WHITMAN — The Select Board, on Tuesday, Aug. 16 again began discussions about a possible Community Choice Aggregations plan in town.

“This is something the board has discussed before my time here, and I don’t know if it went anywhere,” Select Board member Justin Evans said, saying he was bringing it before the board because he felt it is worth bringing before the annual Town Meeting in May. “I think it’s worth revisiting.”

Such aggregations give municipalities the option of sourcing another electricity provider on behalf of its residents. Hanson is also currently working on such an aggregation. 

“These are often using more renewable energy and are cheaper than the current provider,” Evans said of the community aggregation plans in communities that have already adopted the program.

“We looked at this shortly before I retired,” said acting Town Administrator Frank Lynam, noting then-assistant Town Administrator Lisa Green had been researching it. “The idea behind it is, if we’re going to purchase aggregate energy, we’re going to save some money.”

Lynam said that some people might be resistant to change or may feel that a cent or two per kilowatt hour (KWH) makes it necessary to ensure the benefits are clearly explained to people before the Town Meeting even votes on it.

He said he believes there is still funds left in an appropriation voted two years ago for an energy consultant on a solar study before the town ended up entering a purchase agreement with NexAMP, which has saved the town a significant amount of money.

“This process takes several years,” Evans added. 

Rockland’s community aggregation base rate is about 11 cents/per KWH, in Pembroke it is 10 cents/KWH and in Halifax, it is 10.7 cents/KWH. National Grid’s base rate is 14 cents/KWH for National Grid.

While the town signs a contract, individuals are not required to and may opt in and out. For 100-percent renewable sources, Rockland charges 14 cents/KWH – the same as Whitman’s present rate.

“Right now, any resident can either buy their electricity through a utility, or they can sign a contract with a third party to provide that electricity, although the distribution would still come from their local utility,” he said. “This opens up a third option where the municipality sources electricity from another provider so those individuals could have two base rates or they could find their own third party electricity provider.”

A Town Meeting vote would be required to initiate such a program, followed by development of a plan with the Department of Energy Resources — often done with a consultant — and a citizen review of the municipal aggregation plan before it is submitted to the Department of Public Utilities for review and approval.

Board Vice Chair Dan Salvucci said he is paying less for third-party electricity.

“Anyone can go online and buy electricity from whoever they want and National Grid just bills you,” he said. “Why do we need this?”

Evans said that aspect of buying electricity would remain, but under a community aggregation, the town would change the default provider for residents, giving them the option of going with that new price, going back to National Grid or choosing their own third party provider.

“The towns that do this usually run separate website for residents to select [an energy provider],” Evans said. There are also tiered options for renewable energy sources, from the base rate to others ranging from 100 percent renewable to combined sources. A renewable energy certificate is issued.

“It creates a market for more wind and solar,” he said.

Select Board Chair Randy LaMattina said it was a good “preliminary discussion” that can be picked up for further talks during the year.

“Anything we can do to save money, whether it be one cent at a time, is still saving money,” he said.

HANSON — At this time, de-regionalization — either fully or partially — is not advisable, according to members of the Hanson 

De-Regionalization Feasibility Study Committee member Kim McCoy reported to the Select Board on Tuesday, Aug. 9.

“The educational and financial impacts are too great to recommend de-regionalization at this time,” she said. “Hanson wanted to explore de-regionalization in response to the changes in the W-H regional agreement and the statutory method that’s used to calculate the budgetary contributions. While the committee does feel that de-regionalization isn’t advisable, what else does Hanson have? What are our other options?”

Select Board members agreed, but have suggested the committee stay in place to examine ways the town could affect the direction of the WHRSD in the future to “affect some positive change” for the future.

The possible renegotiation of the regional agreement — which Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett noted was already voted renegotiation of the regional agreement as an avenue the town will pursue — leaving W-H to join another district, how school committee memberships are assigned or trying to start a dialog with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) on how calculations for budget formulas are impacting small towns like Hanson.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said that while no stone had been left unturned before, maybe joining with other similar towns to approach DESE again might be an idea worth pursuing. She also suggested the de-regionalization committee could be repurposed to work on different aspects of how the regional agreement can address Hanson’s concerns.

“It could change DESE’s thinking,” Select Board member Jim Hickey said.

“We are not the only one impacted by this,” McCoy agreed.

McCoy of 71 Cushman St., and the other members — Christopher Ernest, Catherine Coakley and Wendy Linn — worked with Hickey to determine the educational effects, financial impacts, legal considerations of separation and what other considerations exist surrounding separation from the district.

“I think it was worse than we all thought,” Select Board member Jim Hickey said.

“I didn’t come with my mind set when I started,” McCoy said. “But, after seeing the numbers, it’s pretty clear … the direction that we had to choose.”

Consultant firm TMS of Auburn, which produced a 180-page report on de-regionalization, which will be made available online. The firm outlined three choices — full separation, partial separation or maintain the status quo.

A full withdrawal, entailing individual school districts with their own superintendent, school committee and staffing would bring the most autonomy for each town, but would also cost the most — an estimated $24,936,000 per year in addition to the need for a new Hanson high school at about $72 million, McCoy said.

A partial separation of kindergarten through grade eight would cost an estimated $25,970,000, to fund a separate administration and staff governed by a separate school committee as well as the regional grade nine to 12 school committee. A second version of partial separation would cost about $23 million per year.

Hanson’s portion of the W-H fiscal 2023 budget is $13,373,000.

Additional state funding, including but not limited to, Chapter 71 regional transportation funds and will affect curriculum, particularly special education.

“This was not an easy thing to do,” said Hickey about the work of the committee, whose members were chosen by FitzGerald-Kemmett and former board member Wes Blauss. “We only had to do it a couple of times, but for me, working with these people … I felt like I was working with some of the most intelligent people that we have in Hanson.”

Hickey noted that he had requested that he have no input on the formation of the committee.

“When we had our meetings … I would just listen to these people for the most part, because it wouldn’t really be anything else that I could add that they hadn’t already said,” he reported to the Select Board.

“We were blown away by the quality of people that applied,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said of the committee.

McCoy noted that, while not perfect, TMS’ report “did the best they could with what they had.”

“I don’t think the committee’s work is though,” Select Board member Joe Weeks said, noting the quality of life in town is an important issue to keep sight of. “I’d like to see what you think the next steps are.”

HANSON — Job-sharing has been used in the private sector to fill the needs of an employer while being flexible to how they fill jobs with workers who have time constraints, as two workers divide the hours of a single position.

Hanson is taking a different tack — looking to hire a single person to fill the administrative assistant needs of two departments.

The Select Board reviewed a job description and approved on Tuesday, July 26 a temporary part-time administrative position in their office  combined with another part-time position at the Planning Department.

Town Administrator Lisa Green said that Town Accountant Todd Hassett had suggested that, since the town’s Planning Department is also in need of an administrative assistant, that — to fill the needs of both offices and make the positions more enticing to prospective applicants — a combined position be created.

The candidate would be eligible for benefits as a full-time employee.

“It really helps fulfill the need in both offices,” Green said. “Looking at the numbers, it’s a much more reasonable approach to getting a third person in the Select Board’s office without breaking the bank, so to speak.”

Green has been ironing out the details of the proposal with town counsel, but she indicated there is support from the planner’s office, too.

“I think this is great,” said Select Board member Joe Weeks, “At the end of the day, I’d like to fund it for the needs of the town. … I just wish we could say, ‘Hey, listen, we need two full-time people.’ We need this.”

He argued that cutting corners in such a way opens the town to liability because oversight is being lost. 

Select Board member Ed Heal agreed with Weeks that two full-time positions are needed — but would go down in flames at Town meeting.

While the Select Board members were in agreement both offices need a full-time employee, both Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett and member Ann Rein agreed they needed to take action in steps.

“I know how hard it’s going to be to get a full-time position funded, nevermind two, right now,” she said. “I think we need two, but let’s baby walk before we take that leap.”

“One issue that was voiced by the town planner is that, as a 19-hour a week position, his office would always be a revolving door for the first full-time position that came up or they may leave for another full-time position with benefits,” Green said. She has been working town counsel on the proposal to develop a title and job description for the position.

But Green indicated at the time that a person who already interviewed for the Planning Department position, and is under serious consideration, has already said they would be interested in the combined full-time job — as have most others interviewed so far.

“It breaks down the job description for each department,” Green said, explaining it would entail 20 hours in the Planning Board office and 15 hours in the Select Board office. It would be a union position, because both positions being combined were already union positions.

“Initially, there were some ethical issues that town counsel was trying to help us work through,” Green said. “It was possible the position was not going to work.”

The ethics of having an employee working for two different offices was an issue, agreed FitzGerald-Kemmett.

“There were concerns over whether we could comply and have somebody work in those two offices,” she said, thanking the town accountant for coming up with it.

“I like that idea of cross-pollination between the Planner’s office and the Selectmen’s office, she said. “I’m not saying some of that doesn’t already happen, but it’s definitely going to happen if you have somebody that’s in [both offices] and you have that connectivity.”

While Select Board member Ann Rein said she thought the combined position was a great idea, she had questions about how the hours added up. Weeks was concerned that the question of who the person hired will report to needs to be clarified.

Green said the position in the Select Board office would be temporary until Oct. 1, and she said the hope is they can put an article in for the special Town Meeting warrant to make the position a permanent part-time funded one. The planning administrative assistant is already a funded position.

“We have to put this wording in here: ‘If the Select Board part-time position fails, the position will then revert to a 22-hour position in the Planning Board office, which would make that person eligible for benefits,” Green said. “Again, we’re trying to work to keep people here.”

“We’re making sure that the Town Planner’s office is not going to be adversely affected by what we’re trying to do with the other position,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

Green said is also drains money from town finances when positions need to be continually advertised, and interviewed for, as well as training people only to have them leave, starting the process over again.

The work she and town counsel are doing will outline the job descriptions and tasks in each position.

Heal asked whether full-or part-time employee costs more. Green noted that it would carry benefits as a full-time position, but departments generally budget funds for added expenses, such as the position’s benefit package.

HANSON — By the end of the month, Whitman and Hanson officials and School Committee officials are expected to be named to a new Regional Agreement subcommittee charged with updating that document, regardless of the path Hanson decides to follow regarding de-regionalization.

The Hanson Select Board met on Tuesday, July 26 with School Committee Chair Christopher Howard and Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak, who noted that no matter what is decided, the towns will have to operate within a regional agreement that needs revising.

Howard noted that, as both boards are aware, the agreement is more than 30 years old.

“We looked at it several years ago — Hanson had actually voted it and then rescinded it — and there’s a lot of feedback from the School Committee that it is a 30-year-old agreement and there are areas we’re concerned about that are on the fringes of compliant or not compliant,” Howard said.

The last time a Regional Agreement Committee was formed, the School Committee just created it as a rather large committee, Howard said. In the spirit of better communication, he said he and Szymaniak wanted to talk with Selectmen in both towns to get their thoughts before another committee is seated.

It comes down to two questions: 

• What is the appetite to consider negotiating a revised regional agreement, a process to which all three boards must accept; and

• What the composition of such a committee should look like.

Szymaniak offered to walk the new members of the Select Board through all the DESE and other state regulations.

“Some of the general feedback we’ve looked at and heard is, maybe smaller,” Howard said. “Whatever is drafted should be done in public and it has to go back to the full School Committee, it has to go back to the selectmen and it has to go to each town meeting.”

Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said that, while the board hasn’t discussed the proposal, a strong and consistent concern they’ve heard involves representation and use of the statutory method of calculating town assessments.

She said her first preference was to keep any committee small.

Select Board member Jim Hickey, who served on a previous Regional Agreement committee, said there were 24 people on that board.

“There are still wounds over that,” she said. “The feedback we get is, ‘We’ve still got the same number of seats, but we’re paying more money.”

That said, FitzGerald-Kemmett recognized the state regulations that require it.

“Even if we were to get another seat, it would be a weighted seat,” she said. “In essence, out votes would total up to the same number of people.”

She asked her board if they wanted to open up that conversation and enter negotiations on the agreement.

“I would love to know how we got there,” said Select Board member Ann Rein. “I have a serious problem with the way that thing was negotiated, I’m sorry. … I don’t understand how a town could have more students and pay less money.”

Select Board member Ed Heal also said he neeed that information.

FitzGerald-Kemmett agreed, saying she fought bitterly on that point.

“Even if [School Committee representation] was five/five with weighted votes, a School Committee vote is never going to end in a tie,” Hickey said. “If the School Committee is doing the right things for the students, it’s going to be 9-1 or 8-2 one way or the other.”

Hickey also said it had been a mistake to hold monthly meetings of the previous committee, arguing that meetings should be held weekly until the work is done.

He was to meet July 27 with Hanson’s De-Regionalization Committee and will relay those recommendations in view of the estimated cost to the rest of Hanson’s Select Board Aug. 9. 

Howard said that process works with the School Committee’s scheduled project work, with their next meeting slated for late August.

Regardless of that committee’s recommendation, FitzGerald-Kemmett said it would be beneficial to renegotiate the Regional Agreement as a way of improving communication and relations.

“Something has severely jumped the tracks and we have got to get back to a place where we are having ongoing conversations,” she said.

Howard also touched on state regulations.

“There is a Mass. General Law that clearly articulates — not my personal opinion, but articulated the state’s law — the composition of school committee representation,” Howard said.

The Select Board expressed interest in obtaining the pertinent background information.

“I want everyone brought up to speed,” she agreed. “I think it’s very important, moving forward, that we’ve all got this baseline established.”

An open session on that background is important to moving forward.

Select Board Vice Chair Joe Weeks also said the previous Select Board as well as Hanson School Committee members fought it, too.

“There’s a lot of unsung, humble people that weren’t … banging the bells, saying ‘I’m doing this really, really hard work,’” he said. “There were a lot of people trying to get that representation that were on that committee that have either moved on or are still there. They were working hard on getting us what we wanted.” 

He agreed it was worthwhile to proceed with revisiting the Regional Agreement with a smaller number of committee members — and better direction.

“There was no guidance or organization to that meeting,” he said. “We didn’t have an entire leg of the stool.”

Rein and Heal agreed that a conversation has to be conducted.

HANSON — Call it, perhaps, Operation Sand Wasps 2.0 — the sand wasps are back at Cranberry Cove, but this year, the vibe is live and let live.

Camp Kiwanee Administrative Assistant Dori Jameson said at a Monday, July 18 Recreation Commission meeting that, while the wasps are there and are “ugly looking, they’re scary looking,” they were not seemingly attracted by people’s food and seemed “pretty tame.”

“They’re looking for bugs,” she said. “They’re looking for other insects. Nobody got stung, nobody was freaking out. I just wish there was some sort of organic solution that we could use to move them along.”

She said digging up the beach would be an end game, but asked if bringing in an insect expert would be advisable. An infestation of the wasps forced the closure of the beach in 2021.

“We’d done it last year and it didn’t work,”  Chair Frank Milisi said of the organic pesticide that was tried. “The problem is you can’t go down there with Off! … They said the best deterrent is tarps. I don’t agree with that, but we can’t spray anything down there because of Conservation would need to be involved.”

Milisi said if the wasps are not bothering people, “it is kind of what it is.”

He said the Board of Health could shut the beach down if they wanted to, but he would not pursue that, especially in view of the heat wave that sizzled the state last week.

“It’s ‘Swim at your own risk,’ people know that,” Milisi said.

Recreation Commission also continued its work on reconsidering fees for events and facilities at Camp Kiwanee.

Rates and fees

Jameson said the question of weekly camping rates had just come up this month. Two different parties camping in the north end of the campground both raised the question of weekly rates.

“Right now it’s a daily rate,” Jameson said. “It’s $60 a night for a cabin and $30 a night for a tent site.”

She suggested a weekly rate that trims $5 a night off tent sites and $10 off cabins. Milisi said he had no problem with that rate.

“Weekly rates are pretty much standard, and it’s usually about that [price point],” he said.

Vice Chair Melissa Scartissi suggested rounding the usual $420 rate for seven days to $400 for cabins and reducing tent sites from $210 to $200 on a weekly rate. That was the weekly rate approved.

The Recreation Commission also pared back its meeting schedule to once per month, instead of two and setting the time at 6 p.m.

“If we do need to meet [more often], we can just meet,” Milisi said.

Event fees were discussed as a way of covering caretaker fees, with re-elected Milisi using the example of a $50 fee per event charged to the theater group Drama Kids. Things like bar service should remain on an 80-20 contract, as they are because they operate on a cash-based system.

“I’m just floating around ideas about that,” he said. “But for things like Drama Kids, we don’t have an idea of how many kids are coming. I really want to get out of the practice of going into people’s finances when we don’t need to. I would prefer for it to be a fee-based use.”

With more input from actual vendors, he said the commission could discuss what works for a group such as Drama Kids vs. a paint night or other such events. Vendors will be invited to the August meeting to voice their opinions with an eye toward a decision in October.

Scartissi noted that, where Drama Kids is concerned, since they use the lodge every week, the commission should be covering caretaker costs.

“The issue has been, for the past year or two, we haven’t because of COVID [and] our operational expenses, like to turn the heat on was a real issue,” she said. “Now we’re in a little better place with the increased rates and all that kind of stuff.”

A position remains open on the Recreation Commission, and residents are urged to apply.

At a previous meeting on Monday, June 27, the commission discussed complaints about a “rambunctious group of teen-agers … causing all kinds of mayhem and chaos” at Cranberry Cove.

“I don’t know what we would do to remediate that,” Milisi said. “Obviously, we don’t have people down there to check every day.”

But he said he would like to have an on-staff caretaker who could go to the beach and check out the situation at the beach.

The teens had broken some electrical equipment and were throwing rocks in the water while younger children were swimming during the incident. The teens’ parents had picked them up that night, Milisi said.

If they keep causing problems, Milisi said he might have to look into trespassing charges. 

“That’s such a ridiculous thing to do to a bunch of middle schoolers who just want to come down here and have a good time,” he said.

He stressed that the problems that have taken place have not hindered people from attending the facility.

Regarding a complaint against a caretaker, Milisi emphasized that the Commission does not get involved in personnel issues – that is primarily the jurisdiction of the town administrator and Select Board.

In other business on June 27, Hanson Public Library’s Lizzie Borden event was approved for Oct. 20 at Needles Lodge, Camp Kiwanee.

HINGHAM — Whitman Fire Department was among 12 regional departments providing assistance from firefighters, chiefs and station coverage as they aided the Hingham Fire Department in battling a four-alarm fire at a large house Monday afternoon. The blaze had spread to at least four other homes in the area.

No injuries were reported in the fire that is under investigation by the Hingham Fire and Police departments and the State Police Fire & Explosion Investigation unit assigned to the State Fire Marshal’s office.

While the 6,000-square-foot house was a total loss and other homes sustained damage. Three people were inside 4 Mann St. when the initial fire started and all got out safely. 

The family will also be displaced. Several homes in the area were evacuated as a precaution due the fire embers spreading to nearby houses.

At approximately 12:50 p.m., Hingham Fire responded to 4 Mann St. after receiving multiple calls about a home being on fire.

While responding to the scene, firefighters could see large amounts of smoke above the house and struck a second alarm. 

Upon arrival, the house was fully involved and a third alarm was immediately called for. At 1:30 p.m., Chief Murphy struck a fourth alarm as the fire continued to spread.

Area residents were asked water down mulch beds on their properties.

Three people were inside 4 Mann St. when the initial fire started and all got out safely. The family will also be displaced. 

Several homes in the area were evacuated as a precaution due the fire embers spreading to nearby houses.

About 120 firefighters from nine of the communities, Hull, Cohasset, Norwell, Scituate, Rockland, Weymouth, Quincy, Braintree and Hanover Fire departments responded to the scene and the Whitman and Brockton Fire departments sent chiefs to provide assistance and Abington Fire Department provided station coverage for Hingham.

The Hingham Police Department controlled access to the site and aided in evacuating neighbors from the affected area.

National Grid and Hingham Municipal Lighting Plant were working to restore gas and electricity to the neighborhood after it had been shut off by the utility companies.

— Tracy F. Seelye

WHITMAN – It’s  an empty storefront at the moment, with only new carpet and paint and a sign posted in the window suggesting what is to come, but by Friday, July 15 second-generation jeweler George Alexander plans to have the town’s new jewelry store – Alexander Jewelers – up and running. That’s less than a month after local institution Menard Jeweler closed after owner David Menard officially retired.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to own a store,” Alexander said on Tuesday, July 5 as he worked to prepare for the opening.

And there will be a familiar face at the store – for a while, at least – as Menard returns the favor Alexander once did for his shop by working there, while he shows his friend the ins and outs of watch repair.

It’s also a nice transition for customers.

“He’s going to make himself present here and help out, show me stuff that I don’t know about watches … it’s a good friendship.”

While Menard was conducting his going-out-of business sale, he also distributed 200 of Alexander’s business cards to customers.

“They were all asking who’s going to take over,” Alexander said of Menard’s customers. Menard also spoke about Alexander’s plan to the Express as his retirement sale was getting underway.

“I want to gain the people’s trust,” Alexander said. “The one thing I want people to know is I’m going to treat them the same that Dave did.”

But, for now, Alexander is playing a version of “Beat the Clock,” as he works to ready the space at 14 South Avenue for his opening goal. That work started about two weeks ago.

“I had to wait for the carpet to go down, get the wood ready [there are no counters or shelves in the space at the moment], I had to order signs, I had to have the alarm put in, the internet put in,” he said, listing the projects either completed or yet to be done.

He also had to wait for Menard to close his store before he could open.

“I would never do that to him,” he said about the idea of opening his store before Menard closed his doors for the last time. “Even Duval’s [owner Craig Duval] wouldn’t have let me open without his approval.”

Menard had offered the lease of his store space to Alexander, but, while the store seemed tempting, he admitted that Menard’s plan to sell the building complicated the prospect.

“Even though the space here is small, it’s all I need to do the work,” he added.

And Alexander was willing to wait out of respect for someone he has known for a long time.

Alexander said he’s been working side-by-side with Menard for nearly 20 years, doing custom jewelry making as a good friend and colleague.

He described his work as more behind the scenes.

“I’m more of a wholesaler,” he said. 

He said the space is going to be filled with machines for jewelry production, with a small counter area in front for customer service and retail business. He works in everything from 14 or 18 karat platinum, silver – anything. Alexander designs and custom makes jewelry. 

Like Menard, he learned the business as a boy working for his father’s jewelry business.

“I’ve been doing this since I was, probably, 10,” Alexander said, recalling his days going into the Jeweler’s Building in Boston where his father worked. “He brought us [Alexander and his brother] in, taught us the things we needed to know.”

The whole building, filled with jewelers with different specialties, provided an real education in everything from hand-setting to engraving and more.

“I went around to all the jewelers and became friends with them, and learned a little from each person,” he said. “I’m not a master at casting, a master at stone-setting, but I’m very proficient and – custom designing and working with metal, I’m the master at it.”

He sees going into business for himself as an easy transition. It’s always been the area in which he did wholesale work.

“Whatever work comes through the door … it gets handed to me, and the I do it,” he said of that experience. “When Dave closed, I could have continued doing that, but I wanted to be in the retail business. It’s more profitable and I get to deal with the customers directly.”

Speaking of clocks, that’s one item he doesn’t plan on working with, but he will be learning watch repair from the master.

“Dave is a watchmaker,” he said. “I can do watches, as far as batteries and stuff, but he himself said ‘Stay away from clocks,’” Alexander said with a laugh. “It’s just too complicated.”

Alexander stressed that Menard gave his customers the best prices possible compared to chain jewelers in malls, where a portion of their profits have to go to the mall owners – and their stock is lower-quality product, much of it made overseas.

“Handcrafted jewelry is becoming a dying art, and I truly enjoy it,” Alexander said. “Where an era of Menard jewelers has come to an end, I would like to offer my services to the town of Whitman, and surrounding towns and live up to the standard of great  service that Menard jewelers offered to the people.”

HANSON  — Town Planner Tony Defrias presented an outline of a vision for the former Maquan School property to the Select Board on Tuesday, June 21.

“This is just step one of 100,” he said. “This is just to talk about it.”

Defrias has made the presentation to the Maquan Reuse Committee, the Planning Board and the Economic Development Commission as well.

“Tony was thinking about generally the needs that the town has for the Library/Senior Center, sports and highway, was the original driver of the whole thing,” Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “I want to emphasize that nothing has been done to effectuate change in moving in the direction of what Tony’s about to present.”

If the board found value in it, a public forum or hearing could be scheduled.

Defrias noted that there had been discussion of library renovation expansion, what to do with the former Maquan School and the needs of the Highway Department when he came on board in Ocober 2021.

“I took it upon myself to take a look at this area to try to determine what might be the best use for those three parts of Hanson — Library, Maquan School, Highway Department,” he said. 

Defrias calls his proposal the Maquan Area Reuse Plan.

The school site at 60 School St., is a 17.8-acre parcel of open fields and woods as well as the school building and its former parking lot. The Library/Senior Center building at 132 Maquan St., takes up 3.33 acres with a building the two departments share and parking area and green space. The Highway Department at 797 Indian Head St., takes up 6.1 acres with multiple buildings and three youth baseball fields, a skate park and basketball court.

The three properties are more or less adjacent, with two roads and the Indian Head School between them.

“These are three pieces of land that the town controls,” he said. “You own them.”

An MSBA feasibility study conducted during the aborted new elementary school process in 2012 noted that while it was well-maintained, most of the fixtures were original to the building and were nearing the the end of serviceable life.

“I felt that one of the best uses for this is to raze the existing building — get rid of it completely — and what would be constructed there would be something [working title] Maquan Youth Athletic Complex,” Defrias said. He also suggested the facility could be named for Ruth Masters or carry over the Boiteri Field name, moving the ball fields, skate park and basketball court over to the school property and build a structure for concessions, public restrooms and offices with 93 parking spaces.

The small playground would be relocated.

“This is something that could generate money for the town,” he said.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said there has been “very strong feedback” that the property not be sold. Defrias also noted the building is not feasible for elder housing.

A 2019 Library study, meanwhile, has concluded that building is undersized to meet the needs of town residents. Additions could be made to both parts of the current building without interrupting services, or a new library could be constructed on the Maquan site.

The Highway Department, which is now two miles from all town borders, would be even further —  leaving a longer response time to the entire north end of town — at the Hawks Avenue site now under consideration. Expanding and improving facilities at the existing site could allow the Highway Department to remain in a central location and would be most feasible, Defrias said.

Office space for the IT director could also be relocated there, he said.

“If there’s any department in Hanson that is going to need to expand, its Highway Deprtment,” Defrias said. “Hanson has 70 private ways and that’s a large issue in town.”

Select Board member Ann Rein is going to chair the “resuscitated” Highway Building Committee, FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

In other business, the board voted to authorize the use of new election equipment, starting at the September state primary.

The new equipment, Poll Pads, for which funding was approved at Town Meeting.

HANSON – The Select Board on Tuesday, June 14 voted to support exploratory conversations with Silver Lake about what a possible regional agreement with that district might cost and look like. 

But any such conversation is not likely to happen anytime soon, as the town is expecting to have a cost estimate on de-regionalizing by this week.

“There’s two paths,” Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said – sticking with the de-regionalization process and deciding on negotiating with Silver Lake later, if at all – or to vote as a board to expand the role of the De-regionalization Committee to include exploration of a possible joining of the Silver Lake region.

Silver Lake School Committee Chair Paula Hatch has recently invited the Hanson Select Board to have more substantive conversations about the possibility of Hanson joining the Silver Lake School District.

Hanson Select Board member Jim Hickey initially met with Hatch to discuss that possibility, FitzGerald-Kemmett said emphasizing that, without the final result of the TMS study on the potential cost of de-regionalizing with Whitman-Hanson, the town has no real idea what they might be doing in the future.

Hickey said his meeting took place the day before a past Hanson Select Board meeting, so he had hoped to present it to the board the next night under the provision for presenting last-minute information. Hickey said, he thought it was too important to bring up at 9:30 at night — during a three-hour meting — so he waited until the following week. 

But, it still did not make it on that agenda.

“TMS has still not given us an answer yet,” Hickey said as his reason for the discussion with Hatch.

Town Administrator Lisa Green said she had reached out to TMS and was told the consulting firm’s estimate should arrive either June 20 or 21. FitzGerald-Kemmett agreed with Hickey that waiting for the De-regionalization Feasibility Committee to review it before the Select Board add it to a meeting agenda is the best idea.

Regardless of what we do, who we talk to, where we go if we stay,” Hickey said, there is a need to explore the four-year de-regionalization process, adding that he believes some of the W-H School Committee members have “lost their way.”

“I was just looking for other options for the town … and the students to be taught, but  not being gouged every year by Whitman,” Hickey said. “My phone conversation with Paula was to give the town of Hanson another option.”

Comparing Silver Lake’s cost estimate to the one the town gets from TMS, as well as calculating the votes on W-H’s School Committee could then be discussed, according to Hickey.

“Why would a de-regionalization committee look into regionalizing?” asked Select Board member Ann Rein. “To me, that makes no sense at all. … And I have serious issues with this anyway, because of the way that formula was changed.”

She argued that the regional agreement itself needs to be revisited in “an honest and fair way, and not because we’re the ‘richer town.’ That’s infuriating. We’re not the richer town.”

Hickey responded that the de-regionalizion committee had nothing to do with any discussions with Silver Lake.

“This was me, on my own, thinking outside the box, and I did not keep this information to myself,” he said, noting that while he did not keep his title a secret, he was talking to Silver Lake as a private citizen.

Noting that, impropriety could be assumed even where there was none on Hickey’s part, FitzGerald-Kemmett asked Select Board member Joe Weeks if he would be willing to work with Hickey as an ad hoc committee.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said that, in her recent conversation new Whitman Select Board Chair Randy LaMattina, she expressed Hanson’s intention to revisit the regional agreement, and he said Whitman, too, had an interest in revisiting it.

“Does it make sense for us to be sitting down with the Silver Lake regional School Committee?” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “I go back and forth on it.”

While the board could hold that conversation with the Silver Lake board, there are concerns over it wasting everyone’s time without negotiating with Silver Lake.

“For me, it comes down to there’s never anything wrong with having a conversation,” said Select Board member Joe Weeks, noting his only concern is with Silver Lake’s status, compared with W-H, as a town.

Rein, who said she de-regionalizing does not mean finding another region to join, also stressed she has “severe reservations” about dissolving W-H, given the money and time invested in the school system.

“Until we know if we’re going to de-regionalize, why even waste our time, or their time, talking about joining them?”  FitzGerald-Kemmett said of any talks with Silver Lake. “It’s my fervent hope that we don’t de-regionalize, but that we find a way to improve the relationship and effectuate something more positive for Hanson.”

Weeks said he’s fine with conversation, but if you formalize it with two people, it may be viewed as a formal negotiating.

“Whoever gives us the best deal, wins,” Weeks said, noting his priorities are making sure his kids are educated, his grandparents are not priced out of time and if people can afford to move to and live in town.

“Is [that] going to strengthen our position?” Weeks said, admitting he does not have an answer to that question.

Regardless, it is a conversation he said he is willing to take.

FitzGerald-Kemmett also asked why the state always refers to Hanson as the wealthier town in formulating funding regulations.

“I look around and that’s not what it feels like to me, but I guess I’m not the state,” she said about the formula for the statutory calculation of regional school costs.

FitzGerald-Kemmett also said she had spoken with W-H School Committee Chair Christopher Howard the previous week, reiterating what the prior board had said about communication between the two boards, as well.

“Inasmuch as we have to advocate for a budget and understand the budget, we need to have a more transparent, open dialog on an ongoing basis,” she said. “I appreciate and support the work that the School Committee does, but we are not elected to be School Committee members.”

Select Boards should not have to expect that the only way to discover information about the budget process is by attending School Committee meetings, and said Howard agreed.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said she also spoke about the situation with LaMattina, who also agrees to try having Howard and Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak come before the select boards of each town as early as possible in the budget process in order to provide a better and deeper understanding of the numbers there, what’s happening with the school budget and what’s being budgeted for.

“It’s a huge part of our budget and we just don’t have the transparency that we need,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

“A vast majority of people don’t learn what some of these subcommittees are doing until an article is placed on Town Meeting warrant,” Weeks said. Then an issue, such as a land transfer or a new project being funded is before the town.

Earlier budget discussions could get more information out to the public and result in more people attending.

Better
communications

In other business, FitzGerald-Kemmett suggested public office hours – a “Select Board’s Night Out,” of sorts – be held perhaps once per month, as one way to improve communication between the board and residents, seeking more ideas from the rest of the board.

She suggested the board could alternate who does it and discuss the days and times in which to hold them, as an experiment. 

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” she said.

Rein said both morning and evening hours should be considered to accommodate elder residents who don’t drive at night. 

“That [morning session] could be by appointment, where one of us wouldn’t have to sit there, waiting for someone,” Hickey said.

Select Board members would be available in a meeting room to discuss issues residents want to bring to their attention. Hickey suggested that Tuesday nights when no meeting is held and Town Hall is open, they could use the table in the adjoining coffee/lunch room.

“I’d really like you guys to think about what kind of things could we do improve our communication to the public, about things like Town Meeting –you get a vote, you should show up – election – you get a vote, you should show up,” she said.

Board and commission vacancies, the role of various boards and even “fun stuff” like town events need to be easier for residents to find out about.

“As the leaders of the town, we need to set precedence and try to be better at communicating,” she said.

That includes a policy requiring all boards and committees to post agendas in a timely  manner on the town’s website (hanson-ma.gov), and be more consistent with posting the Select Board agendas while encouraging other departments with doing the same.

“Yes, I know they are setting the hearing notices to the abutters, and all the good stuff that they’re supposed to do,”  FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “We’re doing the bare minimum and how’s that working for us?”

Rein, noting she is “pretty good with a computer,” said it is very difficult for residents to find information on the town’s website, to the agreement of other members of the board.

“I am not a web designer at all, but that website has got to be revamped and things have to be easy to find,” she said.

“We really have to do better at communicating with the public about a host of things,”  FitzGerald-Kemmett said, noting that Rein and fellow new board member Ed Hear had mentioned the issue to her, recommending that email addresses for all department heads be listed on the site to ease resident frustration with the phone system and leaving voicemails. Select Board members’ emails are already listed.

While the town has an IT person, she noted the significant overhaul envisioned “could take a while.”

Hear said he would like to see more information presented to residents, especially on controversial issues, at Town Meetings.