HANSON — Selectmen have appointed an enforcement officer for a town earth removal bylaw already on the books, as well as a placeholder article on the May 7 Town Meeting for a resident’s proposed petition bylaw to govern the storage of sand, soil, mulch and similar materials.

The storage measure will have to be reviewed by Town Counsel before the board votes on specific language, however. The removal bylaw was approved by a vote of 4-1, with Selectman Kenny Mitchell voting against it during an unusual Thursday night session — due to last week’s nor’easter — on March 15.

Town Administrator Michael McCue said the draft soils storage bylaw was composed by Town Counsel Jay Talerman of Mead, Talerman & Costa LLC, and was given back to Talerman and concerned residents in the Robinson Street area where an ongoing agricultural soil removal operation has been an issue.

McCue suggested that a placeholder article sponsored by Selectmen would negate the need for the resident seeking the bylaw to rush for signatures before the vote to close the warrant March 20. The board was not voting on any proposed language yet.

“The feeling that I’ve gotten from the board, in a general sense, is that the board would be in favor of putting something like this in place as long as it was reasonable and didn’t unduly burden the average person,” he said. An example would be someone with a small pile of mulch they are going to spread around their property.

Specifics would be ironed out before the warrant is printed.

“You don’t have to vote the same way every time you look at it,” said Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett. “If this evolves and you don’t like it, then you can vote against it.”

Town attorney Katherine M. Feodoroff of MTC said the petitioner had wanted the language to include retail enterprises in the bylaw’s regulations, but businesses are already governed by existing regulations. Commercial farms could be included under the retail umbrella.

Selectmen Chairman James McGahan said his only concerns centered on defining limits to amounts allowed for storage and

“Anybody who has large amounts of material of this type on their property, its impacting other people’s quality of life,” he said.

The board voted 5-0 to sponsor the placeholder article.

The earth removal bylaw vote was a revision of the existing bylaw, intended to clarify that the enforcement authority would be the building inspector.

“When you look at the bylaw online, there’s a small link at the bottom that says enforcement, and that basically says who enforces these bylaws,” McGahan said. “I clicked onto that, and I was educated to know the Board of Selectmen do that. … I didn’t know that we were the policemen of that bylaw.”

The board has the authority to appoint a different enforcement officer, with McGahan suggesting Building Inspector Bob Curran, adding that Curran had agreed to take on that responsibility.

McGahan also urged a review of other policies in which the board does not have expertise in an effort to appoint enforcement officers who do.

“I think it is appropriate, very appropriate, for the Board of Selectmen to authorize — and in all honesty, I think it should be the building inspector, to authorize someone as the enforcement officer, aside from the Police Department,” McCue said. “I wouldn’t expect an officer of the law to go out and interpret these sorts of bylaws.”

He did suggest he come back to the board at a future meeting with an omnibus recommendation of enforcement authority for other bylaws as well.

“I think it makes sense to do it all together instead of piecemeal,” McCue said.

McGahan argued that recent windstorms made the earth removal bylaw enforcement more urgent and the issue has been going on with no enforcement officer for too long.

“I think he might have other things he may be enforcement officer over,” Mitchell said of Curran. “I think we should take a couple weeks and have [McCue] review everything so we’re not calling Bob every other week, going, ‘Here’s another one.’”

FitzGerald-Kemmett agreed with McGahan that residents have become frustrated and that she has been receiving calls on the issue and enforcement of the bylaw, especially centering on the soil removal operation near Robinson Street

Planning Board member Joe Campbell suggested an alternate from either the building or health departments for situations when issues come under one of those two agencies. McCue said he wanted to confer with potential alternates to ensure they could do the job before they were appointed.

In other business, Campbell and Planning Board members Don Ellis and Joe Weeks attended the Selectmen’s meeting to discuss street and private road acceptance policies.

McCue agrees with them that there were some key gaps that could be filled. A private way is a road not yet accepted by the town as a public road, which requires betterments to bring a roadway up to standard first.

“The town is very limited on the funding and the man hours that can be spent in this kind of repairs,” Campbell said. “This way, we’d have a policy in place to actually have those roads accepted onto public roadways.”

McCue added that a policy would also ensure consistency.

Ellis said the problem arises when a developer fails to meet requirements for seeking acceptance of development roads when projects are completed.

“Some of these guys just don’t care,” he said. “The poor citizens on that street want it accepted at that time.”

McGahan said that’s where it gets complicated as people are paying town taxes and they can’t receive services for the upkeep of their road.

“The developer owns the road until he wants to relinquish it.” Ellis said. Some towns take those roads by eminent domain when the road is complete.

Feodoroff said the question becomes whether the town wants to accept a private road with all the expenses that the process incurs. She said a policy does a good job of educating the Planning Board about the condition of a road before it is accepted and hearings should be required first.

Engineer, attorney and construction costs must be borne by residents of the road — another source of concern for Feodoroff.

“For the residents to be able to afford that on the front end is probably very unlikely,” she said, especially on shorter streets and cul de-sacs. The language also has to clarify whether the street residents or the town bear the cost of betterments and urged that the language be refined.

“I think with a couple minor tweaks we’re good to go,” she said.

Campbell said it is meant to indicate the costs should be shared.

The School Committee on Wednesday, March 7 saluted current eighth-grade Project 351 ambassadors Allie Erikson of Whitman Middle School and T.J. Woodward of Hanson Middle School, as well as recent program alumni now attending WHRHS and serving as adviser/mentors to this year’s ambassadors.

“When I first found out what Project 351 is, it inspired me,” Erikson said. “I truly did not understand how many people needed our help.”

She is conducting a sock drive at WMS on March 26 and has volunteered at Boston’s Pine Street Inn.

“It’s such a great organization and I’m so glad that I was chosen,” said Woodward, whose sister Courtney was also a Project 351 ambassador. “I’m looking forward to doing clothing drives and a canned food drive later on. I just think it’s a great organization to be part of.”

On launch day he was working with a group of students at the State House assembling school kits for Haitian children moving to Massachusetts and hygiene kits for families who can’t afford a lot of those items for their children.

The program, begun in 2011 as a student service project in coordination with the observance of Martin Luther King Jr., Day and incorporated that first year as part of Gov. Deval Patrick’s inaugural festivities. An eighth-grader from each of the state’s 351 cities and towns travel to Boston to participate in the service learning program’s day of service.

It now has been expanded to include fall and spring service projects and leadership training.

School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes shook each student’s hand, telling them how proud the committee is of their work, “What you’re doing is really making a change,” he said. “Keep up this good work.”

“Project 351 is honestly one of the best experiences I’ve ever had,” said Chris Blackman, now a W-H freshman. “It’s incredible to have the feeling of helping people and the community who you may not even know, but you know need help.”

An annual clothing drive for Cradles to Crayons is a key aspect of the W-H students’ work.

“ My experience has been life-changing, because it kind of opens you up to the real world, in that more people need help and there’s always a lending hand to give,” said W-H junior Abigail Trongone of Hanson. “When you give that lending hand, people give it back – one act of kindness leads to another.”

Whitman junior Rachel Putur, who still volunteers for the community at the Whitman Food Pantry, also spoke of the good feeling derived from helping others.

“People come together as a community and make a great difference,” she said.

“Project 351 is the most fulfilling and inspiring experience a kid my age could take part in,” said freshman Emma Rodgers of Hanson, who conducted a clothing drive through her dance school, Boss Academy and St. Joseph the Worker Church. “[It] also taught me to express gratitude to people who help me along the way because every little thing really matters.”

“I’ve been able to help a group of 10 eighth-graders through their year of service so far and was with them on launch day,” sophomore Courtney Woodward. “My experience with Project 351 has been pretty amazing. I changed my attitude on how everything is in the world around me and have been able to give back to my community and help people.”

W-H senior Regan Hayes said she has seen a lot of personal growth within herself through participation in the program.

“You can see that there’s a lot of hope for the future,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner said. “These are wonderful leaders and they will become even better leaders as a result of Project 351 and the work that they do.”

School Committee member Robert Trotta said he hopes the students’ enthusiasm continues as they grow older.

“I think your generation is the one that can hopefully make a positive change in the world,” he said.

School Committee member Steven Bois, who works at the JFK Library in visitor relations, where last year’s program culminated, urged all the students to visit the library and remarked how they reminded him of some of the points President Kennedy made in his inaugural address.

“He talked about how [change] would not take place in the first 100 days, or the first 1,000 days, or the lifetime of his administration, or of us on this planet, but said, ‘Let us begin,’” Bois said. “Those are such strong words but I think it resonates in everything that you do.”

WHITMAN — Finance Committee members made the argument for greater fiscal restraint during a meeting with the Board of Selectmen Tuesday, March 6.

Chairman Rick Anderson and Vice Chairman David Codero both made statements to the Selectmen before reviewing some of the capital improvement requests.

“We do appreciate the opportunity to come before Selectmen and update the progress of the Finance Committee,” Anderson said, noting that the addition of new member Rosemary Connelly, the committee is back up to full membership. “I think the most pressing concern that we have as a committee is that we believe we have a spending problem here in the town of Whitman.”

He said there are a number of departments that continue to appear at budget meetings “with extraordinary expectations.”

“I think we have to work together to change the mentality of, ‘OK, here’s what I want, I need — find a way to pay for it,” he said. Instead, Anderson said that, as a community with a very limited business tax base and taxpayers that are really stretched thin, one message has to get out.

“Here’s what we have, try to make it work for your budget,” needs to be the operative thought, he said. “I don’t want to say that the sky is falling but we need to take a look at some of the major capital projects that are coming up within the next five to 10 years.”

Projects Anderson said are needed include a new DPW facility, which is “long overdue,” as workers are now subjected to unsafe working conditions and there are two dams in town at the end of their useful life. He noted that the school district has 48 capital projects in the matrix for elementary and middle schools with a total price tag of $2.3 million. Capital projects on the high school’s matrix total almost $2 million.

In two years, Anderson noted the town will be looking to submit a statement of interest to the MSBA for a new middle school as well.

“These are some of the things that are above ground,” he said. “Some of the things that are below ground are just as concerning.”

Anderson stressed that the occurrence of two main breaks in the past two years, which cost more than $800,000 to repair. A long-tem plan is needed to address repairs to the sewer system installed 33 years ago, he concluded.

Codero reviewed capital warrant articles coming before the May 7 Town Meeting out of numerical order as a way of grouping them by type of request for consideration. The Finance Committee has not yet made its recommendations on the articles.

“At this time we are reserving any judgment,” Codero said. “The department heads have brought forth a lot of articles.”

In December 2017, a special Town Meeting already approved $173,000 in salary additions along with $4.3 million in capital spending, which impacts the fiscal 2019 budget. On March 12, another special Town Meeting will vote on $277,000 for improvements to the high school for the preschool program.

As of last week, there are 48 warrant articles proposed for the Monday, May 7 warrants.

Town Administrator Frank Lynam has said not all the proposed articles will appear on the final warrant.

“This warrant, as you look at it today, is chaotic because it’s simply a draft of every article,” Lynam said. “This will not be the final product.”

Lynam and Finance Committee members agreed there are more meetings to come before the warrant is completed.

“This doesn’t take into consideration the $500,000 in warrant articles for the school district, nor the school district’s assessment to the town or deficit spending for snow plowing,” Codero said. When all warrant articles are added up, he said the Finance Committee estimates they represent more than $2.6 million in excess of the town’s budget.

“If all these articles were approved … we’re looking at raising taxes in this town anywhere from $500 to over $1,000 a year per household,” said Selectmen Dan Salvucci. “That’s not going to happen.”

Public safety requests include new protective gear for firefighters, more rifles, shotguns and ammunition for the Police Department and an increase in the police cruiser fleet. Codero said the weapons and ammunition requests have not yet been adequately explained.

DPW requests include new vehicles as well. The Board of Health is looking to upgrade its sharps collection kiosk.

Licensing, website upgrades and other technology equipment requests are also included in the warrant so far. Facilities requests for town buildings other than the schools include roof repairs for the library, masonry repairs at Town Hall, asbestos remediation at the old police station, seal coating the Senior Center parking lot and the proposed changeover to LED streetlights.

The School Committee’s Regional Agreement Amendment Committee took another step toward completing its work Monday, Feb. 25 as its members reviewed the assessment formula and voted to remove a section of the regional pact.

The committee voted unanimously to delete Section X, which outlined steps for withdrawing elementary grades pre-kindergarten through grade eight from the district as fiscally unworkable. Originally included as a “carrot” to gain passage of the regional agreement, members and Mass. Association of Regional Schools (MARS) consultants agreed.

The next committee meeting will be held at 6 p.m., Monday, March 19 in the high school library with another to follow “if necessary” in April, according to School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes who also chairs the Regional Agreement Amendment Committee. After the committee approves final draft, it goes to the towns for approval at town meetings.

“The burden of that cost would probably never see that happen,” Hayes said. “The discussion has come up, but it’s been, ‘Let’s just do this, it’s easy.’ Nobody has ever spelled out what the initial cost would be. Some people actually thought that would be cost-saving.”

Changes requested by Department of Elementary and Secondary Education representative Chris Lynch to sections IV, V, and VI, pertaining to the budget process were also discussed. Lynch is the “person who must approve this before it goes to legal,” said consultant Malcolm Reid.

He said Lynch had a particular concern over present language that dissolves the district automatically if one town votes to leave.

“She believes that it shouldn’t happen automatically,” Reid said. “If one town votes to get out it should go through the regular withdrawal process that is spelled out earlier in your agreement.”

That would require another revision of the agreement being approved by both towns and ratified by the commissioner of education.

“Why do we have this language in here at all?” asked committee member James Egan of Hanson. “That was put in there sort of as a carrot because people weren’t confident that they wanted to stay in the region over the long haul. I think we’re beyond that at this point and don’t see why we need this language.”

“You have the curveball that this high school is owned by two towns, basically,” agreed member Fred Small of Whitman.

“You’re going to be back where you were with a high school and two K-8s, each with their own school committee, their own superintendent and share of central office area and everything else,” said MARS Assistant Executive Director Stephen Hemman.

He said division of assets and liabilities between two K-8 districts would be difficult at best, with millions of dollars in other post-employment benefits (OPEB) among the most expensive liabilities.

“Something like [withdrawal] should be difficult,” said committee member Christopher George of Whitman. “Difficult and costly.”

Reid, Steve Donovan and Hemman, also reviewed the funding formula for calculations of the foundation budget, minimum required local contribution, Chapter 70 aid, total district budget, net school spending and statutory assessment.

“There is a minimum required local contribution based on the property values and the town’s income of its residents,” Hemman said in the assessment PowerPoint presentation, aimed at setting the stage for discussion of the agreement’s budget sections. “They’re usually two years behind on that, but they calculate that based on [a town’s] wealth.”

Chapter 70 aid is based on the district foundation budget — not including transportation, debt and capital expense based on enrollment and number of economically disadvantaged students — minus the minimum required local contribution.

The minimum local contribution is increased incrementally each year by the Department of Revenue and DESE, according to Hemman.

Net school spending is based on the required local contribution plus Chapter 70 aid.

Statutory assessment formula starts with the foundation budget minus Chapter 70 aid, minimum local contribution and any other local funds.

“That amount, whatever it is, is then assessed to the member towns,” based on enrollment, Hemman said. “All this needs to be in the agreement so the towns know exactly what they’re going to be voting.”

Non-mandated busing language was unchanged due to its impact on bus service contracts.

Budgets would require passage at both town meetings by a simple majority. If a budget fails, the committee must issue a new budget, Hemman said. If that fails, a super town meeting is required.

“If that fails, you’re required to do it again,” he said. “If you don’t have a budget by Dec. 31, the Dept. of Education will set a budget for you and then it is also going to take fiscal control.”

HANSON – The Board of Selectmen have agreed to work with Hanson and Hanover state representatives toward naming the Winter Street bridge connecting the two towns in honor of the late Charles Mann – a past state representative and a House Minority Whip, Hanson town moderator and member of the town’s school committee, Mann also served as a Plymouth County deputy sheriff and many other town and regional boards and committees. He was a graduate of Hanover High School and an Army veteran.

Selectmen also agreed, during the Tuesday, Feb. 13 meeting to agree to a net metering agreement to purchase power for municipal buildings from Blue Wave solar power in Westport, pending contract approval by town counsel.

Hanson’s state Rep. Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, briefed the board on the bridge-naming effort.

“He actually campaigned against me when I first ran for this [office], but I grew to admire and appreciate him because he had a civility about him,” Cutler said. “When the election was over he moved on and we worked together.”

Cutler, state Rep. David DeCoste, R-Hanover and state Sen. Mike Brady, D-Brockton, filed the pending legislation for naming the bridge, which is located near Mann’s family home.

The bridge, unnamed according to MassDOT, was built in 2010 near the site of the historic area where the Teague foundry – said to have possibly forged the anchor for the USS Constitution – was located. In recognition of that, a plaque or historic marker is being considered as part of the bridge-naming, on or near the span.

“This would be paid for by the state, by MassDOT,” Cutler said. “We’d love to have your support for this legislation. The board voted 5-0 to grant that support. His next stop is to the Hanover Board of Selectmen to obtain their backing.

Any Teague historic marker would be handled by the towns. Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett, a former chairman of the Community Preservation Commission (CPC), said that as an historic site, the placement of a Teague marker might be eligible for CPC funding.

Cutler also announced a $20,000 earmark had been released by the governor to fund water quality study of Wampatuck Pond.

“It’s a modest amount of money, but everything helps in this environment,” he said offering to support similar “smaller-dollar items” during Ways & Means Committee hearings.

Energy costs

Blue Wave Senior Director Elizabeth Glynn presented the proposal.

“By participating in our solar farm, the town of Hanson can save significantly on its energy costs,” she said. “Our mission is to make solar energy available to everyone everywhere so communities can take control of their energy production and consumers can choose local, low-cost power.”

A “B” corporation, the company operates on a mission for societal change although it is a profit-seeking enterprise. Hanson was offered net metering credits at a 22-percent discount, which could provide the town 405,000 kilowatt hours of its annual municipal electrical consumption for an estimated saving of $14,700 a year and $294,000 (possibly $323,000) over 20 years. The company would provide the first 100, kilowatt hours – valued at about $16,500 – free during the first year.

At this point, residential customers are not included and the program would not place solar panels in town. Several area towns and four housing authorities have signed onto the program.

“It would not preclude us from moving forward … should we choose to put something [solar panels] up at the hospital or at other sites,” Town Administrator Michael McCue said. “We will continue to pursue our own projects.”

The deadline for a purchasing agreement is Wednesday, Feb. 28 because the state’s incentive program is changing later this year .

The board supported the program, but wanted town counsel to review the contract so any concerns could be acted on at the Tuesday, Feb. 27 meeting.

HANOVER — The South Shore Regional School District Committee on Wednesday, Feb. 14 voted to support an out-of-state field trip aimed at showing some love — in the form of still much-needed home repairs — to New Jersey victims of the 2012 Superstorm Sandy during part of April vacation week.

“This is a pioneering effort on the part of the school to participate in a service/learning project,” said Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey.

Science teacher and Student Council advisor Matthew Fallano said the project comes after frequent requests for a student trip.

“But it’s not in our nature to go on a pleasure cruise with our students,” he said. “We were looking for something a little more co-curricular — something that went along with our own mission statement.”

Students taking part in the trip will be putting their skills to work to benefit a community, an effort Fallano said has been in the planning stages for about four years.

“Even though it sounds a little bit strange, they’re still rebuilding after Sandy,” Fallano said. “Our students will be spending part of their vacation building a home.”

The school will be working with a company that coordinates with AmeriCorps, with 20 students and four faculty members will be leaving the Friday before April vacation starts and return mid-week with an original cost of $300 per student.  School transportation and food is helping control the cost, bringing it down to $250 each — and the Parent’s Association has donated $1,500, so the trip will be even more affordable. Another parent is working to organize a meat raffle on either March 2 or March 9 to help with costs.

“It’s a wonderful project that [lets] students really get a feel for what they are doing and kind of get an idea for how things come together in the field,” said Cohassett representative George Cooney, whose church does similar volunteer work with an Appalachian service project in Kentucky. “It’s a real eye-opener for the students. It’s certainly a help to the community down there.”

He said the project would provide a sense of satisfaction in helping others while providing a chance for practical application of their skills and that the difficulty in rounding up 20 volunteers this time will not be a problem going forward.

“I think it’s going to feed on itself,” Cooney said. “I think it’s going to be limited seating in the future.”

Whitman representative Dan Salvucci also suggested that the 20 who have volunteered be publicly thanked.

“When we have our graduation it might be nice to have those students who do go there stand up to get applause for donating their time and their vacation to help people in another community,” he said.

The committee also discussed the potential for students to assist with school renovations as part of its discussion of a recently completed master facilities audit. Hickey said he would be referring to the audit frequently as he integrates it with the existing capital plan.

“I want to identify those recommendations that … could be stand-alone projects that maybe we could fund on our own, pluck off this list, do and be done with,” he said. “I also wanted to note any of these items that they would recommend we don’t try to attack piecemeal, but instead look at as part of a larger project.”

The latter would include items best sought-after as part of an MSBA project.

“In some of these smaller projects, is there a possibility that our students could do it?” Salvucci asked. “It would be a learning experience. … Not only would it save the  school money, but just think how they would feel saying to themselves, ‘I helped build — or renovated — that school.’”

Hickey said in most cases the answer would likely be no due to licensing requirements, but there is at least one — the repainting of exterior steel columns they could do. Installation of ADA-accessible sinks in some shops could be another. In others, students would at least be able to observe work where a professional license is required.

The committee voted to approve submission of a statement of interest letter to the MSBA to address severe overcrowding; prevention of severe overcrowding expected from increased enrollment; replacement, renovation or modernization of facilities to increase energy conservation and decrease costs and for replacement of, or addition to, obsolete buildings to provide a full range of programs.

In other business, the committee honored Adjustment Counselor Michelle Craig as the SSVT Staff Member of the Month.

“As an adjustment counselor, Michelle deals with many of our students in some of the worst moments of their lives,” said Assistant Principal Mark Aubrey. “It could be the breakup of a first love — it was Valentine’s Day, she was very busy today — an issue on the home front, including the death of a family member or friend, or a traumatizing event in the student’s personal life.”

Craig has worked at SSVT since September 2016 and has been an integral part of the school’s focus on the social-emotional wellbeing of students.

“Mrs. Craig is always upbeat,” one student said. “Sometimes that’s enough.”

“She actually helps with your problem — I appreciate that,” said another.

“She is always there when I need her, even if it’s a simple e-mail to acknowledge that I’m here,” still another wrote in nominating Craig.

“She has the smallest office, but she has the biggest heart,” another student said.

HANSON — The Board of Selectmen is asking the Hanson School Repair Committee to resume regular meetings after recently being alerted by a member of the Finance Committee that the Indian Head School playground had been closed. The board, by consensus, supports a new playground project at Indian Head.

The former Maquan and Indian Head Priority Repairs Committee had been renamed and charged to encompass Hanson Middle School in May after votes by Selectmen and the School Department to close Maquan School.

“Due to the age and safety concerns [at] the Indian Head School Playground, it is my recommendation to remove all structures immediately,” Schools Facilities Director Ernest Sandland wrote in a Jan. 23 a letter to Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner. A copy of the letter had been emailed from to Selectmen Chairman James McGahan and School Committee member Michael Jones on Monday.

“Ernie would like to start the removal of the Indian Head playground structures as soon as possible,” Gilbert-Whitner wrote in her email, asking the board to “Please let us know what we need to do in order to proceed.” Selectmen indicated they needed more information about cost.

Jones and Christopher Howard were members of the repair committee before both were elected to the School Committee.

“I know for a fact that I saw good things come out of that committee,” McGahan. “I’m hoping that we have some parents out there willing to step up — certainly if you have some mechanical or electrical experience, you’d be a valued member on that [repair] board.”

Sandland’s letter advised Gilbert-Whitner that a survey conducted by independent consultant Playground Inspections of New England LLC had determined last November that 70 percent of the playground’s structures do not comply with safety standards. Replacement costs for the playground — estimated at about $96,000 for the structures alone — have been included on the School Department’s capital projects matrix.

A fence would cost an additional $15,000 and rubberized ground cover, if it is desired, would cost about $67,000 more.

The town is not being asked to act on removal, according to Town Administrator Michael McCue, who said he has included a placeholder article for the May Town Meeting to address the new playground.

“My understanding is, this conversation centers on whether or not the Board of Selectmen wishes to be the sounding board for this particular article and supporting this article, vs. the repair committee, which basically hasn’t been meeting,” he said.

He said the School Committee is only asking for the funding to build a new playground.

“I believe they feel that they can facilitate the removal on their own,” McCue said. “I don’t think they’re looking for funding, they’re not looking for approval. I think they have the means, and I don’t think it’s going to cost very much to remove it.”

Safety is the main concern of the survey, which included photos of deteriorating conditions at the structure.

Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett suggested the board could vote to support removal, but needed more information on that cost.

“During the inspection/evaluation, it was evident that the structures are old and worn and there were many hazards that would prohibit this structure from being retrofitted,” Sandland wrote. “Temporarily we have placed saw horses and caution tape in this area until the structure is removed.”

Moving the Maquan playground to Indian Head has been ruled out as it would cost about the same as a new one and presents liability issues.

“As far as I’m concerned, we don’t have any choice,” Selectman Kenny Mitchell said. “We have to replace that playground … but I’m not in favor of discontinuing the repair committee.”

Selectman Jim Hickey asked how such issues were addressed before the Priority Repair Committee was formed after the proposed new elementary school was voted down in 2014. Hickey, who now chairs the repair committee, said he would act to get that panel back to meeting.

“Part of the problem was things weren’t being done that we felt should have been,” said McGahan, citing a window at Maquan that had leaked for 10 years. “Before then, I don’t think we were happy with what had been going on.”

Planning Board member John Kemmett suggested the Community Development Commission could be asked for funding to support the project.

“We should have caught this thing well before this happened,” McGahan said of the repair committee. “If we’re closing a school and moving grades to [Indian Head], then goddammit, we should have had the playground ready in advance.”

FitzGerald-Kemmett and Hickey both countered that he has only been working with the repair committee since June and the playground conditions were not surveyed until November.

In other business, Selectmen are seeking one more member for the Maquan Reuse Committee, which currently meets every other week for about an hour, to resolve logistical issues that sometimes surface for current members.

FitzGerald-Kemmett, who chairs the committee, said people with an open mind are being sought because “we’re really going to lay everything out on the table and make a recommendation … on how we should proceed and move forward.”

McGahan said timely completion of that work is needed because insurance costs for an empty building will be more expensive than the $15,000 per month the school district now pays, for the town to insure it until another use is found or it is sold.