HANSON — A discussion on transfer station expenses, its deficit, and how the Board of Health plans to close that gap has been postponed to Tuesday, April 26 as detailed information on the revenues coming into the facility that Selectmen want to see are compiled by health officials.

The Board of Health and Health Agent Gilbert Amado met with the Board of Selectmen, Tuesday, April 12 to discuss the ongoing issue.

Amado said the Health Board did vote on a $100 sticker fee at the Transfer Station for a two-year period, and $50 for an extra sticker at the same address.

“That’s going to make things look a lot better,” he said about operations at the Transfer Station, noting there are $37,000 in retained earnings in the account.

The free cash subsidy sought to balance the Transfer Station line item at Town Meeting is $165,000, including $37,200 in retained earnings, according to Town Administrator Lisa Green.

There are plans for the Health Board and the Finance Committee to met in July or thereabouts to review retained earnings and exactly how much money the sticker fees are actually generating.

Selectman Chairman Matt Dyer asked if the increased sticker fee would close the deficit at the dump, noting that July is in the new fiscal year.

 “That’s what it appears — that’s why we are going to do it,” Amado said. “We know that the existing sticker expires in July, so we have to re-sticker the town by July 1.”

There are about 2,800 previously allotted stickers in circulation. Allowing for about 400 lost stickers, Amado said the new fees should still “fix the deficit” of anticipated revenue.

However, he did not have a total number for income generated by the Transfer Station.

Selectman Kenny Mitchell said that was a vital number to have.

“How much total are we bringing in — including mattresses, including bags, including everything that’s any dollar that’s generated to the Board of Health,” Mitchell asked. “What is that? … I want to get back to your original statement that this is going to cover the deficit.”

Looking at the numbers so far, he said he disagreed.

“I want to be wrong on this,” Mitchell said.

Dyer asked if it would be helpful to postpone the discussion. Amado said it would and asked for about a week and a half to compile the figures.

Dyer said he would be looking for operating costs, revenues coming in and “how we are getting to zero” [for the level of subsidy required] as well as plans to mitigate inflation.

“I would love to see a business plan where the Transfer Station is net zero,” Dyer said.

“I don’t completely understand how this is going to completely solve the deficit,” Selectman Laura Fitzgerald-Kemmett said of the sticker increase and free cash transfer.

The total operating expense of the Transfer Station is $392,027, Amado said in response to Dyer’s question — $127,000 for attendants’ salaries and wages; $9,200 goes to utilities, uniforms, water and other expenses.

Fees to help defray those costs come from cardboard, stickers [from which about $120,000 after production costs], leaving an operating deficit of $272,000.

Amado said the cost of trip tickets and every disposal item for which a fee is charged also increased by $5 per item, according to Health Board Chair Arlene Dias.

Fitzgerald-Kemmett asked if any consideration has been given to reducing hours at the facility.

“We haven’t really discussed that — reducing hours — the main thing has been trying to reduce the cost of things,” Amado said. “You’ve got to get the mainstream waste reduced.”

Fitzgerald-Kemmett agreed the staff has a tough assignment in that.

Selectman Jim Hickey said closing the facility for one extra day per week would only save about $20,000, arguing that Hanson should consider curbside pickup with a single carrier.

Amado said the Health Board is also seeking recycling grants, and have signed a contract with Big Brothers and Big Sisters to remove almost 962 pounds of textile waste.

“Textiles are now banned from mainstream waste,” he said.

Residents are pitching in to help, as well.

“Residents of Hanson do a pretty good job of recycling and they do clean trash,” Amado said. “They don’t do nasty trash.”

A resident suggested it should also be factored in how many sticker holders would be lost to private haulers with the price increase.

Slower increases might make better sense, he argued.

“The whole trash industry is changing now,” Amado said noting that the 95-gallon bins private haulers once provided are now 65-gallons as haulers were losing profits.

Hauler are merging and state regulations are also changing. Finance Committee Chairman Kevin Sullivan said pay-as-you-throw would have required 100-percent participation to work.

“We didn’t want to jump to a town contract, because once they get here, it’s going impossible to get out and, if they keep increasing the price, we’re sort of right back where we started,” Sullivan said.

There are also a lot of questions on how the landfill would be capped and the environmental regulations involved.

WHITMAN – The Capital Committee views roof repairs at Whitman Middle School as a maintenance, rather than a capital project, issue, but there is some difference of opinion among it’s members on whether the town or the school  district should foot the bill.

No votes have been taken as yet, but are expected by Thursday, April 14. 

Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak said he has discussed a $54,000 mold reimbursement request with Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman after the school had a major mold outbreak in the gymnasium over Thanksgiving. The article seeks reimbursement of emergency remediation funds, including cleanup costs so students could occupy the building after the holiday break.

“It’s been reimbursable in the past,” Szymaniak said.

“Most of us have kind of seen this before,” Chairman Don Essen said following a lengthy discussion last month of School District capital articles on the Town Meeting warrant. “We’re aware of this issue.”

“The town’s position, through me and the Board of Selectmen, is that this is not a capital item,” Heineman said. “Obviously, the schools disagree and I respect that – we understand their position on it – but we just don’t see it as a capital expense.”

He explained that the regional agreement does not specify length of service as a qualifier for capital project status.

Committee member Fred Small, who is also a member of the School Committee, expressed a different opinion, arguing the regional agreement does include language pertaining to an “extraordinary repair.”

“If this went unresolved, I believe we would have had to close the school,” Small said during the March 17 discussion. “I don’t think you could have students in there with mold and that type of environment.”

He said children should be confident in going to school and playing in a gymnasium that does not harbor mold – caused, he said, by a leak in a roof after a decision was made many years ago that the district would try to get by without repairing or replacing the roof because of clawbacks in the cost and the fact that a new roof project was being sought before the useful life of the rood had been reached.

“I wish this hadn’t happened,” Small said. “I wish that the money didn’t have to be spent, but I don’t know that it’s a district expense. The district is a lessee. Granted, the town doesn’t charge us for the building, but we are the lessee.”

Esson asked is a bleach agent or other chemical was used to clean the mold, how long it could take and how long the remediation could take.

“I do know there is infiltration in that gym,” Building Inspector Robert Curran said, noting water has been getting in through the roof and down through the exterior. “I remember walking through inspections every year and you could smell it.”

Facilities Director Ernest Sandland has been good at getting air quality tests done, but the only way to reopen a school after a positive mold test it is to put negative pressure in the gym and seal it all off, using a safe chemical agent to clean it Curran said.

“I don’t agree that this should even be in front of this committee,” he said. “I think this is a maintenance issue. It’s not a capital expense and we don’t really have a choice because the money’s already been spent – it’s a reimbursement issue, and I think the town should reimburse the schools.”

Esson said that, while he also views it as a maintenance issue, the funding source is important.

Curran asked if Heineman thought the money should come out of the district’s operating budget.

Heineman referred back to the regional agreement.

“There’s not debate whatsoever that this needed to happen in order to have a safe environment for the kids there,” he said. “It’s just a question, for me, of  the regional agreement. The regional agreement specified that capital expenses are split out in these ways.”

He agreed “100 percent” that it was a maintenance expense – which the regional agreement puts at the responsibility of the school district “full stop.”

Selectman Justin Evans said section E2 of the regional agreement places the burden of cost on the towns for “special operating costs, unique to a town for maintaining programs or services.”

“I think this qualifies,” Evans said. “Though probably not a capital cost which should be paid by Whitman, it’s unexpected, it’s particular to one town, it probably doesn’t come to this committee, but I think a warrant article to the town is appropriate for reimbursement.”

In general – with no specific school in mind – committee member Josh MacNeil asked how such mold problems could be prevented.

Curran said he does annual internal and external inspections of all schools, but said WMS has “been a problem since the day it was built.” Previous sick building problems across the state have changed codes on air exchanges for buildings, as well.

“Whatever they’re doing to keep that gym open has been really good,” Curran said.

HANSON – Town officials took another step on Tuesday, March 15 to control after-hours access to Town Hall. The cards had replaced keys recently after years of a laissez-faire approach to tracking who in town had possession of keys got out of hand.

One badge will now be provided to each board or commission that holds regular meetings in Town Hall, issues to the chairman who will, in turn, be held responsible for making sure the building is locked after meetings.

Hanson IT director Steve Moberg urged Selectmen to revoke the key card fobs for some boards and commissions after an unknown person was recently discovered in the building after hours.

“We’re taking a lot of these things away so we can have accountability for who’s coming in and out of the building,” Moberg told Selectmen.

Visitor badges will be available to them through the Selectmen’s office.

“It’s more for accountability, so we know what’s going on in this building after hours,” he said describing the incident. “I was here late one night, and it was after a meeting that got out, maybe about 9-ish. I heard somebody go up the stairs and was up there for a little while. I thought it was a town employee … so I poked my head out [when he later heard them come down the stairs] and it was somebody I had no idea who they were.”

He said the person had been upstairs for about 45 minutes rummaging around the hallways.

Board and committee members planning a meeting need only call the Selectmen’s office to determine the availability of a meeting room and make arrangements to obtain a visitor’s card, which can be returned by dropbox. 

A button-activated camera, like a Ring doorbell camera system, allows Moberg and custodian Charles Baker to receive the video and communication with a caller on their phones through which they can unlock the door if the caller has a legitimate reason for accessing the building.

“Since I’ve been here, we’ve had instances of meetings [being held] in the building and then the doors being open all night,” Town Administrator Lisa Green said. “This process alleviates all of the doors being open and the possibility of them being left open all night.”

She said they are trying to move away from a situation where so many people are in possession of the little blue keycard fobs, that accountability is lost – the situation that had existed with keys before the access cards were adopted.

“We’re making it as easy as possible to get [visitor cards] and drop them off,” she said. “We currently have one that’s out that hasn’t been returned to us yet.”

She asked Selectmen for their opinion on the matter.

“I do like us reining it in,” Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “That’s clearly overdue.”

But she noted it is already difficult for some boards to attract volunteers to serve, suggesting the doors be pre-programmed for access by current board members. Beyond that, people would have to check in for a visitor’s pass.

Selectman Jim Hickey agreed with FitzGerald-Kemmett, that regular committee meetings could be accommodated that way.

Selectmen Chairman Matt Dyer agreed that one access card should be made available to the four or five standing boards and committees that regularly use the building.

“I will say, there was a committee using [Selectman] Joe Weeks’ card,” Moberg said. “Any time that person came it, it would say Joe Weeks had entered the building.”

“Me?” Weeks replied. “I don’t even have a card. … I’ve been waiting for a [key card] fob since I got here. I’ve never had one … someone took it, evidently.”

Dyer said it sounds like there are still kinks to be worked out.

“That’s why I’ve been trying to pull it in a bit,” Moberg said. “We now have a chain of command. We know exactly what’s going on and who’s going to be in the building and when.”

Noting that Town Hall is a public building to which people have a right to access to a degree, Weeks said he would agree to whatever approach is accepted as long as Moberg or Baker are available and reasonable access is permitted.

“I just say, ‘Keep it simple,’” he said. “‘Whatever you want to do, I’ll back it,’ and then we’ll roll out the wrinkles as we go.”

He also wanted to see better communication about the cards.

“If someone that we’re appointing is abusing … the cards, I’m very interested in how my key fob got into someone else’s hands,” Weeks said. “We need to know who we’re appointing to these committees.”

Moberg said it happened before he started, so he doesn’t know how that happened.

Green said the fobs had been instituted because keys had been passed around without documentation – only to have the same thing happen with the card fobs.

“It creates a security concern,” she said.

FitzGerald-Kemmett cautioned that the Selectmen’s office vigorously communicate that they are moving in that direction.

In other business Fire Chief Jerome Thompson Jr., announced that his administrative assistant Barbara Murphy retires in July, Annemarie Bouzan, currently serving in that capacity at the Building Department will take that job in mid-to-late July.

“I felt it was prudent to work on moving forward and try to get this position filled sooner, rather than later, so we can start the transition process,” he said. “There are a lot of things in our department that an administrative assistant does that, quite honestly, I don’t know.”

The department has just transferred to an ambulance billing company, for example. 

Thompson said he has submitted a letter about who they have recommended after going through a process through which two internal candidates applied.

“We thought it would be best to put them through an interview process,” he said.

Both candidates were brought in for an interview and assessment.

Duxbury’s Fire Department administrative assistant and human resource director as well as Halifax Fire Chief Jason Viveiros came to Hanson to interview both candidates. Test scenarios involving Excel, computer programs and an interview and review of their employment package were also administered. He recommended that the person who scored number one be hired – Bouzan. Selectmen voted to approve the appointment unanimously.

The process of filling Bouzan’s job at Town Hall will, in turn, be posted in house before it is advertised with an eye to having someone ready to step in as soon as Bouzan moves over to the Fire Department immediately after Murphy’s retirement.

“We want to minimize the impact for the department with the transition,” Green said.

The School Committee heard a rundown of 11 alterative plans for potential uses of one-time funds, such as excess and deficiency and ESSER grants, at its Wednesday, March 9 meeting.

Those senarios are:

• Scenario 1 — Half of full-day kindergarten, costs from E&D, with a 3.48 percent increase assessment for Whitman and 4.35 percent for Hanson. Overall budget increase of 2.98 percent;

• Scenario 2 — All costs of full-day kindergarten, costs from E&D, with a 2.09 percent increase assessment for Whitman and 3.19 percent for Hanson. Overall budget increase of 2.98 percent;

• Scenario 3 — No full-day kindergarten costs from E&D, with a 4.87 percent increase assessment for Whitman and 5.50 percent for Hanson. Overall budget increase of 2.98 percent;

• Scenario 4 — Kindergarten, using $200,000 per year over four years from E&D, with a 4.12 percent increase assessment for Whitman and 4.88 percent for Hanson. Overall budget increase of 2.98 percent;

• Scenario 5 — No full-day kindergarten (maintain half-day program with tuition-based, full-day K), a 2.09 percent increase assessment for Whitman and 3.19 percent for Hanson. Overall budget increase of 1.98 percent;

• Scenario 6 — Full-day kindergarten, using no E&D with professional salaries funded from ESSER rolled into budget, a 6.92 percent increase assessment for Whitman and 7.2 percent for Hanson. Overall budget increase of 3.94 percent;

• Scenario 7 — Full-day kindergarten, using $370,000 from E&D with professional salaries funded from ESSER rolled into budget, a 5.5 percent increase assessment for Whitman and 6.04 percent for Hanson. Overall budget increase of 3.9 percent;

• Scenario 8 — Full-day kindergarten, using $370,000 from E&D with professional and paraprofessional salaries funded from ESSER 3 rolled into budget, a 6.19 percent increase assessment for Whitman and 6.59 percent for Hanson. Overall budget increase of 4.25 percent;

• Scenario 9 — Full-day kindergarten, using $370,000 from E&D with BCDA and EL teacher salaries funded from ESSER rolled into budget, a 4.21 percent increase assessment for Whitman and 4.95 percent for Hanson. Overall budget increase of 3.33 percent;

• Scenario 10 — Level service — A .57 percent increase assessment for Whitman and 1.94 percent for Hanson. Overall budget increase of .05 percent;

• Scenario 11 — Full-day kindergarten using no E&D and funding only BCDAs (behavior specialists) and ELs from ESSER, a 5.61 increase assessment for Whitman and 6.11 percent for Hanson. Overall budget increase of 3.33 percent.

Szymaniak recommended the School Committee adopt Scenario 3.

“We’re committed, through ESSER 3, to use some of that money for staffing,” Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak said. “How we use that is up to us, but I can’t buy things [with it].”

The rules of the grant require some of the money be used for professional staff, according to Szymaniak, stressing the coaches working on learning regression, behavior specialists and English Learner staff were needed after the pandemic.

“These two ELs wouldn’t have been needed in October this year,” he said. “Because we had a bubble come up, I need them.”

He doesn’t know if that enrollment bubble will go away and he can’t responsibly say those instructors should be put into the district budget because the need for them could go away in two years.

“We’ve seen an uptick in behaviors in all of our buildings,” he said. “ESSER money is perfect for this because it addresses what we’ve seen post-COVID. … ESSER money is for post-COVID people.”

Whitman Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman said the town could afford the 3.48 percent increase included in Scenario 1, but Hanson Town Administrator Lisa Green said her town could only afford a 3 percent increase.

The assessments, slated to be up for a certification vote at the March 17 meeting can always be reduced right up to Town Meetings, but cannot be increased.

Committee member Fred Small said he has received several calls on busing cost calculations and how much of the ESSER 3 funds would be used in Scenario 3. Szymaniak sat the $2.3 million in ESSER 3 was being looked at to pay for eight positions. 

“It has to be COVID-related,” Szymaniak said. “We have to be ethical in using the funds.”

Chairman Christopher Howard said the new non-mandated busing formula proposed by Whitman residents John Galvin and Shawn Kain is still being looked at and savings projections could not be made at the moment.

“It helps the five-year [plan], it still could have an impact, but we’re not there yet,” Howard said.

Szymaniak also briefed the committee on his progress with his goals for the year, including a continued effort to institute a full-day kindergarten program in the district.

“No matter what happens out of School Committee as we move this budget forward, I think this is a topic that will continue if it doesn’t move forward,” Szymaniac said to the committee about his progress on goals for the year on March 6. “We’ll continue this discussion on early childhood education, which I think we have to start branching off to pre-K as well, looking at where we are as a district.”

The intervention program aimed at helping students regain any educational ground during the remote learning of the 2020 to 2021 period is also part of those goals.

That is being pursued via coaches at both at district as well as individual school level, according to Assistant Superintendent George Ferro, mentioning the positions that had been referred to as interventionists.  They are now being steered toward co-teaching with classroom teachers.

At high school, the work to close gaps due to the pandemic are being addressed in intervention study halls as the district works to catch students up in real time as they also keep up in class with their peers.

The district will also be striving to present representative depictions of students in literature and history being taught.

Ferro noted that the MCAS exams include a verbal survey at the end for certain grades, asking, among other questions, whether students “read and see people in literature that look like you, or that look like your classmates.”

More than 40 percent of students at different grade levels have been answering that they do not.

“When we talk about equity, we have to start thinking about the characters that we teach [about] in literature, the books that we read, the authors that we look at, the gender of the people that we look at, to say, ‘is this representative of everybody in Whitman-Hanson,” Ferro said. “Those are the things Jeff is promoting … as this project moves forward.”
Szymaniak added that family and parental outreach is also being pursued and presented an informational slide program about full-day kindergarten that is viewable on the WHCA-TV’s YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m0UY_Vlld0].

WHITMAN — A late end date to the school year and a low number of signups for the first school summer vacation week, has the Recreation Commission eyeing a July 4 start to the summer park program.

The Recreation Commission, meeting on Thursday, March 3 also discussed a potential end date of Aug. 13.

Member Michelle LaMattina, who chaired the meeting, suggested asking park program staff about their availability for an extra week. Many of the program employees are college students, and there is a need to determine how long they are available. The number of counselors has a bearing on how many children can be accepted.

“With the outcome we had last year, we are expecting a lot more kids,” said Gabby Callahan, who runs the camp program. She noted that, while there have been years when the program only ran five weeks, so either six or seven would work.

“I think we’re going to have a really strong program this year, that is rebuilding,” LaMattina said. “I think it’s only going to get better.”

The ability to make plans for the weeks the programs are operating just became a little easier, as more members have been found to replace some departing commissioners.

Selectmen representative to the Recreation Commission Dan Salvucci, briefly attending the meeting, saying his attendance was due to an issue the commission was having in gathering a quorum for meetings. He outlined, as he did for the Board of Selectmen Tuesday, March 2, how he and Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman had made some phone calls in an attempt to attract some new volunteers to help out at Recreation meetings.

I don’t usually go to meetings of boards or committees I’m a liaison to … unless I’m asked for, or there’s a issue that I can help out with,” Salvucci said. “This is your board and [as] with any other board, they do such great work, that why would I interfere?”

Salvucci noted that, without a full board, the Recreation Commission could not effectively plan for summer programs.

“The reason I’m here is to let you know that what you do is very, very, very important and the members of your commission need to show up at all your meetings, and make sure your programs work,” he said. “I’m just glad you have a full board now.”

Salvucci also mentioned an article planned for Town Meeting that would permit associate members to step in and vote at a meeting when a quorum of regular voting members is not present. 

“There are a few [other boards in town] that are like that Chairman Michelle LaMattina said.

Member Kathleen Woodward said the commission’s fiscal 2022 budget is balanced with funds available for programs that are planned to start off the summer.

“As we know, we didn’t have the programs the prior year so we were basically running on empty, so it’s nice to have something to help start us off with,” she said.

The proposed fiscal 2023 Recreation budget keeps the director’s salary at the same level  and the pool line increased to $10,000 — mainly for maintenance issues — a $2,500 increase is also being asked for the needed July 4 program and other activities funding.

Four town organizations use town fields, W-H Youth Soccer, W-H Softball, W-H Lacrosse and Whitman Little League, and are in the process of determining their needs for the year so Woodward can organize schedules.

An apprentice counselor training program for rising eighth-graders is also being considered for the park program.

HANOVER — The Massachusetts School Building Authority has voted to invite South Shore Tech into its Core Program, Superintendent/Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey has announced.

The MSBA board made the decision on the first step in the process of determining which schools might win eventual approval for a renovation or new building at its Wednesday, March 2 meeting.  SST’s eligibility period extends from April 4 to Dec. 30, 2022. 

“This is welcome news for the school district (on its seventh application!), and we will begin the orientation process with MSBA in April,” Hickey wrote in a letter to town administrators and managers. “An important factor to mention early is that this invitation will not require any additional funds from our towns as part of our FY23 budget.” 

He shared the letter, and one to him from MSBA Executive Director John K. McCarthy, with The Express last week.

“The letter basically puts in a pretty exclusive club — at least 17 schools out of at least 58 received this letter saying, ‘Your needs that you identified and our own research confirms that you have been invited to show us in the next nine months that you are ready to begin this process,’” Hickey said Sunday. “We’ve been applying since 2015.”

He said those previous applications, and the funds set aside during those years, puts SST in a position to move very quickly through this first phase.

An important part of the news for SST down the road — as a vocational school — is they have to tell MSBA what school officials think the school’s program of study should look like. What programs in a revamped school does SST want to offer?

Hickey said they will get a few months to outline that on paper, something the school has been doing internally for a long time.

“Is there a chance that we might want to consider offering new programs? Yes,” he said. “But that has to be tied to a local labor market.”

Electrical is the best example, Hickey said. 

“There’s a strong market,” he said. The school could only place 20 out of 38 students who wanted to take electrical after the shop exploratory phase this fall.

“We need a bigger instructional space so we can take more kids,” he said. There are other programs that are adequately sized based on student demand, and others that are not now offered, but for which there might be a labor demand if they were offered, including the growing EV market.

“Part of what I want to do is make sure our programming is not so rigid and siloed that we could not be adaptive,” he said. “If, down the road,  what we need to do is to have some of our automotive majors take courses taught by electrical teachers, we need to make sure that we’ve got the space to do that.”

For example, the school would need to adapt space for electric vehicles and charging stations, he said. 

MSBA will be forming its own team of experts to examine SST’s vision for what the school should offer for the next 50 years. The school has also been approached by Marshfield to see how that town might be accepted into the district. The school currently fits 650 students. For next year, he already has 292 applications for 170 seats.

While about 20 percent who are offered admission decline the offer, he estimated they could still end up with a waiting list of between 50 and 70 kids. Non-resident students can no longer be accepted as freshmen.

“We’ve been very supported by our eight towns and we’ve been able to set aside funding for the feasibility study,” he said. “That’s one of the biggest reasons they give the schools nine months to get things in order.”

But McCarthy was careful to warn that school officials should not “get ahead” of the MSBA without MSBA approval, or they will not be eligible for grant funding.

“All that we need to do right now is show the MSBA that we are willing to set aside the funds if we get moved to the next step,” Hickey said. “The good thing is we don’t have to go back to our eight towns in the middle of a budget cycle and say, ‘Oh, by the way, we’re going to need about $800,000 for a feasibility study.’ We’ve been saving that money in our stabilization fund.”

A vote of the SST regional school committee is all that is needed to show that the district is ready to undertake a feasibility study since they have the fund in place, according to Hickey.

The next step is a series of procedural votes demonstrating that district officials understand the terms and conditions of the program and forming a building committee. 

Another positive is that SST can act toward the next steps in less than the nine months allotted, placing them at the top of the list to onboard. While SST has been given an April start date for that phase, some other schools have been slated to begin it some six months after that.

“This is a multi-year project … and if we can expedite some of the easier parts of it, that’s great for everyone, I think,” Hickey said.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said state Rep. Josh Cutler, whom Hickey said has been very helpful in advocating for the school, including speaking at the MSBA meeting.

“It’s a first step, it’s a big step,” Cutler said of the MSBA letter. “The fact that they’ve been invited to this round is very significant… There’s still lots of work ahead.”

Cutler also credited state Rep. David DeCoste, R-Norwell, with who, he teamed up on a bipartisan way to advocate for the school, for helping achieve the successful outcome.

“They want to make sure you have local support, that you have feasibility funds that you need, that you have plans that make sense,” he said of the caution not to get ahead of things. “[SST] has put some thought and time into this. I have every confidence that they’re going to fulfill all the particular requirements.”

Despite the “don’t get ahead of things” warning, Hickey said he thinks the letter is good news that’s worth getting excited about, because there is support for the project that would permit SST to go before the MSBA with a project team and manager in place before working with the MSBA on design.

WHITMAN – The Capital Committee members, meeting remotely Thursday, Feb. 17, took a look in the mirror to assess the panel’s role in addressing the funding of capital projects for the town.

They also reviewed some of the DPW’s requests for capital equipment in the fiscal 2023 budget.

“For the longest time, I’ve struggled with seeing if our role actually meant something,” said Chairman Don Esson, who has served on the committee for almost five years. “It didn’t seem like we had funding information to support the capital projects, so that’s what I’d to try to get my arms around.”

Essen said he was willing to take suggestions from anyone on the committee.

“The best way to understand what we can spend in capital improvements is to understand what we have for money, first of all,” he said. “If we don’t have the money, we’re talking about things we just can’t get, or we’d have to go out and get some bonds or something else.”

He said it would be easier to pick the low-hanging fruit if it was clear how much was on the tree. That way they would be able to at least authorize funds for immediate needs — and then come up with a long-term plan for projects the town really needs, but can’t afford right now.

Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman sought to redirect committee members to remembering and reviewing what was approved by Town Meeting last year via amendments to what had been the Building Improvements and Capital Expenditures Committee — the precursor to the Capital Committee. 

The new committee’s charge is to evaluate the town’s capital needs, and facilities with the assistance of the town’s facilities manager, and presenting projects and funding requests to Town Meeting. The committee also makes recommendations for purchasing equipment such as vehicles and equipment, including IT devices and software worth $20,000 or more.

“That’s where our authority flows from – from that vote of Town Meeting,” Heineman said. He said an evaluation of available funds will make those funds apparent as they receive final capital requests from town departments.

Free cash, the primary funding source for most capital needs, appears sufficient to cover all requests received so far, he said.

“The only caveat to that is the schools’ budget request is not directly in our purview as the Capital Committee, but it affects how much free cash we have and it affects what we have to spend for our one-time revenue source,” Heineman said. The schools have until March 19 to certify their budget and Heineman said they intend to take that vote by March 16.

Esson asked Heineman to take a first pass at the budget to determine what projects the Committee could afford to recommend to Town Meeting. Heineman suggested he would be able to that by early last week.

Esson also asked for Committee members’ input on whether his concern was in determining the panel’s direction.

“I think this committee, the last couple of years, has been most effective when we get into some of the technical aspects of projects, such as the generators at the elementary schools,” said member Justin Evans, who is also a Selectman. “We’d rather the projects be done right than done fast and we kind of pushed back on those.”

Evans said the question isn’t always one of determining what they can afford to address through free cash, but one of vetting out the projects themselves.

“With the technical skill set here, I think that is what we bring to the table,” Esson agreed. “I just don’t want to spend a ton of time on things that we just can’t afford.”

Member Fred Small, who also serves on the School Committee asked if is up to them to decide what the town can’t afford or, rather to make a recommendation on a project’s validity and, if it is wanted, how it could be paid for, because — technically —  anything could be affordable through a debt exclusion.

“I sort of look at our committee as being the vetting [agents],” he said.

Esson said he sees the committee’s charge is one of prioritizing.

“It’s important to vet and push back,” Member Justin Casanova-Davis said, noting that it’s easier to achieve capital goals when the free cash is more than the bottom line for the capital improvement projects. But he sees a role for the committee.

“I do think it’s the roll of the committee to present a priority list, [when there it not enough free cash to fund everything] for Town Meeting to know what we would do with X amount of funds,” he said.

“It’s up to Town Meeting to decide if they want to fund something, whether we recommend it or not,” said member Aaron Taylor.

Member Josh MacNeill, the town’s IT director, agreed, noting there is now a lot of confusion going on as far as who’s actually doing what, pointing to instances when the committee’s recommendation against a project had been overturned by the Finance Committee.

“We’ve got multiple decisions being made across various committees,” he said.

Esson agreed, but said he does not see the Committee’s role as overruling department heads, deciding that projects are a “waste or money” or not necessary.

“We need to let our department heads run their departments, but maybe with some our skill sets that we can bring to the table,” Esson said. “Maybe to help them look at things a little bit different or to actually expedite something or to make it a better system or a different design — or whatever.”

Esson said he didn’t think they should ever nix a project, but could perhaps add to it.

The Committee members agreed solidly with that approach.

Building Inspector Robert Curran pointed to the Madden Report’s recommendation that the town should be putting so much money a year into a capital improvement account.

“We don’t have that number,” he said. “I think we should start getting that.”

Absent that, Curran suggested asking departments if there is a funding source for projects, and where there isn’t one, “they’ll have to go somewhere else to figure that out.”  He said, however, such an admonition should come from the town administrator.

Heineman said money is being set aside. In June 2021, Town Meeting voted to set aside $100,000 to the capital stabilization fund. He is cautiously optimistic that funds could be added to the fund this year.

In other business, the Committee discussed DPW requests, including the need for a new building, which Esson fully supports.

“I drive by it three or four times a week and I can see that it’s falling apart,” he said. “I know they need a building.”

He does have questions, however, including whether enough time is allotted to study and analyze data concerning requests. 

Curran said requests for public safety vehicles or generators need not always be put off for further study. 

The tool truck used for response to water main breaks needs replacement, Water Superintendent Dennis Smith said a new vehicle could allow the department to place a compressor and generator in it. The estimated cost is just under $160,000 with all equipment on it, but because of supply chain concerns, he said it could be at least a year until they obtain it. The vehicle would be used daily — as the present truck is. The funding source is water and sewer retained earnings. Additional emergency generators, to replace those lost during the January nor’easter, are also being sought.

“That was certainly an unexpected storm and we certainly learned a lot of lessons of how [for example] we can’t rely on the cell carriers — that was probably the biggest lesson. How they fell down,” Heineman said. “People should know how much we need this.”

Esson also said he would like to see a five to 10-year plan for more stationary generators.

Heineman urged that a vote on the capital requests be delayed until all departments’ capital requests are in, to vote on them at the same time.

“I think the time that would make the most sense is probably early April,” he said. The Capital Committee is slated to meet with the Finance Committee on April 19.

WHITMAN — Consultant Ann Donner presented the final version of the town’s strategic plan to the Board of Selectmen during the Tuesday, Feb. 15 meeting.

Selectmen voted to approve the plan, which is now posted on the town website and may be obtained as a paper copy as well. The plan will be used to guide budgetary decisions through 2027.

“We’ve been looking at this version of it for a couple of weeks,” said Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski, noting that officials were welcome to call Donner if they felt changes or revisions were needed.

“From what I understand, nothing needed changing,” Kowalski said. “It’s an impressive document. …We need to hold ourselves accountable, and hopefully, there will be people who hold us accountable, too.”

Kowalski credited Forest Street resident Shawn Kain for ensuring the board stayed on-task with the project.

“He saw the importance of it, and we’re seeing the fruit of that right now,” Kowalski said.

Donner thanked the board for the opportunity to work with them on the plan.

“What was impressive was the amount of care and effort that everyone put into this,” she said. “The success of any strategic plan is that everyone’s got their shoulder to the wheel … in order to achieve those results, part of it is keeping track of it.”

Donner said the town’s goals for the plan were realistic, and encouraged them to review how it is being followed, whether on a bi-annual or quarterly basis.

Kowalski agreed that a biannual review is a good idea.

“What we don’t want is for something that you’ve all put so much work into to sit on the shelf,” she said. “I think the way the plan was formulated, it’s really a plan that can be shared with people.”

Budget update

On the heels of approving the strategic plan to help guide budgeting decisions, the board heard Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman’s budget update.

He noted that the Finance Committee is now working on its review of the budget.

“We went through the broad strokes two weeks ago,” he said, noting that he wanted to provide the board with opportunity to take a more nuanced look at it.

Heineman pointed to a couple savings options that, he said, demonstrate “how we can succeed in different areas and find some efficiencies.”

He has instructed IT Director Josh MacNeil to “take a look globally at our telephone operations” with an eye to perhaps buying less expensive plans for some phones or to get rid of some landlines altogether. He also looked into a new firm to oversee ambulance billing, which resulted in some savings in exchange for better service.

Heineman said he is also looking to return the visiting nurse fund to what historically has been there, after the service funding had been transferred to CARES Act funds that are now ended. Additional funding to senior citizens’ bus transportation as well as veteran services, are also being sought in the budget.

Assistant TA

In other business, Selectmen discussed the process for finding a new assistant town administrator.

Selectmen, were forced to table next steps in the assistant town administrator search after the town failed to agree to terms in contract negotiations with designate Rogeria Medeiros-Kowalczykowski last month.

 “What needs to be done now … is to advertise it [again] and go through anther search process,” Kowalski said. “Hopefully, one that will end in having someone in the position.”

He also asked Heineman to consider another position, one that could be called a human resources and operations director, one that could include procurement responsibilities, “with grant-writing on the side.”

Kowalski said such a position, by its very title, would be more focused. He asked that Heineman work on it and present a couple of alternatives to the board for continued discussion at the board’s meeting the first week of March.

When Building Inspector Robert Curran retires on May 26, the town will also be looking into the possible hiring of a full-time building commissioner. A transfer of funds at the May Town Meeting would be required to make a full-time position possible.

“I think now is the time,” Heineman said, proposing that a new job description be drawn up for the position. He argued that the position include a requirement that more support and advice be provided the ZBA and Conservation Commission.

While many towns of a similar size have a town planner and conservation agent, it may not be something Whitman is looking at now, but a full-time building commissioner would be a help.

“I don’t think that anytime soon it’s anything the town wants to look at, but I do think, and the chairs of that board and that commission seem to agree, it would be worthwhile to have some professional assistance for them in their work,” he said.

Selectman Justin Evans agreed that it was a good idea long overdue. Selectman Randy LaMattina said zoning issues and code enforcement also need to be big part of the position, but he didn’t want to get too far ahead on it until the budget is better firmed up.

HANSON —  The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Feb. 8, voted to downgrade the Town Hall mask mandate to a recommendation, left to people’s comfort level.

The change went into effect Wednesday, Feb. 9.

“Last time that we met and were considering it, the numbers were over 400,” said Selectmen Chairman Matt Dyer. That number was down to 60 as of the time of the Selectmen’s meeting.

Dyer said that trend echoed the state’s numbers and that the schools’ mask mandate will end Feb. 25, as the DESE and MDPH are reverting to a recommendation only that masks be worn by unvaccinated students and staff [see story, this page].

“I think where we are in terms of the public health crisis, is we’re getting toward the end, or at least we can drop the mask mandate for now and, if it flares back up at a later time, we can always impose this again,” Dyer said, knocking on the wooden table.

Selectman Joe Weeks suggested checking in with the mood of Town Hall employees.

“I don’t want to release mandates, or enforce mandates without checking with the people we’ll be enforcing them on,” he said.

Town Administrator Lisa Green said the majority of people working in Town Hall have been wearing masks when they leave their offices.

“That hasn’t been an issue with anybody,” she said. “I would just recommend that, if people feel they want to wear masks, they can do so. … At this point, I don’t see any need to continue with the mask mandate in Town Hall, unless people on their own, decide they’d like to wear them.”

“That’s the only recommendation I need,” Weeks said.

A disclosure of potential conflict by Town Hall custodian Charlie Baker was deemed unnecessary because he is a member of a Highway Department union and is not a private contractor.

“He plows at night, outside his hours as custodian/maintenance technician for highway in their trucks,” Green said.

storm response

In that vein, Weeks urged Selectmen also commended public safety personnel for their response to last month’s blizzard.

“They just had the biggest storm ever,” he said of the January 28 storm.

The board hadn’t met since before the blizzard.

The board extended thanks to the Police, Fire and Highway departments contract plow drivers and National Grid employees for the work they did clearing streets, responding to motor vehicle crashes and keeping the power on.

“The way they worked together to get it all done, I think we’re blessed to have these people in place,” Selectman Jim Hickey said. “They all knew their parts.”

Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett offered special congratulations to Highway Director Jameson Shave, who experienced his first major storm in Hanson during a year when it had been difficult finding plow drivers.