HANSON — Representatives of town and regional departments have begun work to identify potential emergency situations triggered by climate change as part of an effort to obtain action grant funding to address some of the deficiencies.

Laurie Muncie of the Old Colony Planning Council joined her successor as Hanson Town Planner Deborah Pettey to conduct the meeting for the officials to lay the groundwork for a day-long Municipal Vulnerability Priorities (MVP) workshop at Camp Kiwanee from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Friday, Feb. 7. Friday, Feb. 28 will be the rain date.

Pettey, who said she welcomed participants to attend even if they could not devote an entire day to it, stressed their input is important as she is not a Hanson native and does not know the entire history of the town.

“I need this information to make the best report and the best plan that we can for the town,” she said.

The Thursday, Jan. 9 planning session also discussed their top four environmental concerns for Hanson.

The session ranked their four major climate concerns ahead of the February workshop: wind, flooding, drought and, potentially, extreme temperatures.

“Flooding should be on the list,” said Conservation Commission chairman Phil Clemons. “I don’t know that it’s ahead of wind, though.”

He noted the impact of wind bring trees down on power lines as a frequent concern.

“It just seems kind of artificial to force ourselves to think of things separately,” Clemons said.

“Wind and trees … are a higher concern than even rain,” Muncie agreed.

While a concern, flooding is mainly responsible for road washouts and is not as big an issue as it would be in coastal communities, Clemons said.

Drought is another contributor to downed trees that cause damage, Pettey said.

Muncie noted that the lack of a generator at the Hanson Senior Center is an important concern during power outages, and is at the top of her list of grant priorities. Capacity of generators for long-term use must also be considered, officials said.

“A long-term power outage is a real burden for a lot of demographics,” Pettey said. “Whether you’re elderly or whether you’re handicapped or whether you have small children, a long-term power outage is going to cause quite an impact.”

Communications during a power outage was also discussed.

“Have you driven through Hanson center with your cell phone?” asked WHRSD Facilities Director Ernest Sandland.

“That’s a normal day,” Muncie said.

Sandland noted that the new cell tower planned for a portion of the Middle School property is aimed at helping the situation. Pettey said the ZBA approved the plan Tuesday, Jan. 7.

She was asked if emergency services communications would be included on the tower and indicated that was her understanding, but that she was uncertain. A representative of the Hanson Fire Department said the present cell tower “carries everything along with the sheriff” department radio communications and present no problems.

MARLBOROUGH  – All the rods, reels, accessories, clothing and gadgets that make fly-fishing the sport it is will be on display for the first time in 2020 at the annual Marlborough Fly Fishing Show, Jan. 17-19 in the Royal Plaza Trade Center.

The exhibition facility, 181 Boston Post Road West, will play host to the annual three-day weekend bouillabaisse of all-things-fly-fishing – for beginner to seasoned veteran – with seminars, casting demonstrations, fly-tying, destination films, Fly Fishing Film Festival and the newest tackle and clothing in a sold-out exhibition hall. There are about a dozen film, video and live presentations per hour.

Fly Fishing Show® hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday; 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Saturday; and 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday. 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. Parking at the Royal Plaza Trade Center is free.

Some $50,000 in Fly Fishing Show door prizes are up for grabs highlighted by an $11,000 value trip to an outer atoll in the Seychelles; an $11,000 trip for two to El Faro Lodge in Cuba; an $8,600 week for two at Blue Horizon Lodge in Belize for bonefish, permit and tarpon; a $6,160 vacation for two at Pesca Maya in Mexico’s Yucatan, a $5,300 Atlantic salmon trip to the Restigouche River Lodge, Canada; a $5,050 trip for two to the Belize River Lodge, Belize; a $4,400 Brazilian Amazon adventure at Vilanova Lodge, and a $3,500 trip to Colombia’s jungle with Ecuador Fly Fishing Tours for peacock bass and payara.

There will be 20 classes with experts. Class registration is $85 except for an 8-hour advanced casting class with Borger and Mac Brown on Jan. 16.  Tuition for the Thurs. class is $625.

Regular classes include those by George Daniel, Sheila Hassan, Jason Randall, Alan Caolo, Joe Cordiero and Gary Borger with subjects ranging from Casts that Catch, Nymph Fishing, Rigging and Leaders for Saltwater Fly Fishing, The Perfect Cast, Beginning Casting, and Practical Nymphing.  

The northeast premiere of the 2020 International Fly Fishing Film Festival is scheduled for Jan. 17 at 6:30 pm. Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door.

Among the Film Festival presentations are:

• “Particles and Droplets,” by Gilbert Rowley, a look at the world from a different perspective with fly fishing the catalyst.   

• “Aurora Fontinalis,” by Intents Media. An adventurous trip after giant brook trout in the far north.    

• “qaluk, by Hooké.” A far northern fly-fishing adventure to Nunavik in search of Arctic Char.

• “The Mend,” by Broc Isabelle. A father-son relationship complicated by career and responsibilities all set to a fly-fishing background.

• “Nine Foot Rod,” by Dana Lattery. Four fly-fishing guides embark on a trip to Oman in search of giant trevally and Indo-Pacific Permit.

Other films include “AK 30,” seeking a 30-inch trout in Alaska’s Naknek River; “The Bull Run,” looking for a bull trout north of the 49th parallel in the Rockies; and “Poetry in Motion,” the story of Maxine McCormack’s journey to become world fly-fishing champion.   

Total film screening time is just under two hours.

In addition to the films, there will be fly fishing product give-aways and other promotions at the event.

Fly casting demonstrations are scheduled by Borger, Brown, Hassan, Caolo, Bob Clouser and Jeff Currier among others. Featured fly tiers include Borger, Caolo, Cordiero, Clouser, Ed Engle, and Tim Flagler.   

Fly Fishers International (FFI) will host a free learning center with casting, fly-tying, knot tying, rigging and choosing a fly.

Among the approximately 75 Adventure and Destination Theater presentations are programs on Labrador’s Monster Brookies, Taimen in Mongolia, Fly Fishing in Iceland, the Kanektok River in Alaska, Fly Fishing Western Maine, Florida Keys Spring Tarpon Fishing, Fly Fishing the Upper Connecticut River, and Alaska’s Bristol Bay.

There are nine hour-long seminars each day with topics including Where Trout Are, Streamer Tactics 2.0, Understanding Trout, The Best Tidal Rivers in the Northeast, Fishing the Film, Clouser’s Top Tips to Catch More Fish, Fly Fishing for Trout in New England Streams, and An Introduction to Trout Spey. Seminar directors include Randall, Daniel, Boyd, Borger, Currier, Clouser, and Engle among others.

The Author’s Booth offers the opportunity to have books inscribed and “talk fly-fishing” with award-winning, best-selling writers.

For class availability and registration or a complete list of door prizes, Destination Theater, Adventure Theater, seminars, fly tiers, and casting demonstrations, visit flyfishingshow.com/marlborough-ma/ or phone (814) 443-3638.

HANSON — The Board of Selectmen will be considering a review of the Town Administrator Act to, perhaps, develop a uniform management policy for department administrative assistants in an effort to address concerns over the protocol used, and the proper appointing authority in the recent hiring of, Dori Jameson of Abington as administrative assistant to Recreation Director William Boyle.

Selectmen Chairman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said after asked for an opinion from legal counsel on the issue.

“I followed the process that we’ve used historically for the position,” said interim Town Administrator Meredith Marini about the selection process. “The town administrator works with the chairman and, generally, the department head, but previously we didn’t have a department head for recreation, so we had two members of the Recreation Commission review the applications, decide who they’re going to interview, select the interviewees and conduct the interviews.”

The town administrator then made a recommendation to the Selectmen.

That is the process Marini followed.

The position is one that ultimately reports up through to the town administrator, FitzGerald-Kemmett said, as the Selectmen appoint the Recreation Commission.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said some of the Recreation Commission members, however feel like they were not part of that process to hire someone they will be working with, and asked Marini to address that point as well as the opinion from legal counsel.

Marini said 11 applications were received for the administrative assistant position, which were sent to the Recreation Commission chairman and Boyle for review.

“We used those two people because that was what we used for other positions,” Marini said. The Recreation chairman, Boyle, Marini and Selectmen’s Administrator Greer Getzen each picked five or six people to interview. They interviewed the six people who “made it through the cut.”

“They were all good applicants,” Marini said. “They had varying skill sets for recreation.” Some were more involved in direct programs with residents — such as playing basketball with the kids — one had been an event coordinator for a restaurant and two were administrative people. Marini said the search panel selected the person with the strongest administrative skills.

Marini also said she is familiar with Jameson as someone she could go to with questions about handling administrative issues over the years. Jameson has also been an assistant town administrator/assistant town manager during that time.

Jameson knows how to run an office, open meeting law regulations and is a certified procurement officer. While Marini had been concerned why Jameson would want the recreation job, it turned out Abington had cut her position and asked her about it. While Jameson had answered that she enjoyed not working for a while, she really wants to work and thought the position was right for her.

Marini checked with town counsel to verify that departments under the jurisdiction of the Board of Selectmen, the Town Administrator Act lists Recreation as one they oversee.

But Town Counsel Katherine Feodoroff also suggested the Town Administrator Act be reviewed and perhaps adjusted for a uniform management policy to assure fair and equitable compensation across all departments.

“This comes up frequently enough” for FitzGerald-Kemmett to term it a good idea.

Some Recreation Commission members said they would at least liked to have had a say in narrowing the field of applicants to the final six.                                                                                         

Power failures 

Representatives from National Grid also attended the meeting to address frequent power losses in town.

“I want to make sure that the citizens of Hanson are not losing power at a rate that is just really getting kind of ridiculous,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “It’s a mere inconvenience to some people, but for a lot of people — quite a few people that may depend on oxygen tanks or are in precarious health conditions — it’s more than an inconvenience, its downright dangerous and life-threatening.”

She said she has heard from a couple of elderly people dependent on oxygen tanks, who “live in fear of us losing electricity,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

National Grid Manager of Community and Customer Relations for the South Shore Joe Cardinale said that, during storm events, he is in charge of community liaisons. During major events a liaison is sent out to every community.

“We look at where the outages are,” Cardinale said of after-storm procedures. “During every storm event, we have tree issues on this feeder [line].”

Once repairs are made, crews have to go up and down the line looking for any additional wires to houses that may be down before utility lines are re-energized, he explained. An expanded tree management program has been instituted to trim and/or remove problem trees.

Trees overhanging power lines are trimmed and an eight-foot right-of-way along power lines takes care of most town trees. All trees to be removed are tagged and homeowners are notified when privately owned trees are involved, and homeowners may decline to permit removal.

The entire circuit for Hanson is involved in the program.

All National Grid employees and contractors carry identification and customers can also call the customer service line or the Hanson tree warden.

Goals,
accomplishments

In other business, the board received a preview of plans for the new Highway Department building and reviewed the boards goals and accomplishments for the year.

“We’ve had quite the year,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “And when we think of some of the bad things that have happened this year, I like to think of some of the good things that have happened.”

Leading the list of accomplishments, FitzGerald-Kemmett said were some key hires: Town Administrator John Stanbrook, who starts Jan. 6, Getzen and new Highway Director Matthew Cahill, who starts Jan. 2 as well as a new recreation director, environmental agent, health agent and conservation administrative assistant.

The acquisition of the Sleeper property abutting Camp Kiwanee, establishment of an economic target area along Main Street and work with a property owner at the former Ocean Spray building regarding his plans to develop a mixed-used property there.

The town is also exploring the reuse of the former Maquan School for affordable senior housing, meeting the required threshold for 40B housing in Hanson.

“We got JJ’s [Pub site] cleaned up, at no additional cost to taxpayers, despite naysayers,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. She also mentioned the plastic grocery bag and polystyrene foam beverage cup and food container ban introduced by Selectmen Matt Dyer and Wes Blauss; regional dispatch services and planning for the town’s 200th anniversary celebration in 2020, among other accomplishments.

“I thoroughly enjoyed working with each and every one of you guys,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said of her fellow selectmen. “We’re very fortunate to be supported by a fabulous staff of people at Town Hall, volunteers on all the committees — we’re lucky. We’ve got a great town and it shows time and time again.”

Selectman Kenny Mitchell went over the Weston & Sampson plans just received that afternoon for the proposed highway barn at the former LiteControl property.

“This is not the final plan, so I don’t really want that out yet,” Mitchell said. The plans provide the scope of the building and parking lot, salt shed that has a non-permeable floor to avoid salt contamination of the wetlands, an low-heat vehicle storage building, fueling station and the main building, which includes a maintenance bays.

W-H principal Dr. Christopher Jones received the go-ahead from School Committee members on Wednesday, Dec. 11 to use a grant from NextGen, a personal finance firm, to fund a financial literacy program of studies with an eye toward including it as a graduation requirement beginning in 2024.

“We thought it would add up, seeing that we ran a pilot this year,” Jones said. “We were already looking to make it a graduation requirement.”

The $10,000 grant would help implement the program, however the Committee’s support in a vote, reflected in a vote recorded in the minutes to require financial literacy as a graduation criteria. No additional personnel is required with the rolling of a computer application course into the financial literacy program. An $11,500 state grant will fund professional development for the program.

“I’m glad to see we’re doing something on this,” said School Committee member Dan Cullity. “I do believe our students do not — over the last four or five years — come out of here knowing how to do anything for life. [They’re] basement dwellers because they don’t know how to get a house.”

He said there is such an emphasis on college, when only a certain amount go to college while the rest “have to get out there and do the blue-collar work.”

School Committee member Alexandra Taylor, who works in a bank, agreed.

“It’s not just younger people,” she added. “It’s adults my age who have no clue how to do any of it.”

Jones said the course goes beyond that, noting how students cover APR, buying a house, credit scores, interest rates and the like. Jones also outlined a policy approach to vaping and its potential for addiction, including consequences, recently classifying  it as a “suspension event.”

“We want to put in an educational component,” Jones said, noting that suspensions alone proved initially successful, but vaping use is on the increase again. A Saturday program is being looked at, including informational videos and reports as well as discussions with counselors, administrators or the school resource officer. Whitman resident Shawn Kain, of the recovery high school in Brockton, reiterated his request that the possibility of a student’s being diagnosed with a substance abuse disorder.

“I think it’s a whole lot more important or serious than we’re discussing,” Kain said. “I think addiction is a disability and I think it should be treated as a disability.”

He has been advocating for its inclusion in the student handbook as a disability just as any emotional disability.

The School Committee also approved Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak’s request to form a Superintendent’s Council of students with the aim of the students to meet three or four times a year with the committee.

Szymaniak proposed leaning on student leaders for membership on the council, but School Committee member Robert O’Brien Jr., said he would prefer hearing from a  cross-section of students.

“I want to hear from others, quite honestly,” O’Brien said. “I don’t always want to hear from the student leaders … I want to hear from all walks of life.”

Pantry donations

In other business, the students of the WHRHS National Honor Society presented checks for $908 each to the Whitman and Hanson food pantries during the meeting.

NHS members raised a total of $1,817 during the annual Miles for Meals 5K fun run and one-mile walk on Sept. 28, according to adviser Kelly Tanis, a language teacher.

Christine Cameron of the Hanson Food Pantry and Bruce Perry of the Whitman Food Pantry attended the meeting to accept the donations from NHS member Chloe Wilson.

“Thank you to both food pantries for all you do for the community,” Wilson said.

“Year in-year out these kids do this — it used to be under the direction of Ms. Galambos, but now Ms. Tanis — and they do a great job,” Perry said. “The students always come through for us and we really appreciate it. I really want to commend them for that.”

Cooking is the leading cause for home fires and injuries, and so State Fire Marshal Peter J. Ostroskey and Chief Dennis Condon, president of the Fire Chiefs’ Association of Massachusetts (FCAM) are urging residents to use caution while cooking in a statewide cooking fire safety public awareness campaign. This campaign has two main messages to prevent home fires: Stand by Your Pan to prevent cooking fires and Put a Lid on It to safely put grease fires out.

“Cooking is the number one cause of fires in Massachusetts, but they spike during the winter holiday season,” said Ostroskey “Leaving pots and pans unattended can be a recipe for disaster. So it is important to always stay in the kitchen when cooking.”

The Department of Fire Services has developed public services announcements (PSA’s) to educate the public on the importance of standing by your pan in the kitchen. They feature firehouse chefs from Holyoke and Methuen talking about cooking safety and sharing their favorite recipes. Lt. Maria Pelchar from Holyoke provides us with her recipe in Spanish. The PSA’s serve up two key messages on cooking safety in these television and radio spots: “Stand by Your Pan” to prevent fires and “Put a Lid on It” to put out a stovetop fire.

“Safety is the key ingredient in any recipe. The leading cause of fire injuries to everyone and especially to seniors is cooking,” said Condon, “which is why it is important to put a lid on a stovetop fire.” He suggests keeping a pot lid or cookie sheet handy when cooking.

Important cooking safety tips:

• Stand by your pan, when cooking. Never leave food, grease or oils cooking on the stovetop unattended.

• Put a lid on it. In the case of a pan fire, slide the lid on it to smother the fire, and then turn off the heat. Do not move the pan until it has cooled off.

• Water or fire extinguishers will not work. They will only spread the fire.

• Never move a burning pan. You can be badly burned or spread the fire.

• Wear short or tight-fitting sleeves when cooking, because loose fitting clothing can easily catch on fire.

• If your clothing catches fire, Stop, Drop, Cover and Roll to put out the flames.

According to the Massachusetts Fire Incident Reporting System (MFIRS), there were 9,816 residential fires in Massachusetts involving cooking in 2018, which resulted in one civilian death, 46 civilian injuries, 29 firefighter injuries and an estimated $5.4 million in property damage. Cooking is also the leading cause of injuries to older adults (people over the age of 65).

Some public housing authorities have started installing smart burners on stoves that limit the temperature burners can reach. They get hot enough to boil water but not hot enough to ignite a piece of paper. Another safety device that can be installed is an in-hood fire extinguisher. They contain an extinguishing agent in a small can installed by magnets in the hood over the stove. There are many examples of these devices putting out stove top fires in Massachusetts. The cleanup is minimal compared to a fire.

State and local fire officials are asking the public’s help in reducing the number of cooking fires this holiday season. “We’re challenging the public to reduce cooking fires this year by remembering to stay in the kitchen when frying, boiling and broiling, and checking on baking frequently,” said Ostroskey.

For more information, please visit mass.gov/cookingsafety.

The School Committee on Wednesday, Nov. 13, voted 8 to 1, with member Fred Small dissenting, to appoint a member from each town — Vice Chairman Christopher Scriven from Whitman and Chair Bob Hayes from Hanson — to a smaller Regional Agreement Amendment Committee, which began meeting Tuesday, Nov. 12. School Committee member Rob O’Brien Jr., was absent.

Whitman Selectmen Randy LaMattina said he and Selectman Justin Evans met with Hanson counterparts Selectmen Chairman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett and Selectman Matt Dyer — along with town administrators Frank Lynam and Meredith Marini — met in a “very informal” manner Nov. 12 to begin discussing an effort to find a way forward.

“I would describe the dialog as quality and respectful,” LaMattina said. “I would not say we came to a conclusion, but I would say we were very cognizant of each others’ concerns. The door is open.”

“I can’t promise anything,” FitzGerald-Kemmett agreed. “We don’t know what’s going to happen … ultimately it’s the taxpayers who decide.”

LaMattina said he would like to see the School Committee involved in the process, but noted that, at the end of the day, it is the selectmen who will be going to the taxpayers for “the check that we need to have cut.”

While he said Whitman is firm on the position that the statutory method is the most fair and equitable way to ensure state aid is going where it is intended.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said the meeting Tuesday was a good one and “We understand where Whitman’s coming at.”

She said both boards of selectmen are trying to do what is in the best interests of their residents.

“In the end, I think we’re cognizant that, while we’re trying to do what’s best for the citizens in our respective towns, we don’t want to see the schools harmed in the process,” she said.

She did, however, ask the School Committee for transparency and clarity, specifically on the current operating cost numbers that Marini has asked the district to provide in an effort to determine a path forward. LaMattina said that, while Whitman is still committed to the statutory assessment formula, the town may need to make concessions if Hanson is to be eased into the scenario, which can only be achieved if the next budget year’s figures are available.

“We need a budget,” he said.

“It would be bananas for us to try to figure out any kind of an agreement if we don’t have those numbers,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said of the information Hanson wants. “It’s literally like working in the dark.”

The two towns are still at odds over the assessment formula to be used by the district.

“It’s all going to come down to timing,” Hayes said.

The statutory method takes into account a town’s minimum per pupil expenditure designated by DESE — the minimum local contribution — which fluctuates based on inflation, wage adjustment, town’s total earned income, property values and municipal revenue growth. Anything in a budget over the minimum local contribution goes to the regional agreement, based on pupil population, for any other operating expense.

There is no requirement for unanimous agreement by both communities to use the statutory method.

The agreement/alternative method uses strict per-pupil representation to assess the communities, the method currently used by the district. Both communities have to pass the assessment methodology prior to the budget distribution or at town meeting in order to use this method. If one town does not vote the budget forward and the other does, it does not constitute unanimous agreement for the method to be used.

“The agreement pretty much only needs a couple of tweaks here and there, but they’re big tweaks,” said School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes in beginning the discussion. He asked for thoughts on how the Regional Agreement Committee could move ahead with fewer people, but the discussion quickly veered back to a debate on the merits of a statutory vs. agreement/alternative method of determining assessments to the towns.

“If that’s what we’re forming a committee to do, I don’t know that it’s the School Committee’s charge … you’re getting too many people in a room and too many chefs trying to make a stew,” said School Committee member Fred Small. “That should be between the two towns.”

He advocated the statutory formula is the fair way to go, but said if selectmen want to work together in the spirit of community to see if there is some give and take on the issue, a month’s delay to see if they could come to a solution might be in order before the School Committee formed a committee.

School Committee member Christopher Howard agreed the selectmen needed to meet to figure it out, but member Dawn Byers said the School Committee should have a voice in that process.

School Committee member Dan Cullity, however, said enough time has been wasted.

“We should have been doing this two months ago,” he said. “We can’t wait around any more, we’ve got to get this done.”

FitzGerald-Kemmett said she agreed with Small’s contention that the state will end up taking over.

“We know each side has sort of picked its weapons and worked out their position,” she said.

Town positions

LaMattina said Whitman remains a strong supporter of the regional school district.

“We know Hanson has been a good partner,” he said. “We will try to work through it, but neither town is going to back into this. I think we need to see a budget.”

While Whitman is looking to what the schools future needs are, “We cannot formulate a plan with an unknown number,” LaMattina said. “I don’t know if we’re going to come to a great kumbaya agreement, I do think we can get there but I think we need to know where ultimately we need to be.”

Hanson wants to see the district’s current operating costs, FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

Small said there is a “lot of misinformation” on social media.

“There’s no such thing as a wealth-based method,” he said. “If we were two separate towns the monies that we’re talking about would be Whitman’s money just going to Whitman, because it’s part of Whitman’s Chapter 70 money.”

He said the statutory method was the only one available back in 1993, until an amendment in 1995-96 permitted an alternative method.

“When half of our money — $25 million — comes from the state, and they’re only increasing their revenue by half a percent, our town can only pay so much,” Small said.

One Hanson resident, who has worked in the school district in the past, said it sounded to her like the committee was trying to rush a decision. She said FitzGerald-Kemmett’s request for current budget numbers made sense to her.

“I understand Whitman is in a crisis, but is this the way to go?” she said, noting Hanson’s assessment could go up by $1 million.

School Committee member Christopher Howard advocated rushing into a dialog if not a decision.

“I think both towns are making very valid points,” Howard said. “My concern is, if we give some folks in one town some information, and some folks in the other town other information, I’m just very concerned about … folks selectively picking and choosing certain data points to make certain arguments,” he said. “There’s value in people coming together as a group.”

Whitman Town Administrator Frank Lynam said he understands the reason for FitzGerald-Kemmett’s request for a breakdown of costs by school building.

“We want to get deeper in the budget process,” he said. “We want to understand what the costs are individually and where they are coming from.”

He also said detailed information is needed for what is being sought for fiscal 2021.

Small and Whitman resident Chris George, meanwhile, became involved in a heated exchange with Hanson resident Bruce Young about the assessment formulas.

“Since 1993, when educational reform was passed, and since the state has been giving out Chapter 70 aid differently than they did in 1991, when our agreement was struck, aid to one town — in some years Hanson and in some years Whitman — has been reallocated from one town to another,” said George. “That’s what not following the statutory method does. Since 2015, that’s close to $4 million from the town of Whitman.”

When the region received state aid, Young countered, it is not allocated to the towns or specific students in the towns, it is allocated to every student in the district.

“This is a region, not two towns within a region,” he said.

Small said the state has different minimum contribution formulas for the two towns because they receive different Chapter 70 aid funds.

“When you get up there and say it doesn’t exist, you are telling a falsehood,” Small said. “I’m calling you out on it.”

School Committee member Steven Bois had heard enough at that point.

“You make me think I want to start a night class here,” said Bois, a longtime school volunteer and former Whitman Finance Committee member. “There has to be a point — and this is coming from a Republican — you have to have the ability to pay. I volunteered at both schools and, never said this anywhere publically, but I’ve seen differences between Whitman kids and Hanson kids and I know where the needs really are.”

He said he has listened to the debate without comment for three meetings, and had had enough.

“Mr. Young, I don’t think you’ve been on our side at all,” Bois said. “I know I got an email from your wife when I first won election, ‘Oh, a Republican got in, thank goodness.’ No, that ain’t it, it’s still all of us.”

WHITMAN — On Monday, Dec. 2, five days after consuming that Thanksgiving turkey and all the trimmings, Whitman voters will be asked to attend a brief special Town Meeting seen as vital to the town. The Town Meeting would start at 7:30 p.m., in Town Hall Auditorium.

Among the items on the four-article warrant is funding toward repairs to the town’s wastewater system — and a quorum of 150 registered voters is vital for that business to be addressed, according to Town Administrator Frank Lynam.

The Board of Selectmen, in an unusual afternoon meeting followed by an equally unusual Tuesday meeting of the School Committee [see related story], voted 4-0 to approve date and warrant for the Town Meeting. Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski was not present.

“The DPW is in need of an appropriation to begin the work to replace the sewer force main,” Lynam said. “I know it’s difficult, sometimes, to have special Town Meetings at this time of year and I’ve asked that we do this early in order to have the maximum amount of time to promote this meeting because our ability to continue to use our sanitary system, is dependent on that force main — and it is failing. We’re at a critical point, now.”

That work is being addressed under article four on the warrant — which seeks $900,000, of which $121,676.23 is to pay for a retro-assessment for sewer service in 2016. Another $88,083.70 is for fiscal 2017. Both are due to Whitman’s negotiation of a successor contract with Brockton since July 1, 2015.

“We have finally reached a point where we believe we are in agreement,” Lynam said. “We won’t know that until we see final document language.”

Whitman has not been billed for fiscal 2018 yet.

“Those items, along with the cost of designing and building a force main will be somewhere near $900,000,” Lynam said. By appropriating that amount, he said the town should have sufficient funds to do the work and any left-over funds will be returned to the sewer enterprise account.

The first article is to transfer $4,500 from Norfolk County Aggie to pay a prior year bill to Collins Engineering, who helped the town with the repair evaluation of Hobart’s Dam.

Article two would transfer $37,918 from both Norfolk County and the law account “because we would really like to pay the [police] chief we just hired for the whole year,” Lynam said.

Article three is a transfer up to $7,209 — perhaps less would be needed, but that is not clear at this point — to cover for the Animal Control Officer, who has been out on workmen’s compensation.

“Even though there are only four articles, those four articles are very important,” said Vice Chairman Dan Salvucci.

Selectman Justin Evans said he had an issue with taking funds from the law account for part of article two.

Lynam said those were the funds most likely to be available, as the town does not have additional levy space. Any resulting shortfall in the law account would have to be addressed in the May special Town Meeting, he noted.

“Frankly, I didn’t want to use free cash,” he said.

Lynam said he has been meeting with the assessor and they have determined that this year’s excess levy has “dropped dramatically.”

It is now $3,982.

He said the information would likely give the town an appropriation levy of $27,241,000 and a tax rate of $15.86, figures to be clarified at the tax classification hearing on Tuesday, Nov. 19.