HANSON — The Hanson Multi-Service Senior Center sustained “extensive water damage” due to a burst pipe during last weekend’s sub-freezing cold snap, according to Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett, who has arranged an alternative site for senior programs while repairs are being made.
Senior Center Director Mary Collins, however, told FitzGerald-Kemmett they can “make do” during the month or so it might take to repair the damage.
FitzGerald-Kemmett said security cameras indicated the pipes burst at about 6:30 a.m., Sunday night
She contacted Camp Kiwanee Commission Chair Frank Milisi to obtain permission to offer use of Needles Lodge for the Senior Center. Melisi agreed, she said, noting the Kiwanee staff is there from 8 a.m. To 2 p.m., anyway, and the building is handicapped-accessible. Hanson Middle School also sustained some flooding from burst pipes, she said. There has been no damage to the Hanson Library.
Health Agent Gil Amado and Local Inspector Kerry Glass inspected the damage Monday and determined, since there are still bathrooms available in the connected library building, some programming can still be offered.
“Frank’s telling me don’t worry, he’d love them to use the [Camp Kiwanee] building,” she said she told Collins. “I left it with Mary and Frank are going to connect and talk about whether she’d be better off there, or whether she could hold some programs there and have some at the senior center.”
South Shore Tech Superintendent Dr. Thomas J. Hickey, whose carpentry and electrical shop students had just recently completed a project creating an office space where Senior Center staff can offer confidential health insurance consultations, said the school would be willing to help with repairs if they can.
“I’ll ask my off-campus projects [director] to look into it,” Hickey said. “The only thing that could possibly get in the way would be if the town has an issue with insurance, but it’s worth an ask. If we can help them out, we certainly will.”
Hickey explained an insurance company might require other measures under their coverage, that would take precedence. He confirmed on Tuesday afternoon, that insurance requirements would, indeed, prohibit his students from offering assistance.

HANSON – Jet will have to come in for a landing.
The Select Board on Tuesday, Jan. 24 conducted a nuisance or dangerous dog hearing on a following complaint by Charles Williams of 115 Leon Court against a dog named Jet owned by David Leighton of 73 Leon Court. Jet has allegedly been out of its yard on two occasions – Jan. 9 and 11.
Town Administrator Lisa Green said she had received two videos purporting to be of the same dog being out of its yard.
Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald Kemmett said Leighton’s other dog Scout, had been the subject of a previous dog hearing, stressing this complaint was on a different animal named Jet.
“We have not had a discussion or met about this particular dog,” she said. Leighton was asked to work with the animal control officer on ways to control Jet, including walking the animal on a leash while the other dog is on a tether, and he will shore up his fence.
“I mean this in the nicest way possible,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “We don’t want to see you again. We want harmony to reign on Leon Court and you can do your part.”
Leighton said he has been having a problem getting his mail, or he would have acknowledged receiving a first notice about the situation.
Green emphasized that the town has received no information about the dog in this case being threatening or dangerous.
One video shows Williams following the dog to record the situation when it barked at him, but Green said that, under state law, a dog cannot be considered a nuisance just because it is barking or growling, reacting to another animal or a person in a manner “grossly out of proportion” to the circumstances. A dog’s breed cannot be used as a reason to declare it a danger or nuisance.
The board is empowered to determine whether the dog is a danger or a nuisance. There has been no evidence or complaint that the dog is dangerous.
Watching the videos, Select Board members said they did not perceive the dog behaving in an aggressive manner.
Animal Control Officer Joseph Kenney said the dog has not been aggressive or threatening to him, nor has he received reports of it behaving in such a manner to anyone else.
“I get both sides,” he said, noting how he could see someone nervous around dogs being fearful.
Kenney said there had been construction going on at the Leighton property on Jan. 9, which could explain the dog getting out.
“I’m going to blame my kids on this one,” Leighton said adding that when he puts Scout outside on a tether, as he had been directed to do at a previous hearing, bringing Jet with him and taking them both in the house at once. He said he will discuss the seriousness of the situation with his kids, who are in their 20s.
“The kids don’t do that,” he said, so the dog wanders around to the front door, and that may be why Jet ended up in the William’s yard.
FitzGerald-Kemmett said William may be concerned about the safety and fears of his children.
“I’m going to bring him out,” Leighton said about controlling his dog. “I told the kids, ‘Don’t even bother bringing the dogs out, I’ll take care of it.’ This is the last thing in the world I need or want.”
He suggested the complaint was personal.
“I think it’s vindictive and it’s petty,” he said.
“To me, it seems like a powder keg ready to go off,” FitzGerald said, asking Kenney for his recommendation.
He recommended requiring Leighton use a lead to walk the dogs and a six-foot tall fence to keep the dogs in the yard as well as tethering.
Leighton said he doesn’t have the room to put both dogs on a tether, but will continue walking Jet on a lead while Scout is tethered.
“It’ll never happen,” Leighton said, noting he only has one tree. He later apologized for stating it that way when some Select Board members said the phrase could be taken as dismissive.
Select Board Vice Chair Joe Weeks asked how the board could ensure that the dogs are not the subject of complaints, requiring them to call Leighton or his adult children before the board again.
Kenney said the only way anything could come of the case outside regular leash laws would be to deem the animal dangerous or a nuicance, at which time different standards kick in.
“We could be gerbils on this wheel forever,” FitzGerald Kemmett. Member Ann Rein said she didn’t mind holding more hearing if they became necessary so long as the dogs and people involved are safe.
“But, us as gerbils, each time it happens, we’re not spending so much time on it, because we know,” Select Board member Jim Hickey said. “It’s your dog, you’re responsible for it. …Don’t blame your kids.”
Weeks said he was concerned with containing the issue before the board, recognizing the stress on both sides of the situation.

HANOVER – The South Shore Tech School Committee held its public hearing on the fiscal 2024 budget, Wednesday, Jab. 18. No members of the public attended to speak at the hearing.“This is a proposed budget, with a 2.25-percent increase,” said Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey. “As you know, with a new governor coming in, we don’t have the ability to project with greater accuracy, town assessment numbers at this time.” Hickey said he would encourage the member towns to consider enrollment trends at the school, but the district truly does not know, based on inflation factor, whether the state will honor the 9.1-percent inflation factor from the third quarter of 2022, or whether they will cap it at 4.5 percent as state law permits. “If you cap funding based on a lower inflation number, there are more costs that are to the local level,” he said. “For now, this is the next step in our process and an opportunity for the public to talk about the budget.” Hickey said the conversation will continue until Feb. 15 when he will ask the committee to certify the budget, which again may have no firm numbers from the state. “It’s very likely that we will have a certified budget, [but] we will get Chapter 70 numbers by March 3, then we will re-evaluate, we will take stock of what numbers we have,” he said. After which the committee members from each town will receive that information. District Treasurer James Coughlin will run the numbers within a day of receiving them on March 1, Hickey said. The School Committee has the right to readdress a certified budget, especially if the numbers are lower that where they are now. “We’re going to be able to project revenues,” he said. Whitman Committee member Dan Salvucci asked what the latest date would be to certify the budget. Hickey said the spending plan must be certified 45 days before the earlies town meeting among member communities – which would be Scituate on April 3. That is why Feb. 15 was chosen as a convenience would be ideal because it is the date of the next scheduled meeting and would meet the district’s budgeting obligation. But March 3 would be too late. “If numbers from the state come in lower than what we are looking at, how will we meet the budget, take it out of the [excess and deficiency] account?” Salvucci asked. Hickey said his recommendation would be to take it out of the capital line included for the bus fleet. “That’s where we would start,” he said. “We would look at where the revenue gap is, and we’ll look at our ESSER 3 funds to help close that gap. But if the assessments to the towns was still significant, then that’s [the bus funds] the first place I would go.” It would likely only force the school district to wait a year to replace its bus fleet, Hickey estimated, and there is some additional transportation funding to use as backfill. “I know the process,” Salvucci said. “I want that understood, that we, as a school board, do not take one-time money to offset the budget.” “One-time money to fund operating expenses is generally not a good practice,” Hickey agreed. Hickey also reported to the committee that the district has forwarded the selection of the firm Left Field to the Massachusetts School Building Authority as owner’s project manager for the expansion/renovation project. The paperwork was being completed to the MSBA review panel can address it at its Feb. 6 meeting. Once MSBA approves a selection, the district could start working with it the next day so the OPM and building committee can begin the process of selecting a design team. The regional agreement review has been approved by the Department of Education’s legal department, said Hickey who said the legal team had no additional concerns. He will soon be seeking a vote from the Committee on proposed changes to the regional agreement. “Although there are several changes – some of which are nice, but not necessary – and we definitely deployed grammar police throughout the whole document, there isn’t a bad comma anywhere to be found,” Hickey said. “The reason we’re doing this is the potential addition of Marshfield.” In other business, Vocational director Keith Boyle was saluted as the school’s staff member of the month. Assistant Principal Sandra Baldner for his skill set, his relationship with students in the program and his deep relationship with the teachers across the building. Boyle began his career in the horticulture program at Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical High School and joined SST as vocational coordinator in 2018. “He’s credited with managing South Shore Tech with the best cooperative education program we’ve ever seen,” Baldner said. “He’s changed that culture and students are now expected to go out on coop, they don’t just choose to do it – it’s part of the culture of our school.” Boyle is also a successful grant writer. According to Boyle, 96 seniors are participating in the coop program this year – or about 60 percent of the senior class, who have collectively earned more than $374,000 so far on more than 22,000 hours of job training. Juniors become eligible to start coop assignments as of Feb. 6. He also provided the committee with a breakdown of the more than $4 million in grants which he obtained for the school. The most substantial of those was a $2.5 million Skills Capital Lab Modernization Grant. “That grant is specifically earmarked to expand and update equipment in our Culinary Arts department and our carpentry program,” Boyle said. He met with both departments over the summer to create an extensive list of potential equipment and lab renovation ideas. “Once we were awarded the grant, we hit the ground running,” he said. He said meetings have already been held with an architect to plan a new modernized kitchen with a “strong footprint.” The grant’s requirements call for improvements that increase enrollment. Architectural plans for culinary allow for assets like the walk-in freezer to be moved, providing more room in food preparation areas, and allowing more students to participate in the program. [ The percentage of the budget increase was misreported in the Jan. 5 Whitman-Hanson Express. The Express apologizes for the error.]

HANSON — A 139-year-old water main running through Hanson may end up causing the town a headache of potentially more than $100,000 the Select Board learned at its Tuesday, Jan. 10 meeting.
The main, which travels through Hanson, supplies water to Rockland and Abington, may need to be moved during a long-planned road improvement project, which could damage the pipe.
The Board voted to seek assistance in setting up a meeting between the stakeholders and/or filing legislation to address the legal questions involved.
“You’re looking at an additional cost well over $100,000 for this project that the town of Hanson would have to take on,” Town Planner Antonio DeFrias said. He asked if grants could be used to defray that impact.
“I’m getting ‘no,’ this was part of the deal,” he said.
Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett asked if Environmental Partners should have been expected to identify that it was a potential issue.
“They’re the ones that did this design,” she said. “Those pipes didn’t just suddenly pop up in that road.”
While she said she thinks highly of Environmental Partners, the water main issue was a known entity and she was disappointed it wasn’t found to be a potential limitation on the project. The project is currently at a standstill.
“This issue puts a $13 million project into jeopardy, that goes on the shelf,” DeFrias said. “And the money you’ve spent are [he threw his hands in the air in a gesture of hopelessness].”
Any funds spent so far has been for engineering.
The deadline for project completion is 2026.
Negotiations between Hanson and Abington, centering on Abington’s ownership of a water main, created through special legislation in 1885, that is the center of concern during work on a state DOT project to lower the road and change an intersection on Route 14/Maquan Street.
The state was concerned that roadwork could undermine the water main.
“The question for me was not the engineering piece, but what was the liability?” said Town Counsel Kate Feodoroff. “How do we handle that if we have to relocate the main. Who pays for it?”
The main serves the Rockland/Abington area, not Hanson.
According to Feodoroff, default easement rules state that whoever disturbs is the one who pays. Hanson, as the town disturbed by the easement, is the town seeking to make the change that could impact Abington’s delicate old water main, according to Feodoroff.
“That becomes a question for experts to answer,” she said. “The reality is there is no real clean way of doing this.”
Abington has reported that they do not have the funds to do such a large project right now. Feodoroff said., noting they were unwilling to come to the table to volunteer to replace the pipe while the roadway was dug. DOT offered to again redesign the intersection, by some modification but was rejected and they are requiring a Level 2 survey – a subsurface utility engineering – of the project to determine the impact on the main, which could bring the town up to Teir 1.
“They’re doing this with all their projects,” DeFrias said. “There have been some utilities in the ground where utility companies haven’t maintained them and had accidents.”
For that reason, the SUE survey is being done on all projects MassDOT is involved in, he said.
DeFrias noted there are three possible tiers for addressing the problem:
• Teir 3 uses existing plans to determine a utility’s exact location;
• Teir 2 uses lidar to locate vertically and horizontally where the water line is; and
• Teir 1 uses tests borings at intervals – done by a state-certified company — to find where a pipe is and may be able to determine its condition.
A Teir 2 survey costs $80,000 to $90,000, DeFrias estimated. Teir 1 ususally costs about $1,000 per boring.
Environmental Partners has to keep filing reports to the state.
“It’s a killer,” DeFrias said. “There’s no compromise.” To the other towns, replacement of the line is not a need.
FitzGerald-Kemmett said her concern was the surveys could bring advice that the town doesn’t want to touch the problem, but DeFrias said a 200-foot change on a curve along the crest of a dirt road and Cresent Street for safety has already been in the works, which effects that length along the water line.
He’s spoken to Environmental Partners about foregoing the lowering of the road at that place.
“They’re not keen on it, but it’s one of those things that, if this becomes such a hindrance, we may have to ask MassDOT to either put someone else’s feet to the fire or turn the burners down on us because this isn’t going to work,” DeFrias said.
Select Board member Jim Hickey said the commonwealth has to have encountered the pipe responsibility before since 1889.
“It can’t just be us,” he said.
He and member Ed Heal asked if any other solutions were considered beyond lowering the road.
“Is anybody getting together?” FitzGerald-Kemmett asked. “Is there any ability to have a conversation with all of the concerned parties and say, ‘We’re just trying to improve this road?’”
“That’s why we’re here tonight,” DeFrias said. “What we’re trying to do, here at Town Hall and Environmental Partners, is get all the parties together in one room and try to hash something out or figure out that it’s not going to happen.”
If it’s not going to happen, some hard decisions may have to be made, he said.
Weeks suggested asking the town’s legislators work on a bill before the Jan. 20 filing deadline to help resolve the situation, make phone calls and/or find funding sources to help resolve the deadlock.
Feodoroff said Rockland/Abington Water is not being adversarial, the main as a stumbling block to roadwork, is simply not their priority.
In other business, CPA Erick Kinscherf met with the board to discuss questions members have raised about his application for appointment as interim town accountant. After the discussion, the board voted to appoint Kinscherf as the interim accountant until a new permanent accountant is identified and hired.
A graduate of W-H regional schools, Kinscherf said he has more than 25 years’ experience in municipal accounting, having served- as assistant treasurer of Brockton, treasurer/collector of Dennis, finance director in another community for four years and has audited municipalities for three years. He opened his own municipal finance and consulting firm in 2008.
“I started out with just me, but we’ve probably dealt with a little over 100 municipalities with engagements over the years doing interim town accountant, interim treasurer [work],” he said. “As an interim town accountant, basically, you provide a town with a bridge between their old town accountant who left … and a permanent town accountant and some guidance to keep it going.”
His most recent interim accountant work has been with Middleboro.
For Hanson, Kinscherf said he would be the main person doing the interim accountant work because he finds it fun.
Hanson’s books are in “excellent shape” and he has met Hanson’s former part-time accountant on several occasions, and had already spent a couple of hours getting to know the people and procedures of Hanson Town Hall.
Select Board member Ed Heal asked how many days per week Kinscherf planned to devote to Hanson’s accounting needs. Kinscherf said he planned to be on-site between four and eight hours one day each week as well as working remotely.
As a long-term solution, Green said a salary of about $95,000 for a full-time accountant has been worked into the budget and former accountant Todd Hassett recommended the town hire its own accountant and that is the direction in which the town will proceed.
“I really appreciate that you’ve hit the ground running, espcially since you don’t know of we’re going to vote for you or not,” FitzGerald-Kemmett told Kinscherf. She also asked that he be open to letting Green know anything the town should look for in a new accountant, as well as providing he feedback, which he readily agreed to do.
“It’s a good experience anyway,” he said. “It wouldn’t be for naught.”
Weeks noted that the town is fast approaching Town Meeting and asked what Kinscherf’s experience has been in “hitting the ground running” in that circumstance as the town tries to avoid a tax increase.
“I absolutely do not see you not using that 2 ½ percent increase, realistically,” Kinscherf said. “As far as keeping taxes the same or lower, I don’t think that’s realistic in the district, because the schools will eat that right up.”
Weeks said he is interested in working with people who are willing to say the opposite of what the board wants to hear, and asked how willing Kinscherf was in doing that.
Kinscherf said he likes to outline the effect on a budget of any given course of action.
“I don’t say whether I would do it or wouldn’t do it, but would say if you this, be prepared next year that you’re going to have to find the funding to do X,” he said. “If I see you going off a cliff, I’ll let you know.”
Weeks said that is exactly the approach he is looking for.

MARLBOROUGH — The 2023 edition of The Fly Fishing Show will begin its nationwide winter run Jan. 20-23 at the Royal Plaza Trade Center with everything for the fly-fishing angler from new products, seminars, classes, fly tying and fly casting demonstrations, and theater presentations to lodges and vacation destinations.
Royal Plaza Trade Center is at 181 Boston Post Rd. West, Marlborough; the nearby Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel is the show hotel with discounted accommodations. The show hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Fri.; 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Sat; and 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Sun. Parking is free. Fly Fishing Show® admission is $15 for one day, $25 for two days and $35 for three days. Children under age 5 are free as are Boy and Girl Scouts under age 16 in uniform. Children 6-12 are $5. Active military with an ID are $10.
There will be 22 Classes with the Experts including those with Gary Borger, Jason Randall, Joe Cordiero, Alan Caolo, Phil Rowley, Ed Engle, Landon Mayer, Steve Culton, and Women Only sessions with Sheila Hassan. Classes with Experts registration is $90 and includes admission to the show for that day. There are nine free daily seminars, continuous Destination Theater presentations and fly-casting demonstrations. More than $30,000 worth of national door prizes are up for grabs including a week’s guided fishing for two anglers at Tarpon Caye Lodge, Belize valued at $8,400; SET’s Spring Creek Lodge in Northern Patagonia for one, $5,450; a $5,000 credit on any Fish Partner Iceland trip listed on their website; five night, four days fishing package at Swains Cay Lodge, Bahamas Out Islands valued at $4,685; and two night, two days of fishing at the Big Land Lodge, Labrador, Canada, valued at approximately $4,000.
A complete list of door prizes is on The Fly Fishing Show website. flyfishingshow.com/marlborough-ma.

BOSTON – The Baker-Polito Administration today announced that $80,000 in grants have been awarded to three municipalities and one community group as part of the Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) Program, administered by Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP). 

TAG provides funding to enhance citizen participation in assessment and cleanup activities at waste disposal sites in their communities. 

 The town of Hanson will receive up to $20,000 and will use its award to obtain technical expertise to review and summarize recent reports for the local community. The National Fireworks disposal site in Hanover and Hanson where fireworks and pyrotechnics were once made. Contaminants of concern include metals, volatile organic compounds, and semi-volatile organic compounds in in surface water, soil, and sediment. In addition, Munitions and Explosives of Concern and Material Potentially Presenting an Explosive Hazard were identified in two areas in the southern portion of the disposal site.

HANSON — With the resignation of Town Accountant Todd Hassett, the Select Board on Tuesday, Dec. 13 voted to contract with an interim town accountant and meet after the New Year to develop a long-term strategy for hiring a new town accountant.

“[Hassett] has been with us for 10 years,” Town Administrator Lisa Green said. “He’s dedicated a lot of his time and expertise to doing well by the town. He is very well respected by all the department heads and all the employees and he really does a fantasic job and I want to reiterate that his service will be greatly missed.”

In the interim, however, Green said the town needs to have coverage and has received a proposal for interim accountant services from CPA Eric Kinscherf. But, based on Select Board concerns over cost and hours, Green prepared a request for proposals that went out this week.

Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said one of the concerns Hassett has spoken of was that while any person seeking the interim post may be competent and well-versed, the town should make sure that the town does not want junior members of an accounting firm working on Hanson’s accounts.

“Our point person who’s going to be the one meeting with our department heads, our person who’s going to be your point of contact and working with our auditors and working with the town treasurer and the assessor and all that stuff, should be him or another senior member who we should have an opportunity to meet,” she said.

The interim accountant would be on-site four hours a week, and would be available by phone or email for any questions that arise.

Select Board member Joe Weeks noted the town would be paying the interim accountant $1,500 per week, the equivalent of $72,000 per year. Plympton pays $64,000 for 25 hours a week, so he asked how many hours a week would Hanson’s interim be working.

“They will work as many hours as they need to make sure the town is being represented and serviced,” Green said.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said it is a similar arrangement to the one the town had with Hassett and the dollar amount is also very similar to Hassett’s.

“We’re losing Todd at the end of the month” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “We have to have an accountant to be working with people. I don’t think anyone’s suggesting this would turn into long-term, and if it were to turn into long term, we would have a more comprehensive conversation.”

Hassett has said the town needs a town employee in the accountant position.

In other business, the Select Board approved a request from Stalwart Productions to film portions of a film, “Invitation to Bonfire,” at Camp Kiwanee and to use the former Maquan School parking lot for production parking. The tentative date for that filim is currently in mid-January.

The board’s votes were more of a formality, since a contract has been negotiated, but they gave it unanimous support.

 Green said the film company had approached the town for permission to film and introduced assistant location manager Jamie Merz to speak about the request. Camp Kiwanee Facility Manager Roger Means and Deputy Fire Chief Robert O’Brien also attended the Tuesday, Dec. 13 Select Board meeting, as they have attended meetings with the film’s director and production crew to review how the facility will be used and safety requirements.

Green also asked the health agent and Conservation Commission to attend, as fake snow is planned for use during scenes being filmed at the camp.

“I think we want to definitely – and I’m sure guys would  do this – is follow the Boy Scouts’ ‘leave no trace’ motto,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

“I, myself, am an Eagle Scout, so I think I could do that,” Merz said, noting the producers have not yet determined if fake snow would be used.

“You should have led with that,” FitzGerald-Kemmett joked.

“Invitation to a Bonfire,” is part of an AMC show based off a book by the same title.

“We’re looking to film over at Camp Kiwannee for two days,” Merz said. “We’re in our last couple episodes of our series and a majority of our action takes place inside and outside of Frontier Cabin.”

The scene involves two actresses walking toward the cabin, a few conversations inside where one is poisoned.

“And then we are going to simulate burning down the cabin, Merz said. “I assure you, we will not actually be burning down the cabin.”

The majority of the fire work involved in that scene will be done in Brockton, where the production company will construct a replica cabin and burn that down, according to Merz.

There are some “practical effects” that Stalwart Productions wants to do on-site, and they are talking to the Hanson Fire Department about how to do that safely.

There are four key elements to that: installation of fake fireplace in the cabin constructed of a steel box fueled by propane tubes; a curtain from that fireplace going onto a dummy for the fire to trail along; Steel plating on the cabin floor would be used to protect the building from the blazing curtain.

“I’m having a little mini-stroke, but I’m sure you guys are on it,” said FitzGerald-Kemmett as he described the effect process.

Merz assured the board at least three firefighters, a pumper truck and a number of the production company’s special effects personnel would be on hand.

“Pretty much 90 percent of the fire we’re using is propane-based,” with a crew member staffing it, he said. “If anything were to go wrong, they’d just shut it off.”

FitzGerald-Kemmett said to Green that she hoped the town has looked into liability insurance and that the town is named in the policy.

Merz said the town is fully covered by a $1 million policy.

Whether or not the film crew needs to use fake snow, he said a white tarp under a snow “snow blanket,” and a cellulose product, such as paper is placed over those. They may also use a spray starch onto the top of those layers to resemble a frosty landscape of snow.

“That just gets rolled up and taken away,” he said. The cellulose is hosed down, noting that the material safety data sheets have been provided to the town.

Conservation Commission Chair Phil Clemons only concern was the particulate size of the cellulose, particularly if it is small enough to become airborne and, thereby dangerous around open flame.

Merz said he would look into it, but said it was more as a background effect.

“Back in the ‘wild West’ days, yeah, people would leave a mess,” Merz said. 

Recreation Chair Frank Milisi said the production company has been very responsive to the town’s concerns and have put down a $5,000 deposit to ensure the site is cleaned up before they leave.

Green said she received an email from Police Chief Mike Miksh about the filming at Kiwanee in which he said he has no issues with the project and looks forward to working with the crew.

The School Committee was updated, on Wednesday, Dec. 7 about discussions within the Whitman Middle School Building Committee to reconfigure the school from a grade six to eight to a grade five through eight school.
“We’re in the meat of those discussions right now,” Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak said about talks concerning whose decision that will be, how a decision would be made and other details. “However, I think it’s imperative that the school committee has an idea of why the leadership team wants to move to a five through eight [school].”
Parents have already been communicated with on the issue, but it seems apparent that the School Committee chair will have to sign off on any change in grade configuration. While it is not yet known whether the School Committee would also have to approve it, Szymaniak said a joint meeting between the School Committee and Building Committee is being planned.
“For this project to be successful in our community, the School Building Committee and the School Committee should be parallel,” he said. “We should have the same thoughts and understand the same limitations per se that might be impeding that process.”
Not only would a grade configuration adjustment mean a school culture and education change, but there would be a cost-factor involved increasing the price tag of the project, Szymaniak said.
Another potential cost-factor is the discussion surrounding whether to include an auditorium in the building. The district supports it because it gives students the same experience as students at Hanson Middle School, which has an auditorium. On the other hand, the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) does not reimburse for an auditorium.
“That’s strict cost to the town,” he said. “We will present information about why we think it’s important for our students to have that opportunity and our architects and OPM, through discussion with the building committee are also discussing why an auditorium might benefit the community as a whole.”
Szymaniak said that what is known is that the renovation/expansion plan is “very expensive” and would take longer than a new building.
The new school is also being planned as a three-story building, which permits different grade configurations.
Szymaniak is surveying parents of the preschool, Conley, Duval and the middle school to solicit their comments about the new school and a potential grade reconfiguration and auditorium.
Assistant Superintendent George Ferro, who has worked in middle schools for his entire career, before he became assistant superintendent, briefed the committee on the effects of various grade configurations.
“[Grades] five to eight is the spot where you can capture and do the most good for an adolescent,” Ferro said of the students who are ages 10 to 14 in those grades. “With the rise of social media and things of that nature, it’s really grade five [that’s] more aligned with a middle school setting.”
Ages 10 to 14 in the same building give students the chance to come to grips with themselves and social interactions so they can advance to high school with not only increased academic knowledge, but also in what it is likely to be a knowledgeable respectful young adult able to work together, think critically and take on new experiences that high school brings.
“We’re cautious,” Szymaniak said about a building with fifth to eighth-graders in it. “But we can design a program, like we’ve designed in Hanson, to keep them pretty separate, except for common areas or in passing times.”
As costs for a new school are calculated, Szymaniak said it is important to determine what is best for educating students.
“We have to give the building committee a lot of credit,” Committee member Fred Small said, noting that panel has spent a lot of time looking at the pros and cons of the issue. “Initially, I was a complete ‘Nah, we can’t afford it.’ As I spoke to more and more people, forgetting about the cost factor and just [looking at] what the benefits are, and determining, ‘Well, yeah.’”
While he is beginning to see the need, Small expressed concern that the school building will become so large, it fails.
Vice Chair Christopher Scriven asked what had initially led Small to feel a new school was something the district couldn’t afford.
“I think we owe it to other members of the committee, we owe it to constituents, to have an open mind and to approach this from a learning perspective,’ he said.
Dawn Byers asked what would happen if the building committee voted against bringing forth a project to the full committee. The fact that Hanson Middle School is already a grade five to eight school means there are already middle school students with different experiences in the district.
“It would be my hope we are listening to parents in the community,” she said.
Chair Christopher Howard said the full committee should request direction from the MSBA on how a plan is endorsed, adding he would not sign off on it unless there is a vote by the full School Committee.
He said the School Committee should attend any meeting in which the building committee votes, so the full committee would have information on how that vote is arrived at.
“I don’t see how someone like myself who hasn’t been involved in the process would just go into that and vote,” he said.
Member Beth Stafford said the building committee can take a vote and then the full committee signs off based on what the building committee has said.
“You haven’t been involved in all the work of the building committee and the sticking point is that most members of the building committee do not want Hanson members voting on it, because … it’s not Hanson’s pockets,” she said. “It’s Whitman.”
Where it goes from there is what Szymaniak is trying to find out, Stafford said.
Hanson member Hillary Kniffen expressed concern over the possibility that programs could be taken away from Hanson students, especially if the Whitman school project fails as ripple effects that would be felt.
“When we get into that, it becomes us vs them, and it becomes very problematic,” she said.

HANOVER — Now they wait.

SST has sent along all necessary paperwork from its feasibility study to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), according to Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey at the committee’s Wednesday, Nov. 16 meeting.

The information packet included the motions and vote taken to voted to move forward with the feasibility study process for planned renovation project at the school last month, and that meeting’s minutes.

“The next step is waiting for MSBA to give feedback on the procurement documents when we go out looking for an OPM (owner’s project manager),” Hickey said. He indicated he would like to stay on as aggressive a timeline as possible.

“It won’t be the end of the world if we don’t, but I submitted documents early enough in the hopes that they could give us feedback this month and we could go out on the street, put it out to bid, if you will, in December.”

That bid process indeed, began this month, as he met remotely with the committee Tuesday afternoon, Dec. 6 for procedural votes on advertising a request for services and adoption of the documents issued and to designate an OPM selection committee, to me populated with what is currently the four members of Capital Projects Subcommittee and Hickey as a non-voting member.

“Then we could move it forward,” Hickey said. “It buys us a month and that can add up over time.”

He foresees a “paper screening” right after Christmas and interviews right after New Year’s.

“We’re going to turn this around rather quickly, and hopefully, have a project manager recommended to MSBA so they can give their approval at their February OPM Panel Review Committee,” Hickey said.

Meanwhile, Marshfield officials has indicated the town is “supportive of a framework” that would allow them to join the SST regional district.

“It is something I think we can move along at a reasonable pace, but there are several things we have to do,” Hickey said.

The Department of Education has to provide feedback on the district’s regional agreement, which Hickey estimated is “90-percent done.” If the Education Department approves it, the district can bring it back to the regional agreement subcommittee to look at, while having the district’s counsel KP Law review it.

The subcommittee would then vote on recommending an amended regional agreement for the full committee to take action on it, putting forth an amendment to the agreement, possibly at the Wednesday, Dec. 21 meeting.

“My agenda has been, if it has to be changed, of course we’re going to change it, but I’m not interested in adding a lot of housekeeping changes,” he said. The key question is how Marshfield would share in the district’s debt burden.

The aim is for the issue to become a spring Town Meeting warrant article, with two communities — Abington and Scituate — holding those sessions in early April, the revisions need to be in place by late January, Hickey said.