAN – If the work being done to upgrade the studio equipment at Whitman-Hanson Cable Access TV were a reality show, someone might have arrived, cameras in tow, to “surprise” the staff with the work being done in 48 hours or so.
They’d be giving interviews on the arrival of their benefactors about how much they needed an upgrade, only to be “surprised” as truckloads of equipment arrived shortly afterward with everything they ever hoped for – and some things they never thought of – to make WHCA the envy of the local broadcasting world.
But this isn’t “reality” television, and while the work being done at the WHCA studio on South Avenue in Whitman has taken more time than they’d like, Executive Director Eric Dresser said Monday he expects everything to be up and running by September.
“It’s more than just a redecorating, indeed,” he said.
Income received from cable subscriptions and internet Zoom, while use of that streaming platform has been peeled back of late, fees have financed the upgrade.
“It’s been wholly funded by WHCA,” Dresser said of the cost. “This is really what the capital money that comes down from Comcast is for. It’s part of the capital funds that come [to us] from your cable bill.”
It allows people to come in and create a show, as well as the cost of bringing in experts for locally produced programs in keeping with WHCA’s mission statement to “entertain, inform and educate the public” through the use of modern technical equipment, and training.
“We’re really trying to simplify the access,” he said. “You bring the talent, we’ll handle the tech.”
Then the goal will be to find people in the community who have something they want to talk about, host a show or appear on a show.
The work had been paused during COVID as everything went to Zoom and the resulting supply chain kinks delayed it a bit more, Dresser said.
“We had been talking about our capital plan for quite some time, and Zoom kind of turned everything on its head.”
Dresser said they found Zoom still has its uses, such as a platform for bringing in subject matter experts during meetings they broadcast.
“You can have the [experts] come in without having the logistics of having them drive down,” he said.
COVID also pointed to the fact that they were creating a lot of programs that were “basically vessels for a singular idea” rather than a series of shows.
“We’ve created a bunch of programs here that people can plug into like that,” he said [See related story, Page one]. Some of those are event-related like a recent best burger contest in Hanson.
“We just hope that the studio turns into another super-easy turnkey place for people to come to and do programs,” he said, whether in-person, virtual or hybrid.
He was speaking to members of the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) at Whitman Park during the Boston 25 Zip Trip on Friday, Aug. 11 and he explained to them how WHCA could meet with them on Zoom, help develop public service announcements and calendar bits and longer interviews they can use at meetings or to promote their programs to other DAV chapters across the state.
In fact, the pandemic only highlighted the limitations of WHCA’s old equipment that people were already beginning to notice.
“People were starting to prefer to produce out in the field or to bring field equipment into our studio,” he said.
The reason?
WHCA’s studio was only able to broadcast in standard definition, even though its streaming platform uses high-definition. They have been stuck, like cable stations nationwide with standard definition because that is all Comcast would provide.
It’s like comparing an old Kinescope video of the Ed Sullivan Show to your typical cable news broadcast today. Streaming is done at a resolution of 1080 dpi while standard cable broadcasts at 480 dpi. While WHCA records and streams in 1080 high-definition, but has only broadcast over television in 480 because of the limitation of Comcast’s equipment.
“My guess is [Comcast] would have to do pretty significant infrastructure investments,” he said. The scope of that investment in Massachusetts’ 351 cities and towns is daunting on its own.
So what’s new at the studio?
They can use dimming effects with lighting now, where the choices had been only “on” or “off.” Color lighting can also be adjusted so the control room will have a degree of control they’ve never had before, Dresser said.
The control room itself has been upgraded.
“We worked really hard to make sure the equipment that we put in there is the same or extremely similar to what we have in other production locations,” Dresser said, offering the WHRHS equipment as a case in point. “We did that first for a couple of reasons.”
The WHRHS equipment was replaced last year, in part for the student training benefit and in part because of the IT breach at the school last summer. The two select board meeting rooms in Whitman and Hanson had video equipment replaced the year before that with software “95-percent the same” as what was installed at the high school and is going into the studio.
Of course, the old equipment which crowded the control room, but equated to a “yell from a very small voice,” has had to be removed before the new stuff can be put in.
“It did [have the right oomph] at its time, and its not to diminish any of [late Executive Director Steve Roy’s] the work,” Dresser said. “Steve was a wizard at putting all this stuff together. He had a very advanced setup in place here for the early part of the 2010-15 period.”
They also had to coordinate schedules with WHCA’s engineer, who lives part-time in Germany, because he had to remove a lot of wire. A lot of wire. They filled two trash toters with cable.
Some of it has been reused, but some will be offered as well as other discarded equipment to the public at something of a garage sale in the near future, Dresser said. The specific date will be posted on WHCA’s social media, with no reasonable offer refused.
Floors and Kitchens Today in Whitman redid the flooring, including some needed leveling.

SST set to add another member

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HANOVER – Marshfield is one step away from becoming a member of the South Shore Tech region, and another community has also expressed interest in exploring such an opportunity.
The Commissioner of Education approved the amended regional agreement with Marshfield, Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey reported to the region’s School Committee on Wednesday, July 26.
“[This] is the final step in the lengthy process that all of our communities and the town of Marshfield participated in,” Hickey said. “We’re in the process now … of some paperless method by which we will have a representative from each of our towns sign the document, as well.”
It all becomes official with the commissioner’s signature and all of the amendments will be approved and Marshfield’s membership in the district confirmed, effective July 1, 2024. The amended agreement will be posted on the district website southshore.tech.
Hickey said he also gave a tour SST in mid-July for Pembroke town representatives.
Pembroke formed a regional planning committee at their spring town meeting to “begin the process of having their own conversations about the merits of seeking to join our school district. The committee was made up of Pembroke Public Schools officials, a parent representative and the town manager.
“It was a great conversation,” Hickey said. “They asked a lot of great questions about the process [of joining the region], and about our plans going forward.”
He said the next step would be to activate SST’s regional planning subcommittee should Pembroke wish to pursue the prospect of joining SST.
“I was pleased to be able to have them,” he said.
While it is summertime, Hickey also said the district is “not taking its foot off the accelerator” in its plans to renovate and expand the school.
“Since the close of the school year, we’ve had multiple visioning sessions with our project manager, design team and consultant,” Hickey said. “Visioning sessions are opportunities for parents, students and staff to talk about what we would like to see in a new school. … We’re pushing to think about the design of the school and what we value in the school.”
The visioning sessions were recorded and are being posted on the website: southshoretechproject.com. Hickey said it is typical for school building projects to use a web address separate from a school district.
“You want to house all the important video archives and documentation in one location,” he said. “We will start work with the design team on taking the vision and putting it into an educational plan.”
The School Building Committee will ultimately include that educational plan so the design team can see what the district’s priorities are and begin to put it into various models for the expansion/renovation.
“We’re still a long way off from knowing that we’re going to do this design at this price, however, we should be able to start getting a picture of that close to the end of this calendar year,” he said. “The conversations will become less abstract and the options will become more clear.”
The website will also contain feedback from participants in the visioning sessions.
A series of School Building Committee meeting dates will be posted at a rate of about one per month, from August through December, with the August meeting devoted to what is going into the timeline over the next six months.
School officials and members of the School Building Committee will be making a site visit to Cape Tech in Harwich later in August, as SST’s architectural firm was the firm that built Cape Tech in 2015. A second site visit may be planned for early September.
“If we’re going to talk about how we prioritize what we value, it would nice to be able to set in a structure that represents some of what has probably been adopted by other schools,” Hickey said.
SST has a late September deadline for its first submission to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), which will include the educational plan.

Hanson hunters sniff out dog license issue

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HANSON – Kennel regulations and infield dirt for Little League baseball fields [see related story, page 12] may be among the articles on the October Town Meeting warrant. The Select Board reviewed the specifics of the two pending articles at its Tuesday, July 25 meeting.
Animal Control Officer Joseph Kenney took a bite out of explaining an article to change section of the canine control by-laws to bring kennel licensing regulations in line with state law.
Town Administrator Lisa Green said the initial discussion was requested through her office regarding changing the by-laws governing kennel licences. She said the discussion made clear who the participants are going to be and they could work toward determining if an article could be made ready for the October or possibly May Town Meeting,
“I was looking to change it from a four-dog kennel license to a five-dog kennel license,” said Select Board member David George. “You know Hanson’s a big hunting town, a lot of people in Hanson hunt with dogs.”
He noted there are two types of hunting dog – retrievers and upland game dogs.
“One’s for ducks and geese and the other’s for pheasant and quail,” he said. “I don’t hunt both .. I do ducks, so if you’re a guy that hunts both upland game and waterfowl and say, you’ve got two German short-haired pointers that you use for upland hunting and you have a Labrador retriever for your duck dog, well, at some point in time, one of those dogs is going to have to retire and you’re going to turn it into a house pet.”
He said just because a dog can’t hunt forever, does not mean owners who hunt would be willing to put a dog down for that reason, it would become a pet, George reasoned.
“Dogs are not just dogs,” Select Board member Ann Rein agreed. “They’re part of the family.”
“You might need to bring another dog in,” he said, noting it could take a year or two to train a new hunting dog. “I’m not saying that you’re going to have four dogs all the time, but you might need to cycle one in and have four dogs at one time.”
The same could be said for one of the dogs a hunter uses for upland game.
“It would be nice if somebody wanted to, they could do it legally and have four dogs without going around the system, which I’m not saying I know anybody that does …,” George said.
Kenney, who described himself as an advocate for hunting as well, said his only concern was there are already people in town who hunt, as well as those who simply own dogs as pets, and have more dogs than they’re supposed to have.
“The Chapter 140 laws that the state writes for kennel licensing requires anything over three dogs” to obtain a kennel license, Kenney said. “It’s up to three. You get the fourth dog, you have to get a kennel license. That’s a state law, even if they’re your own dogs.”
Mass. General Law is worded in a specific way, talking about owners of “less than four dogs, may elect to secure a kennel license,” Green explained. Hanson By-law, Section 7 says “any owner or keeper of four or more dogs.”
The town has gone one above what the state law says, according to Green, who added that written application to the Zoning Board of Appeals for approval is needed. The ZBA may impose certain restrictions and the Animal Control officer, who does inspections, then issues the kennel license.
“There’s a lot of steps and this is good as an open discussion for what direction to go in,” she said.
Kennel licenses also change hands along with a house when property is sold.
“I don’t think we can go above the state laws on it,” Kenney said. “What we can change is the process of getting that applicants to make the change. I think making the process as easy as possible, but I don’t think we can change the number of dogs.”
Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett asked what kind of changes he was looking for, to which Kenney said his main focus was on making things simpler and faster.
George asked if that included inspecting homes to determine the number of dogs. Kenney said the house would have to be inspected to determine whether the dogs are not kept in conditions not appropriate for them as well as having the ZBA determining if your zone is appropriate for four dogs, or even more.
“It’s a good discussion, I learned a lot,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “But, unfortunately, we didn’t get anywhere.”
She suggested there is more the Select Board office needs to do in order to have a conversation on the matter, including an opinion from legal counsel as well as obtaining information on what other towns are doing.
“I must admit, I thought it was Mr. Kenney proposing this,” she said to Green. “I would appreciate in the future having a discussion about what’s being placed on the agenda like this.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett said she agrees with George and Kenney that the licensing process should be made as possible for people to license their dogs so “we don’t have this weird stuff going on” because people might be trying to hide their dogs.
“It protects other townspeople … because more people would, in return, do the right thing and register those dogs.” Kenney said.
FitzGerald-Kemmett asked Green to meet with George, Kenney and someone from the ZBA to see what can be done to cut through some of the red tape involved.
“This is just an initial discussion to get a feel from the board,” Green said.

Hanson revisits forensic audit

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HANSON – Town officials have been seeking a forensic audit of the regional school district since the statutory funding formula began to be used to calculate assessments, but there have been no takers in reply to request for proposals (RFP) issued several times for the work.
Town accountant Eric Kinsherf knew consultant Mark Abrahams, who had made a presentation on the formula Abrahams to the Select Board on Tuesday, July 11. Abrahams indicated he is willing to conduct such an audit for Hanson.
The Select Board voted 4-0 to have Kinsherf approach Abrahams with a scope of work for such an audit. Vice Chair Joe Weeks was absent.
Town Meeting had voted to allocate $120,000 to conduct the forensic audit after the Select Board had approved it, but Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett wasn’t sure of the status since Randy LaMattina is no longer serving on Whitman’s Select Board.
“I would think Whitman would want to partner on this because we’re both users of the Whitman-Hanson school system and we’re funding the school system,” she said.
She did ask what Abrahams would charge if Hanson decided to go it alone on the audit.
“The original RFP was everything but the kitchen sink,” Kinscherf said.
“Which might have been why nobody responded,” said Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett.
Kinsherf came up with some bullet points based on Abrahams’ questions, which he shared with the board to see if there was anything it wanted Abrahams to look into.
“Basically, this wouldn’t be an audit, it would be agreed-upon procedures of engagement,” he said, noting it would outline what the board wanted him to do and send a report on his findings. “He’ll do a five-year look-back into excess and deficiency.”
Kinsherf said he wanted to narrow the scope to reviewing costs that have a direct affect on Hanson including revolving funds, but that details of all expenses were not necessary as it would not be a financial audit.
“I thought a salary review could be limited to comparison with towns with similar demographics,” he said. “What does W-H pay their teachers and how does that compare with other regions with similar demographics.”
Grants would only be included to the extent that they affect Hanson’s assessment, as well as other “relevant expenses,” such as food service, transportation, IT and building should be looked at in comparison to other districts, as well.
“I think that that is spot-on from what I remember us discussing before,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “Definitely one of the things people have expressed concerns about is some of the compensation packages.”
The source of one-time spending, historically, was also a question as well as whether it has ultimately been built into the budget were also concerns.
“We’re not dealing with the real numbers if you are using one-time funding and then, when you give us the assessment the next year, you’ve built in what was supposed to be one-time funding,” she said.
FitzGerald-Kemmett said she understands the need for one-time funding, but more clarity concerning what’s happening with it is needed.
Kinsherf said he would draft a scope to incorporate the items discussed and will forward it to Abrahams to get a cost estimate for the work.

Meeting notes

  • Strategic planning consultant John Manning reviewed his work for the town’s financial planning efforts.
  • The Board voted to open the October Town Meeting warrant. Deadline for submitting completed articles is noon on Aug. 7 via email in Word format or Excel. Articles requiring funding sources must outline those sources and must be provided to the Finance Committee. Capital items must go to the Capital Improvment Committee and Town Accountant for approval.
  • The Board voted to approve $418,801 in ARPA funds for the Maquan School demolition. the balance of the $936,666 will come from borrowing. Up to $1 million had been approved by Town Meeting.
  • A list of Maquan inventory remaining in the school was declared surplus by the board. Auctions International has been contacted to auction the more than 250 items. Town departments have also been advised they may take any items they can use.

Whitman reviews strategic plan

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WHITMAN – Strategic planning is already paying off.
Select Board member Shawn Kain provided an update on Whitman’s strategic plan during the board’s Tuesday, July 11 meeting.
“It was actually really helpful for me to go through this – working with [Town Administrator] Mary Beth [Carter] and some of the team – to go back and thoroughly look at the strategic plan, and look back over the time that we’ve been here and figure out what progress that we’ve made and where we need to move forward,” Kain said. “I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how much progress we have made toward strategic plan.”
The five-year planning window spans 2022 to 2027 and has five focus areas: Finances, public policies and infrastructure, economic development, citizen services and schools.
Finances speak to the responsible and sustainable aspect of services the town wants to provide to the public with initiative goals of providing financial policy, a process through which residents can be informed of how much and when new revenue is needed, an accurate financial and capital forecast, and enhanced communication with all educational partners.
“It’s pretty obvious that we’ve made significant progress,” Kain said. “We have adopted a financial policy and used it to guide the budget process – we’re still getting used to that, but we have actively done that over the past year.”
Whitman has also dedicated funds to contract with a consultant on financial forecasting and has enhanced communication. Todd Docuoto was also hired as the facilities manager and he has conducted an “extensive facilities assessment” to give officials a better understanding of the town’s capital needs.
“We have also committed to working together with the schools … earlier in the budget cycle and develop that process earlier so that,” he said. “As far as that first pillar is concerned, we’re definitely making good progress.
A new DPW building project, approved at Town Meeting and at the ballot box is a “huge step” toward the goal of replacing the deteriorating facilities that department is working in.
Professional assessment of ongoing facilies, such as a completed sewer main project, downtown infrastructure improvements such as underground utilities and high-speed internet, will benefit from having a full-time facilities manager.
Economic development “speaks to an enhanced downtown infrastructure, community engagement and communication of benefits and tradeoffs, establishment of a Chamber of Commerce and competitive MassPIRG grant application submittals, according to Kain.
“We’ve definitely made some progress toward this imitative, but we may want to target some areas in the near future,” he said. “We’ve applied for a grant to update under the Master Plan.”
That took place a few months ago and that project is in the works. Assistant Town Administrator Kathy Keefe has also met with the Old Colony Planning Council (OCPC) to discuss available grants that the town would be eligible for in that area.
Kain said he thinks there will be a couple.
Carter and Select Board member Justin Evans have applied for another MassPIRG grant to cover the town side of the South Avenue corridor project.
“That’s a significant project, so there’s a good chance that we’ll have grant money to cover the town’s side of that project,” he said. The town has also qualified for an EPA Brownfields Assessment Grant which also pertains to the South Avenue corridor.
“That area of Whitman seems to be, when you think about it, [where] some of the new businesses that we’re bringing in – so, good economic growth, good infrastructure, working with the state to get multiple grants that can help us achieve our goals – so I think there’s some big progress.”
Whitman is also working with OCPC to develop an affordable housing plan with the goal of increasing affordable housing by 10 percent and to do “a lot more flexible zoning.”
“The one area we may want to pay attention to is the establishment of a Chamber of Commerce,” Kain said.
Select Board member Laura Howe expressed enthusiasm for a Chamber of Commerce idea.
“The Brockton Chamber of Commerce is excellent,” she said, asking if that was the type of group Kain had in mind. “It’s immensely helpful … to people. I used them a long time ago and it was really informative. They were very welcoming.”
He said he has reached out to business owners in town who have that type of experience.
“I think with just a little bit of organization, we could have one,” he said.
Kain said communication might also be an area on which to concentrate materials can be produced to give residents a better picture of the budget and the town’s finances.
Where the schools are concerned, Kain said the town “took from their strategic plan and embedded that as part of our strategic plan,” Kain said.
It helped them institute all-day kindergarten, even as they have other goals still in the works and plan to update their strategic plan, he noted.
Chair Dr. Carl Kowalski asked Kain if he would be willing to give an annual summer update on progress with the town’s strategic plan. Kain agreed, reiterating the value in the “reflective process” of reviewing what has been accomplished and what is left to be done.
“I think it’s a really healthy part of what we should do,” he said.

Whitman Little League holds graduation day

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The Whitman 12U Little Leaguers celebrated the end of the season June 23 by graduating from the Little League Field and were presented with custom sweatshirts with their name and number on them. They are now on to play on “The Big Diamond” next year.
The Home Run Derby came down to the wire between Dylan Dias and Malia Kahoalii. Dias ripped a pair of Dingers in the Final to earn the title of “Home Run Champ”
Whitman American All Stars led by Coach Doyle then battled Whitman National All Stars led by Coach Tele. The players had some fun requesting their favorite Walk-Up Songs! Whitman National came out on top. The Minors also hosted an All Star Game and had some fun brother vs brother moments and all around fun times.
There was even the First Game of the Williamsport Tournament under the lights that featured Whitman-Hanson vs Cohasset. Will we see one of these teams on ESPN in August at the Little League World Series?!
A huge thank you goes out to The Little League Families, Sweetie’s Shaved Ice, Papa Gino’s, The Fans & The Whole Community that came out to make this a special night.

July 4th Family Fun in Whitman Park

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STAR-SPANGLED BIKES — Some clouds and rain were no match for the patriotic spirit of these entrants in the annual Bike and Carriage Decorating Contest during Tuesday’s July 4 Family Fun Day in Whitman Park. Balloons were a popular addition to the traditional use of flags and bunting this year. See more photos, Page 6.
Photos courtesy, Whitman Recreation Commission/Michelle LaMattina

Whitman PD Civil Service hires OK’d

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WHITMAN – The Select Board approved Police Chief Timothy Hanlon’s request to make conditional offers to police candidates on the Civil Service list on Tuesday, June 20.
Hanlon had requested, and was granted authority to call for the list on May 23, as he anticipated the need for an additional officer to address staffing concerns.
“We do have a need for an additional two officers [to replace those] who are going to retire in the next few months,” he said about the approved call for the list.
There were 13 candidates who signed the list, indicating they would accept a position.
“We started at the top, and concentrated on the first six candidates and they are all spectacular,” Hanlon said. Civil Service rules require that to request two, which Whitman did, “We are basically bound to the top five, but if someone washes out, or has something in their background … you can pass them over for another candidate. That is not the case here.”
He gave a short outline of each candidate, but recommended the first three. Roger Kineavy has been with the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office for about four years. A Marine veteran, the Whitman resident grew up in Weymouth and has also been a corrections officer. Joshua Kelleher, a lifelong Whitman resident, graduated from WHRHS and Bridgewater State University. He presently works with the Barnstable Department of Natural Resources and a volunteer with the West Barnstable Fire Department. A little farther along in the hiring process for the Environmental Police, he has said he would accept a position there if it opened first. Alyssa Andrews, a resident of Whitman since 2002, she is a WHRHS and SNHU graduate. Her college degree is in criminal justice and she is currently employed by the TSA at Logan and volunteers at the Pine Street Inn in Boston.
He recommended conditional offers of employment to the first two candidates and Andrews be offered a conditional offer should one other candidates be unable to meet the conditions of employment or decline the offer.
The board approved the appointment of John Cannizzo as auxiliary administrator for the Whitman Police Department, for a one-year stint effective June 30. His position as an auxiliary officer himself would terminate on June 20.
The position pays for the actual hours worked, usually about 24 hours per week, at the same rate as he had before.
Kevin Shantler, president of the Whitman Police Union, however, said his union opposed the appointment of Cannizzo, as he is a nonunion part-time employee as a special police officer who has been decertified by the state’s police reform law.
“Since Cannizzo is no longer a certified police officer, the union stipulates that only a certified police officer should oversee, train and schedule other police officers, including auxiliary officers,” he said.
The union also argued the job opportunity should have been put out to the public for interested applicants and a proper interview process should be held.
Shantler said Cannizzo is currently under internal investigation centering on allegations by another auxiliary officers, and, as the union believes, he performed vehicle maintenance as well as his stated job as an auxiliary officer. Considering him for the position could send the wrong message. The union recommended continuing tabling the issue of appointing Cannizzo until the internal investigation is complete.
Hanlon said he is more than qualified, has experience and would be working under the supervision of higher-ranking officers.
“I would see no reason to hire anybody else for the position, number one, and again, he’s held the position and done the job,” Hanlon said. “We tabled this last time to hear the union’s issues and, they’ve been heard. … and they haven’t been dismissed, but at the same time, they haven’t been validated, either.”

Seniors are briefed on scams

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WHITMAN – Online scams are big business in our technical world, and the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office wants residents – especially seniors – to know how to spot them and what to do about them.
At the top of the list is for seniors to understand that Social Security will never call you on the phone about any problems, they will send a letter by mail unless you have called them first and requested a callback.
Plymouth County is currently the target area for grandparent call scams.
“We’ve been telling people to have a codeword with their grandchildren, so, if anything were to happen and there’s an emergency – there’s a codeword,” said Lori Sullivan of the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department Outreach Division. “It’s happened in Hanover, Hingham … a lot of towns throughout the county.”
The most common scams being used against consumers in Massachusetts are currently identity theft (20 percent); imposter scams (13 percent); credit bureau scans (8 percent) or online shopping scams (8 percent).
Whitman seniors received pointers on avoiding scams from Sullivan and Becky Lee and during their presentation on detecting and defending against fraud at the Whitman Council on Aging. The program may be viewed on WHCA-TV or its YouTube channel.
“One of the biggest ways people try to attack your information is online through your computer,” Sullivan said, advising some important steps including checking your security software and virus protection regularly.
Imposter scams are those calls in the middle of the night from people posing as a loved one in trouble, tech support fraud or someone purporting to be from a government agency.
But there are pre-emptive steps people can also take to protect their information. Seniors were also cautioned to:

  • Check reviews of websites/retailers you do not recognize before buying anything;
  • Use a strong password and do not save passwords on your devices;
  • Never respond to unsolicited emails;
  • Do not send personal information on a public network; and
  • Make sure your personal information is permanently deleted before disposing of a cell phone or computer.
    In the event one clicks on a scam popup ad, Sullivan said click on “control-alt-delete” to turn your computer off immediately without clicking on any other keys.
    “When you turn the computer back on, that will be gone,” she said.
    When people click on such scam ads, a lot of times someone can remotely access your computer, Sullivan explained.
    “If you’ve saved passwords on you computer, now they can access that, too,” she said.
    Sullivan also repeated the caution against giving out one’s Social Security number, including the fact that one is not required to fill in the Social Security blank on any form – even at your doctor’s office.
    “We’ll talk about five scams today, and there will be five more tomorrow,” Lee said.
    People with online banking are advised to only carry the credit cars they use regularly and keep them in an RFID case;
  • Protect Social Security numbers;
  • Review all bank and credit card statements to ensure all purchases are legitimate;
  • Shred documents listing personal information;
  • Review credit card reports every year or enroll in a credit monitoring program service; and
  • Prevent credit reporting companies from reporting your credit file information at www.optoutprescreen.com to prevent unsolicited offers for credit cards or insurance programs.
    Lee and Sullivan also went over the procedures to follow if you have been the victim of online fraud, or a company with your information has been hacked.
    A federal site reportfraud.ftc.gov walks you through the steps you need to take as well as a format of a letter you might have to send to your bank.
    Personal safety programs
    “It’s a fabulous program that is underutilized because you all say, ‘I don’t need that yet,’” Lee said of the Safety Assurance Plan, especially those elders who live alone, as participants receive a call between 6 a.m. and noon as selected by each participant. “It takes about 20 seconds. They’ll ask you if you’re OK. If you’re not OK you’ll let them know that there’s a problem and there’s an officer sitting right there, listening to the entire conversation to make sure that you’re OK.”
    If an elder says they need help or don’t feel well, the officer will get on the call to determine what type of services are required.
    “Recently, a woman in the process of a stroke was on the phone [and] he could tell she just didn’t sound right,” Lee said. “As he was talking to her, he was getting in touch with emergency services and she’s alive today because of that phone call.”
    An ambulance and paramedics arrived at her door while the officer was still talking to her.
    Lee said “I don’t need that yet” is the number one excuse against participating, followed by seniors saying their family or a neighbor always checks in.
    “What if this day, they didn’t?” she asked. “They’re going to feel terrible for the rest of their life and it’s a simple, quick phone call.”
    Check-in calls are made seven days a week, making three attempts to reach a participant, or one of three other people you can list in the event you are not able to take a call. There is also a number to call for pausing check-in calls if you plan to travel.
    “It has nothing to do with your age,” Lee said. “It has everything to do with the fact that you live alone and that there’s no one there to know if something happens.”
    The TRIAD program, involving town committees formed by police, fire, sheriff’s department, the DA’s office and Senior Center representatives to discuss issues of importance to a community’s elder population.
    “Not every Senior Center is involved yet, but we’re trying,” Lee said of the county-wide program.
    One recent program presented by TRIAD demonstrated how to use a fire extinguisher, which not everyone knows how to do, even if they own one. Sullivan added that not everyone is aware that fire extinguishers expire or that there are different types of extinguishers and people should make sure they have the right kind for their home.
    The Safety Net program serves people of all ages who have cognitive disorders, from autism to Alzheimer’s. There is a cost for this program, and for more information, those interested should call 508-830-6200.