WHITMAN – While a missed Zoning Appeals hearing on Monday, Sep. 23 was an irritant for the Feasibility Study and Whitman Middle School Building Committee on Tuesday, Sept. 24, a make-up meeting has been slated and there has been progress to report on the project.
Chair Beth Stafford asked why no one from Colliers, the owner project manager firm, or architect AO3 had shown up at a zoning meeting Monday, Sept. 23. Colliers’ Owner Project Manager Michael Carroll said he spoke to AI3 that day and did not think either frim was ever informed of that meeting.
Former Building Inspector Robert Curran, who sits on the Building Committee, said the issue was addressed in some of the paperwork given out to the committee, but, generally speaking, after the paperwork is put in, a zoning hearing takes place four to six weeks later.
“I asked the [Zoning Secretary] if they were notified and she said they were,” he said. “They would have been notified by mail The abutters were there. They opened the hearing and they took some testimony from the neighbors and they continued the meeting until Oct. 21.”
Curran said he arranged for the meeting to be held in the Town Hall auditorium because he had figured it would be a “big show,” and there were probably 15 abutters there who have a lot of concerns, but since there was no one there representing the schools, they continued it to Oct. 21.
School Committee Chair Beth Stafford said that Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak never received a notice about the meeting, either.
“As Superintendent of Schools, he should have received a letter,” she said. “He did not. So, that will be addressed, too, because if letters went out, there wasn’t one for Jeff, either, and he needs to go.”
She said the only notification anyone saw was a legal notice classified ad placed in the Whitman-Hanson Express.
“But that’s not an invitation, and when we looked at who got copies of it, it didn’t say AI3, it didn’t say Whitman-Hanson Superintendent,” Stafford said. “It said Brockton, Abington and all these other places, so I think there was a little bit of a mix-up here.”
Carroll said he and AI3 did receive confirmation it was continued to Oct. 21 and they would absolutely have people there. The next Building Committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct, 22.
Curran said abutters are concerned about fencing – especially near Highland Avenue where kids use a path to WMS – and neighbors concerned about construction activity and its potential effect on the safety of kids who live in the area walking to the school.
“There needs to be somebody that’s really familiar with the project,” attending the ZBA hearing, he said. “Are you going to do a temporary road for construction?”
Carroll said that information could be incorporated into that planning, which had been temporarily sidetracked by contractor pre-qualification work.
“What we’re trying to do here is minimize the inconvenience during construction,” he said. “We can’t eliminate inconvenience completely, but we are trying to minimize that, and it there’s things we can do to help the abutters, we absolutely want to do that.”
During the contractor pre-qualification phase, Colliers Project Manager Shirley Ng said, the subcommittee has received 88 requests for interest in this and 12 DCs with the next phase being a review and assessment of statements of qualifications in October and narrow down the applicants.
Assistant Superintendent George Ferro asked if 12 was a healthy number and Carroll said he’s done two bids this year, and on one he received three bidders and on the other he got four.
“Just because 12 got prequalified doesn’t mean all 12 would bid it,” he said. “But 12 is a good number. Anything more than five or six is a very good showing.”
Ng said her numbers were as of Friday, Sept. 20. They had also received some on Sept.23.
“We’re also working on the early bid package,” she said. Right now, they are reviewing specifications of an electrical switchgear and generator.
“The prequalification of this job goes under MGL Ch 149 as a construction project,” Carroll said. “The switch gear and generator go out more as goods, as if you were buying paper or an easel which goes out under CH 30B.”
He said it requires making sure insurance is squared away as they will be bidding and awarding it before a general contractor comes on board, so they are making sire the specifications on the two bids coordinate and the general contractor/electrical contractor are taking delivery of the switch gear and generator unit on-site and taking it from there.
“We don’t have to worry about storage or anything like that,” he said.
Ng said they are hoping to have the contract completed by October along with postings for next month, at the Building Committees next meeting Carroll said they anticipate seeking a vote to allow them to request for bids.
“And then, in November, we’ll be coming back with bids and, hopefully, it’ll be under budget and we’ll be able to award that and keep moving forward,” he said.
W-H Director of Business and Finance Stephen Marshall said the district had submitted reimbursement request of just over $5.5 million in total to MSBA for invoices up through August and expect just over $3.5 million for reimbursement on that.
“There was a little bit of a delay – it was a large request, in terms of the amount of invoices and paperwork,” he said. “The MSBA had come back to us with some questions involving some back-up documentation. We have just received those today from AI3 and they’re being submitted to MSBA.”
He said the turnaround time after follow-up documentation is usually about two weeks.
“That will certainly help with the cash flow,” he said, adding that, moving forward those reimbursement requests will be submitted once a month.
Szymaniak asked Carroll to go over the for the Committee and everyone watching meetings at home, the shift in roles and “who’s doing what where?”
“In general, we’re two teams here,” Carroll said. “You have the Colliers team, which is the owner’s project manager – we’re providing general oversight and general support to your team.” He serves as project director and Ng as project manager. The assistant project manager helps with meeting minutes and a lot of “behind the scenes work” for Colliers.
Once construction gets under way the construction site representative – or clerk of the works as they are sometimes called – will also be added to the meetings.
Architects AI3 design team leaders Troy and Julie have support staff from AI3 and its subconsultants to field questions about irrigation, landscaping, traffic and the like. The Zoning Board meeting would have been handled by Colliers’ civil engineer.
“There’s lots of people behind the scenes,” he said, but added the Building Committee will continue to see familiar faces at meetings

Shannon O’Brien plans to appeal her firing as the chair of the Cannabis Control Commission directly to the Supreme Judicial Court, her lawyer has said, according to published reports. In the meantime, one of her former CCC colleagues will take over as acting chair.
O’Brien was officially removed from the post by state Treasurer Deborah Goldberg after O’Brien had been suspended for months, according to published reports on Monday, Sept. 9.
State law [CH249 Sec. 4] provides the option for O’Brien to either take her case to Superior Court or the SJC as a method of correcting “errors in proceedings which are not according to the course of the common law and are not otherwise reviewable by motion or appeal.”
Often used in connection with zoning or similar issues in land court (or district court if a case involves fence viewers), such actions have 60 days to proceed following the procedure in question.
William Gildea, one of O’Brien’s lawyers from Todd & Weld, said O’Brien is considering such action, according to the State House News Service. That is based on “prior cases with generally similar facts about removing high-level official” that went directly to the SJC — like the case of the fired Turnpike Authority Board members in the early 2000s — “that would be the plan,” he was quoted as saying.
A Whitman native, O’Brien and the Healey administration have been at loggerheads since Gov. Maura Healey suspended her on Sep. 16, 2023. O’Brien had been on the job for exactly one year – the suspension coming on the anniversary of her being appointed to the role.
The CCC oversees the state’s $7 billion cannabis business within Massachusetts.
WCVB-TV reported that included a letter from Goldberg to O’Brien, which indicates O’Brien had been accused by state treasurer of making “racially, ethnically and culturally insensitive statements.” O’Brien has denied those claims and had sued to fight the attempt to keep her job.
“The Chair committed gross misconduct and demonstrated she is unable to discharge the powers and duties of a CCC commissioner,” O’Brien’s lawyer, Max Goldberg said in his statement Monday. “I do so with deep regret because she has a long history of public service, and when appointed, I anticipated she would lead the Commission capably and in an appropriate manner. I expect my appointee’s actions to be reflective of the important mission of the CCC and performed in a manner that incorporates the standards of professionalism required in today’s work environment.”
O’Brien fired back that a “toxic work environment” had existed at the CCC for some time and had, in part, been fallout from her suggesting former Executive Director Shawn Collins might have to be let go.
Stern issued a statement denying the existence of any grounds for his client’s removal, charging that state officials
While Goldberg aims to appoint another chair to the CCC soon, Goldberg’s office said in a statement released to the press. O’Brien was still receiving checks for her $196,551 salary.
According to NPR, O’Brien Had spent more than $616,000 on proceeding with the attempt to oust O’Brien.

(Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct a headline error and update information published in last week’s Whitman-Hanson Express. The Express apologizes for the error.)

HANSON – The town needs to seat another member to the Zoning Board of Appeals soon, or Hanson is going to have a real problem, Select Board members have been cautioned.
Town Planner Anthony DeFreias has submitted a letter to the Select Board regarding the Zoning Board of Appeals membership, dated the same day as their last meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 27.
“As you are aware, the ZBA is currently comprised of two members,” he wrote. “I wish to being to the board’s attention the following [citing the relevant passage of Mass. General Law, Ch. 40A]: the Board of Appeals shall consist of between three and five members,” Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett read from the letter.
“I’ll bottom-line this,” she said. “For certain hearings, we need to have three members, and we don’t. It may … impede and disadvantage the town in rendering an opinion about somebody who may be applying to the Board of Appeals.”
She noted then item had not been included on the agenda because “I could not have anticipated it,” she said.
The third member may be a member of the Select Board, DeFreias has advised the Board.
Select Board member Ed Heal, the board’s liaison to the ZBA, asked if it would work for him to step forward to help in the short run.
“I will volunteer, so long as we press for a long-term solution,” he said. “I don’t want to be [a permanent member] right now.”
Member Joe Weeks said that, even if the board appointed someone on that board to keep operations going, he would advise against it.
“I think that, if anybody here wanted to be a member of the ZBA, as either a full member or an alternate member, you go through thorough the process and actually apply and get appointed,” he said. “That’s how we do it for all of these things, other than that, they would be a liaison that would also be a voting member.”
A full ZBA has three permanent members and two associate members, Town Administrator Lisa Green said.
“That is true,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said, responding to Weeks’ comment. “This is an extraordinarily different situation.”
Matt Provencher, a town attorney happened to be attending the meeting, so FitzGerald-Kemmett asked him for an opinion on the matter. He said he has been in touch with the town administrator about the issue.
For certain appeals to go a ZBA, Chapter 48 requires a three-member board must make three types of decisions – granting special permits, issuance of a variance or overturning a decision about the building inspector or commissioner,” Provencher said. Typically, any decisions made by three-person board to vote on building to cast a unanimous vote.
There are different vote quantums for boards with different numbers of members, he explained. Decisions would therefore need to total two-thirds or a super majority of votes – or a unanimous vote by a three-person board.
Legal snag
“The upshot would be that, even if you had a board that has a quorum of two out of three – a majority, and less capable of acting on some business before it – it cannot provide the relief that people are seeking, because they’re seeking a special permit or a variance or to overturn a decision by the building inspector or commissioner,” he said. “The difficulty for the town is that then puts these people in a position where they would need to take an appeal, which would incur costs.”
Even if a board under three members makes a unanimous vote of the members present, or all the members on a smaller board, it would still be a denial because they can’t meet the legal criteria for a legal vote.
Associate members can vote, but are not considered a full voting member unless all full members are present.
“To be clear, it’s not a full new member that they’re looking for?”
Select Board member Ed Heal asked if there was a person in mind to be tapped to fill the position.
“We do not have anybody,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “We really need a third member, or we’re going to have a problem.”
Any votes requiring recusal of a voting member would also mean a proper vote wouldn’t be possible.
“A very expensive vacancy,” Weeks said.
FitzGerald-Kemmett asked if Green had any names of potential volunteers available to be appointed and might be interested in serving now.
“The people that applied were people that were already on the board once before,” Green said.
FitzGerald-Kemmett said she was referring to the people who had come forward about membership during the recent ZBA investigation.
“No one has come forward,” Green said.
“Can we pump up the volume?” FitzGerald-Kemmett asked.
“At the end of the day, what stopped people before was all the attention that [the ZBA] was getting,” Weeks said. “I don’t think it’s been getting that level of attention in a long time.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett agreed that was true.
She said she knows of three past members who have said they would step forward.
In other business, Green announced that the town is working with a company called Box Modular, looking at a modular building planned to expand part of the Senior Center to accommodate for the supportive day program, funded by a grant from the Executive Office of Elder Affairs.
“We’re looking for a turn-key building that has plumbing, restroom facilities – everything that we need, so that we don’t have to procure and do everything piecemeal,” Green said. “That process is moving along as quickly as we can.”
The building inspector, town planner and a representative from the modular company have looked at the space where it will be located and Senior Center Director Mary Collins is picking out color schemes for the actual building color, Green said.
“It’s coming together rather quickly,” she said. “It’s still on schedule.” She also has discussed the funding for the project with the town accountant and explained it looks to be a reimbursable type of grant.

HANSON – With a potential operational override looming on the horizon, Hanson officials are working on how to educate residents on the need for such a move.
The Select Board has received one additional for override outreach and education, according to Town Administrator Lisa Green, who was also waiting to have another meeting the Collins Center at Umass Boston on their proposal – and expects to have “actual dollar proposals” at the board’s next meeting, Tuesday, Sept. 17.
In response to Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett’s question as to whether the Collins proposal might be expected to be more reasonable than others received so far, Green answered that it looked that way.
“The Collins Center is very impressive, and one of their team members is certified in school finance,” she said. Green also said she has a meeting set up with Dr. Melinda Tarsi-Goldfein of Bridgewater State University’s Department of Public Administration master’s degree program, to talk about whether her students would be interested in helping the town with that project as well as the resident survey with which they are assisting [see story, page 1].
“That meeting is planned,” she said.
The board asked for a real, “soup-to-nuts” breakdown of costs involved.
Select Board’s primary focus on special Town Meeting warrant articles was just that of placing them, at it’s meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 27.
Since board members Ann Rein and David George were absent, FitzGerald-Kemmett said the board didn’t vote on whether to recommend articles.
“I would also like to hear from [the] Finance Committee before we really make our recommendations, [and] we don’t even have that,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
Board member Joe Weeks, agreed, saying one never knows when another board member might have a valid point for voting against something.
“This warrant gets more and more solid every meeting,” Green said. “We’re not waiting on any more explanations, any more dollar figures – pretty much, what you have in front of you now is pretty much it. This is your warrant.”
After a very long search period, Green said the town is ready bring forth an applicant for consideration and possible appointment of someone to fill the position of highway director – Richard Jasmin.
The board voted 3-0, after a brief interview, to hire Jasmine, pending a full background check, medical, physical and drug screening as well as successful outcome of contract negotiations, effective Monday, Sept. 16.
“He has excellent experience and background, part of which includes military service,” Green said. “His references provide nothing but good things to say.”
Green said one reference, who served with him said “he’s one of the best operators that he’s ever seen,” she quoted. “He could do the job backwards. I said that’s good to know, because a lot of things we do in municipal government are backwards.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett continued the light tone of the session by jokingly welcoming back Interim Highway Director Curt McLean before the board to vouch for Jasmin, certain he “is hoping sincerely, to finish his perpetual gig with us.”
“It’s been a pleasure,” McLean said.
“Well, sometimes even pleasures have their limits,” she said.
Jasmin said he was inclined to apply for the position because he felt Hanson “would really fit” a lifestyle that he is looking for.
He had previously worked at Stoughton DPW for seven years working up to operator/acting foreman, but left and has been an on-site superintendent for Costello Dismantling for nearly two years, where he “learned a wealth of management skills.”
“I always knew I was going to get back to a town and I feel like Hanson would be a good fit,” he said, and siad he would be “100 percent” comfortable” in a management position with a union shop, having served as the union association president for four out of seven years and was a union member at Costello.
“I know there are rules and you’ve got to follow them,” he said.
While he admits in the realm of paperwork, there will be a learning curve, he said he knows where to find it, has already looked into some of it, and has a mentor network to lean on.
The only potential conflict of interest he said he was aware of was a cousin of his wife who owns a construction company out of East Bridgewater, and he has no other employment or source of income that would be a conflict.
The board also voted to appoint Madyson Silva as caretaker coordinator for Camp Kiwanee.
The position serves as caretaker during events when Needles Lodge is rented, effective Wednesday, Aug. 28, according to Green.
“They help set up before the event, break down after the event, clean up after the event,” she said. “Madyson is actually a very good addition to Camp Kiwanee.”

By Tracy F. Seelye, Express editor
[email protected]
WHITMAN – Seeking guidance with legal issues governing property uses and how they may be standing in the way of Whitman’s financial growth were the primary focus of the Select Board on Tuesday, Aug. 20.
More study was necessary after a lengthy discussion of possible alternate uses for the former Park Avenue School – and whether they might be permitted under the rather specific language of the deed gifting the property to the town, as well as direction on proceeding with the host community agreement between the town and Berkley Botanicals [See story, page 3].
Town Counsel Peter Sumner appeared before the board to discuss both issues.
The board listed several ideas, with Sumner saying the question did not need to be settled right then.
“I’m here tonight to find out what, exactly, you would like to do with the [Park Avenue School building] property, as a board, obviously, and we certainly understand that there may be need for further input,” he said.
Sumner said he was not certain he had ever been before the board on issues pertaining to the former school building, Sumner said it has “been percolating” for a while.
The former Whitman elementary school building at the corner of South Avenue and Park Avenue, sits on property acquired by the town in 1949 when it was purchased from George J.J. Clark. A provision in the deed requires the town to use the land “for school purposes only” – the exact words. The town then built the school there but has been closed since 2005-06.
In 2010, the regional School Committee voted to return the school and property back to the town because it was not needed for educational purposes at the time – and would never be needed by the district again.
“Since then, my office has looked into what the town can do with the property, given that the deed says it has to be used for school purposes only,” he said. “There is a little bit of a lack of clarity on that.”
“For school purposes only” may not mean what people think it means in property law,” Sumner said. “There is a significant question about whether it’s a deed restriction and whether the town purchased the property for fair market value or if it was a gift from the donor.”
Sumner said the town counsel’s office has decided the best course of action is to resolve that uncertainty in court “to the extent you want to do anything with the property now or in the future.”
He said it would be in the town’s interest to go to court for a declaratory judgment about what the town’s rights are and, if they don’t have a specific idea in mind for use of the propery it might make sense to wait.
He said his understanding it that the building is decrepit and can’t really be used.
“So it’s really a question of this parcel of land,” Sumner said, listing some possible options for the town to consider:

• argue the land was purchased and the “for school” language in the deed is not a restriction so the town may further dispose of the land as it sees fit; or
• identify a specific purpose for using the property – an option already discussed with the attorney general’s office in an effort to gain their assent – by identifying such a use.
  While the AG’s office is not opposed to option B, they would like to hear specific ideas from town officials.
  “The more like a school use it is … the AG’s office has signaled they are more likely to support that,” he said. Asked to look into the issue, Sumner said it would help to know what the Select Board had in mind.
  Some ideas mentioned by board members on Aug. 20 were:
  Vice Chair Dan Salvucci asked of the property could be sold with proceeds going toward the cost of the new Whitman Middle School. Sumner said signals from the AG’s office indicated they could support that.
  But Chair Dr. Carl Kowalski said that, while selling the property could fund the middle school, the town would lose control over what the property is then used for.
  Select Board member Shawn Kain said he is not interested in selling the property, instead advocated holding onto the property to develop it in a way that could benefit the whole community is important. He asked if cultural and recreational uses, such as an amphitheater could meet the deed requirements.
  Select Board member Laura Howe asked if the property could be used for a state police K9 academy with an associated dog pound and dog park.
  “We have a dog that works for the town that does an amazing job,” she said. “Animals do an unbelievable amount of work for people.”
  She noted that dogs offer unconditional love, and assist deaf, blind, handicapped, elderly and depressed people. Certain breeds are also adept at smelling body chemistry clues that people with illnesses such as diabetes are on the verge of a crisis.
  “We live in a very volatile world,” she said. “There’s a lot of community interest in this property.”
  She also suggested a successfully run program there could bring in people from other communities.
  Select Board member Justin Evans said his “moonshot” idea has always been a community center, bringing the Senior Center, recreation, veterans services all under one roof.
  “But we’ve got three ongoing, major building projects, assuming Vo Tech passes in a couple of months, it’s probably not the time to ask for a $20 million community center,” he said, noting the property sits squarely in the half-mile but the town specifically left it out because the town had no interest in selling it a couple of months ago.
  Largely untapped community preservation funds could be used to fund an amphitheater, parks, ball fields or something like that could be something to bring to the AG’s office as something that could be done now.

WHITMAN – A presentation to the Select Board and review of the South Shore Tech Regional Agreement amendment, slated for Tuesday, Aug. 20, has been postponed, as SST Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey was unable to attend Tuesday’s meeting due to illness.
Six member towns need to approve the amendment for it to go before special town meetings by January 2025.
While the presentation has been pushed to the next Select Board meeting, now slated for Sept. 17, Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter said she did not see the harm in setting a date for a special Town Meeting on Monday, Dec 2.
“We wanted to pick a date when Tom Hickey is available as well, to speak at each special town meeting to address this issue,” she said.
The SST School Committee meeting in a special session via remote on Monday Aug. 19, approved the regional agreement amendment for forwarding to its member towns for consideration at upcoming Fall special town meetings. The purpose of the amendment is to change, to a four-year rolling average, how debt shares are calculated for member towns.
If, ratified, that change would take place starting the second year of borrowing – fiscal 2027. Shovels are anticipated to go into the ground in fiscal 2026, with construction in earnest in fiscal 2027.
“It’s really to our advantage,” Select Board Chair Dr. Carl Kowalski said Tuesday.
“Absolutely to our advantage,” Carter said. “As new towns join South Shore Tech, and other students come in and our enrollment drops because there are other schools going in, our percentage drops. If we don’t vote this, we would be locked in to a much higher percent, steady for 30 years. This is so important that we have this meeting.”
Marshfield’s recent joining of the district will mean that, once they have enough student enrollment, they will be asked to look back four years as well – getting to that point would likely take until fiscal 2033 for that town to achieve the threshold of four years with of having four years with four grades of students in the building.
“We’re trying to do calculations that allow for the arrival of students from a new community, while building something for the long haul,” Hickey said. “This means that debt formulas will no longer be fixed at the time of authorization. … It’s a pay-as-you-go model until you have enough enrollment to be apples to apples.”
If another community were to join the district in the next several years, Hickey said he envisioned the same process being recommended, and more-or-less a cut and paste job of the process through which Marshfield joined.
“For every change, there’s an explanation about why we’re doing it,” Hickey told his school committee members.
“The timing of this meeting had a lot to do with waiting for officials from the Department of Education to do their final ‘scrub-down,’” Hickey said. “With your approval tonight, the document … we are sending to the respective select boards.”
He said he was sending out via email to those boards holding Town Meetings before January, including Hanson on Oct. 7 and Scituate on Nov. 18.
“I will work with you and your respective towns to engage as these special town meetings approach,” he said, adding that he anticipates all member towns, with the possible exception of Abington, will be scheduling special town meetings between Oct. 7 and Dec. 16.
“Once six communities pass this amendment, and we get the certified results from the town clerks, we will provide [the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education] DESE this information and then they would move forward to bringing this to the commissioner,” he said. There is also a summary sheet outlining changes that just involve grammar, and which are more substantive, according to Hickey.
Since 1960, the apportionment of debt share for each member town has been fixed at the time of its approval based on the average of three previous school year enrollments, and that share has remained the same for the life of the borrowing. This proposed amendment will apportion debt shares instead on a four year rolling average based on changes to student enrollment in each town over time. The first ‘four year rolling average’ calculation will start in FY27.
Hickey provided some context to the change.
“Last year while at a public forum in Whitman talking about our MSBA building project, it was suggested that we consider a change that provided flexibility to this calculation, given that an upcoming MSBA project would lock in town shares for 30 years. The idea made sense, given that the regional agreement uses three-year averages for capital and annual enrollments for operating costs. Working with the regional school officials at DESE was extremely helpful, and while it took several months to review, I’m glad we are at this point to bring this change to our towns.”
For most of 2024 the regional planning subcommittee worked on alternate apportionment models and arrived on a four year rolling average as the best alternative. “The four-year rolling average helps to control for volatility in changes in enrollment. A dip or a spike in annual enrollment would not lead immediately to a change in debt share,” Hickey said.
The other proposed update to the agreement involves the newly admitted town of Marshfield’s calculation for debt share. When Marshfield’s language was approved in 2023, it was based on Marshfield paying an annually adjusted debt share until it had enough enrollment history to calculate a fixed debt share. “The proposed amendment makes an adjustment to Marshfield’s debt share ‘on ramp.’ Basically, Marshfield will pay a debt share based on its most recent enrollment figures until they have a comparable enrollment history to use in a four year rolling average [as with all the other towns] and this parity would occur in FY33,” Hickey said.
For the amendment to take effect, it must be approved by at least 6 of the 9 member town meetings. At this point, seven of the nine towns have scheduled town meetings for somewhere between October and December. Hanson’s special Town Meeting is Oct. 7.
“If we are able to secure at least the required 6 town meeting approvals, we will send to DESE the town clerk certifications [of the town meeting votes] so that the final step in the process can move forward, which is DESE Commissioner approval. The changes can go into effect once that final approval is in place,” Hickey said.
The district will place the proposed changes and supporting presentation material on its website, southshore.tech and will circulate materials to towns as well.

BROCKTON – About a year and a half of redirecting ambulances, using backup ambulances as much as their main vehicle, paying overtime to ambulance crews and a loss of some flexibility in where patients could be transported, eased a bit on Tuesday, Aug. 13 as Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital reopened some parts of the building, including the emergency room.
“The opening of Brockton Hospital is fantastic,” said Whitman Fire Chief Timothy Clancy, who was traveling for a fire chiefs’ conference in Texas Tuesday. “Not only for the hospital itself to get back in operation after the fire, but, really, it’ll be beneficial to the communities in the area.”
“We’re jumping for joy,” Hanson Fire Chief Robert O’Brien Jr. said Tuesday afternoon, noting it has reopened at 7 a.m. that day. “It has been a huge strain on our system.”
He credited the Brockton Hospital staff for working to help ease the burden on fire departments.
It had not been unheard of that Hanson ambulances were taking 45 minutes to 1.5 hours to get a patient back home as well.
Once an ambulance arrives at a hospital, it’s been taking over an hour for them to get back in town. And ambulance crews have also been responding to another call from the hospitals or a neighboring community, he said.
As a result, Hanson’s Ambulance runs as much as the first ambulance and Whitman has seen a similar increase in demand and transport times.
Clancy said it allows people to get back into a routine if they’ve preferred Brockton Hospital for a long time or their doctors are there.
“I hope the reopening means some of the overall crowding of the emergency rooms is eased and people can get seen in a timely manner,” he said.
Overall, 48 percent of Hanon’s call volume has been second calls while the primary ambulance has been on the road since the fire in February 2023.
“Problem-wise, it’s been multitudes of things,” he said. “Let’s start with Norwood. Norwood hospital being closed a couple of years ago due to the flooding, impacted Good Samaritan,” O’Brien said. “And, with Brockton Hospital shutting down, we do have patients that could go to Good Sam, but then Good Sam’s wait times became even longer and South Shore Hospital over the years, with Quincy Hospital shutting down and [Carney Hospital] shutting down, South Shore Hospital got inundated with people as did B.I. Plymouth.”
Call volume for Hanson Fire, due to South Sore and B.I. Plymouth, the two main hospitals they send patients to going to, as a result of the Brockton Hospital.
“We are doing the best we can to accommodate a patient’s request, but there’s a whole bunch of factors that go into that,” said O’Brien.
Brockton is also Hanson Fire Department’s medical control hospital, with all the paramedics working with Dr. Daniel Muse.
“I will say, he has been phenomenal from the first day they were closed all the way through,” O’Brien said. “He has still maintained our continuing education, and has kept us apprised of everything the whole time.”
After the unfortunate building fire in February 2023, we have been replacing the Hospital’s infrastructure and worked tirelessly to enhance and revamp our facilities,” said Hillary Lovell, manager, marketing provider and community relations spokesperson for Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital.”
“Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital has provided safe, quality healthcare to the community for the past 125 years, and we are dedicated to continuing this legacy for another 125 years and beyond President & CEO, Robert Haffey stated. He is eagerly anticipating the reopening of Brockton
Hospital. He aims to ensure a safer, more welcoming, and notably more patient-centric environment.
A a new Outpatient Surgical facility, designed to be more convenient and accessible for same-day surgical patients, will provide ease of access to care and allowing patients to recover in the comfort of their homes.
While some facilities at the hospital – the Maternity Unit (no labor and delivery), Pediatric Unit and Behavioral Health Unit are still closed.
A newly improved main lobby that offers a more comforting and welcoming environment for all.
An updated Emergency Department that now includes a new 12-unit behavioral health triage unit, ensuring better, and more private care for behavioral health patients.
Other newly-reopened departments are: installation of a new 1.5-megawatt solar array will offset the hospital’s daily electrical power use and contribute to reducing its carbon footprint; the acquisition of two new state-of-the-art Cardiac Catheterization machines to upgrade and enhance the Cardiac Catheterization Lab technology.

WHITMAN – The Select Board has approved a new policy for a tax veterans’ abatement program approved at the May 2024 annual Town Meeting.
Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter has been discussing a Veteran Citizen Property Tax Write-Off program with Veterans’ Services Officer Shannon Burke and Assessor Wendy Jones, to help veterans work off a portion of their property taxes.
“It’s similar in a lot of ways to the senior work-off program,” Carter said during the Tuesday, July 23 Select Board meeting.
She said Burke has written the program policy so the program will be limited to no more than five veterans per program year, but could be further limited by the availability of staff to provide proper supervision.
“The VSO will see who’s interested, check with departments, see who has a need for a volunteer, similar to the COA [Council on Aging],” Carter said. “They will be able to make the minimum wage up to the cap.”
She reminded the Board that the program was approved at the May 2024 Town meeting, to the policy is just to go along with that.”
Right now, the salary cap is $1,500. While the COA has recently increased its tax abatement program salary cap, [the veterans’] program is written that way, without a specific dollar amount.
“It just says, ‘Up to the limit,’” Carter said of the salary listed. And there is no specific age requirement that one has to meet with funds coming out of the real estate and personal equity line of the budget each year – just as the funding for the senior abatement program does.
“The only differences are there is no age limit of veterans and you have to meet the status of a veteran, based off the federal definition of what a veteran is” she said.
“It will open it up, too, because we have a lot of younger veterans who could use the help, and they’re looking. This is a way for them two work for the town and get a financial break from the taxes.”
They are trying to open up the process because they are not eligible for the senior work off.
Select Board member Laura Howe asked about the reason for limiting the program to five participants.
“We’ll start with the five and see what the future brings,” Vice Chair Daniel Savucci said.
Resident Bob Kimball of Auburnville Way asked what would happen if there were, say, 10 applicants for the five spots.
“How do we give the veteran that needs it the most, the ability to [participate]?,” he asked. “Do we give it to people who have Purple Hearts? Do we have people with a disability? We want to make sure that the right veteran gets it.”
Burke said all applicants … will be put in the right order, according to the most need,” noting that, if they are receiving another exemption, they would go on the list below someone receiving no exemptions and “could really use the program.”
“We’re trying to get as many veterans as much help as we can,” she said. “Obviously, our most needy are going to go at the top and the ones that can wait a year or so are going to go toward the bottom. It’s going to depend on who applies and where they are.”
Select Board member Shawn Kain asked if, during the implementation of the program, the board could be updated on it to determine how much demand there is for it.
In other business, the board was updated on work done under a grant from the CPC and Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) and the next steps to conduct a survey to assess and document some 140 selected architectural and cultural resources in town ahead of the 2025 celebrations of Whitman’s 150th anniversary. Th inventory will be presented to the town as part of that observance.
“The properties are ones that have not been previously surveyed, but can be considered endangered in Whitman,” said Mary Joyce, who thanked Carter and Assistant Town Clerk Kathleen Keefe and the town’s IT team for helping “moving some things forward that were stuck.”
Survey results will be submitted to the MHC for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places and provide an article for the 2024 warrant to provide the town with a demolition delay bylaw, providing plaques to properties indicating historic significance of Whitman.
Joyce also said the Commission will establish community resources for the schools and interested members of the public and have already been asked by the architectural firm working on the new Whitman Middle School for some historical items to show within that building.
Key milestones met include: participation in a MHC workshop; submission of a single audit in June; finalization of a scope of work with the MHC, which was approved in late July; development and drafting of an requests for quotes now in final review with the MHC with execution of the contract between now and 2025 left to achieve.
Select Board members agreed to Joyce’s suggestion of providing a periodic update on the project’s progress.