WHITMAN — Saying “nothing here is cast in stone,” financial consultant John Madden returned to a meeting of the Whitman Budget Override Evaluation Committee Monday, Dec. 2 to review his draft analysis of the town financial conditions.

“It was what we expected,” said Town Administrator Frank Lynam. “It was what we’ve been talking about.”

The report is posted on the town website whitman-ma.gov.

“Make no mistake, you guys have done a great job,” Madden said. “You’ve gotten to where we are today, when other communities may have decided, ‘You know what? This is too much work. I think we’ll try for an override and see what happens.’”

He lauded what the committee and town government have done to balance the budget and “postpone what appears to be the inevitable.”

Committee Chairman Selectman Randy LaMattina said the panel did have some questions and sought clarification on figures in the report, specifically a 5-percent increase for the schools.

Madden said if department heads have compelling arguments for the Finance Committee, board of Selectmen or other decision-making board to consider for figures outside of his recommendations, that is the decision of that committee or board.

“Something has to give or you prepare to go to the voters with a general override,” he cautioned however, adding the recommendations come from an effort to mitigate the cost and delay the need for such an override.

He said that he recommended 5 percent for the schools, based on what he has seen in other communities.

“I’ve seen lower, I’ve seen higher,” Madden said.

Resident member of the committee Christopher George asked if the figure represented a 5-percent increase in the assessments to the towns or a 5-percent increase in the schools’ overall budget. Madden said it was the figure from the towns’ Article 2 budget.

School Committee member Dawn Byers noted that, as a regional district, more than 50-percent of the WHRSD budget is from state aid and is not giving Whitman a 5-percent increase.

If the recommendation involved a 5-percent increase from Whitman and Hanson individually, as well as from the state, it would paint a different picture, Byers said.

“I think that would be a nice opportunity to fund the schools appropriately, but with 0.45 percent Chapter 70 increase, 5 percent from the towns doesn’t equate to an overall 5-percent budget increase,” she said.

Lynam said the committee hired Madden in an effort to identify where Whitman is and where the town is headed with the regional schools posing a particular challenge because so much of that budget is fixed.

“In fairness, our concern was for you to focus the factors that affect Whitman,” he said. “You have done that.”
Madden agreed that the towns are charged with providing an education to the children of Whitman and of Hanson, as well as some school choice participants, that keep students coming into the district.

“You’ve got to fund an education that keeps people in school and not looking elsewhere,” he said.

George also asked if there was any area in which the town was spending too much money as compared with others. Madden said nothing he has looked at or recommended actually solves individual issues. He said the report identified some areas of concern such as IT, but said it was up to the town as to whether they want to tackle them sooner rather than later.

Selectman Justin Evans, noting the suggestion in Madden’s report that the motor vehicle fine account could be moved into the general fund to defray salary expenses in the operating budget, asked if the town could do that on its own, since the town had petitioned the state to create the fine account in the first place.

Lynam said the town would have to rescind its approval of home rule legislation, but he would investigate the process.

“There’s so many things that would be perceived as negative in that type of revenue process,” he said. “I believe right now the police act in a responsible way to ensure public safety — that’s their job and that’s what they should be doing — they shouldn’t be focusing on hit counts to raise money, and I wouldn’t want to see us going back to that.”

Madden said he suggested the fines go back into the general fund since they no longer cover the cost of vehicle leases.

Lynam said even if the change was not made, the town could look at the revenue coming in against the purchasing needs of the public safety departments and use what remains for general fund purposes through Town Meeting warrant articles.

“We’re not really changing anything,” George said. “It’s an accounting practice in terms of the way things work. … We’re not really talking about any significant changes or reductions for how we spend that money, this is just about best practices from an accounting standpoint.”

Madden said that was basically what he was recommending for budget flexibility and protection from anomalies.

“We have utilized our funding sources to the maximum available,” Lynam said. “That’s where we are today.”

LaMattina noted social media posts to the effect that the town spends too much money and asked Madden for his assessment of Whitman’s spending practices. Madded said that, while free cash has been used to pay debt over the past few years, he considers debt to be part of the budget, and worked hard to do that, but at some point the town will have to consider an override. Other than that, some staffing issues are the only sources of concern Madden said he found, including overtime use.

He was asked if Whitman’s average tax bill is $5,450 in fiscal 2020, up 6 percent from last year and 24 percent in five years, is common or if it seemed high.

“Not necessarily,” Madden said. “I’ve analyzed a community that went up 13 percent in one year.”

He said if the overall budget were to increase 3 percent, it would not necessarily be a bad thing.

“There are a number of things the public doesn’t see that drive a budget,” he said.

Finance Committee member Scott Lambiase said the BOEC has to digest Madden’s report and discuss it with the Finance Committee and Selectmen.

“But we have recommendations on the table, and we have to decide what we want to do with those recommendations — whether we want to adopt all of them, some of them — and then move forward with that,” he said. “Right now, we have a budget to put together and then we have to decide do we want policies to come out of this? Do we want to adopt them? We want to make sure we can stick with them.”

Assistant Town Administrator Lisa Green also advocated adopting the Community Preservation Act, which can bring in state funding for recreation, open space conservation, community housing and historic preservation projects.

WHITMAN — In the end, it took less time for voters at the Monday, Dec. 2 special Town Meeting to complete the work of acting on the four-article warrant than it did to achieve a quorum.

When voter number 150 entered the Town Hall Auditorium just before 8 p.m. — the session was scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. — she received a warm round of applause.

Less than 23 minutes later, voters had transferred funds to pay an engineering bill for repairs to Hobart Pond; accepted another transfer to fund accrued vacation time for former Police Chief Scott Benton; and OK’d an appropriation to pay for sewer bills to Brockton and the engineering, consulting and permitting costs involved in repairs to Whitman’s sewer force main. A fourth article calling for a transfer of $7,209 from the law account to the Animal Control account was passed over.

A $900,000 appropriation from sewer-water retained earnings to pay $121,676.23 in additional sewer bills to Brockton as well as $88,083.70 for preliminary work on a sewer repair expected total of about $8.2 million.

Lynam said the sewer bill was the result of renegotiation of a contract with Brockton begun in 2015 and tentatively agreed on within the last month.

The cost includes capital costs Whitman has not paid in the past and is now responsible for, and the remainder of the transfer will fund the planning and design for a new 16,000-foot pipe in the ground to replace a pipe that has failed twice already.   

The Hobart Pond article transferred $4,500 from the Norfolk County Agricultural H.S. in the May 1019 annual Town Meeting to pay a prior year’s bill to Collins Engineers Inc., for their work

A resident asked why the transfer was necessary and if it would be repeated in the future. The funds were intended to cover funds owed an engineering firm that helped the town repair a breach in the Hobart Pond dam.                                             

“Each year, we have to make an appropriation the first Monday in May to pay for whatever students are going to Norfolk Aggie,” Town Administrator Frank Lynam explained. “We don’t necessarily know who’s going until June.”

Lynam explained the town always has to estimate that two students will attend the school for budgeting purposes. This year there was one surplus student and the line was a “reasonable place” from which to transfer money. A 90-percent threshold was required to pass the article, and voters passed it with 97 percent voting in favor.

A second transfer — of $15,500 — from Norfolk Aggie involved in the 2019 Town Meeting vote, as well as a $22,818.57 transfer from the 2019 law account to fund the police chief salary line for the balance of fiscal 2020.

Lynam amended the article to correct a misprint in the warrant from $37,918.57 to $37,318.57, but a voter pointed out that the figure still didn’t add up until it was further amended to $38,318.57.

A voter asked, once the amendment was approved, if it was designed to pay unused sick leave time, which Lynam said was not the case. He explained the transfer would settle up accrued, unused vacation time and noted that the Board of Selectmen had recently voted to limit the carryover of unused vacation time to no more than nine days per year.

HANSON — Selectmen Chairman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett has asked town counsel Jay Talerman to reach out to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to discuss regional school assessments with Christine Lynch of the DESE’s Office of Regional Governance.

The board also voted, on Tuesday Nov. 19, to conditionally appropriate not to exceed $30,000 for Hanson’s share of the cost for an independent audit — based on passage of an audit request in Whitman. The Whitman Board of Selectmen approved the audit request the same night. The report would be provided to both town administrators.

The request for information from DESE came before Lynch’s appearance at a School Committee meeting Nov. 5 to provide what FitzGerald-Kemmett called an excellent explanation of the Education Reform Law and how it impacts school assessments.

Lynch had strongly suggested the two towns work together to solve the issue, which led Whitman Selectman Randy LaMattina to invite some Hanson officials to do that.

FitzGerald-Kemmett reported to the board about the Nov. 12 meeting she, Selectman Matt Dyer and interim Town Administrator had with Whitman Selectmen LaMattina and Justin Evans and Town Administrator Frank Lynam concerning the regional school assessment issue.

“The purpose of our meeting was to just lay it on the line that, regardless of what the School Committee votes … there has to be a path forward,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “We’ve got an agreement in place and I think the right thing to do … would have been to have folks from Whitman come to us and say, ‘We believe that we can’t sustain the regional agreement the way that it is now.’”

She pointed to Whitman’s financial constraints in suggesting that officials there could ask to discuss a way forward.

“I’m not saying we would have agreed to do it, but we would have at least had a dialog about it,” she said, noting that, instead people have been lobbing verbal hand grenades on social media. “We’re going to end up at super town meeting anyway you look at it, regardless of what the School Committee does.”

FitzGerald-Kemmett said she thinks Hanson is at a place where they still need the School District’s figures on what it is costing each community to educate children this year and how much money each is getting from in the way of Chapter 70 state aid.

“I’m not trying to be incendiary at all because I do appreciate the spirit in which Randy and Justin reached out,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

The committee formed by the School Committee to look into assessments has named Chairman Bob Hayes of Hanson and Vice Chairman Christopher Scriven of Hanson to it. Whitman has officially appointed LaMattina and Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski to that committee. Hanson Selectmen Nov. 19 voted to appoint FitzGerald-Kemmett and Selectman Jim Hickey to sit on the assessment committee.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said she is looking for a private auditor to examine the School District finances to offer an impartial examination — a move Whitman Selectmen backed the same evening in their meeting. The cost of the audit, estimated at between $45,000 to $50,000 would be split between the two towns and could take about four to five weeks.

Selectman Kenny Mitchell said it was a step they should take.

Selectman Jim Hickey said he still wants to know why the 2007 DESE language change was never mentioned in School Committee minutes.

Hayes said the School Department is required to hire an independent auditing firm to report to both the Committee and DESE each year.

FitzGerald-Kemmett suggested the new audit’s lens would be more broad than the one required of the schools.

Another point of contention for the towns with the revised Regional Agreement centers on the de-regionalization process, both towns stress is not imminent, but a point of concern centering on the process and costs if it ever came to that.

“It’s probably not the move, we’re so attached at the hip right now, but I think the question is being asked,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “So, I feel it’s something I feel we need to have some [discussion] around. I don’t want to spend a lot of time on it. … I want people to feel we’ve looked at all the options.”

Mitchell said the assessment discussion is needed.

“We can be right, but it’s not going to get us what we want,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “What do we have to lose? If we don’t go to the bargaining table, it’s going to happen. At least if we sit down to the bargaining table, we may effectuate some change.”

Hayes addressed questions asked by a resident, who used to work for the School District business office about how the statutory assessment change came about. He noted that the state made the change through an amendment to the Education Reform Act.

“The state contributes a ton of money to school districts,” he said. “They are stating that Hanson has more ability to pay before you get to the 60-40 split [in student population].”

Personnel moves

In other business, the board voted to hire Carol Jensen as supportive day coordinator at the Hanson Multi-Service Senior Center.

After an internal posting, there were no applicants, but a general posting brought in two applications, Marini said. She and Senior Center Director Mary Collins interviewed both well-qualified candidates.

Jensen has experience in working with dementia and Alzheimer’s patients through Braintree Hospital.

“That’s what the social day care program is and we think she will be a good fit for the position,” Marini said.

The board approved a request from Police Chief Michael Miksch to appoint full-time student police officer Mario Thompson and part-time officer Bryan Rodday.

Thompson, who grew up in town is a part-time officer who has completed a program the full-time officers go through.

“He’s actually working in a cruiser once in a while on his own and has done a great job doing it,” Miksch said. Thompson currently works full time for the Duxbury Harbormaster. He holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Bridgewater State University and coached youth football as well as a basketball program for the Special Olympics.

Town Meeting approved the funding for Miksch to hire two officers in January to help offset the move to a regional dispatch center. Thompson would be one of those two and the department has secured an academy slot for him beginning Jan. 6.

Rodday has been a full-time dispatcher in Scituate who applied for a Hanson dispatch job, but also applied for a position as a part-time officer for HPD. A Hanover native, he also holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Bridgewater State, and has worked as a special education teacher in Hanover schools as well as home-schooling autistic children.

Miksch called attention to the beard he has been growing — as some other police officers in his department are — for “Mowvember,” during which men are encouraged to grow a mustache and/or beard to fight men’s cancers as well as suicide and to support mental health programs. Hanson Police are participating to raise funds for Cops for Kids with Cancer.

Selectmen also voted to appoint Matthew Cahill of Duxbury as new highway director and heard an update on the Highway Department from interim Surveyor Curt MacLean.

The director’s job and new title was posted after the recent death of Highway Surveyor Bob Brown, according to Marini, who said one internal application has been received for the posting.

“Although his service to the town and experience was extensive, we just wanted to open it up to see if we could get a higher level of qualifications,” she said, noting that six applications were received.

Marini, MacLean and Blauss conducted the interviews.

“All the applicants were well-qualified, but one just stood above the rest, with being a civil engineer and he comes to us from MassDOT [with] 10 years’ experience in the maintenance division and construction division,” Marini told the board. He also has experience in snow and ice removal.

Cahill said he was excited to begin working for Hanson.

“Well, we’re excited to have you before the first snowfall,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

MacLean said his biggest concern when he began as interim was snow and ice, but the crews have worked to ensure sanders are ready for winter.

“If we have an event tomorrow, we’re all ready to go,” he said, and thanked Marini and the town’s department heads for being “great to work with” during his tenure as interim surveyor.

MacLean said the current Highway building if “functional” but offers extremely tight quarters and no longer state-of-the-art.

“If you ever had a fire you’d lose all your equipment int hat one building,” he said. “It beats working in a lean-to.”

He also reviewed the protocol for obtaining road signs. For the full meeting, visit the Whitman-Hanson Community Access TV YouTube channel.

WHITMAN — Selectmen ordered a Forest Street woman to muzzle and confine her dogs during a meeting Tuesday, Nov. 19 that also featured further discussion of budget and school district assessments.

A public hearing on a dangerous dog complaint by residents Leslie and Michael Leary of 58 Forest St., about the biting and aggressive behavior of what they described as Jill Barden’s Maltese — actually a Coton de Tulear, named Andy, Barden said — and a German shepherd that Barden said is actually a mixed breed with possible shepherd and Australian cattle dog bloodlines, named Scarlet.

Both animals are rescues.

“I did adopt the damaged ones,” Barden said.

Selectmen voted to require Barden to muzzle the dogs when on leash and otherwise keep them confined, as well as directing her to see that the dogs are properly licensed, as recommended by Assistant Animal Control Officer Joe Kenney.

“I am an animal advocate, but sitting in this chair, I have to be a citizen advocate to make sure that everyone feels safe in their home and community,” said Selectman Brian Bezanson. “I take this very seriously and you should, too.”

He said he had the sense that Barden was trying to push the responsibility off on others.

“You have to be in complete control of them 100-percent of the time,” said Bezanson, who also owns rescue dogs.

During the hearing, chaired by Assistant Town Administrator Lisa Green, the board heard testimony by the Learys, three of their neighbors, Barden and Kenney.

“There have been reports of some aggressive behavior,” Green said in introducing the case to Selectmen. “The dogs have been allowed to leave the home unleashed, [the smaller dog has] been reported to have bitten two children unprovoked,” Greed said. “A second dog has been referred to [as] biting another resident. All of these have happened off the dog owners properties and on other folks’ properties.”

She said the hearing was the result of a formal request by the Learys.

Neighbor Bob Wilhelm of 65 Forest St., said the dog issue has just occurred within the last year.

“The dog exhibits dangerous anti-social behavior,” Wilhelm said indicating the larger dog. “It seems to be fine with the owner, but as soon as someone that the dog doesn’t know or recognize [comes near] it tenses up and starts barking and growling and pulling very strongly on its lead. She jerks it and gets it back under control and continues on her way.”

He said it has happened several times this year.

Leslie Leary said her request for the hearing was prompted by an incident on July 3 when Barden’s Coton de Tulear got lose while being walked past her home and bit her 4-year-old son, who was out playing in his yard. The dog’s bite ripped the boy’s shorts and left a bruise with teeth marks on his thigh.

Barden had left the scene by the time Animal Control Officer Laura Howe arrived and, while they were talking with police, Leslie Leary said she saw the bigger dog pick the smaller dog up by the neck and drop it to the ground. Later in the hearing, Barden said that the larger dog has never attacked the smaller dog.

“The smaller dog has always been an issue,” Leslie Leary said. “We’ve had multiple calls to Laura Howe in regard to this dog not being on a leash.”

Leslie Leary also expressed concerns about the safety of children walking to the Conley Elementary School, which is also on Forest Street, as well as for the little dog’s safety as it dashes across the street at people.

“Up until tonight the ‘German shepherd’ is still not licensed,” she said, alleging that the smaller dog was not licensed until a month after it bit her son.

“The dogs’ behavior is a concern, and the owners’ callousness with just us, or the law in general, and responsible dog ownership is just as concerning,” she said.

Her husband Michael Leary said the calls to the town began after they tried to work things out with Barden two or three years ago concerning the smaller dog.

He said he has heard a report that Scarlet (the larger dog) has bitten someone, but could personally attest that Andy (the smaller dog) has bitten both him and his son and has seen bicyclists and joggers get attacked by it.

“There was no apology,” he said. “It was like it was our fault. … She needs to be held accountable. We can’t do it. It doesn’t seem like the ACO was able to do it, so that’s why we’re here today.”

Kenney said he was not present at any of the incidents but had been inside the house regarding a quarantine on the larger dog in 2017.

“The dog did lunge at me twice inside the house,” he said, noting he understood the dog was reacting to him as if he was an intruder. “My concern is that both dogs have been, in multiple cases, involved in issues.” He also expressed concern about the dogs’ proximity to the Conley School, and recommended “some kind of restrictions on the dogs to ensure proper containment” to keep the public safe.

“We do have documentation for three [post-bite] quarantines for the two dogs,” Green said, two for the Coton de Tulear and one for the larger dog.

She said MGL Chapter 140 Sec. 157 defines a dangerous dog as one that attacks without provocation, causing injury.

“We have that, unfortunately,” she said.

Barden maintained she has never lost control of Scarlet — the larger dog — and that the bite incident was actually a case of the dog jumping up and scratching a boy on the arm. She said she spoke to the boy’s family, who was very apologetic and embarrassed about the complaint.

Kenney had told her at the time that they have to treat a scratch like a bite.

“Yes, she’s hard to handle, but I do handle her,” Barden said, noting she has so far spent about $7,000 on fencing her backyard and for obedience training, first at Five Rings in Hanson and lately at Positive Dog in Boston after Scarlet had escaped from Five Rings and was lost in the area for about 24 hours. Described by Leslie Leary as fear aggressive, Scarlet instead ran from people who were trying to help find her because she was scared.

One of the Positive Dog trainers is a consultant for the Boston Police.

“Scarlet has done exceedingly well there,” she said. “She’s a top performer in class.”

Barden said her trainer did not recommend muzzling Scarlet, but favored a pronged collar as a more effective training tool. She uses the collar, as well as avoidance training when out on walks to correct the dog’s behavior.

Budget issues

Town Administrator Frank Lynam reviewed for Selectmen the meeting held last week with members of Hanson’s Board of Selectmen and interim Town Administrator Meredith Marini as well as the Wednesday, Nov. 13 School Committee meeting.

“It is the School Committee’s responsibility to choose which method they would use to assess,” Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski said.

“It can be,” Lynam said.

“It can be a two-step process through which the town also does it,” said Selectman Randy LaMattina. “As of now, there are a lot of variables to it.”

He said any concession or movement off Whitman’s position that the statutory assessment is the only acceptable option for the town, must take Hanson’s position into account.

“You don’t need to slam a door in someone’s face,” LaMattina said. “It’s always better to have it open and have some dialog and see where that goes.”

Lynam also said the town is trying to put a budget together, which is difficult without an assessment figure. The board also selected LaMattina and Kowalski to remain in the Regional Assessment Committee.

“The schools need to understand, that if we had to impose a budget today, we would probably be talking about a level-funded budget,” he said. “There’s a lot at stake here and we really need to get an understanding from W-H as to how we get to a point where the year after year budget is sustainable.”

Kowalski said he found the magnifying the need for a discussion on a simple frustrating. A complex issue, he said, is ensuring the schools get enough funding to do the job they need to do.

“Figuring out whether or not Hanson pays this share or who pays that share of a limited amount of money is not the end at all, it’s the very beginning,” he said.

Lynam urged that an external audit of the school district, similar to the one Whitman hired consultant John Madden to perform for Whitman.

“The value of that audit is opening eyes,” he said. “I think we should consider a similar process for W-H.”

LaMattina said Madden’s draft audit report was presented to the Budget Override Evaluation Committee Monday and a final draft will be sent to Lynam Thursday for distribution to the committee and posting.

“We’re experiencing minimal state aid increases over the last five years averaging about 2.9 percent,” he said. “However our assessment increases over the last five years are increasing 3.12 percent.” The town is about $1.5 million short in the operating budget. Sustainability of the town’s budget is also a concern.

The five-year average on the operating budget is 4.86 percent. Madden said the town is estimating local receipts a little too closely.

“If things are a little off, we could be in trouble,” LaMattina said, noting Madden recommended not using one-time revenue to keep everyone whole. “We knew we were doing that. It’s caught up at this point.”

While there is still contention between some town officials in Whitman and Hanson over the school assessment funding formula, a meeting with representatives of the Mass. Department of Elementary and Secondary Education was held this week to explain the history of the issue, differences in funding formulas and the worst-case scenario if the divide is not bridged.

School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes stressed the unusual 5:30 p.m., Tuesday meeting time was designed to accommodate DESE representatives Christine Lynch and Michelle Griffin of DESE’s Office of Regional Governance, but that it was also intended to refute social media rumors about the issue, the only one on the agenda.

Members of both towns’ boards of selectmen, town administrators and finance committees attended the meeting, as well.

“There’s been some social media myths traveling around to do with the assessment that the town of Whitman is trying to balance their budget through the town of Hanson,” Hayes said. “That is totally, 100-percent untrue.”

He said Whitman is trying to develop a long-range plan for financial sustainability.

“This assessment issue came up through some other meetings, and it is coincidental,” Hayes said. “It is not one town pitting against the other. I want to make that very clear. … It is two towns — we are a regional school district. This committee’s charge is to advocate for children and get them the best education that we possibly can.”

Whitman Selectman Randy LaMattina said he wanted to head off any social media claims that his town was trying to force Hanson into something.

“I think, now that everyone is on the same playing field, we know what is going to transpire,” LaMattina said. “Now we know where to go.”

“We’ve been two great towns,” Hayes agreed. “Our kids are Whitman-Hanson. Our element is Whitman-Hanson. We’re red and black — we both bleed it, and we want to come to some agreement as a committee, as both boards of selectmen, as residents, as finance committees — we want to come to this agreement.”

Hanson Selectmen Chairman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett thanked the School Committee for arranging for Lynch and Griffin to meet with the town officials.

“The Hanson Board of Selectmen stands ready to respond to whatever decision it is that you guys make,” she said. “I really hate to see it get to a point where we’re going to have to see the state take over.”

School Committee member Christopher Howard asked if the panel submitted language in the assessment provisions for a phased-in approach, would that work?

Lynch said it could be looked at, but was noncommittal at this point beyond saying it would be reviewed.

“What I see is the need to come together and to work toward a solution to get this done,” said School Committee member Christopher Scriven.

While Whitman Finance Chairman Richard Anderson and Selectmen Vice Chairman Dan Salvucci reminded the School Committee later in the meeting that their respective boards had unanimously voted to recognizes the statutory formula as the only acceptable budget method for Whitman.

Salvucci said that, no matter what formula is used, the schools will get their money, but town departments will pay the price.

“We are at our max,” he said. “We are $3,000 over the levy limit, we found that out today.”

Howard replied that Lynch had said at least five times that it is important for both towns to work together and that to come to an immediate conclusion without doing so would be premature.

“The bottom line for the Whitman Finance Committee may not be the same as for the Hanson Finance Committee or School Committee or the Whitman or Hanson boards of selectmen,” Anderson said. “Our responsibility is to recommend to Whitman Town Meeting what is in the best interests of the taxpayers of the community.”

He said the Education Reform Act’s intent was to recommend an assessment formula based on an aggregate, wealth-based methodology. While his board recognizes the challenges facing taxpayers in both towns and the importance of meeting all the stakeholders each year.

“We’re hoping the input [tonight] might sit for a while and maybe your recommendation might change,” Hayes said.  He added that it was important to look at it from the perspective of the future of the school district, as the financial pendulum has swung back and forth to the benefit or detriment of both towns in the past.

Hayes, a Hanson resident, said Whitman did not vote on the agreement, opting to pass over it at Town Meeting, but not because of the assessment issue.

“They had an issue with language in pulling out of the district,” he said. “It had nothing to do with one town paying more than the other, because that was also another myth that was all over the internet.”

Lynch advised the district to look closely at the two assessment methods, and how they impact both towns, to try to come to some agreement.

Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak said the meeting resulted from a request for more information on the assessment portion of the regional agreement at the School Committee’s September meeting.

“What’s in play is the agreement [or alternative] method we’ve been following as a district since 1991 and a statutory method,” he said. “Both are legal methods of assessing.”

The agreement [or alternative] method is based on student population between the two towns and the statutory method uses the towns’ minimum local contributions as a starting point.

Lynch said the statutory method derived as part of the Education Reform Act in 1993, which required towns to reach a minimum local contribution as part of Chapter 70 funding requirements.

“Unfortunately, there was very little consideration for towns that were part of regional school districts,” she said. Most regions were formed in the 1950s with a per-pupil funding formula. An amendment to the Ed Reform Act later permitted regions to revert to using the agreement method.

“But, they set a higher bar,” Lynch said. “Instead of the two-thirds [of member towns] approval of the budget, which is your typical way to approve a regional school committee budget, the requirement then became that you have to approve it unanimously to use the agreement method.”

There are about 30 two-town regional school districts in Massachusetts.

“You are not unique,” she said. “Many of these districts have gone through this over past years.”

She added that many towns, over time, have come to some agreement, involving some compromise, to move forward and get their budget passed each year without a lot of discussion.

When a budget impasse does occur the Education Commissioner is authorized to set a 1/12th budget for the district under the statutory method until a workable local budget is approved, according to Lynch.

“Should there be no local budget by Dec. 1, the statute also requires the Commissioner to take over fiscal control of the district,” she said. “Under that scenario, the assessments must be calculated under the statutory methodology.”

Hanson Town Counsel Kate Feodoroff asked if the state took over, what does that look like, because she found the state funding source hard to identify in that scenario.

“That final budget [the commissioner] sets for the year, may be more than was set as the 1/12 budget, could be less than, could be the same,” Lynch said. Letters would be sent out to school and town officials asking why they want the money they are asking for in their budget.

“Ultimately, the commissioner will set it,” she said. The statutory method would be used to calculate the budget, using current state aid figures. The commissioner, however takes over fiscal control, approving all line items, collective bargaining agreements, new contracts over $25,000, new hires — basically any financial decision made at the district level.

While Lynch encouraged the School Committee to work with the towns to come up with an assessment method, the committee has the right to propose that method.

The Education Reform Act itself was the result of a lawsuit in which the state was accused of not devoting enough money to education.

School Committee member Fred Small said Whitman’s minimum local contribution was $10,631,538 last year while the assessment was $14,398,151. In Hanson, the required contribution was $8,892,401 and the assessment was $9,670,975.

“There’s a vast disparity in what was spent more than the required dollars,” he said.

Small noted that the committee owes the town a direction as finance committees begin preparing budgets.

HANSON  — Interim Town Administrator Meredith Marini announced to Selectmen on Tuesday, Oct. 22 that MRI, the consulting group conducting the search for a new town administrator, has received 39 applications.

Fourteen essay assignments were sent out to various candidates and MRI is currently scoring those returned essays. Following that phase, MRI will be conducting telephone interviews with candidates and expect to have a list of final candidates to the board by Oct. 31 or Nov. 1 and have asked how many candidates Selectmen want to see.

With three finalists, the interviews may be completed in a single night, but a list of five or more would likely require two.

“The recommendation was, once you have the interviews, you should make a decision quickly because these are good candidates and they are likely to be valued applicants in another community,” Marini said.

Selectmen Chairman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said she would prefer a list of five names as three seemed insufficient from such a large pool.

“We’re not talking about 39, 14 made the cut,” said Selectman Wes Blauss, noting only 14 were sent essay requests.

Selectman Matt Dyer asked how many essays were returned.

Marini said 13 seemed still in play, with 11 already returned and MRI saying they were waiting for two more.

“I really don’t want to put a number on it,” said Selectman Jim Hickey said. “If they have three applicants that they feel we should interview and get it done in one night, then OK, but if they have seven people — which is probably too high of a number — but if they have seven people that they think we should talk to, then it’s seven.”

Selectman Kenny Mitchell agreed.

“I like where you guys are going with this unless they say, ‘We have 14 great candidates,’ then we’re going to have a problem,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

The interviews will be conducted in a public meeting. MRI said they would be willing to work on consecutive days, including a Saturday, if the board wanted to interview more than three or bring two finalists back for a second interview before making a decision.

“I don’t have a problem being here three nights in a row, on television, because this is one of the most important decisions we’ll make as a group,” Hickey said.

MRI has offered to supply questions for the board to ask and will provide a list of questions they can’t ask.

Selectmen also voted to send a letter to Tetra Tech, the licensed site professionals working on cleanup of the National Fireworks site and collecting public comment, requesting that a complete cleanup be done to background at no cost to local or state taxpayers because they are currently in negotiations with the responsible parties.

WHITMAN — Residents will soon be asked to attend a special Town Meeting to fund an engineering study centering on the replacement of a sewer force main which has already required two expensive repairs.

The DPW Commissioners are seeking a $500,000 transfer from sewer and water retained earnings to fund the study. Town Administrator Frank Lynam said the projected cost of a new pipe is in excess of $8 million. The projected cost of a dual system is about $15 million.

“Good ideas come with cost,” Lynam said.

Both Lynam and Selectmen Vice Chairman Dan Salvucci suggested a contingency estimate of about $900,000, putting any unused portion toward two bills due to the city of Brockton once a sewer contract is completed. Lynam said retained earnings is intended to address situations like this.

“I’m not shopping for other articles right now,” Lynam said, noting the sewer project and perhaps unpaid bills will be the only items on the warrant.

Actual construction work on the sewer line would have to go out to bond.

A date has not been determined yet, but a best date — possibly Dec. 2 or 9 — will be voted on at the next Board of Selectmen’s meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

“I think it won’t be a surprise to many people,” Lynam said of the request. “We’ve had two significant failures in the force main as it travels from Whitman to Brockton across Alger Street and into the woods there.”

The DPW procured funding and performed an assessment of the line, finding that there is “significant potential for failure” along it, according to Lynam. The DPW Commissioners met in a joint session with Selectmen on Tuesday, Oct. 22 to discuss needed actions to ensure the town maintains a functioning sanitary system.

“I know Environmental Partners have done some significant work on this, but there’s a lot more to be done,” Lynam said.

The twin force main, which starts at the Auburn Street pump house, is the main sewer outflow to the Brockton pump station, according to DPW Commission member Kevin Cleary.

It was installed in 1984.

“We had two significant breaks over the last couple of years that were well over $1 million,” Cleary said. “We were lucky where they were — they were accessible.”

Since then the DPW obtained funding appropriations and did some land clearing and followed it up with soil borings and analysis.

“They’ve determined that we’ve run a life span,” Cleary said. “The breaks that we had were from the outside [of the pipes] in — they weren’t [from] the inside out.”

The combination of soil, water and acidity rotted the pipes. Soil borings showed more potential problems from similar soil and water conditions in the area.

DPW Commission member Wayne Carroll said the pipe is rated for 30 years, and was installed 35 years ago.

“The next step is we would like to have a Town Meeting to appropriate funds for engineering, permitting, design and getting bid documents together,” Cleary said. “We can’t wait until the spring to start that and then go into typical bid and construction and all that.”

They are looking to doing that work over the winter to present a much better scope of the value of the project and to allow the commission to come before the spring Town Meeting with better information about options and costs.

Both bypassing and sleeving the old main have been discussed as potential emergency remedies, Carroll said.

Cleary said it costs at least $500,000 to repair emergency breaks to the pipe.

In other business, Selectmen voted to appoint officer Peter Aiken as the new sergeant on the Whitman Police Department. Aiken was the top person on the sergeant’s list, as well as the recommendation of Lynam and Police Chief Timothy Hanlon.

Aiken will be sworn in privately, Lynam said.

Selectman Randy LaMattina, who chairs the Budget Override Evaluation Committee, said that panel has met again after delays surrounding a health issue the financial consultant had been dealing with.

The most recent meeting focused on five-year trends and forecast for 2020 new growth — slightly over $1 million — and noted a downturn in excise revenue, whether an economic trend or a billing issue, and that the state is not providing much help in the form of state aid — up only 1.5 percent over five years with school aid up only .59 percent over that time.

“Our budget trends over the last five years are basically proving not to be sustainable,” LaMattina said. “As we go ahead, that’s going to be diagnosed.”

The consultant will be meeting one-on-one with department heads to discuss where they plan to be in the next five years and whether some of their costs are controllable.

“In terms of progress, we are far and away, ahead of where we were last year,” said LaMattina, noting that department heads are coming together and getting information in earlier this year.

Selectmen also approved a request for SDIP, when space is available, to hold automotive insurance surcharge hearings in Whitman Town Hall for the convenience of both the public and hearings officers.

HANSON — Voters at special Town Meeting Monday, Oct. 7, approved funding to support salaries for added police officers — to prevent the need for dark station hours — as the town moves toward a regional dispatch center, as well as to keep the transfer station open five days a week.

“This may be bigger [turnout] than some May Town Meetings,” Moderator Sean Kealy said of the 165 voters signed in by the 7:30 p.m. start of the meeting. “It’s a terrific number for an October Town Meeting.”

The funds available for town business were:  $1,664,097 in free cash; $1,256,343 in the stabilization fund; $135,992 in the school stabilization fund; $885,493 in Water Surplus; $65,205 in Recreation Retained Earnings; and $74,323 in Solid Waste Retained Earnings.

During discussion of a requested adjustment of $60,000 in Police Department salaries under Article 2 — an appropriation to supplement various town departments — Kathleen Marini of Union Street and Richard Edgehille of South Street, both asked why the Finance Committee voted not to recommend the expense.

Both questioned item as well as Article 2 as a whole were approved.

“The Finance Committee voted not to recommend, based on the article as a whole,” Chairman Kevin Sullivan said, noting the vote was due to the police salaries and a $7,000 adjustment for paying off a septic system at Camp Kiwanee.

“This is a little vague,” Edgehille said. “You don’t recommend it, how about an explanation for this audience?”

Selectman Kenny Mitchell said the reason was that, with the move to a regional dispatch center, the town is going to be supplementing the dispatchers with police officers.

“We’re not adding Saturday salaries, we’re just exchanging positions,” Mitchell said. “We’ve been talking about this internally over the past year and a half with the new regional dispatch coming up and we challenged the police chief — he came to us and said he needed this.”

A portion of the salaries will be funded by a state 911 grant.

“When we looked at this and considered the savings that we were going to [see] over the regionalization process, we looked at the potential budge cycle for next year,” Sullivan said. “Over the past few years, we looked as a committee to only add positions when we believed there was a long-term success. We were hesitant to add positions going into what could be one of the most difficult budget cycles that Hanson is going to face next fiscal year and have to cut money out of that salary.”

He stressed that, once that money is approved they don’t want to face the need of removing a police officer if budget cuts are needed.

Police Chief Michael Miksch said the department would be moving toward regional dispatch in July 2020, he was faced with going to a dark station when local dispatchers are no longer needed or staff the station with police officers. He is looking to add four officers between now and the next fiscal year.

“If I don’t have people to staff the station July 1, 2020, I have to fill it either with overtime or take officers off the road, neither of which is acceptable,” he said, noting the time it takes to train officers. Overtime alone would run $32,000 a month if he fills every shift that way.

“That’s all I wanted was an explanation,” Edgehill said. “Public safety first.”

Sullivan said the Kiwanee septic payment had not been recommended because Camp Kiwanee is intended to operate independently.

Recreation Commission member Joan Fruzzetii countered that taxation can, and has, been used to fill the gap if the Enterprise Fund fails to do so, and that funds had been put aside twice for the septic system.

“What happened in the past, happened in the past,” Sullivan said. “I can only deal with what we’re dealt with right now. I’m not going to debate it, I’m just giving you what our decision was.”

The Town Meeting amended an article seeking to increase funds for salaries and expenses the Transfer Station Enterprise Fund at the May 2019 annual Town Meeting by $55,000 – to $100,000 for salaries and $208,000 for expenses. The amendment was unanimously recommended by both the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee, but the change was sought from the floor by Indian Head Street resident Bruce Young, to increase the Salary line in the Article by $21,473, that amount coming from Free Cash.

Young’s amendment brought the salaries back to their original Requested amount, originally proposed by the Board of Health in May of 2019, which was $121,473 and was approved by an overwhelming voice vote of the Town Meeting

Board of Health Chairman Arlene Dias had described Article 4 on the Monday, Oct. 7 warrant as a housekeeping measure.

Young noted that the May Town Meeting was provided a Health Board proposal to fund salaries at the transfer station for $121,473, but voters had to accept this Finance Committee recommendation of $60,000 because the town had insufficient funds to permit the Town Meeting to amend it to fund salaries for the whole fiscal year.

“If we should support the article …what would happen is, and [the Board of Health] has already voted on this … we would be, for the first time in the history of the transfer station, closing it Monday and Tuesday and [it] would only be open Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” Young said. “I want to remind everybody that we had new permits to get in the transfer station this year [that cost] $30 per vehicle and everybody went down and bought them on the assumption that the transfer station would be open five days a week.”

He equated the article to a bait and switch.

Sullivan said the article as originally written was supported by the Finance Committee on the Board of Health’s determination of what was needed to run the transfer station for the remainder of the year.

Resident Joe Peligra said that, while he understands transfer stations are not required by the state, Hanson’s facility is operated as a service to the town and there is a growing number or people using the transfer station.

“We were told that the transfer station should be self-sustaining,” Dias said. “The only way for us to do that was to cut the budget and the only way to do that was to cut two days a week.”

Edgehille said that the wording of the article did not make the closing on those two days clear.

“Your not being honest with the public,” he said.

Sullivan said the reduction of service was intended to keep the service, which was losing money, as a resource to the town.

“The number of people who jumped off when private hauling was offered — I don’t have the exact figure, but I believe it’s around 40 percent of the town uses the transfer station — the number needs to be higher for it to be a self-sustaining enterprise,” Sullivan said.

There are two employees at the transfer station and the facility has to be closed at lunch hours because one person cannot work alone for safety reasons, Dias said.

WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen, in a joint meeting with three other committees working on the town’s fiscal crisis, heard a report Tuesday, Oct. 8 on the Capital Improvement Plan drafted by UMass, Boston’s Edward J. Collins Jr., Center for Public Management.

The work was funded by a Community compact Grant.

“We’re going to have a talk at the next Selectmen’s meeting about re-energizing capital projects and getting a clear sense of direction of how we want to go,” said Town Administrator Frank Lynam.

All supporting materials for the report will be provided to the town, said Collins Center team leader Sarah Concannon.

“I think we need to look at all the capital projects that are listed and prioritize,” agreed Selectmen Vice Chairman Dan Salvucci.

“What we really need, I think, is to assign this work to the capital planning group,” Lynam said. “They’re going to have to analyze and present that information.”

Ultimately, the way Lynam hopes to see that work progress is to review and prioritize the information, and present it to the Selectmen and Finance Committee, with recommendations as to how to move forward. That is a project he estimates will take about two months.

“We have to get out of the idea of doing one project here and one project there, and start putting together a comprehensive plan,” he said.

Concannon and her team members, management expert James Tarr and finance expert Stephen Cirillo, made the presentation to a small audience and the committees at Town Hall Auditorium. A fourth member of the team, David Colton, could not attend.

“This wasn’t a quick process,” Concannon said, noting that her team met with all town department heads. “We really appreciated the time your staff spent with us. Without their participation, we really can’t do our job well.”

The team researched the town’s capital needs and reviewed online forms filled out by department heads before talking with them in detail. They then score projects to facilitate conversations on project priorities.

In Whitman, she noted that public works capital projects make up about 65 percent of the $24,849,969 in 142 total requested project costs — with water and sewer alone making up one third of the total, or $8,690,500 — Whitman schools [$3,886,000] represented 15 percent and the regional high school another 8 percent [$1,983,000].

The total costs of requested projects were then compared to available resources. The team also looked at available grants. The final plan was narrowed to 115 projects totaling $26.7 million. Of that, 88 percent, or $23.6 million is local investment — $9.2 million from the general fund, $13.6 from the enterprise fund and $790,000 from ambulance receipts — and another $3.1 mill from non-local sources, Concannon said.

Tarr outlined the basics of capital plans — major, non-recurring expenses, typically costing more than $5,000 to $10,000 with a useful life of at least five years. Capital improvement plans are comprehensive, multi-year projects encompassing all funding sources and departments with financially viable project details.

“We take into account the spending capacity of the community and we factor that in, and, if we reach a certain cut-off point, then we start asking about choices,” Tarr said. “Do we make a distinction as to what is a necessity and what is something that can be put off.”

Without a capital plan, Tarr said, municipalities may face negative effects on public health and safety as well as legal liability; staff inefficiency or ineffectiveness; costly emergency repairs; poorly managed or timed projects; inconsistent capital costs that can have an impact on the operating budget; and financial disorder that can have a negative effect on bond ratings.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to recognize the work that the UMass Collins Center has done,” said Finance Committee Chairman Richard Anderson. “I think this really puts us in a good position to move forward with our shared goal of making a comprehensive strategic plan a reality. This is an excellent foundation for that.”

The Building Needs and Capital Projects Committee as well as the Budget Override Evaluation Committee also attended the meeting. Some officials present serve on two or more of the committees.

Anderson added that he noticed that 38 percent of the total dollars requested for capital projects are for water and sewer, a situation he did not find surprising.

“I think it’s pretty evident to a lot of people in this room that this is a department that’s had its share of deferred maintenance over the last couple of years,” Anderson said.

“A planning study is going to result in a capital plan,” she said. “The water and sewer did include at least one or two planning studies.”

Salvucci said one of the main needs remains infrastructure, in particular a DPW facility.

“It’s obvious that, even though we’re downsizing facilities, it’s something that’s needed,” he said. Concannon agreed.

“Whitman is not alone in facing the need for a new DPW facility, because many across the commonwealth were built in the ’50s and ’60s,” she said. “The fact of the matter is, they’re just at the end of their life span.”

While they are typically on the back burner, DPWs perform a critical function of municipal government. Concannon said there were five planning studies included in the

A policy of debt management was recommended in creating a capital plan.

“A policy gives you discipline,” said Cirillo.

Concannon said their plan is intended to run from fiscal 2021-25, adding there is time to have a policy in place by the time the fiscal 2021 budget is calculated.

Finance Committee Vice Chairman David Codero asked if there were specific towns with which Whitman can be compared.

“We don’t go out and find a group of comparable towns when we do the financial analysis,” Concannon said. “What we do is we bring to bear information that our team of finance experts have, as well as the experience we have over the last three or four years, doing 30 to 35 of these projects.”

Lynam asked if the Center was aware of other communities contemplating a general override to commit capital funds.

“I’ve seen it in Wellesley, I’ve seen it in a couple other places, but is that common or uncommon?” he asked.

Cirillo said the technique is “very rare,” but he knew of a number of general overrides in which a portion of funds was dedicated to raising the level of debt permanently.

Lynam said it is a strategy through which the town can practically assess kick-starting a formalized capital plan.

He also said he and Concannon have discussed a change in the way emergency vehicles are purchased, identifying them as things that should be developed in a pay-as-you-go — or cash — basis.

“[Currently the town has been] taking small commitments and dragging them out, opposed to establishing a funding mechanism that says, ‘This we’re going to pay for each year,’” Lynam said. “It doesn’t make sense to formalize a program to lease-purchase vehicles over three years, when the outright cost is $50,000 to $60,00.”

“Debt is a tool,” Concannon said. “A lease is a tool. The reason we came up with an alternative strategy for replacing cruisers [is] because they’re smaller-dollar … you don’t face the same pressure to lease the cruiser [because there is a plan].”