Whitman & Hanson Dollars for Scholars will be processing orders for gift cards this holiday season as part of its fall fundraising drive. Interested individuals will be able to order gift cards from over 300 nationwide merchants. DFS will receive a commission for selling the cards while the recipient will receive the full face value of the gift card. 

A Dollars for Scholars representative will be in the Community Room of the Whitman Public Library from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Dec. 4, and in Training Room of the Hanson Police Station from 10 a.m. to noon on Sunday, Dec. 5, to answer any questions. Orders may be placed at those times. All gift cards ordered are expected to be delivered by Dec. 11. Payments should be in the form of a check or cash. Currently, DFS places gift card orders every other month for its board members. Members use the gift cards as gifts for family or friends or toward everyday purchases such as groceries, gas, prescriptions, and restaurants.

Proceeds from the sale will benefit graduating high school seniors in the form of scholarships at the end of the school year. For more information on the gift card ordering program, contact Mike Ganshirt at 781-252-9683 or visitWhitmanAndHanson.DollarsforScholars.org.

HANSON — Hanson Selectmen Vice Chairman Kenny Mitchell has paid a $5,00 civil penalty for violation of the state’s conflict of interest law, according to the State Ethics Commission Executive Director David A. Wilson.

Mitchell was fined for “authorizing town payments to the tree service company he privately worked for, representing his private employer in a matter involving the town and acting as a selectman to advance a proposal to remove trees on town land while knowing his private employer would likely be hired to do the work,” according to a press release from the commission.

In a prepared statement,, Mitchell said: “On Nov. 12, 2021, in order to immediately end complaints made about me to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts State Ethics Commission, I executed a ‘disposition agreement’ and paid a fine. I did so because I recognized that it would not be in the best interests of my family or the Town of Hanson to allow the proceedings to drag on. I fully recognize that I must be very careful to not allow my position as Selectman to conflict in any way with my position as General Manager of Newcomb’s Tree Services, LLC, or for there to even be an appearance of a possible conflict. I would like to thank the many residents of the Town and my family for supporting me throughout this process.”

Neither Selectmen Chairman Matt Dyer, not Town Administrator Lisa Green would comment on the fine.

A selectman since 2014, Mitchell is the general manager of Newcomb’s Tree Services LLC. The commission alleged that, from 2016 through 2019, Mitchell, as a selectman, signed 23 warrants authorizing town payments to Newcomb’s for tree cutting and removal. 

Also, in 2019, when a Town Meeting warrant article was proposed by the Hanson Recreation Commission for removal of trees at Camp Kiwanee — at an estimated cost of between $10,000 and $20,000 —Mitchell acted as a selectman to both move and vote to place the article on a special Town Meeting warrant. When another selectman made the motion for voting on the article at the special Town Meeting — at a cost of $25,000 — Mitchell seconded the motion, according to the Ethics Commission.

“At that time, Mitchell knew the town would likely hire Newcomb’s Tree Service to do the work,” the commission’s release stated. “Mitchell’s actions violated the conflict of interest law’s prohibition against municipal employees participating in matters in which they know they or their employer have a financial interest.”

The commission also found that Mitchell violated the conflict of interest law in 2016 and 2017.

The town had asked Newcomb’s to remove dead trees from a main road, which required access to private property. When the private property owner accused Newcomb’s workers of damaging a water line, the commission found that Mitchell represented his employer and the town as well.

“By doing so, Mitchell violated the conflict of interest law’s prohibition against public employees acting on behalf of someone other than the municipality in connection with a matter in which the municipality has a direct interest,” the release stated.

Whitman & Hanson Dollars for Scholars will be processing orders for gift cards this holiday season as part of its fall fundraising drive. Interested individuals will be able to order gift cards from over 300 nationwide merchants. DFS will receive a commission for selling the cards while the recipient will receive the full face value of the gift card. 

A Dollars for Scholars representative will be in the Community Room of the Whitman Public Library from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Dec. 4, and in Training Room of the Hanson Police Station from 10 a.m. to noon on Sunday, Dec. 5, to answer any questions. Orders may be placed at those times. All gift cards ordered are expected to be delivered by Dec. 11. Payments should be in the form of a check or cash. Currently, DFS places gift card orders every other month for its board members. Members use the gift cards as gifts for family or friends or toward everyday purchases such as groceries, gas, prescriptions, and restaurants.

Proceeds from the sale will benefit graduating high school seniors in the form of scholarships at the end of the school year. For more information on the gift card ordering program, please contact Mike Ganshirt at 781-252-9683 or visit www.WhitmanAndHanson.DollarsforScholars.org.

WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen will soon have the opportunity to interview finalists in the search for a new assistant town administrator.

Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman reported on Tuesday, Nov. 9 that the search for applicants has so far generated 35 résumés, and the opening will be posted until Nov. 23.

Selectman Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski, Selectman Justin Evans and Heineman will meet to review the applications to winnow the field for the subcommittee to agree on five or six people to interview. At that point Executive Assistant Laurie O’Brien would take part in process as an observer during the interviews with semi-finalists, as she would also be working closely with the person hired.

“I think including her in this is a great idea,” said Selectman Brian Bezanson. “It makes a lot of sense to have her in the loop on this.”

“You’re probably looking at January for the whole process to be done,” Kowalski said. 

The full board would interview the two or three finalists recommended by the subcommittee. Only finalists’ names would be made public.

COVID update

Heineman said he was heartened to see town has reached the 60 percent threshold on people fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to Fire Chief Timothy Clancy’s weekly updates.

“The vaccination rate is going up slightly each week,” Heineman said. “A week ago the vaccine was approved for those ages 5 through 11, so obviously, there’s a lot of parents who are making that choice about whether or not to vaccinate their children.”

He also reported that OSHA issued its long-expected regulation on COVID Thursday, Nov. 4, but added that Massachusetts is “completely unique” in a law that references the agency’s rules but does not have a plan to apply them locally, according to town counsel on whether the regulation applies to municipalities here.

Counsel expects guidance from the state’s Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development to help clarify the issue later on this week.

In the meantime, Clancy and the town’s clinical coordinator are working on scheduling booster clinics.

“Those are set up,” Heineman said. “Any resident of Whitman is welcome to go on our website, where [the information] is front and center, to sign up for a booster if they are already fully vaccinated.”

Boosters are administered six months after a person is considered fully vaccinated – two weeks after the second injection.

There are still slots open on Nov. 17 and 18 and there will be another session early in December.

Heineman also reported that he spoke with the president of the Southeastern Philharmonic Orchestra, for which Selectman have approved use of Town Hall Auditorium for a Dec. 5 holiday concert, as well as an April 24 concert. Both events are funded by the Whitman Cultural Council.

Selectmen voted to honor the request.

Similar to a recent concert by the Brockton Symphony, the SPO president requested that the audience be required to wear masks to attend.

“It’s a benefit to the community and if they’re policing their own requirements, I don’t see a problem,” Evans said.

“We affirmed the Brockton orchestra’s desire to have the audience wear masks,” Kowalski said. “I see this as giving this organization the same respect … it would also be in the interest of courtesy as a host.”

“I believe this is about choice, and they chose to ask,” Bezanson said. “If you want to go, wear a mask.” But he did not see the need, at this point, to extend that to April at this time.

Strategic plan

Mission, Vision and Values statements drafted at the Oct. 23 retreat meeting with town boards and citizens’ representatives were approved by a vote of 5-0. Heineman said that consultant Ann Donner had agreed that, if the board is ready to do so, it would make sense as the policy-making board of the town adopt the statements.

“The next steps, in speaking with her yesterday is to … firm up a little bit of the draft five-year strategic priority document and then to have a department head meeting to discuss the implementation of those initiative,” he said of a meeting he would have with Donner. “Obviously, we’re still moving toward having a draft prepared by her and ready in December and a final by the end of December.”

Selectman Randy LaMattina thanked all participants of the workshop.

“I thought it was a worthwhile exercise,” he said.

“It was a good day,” Kowalski agreed.

WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Oct. 26 discussed the potential direction for a financial policy for the town.

Forest Street resident Shawn Kain had indicated that he would like to see some additional financial policies instituted for the town, according to Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman who said he appreciated the suggestion.

Selectmen asked Kain, who attended the meeting to sit in on discussion of the issue.

Heineman said the policies now followed are very good ones, but that he appreciated Kain’s bringing up the topic for further consideration and possible revision — the disposition of surplus property, in particular.

The town’s auditor has also recommended revising of the town’s federal awards and procurement policy.

“The current policies that we have are a cash receipt and petty cash handling policy, a fund-balance policy, an investment policy statement for investment funds and, as I mentioned, the disposition of surplus property,” Heineman said. “What Mr. Kain had been talking about having some policies dealing with the appropriate level of debt for the town and what an acceptable level of debt, in the policy view of the town, is.”

Heineman said Whitman does not have a lot of debt in comparison to other towns of its size and valuation in Massachusetts, and that many towns do not have an acceptable debt policy.

“We had a great conversation,” Kain said of his discussions with Heineman concerning the number of reasons why such a policy makes sense. “I think why this is important now … is that financial policy helps guide your spending and borrowing practices.”

These practices can affect bond ratings and set limits and signals the public that town leaders are making decisions that will maintain the town’s financial health and good standing.

“I think it’s relevant now because there are a couple of big projects on the horizon,” Kain said, noting that a new Whitman Middle School and DPW building could be on that list. “Immediately people get concerned [about] borrowing more money, another debt exclusion, that kind of thing, and I don’t think people have a good frame of reference of how much debt do we have currently on the books. Are we in good shape or are we not in good shape?”

A debt policy would provide a good frame some of the difficult financial decisions that may lie ahead, Kain said. Without it, making the arguments for needed projects when they crop up.

Heineman noted that a recommended debt level policy would effectively raise the town’s acceptable level of debt.

“Our level of debt is so low right now, as compared with similar communities, that effectively, if we … wanted a policy that laid out an acceptable level of debt — presumably somewhere around the average of like communities — then … we would be saying it was fine to have relatively significantly more debt than we do now.”

Selectman Justin Evans, a member of the budget working group in 2018, said that group drafted some financial policies, including a limit of excluded debt service costs at less than 12 percent of tax levy at all times, and that general fund debt service should be limited to 1 and 2.5 percent of general fund operating revenues.

“I don’t know if the board ever adopted those policies,” he said. “But that might be a place to start.”

Neither Kain nor Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski recalled that happening, either.

“We have to be careful and clear that the levels that we recommend have some data behind them,” Kowalski said.

Heineman reminded the board that Proposition 2 ½ limits debt to 5 percent of the total assessed value of property — whether residential personal property or industrial/commercial property – in a town.

“We’re nowhere near that,” he said.

Selectman Dan Salvucci noted that past practice was to keep in mind the conclusion of one bond before borrowing to do another project. 

WHITMAN — For many performing artists, the COVID-19 pandemic meant more than an inconvenience — it interrupted a major source of their income.

But for Whitman musicians Jon and Juli Finn, it also created opportunities to explore new avenues of teaching, and composing new music. They are also preparing for a performance — Great Guitar Night — from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 5 at the Regent Theatre, 7 Medford St., Arlington. The gathering of Boston’s finest performing guitar artists and educators, including the Jon Finn Group will primarily feature Jon’s compositions which he describes as progressive instrumental rock — with some classical blues and jazz influences. Tickets are $30 plus a $3 fee online, by phone or at the box office

Vaccinations or a negative COVID test are required to attend.

“It appeals to a very specific group of people,” Jon said of his compositions, but with the Internet, he said one finds members of that very specific group all over the world. 

“The people who do like it, love it, and the standard joke is anywhere in the world we go, there’s like three or four people in any given town that know who we are,” he said. “But that’s it.”

Generally his music is a philosophy of producing music that makes it impossible for the listener to determine if it is easy or difficult to play.

“What I want them to listen to is the story being told and all the emotions and feelings that go along with that,” he said.

Their strings want to resonate with your heartstrings in a way.

“I play all guitars,” Juli said over coffee at Whitman’s Restoration Coffee last week. “My main guitar is an electric guitar, though. The same with Jon. He’s a guitar professor.”

Jon said there is no appreciable difference between the way you play a six-string guitar vs a 12-string guitar.

“They’re different sounds,” he said.

Juli might add a four-string ukulele, which she has been teaching online during COVID. Something akin to “advanced plunking,” she said with a laugh.

“We did collaborative videos,” she said. “We did a few live streams.”

She said that she saw a lot of the trend of people spending the pandemic perfecting hobbies or trying new ones. So she offered a four-week beginner ukulele course, and a 2.0 intermediate course — “advanced plunking” — and Juli’s Ukulele Club.

“It was definitely a change,” she said. “We had to say, ‘Come on, let’s get busy,’ and do everything differently.”

For Jon, when COVID hit, his first job was to try to create a Zoom environment that allowed the best performances given the platform’s limitations. Minute time lags still exist and make live performances difficult, even while edited recordings can solve that problem.

“Instead of just becoming an awkward silence, the music just becomes out of sync,” he said. “I spent a lot of the pandemic trying to find the best way to present myself over a Zoom lesson, and I learned a couple of tricks along the way.”

The Finns both worked on improving video making skills. Jon said he wrote, authored, filmed, notated and released a video course called Blues Building Blocks.

Now, while they are, seeing more requests for gigs, they are also doing some artistic soul-searching, Juli said. After decades of performing other people’s work, she said they decided to concentrate more on writing their own music.

“This is our time to put out new music and record,” Juli said, adding they plan to produce a new album in the spring while she is working on her own project — a tribute to Bonnie Raitt.

“We’re hoping to come out of the pandemic with a more focused approach to what we’re doing,” Jon said.

Juli, who was born in South Africa and later moved to the United States, first living in Utah and then Colorado for many years. She moved to Tacoma, Wash., when she was 14 and later to Massachusetts to complete her degree in guitar performance at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. At the time, Jon said, Berklee was the only college in the United States offering any type of performance degree in electric guitar. 

“At the time, it was not a real instrument in their eyes,” he said. During the national tour of “Rent,” Jon played guitar and keyboards at the Boston production at the Schubert Theatre for 228 performances.

“I had the show memorized after about a month and a half,” he said, but a week after it closed, he said he forgot most of it. “My brain kind of did a massive memory dump. … There’s always a lot of projects I’m doing, so once it’s in your rearview mirror, you get used to the idea that now you’re on to the next thing.”

While practice is alwys he said he accepts the fact that he will never be fully satisfied with what he does.

“You just try to get better at it,” he said.

Juli is currently working on her master’s degree in songwriting.

Berklee is also where she met Jon, who was a professor at Berklee — but she did not study with him. His degree is in traditional performance.

“Of course, there was some concern because that’s kind of a taboo in the college [world],” he said. Jon made sure his superiors knew of the relationship and that he was dating a student, but was not a professor in any of her classes.

“Of course, in his infinite wisdom, he said, ‘Is it Juli?’” Jon said with a laugh.

He grew up in Westwood, and lived in the Boston area before buying a house in Whitman.

HANSON — The Board of Health on Tuesday, Oct. 12 voted to accept the job description and hire a contact tracer to follow up COVID-19 cases in the community. They also discussed how to control costs and increase revenues for the transfer station.

The temporary part-time contact tracer position, instead of a public health nurse, is being sought to work exclusively on contact tracing for COVID cases, paid for by the remaining funds in the Norwell VNA line of Hanson’s budget.

The position will not be filled until the board’s question about liability is clarified.

“This will ensure that all of the contact tracing is done,” said Hanson Health Board’s Administrative Assistant Theresa Cocio.

Board member Arlene Dias said they would definitely need someone past December when CDC funding closes out.

The Board of Health will be posting the position, which will be a subcontractor for the town. The board will be contacting Town Administrator Lisa Green for liability coverage for the position in the event information about a COVID-19 case gets leaked somehow.

“Who’s liable?” said Vice Chairman Kevin Perkins about the need to do what is legal to protect the town. “Is the town liable because we hired this person and now it defaults to us because they don’t have an insurance policy?”

Health Board Chairman Denis O’Connell and Perkins expressed concern about what the cost of liability insurance would be, who pays it and what happens if there is a claim against the contact tracer. Dias, who is a care provider on a contractor basis herself, said HIPAA also covers liability for such work.

She said if she makes a mistake and/or releases information, she would be liable.

Cocio also said pay would likely be on a per diem basis.

“If there’s no cases, then there’s nothing for you to do, but if there’s an influx of cases then they would have more than enough to do,” she said.

The board also discussed revenue sources and keeping the transfer station functioning while reviewing the facility’s budget.

They had previously discussed eliminating the sticker program, which brings in about $24,000 a year, but heard back from Finance Committee Chairman Kevin Sullivan that he does not want to eliminate a funding source for the town. Trip ticket items have brought in $11,000 so far this year.

“We would have to find a way to [create another] funding source if we do away with the sticker,” Cocio said.

Dias asked why the board couldn’t institute a five-year sticker plan, increasing the cost and.

“I looked at surrounding towns and what it costs to use their transfer stations, but a lot of surrounding towns [use] curbside,” Dias said. “The only towns close that [still have stickers] are Kingston, where it’s $200 a year for residential — unless you’re a senior and then it’s $90 and you pay for bags — in Carver, you pay $140 a year and you have to use the bags to go to the transfer station.”

She said that, in terms of the stickers, “everybody charges a lot more than we do.”

“People don’t care what’s going on in Halifax or Kingston or Carver, they don’t want to pay,” Cocio said.

Dias argued that, even if the sticker fee was not increased per year and made it valid for five years (at $50 total), people still have to pay for their bags. She wondered if that would be enough to hire a person to issue stickers.

Another option would be to change fees for items currently covered by trip tickets and add fees for items not charged for now, Cosio said. Propane tanks and bicycles, metals, light bulbs and several other items come under the latter category.

“You’re still not able to control who uses it,” Dias said, arguing that uncontrolled access to the transfer station would greatly increase its use.

Rockland charges $5 and $10 for propane tanks, Halifax charges $1 or $15 for the tanks. Smaller propane tanks cost less to dispose of at the transfer stations.

“I think we have to get on par with what other towns are doing,” Perkins said. “I think it’s going to reduce the abuse of our people [from other towns] using our services and we’ve got to start bringing some more money in.”

He said what the metal recycling brings in does not offset labor costs.

“We need to take a look at all the things that we do, what the costs are, what the costs are to us and how are we going to replace $24,000,” Dias said.

Just short. 

It’s what the Whitman-Hanson Regional High football team came up as against Silver Lake on Friday, Oct. 8. 

Down 13-6 with six seconds remaining, the Panthers were stuck on fourth-and-goal by the Lakers. 

Senior Jake Guiliani gave W-H a 6-0 lead in the second with a rushing TD, but it didn’t last as Silver Lake scored the next 13. 

Senior Collin Briggs added four catches for 60 yards in the loss. On defense, the linebacker combination of Guiliani and junior Evan Casey combined for 15 tackles and senior Malcolm Alcorn-Crowder racked up with two sacks and two tackles for loss. Junior Sam Pace added an interception.

W-H is now 0-5 and will travel to 4-1 Marshfield tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 15 for a 7 p.m. kickoff. 

— Nathan Rollins

 WHITMAN — Fire Chief Timothy Clancy and the Whitman Fire Department urge all residents to “Learn the Sounds of Fire Safety” and to follow several basic tips to help protect their loved ones during Fire Prevention Week, which is being recognized this year from Oct. 3 to 9.

Fire Prevention Week is organized by the National Fire Protection Association, and has been recognized for over 90 years. The goal of Fire Prevention Week is to educate the public about simple but important ways they can keep themselves and those they live with safe.

This year’s theme of “Learn the Sounds of Fire Safety” focuses on beeps, chirps and other noises coming from your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, and how knowing what they mean could save your life.

“Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms are important lifesaving devices that need to be properly maintained,” Clancy said, urging everyone to recognize these common sounds to help better understand smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.

• A continuous set of three loud beeps — beep, beep, beep — means smoke or fire. Get out, call 9-1-1, and stay out.

•A single chirp every 30 or 60 seconds means the battery is low and must be changed.

• All smoke alarms must be replaced after 10 years.

• Chirping that continues after the battery has been replaced means the alarm is at the end of its life and the unit must be replaced.

The NFPA offers the following tips for those who are deaf or hard of hearing:

• Purchase smoke and CO alarms that include strobe lights that flash to alert people when the smoke alarm sounds. 

• Pillow or bed shakers can also be purchased and linked to smoke and CO alarms to awaken people from their sleep. These work by shaking the pillow or bed when the alarm sounds. 

• The use of a low-frequency alarm can also wake a sleeping person with mild to severe hearing loss.