WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Aug. 11 addressed COVID-19 issues centering on Gov. Charlie Baker’s new travel policy and resident complaints about Town Hall access. Selectmen voted unanimously to maintain the current access policy for Town Hall and to support the travel policy.

“Things aren’t really getting any better,” said Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski. “We’ve been lucky in this state because we’ve kept it controlled so far.”

Town Administrator Frank Lynam said he has researched surrounding towns as to how town hall access is being handled. In Whitman, all employees are at work and delivering all requested town services through alternative means. A drop box is available for payment of municipal bills, which can also be paid by USPS or online. Ballots mailed to residents for voting may also be placed in the drop box.

Selectman Justin Evans asked how the state primary election on Sept. 1 — and the week of early voting before that — would be handled.

Lynam said that, just as with the local election in June, residents would be required to enter by one door and exit by another with rope lines directing flow and surfaces continually disinfected.

For the primary, Town Clerk Dawn Varley has recommended that other Town Hall offices be closed both for the primary and the Nov. 3 general election. The board also unanimously voted to support that recommendation.

“If you have something that requires direct communication and contact with a town employee, we are handling those on a schedule basis,” Lynam said. Two meeting areas have been set up in the Town Hall auditorium spaced to permit both privacy and social distancing. Those meetings require an appointment.

“The question now becomes should we open the door and just let people come in at will?” Lynam asked the board.

Everyone currently entering the Town Hall, for either appointments or to work must enter through the handicapped entrance and pause for a temperature scan.

“If we open to the public in an on-demand basis, we’re not going to be able to do that unless we hire somebody to attend to the door,” he said. “The significant majority of surrounding towns are doing exactly what we’re doing.”

The other towns Lynam surveyed have closed senior centers and libraries, are maintaining town services and requiring appointments to enter the town halls.

Of four town halls he found that had open access, two required people to enter through a single door staffed by an attendant.

While Lynam said he would abide by the board’s decision, he advocated waiting at least until school is back in session to see how things progress.

“I would just hate to see us eliminate those limitations and then have an employee contract COVID,” he said. The town of Fairhaven has already seen that happen, according to Lynam.

Selectman Randy LaMattina asked if there were any services not being provided under the current access policy.

Lynam said the passport program (almost all international travel is affected by a ban on U.S. travelers because of the pandemic), and one person complained about what they felt was their inability to get a marriage license. He spoke to the town clerk, who reported that office is working on marriage licenses by appointment Tuesdays from about noon to 7 p.m.

“To my knowledge, we are not preventing anyone from obtaining the services that they would expect from the town of Whitman, other than the Senior Center,” he said.

LaMattina urged that the board continue to err on the side of caution.

“We’ve been pretty lucky as a town,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve had any employees exposed. If we’re not sacrificing services, I wound say status quo.”

Selectman Dan Salvucci agreed the town should maintain current practices until Gov. Baker changes guidelines or announced a vaccine is available.

Travel policy

Baker’s travel policy — pertaining to travel to states where the virus has not yet declined or leveled off — has circulated to all town departments. “Let’s be practical about this,” he said. “We’re in a pandemic —no question on anybody’s part that we’re there — [and] we have to do some responsible things to help control the spread, and one of those is limiting your exposure by not traveling to places where there are problems.”

He asked the board to adopt the policy to help manage the pandemic.

Selectman Brian Bezanson asked whether there were exemptions for town employees or essential workers.

“Unlike the original COVID requirement, this does not exempt public safety personnel. This applies to everyone,” Lynam said.

It also requires that people traveling on vacation certify they are COVID-free or undergo a 14-day quarantine.

Lynam said a problem lies in the time it takes to get test results — sometimes as long as 10 days in the worst-case scenario.

It does not, however, apply to shopping day trips.

“For example, Rhode Island’s on the ‘bad list.’ If you drive across the border to buy a six-pack or whatever, and then come back home, that’s not considered travel,” he said. “This is self-reporting, too. People will have to self-certify that they’ve done what’s necessary to comply with the policy, and that’s a regulation promulgated by the governor’s office.”

Evans said he initially shared Bezanson’s question, but noted the order exempts critical infrastructure employees who come into the state to do work on that infrastructure.

“If we were called in as mutual aid for a Providence fire, they’d be exempt,” Evans said, asking if the town could specifically vote in the test requirement to make it clearer.

Lynam said he tried to avoid writing in anything that further limits compliance with the policy.

“The regulation is specific,” he said. “Whether our policy says it or not, if they’re violating the regulation, then they are in violation. … I’m not sure that it’s necessary to dually define it.”

Assistant Town Administrator Lisa Green said she has been doing some research into COVID testing, noting Baker has issued new testing guidelines to make it easier for asymptomatic people to obtain tests. However, one must call a test site to make an appointment. But one location in Brockton disconnects people who press the prompt as neither a Brockton Community Health patient nor symptomatic. Wait times for Community Health patients are long. At other testing facilities, there is a cost that requires a reimbursement process and a wait for about seven days for results.

“It’s difficult for people who have vacation plans either out of state or who have booked or purchased tickets to an event prior to any of this going into effect, and if they don’t go they aren’t refunded any money,” she said. “So they’re not making it very easy.”

Bezanson asked if quarantine periods were on personal time.

“Part of the policy intent is to address the difference between discretion and need,” Lynam said. He and his wife, he said as an example, were planning to go to Vermont next week, but have decided to cancel that trip.

“The issue is the notice for travel requires notification of the employer,” he said. “I think it’s irresponsible for an employee to decide on their own, ‘We’re going to travel somewhere, and if we have to quarantine it’s your problem.’”

He said there has to be some give and take. Sick time would be permitted to be used for quarantine, however, Lynam said, adding that the town has used working from home as an option.

Both Lynam and Evans said they have had to cancel plans for travel to weddings this year.

Greeen said people who still want to go on with vacations can accommodate their travel and event plans.

HANOVER — The South Shore Tech school calendar could be modified next month to reduce the 180-day school requirement.

“The commissioner has hinted at this,” Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey said at the Wednesday, July 15 SST School Committee.

Commissioner Jeffrey C. Riley has announced he would  allow districts to plan 170-day calendars for the school year, with additional staff training days.

Hickey has been holding meetings of a working group of administrators and faculty to plan a return to school in the fall. Such a move the first day of school to after Labor Day.

“We’re definitely, like so many other school districts, threading a needle insofar as — we don’t have all the state guidance on transportation and some other aspects — but we are expected to submit a plan [to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education] by the end of the month that will address how we want to open,” he said.

While details will have to be worked out throughout the summer are:

• Capacity to open, including space on buses, students who drive themselves and family drop-offs; and

• Flexibility of the school’s master schedule.

Families have been surveyed on the issues surrounding reopening and their concerns.

“If the state guidance on bus transportation is somehow less than one kid per seat, what I just said to you is, unfortunately, going to have to be visited even more,” he said. “But everyone seems to be, if we’re going to bring children into this building, we must find a way for all of them to be on campus for their technical studies.”

The school could handle bringing every student back for their shop weeks with two grades of kids per shop, according to Hickey who said, and another model is being developed which will allow them to return for a portion of their academic week. Greater focus will be on younger students, especially freshmen. Weeks when they are not in school, would focus on remote learning.

Hickey said he personally does not think it will be possible to bring everyone back for academic and shop instruction, transportation and classroom capacity based on social distancing guidelines for students.

All classrooms have been already modified to comply with state guidelines then officials have to look at the master schedule to figure out ways to balance off some class sizes before being able to really judge class sizes.

The School Committee heard a spending update from interim business manager John Tuffy regarding the 1/12 budget under which the district has been operating since July 1. The 1/12 budget is in effect unless and until town meetings approve a school budget next week. This district cannot deficit spend.

“Income hasn’t been an issue in the past,” Tuffy said. “This is a very different time that we have now.”

That presentation, during the Wednesday, July 15 meeting, followed a review of the region’s assessment problem by Whitman School Committee member Fred Small.

“We need to be as transparent as possible,” said Small. “We need to be forthright with the public, and we all need to find some way to all come together because we have a lot of children’s lives at risk and their education is at risk — and education is life.”

He said he was a volunteer official who did his best, and apologized to residents and promised never to take the word of school administration — and that his new motto would be trust, but verify.

“There’s been finger-pointing back and forth in both towns,” Small. “The residents of our towns bear no burden in this.”

He recalled a Whitman resident speaking to him in 2016 about the town’s paying $200,000 to $300,000 too much annually in the budget for schools. He brought the concern to Chairman Bob Hayes who, Small said, responded that he was informed it was a “swinging number” and minor in a $50 million budget.

He relayed that information back to the resident along with the advice that the superintendent would be the best person to reach out to. In 2017-18 a Regional Agreement Committee was formed to review that document and the Mass. Association of Regional Schools (MARS) was hired to redraft the agreement, making it legal to today’s standards.

“I would encourage everybody to go back, watch the meetings and draw your own conclusions as to some of the verbiage that was used,” Small said,

A Whitman Selectman asked him last March which assessment method was being used by the district. He asked the same question of the district’s business manager and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. He was told by both the district and DESE that the statutory method was used and he reported that to Whitman Selectmen.

“Over the following months, it was determined, and I’m not sure who did the physical math … that the statutory method was never being used,” Small recounted.

The district administration investigated and the business manager was placed on leave in September 2019. Months of discussions on the impact and a presentation on the assessment formulas from DESE followed that.

“The discussions about the compromise and its impact continue to this day,” he said. “In January 2020 the School Committee had been informed that an agreement had been reached,”

In an executive session, the details of which may now publicly be discussed, the business manager was paid through March 31 and the former business manager and the district mutually agreed not to disparage each other.

“When we were told this I did strenuously object to any type of agreement,” Small said. “The towns have been partners for a long time, you can’t blame one town over another.”

He stressed that the calculations in question were performed during a prior school administration.

Tuffy reviewed the current cash flow situation within a 1/12 budget based exactly on what the district spent in fiscal 2020 — $4,368,000 per month — but the assessments will be based on assumptions made when the fiscal 2021 budget was calculated. Any funds not spent in July are added to the allotment available in August and so on through the year.

“If we were a private business, we’d talk about burn rate — how fast do we go through our money?” he said. The first billing warrant processed for fiscal ’21 is just over $2.1 million.

He said that is unusual and due to a lot of subscription fees to technology products and the $1.2 million assessment from Plymouth County Retirement.

A teacher payroll during the school year runs about $1.5 million.

“We certainly don’t expect to have any issues through July and August, but once we start to get into September, if we’re still in a 1/12 budget, we’re going to have to be careful how we move forward and maybe talking to the state about some form of relief,” Tuffy said.

Hanson member Christopher Howard said, regarding Town Meeting that there seems to be misinformation and/or confusion in his community between the correlation between the budget article and the assessment methodology.

“It seems like there are some folks that are suggesting that [people should] vote no against the budget article because they don’t like the assessment methodology and that’s really not accurate at all,” he said. “It really takes both towns to agree.”

He stressed the Town Meeting vote concerns the budget, not the assessment formula.

Hanson member Hillary Kniffen agreed there is confusion and asked if another town meeting could be held in both towns before September. Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak said a lot will be determined by the result of the town meetings and cash flow within the 1/12 budget.

“We’re trying to open school in a pandemic and the thought of losing 40 positions or being level-funded is challenging,” he said. “This isn’t a joke. This is real. I don’t have the money.”

Chapter 70, regional transportation and Circuit Breaker funding is also uncertain.

Legislators secure $400K in relief funds for W-H schools

BOSTON — The Mass. House and Senate have both approved a supplemental budget to provide additional relief for COVID related expenses, including funds for personal protective equipment, field hospitals and contact tracing.

Included are a pair of amendments filed by Senator Mike Brady, D-Brockton, Representative Josh Cutler, D-Pembroke, and Rep. Alyson Sullivan, R-Abington, to direct additional funds to the towns of Hanson and Whitman for the benefit of the regional school district.

One amendment will provide $200,000 for Whitman-Hanson to fund remote learning related expenses and another amendment will provide an additional $200,000 for personal protection equipment for the schools, staff and teaching professionals.

“We know this will be a challenging school year for all involved and these additional funds will certainly help,” said Cutler. “Now every Whitman-Hanson high school student will have access to a chromebook and every teacher and staff member in the district can be assured of having an adequate supply of PPE.”

Brady added, “Maintaining access to educational opportunities for all must be a priority. These amendments will allow our teachers to better support their students and provide the best education possible under these challenging circumstances.”

“We know that our classrooms are going to look different this fall as we grapple with the impacts of COVID-19. These amendments will provide sorely needed resources to benefit our schools and reduce the burden on local taxpayers,” said Sullivan.

As part of Governor Baker’s education guidance, school districts are required to create three separate re-opening plans. One of those plans must be for completely remote learning in the Fall. Another plan must be for a hybrid model that includes both remote and in-person learning. These plans will require support from the state and investment by school districts to ensure that remote learning still meets the needs of students.

The House and Senate bills will be reconciled and then sent to Gov. Baker for his approval. The budget is facilitated by federal CARES Act funding in response to the COVID pandemic.

For voters concerned about the safety of voting in person during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an alternative besides absentee or early voting.

In July, a new law was passed to allow all registered voters in Massachusetts to vote by mail in any 2020 election, with no excuse needed.

Whitman and Hanson town clerks said the applications were being mailed to all Massachusetts voters beginning Wednesday, July 15 for the state primary election Sept. 1.

“They’re mailing out applications on July 15 to every registered voter as of July 1 that has not already applied for an absentee ballot or an early voting ballot,” said Whitman Town Clerk Dawn Varley. “This is all new to us.”

Applications are mailed back to local clerks’ offices. Return postage of the ballot application is paid by the commonwealth.

“We send it out, they fill out the application for early ballot and it’s only good for this year,” said Hanson Town Clerk Elizabeth Sloan. “Once we receive the ballots, we mail it out to the people and they have to get it back to us.”

Secretary of State William Galvin’s office has been great about updating security measures and providing clerks with direction on the issue.

As required by the new law, a Vote by Mail application will be mailed to every person who was registered to vote by July 1 and who had not already requested an absentee ballot for the State Primary or for all elections this year. A second mailing will be sent out in September to all voters who have not already applied for a Vote by Mail ballot for the November election. The applications are pre-addressed to your local election official and no postage is necessary.

Vote by Mail applications must be delivered to your local election office no later than four business days before the election. For a State Primary ballot, your application must reach your local election office no later than Aug. 26. For a State Election ballot, your application must reach your local election office no later than Oct. 28.

If you wish to vote by mail, you are strongly encouraged to return your application as early as possible, to make sure that you will receive your ballot in time to return it and have it be counted.

Vote by Mail applications are available for download and may also be requested by contacting the Elections Division.

Ballots and outer envelopes must be signed by voters under the pains and penalties of perjury, that the ballot inside is theirs,” Varley noted.

Sloan said she has not heard any concerns from voters on the security of voting by mail, but Varley said she has.

“I’ve had a lot of people comment about it — about [potential] fraud and, ‘what happens to my ballot?’” she said. “My answer is we are responsible town clerks. … I assure them that their ballots are kept in a secure place, that we don’t open them.”

She said people are most often concerned that their ballot will be looked at. Varley assured voters that her staff is not interested in looking at who a resident votes for — they just want people to vote.

Ballots are taken out to the tabulating machines in bulk and checked against voters’ names just as each voter would have to do at check-in tables. Absentee and early vote ballots are counted the same way.

“We have to record in the state system when we mail in the application,” she said. “We have to record in the state system when we mail a person the ballot. We have to record in the state system when we get the ballot from the person.”

After the ballots are mailed back the clerks’ offices alphabetize them and place them in the vault.

“They have to be opened in clear view in front of people,” she said. All envelopes and ballots have to be saved for a specific time in case a result is challenged.

“I haven’t heard if we can put them in [to machines] as we get them, but not tally,” Sloan said. “I know that was supposed to be part of the election law, but I don’t know if that got passed or not.”

She said Galvin’s office has been inundated with questions and has not provided complete direction on counting mail-in ballots yet.

“Of course, we’re not to that point yet, so we don’t have to worry about that part,” she said. “From what I understand, they were going to try to pass a law that we could put the ballots into the tabulator — but not tabulate them — so it would make our lives easier come election day, but I don’t know if that’s going to happen or not.”

You can find more information on voting by mail on our Voting by Mail FAQs page.

Whitman Selectmen are standing firm on their budget proposal headed for Town Meeting, including the budget that supports education.

Hanson Selectmen, meanwhile discussed the Regional Agreement amendment on the issue with Town Counsel Kate Feodoroff.

“I’m comfortable that you get the savings in the first year, and that’s the real benefit,” Feodoroff said.

Both boards met virtually on Tuesday, June 30.

“The budget is built on the assumption that we meet in the middle, in a transition from the current [school] budget method … to the statutory method, which is what most communities in Massachusetts that are regional are using,” said Town Administrator Frank Lynam. “Hopefully, we’ll see support for that when we go to our Town Meeting on July 27.”

Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski agreed.

“It’s the only real way for us to help the schools to transition from this year to next year,” Kowalski said. “The best thing to do for the students of our system, and for our system itself, is to go with the Selectmen’s recommendation and not the Finance Committee’s recommendation on the school budget.”

Selectman Randy LaMattina, who worked on the panel of officials from both towns that drafted the compromise, said that while there may be a better financial path, there is not a better path toward supporting education and the school district.

“It’s a two-part piece — one will not work without the other,” LaMattina said. “You can’t say you support the budget and not the amendment.”

He said town officials are aware Hanson will “struggle to get there” and if the relationship is going to be preserved both towns are needed.

“It’s sink or swim together and are we going to make it work?” LaMattina said. “For the budget to work this year, we need to offer Hanson some help of what basically and ultimately comes down to $211,000.”

Selectman Dan Salvucci asked if Hanson helped Whitman the previous year when they had to take $840,000 out of stabilization to offset the budget.

“Sometimes you do the wrong thing for the right reason,” LaMattina said, but stressed the 50/50 compromise is the best deal Hanson is going to get.

Lynam said the Finance Committee can, at Town Meeting, recommend a budget less than what the School Committee is requesting, but all that does is reject the budget.

“It has no other action,” Lynam said.

The School Committee’s budget must be presented to Town Meeting. But if Hanson’s budget does not support the assessment, the budget itself is rejected and the district can’t use Whitman’s appropriation until a budget is established, according to Lynam.

If Whitman passes a school budget that Hanson does not, there is no minimum time limit for the School Committee to approve another assessment.

Kowalski also reported that the way a recent paid posting of an ad in the Express by the Whitman Finance Committee, according to town counsel, was not in violation of either an ethical or campaign finance standpoint. Selectmen also have no authority over the Finance Committee, which is appointed by the Town Moderator.

The voters in Whitman and Hanson go to the polls on Saturday, June 27 to elect officials to town boards and the regional School Committee.

Polls are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., at Whitman Town Hall for voting in that town.

Due to Covid-19 the Secretary of the Commonwealth has allowed Early Voting by mail for all voters. Visit the State Election website at sec.state.ma.us/ele. Absentee ballots are still available for those who are disabled, out of town during polling hours or have a religious reason. If you do not have access to a printer the Clerk’s Office will mail you an application.

Send the completed application to the Town Clerk’s Office at town hall. Applications can be mailed or hand-delivered to the outside drop box or submitted electronically by fax (781-618-9791) or e-mail ([email protected]), as long as your signature is visible. For more information call 781-618-9710 for the Whitman Town Clerk.

Please allow ample mailing time for this application and for the ballot. Ballots must be returned to the Town Clerks Office by Election Day.

Due to the pandemic Whitman also purchased a larger drop box for Early voting ballots and all other correspondences that needed to be deposited for Town business. The box is located on the parking lot side of the building next to the stairs and the handicapped ramp.

Hanson votes from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Hanson Middle School. All voters who cannot vote in person at the Hanson Middle School on June 27 have been encouraged to fill out an absentee ballot application if they would like to vote early by mail.  Both applications are available on the Hanson Town Clerk’s website.

To vote by mail in Hanson, download an application for either an Absentee Ballot (this allows you to have a ballot mailed to you for all elections this year); or, an Early Ballot Application (which is just specific to this election).  Once you have completed and signed either application, please either mail to: TOWN CLERK, 542 Liberty Street, Hanson, MA 02341  OR:  Scan application (with signature) and email to [email protected].  The Town Clerk’s office will mail you a ballot which will need to be received back to the Clerk’s office by Election Day, June 27, 2020.

Candidates in Whitman are: Moderator: Michael Seele. Treasurer: Mary Beth Carter.Board of Selectmen (vote for two): Dr. Carl Kowalski, incumbent; Randy LaMattina, incumbent; Rosemary Connolly. School Committee (vote for two): Steven Bois, incumbent; Alexandra Taylor, incumbent; David Forth Jr. Department of Public Works Commissioner (vote for two): Kenneth Lailer; David Cook. Public Library Trustees (vote for two): Ann Trotta; Susan Duran. Planning Board: Adam Somerville. Heidi Hosmer is a declared candidate for Assessor.

Hanson candidates are: Moderator:  Sean J. Kealy. Selectman (vote for two): Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett, incumbent; James Hickey, incumbent; and Paul Benenato. School Committee: No candidates officially filed, but resident Hillary Kiffen is running a write-in campaign. Assessor:  None filed. Board of Heath: Kevin R. Perkins. Cemetery Commissioner: None filed. Planning Board (5 years): John Kemmett. Planning Board (3 years): Kevin D. Cohen. Hanson Housing Authority (5 year term): Marilyn Cardile. Two Trustees of Public Library (3 years): John F. Papp and Teresa M. Santalucia. Water Commissioner (3 years): Michael J. Chernicki.

HANSON — The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, June 9 raised issues of exactly where the annual Town Meeting will be held. The question will be revisited at the Tuesday, June 23 meeting.

Town Administrator John Stanbrook said Town Moderator Sean Kealy, has looked at various school venues in towns and capacity to accommodate social distancing for Town Meeting.

“Sean would really like to have it outside,” said Town Clerk Beth Sloan. “I think he was really going toward Indian Head.”

Sloan said her only concern for that location is parking capacity.

Selectmen Chairman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said she has spoken to the Mass Municipal Association, which has advised that “to the extent you can have it outside, you ought to have it outside.”

She said it helps ensure social distancing and people’s comfort level.

Dealing with residents who do not want to wear a mask, and handling of the microphone are also issues of concern. A recording of the presentation is viewable on the MMA website.

“There’s a lot to work out,” she said. “If it’s outside, then you have to think about do you need a canopy.”

Sloan said the high school would probably be the best location, but then tents and whether to use them would be an issue.

“ADA would probably be the best at the high school as well,” she said. “If you’re going to do it outside, I definitely think we should do it at the high school.”

“The main thing is just saying where it’s going to be,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “You don’t have to say in the gym, or the PAC or the football field.”

Selectman Wes Blauss raised the questions of the size of tent needed in the event of rain.

Selectman Matt Dyer suggested a “drive-in” Town Meeting, as some other communities have done, as well as a streamlined agenda. Feodoroff suggested the consent agenda approach for articles never traditionally discussed such as town reports, could be used as a separate article to be voted on en masse — with the opportunity of placing holds on them before voting in case questions do arise.

For any outside meeting, Dyer argued that any area chosen should be sprayed for mosquitos ahead of time.