WHITMAN – Now that Whitman has a new town administrator in Mary Beth Carter, the work begins on finding an assistant administrator.
“Now that we have a town administrator, I think we need to move to get the assistant in place sooner, rather than later,” Select Board Chair Randy LaMattina said at the Tuesday, Feb. 21 meeting.
He suggested a small committee, consisting of a couple of selectmen, a department head and Carter, undertake the screening interviews after the job is posted
Vice Chair Dan Salvucci asked if the board was interested in looking at an assistant administrator or going with a previous suggestion of changing plans and hiring a human resource officer.
“I think we’re going to go back to the ATA,” LaMattina said. “But, I guess we should probably discuss that.”
Salvucci agreed that an assistant administrator would be the best option.
“When down the road, it’s time to retire, it’s part of your job to teach the person – that is, your assistant – to be able to take over, if that’s our choice,” he said. “I’m always one for promoting from within.”
But he suggested “extending the position” to include other things such as grant-writing and in this day and age, a human resource officer can be very important.
“I’m wondering if a person can do both,” he said.
LaMattina said grant-writing and human resources were included in the desired skill set of the original ATA position.
“I think the job, combined with the town administrator job is complex and is multi-layered,” Select Board member Shaw Kain said. “I have full faith in [Carter’s] leadership, that for me, I’m primarily going to be leaning on your recommendation – your skill set, the skill set that’s necessary to do the job.”
He said that identifying the person who can work best with Carter is the recommendation he’s looking for in an ATA.
Select Board member Justin Evans, who served on the last two selection committees, said the HR director/grant writer position didn’t draw quite the same pool of applicants as an ATA.
“At least my experience over the last year and a half doing this, we got a bigger candidate pool when we put it out as an ATA even though it was larger skill sets we were looking for,” he said.
Evans and Selectman Dr. Carl Kowalski volunteered to serve again on a search committee as did Fire Chief Timothy, along with Carter.
Salvucci asked if administrative assistant Laurie O’Brien should also sit in on interviews since she would work closely with the new ATA.
“I don’t like the idea of somebody working under somebody hiring them – their potential boss,” LaMattina said.
Kowalski said he wanted to hear Carter’s preference for the search.
“This is going to be your crew,” he said.
“I was thinking of an assistant town administrator that would have grant-writing [skills],” she said. “I would like to see grant-writing and procurement as well as to help me with the other duties that I have, as well, on my plate, and some human resource work, as well.”
She said the town had done that in the past.
Carter will compose and post the job description and salary range for the board to review and vote on at its next meeting. The committee will review the applications and chose some candidates to interview with an eye toward recommending, through Carter to the board, for final interviews.
COVID update
In other business, Clancy, in his regular COVID-19 update, said that as of Feb. 21, there had been an additional 41 cases in Whitman out of 313 tests conducted – for a positivity rate of just over 13 percent.
“It’s only gone up four people from the previous week,” he said. “We seem to remain constant in that area. We haven’t had any significant spikes, but we have been climbing.”
He said the COVID team is monitoring the situation closely and will advise the Select Board if anything drastic changes.
Civil Service list
Deputy Police Chief Joseph Bombadier received the board’s approval to call for a Civil Service appointment list for two new department hires.
The potential hirees have served in part-time roles at the department since 2017 – Robert Hoey is a 13-year as a supervisor at Massasoit Community College as well. Patrick Hickey has been working for the department as a reserve officer, filling in shifts.
“They’re both great candidates,” Bombardier said. “They both meet all the criteria and we’re asking for you to move forward with the process. … They’re the only reserve officers we have left and, after they’re gone off the list, we don’t anticipate ever having reserve officers come back because there’s no mechanism in place anymore because of the post commission. There’s no part-time academy.”
Comfort dog
The Select Board also voted to accept the Police Department’s proposal for a community resource dog.
“This is a project we’ve been contemplating over the last couple of years,” Bombardier said. “We think there’s some value in having a community resource/comfort dog.”
He said the move is growing in popularity among police departments for its value in addressing the need for communication with some communities, such as autistic people. Hanson has had one for about a year, and Plymouth and Hanover just obtained comfort dogs.
Whitman is working with the same company that Hanson did – Golden Opportunities for Independence (GOFI), of Walpole – which provides the dogs, provide training (a two-year process) and takes care of initial medical expenses for the dog.
Bombardier said a resident has approached the department about donating some money toward the project, a $5,000 donation that would cover about 25 percent of the cost, and the Plymouth County DA’s office has grants the town could apply for to help further defray costs.
“They have assured us we will be at the top of the list for an upcoming grant [$5,000], if we so choose,” he said. The other half of the cost would need to come from fundraising, but Bombardier said other departments have said the public is more than willing to donate.
The dogs live with their handling officers and retrofitting cruisers is less expensive than police dogs, which must be in running vehicles for the air conditioning when they are not working. Comfort dogs are only in the vehicles long enough for transport.
Police Chief Timothy Hanlon wants to award the handler’s role through a bid process with criteria officers need to meet in order to apply.

The wheels on the bus may go round and round, but budget dollars are needed to grease the wheels, and the question school district and town officials are grappling with is where those dollars will come from and how they will be spent.
The School Committee, discussed transportation costs, school start times and the effect changes might have on the budget during its on Wednesday, Feb. 15 meeting. No decisions have made on the issue yet, as the governor’s budget is not expected until March 1. Incoming governors receive extra time in which to compile their inaugural spending plan.
School Committee Chair Christopher Howard noted at the Wednesday, Feb. 15 meeting, that the conversation was a continuance of summer discussions and Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak’s goals for the year, as they heard a presentation on how both issues effect the district budget.
“Tonight is all about trying to share a little bit of a plan, or a potential plan for how the district looks at transportation, which would include start times, as well as how we transport both mandated and non-mandated students,” Howard said.
He explained he had received several emails concerning a vote on school start times that evening, which did not take place, but stressed it had never been included on the meeting’s agenda.
“That may happen,” he said, explaining committee members could always make a motion during the meeting. “But it’s a transportation update in the superintendent’s presentation.”
Committee member Dawn Byers argued the emails could have been a reaction to a previous budget presentation centering on three transportation and start times scenarios the committee might consider.
Szymaniak said some numbers included in the original presentation and discussion about start times had been incorrect.
“We have adjusted those in the budget package we’ll be talking about later,” he said. “This is, by no means, the be-all-end-all.”
The presentation inclusion of language from regional agreements (1991 and 2018); School Committee transportation policies; MGL CH. 72 S.7A; current transportation procedures; inconsistencies in the procedures; options and recommendations and how start times effect transportation.
“We are under the ’91 agreement, but I think it’s important that I clarify what was in the 2018 agreement that we voted and has been taken back in being passed over in Whitman,” Szymaniak said.
The 1991 text of the Regional Agreement requires the district to provide student transportation with the cost apportioned to Whitman and Hanson as an operating cost, with the committee determining each year whether the district will fund non-mandated busing. In 2018, the agreement was revised to define which students come under non-mandated busing, requiring the School Committee to subtract transportation reimbursement from cost to the district, with the remaining cost apportioned to the towns based on student population.
He said if the Committee makes any changes moving forward in this fiscal year, it would have to change policies governing bus scheduling and routing, walkers and riders, the school bus safety program and student conduct on buses.
Among the inconsistencies in busing policies, all Hanson students qualify for a bus ride to school, but Whitman students do not; Whitman’s school route maps are outdated; Non-mandated bus zones differ from state guidelines and Whitman uses crossing guards but Hanson does not.
Options to consider include busing all kindergarten students; discontinue busing all students living within 1.5 miles of a school, regardless of grade level; allow Hanson to continue its current busing all students policy; allow Whitman to bus students according to the state guidelines of between .75 and 1.5 miles of a school; change the walking distance to agree with the state guidelines; and busing all students living within 1.5 miles from a school.
“If we bus all kids, Whitman numbers go up $28,000 and Hanson numbers are actually reduced [at about $46,000],” Szymaniak said. “These are different numbers, but I think it’s clearer and it buses all our kids and we don’t have to worry about “routed” roads, we don’t have to worry about sex offenders, we don’t have to worry about using crossing guards
Szymaniak’s recommendations were to bus all kids.
The district is currently budgeted to spend $1,671,748.24 on mandated busing and $264,041.76 for non-mandated busing. The split between the two towns for mandated busing is 60.6 percent – or $1,013,246.61 – for Whitman and 39.9 percent – or $658,506.63 for Hanson. The cost for non-mandated busing is divided by town as Whitman paying $211,270.41 and Hanson contributing $52,671.35.
Reducing the non-mandated radius for busing to a half-mile or less radius from a school would mean only 94 students in the entire district would be affected, Szymaniak said. The total cost for Whitman would be an additional $7,593.07 over fiscal 2023. For Hanson’s nine students the added cost would be $964.42.
That number increases to about 935 students if the radius is expanded to 1.5 miles, which would mean an additional $221,268 for Whitman and $45,447 for Hanson.
“That’s almost a break-even of where we’re at for total non-mandated busing for this year,” he said.
The number of kindergarten students is unavailable right now. He argued that towns would be “financially OK.”
“It’s not a huge increase,” he said. “It’s much better than what we used to send the towns when we did the per-pupil piece. This is all based on mileage and it works out for our district costs.”
Committee member Fred Small asked what the cost difference would be to bus all Whitman students.
“It seems like it would be negligible,” he said.
“It would be,” Szymaniak said. The estimate is that would cost $17,000 more then the $211,000 it is anticipated to cost Whitman for the proposal.
“To me, it’s a win-win if the town can save money and we can provide transportation [to all our students],” Small said.
Committee member Dawn Byers asked for clarification between the two busing scenarios for Whitman.
Szymaniak said the difference was between grade levels included in the options and whether the non-mandated busing limit is a half-mile from a school or all students are bused.
“My recommendation is we bus all kids,” Szymaniak said.
She also indicated a precise number of buses and ridership that are included in the $1.769 million to First Student would clarify that no buses are being added.
The division of cost within the Regional Agreement surrounding mandated busing also concerned her.
“Whitman is paying a substantially large cost of this transportation when we only have 43 percent of the riders,” she said comparing that with a traditional 60/40 split based on population or 43 percent of Whitman students actually riding the bus compared to 57 percent in Hanson.
Member Glen DiGravio asked if the aim of no walkers in Hanson applies to his son who is “right down the street” from the school he will attend next year.
“He can walk if he wants,” he said. “I see walkers all the time.”
“He can choose,” Szymaniak said, noting that the numbers include eligible riders.
“I’m trying to understand,” member Michelle Bourgelas said. “If we’re trying to get everyone to ride the bus, how are we not needing more buses?”
Szymaniak said the district has never told towns how to fund it by a percentage split between towns, instead using a per pupil basis, based on mileage.
“Whitman has always taken ownership of their [non-mandated] students, and Hanson has always taken care of theirs,” he said. “The Regional Agreement Subcommittee is talking about that busing language and is bringing it back to their boards.”
Whitman Select Board member Shawn Kain, who is also a teacher and parent, said he wants to see more students walking and fewer on the bus because it is healthy exercise and well as money-saving to walk – and exercise also helps social-emotional interaction between kids.
A parent who had attended a previous School Committee meeting because of the length of bus rides in Hanson and that effect on student’s behavior, said she has already noticed an improvement on the bus ride. It has gone from about an hour to a half-hour.
“There are less issues,” she said. “My children are home quicker because there isn’t an issue with bus drivers knowing where they’re supposed to go.”
She also said there is more consistency of drivers on the route.
Hanson Select Board member urged all boards and committees to make decisions with an eye toward 10 or 15 years down the road, when they may not be serving anymore.

WHITMAN – Facilities Manager Todd DeCouto asked the Select Board on Tuesday, Feb. 7 to consider hiring an additional full-time maintenance person for town buildings, as he described an stutter-step approach to the maintenance work in town during the years he has worked there while other town departments are experiencing custodial and maintenance needs as well.
“I can talk about how maintenance has started to warp since I started about 15 years ago to where we are today,” DeCouto said. “It’s been a big change.
His responsibilities when he began working for the town were to maintain Town Hall, including cleaning and snow removal. At that time, there were also part-time maintenance workers at the library, Police Station and the Council on Aging. After three years, those positions were eliminated, and the work combined under DeCouto’s job description.
A full-time maintenance person was hired about three years after that, which made his job a lot easier, he said, even as he still had responsibilities for some work in the other buildings.
“Then that dissolved and I went back to taking care of all the buildings,” he said.
An outside company was then hired for a couple of years, DeCouto outlined, as he remained the contact point for department heads.
“That dissolved, and then it fell on me, again,” he said about another three-year period during which he averaged about 60 hours per week, aided by a part-time associate on the weekends who helped with snow removal.
“Now, with the position that I’m in, the part-time maintenance associate went into the full-time union, but it’s a lot of buildings to cover for one person,” DeCouto said.
While the Police Department still has an outside company come in three days per week for the building that takes a minimum of 30 hours a week to clean and maintain, DeCouto said his job is still difficult.
“It’s definitely not a want, it’s an absolute need,” he said of his request for another worker. “I know money’s tight, but it’s definitely something we do need.”
He said a full-time hire at-will person could fill the need, as well, doing custodial work at the library – which is a 20-to 25-hour job – and the Senior Center is another 10- to 15-hour job.
“To be truthful with you, we probably need a full-time and another part-time, but, I know that’s not going to happen,” DeCouto said.
Vice Chair Dan Salvucci asked if there was anything in the library, police or senior center budgets from which funds could be used to fill the positions.
“If the Police Station is hiring outside, and we eliminate that and hire somebody for the town that would take care of the Police Station … does one offset the other?” he said. “I’m just asking.”
Police Chief Timothy Hanlon said part of the issue is control.
When they’ve needed DeCouto he’s been able to come in, but some of the outside vendors the department has used were also doing work at the DPW, Council on Aging, Library [and] no one was certain where they were or what they were doing, Hanlon said.
“When they came in a bare minimum and showed up, we were kind of thankful,” Hanlon said. After the pandemic the department determined they needed someone on a more permanent basis, which is what we did, and they’re working out fantastically, so I don’t want to change that as far as custodial service goes.”
Maintenance, on the other hand, is lacking, he said, saying that as the 11-year-old building ages, more maintenance needs will crop up. DeCouto said the station’s backup cooling system has failed a couple of times and needs to be replaced and the HVAC control systems need to be upgraded.
The town is barely keeping up with the needs of the library, Town Hall and senior center to “give them the attention they need – that they deserve.” DeCouto said.
Select Board member Justin Evans asked if the department’s outside cleaning service was CARES Act or ARPA-funded or built-in to the budget. Hanlon said the funds were built-in.
Fire Chief Timothy Clancy said his department has been “single-handedly” keeping DeCouto busy during that week, as well as ongoing projects.
“The problem becomes, he’s only one person,” Clancy said. “I think Todd will agree, I can probably keep [him] busy 40-plus hours a week, just at my station.”
Chair Randy LaMattina asked DeCouto to put together a job description and salary ranges so the board could further discuss it at the next meeting. He said the market is tough for finding someone qualified to perform the maintenance work the town needs.
Interim Town Administrator Frank Lynam said the reality of the situation is that this is not a year to add [personnel].
“I can’t remember the last year that was a year to add,” he said. “But we’ll address the needs as best we can.”
“I just want to put it on the radar,” DeCouto said.
In other business, the board reached a consensus against supporting a request to place vending machines at Memorial Field to be used by teams that play there.
Lynam said he had some minor concerns centering on the installation of power and the potential for vandalism, which has been seen there from time to time. He reached out to DPW Parks and Highways Superintendent Bruce Martin for his opinion and he had similar concerns as well as the potential for empties being left strewn on the ground.
“I’m just not too sure it’s worth taking that step,” he said, noting most kids today bring their own reusable bottles of beverages to drink such as water or Gatoraid. “My observation is, it’s a solution looking for a problem. I rarely see kids unprepared for a couple hours of baseball.”
LaMattina said his concern was that the request was coming from a private vendor instead of one that would roll over funds into a town league. Lynam said his understanding was it would do that.
“It seems like a highly motivated guy who’s willing to do a lot of work to make something like this happen,” Select Board member Shawn Kain said. He said, while it doesn’t seem like exactly the right fit, with the right connection with an organization like WSBA, a solution could be reached.
Lynam said he has seen a lack of respect for facilities at Whitman Park.
“It’s sad,” he said. “I’m not adamantly opposed to it, I’m just not sure it’s a good idea.”
Hanlon said town security cameras can provide a limited view of the area.

HANSON – The Select Board on Tuesday, Jan. 31 reviewed the recent strategic planning session held at Camp Kiwanee with consultant Ann Donner of Ann Donner Consulting in West Newton.
A citizen’s survey had been conducted earlier last year to “lay the foundation” for the November session, according to Select Board chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett. Donner has also interviewed the Select Board members, department heads and other stakeholders in town to gauge opinions on plan priorities.
“This is not a document, or even an effort that’s set in stone,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “This is a placeholder and then it’s an organic document, going forward. We’re constantly going to be updating this to reflect where we’re at, but we need to start somewhere.”
Donner was brought in to determine where that somewhere would be.
She focused on the key strategic areas developed as part of the November session and a possible framework through which those goals could be achieved through the draft document.
The five areas identified were: public facilities; public programming and recreation; economic development; citizen engagement and town administration.
“These strategic priorities are very reasonable,” Donner said. “This grew from … the citizens’ survey and out of the discussions with the Select Board, with the Department Heads and reflect a synthesis of what can we do in response to the priorities we heard that people value.”
There are high-level initiatives identified for each goal, for example, a five-year matrix for facilities to understand the state of facilities so the Select Board can convene a summit to identify and prioritize public facilities while improving internal and public communications about the projects and the outcomes envisioned.
“For every goal or priority there are stakeholders,” she said. “It’s like asking ourselves who needs to be involved … to make these things happen?”
Resources needed to achieve initiatives in each goal area are also listed.
The Economic Development goal aims to initiate and promote economic development as a way of mitigating tax increases while providing first-class services to Hanson residents.
Increasing traffic through MBTA use was one of the preferred outcomes.
Hanson has also wanted to involve more people in town government by filling volunteer positions and boosting Town Meeting attendance by developing and publicizing a table of board and commission openings, a mentorship program for new members and other suggestions among others.
“The thinking outside the box was really evident in this conversation,” Donner said.
An HR department and retaining town employees are key goals of improving town administration.
A reporting schedule for the rest of the year are designed to keep residents informed and to gauge what is working and what is not working.
“I’m looking at all the great work that has been done and I’m saying we’ve got to get on with it here,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. She said it was the first time in her six-year tenure that she saw a cross-section of town officials and departments gathering to discuss the town’s direction.
“We have made some progress,” she said of the hiring of Capital Strategic Solutions to improve communication with residents through the town website.
“We talk every meeting about tactical things we need to get done – and we get stuff done – but we’ve got to take it to the next level.”
Select Board member Ann Rein said a primary focus should be the table of board and committee vacancies.
Vice Chair Joe Weeks said that, once the town reaches 100-percent filled vacancies for boards and committees, they could look to making them more competitive and diverse in membership.
“Everyone here is on several different committees,” he said. “How do we diversify that and keep [membership] at 100 percent.”
Board member Ed Heal said it should be a line item on board agendas to keep the goals before the Selectmen.
FitzGerald-Kemmett asked Town Administrator Lisa Green to prioritize what she wanted to see as a next step.

HANSON – The Select Board heard updates on the MBTA communities program, the licensure of its building inspector and received an update of work being done to overhaul the town website during its Tuesday, Jan. 10 meeting.
Town Planner Antonio DeFrias outlined the states’ alterations to its final guidelines for its MBTA communities program to create multi-unit housing under MGL 40A.
The final guidelines had been issued last August by the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) and had already revised in October.
Changes include community categories, significant adjustments for small towns with no transit stations, changes to the reasonable size criteria, district location requirements and a multi-family unit capacity tool, DeFrias said. The October revisions included modifications to the definition of an affordable unit, allowing communities to set income limits for affordable units of below 80 percent AMI, allowing communities to require that more than 10 percent of units (but not more than 20 percent) in a project be affordable and create an exception to the 20 percent gap on affordable units.
He said no further amendments are anticipated. The town has applied for a $25,000 technical assistance grant to allow it to engage a consultant, such as the Old Colony Planning Council to help create regulations. The state recently released a press announcement that all communities that had filed for the grant would receive it.
“Massachusetts has one of the highest housing costs in the nation,” DeFrias said, adding that it is ranked as the fourth highest. It is also fourth highest for rental costs on two-bedroom apartments.
“There is this need to create additional housing,” he said. “Hanson is considered a commuter rail town. We have 3,960 housing units as of the 2020 census.”
The town would have to create a zone for a minimum of 750 affordable housing units with a required land area of 50 acres. There is about 500 acres of land within a half-mile radius of a transit station, and the state has determined that Hanson has 218 available acres in which to create a multi-family housing zone.
“They’ve created a tool kit,” DeFrias said, noting he has not yet been able to access it. “But that will help me look at and put a finer point on looking at the town, the 218 acres and the area around the transit station and start plugging in information to get us in compliance with the final regs that need to be in place by the end of 2024.”
Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett asked if there was a downside should the town decide it did not want to comply with the program.
“You lose the ability to apply for grants, such as MassWorks grants,” DeFrias said. But he said the DHCD commissioner made it clear what else might happen.
“Don’t think that’s the only grant you won’t be able to get if you don’t do the housing,” DeFrias said. “If you don’t do it, don’t. Hopefully, you’ll have enough money for any issues you have in your municipality.”
But he also made clear what the state was not saying.
“It’s creating the zoning,” he said. “It’s not saying you have to go out and build the units. It’s just creating an area for these units to be built.”
He filed an action plan, due at the end of this month, with the state back in October and it was approved in November. Hanson is in interim compliance until its due date for district compliance, which is Dec. 31, 2024.
“We have to keep the ball rolling,” he said.
On other business, Town Administrator Lisa Green reported to the Select Board that the town recently received a determination from the state licensing agency that Building Inspector Kerry Glass, who was in the process of receiving certification as building commissioner, but the timeline for courses and exams had not “come together.”
He therefore exceeded the 18-month window the state requires for obtaining certification. Green said the town has appealed that determination, but the state rejected that appeal.
“In that same letter they required our building inspector to resign as building commissioner,” Green said.
Glass would still be able to inspect any construction work being done in town, Green advised the board at FitzGerald-Kemmett’s request. He is still able to interpret Hanson zoning laws and provide guidance to any construction going on in town.
“Building commissioner is just one area, which is occupancy permits, Green said. “Mr. Glass can still be our local building inspector, he will go out and inspect any construction, look over anybody who submits a permit for any kind of a building or construction project … he just cannot sign the occupancy permit.”
The board was asked to accept Glass’ resignation as building commissioner and appoint him as a local inspector, appointing Joseph Stack as the building commissioner for an interim period, until Glass satisfies the state’s requirements for a building commissioner. FitzGerald-Kemmett said Glass has indicated he should complete the requirements by May.
The board voted to accept Glass’ resignation and appoint him as local inspector as well as to appoint Stack as interim building commissioner.
“I’m disappointed that the state did not allow you to continue in your position until … May,” Select Board member Jim Hickey said. “Because I really don’t want to accept your resignation, but I will, to keep you local, but I’m not happy about it.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett and Select Board member Ed Heal agreed with Hickey’s comments.
Web site
Capital Strategic Solutions representatives Blythe Robinson, Nicole Figueiredo and Jennifer Thompson virtually attended the Tuesday, Jan. 10 Select Board meeting to outline a proposed and updated social media policy as well as ways to strengthen internal communications for the town.
Robinson said the town made a sound decision in contracting with 2Revise for the town website.
“These days, people do so much electronically, they want to be able to do things with you electronically,” Robinson said. “Your new website can become more of that.”
She said the first step would be deciding on the appearance of the homepage, followed by building a site map.
“You want to make [using the site] as quick and seamless as possible,” she said. Centralizing social media in one location and highlighting every municipal email address and phone number can allow people searching the site by cell phone able to just click on a number and call a town office.
“When people can do those things more easily, they’re more likely to follow through,” she said. Application forms for committee posts are an example of that.
Content must be in compliance with state laws, including ADA and the aesthetic appearance of the site should be updated.
The firm likes to use a layered approach to social media strategies to allow the town to reach the largest possible audience with their social media.
FitzGerald-Kemmett said much of the recommendations are definitely needed. She and Green also said IT Director Steve Moberg is on board with the proposal.
The start-up costs, which are not to exceed $50,000, do not reflect the ongoing – and much lower – costs of maintaining the site.
“This is a very project-specific contract” Thompson said.
“I get a good feeling about working with you because delivered on coming back with specific things I think all of us are excited to see,” Select Board member Joe Weeks said.
The board voted to enter into the contract for the web site services, contingent on Capital Solutions providing additional information on a firmer project plan for immediate portions of the project – overhauling the town website and permitting posting to social media automatically when website is updated.

What to do a about the problem of motorists breezing by stopped school buses?
School Committee member Fred Small is advocating a get-tough policy in which cameras would record the license plate of every driver who passes a bus picking up or dropping off students and reporting them to the police. He broached the subject at the School Committee’s Wednesday, Jan. 11 meeting. Small attended remotely via phone.
“If it’s ‘legal’’ for us to do this, I would love for us to be able to – it’s such a safety hazard and, for me, has no place on our streets, so to speak,” he said.
Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak asked, for clarification, if that entailed placing a camera on the red stop signs that unfold when a bus stops, which records the information and for the district to report to the RMV or police.
“Yes, and we would report every instance,” Small said.
Chair Christopher Howard said several other school districts are also discussing the issue, wondering how big an issue it is, suggesting that Szymaniak could talk to First Student and get the bus company’s view. He was also concerned the other districts were dealing more with city streets or multi-lane streets.
“I don’t know how much it happens here,” Howard said.
“Usually, we would hear about that, and I don’t hear a lot about it,” Szymaniak said.
Small asked if the committee could at least make a start by seeking a consensus among the police chiefs and school resource officers over the legality of such a move.
Member Steve Bois asked what Mass. General Law outlines on the subject.
“That would be the first thing, to allow us,” he said. “Obvioulsy, I don’t want to see anyone blasting past a school bus.”
Vice Chair Christopher Scriven said, while the district wants to do all it can to ensure the safety of students, he said he could not remember the last time he saw someone blow by a stopped bus.
Member Glen DiGravio said he has seen it happen
“All you need to do is look on social media,” Szymaniak said. “Every now and then somebody gets blasted for it. Our drivers would try to flag that license plate if they did, but we don’t have that device.”
Scriven suggested a survey of First Student bus drivers might be a good first step in gauging the extent of the problem.
“If you’re asking bus drivers what their biggest concern is, it’s going to be the motorists who have their head down on their cell phones as they’re driving by them,” Howard said.
Szymaniak said, while cameras are not a bad idea, he doesn’t know if he can contractually push First Student to do that right now, but said it was an issue worth bringing to the committee for discussion.
Member Dawn Byers said she recalled the issue might center around a statewide effort.
“I’m certainly in favor of getting more information about it, but I don’t think it’s something us independently would do,” she said.
Assistant Superintendent George Ferro said there are 24 states where the cameras are legal, but only 12 have taken any action to implement it so far.
“It’s called bus arm stop cameras,” Ferro said, adding he had just Googled it. He and Szymaniak said the district maps bus routes to try and avoid having students cross roadways to get on the bus. He added that the high school parking lot during morning parent drop-off is a bigger problem from a safety standpoint.
“It does get active in the morning,” he said.
Howard agreed more research can be done while the district asks First Student.
“I’m certainly all for the safety of our students,” Howard said. “To me, there’s other things to consider, too.” He mentioned yellow caution light violations and speeding in school zones as well as people texting while driving as examples. He suggested it could be part of a larger brain-storming session on student safety.
DiGravio said a pilot program of Small’s suggestion was conducted in Medford in 2011.
In other business, members of the Student Advisory Council spoke in favor of the budget line item to return foreign language to the middle school curriculum.
“Foreign language has been an invaluable piece of my education here at Whitman-Hanson and being able to continue foreign language into senior year and being able to take a college-level course before I’m even in college has been incredible,” said Riley Getchell, adding it would bring a higher academic standard to the district’s middle schools. “The grades below [us] haven’t been able to experience this and they’re most likely going to see the effects of this in their college applications and not being able to have that advanced level of foreign language.”
SAC member Emma McKeon has a younger brother in the Duval School who’s been asking her to teach him Portuguese because he has a friend who speaks the language. He wants to be able to speak with his friend.
“The elementary schoolers, which is surprising because they are at such a young age there, are really striving to learn these new languages, which I think is amazing,” she said. “It activates all of the different strategies in your brain and helps a lot.”
Khloe Drake agreed that languages help with cognitive abilities.
“Learning these languages at a younger age helps [students] be more fluent,” she said.
Noah Roberts, who said he surveyed other students over the summer on his Instagram account, touched on what he termed a language-adjancent issue.
“As our schools, and our towns in general, have become more diverse with [residents of] different backgrounds and cultures, I think there’s an increasing need to have some type of education on these different cultures to make these people feel more represented,” he said. “What I’ve had is just one basic monolith of a specific parts of American history and not much outreach besides that.”
He said it could also provide outlets for students of other cultural backgrounds to express how they feel.
Vice Chair Christopher Scriven commended Roberts for his work in bringing students’ concerns about inclusion to the committee’s attention.
School Committee members David Forth and Dawn Byers thanked the students for speaking their minds reminding the committee that the high school students were speaking from the vantage point of having had no middle school foreign language instruction because of budget cuts that were made in spring 2019.
Ferro said that Spanish and French were cut from middle school curriculum in 2003 and then, in 2009, it was reinstituted on a limited basis with both schools sharing a single teacher, later hiring another teacher so each school had one.
But, it was still a matter of selecting which students could take a language, Ferro said, because there were more students wanting to take it than there was room for in the classes.
“A lot of it became political, I’m just going to say, and a lot of it became an issue,” he said.

WHITMAN – Former Treasurer/Collector Mary Beth Carter is being offered the position of Town Administrator, it was announced at the Select Board’s Tuesday, Jan. 10 meeting.
The offer is conditional based on the outcome of contract negotiations.
“I have some slightly good news,” Chair Randy LaMattina said in making the announcement that interim Town Administrator Frank Lynam was making that recommendation. “Well, not slightly, I have tremendously good news.
He said Lynam had reached out to a “former employee – a great former employee,” who recently left, noting that the person “absolutely checks all the boxes we could possibly ask for” in a town administrator.
Carter, he said before mentioning her by name, is a proven employee.
“You know where her heart lies – with the town of Whitman,” LaMattina said. He added that she is very interested in the position.
Lynam called her the “best possible candidate out there right now.”
“I think her close to 20-year employment record here, her track record, her knowledge of the budget, her knowledge of our town, her commitment to our town, makes her [someone who] if she was still working for us I could just see this being a transfer from one department to another,” LaMattina said. “It makes sense,” he added, seeking a motion to offer her the position, which the board approved unanimously.
Both LaMattina and Lynam spoke of the struggle to find solid candidates in the town’s ongoing search for a full-time administrator.
Lynam said he reached out to Carter out of frustration with the results of the search.
“It wasn’t for lack of candidates, it was for a lack of qualified candidates,” he said. “Even when we had three to present, we lost one before we even came to the door, and at that point, we held off to try and assess whether this was the right way to go. I really made a leap in even calling her.”
Not only had Carter just left her position in Whitman, she had just accepted a job with the town of Norwell.
“It wasn’t an easy decision for Mary Beth to make, because the same qualities that make her a good manager and a good leader are the ones that challenge her to say, ‘Wait a minute, I just took another job.’”
He said that, if Carter accepts to offer, Whitman will be better off for it. Lynam noted he has worked with Carter ever since she began working for the town in 2005.
“She’s an incredible employee,” Lynam said. “She’s committed, she’s smart, she can do anything.”
He recalled having asked her several times over the years to take on tasks that would not routinely be the responsibility of a treasurer/collector, and without question, he could count on all the boxes being checked.
Vice Chair Dan Salvucci lauded Carter’s work ethic, noting she worked Fridays even though Town Hall is closed that day each week.
“If she needed to be, she was here on Saturdays,” he said.
LaMattina said the focus should be on obtaining a town administrator when Salvucci began outlining considerations for an assistant, should Carter agree to serve.
“I couldn’t be happier,” said Select Board member Shawn Kain. “I couldn’t think of a better candidate [and] I’m really excited that she was willing to come back and work for the town, I think it’s exactly what we need.”
Members Dr. Carl Kowalski and Justin Evans also enthusiastically joined in the endorsement of appointing Carter.
In other business, resident Ken Lailer spoke during the meeting’s public forum to thank for Select Board and Fire Chief Timothy Clancy’s their tributes last month to his wife Marie, who passed away while on vacation — and to ask Select Board, historical boards in town and people of Whitman to try to establish a Whitman historical museum, which he would like to be named in his wife’s honor.
Mrs. Lailer was a dedicated CERT volunteer for many years, beginning as an EMT before she even became a nurse. But another of her passions, he said, was Whitman and its history.
“Her passion was with the old buildings, the research and surveys to place things on national registry, to refurbishing the old cemetery stones in Mt. Zion Cemetery and even … [being instrumental in the restoration of the Toll House sign at Wendy’s,” he said. “I’m here, willing to assist and fulfill her vision, but I will need guidance,” he said.
He added that Marie had written grants for some of the projects on which she worked.

The W-H School Committee, on Wednesday, Dec. 21 discussed the points they want to address during meetings of the Regional Agreement Committee, as the towns’ select boards are also being asked to do.
“We kind of wanted to do it in executive session so both towns weren’t watching what your concerns might be, but we can’t do that,” said Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak. “What we’ like to talk [about] here, or get some thoughts, are what you would like us to focus on as a committee or what your concerns are in the Regional Agreement, so we can have those discussions.”
Fred Small suggested one item that would likely come up is the definition of a capital cost and what is considered an emergency repair vs an extraordinary repair.
“I think that needs to be defined very clearly, especially with the mold incident last year at Whitman Middle School,” he said.
Dawn Byers suggested a discussion of how to handle capital costs in general should be conducted, as some districts place the costs in their operating budgets.
“I think that’s step one,” she said. Transportation is another issue that she said should be discussed.
“I was waiting for that,” School Committee Chair Christopher Howard. “I knew someone has to bring it up.”
Beth Stafford said that the agreement needs to be reviewed more carefully, in order to determine specifically what it needs.
“Just in general, that, to me, has been a problem from Day One with the agreement,” she said.
Hillary Kniffen said language, which determines the makeup of the School Committee’s representation from the towns, should also be discussed.
“If we’re going to put population in, there should be a clause that says you can’t give one town a majority (equal to the 2/3 margin needed for some votes),” she said. “We don’t vote like that anyway, but that’s just going to open a can of worms that we don’t need to deal with.”
The Whitman Select Board had also advocated clarifying non-mandated busing language, including that involving reimbursement of costs, during their Tuesday, Dec. 20 meeting. They also want to include the the statutory funding method in the agreement.
The District also voted to increase the pay scale for Food Services employees.
The lowest position on the pay scale — substitutes — now at $14.25 per hour, will be increased to $15 per hour, in keeping with the state’s minimum wage. The change went into effect Jan. 1.
All other salaries in the department will also be increased by 75 cents per hour to “give it to everyone who’s working in Food Service,” he said of the raise.
The School Committee approved the increase at its Wednesday, Dec. 21 meeting.
“It’s difficult to retain people,” Business Manager John Stanbrook said. “We’ve got some very talented people and we’d like to give that as a raise.”
The increase would be $17,685 for the current fiscal year and $10,316.2 for the rest of the calendar year.
Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak reminded the School Committee that the Food Services budget is self-funded.
“There’s a significant amount of money in retained earnings in that fund,” Stanbrook agreed.
The district’s strategic planning consultant has indicated a willingness to offer a workshop to School Committee members sometime this month, according to Szymaniak.
Assistant Superintendent George Ferro said a group of administrators have already met with the consultant and are forming the rest of a larger team — including parents and students — and the consultant will also be meeting with stakeholders at the individual schools.
He will then discuss what the groups consider their top two or three initiatives, based on the information the meetings come up with, Ferro said.
“Then it’s [a question of] where do we want to move forward?” Ferro said. “It could easily be something where there’s an active participation, or it’s just hear your thoughts on what you think the next five years might mean or need of input for the district.”
Whitman Middle School Building Committee [Chair] Fred Small reported that he met with interim Town Administrator Frank Lynam, Select Board member Randy LaMattina, Whitman town counsel, Owner’s Project Manager John Bates of Colliers and MSBA Director Jack McCarthy and his staff, during which an agreement was reached for the town to maintain its longstanding lease agreement with the school district for use of athletic fields at Whitman Middle School.
“Santa Claus came early,” he said. “It was a brief, very nice meeting. [McCarthy] understands what the town’s concerns are, he ended up saying, ‘I don’t have a problem with that.’”
But Small said unfettered access during construction has been requested and something in writing outlining steps should a repair be needed in the future, MSBA would be able to have the unfettered access they require.
Small also said the MSBA Board of Directors have increased the allowable reimbursement per square foot for projects from $360 per square foot to $393 and site work reimbursement were increased as well. The per-square foot limitations are in addition to the overall reimbursement rates for communities.
“Towns and cities that are in project right now, with signed contracts with MSBA, are getting nothing,” Szymaniak said. “These are for future costs due to inflation.” The increases are tailored for towns like Whitman that have not signed a contract yet.
“We’re right in the right spot at the right time, because some cities and towns are down $10 [million] to $15 million in costs and have to go back to their towns to get those costs.”
— Tracy F. Seelye

HANSON – The Select Board met virtually with representatives of Capital Strategic Solutions of Marlborough on Tuesday, Dec. 13 to describe their services in relation to help with ARPA funds and communication strategies as the board discussed issues that had arisen during a recent strategic planning workshop.

They will return for a further discussion on the issues at the Tuesday, Jan. 10 meeting to further discuss the consulting firm’s communication plan. Police Chief Michael Miksch had suggested the presentation concerning the communication aspect at the town’s recent strategic planning session.

“I love seeing the community transform when people actively become a part of their government,” said CSS CEO Nicole Figeroa is a communications specialist who ha also worked with many area communities. “Local government is a big part of everyone’s quality of life.”

Figeroa’s comment echoed an earlier comment by Select Board member Ann Rein, who expressed a preference for baby steps in the communications plan, rather than a big, over-arching thing because the residents have said enough about how bad the website is and how important it is to them to change it. 

“I think that the [town’s] website and the outreach to the citizens is more important than ARPA,” Select Board member Ann Rein said. “I really, really, really want that website fixed.”

American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), signed into law by President Biden in March 2021, creating the Coronavirus Local Recovery Fund aimed at helping local government pay for their efforts to contain COVID-19. Hanson is eligible to receive $3,196,672 in ARPA funds both directly and through Plymouth County.

Cities and towns have until Dec. 31, 2024 to obligate the ARPA funds and until Dec. 31, 2026 to spend them. Most counties are asking that funds be obligated sooner to ensure all funds are used.

ARPA funds can be used to respond directly to the public health crisis COVID-19; assistance to households, small business and nonprofits and aid to affected industries such as tourism and travel; premium pay for essential municipal employees and offset a drop in revenue to fund government services;  and to make needed investments in water, sewer and broadband internet services.

Hanson is eligible for $1,142,353 in the lost revenue category.

Figeroa stressed that the company is Massachusetts-based  certified woman-owned business comprised of municipal experts specializing in public administration and municipal finance, human resources and policy development, emergency management services and public safety, public works and infrastructure operations, public relations and community engagement, project management and oversight, grant writing and administration, and onsite support services. 

Town Administrator met ARPA consultant Jennifer Thompson at a Mass. Municipal Association meeting. Thompson is “very versed in ARPA and has helped many towns navigate through the complexity of ARPA,” from paperwork involved to reporting requirements and project regulations.

“She is highly recommended from other towns that have used her services,” Green said. “I think this company is going to do a great job for us.”

Thompson said the firm assists 22 municipalities with their ARPA fund administration.

“You should be cautious with this money because it is one-time money, it’s not recurring, so you want to be cautious about funding operating expenses because the money is going to go away after 2026,” Thompson said of the funds aimed at recouping lost revenue.

For that reason, she noted, ARPA funds cannot be used to fund any pension fund; pay debt on capital projects, fund settlement of judgment agreements; replenish reserve or stabilization funds or match other federal grants. But ARPA funds may be used to match state grants.

ARPA funds can be used to build infrastructure, schools or municipal facilities; modernize computer/software assets to bolster cybersecurity; health services; environmental remediation; school or educational services; public safety services or other government expenses.

Thompson said CSS could work with Hanson officials to help them spend ARPA funds not already spent.

Communications services offered help community outreach, Figeroa said, including website support services and proper use of social media.

“It’s an all-hands-on-deck approach we use to get everyone’s attention,” she said. “We operate as an extension of the town [and] we act accordingly.”

She said they would initially work with the IT director to determine what infrastructure improvements the town might need for its communications, including the need to get town departments on the same page before building outward.

“It’s hard for me to make a decision on a company like that without having Steve [Moberg, the town’s IT director] in front of us to be able to ask him questions and expressing his concerns,” Select Board member Ed Heal said.

“In a nutshell, your services help us identify various projects that we could work on, and you’re trying to help us stretch the ARPA fund dollars as far as they could go,” Select Board member Joe Weeks said.

Thompson said that was an accurate summation and added they could help the town with it’s reporting on those expenditures to Plymouth County and the federal government.

Select Board Chair asked if CSS could help empower the town’s Capital Improvement Committee.

“It’s something we’ve been very comfortable with,” Thompson said, applauding Hanson’s foresight in that effort. ARPA funds can be used to pay for CSS’ services, which Thompson described as being provided on an on-call basis in response to a question of cost for their services from Select Board member Jim Hickey.

“Some cities and towns put a ‘not to exceed’ on there,” she said. “We could certainly do that.”

Thompson estimated Hanson would likely spend about $15,000 for that service over the next three years, based on its size and the scope of it’s need for assistance. She said the town could do not-to-exceed on a year-to-year of three-year scope of the program basis.

Figeroa said the communication service may be able to be paid for on that basis, as well.

“We don’t want to create this false sense that we’re going to have this money forever and it’s going to solve all of our many, many budget woes. It won’t,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “But we do have an opportunity to move the ball forward just a bit in some areas.”