WHITMAN — Town Administrator Frank Lynam has announced the funding total involved in the debt exclusion question on the Saturday, May 18 Town Election ballot. Polls are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Town Hall for Whitman’s Town Election. Hanson votes from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Hanson Middle School in its Town Election.

“Under the Proposition 2 ½ language, a debt exclusion doesn’t contain an amount,” Lynam said. “It only authorizes you to exclude what it takes to make a payment for that year.”

The fiscal 2020 payment on the debt for the police station construction and renovations to Town Hall and the fire station, which is being decided Saturday, is $687,025. A yes vote will authorize the town to raise that amount.

Lynam said the figure represents a tax increase of $129.15 on a median house value of $307,500 — or an average of $10.76 per month.

“It will enable us to address the capital needs we had to leave on the table at our Town Meeting last week,” he said. With the debt exclusion making that debt payment the following funds could be freed up within the levy limit: $329,000 in vehicle purchases; $240,000 in road work; $268,000 in building repairs and $135,800 in security provisions for all of the schools. While that totals more than the $687,025 it provides an opportunity to begin prioritizing the funding of those needs, according to Lynam.

“That money, although on a declining basis, will be available each year, to commit to capital or to reserves as the case may be,” he said. “The override will do much more to correct it, but that’s not what’s happening next week.”

Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski also reviewed the Community Assessment Survey process and how a report on the results are being written up in a report the town will use in future budget planning.

“We placed ourselves in a precarious position this year where we would probably need a heavy override this year,” Kowalski said about funding directed to the school budget at last year’s Town Meeting. “What we did to respond to that was that, in the summer months, we received help from Bridgewater State University to compile a community survey … to lay the foundation for a strategic plan.” He added that the strategic plan would only be as useful as the statement of values the town possesses.“The reason for that community survey was not really to determine how we were going to pay for what we would like to be, it was to give a foundation for what we would like to be,” Kowalski said.

The town has also contracted with the Collins Center at UMass, Boston to draft a capital plan, a draft of which as already been received and sent back for additional work.

“Right before Town Meeting we had a decision to make about what to put on the ballot for the May 18 Town Election, whether it would be a debt exclusion that deals with the debt for the police station and the repairs to the Town Hall and the fire station, a sizeable Proposition 2 ½ override, primarily to deal with the increase in the schools needed in order to do level-service, to do one or either or to do both,” Kowalski said.

Kowalski said the debt exclusion, while not what he had envisioned, made sense so that more discussion and explanation of the override — now planned for October — can be held, to involve more people in its construction and explain the need to residents.

“It’s critical that that override be successful,” Kowalski said. “It’s a place that we need to be [in], a place that’s going to mean and awful lot of work over the summer and early fall.”

STREETLIGHT UPDATE

Assistant Town Administrator Lisa Green and Lightsmart representative George Woodbury explained a wiring problem discovered in streetlights after they had been purchased from National Grid.

A former DPW Director in Lexington, Woodbury wrote the state law that permits towns to buy streetlights from utilities. Whitman’s annual streetlight bill had been $143,000 to $145,000 per year. Purchasing the lights is expected to save the town about $55,000 a year, increasing to more than $100,000 per year with the change over to LED lights. But the wiring problem — underground-rated wires that do not stand up to UV rays were installed by Eastern Utilities Associates and sold to New England Electric Energy Services in 1999, which were bought by National Grid in 2000. National Grid maintains that the streetlights have been sold to the town “as is” when they were confronted by the now-disintegrating wires.

Woodbury said a case taken to the Public Utility Control Commission would take two years to win; right now the MAPC would help the town pay 30 percent of the replacement cost right now. He “leaned on” National Grid, suggesting a dimmer control for which the company could obtain state funding worth another $8,000. Another $27,000 could be saved based on the timing of the light purchase, according to Woodbury, and a lower installation cost for the wiring has been negotiated. The net result would be that most of the cost to replace the wiring would be covered.

Selectmen supported the move.

The School Committee on Wednesday, May 1 fell in line with the Whitman and Hanson boards of selectmen and finance committees in voting to certify an 8.5-percent increase in the school assessment for the towns in fiscal 2020.

Both towns held their annual and special town meetings, Monday, May 6.

The 9-1 vote, with member Alexandria Taylor voting against, set the assessment increase in Whitman at $1,127,966 for a total assessment of $14,398,151. Hanson’s assessment increase at 8.5 percent would be $757,634 for a total assessment of $9,670,975. The assessment to both towns is $24,069,146 for a total certified budget of $52,373,023.

Taylor had vowed at the last School Committee meeting, on April 24, that she would not vote an assessment increase that is lower than 12.5 percent.

Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak reminded committee members there will be “people and positions impacted on anything under 12.5.”

Committee member Fred Small said that, in coming up to 8.5 percent, Whitman Selectmen and Finance Committee members were able to find the revenue to reach that level.

“The 2 percent extra is very much appreciated in my mind,” Small said. “While it doesn’t give us level services, what I think it does is it allows us to make the best we can out of a very bad situation. … I don’t know that we could expect anything better.”

He also stressed the need to get right back to work “almost immediately” after Town Elections to begin work on the fall override. That should be a three-pronged approach, Small said — the schools “need to lead our own charge,” improve on ways to save money, and make the public aware of the need for a good override.

“We focused a lot on Whitman in this budget process,” said Committee member Michael Jones of Hanson. “I think we learned last night [at Hanson’s Selectmen meeting] that we skipped over Hanson.”

Szymaniak reiterated that, at 8.5, there has been $1,740,000 cut from the level-service budget presented by the district this past winter. Of that, $897,000 is people and about $290,000 in “things” including legal costs as well as more than $561,000 transferred from excess and deficiency.

“We’re in the process of restructuring what we do here as well,” Szymaniak said. “There will be an impact to service, there will be an impact to technology, there will be an impact to facilities, there will be an impact to central office.”

The district is eliminating middle school foreign language classes and high school guidance services will also feel cuts, according to Szymaniak. All schools will feel the effect of cuts.

“We are looking at making sure that our students are safe and they are being taken care of through our counseling services moving forward,” he said. “In a global economy, our students need to have foreign language. We do not do that well and part of these cuts will have an impact.”

Whitman School Committee candidate Dawn Byers tearfully spoke of her seventh-grade daughter losing her Spanish class next year.

“I stood up a few years ago and advocated for all students to have [foreign language], and next year, they won’t,” she said. “I’m not going to talk about money or decisions I just want people to know what the kids are doing — taking a step back.”

Assistant Superintendent George Ferro stressed that the School District was asked to begin the budget process two months earlier and complied with that request.

“We presented the exact same budget that you see in front of you,” Ferro said, “We didn’t change, we didn’t deviate, we presented the exact same thing. … We presented what we felt was reasonable, was best and was responsible.”

Szymaniak said he is ready to start work immediately after town meetings to put a plan together to satisfy the needs of the school district as well as the towns in a full team approach.

“I’m calling them out and saying, ‘We’ve talked about this for years and, through this whole budget process, we’ve talked about a fall override,’” he said. “It needs to happen and the school needs to be a part of it.”

Data outlining the effect of budget cuts over the past 10 years, which some School Committee members have requested, can help develop a presentation for the community on the need for an override, Szymaniak said.

Small said he is sure the towns’ police and fire departments will be doing the same thing.

“We would all stand together,” Small said. “Our medical calls are up, we’ve got fires that have been devastating over the past few months — so there’s need all around. … We all work together with it, but we need to drive our own bus.”

Whitman Fire Union, whose members had advocated a 6.5-percent assessment to avoid firefighter layoffs in a May 2 ad in the Express, released a statement Thursday in the wake of the School Committee’s vote.

“Whitman Firefighters Local 1769 would like to recognize the Whitman­Hanson School Committee on their vote for an 8.5-percent  assessment for FY20 at last night’s school committee meeting,” the statement read. “We  understand that a lot of work was put into this process and many difficult decisions were made. We  are very passionate about keeping our community safe and a 12.5-percent  assessment would have decimated our department’s staff by 50 percent. … We look forward to working with the Town of Whitman, its residents and the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District over the coming months on a plan to make our community sustainable for ALL departments for many years to come.”                                                                                                                                          

School Committee member Robert O’Brien Jr., said his 15-year-old son is among a growing number of high school students who want a say in the budget process and how it affects them.

“Nobody likes it,” O’Brien said. “Unfortunately, there is not a lot of money to go around. … Starting Tuesday, we have to start pushing on it. … There is an incredible amount of teamwork that goes on behind the scenes that most people don’t see, but now we need to take that and — I guess — politic it, for lack of a better word.”

School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes said a Hanson Selectman told him at that meeting on Tuesday, April 30 that a budget “post-mortem” was needed. He suggested a monthly budget committee meeting be held between the School Committee, department heads, finance committees — in addition to the regular monthly School Committee meetings.

In other business, the School Committee also voted to advise the boards of selectmen and finance committees of the formation of a Budget Committee, which is designed to include representatives of the boards as well as department heads in both towns. The aim is to get to work after the May 6 town meetings on the override project.

The School District also reported receiving a letter from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) declining a request to waive the 180-day school requirement at Conley School where a norovirus affecting large numbers of students and staff forced the closing of that school on March 15.

The last day of school for Conley will be a half-day on June 14, at a cost to the district of $1,820 for bus transportation.

Small requested that the district post the DESE letter on the school website for parents to read.

“There’s a phone number on there, if parents wanted to call,” he said.

The School Committee also appointed Business Services Director Christine Suckow and committee members Taylor, Small, Dan Cullity and Christopher Scriven to an Insurance Committee to review all district insurance policies with an eye to reduce costs in the future.

Incumbent selectmen Brian Bezanson, from left, and Scott Lambiase and challengers Christopher DiOrio and Justin Evans, who are currently members of the Whitman Finance Committee, met in a candidates’ forum on Tuesday, April 23. (Photo by Tracy Seelye)

WHITMAN — The four candidates vying for two seats on the board of Selectmen in the Saturday, May 18 Town Election fielded questions from the Express and Kevin Tocci, access operations coordinator of Whitman-Hanson Community Access TV, in a forum at the Selectmen’s meeting room in Town Hall on Tuesday, April 23. Tocci moderated the forum.

Following opening statements, questions ranged from the state of the town budget to the divided state of politics, and other issues facing the town.

Challenger Christopher DiOrio, a practicing trial attorney and law professor, launched the opening remarks by outlining his 30 years of professional experience solving problems for clients with NGOs and nonprofits, he is hoping to bring a common-sense compassionate brand of leadership to serve Whitman.

“I know full well that I’m not from here,” he said. “I didn’t grow up in Whitman so I may not have the deep, generational roots that some people may think is important, but I chose to live in this community. I want to be here.”

DiOrio said he is interested in making the town stronger for his children.

“Their future is our future,” he said in his opening statement. “Whitman has finally started to answer an important question: What kind of town do we want to live in? … We cannot be afraid to take the steps necessary to sustain our future with a solid financial and capital plan — not just for next year, but for the next five years or 10 years to prepare for our future needs.”

A resident for nearly 60 years, incumbent Brian Bezanson said he was first elected Selectmen in 2004 after running on the idea that he could make a difference in his community.

“That’s exactly how I ran every year — and how I did business every year — it’s all about making the lives of the citizens, taxpayers, seniors, veterans and families the best it can be in Whitman,” he said in his opening statement, noting Whitman is not alone in Massachusetts in dealing with financial hardship. He pointed to Franklin, where a $2.5 million cut has been made in that town’s school budget.

“It’s happening everywhere,” he said. “I do not bring politics into this building. This is about the citizens and the community and what’s best for everyone — and that’s exactly how I will continue to operate.”

Incumbent Scott Lambiase, who has lived in Whitman for about 20 years, has worked as Duxbury’s director of municipal services for about 15 years where he conducts all the procurement in town and oversees all special projects, as well as serving as the liaison for the town manager to most committees — I oversee all the licensing, permitting, inspections and the Affordable Housing Trust. He has also served as a Whitman Auxiliary Police officer.

“I’ve been a member of the Board of Selectmen for the last seven years and I feel very privileged to have been allowed to be on this board and a steward on this committee. We have done some good work over the years,” Lambiase said in his opening remarks. “We do apply the best financial management tools and practices [in Duxbury] and I hope to apply them here and I hope you’ll remember that on Election Day.”

Finance Committee member Justin Evans, who works as a natural gas pipeline safety engineer for the state, rounds out the field of candidates. Evans, who grew up in town, thanked his fellow candidates for their service to the town of Whitman. He and his wife decided to stay in Whitman to raise their future family and feels the town has much to offer.

“We have a loving, caring community. We have one of the nicest town centers on the South Shore and what I would call the nicest park on the South Shore,” he said in his opening statement. “I’m tired of hearing, ‘We’re too far from the highway,’ as an excuse not to take chances to develop for the future. I don’t like hearing that we don’t have enough revenue to justify a long-term financial plan. I’m sick of excuses not to adapt. We need to embrace what we have to offer and develop a future of Whitman around that.”

Politics of division

Asked how they would help heal the social, political and cultural rifts facing the nation and community, the candidates agreed the problem is real and aggravated by social media, but argued a change in policy for the board was preferable to a bylaw change to address town officials’ use of social media.

“Whitman has all the pieces that we need to try and close that gap, but I think one of the things that drives it further is the way people act on social media,” said Evans, who has been on Facebook since he was 15 and was on MySpace before that. “We need to focus on just how to treat people in person and online and I think Whitman would be a good place to start — get to know your neighbors and don’t belittle people when you don’t see them.”

DiOrio agreed in part.

“There is a great deal of strength that comes from anonymity or the ability to speak from behind a screen,” he said. “One of the biggest problems that we have is that we hear, but we don’t listen.”

He said that sitting down and listening to each other would reveal that “different paths don’t mean the destination is wrong.”

Bezanson said the problem trickles down from Washington to local communities like Whitman.

“We need to put our partisan and religious and social issues aside and come together for common-sense solutions for the citizens of the community which you are working for,” he said. “All that is just distractions.”

Lambiase agreed more dialogue is needed.

“There’s always going to be extremists on either side,” he said. “But I think we will find that the majority of us have more in common than we don’t and — obviously — what’s best for the town lies somewhere in the middle.”

Source of the town’s budget problem

Bezanson said the legislature is the root of the problem.

“They’re not fulfilling their obligations they’ve set forth over the years on what they would pay for, how they would pay it and when they would pay it,” he said. “At this level, we have to find a way to increase revenues, cut costs, while maintaining services.”

Lambiase agreed there is shared responsibility on the state and local levels, noting that land leases such as cell tower and solar panel deals have proven effective in Duxbury.

Evans also pointed to both parties, especially in view of the incentive promised for school regionalization.

“In 2010 they changed the rules and we haven’t responded in kind to the dwindling state money coming our way,” he said. “There’s still the unfunded mandates from the state and, ultimately, I think that will have to be the solution, but the town last year chose to pull money out of savings, rather than fix the problem and this year we’re looking at laying off some school employees instead of trying to find new revenue.”

DiOrio also responded that “the local and state [governments] have their hands in it,” pointing, in part to unfunded education mandates.

“We can’t continue as a town and as a local board to leave money on the table,” he said. “We’re not necessarily doing all that we can to maintain the tax base … and we’re not doing enough to bring revenue in.”

Operational or school override?

DiOrio said it is imprudent to “turn up your nose at any possible solution to the problem.”

He said an operational override needs to be investigated and should have been looked into before now to be included in the May Town Meeting and Town Election.

Bezanson, however, is not in favor of an override in May because the plan to go with a debt exclusion can “get us to a place that’s as painless as possible” while looking at a comprehensive plan for the fall.

“In the short-term, it’s going to be painful,” he said. “But in the long-term it could help us get out of a situation and move on [to] where we can have some sustainability for the next five years.”

Lambiase said he was not opposed to an override, but said the town is not ready for it.

“In order to do it, we need to do a long-term analysis,” Lambiase said. “We need to adopt a lot of policies [and say] if we’re going to do this, we won’t have to do it again in two years.”

Evans said he would be in favor of a fall operational budget to help develop a sustainable budget, noting this would be the third debt exclusion or override placed before the voters in the past four years.

“We can’t continue doing that over and over,” he said. “We need to get all our ducks in a row and fix the problem once.”

Selling it to voters

Evans said officials have to do their homework and show what an override would fund and why it can’t be done right now within the confines of Proposition 2 ½.

DiOrio agreed that education is vital.

“Part of that education also has to be letting them know that, here in this community, we are surrounded by other communities that are having their own problems, but they are still taxed at a higher rate than we are,” he said.

Bezanson also said education was the key, citing information gleaned from the Community Assessment Survey, which noted that residents oppose overrides 2-to-1.

Lambiase said education must be paired with evidence that town officials have a level of confidence in what they are doing.

A difficult vote you have taken

Lambiase said he did not recall an example.

“A lot of the votes are difficult votes, especially when it comes down to the budget,” he said. But he pointed to a businessman who wanted to put the number of liquor licenses available in town before Town Meeting. While some members of the Board of Selectmen agreed, Lambiase said he did not because, as elected officials, they should uphold the state requirement.

Evans said as Finance Committee put forth a balanced budget last year, he voted in favor of taking $800,000 from capital stabilization in order to do that.

“We knew fiscal 2020 would be hurt by doing that in 2019,” he said. “It was a difficult vote but I still believed I did the right thing.”

DiOrio cited the same vote.

“Having to come to that decision was extremely difficult,” he said. “It’s why long-term planning is important.”

Bezanson also pointed to that budget issue.

“As painful as it was going to be, it was the right thing to do because the schools needed the money.”

Other major issues in town

Bezanson said roads are in tough shape and that there has to be some way to add funds to Chapter 90 to repair them. Lambiase said the town needs a long-term capital plan that addresses the needs of the DPW building. Evans, meanwhile said the opioid problem, and the number of improperly discarded needles that are found around town, points to a need to maintain funding for Whitman-Hanson WILL and the Whitman Counseling Center. DiOrio said the schools should be the top priority as a way to tackle the problems of crime and drug abuse.

Single or split tax rate?

DiOrio said a split tax rate is something that needs to be investigated, but hard numbers are needed to make a decision. Bezanson said he doesn’t favor it, because there are not enough businesses in town to support it. Lambiase agreed that businesses don’t make up a large enough portion of the town and the best way to attract more business is to keep tax rates favorable. Evans, too, was opposed to a split tax rate.

The candidates were also asked about whether they favored a new DPW building, the value of the Community Assessment Survey, what assets they bring to the office, and how to prevent inter-departmental fighting over budget cuts.

A lightning round of questions ranged from the candidates’ favorite restaurant in town to whether they would consider revisiting the retail marijuana sales ban — DiOrio “absolutely” supported reconsideration and Evans supported it, while Bezanson said he was against it, Lambiase said it could be reconsidered if there was interest. The forum can be seen on WHCA-TV and its YouTube site.

After a lengthy debate on Wednesday, April 10, the W-H School Committee voted 7-1 to support a 12.5 percent assessment increase to the towns.

School Committee members Alexandra Taylor, who was absent, and Michael Jones, who had to leave the meeting early, were not present for the vote and Fred Small, who had supported the 6.5 percent increase Whitman officials have indicated the town could afford, voted against the new assessment. The School Committee meets next at 7 p.m., Wednesday, April 24.

“The 6.5 is based on what they can give in jockeying different lines and different things,” Small said.

School Committee member Robert Trotta had proposed a 10-percent assessment to begin discussion, before the committee ultimately opted on the 12.5 percent, which, in tandem with a transfer from excess and deficiency, avoids more cuts to the school budget.

A transfer of $561,237 from the $961,237 in excess and deficiency brought the assessment down from 15.1 percent to 12.5 percent. Small also advocated using $5,000 from the School Committee travel account, keeping only enough to maintain memberships. It could also help the budget.

School Committee member Steve Bois also made a motion to seek 12.5 percent from the towns after the excess and deficiency transfer closed the gap to that point.

At 12.5 percent, Whitman would see an assessment of $1,658,773 — a total of $14,928,958 — and Hanson’s would go to $1,114,168 — a total of $10,027,508.

The 12.5 percent assessment saves about nine teaching positions.

The level-service budget now stands at $53,270,534 after an initial cut of $290,000 from legal costs, supplies “everything that doesn’t live or breathe.”

E&D, as it is called, is depended on to deal with unanticipated costs such as a new special education student in the district. Individual education plans, ranging from extra time on tests to residential placements, have increased in cost by more than 50 percent over the past five years.

Special education is also among the $5 million in unfunded state educational mandates impacting the budget.

“Students learn differently, students are being emotionally challenged differently … we’re seeing more and more students not being able to cope because of anxiety, because of stress — and that’s starting in kindergarten and preschool now,” Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak said.

Special education and related accounts, such as transportation and legal costs, are among increasing unanticipated costs, school officials said. Even with the cuts that would have to be made if the towns provide only 6.5 percent assessments, Szymaniak said new programs would have to be developed to keep more special education children in district to reduce costs long-term.

Special education costs have jumped from $2.5 million in the 2016-17 school year to $4 million this school year for out-of-district placements.

He said Hanson officials had informed him that their town could support a 7.5-percent assessment.

He repeated his breakdown of program and staff cuts that he had provided Whitman Selectmen on April 9.

The 6.5 percent assessment would mean the loss of three non-union employees, middle school foreign language, six paraprofessionals, three duty aides, the part-time elementary music teacher, a guidance staff member and 19 teachers — with 4 percent meaning a math curriculum and 23 teachers in addition to the other cuts. Special education costs have run over by $630,000 this year. There are 82 staff members paid through federal grants.

Reduction in force (RIF) notices were sent out on Thursday, April 11 to teachers and staff in line for layoffs in the event cuts are made.

School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes explained once again how assessments are made based on what school officials say they need in a budget, cautioning that the original 15.1 percent assessment to the towns was not a 15.1 percent increase in the overall budget.

“[Taxpayers] are getting a Cadillac for a Yugo right now,” Szymaniak said referring to the Yugoslavian-made economy car that became the butt of jokes shortly after its introduction to the American market from 1985 to 1992. “This is the best bang for your buck around.”

Finance Committee member Rosemary Connolly had made a similar argument during the April 9 Selectmen’s meeting.

“This 6.5 percent increase, even though there will be layoffs, maintains a curriculum that we’re committed to give our teachers,” Szymaniak said. “It also maintains social-emotional learning and support for our students.”

School Committee members said they were also concerned about the effect of additional budget cuts on class size and the potential of any more state funding.

“I’m happy to play ball and I’m happy to be in agreement [with the towns], but we still need a little bit more,” Bois said. “There’s still work to do here.”

Small, meanwhile, said the committee also has to be cognizant of what the towns are able to give.

“Were they prepared? No. Should things have gone differently? Probably. But if we have to, I’d be all for taking E&D money to try and supplement different things and really preparing for the fall and having a proper override presentation showing the need for everyone to reset,” Small said. “And we’d take control of that ourselves.”

Szymaniak also spoke about the budget impact of the 3.1 percent increase in the overall South Shore Tech budget approved by both towns.

“If we were to get a 3.1 percent increase to our budget, that would be an 8.5-percent assessment to both towns,” he said. “I’m just asking both towns to treat us as equals.”

The assessments SST is seeking comes to 3.12-percent increase to the towns — $48,000 for Whitman —but still must be approved by the two town meetings. W-H’s overall budget increase is 5.6 percent.

Szymaniak also noted the difference in per-pupil expenditures for both school districts — W-H now spends $12,740 per pupil while SST spends $21,142 per pupil.

“There are less kids so there is less cost [at SST],” Szymaniak said.

With special education costs factored in, W-H spends $13,385 per pupil, while SST has no out-of-district special education expenses. Thirty percent of SST students, however, are on IEPs. Equipment costs and other factors. Safety factors dictate that we have some limited student teacher ratios in some shops, which also contributes to higher per pupil costs, according to SST Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey.

“That’s the only school I wish to compare us with because we are sending students over there,” Szymaniak said. “I don’t see and apples and apples situation, I see an apples and oranges-type situation and I think South Shore Tech is a very good institution for our students if that’s their choice. I just want equal footing as far as finances for the teachers we employ as a district and for the students that decide to stay here.”

Small described his vision of an override as not just one that solves immediate problems, but returns the school services to a level where it should be.

“If we are going to go for an override, we should give the voter the opportunity to fund us to the level where we should be, and that’s a whole helluva lot more than we’re talking about tonight,” he said.

In other business, the committee approved submitting a letter to the  Commissioner of Education requesting a waiver of the 185-day requirement to the school year for Conley School following the norovirus-related closure of the school for one day last month.

Assistant Superintendent George Ferro explained that requiring Conley students to make up the day at the end of the school year could cost the district $2,800 in busing costs and that the time on learning could be made up in other ways.

Ferro said the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education  (DESE) said the number of days in school was the key measurement.

“The hours do not count,” he said of the DESE’s regulations. “It’s the showing up on the 185th day.”

“The content of an education is not in the length of days or the minutes you spend,” said Bois in making the motion for the assessment. “That is very valuable time, but I’ve seen kids that have continuity from a group of people that deserve millions of applause … for the everyday work that they do.”

O’Brien pointed out that the decision would be counter to the reasoning behind a recent vote to reject a 2019-20 school calendar which included extra days in the Christmas vacation.

“Everybody brought up time in the classroom,” he said of that vote. “You’ve got to learn, got to learn, got to learn. I’m OK with applying for it, no problem at all, but we seemed to have done a 180 here. … I’m just making a point.”

Ferro said waivers have been granted to districts in the past.

HANSON — The residents of almost every small town, no doubt, are convinced they have the most quirky people on the planet living within their borders — which, perhaps, explains why “The Andy Griffith Show,” was one of the more popular TV shows of the 1960s, or “Newhart” in the 1980s.

This writer can vouch for that.

In my hometown of Northfield, Conn., (a village part of the larger town of Litchfield, really), our nursery school/piano teacher Eleanor Grant would hop on her bicycle for the mile or so to our house each spring to spend the day with my grandmother mapping out Miss Grant’s annual car trip to her dentist in Willimantic.

I doubt the route changed much from year-to-year.

Legend has it my grandmother once tossed a folding chair at the head of a friend during an argument at a Grange meeting.

Our local nature expert Jesse Morse, who lived (*gasp* unmarried) in a cluttered house with a lady named Grace Wheeler, enjoyed carving baskets from cherry pits for necklaces, among his other artsy-crafty hobbies.

Similar characters people Hanson Selectman Wes Blauss’ new novel, “Murder at Town Meeting.”

“We were just creating stereotypes of what people think happens in small New England towns,” he said during a talk Thursday, April 4 at a meeting of the Hanson Historical Society, of which he is a member. “Who are the characters who show up?”

A Hanson native who taught at Hanson Middle School before his retirement, Blauss’ characters live in fictional South Quagmire (just north of East Quagmire) in the novelization of his popular — and thrice staged — eponymous play with characters one might be convinced they recognize.

“There’s not a person in here who’s really identifiable, especially not anymore,” he said. “We won’t go near anybody who really exists. The fire chief will be an arsonist, we’ll have a fire station burn down — don’t think Burrage. We’ll have an abandoned library burn down — don’t think Thomas Hall — so we were not trying to get ourselves into any kind of trouble.”

His book will be available April 30 via Amazon or the Barnes & Noble websites.

“Since this is the Historical Society, I felt that this should not be a reading so much as what’s the story behind this book,” Blauss said.

“Murder at Town Meeting,” is being published by Riverhaven Books of Whitman.

The idea for the play, first staged in 1989, stemmed from the popularity at the time or murder-mystery dinner theater. James Bond creator Ian Fleming, also took an approach to writing that Blauss emulates: “Everything I write is based on precedent.”

One of the audience members on this night was Laura Donovan, was part of Blauss’ drama group in 1989 leading him to reminisce about her performance as a town Treasurer that was a bit too close to the mark.

“The night of dress rehearsal, Laura showed up with no fanfare … but she had taken her pantyhose and stuffed them with cotton batting,” he said recalling a heavyset past Town Hall official the audience immediately recognized. “A whole bunch of people in the audience gasped. … This [woman the character was based on] did have a habit of telling you that you were stupid.”

Most of the Town Hall staff of the time showed up for the performance.

“It became a contest in the course of the night … everybody who worked for Town Hall immediately decided they saw themselves in the play,” he said. While that was not necessarily the case, Blauss maintains, some actual incidents are included. The book includes a fictionalized table-flipping incident and private plane excursions in search of illegal piggeries.

“No one cared at all who killed anyone,” he laughed. “They were not the slightest bit interested in the mystery.”

A fellow teacher from Hingham who saw the play was equally convinced of the characters’ familiarity.

“When it was over, she simply said, ‘Oh my gosh, I know every one of those people. They are all in Hingham,’” he recalled.

He spoke of town meetings of the 1970s — the story is set in the Bicentennial year 1976 — being three-day ordeals, rather than the one-night sessions they have become.

The story has also been brought up-to-date in a more serious vein.

Blauss brings into the book a glimpse of the racial attitudes of the community in the 1970s that is timely for today’s racial issues nationally.

“I drew a group [in the play] that was totally white-bread,” he said, as opposed to his days at WHRHS when there were more Cape Verdeans living in Hanson in the 1950s and ’60s. “When I was writing the book I felt it needed another depth to it. When I grew up, Hanson was really diverse.”

Research on Cape Verde residents of Hanson at the time, revealed a rainbow of racial designations, often for the same person, on birth, marriage and death certificates.

Town Clerk Elizabeth Sloan edited the book and helped with research, along with Blauss’ childhood friend and Health Board Chairman Arlene Dias.

“There were people who were born black, when they married [they were recorded as] white,” he said. “There were people who, with the exact same parents, he was black, but six years later she was born white.”

They found one Cape Verdean friend was recorded as being white, another black and — strangely — another had “Portuguese” listed under the race heading.

“I never, ever heard the N-word uttered in Hanson,” he said, but students didn’t cross the color line when dating, either. “That was Hanson in the ’60s.”

Years later, Blauss’s great-aunt Ruth mentioned to him in a discussion of town and family history that the Ku Klux Klan once held meetings in the town’s Grange Hall during its national resurgence in the 1920s. The audience gasped at that revelation. He could find no records to verify the Grange Hall meetings.

“When I was writing ‘Murder at Town Meeting’ I felt I really wanted that race component in it, because I think it would be unfair to deal with the ’70s without doing so,” he said. “I think this race component is as big a part of our history as anything else.”

HANSON — Paul and Jennifer Skarinka received the keys to their new home on Tuesday, April 2. The occasion, exciting for any young couple, was different than for most — it is a mortgage-free, injury-specific house built through Jared Allen’s Homes for Wounded Warriors for a veteran injured in action.

“It’s beautiful,” Jennifer Skarinka said. “It’s a dream home.”

“Wow,” Paul, a Plympton Fire Department firefighter-paramedic, said after his family, including children Lilliana and Noah, toured the house. “The carpenters, the Foundation, everyone did an incredible job and it was well worth the wait. It’s truly incredible.”

It was delayed a few months due to record-low temperatures, record flooding, microbursts that knocked out power for nine days, three nor’easters, delays caused by a moratorium following the Merrimack Valley natural gas explosions — and vandalism — but the Hanson community joined builders, trade union representatives and Allen to welcome Skarinka, 39, and his family to his new home.

Skarinka, an Army veteran who lost a leg and sustained severe injuries to his left arm when his unit came under attack on a mission in Sadr City, Iraq in September 2004, said he and his family are thankful for their new home and the help of Hanson police and fire departments after the project was vandalized over the winter.

“I’m just excited,” he said. “I was nervous about moving in — it looks so nice. We’re really going to enjoy this and take a minute to kind of sit back and relax, take it one day at a time and soak it all in.”

Jennifer Skarinka said the house means her husband will be able to find comfort at the end of his working day.

“There’s no more stairs,” she said. “Taking care of other people is strenuous on his body and he gets tired [by the end of his day]. Unfortunately, in the house we were at before, he couldn’t use his wheelchair. …Now he can wheel around without having to worry about bumping into things or getting stuck. It makes me happy that he can live a somewhat normal life.”

Allen, a five-time NFL Pro Bowler, said his foundation is a way to give back to those who defend our country.

“Someone told me a long time ago, you don’t have to have a uniform on to serve your country,” Allen said. “I feel like I’ve been blessed in my life with family and work and all that. I’ve gotten a lot from this country — the ability to be free and play football and live out my dreams — so I think it’s the least we can do to show our gratitude and pay our debts forward.”

Veterans go through an application process and other veterans’ organizations “lead the way” to his program, Allen said. Skarinka also had the good fortune to be a friend of Alex Karalexis, a 1992 W-H graduate and Hanson native, who is executive director of Jared Allen’s Homes for Wounded Warriors. Veterans have  say in where they want their homes to be located and work with architects and designers in creating their homes.

Allen said the vandalism was horrible, setting the project back weeks and costing money.

“We haven’t had that issue before,” he said. “But I think the way the community reacted …”

“This has been a very special project and the community has been behind us from start to finish with all the hiccups that we had in between,” Karalexis said. “The high school football team raised money, local businesses raised money, had signs at the doors and things of that nature.”

Organizers thanked the Hanson Police for their work in apprehending the vandals.

The Skarinkas had originally planned on moving in for Thanksgiving or Christmas before the vandalism to windows in the home.

“All that did was galvanize the resolve of everybody who took part in this projects,” Karalexis said of the vandalism and natural disasters that delayed the move-in day. “It really made me proud to be part of this community.”

“This was a wonderful event this morning,” said state Rep. Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, whose district includes Hanson. “It’s an amazing show of community for Hanson, but also the broader community, Homes for Wounded Warriors — all the folks who played a role in building this home. As other speakers have said, they built a home, but they also built a community here, that’s what’s most wonderful about this.”

Other Hanson officials present included Veterans Agent Timothy White, Town Administrator Michael McCue, Police Lt. Mike Casey, Fire Chief Jerome Thompson Jr., Deputy Fire Chief Robert O’Brien Jr., Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak and Assistant Superintended George Ferro. Several officials from the Plympton Fire Department also attended, wearing their dress uniforms. Several representatives of building trades organizations also attended.

“It’s a great feeling to be able to help out a deserving veteran in the community,” said Harry Brett, of Hanson, business manager of the Plumber’s Union.

“It’s just an honor to be involved in something as meaningful as what this wounded warriors project is all about,” John Murphy, of Braintree, with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. It marked the first Jared Allen Foundation project undertaken in New England.

Brian Austin of New England Carpenters Training Council presented a framed photo of an inscription left by a second-year apprentice on an interior partition stud: “June 7 2018 — To our Warrior and his clan, Thank you for all you have done for our nation. It has been an honor to build this fortress for you all and may many great memories be made in this home. One nation under God.”

The inscription was discovered as repairs were being made two weeks after the windows had been vandalized.

“Minor road bump,” New England Carpenters Training Council representative Paul Gangemi, said of the vandalism to windows in the house. “The important ones they missed. It didn’t stop [us], we kept moving forward.”

The house featured five-foot-wide corridors and five-foot turnaround space almost everywhere inside. Gangemi said his organization had about three dozen volunteers from the council worked on the project.

“All the trades did a good job,” he said. “The painters were all apprentices — you go through that house, it looks like a professional painter’s job.”

WHITMAN — Residents support their town services, but are reluctant to look toward an operational override, preferring a targeted approach to support specific departments or projects.

Bridgewater State University Political Science Professor Dr. Melinda Tarsi presented the results of the survey to a small gathering in the Town Hall Auditorium Wednesday, March 20.

“Several months ago, we met in this room to talk about doing a community survey,” said Town Administrator Frank Lynam, noting that Tarsi has offered her services as well as the university’s for the project.

Tarsi thanked those who showed up on a “pretty nice spring evening to look at survey results” and thanked those in town’s participation, questions and overall interest in the project.

“I think we saw from the level of interest … from the community and the kinds of questions they were asking [indicated they wanted to] make sure everything was done correctly and making sure we got their survey, to me and my students indicates how much people care about the community,” she said.

The bimodal survey — conducted both on paper and online — was done between November and the beginning of February. The university, which provided all paper, postage and other costs through the university, sent a single copy of a paper survey to each household, with a QR code that could access additional copies online. Additional paper copies were also provided on request.

Despite the short response window and the size of the response sample — 1,062 of which 640 were online and 422 on paper — Tarsi said it still gave adequate information for discussion about priorities and budget issues.

“This is part of an approach to plan ahead,” Lynam said. “It’s not going to answer all the questions that we need [answered] for this years’ budget, but it gives us an idea of what the community as a whole is looking at.”

Tarsi said it was equally rewarding for her students, many of whom are now interested in obtaining internships in local government.

The full report is available on the town website Whitman-ma.gov.

The most important issues facing the town, according to the survey, were: schools and education — 36 percent; property tax rates — 36 percent; opioid and other substance abuse — 23 percent; business/economic development — 24 percent; roads/transportation and upkeep — 31 percent. There were several other issues drawing lower percentages and some write-in responses that are viewable online.

People were allowed to select more than one issue on the survey.

Where raising revenue is concerned, almost half preferred increases to licenses and fees; 8 percent suggested raising excise taxes; 17 percent would increase property tax rates; and 28 percent had other views.

“Increasing licenses and fees tends to be a more popular option generally, in whatever case we’re talking about, so this follows what we might tend to see in any municipality when they’re being presented with options on how to increase revenues,” Tarsi said of research on the issue.

To control costs; 42 percent said all departments should be asked to cut their budgets by a certain proportion; 15 percent wanted to see town employees’ salaries level with no raises; 14 percent said to reduce Town Hall hours; and 13 percent said reduce town services. Only 1 percent of residents suggested layoffs.

Overrides were defined in the survey and residents were asked if they favored that option. Forty-two percent said they would back an override, but only for a particular reason; 38 percent said no to an override for any reason and close to 20 percent support an operational override for any part of the budget.

“What this indicates for us as survey researchers, is that there is some acceptance of the idea of an override, but, understandably, voters, residents, taxpayers want to know why,” Tarsi said.

Departments preferred to benefit from any override were: schools, police, fire and public works. Veterans services were also quite high.

Of school services, smaller class sizes, instructional materials for teachers and full-day kindergarten were the top priorities. For the DPW, road repair, snow removal and maintaining town buildings were top concerns.

People responding to the survey reported that 72 percent did not attend the 2018 Town Meeting, while 28 percent said they did attend.

Of those respondents, 47 percent owned a home in Whitman; 19 percent have had children in the schools in the past; 11 percent currently have children in the schools; 10 percent volunteer in town; 5 percent are renters; 2 percent own a business in town; another 2 percent works for a Whitman business; and 1 percent works for the town.

The residents responded that 27 percent have lived in Whitman between 31 and 50 years; 21 percent between 11 and 20 years; 15 percent from 21 to 30 years with another 15 percent fewer than five years; 11 percent have lived in Whitman more than 50 years and 10 percent from five to 10 years.

As Selectmen had previously reported about the results most people scored Whitman well on quality of life and as a good place to live and raise a family, but poor as a destination for entertainment.

Residents also indicated they liked the level of town services they receive, but recognize that cuts may have to be made in a budget crisis, according to Tarsi.

HANSON — At a special joint meeting of the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Health Tuesday, March 19, officials decided to move forward with polystyrene and plastic bag ban town meeting warrant articles, but not as originally proposed for the May annual Town Meeting.

The bans are now likely to be on the October special Town Meeting warrant, proposed by the Board of Health, although, “the language will need to be tightened up,” said Board of Health chairman Arlene Dias.

The warrant articles, penned by Town Administrator Michael McCue based on similar bans in other communities in Massachusetts, were written so that there was a Board of Selectmen warrant recommendation and a Board of Health warrant recommendation, he said, which Selectman Matthew Dyer was not aware of until recently.

The two boards clashed on whether or not to pursue polystyrene and plastic bag ban articles in the first place, which board the articles would be recommended from and who would enforce the bans, if approved at town meeting.

Dias said she supported the bans, but added she felt there needed to be more education, and that bans would simply increase paper that needed to be recycled at the transfer station.

“You need to look at what a ban will do,” she said. “I’m not happy with the bylaw. It’s too soon.”

Dyer has been spearheading the proposed bans. It became clear early on in the meeting which board would recommend the article was a central component of the debate, as was the issue of who would enforce the ban, which was brought up by Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett.

McCue said that most towns instituting such bans do so as through the Board of Health, with the Health Agent as the enforcement officer. Hanson does not have a permanent Health Agent currently. Selectmen briefly entertained the notion of the Building Inspector enforcing the ban on behalf of the Board of Selectmen.

Alternatively, Dyer said, “I’ll enforce [the ban] until I kick the bucket or get elected out of office,” but noted that he will ultimately not be around to be the enforcement officer.

Later, the selectmen reached a consensus among themselves and the Board of Health members and decided that any future polystyrene and bag bans would be recommended at a town meeting as a warrant article by the Board of Health.

Dyer fought for the earlier May ATM, but was not disappointed, he said, to move the proposed warrant article back to October’s STM, as long as the start date for the ban was July 1, 2020.

The Selectmen and Board of Health agreed, and the Board of Health will work with Dyer on the article along with Selectman Wes Blauss.

After the meeting, Dyer said with sincerity that he wasn’t disappointed and, “Look at it this way: we’re moving toward a goal.”