HANSON – The Select Board on Tuesday, March 11 voted to form a Library Building Committee the list of proposed members.
Town Administrator Lisa Green reminded the board that the Hanson Public Library had received a grant for a design and planning phase for either the renovation of its space or the construction of a new building.
One of the requirements of the grant, of up to $100,000, is that a committee be created to discuss the project and follow it along, Green said. Another is that the grant funding be spent on the project or the unused portion – plus interest – must be returned.
Library Director Karen Stolfer has submitted a list of names of volunteers who have stepped forward or agreed to do so when asked. They are: Stolfer, Corrine Cofardo, Teresa Santalucia, Linda Wall, Pamela French, Antonio DeFrais, Tom Hickey, Patrick Faella, and Melissa Valcovic.
Stolfer said this week that the committee’s main job will be developing a request for proposals (RFP) for hiring an owner’s project manager (OPM), a task that must be completed by the end of the year – not only because of the grant’s spending deadline, but also because there are at least four other library projects in the state that are ahead in that process.
Once an OPM is hired, they will help in the hiring of an architect.
“Once we have all our documentation in by the end of this year, then the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners will make sure we meet their level of design,” she said, noting that the MBLC would decide on the construction grants it will award in February 2026 – which is also the time in which the town’s lawsuit over the MBTA Communities Act could come into play.
“With construction, we’re just not really sure,” Stolfer said. “That is tied into the MBTA issues, so we don’t know if we’re going to be proceeding with construction, depending on what happens with that. … We’re just moving forward in the environment we find ourselves in.”
MBLC works under a funding cap of $25 million per grant round to finance all the projects it approves, much as the Massachusetts School Building Authority makes financial decisions on school projects it funds.
While the Select Board was supportive of the project, there are concerns over how a building committee will be staffed.
“Employees really shouldn’t be voting members of the committee, but certainly [could serve as] supporting members of the committee,” said Select Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett. She also called Cofardo that week to advise her that DeFrais “had limited bandwidth,” but certainly would be supportive, if the committee had specific needs for his assistance.
FitzGerald-Kemmett also reached out to offer her advice that the list of names indicated it was a rather large committee, but limiting Stolfer and DeFrias to advisory roles, the panel becomes a little smaller.
“The one thing that I would urge you guys to think about, is I know these people have expressed an interest, but I think it’s just as vital to get an at-large member coming in with fresh eyes, that’s going to look at this in the same way as an average taxpayer is going to look at it,” she said.
FitzGerald-Kemmett suggested members who could look at the project from an outsider’s perspective.
“I will leave that up to you guys in terms of whether that’s the list,” she said.
She also told library representatives that they would need a Select Board member.
“In looking at everyone’s commitment levels, I was somewhat hoping that [David] George might be that member,” she said.
George agreed to take on that role.
“For tonight, I think what we want to say is the formation of the committee – we need to take some kind of vote [for that], and as far as who is in it … we can figure that out up the road,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
The one question the board had was whether the library committee would be considered temporary or a permanent one.
“The vote that I’d like to take tonight would be contingent on legal counsel getting back to us,” she said. “It seems that it might be quasi-temporary, although it’s going to be protracted. so it’s not a hit-and run committee. It’s not a one-issue committee, if you will.”
She suggested forming the building committee to the extent that legal counsel as well a vote to getting back to us and tells us whether we need to put it on the Town Meeting warrant, and if not, reassuring the board it has taken the action it need to.
Stolfer said Hickey’s agreeing to serve on the committee was especially helpful, since – as superintendent-director of SST, which is also involved in a building project involving a state funding authority – he has just completed many similar pre-construction work.
“I’m looking forward to it, and I want to help out,” Hickey said.
“We have to choose a site, they will do schematic designs, they’ll be looking at our library building program that we had to submit grant application,” Stolfer said. “It really lays out the kind of features the library should have, using that document to come up with a design.”
Site visits would also be included in the RFP.
Elder tax fund and panel formed in Whitman
WHITMAN – The Select Board on Tuesday, March 11voted 3-0 to appoint a tax relief fund and committee to aid elderly and disabled taxpayers.
Committee members Justin Evans and Laura Howe were not present.
Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter said that the assessor had asked on Thursday, Feb. 27 about Whitman Aid Taxation Fund that had been approved under Article 65 of the May 2001 annual Town Meeting.
The provisions, under MGL Ch. 60 Sec. 3D authorizes the town to design and designate a place on municipal tax bills, motor vehicle excise tax bills or a separate form to mail with such bills to permit taxpayer the opportunity to voluntarily check off, donate or pledge and amount not less than $1or other designated amount. The tax bill would be increased by the amount designated, with proceeds to go into an Elderly and Disabled Taxation Fund in order to defray the real estate taxes of elderly and disabled persons of low income.
Donations received must be deposited into a special account in the custody of the treasurer,
Any town setting up such a fund must also form a Taxation Aid Committee consisting of the Board of Assessors Chair, city or town treasurer and three residents appointed by the mayor or select board. The Committee will adopt rules and regulations under which it will carry out its function and to identify recipients of tax aid.
“While this provision was voted in 2001, I can’t find any evidence that a Whitman Aid Taxation Committee was formed,” she stated. “Tonight, I’d like to ask the board to establish a Taxation Aid Committee. If it’s done, then any resident interested in serving on the committee can certainly contact the Select Board.”
“Twenty-four years ago and nothing’s happened,” Select Board Chair Dr. Carl Kowalski said before the board voted to change that.
Resident John Galvin volunteered to serve on the committee as soon as it was voted.
“I did hear about this and I want to commend the assessor’s office for finding this, because this is something I’ve been pushing for for a while,” he said. “The way I understand it, is that is would be like Community preservation, except it’s voluntary.”
Former Select Board Chair Randy LaMattina spoke during the public forum about questions he had for the Town Administrator concerning the schools’ bond position and how it will affect the overall payment for the WMS school project and whether there was any situation where a town employee would work 80 to 90 hours per week without compensation, as he recently saw posted on social media and for an explanation of the animal control officer position in town.
Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter said, regarding his first question that she attended a meeting with the state’s Municipal Finance Oversight Board as the WHRSD needed to contact them to become state-rated, rather than on their own, because the 2022 and the 2023 audits were not available to the district, as they are required to have to go out for bids on the open market. The MFOB approved the district’s request to go out to bid with state-rated bonds, which she said have a better rate than the district’s rating when they last had an active rating.
LaMAttina asked if the rating from MFOB is higher.
“Yes, it is a little higher,” Carter said. “I have a [preliminary] debt schedule right now … we plan on borrowing $30 million in May.” She said she thinks that rating is estimated at 5 percent.
On employee hours, Carter said she was not aware of any employee, whose hours match what LaMattina saw on town social media pages.
LaMattina said he knew there are two ACOs working for Whitman – one during the day and one at night who also covers, asking for information on the position’s pay scale and how it is covered.
Carter said both positions were 19 hours each and Carter confirmed they alternate weekends on call.
“It’s no one that I’m asking about specifically,” he said. “It’s just things I’ve read online and unfortunately, it comes from a person that represents this town, and it’s really bothered me for quite some time.”
Hanson sues over MBTA zoning
HANSON — The town has filed suit against the Commonwealth, arguing that the MBTA Community Act is an unfunded mandate.
Hanson Select Board issued a statement about lawsuit on March 6.
Contacted Monday, March 17. Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said the statement completely expressed the board’s objections to the MBTA Communities Act and that there was little to add.
“We know we’re in a minority,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “But we’re committed to doing the will of the people and that’s the message we got at Town Meeting.”
Hanson is the fifth community to file suit in a new legal fight against the transit hub housing law, joining Marshfield, Middleborough, Middleton and Wrentham in maintining that the MBTA Communities Act represents an unfunded mandate, following an opinion issued by Massachusetts Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s office to that point in February.
According to published reports Gov. Healey’s office said DiZoglio’s opinion has no weight and that the state has provided close to $8 million in funding to help communities rewrite their zoning. Her office also created a fund to help compliant communities support new construction, offering money to help pay for things like infrastructure improvements and land acquisition, according to a spokesman.
In January, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the state can in fact force communities to comply with the MBTA Communities Act, if the state rewrites the housing law’s regulations.
The following is the Hanson Select Board’s statement:
“Last Thursday, [March 6] the Town commenced legal action against the Commonwealth, seeking relief from enforcement of the so-called MBTA zoning law and also seeking release of vital grants that have been frozen by the State.
“The Town’s suit arises from a recent determination from the State Auditor that the MBTA zoning law constitutes an unfunded mandate. Under such determination, the Auditor, through its Division of Local Mandates, directed the Commonwealth’s housing agency, EOHLC, to provide the required information on the fiscal impact of the law.
“To date, the Commonwealth has refused to do so and has emphatically declared that it will enforce the law, including the requirement that Hanson pass a complying zoning bylaw by July 14.
“Hanson voters overwhelmingly defeated an article concerning an MBTA zoning bylaw amendment, in large part due to a concern over unfunded obligations. Under the Act, the Town would be required to zone for a minimum of 750 multi-family units at a gross density of 15 units per acre across a minimum of 50 acres. This increase in density would require substantial investment in municipal infrastructure, including educational services.
“The Hanson Select Board determined that the most practical and fiscally responsible way to compel the Commonwealth to provide the necessary financial impact information was to file suit in Superior Court. The legal action also seeks to relieve the Town from the duty of complying with the statute until the Commonwealth provides funding to cover the financial costs of compliance. Hanson has been joined by four other communities in bringing suit against the Commonwealth.
“The Select Board remains committed to obtaining important fiscal impact information on MBTA zoning compliance and believes that the Commonwealth’s financial analysis is necessary for voters to make an informed decision at Town Meeting on whether to adopt an MBTA Zoning bylaw.”
A novel approach to diplomatic career
HANSON – Author visits to the Hanson Public Library at 9 a.m. on a Saturday are unusual, to say the least.
As a regular morning Saturday Stories group sang “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” and “The Wheels on the Bus,” in the Children’s Room on the other side of the wall, Duxbury teen Julianna Lee was reading a poignant passage from her debut novella, “we never slept after that,” about survival among political and religious violence and upheaval.
If the time and atmosphere were different, so is the author.
The early hour was because Lee, a senior at Duxbury High School, had to travel to New Haven, Conn., in the afternoon for a scholarship reception where she’ll be studying international politics and Albanian at Yale University in the fall.
More than a dozen Hanson residents listened to her speak about how she came to write her self-published book, answer questions and read selected passages before offering to sign purchased copies of the book. The audience included friends and neighbors of Lee’s grandparents, who reside at Stonebridge Commons in Hanson.
They all learned that the fractured history of post-WWII Albania and war-torn Kosovo of the 1990s have some resonance for America, and so many other areas of the world in 2025.
Lee’s book, liker her, was born in Massachusetts – part of an Albanian-American community and church. In a history class interview project in 2022, her sophomore year, she got to know the real-life stories that serve as the nucleus of her novel of two young men fleeing their homes to find new lives in America.
Dimitri is a Muslim Albanian raised in what became the Serian-controlled territory of Kosovo during the ethnic cleansing as the former Yugoslavia was shattered. Gjon is a Chrisian Albanian living under the repressive government had betrayed had the people’s hopes that communism would bring the freedom for which they long hoped.
“The narrative history is the most important thing in this book,” she said in her talk. “Just being able to recognize, even though they’re such different people in different stories in different time periods, and religions, that what they’ve gone through is surprisingly very similar.”
She fictionalized the work because most of the people she had interviewed for her class project had wanted to remain anonymous, for obvious reasons. Her use of parallel story lines, she said, is a more powerful way to see that they share more in common that even they might think.
The book, however, was a personal journey that stemmed from the AP World History interview project, and credited her teacher, Jesse Dennis, with running a classroom focused on discussion and conversation that sparked ideas and curiosity in her mind to do outside research.
Her additional research took her back to the days of Ottoman Empire Albania, and understanding how one empire can overtake another country and what it looks like for people to have to convert to a different religion, as they struggle to understand where do their existing beliefs fit into a new reality.
“Who are you when you’re controlled by a different government that doesn’t represent your people? These questions made me think not just of my family, but of the entire Albanian population, as much as governments around the world,” she said. “It’s definitely very specific to the Balkan area, just because there are so many smaller nations and different religious groups –you’ll find a Muslim nation next to a Christian nation – and because the history of that area is so disputed, there’s great disagreement over who owns the land and has claim over it. It’s something that’s exasperated the Balkans, but is something that’s common across the world, as well.”
To find her interview subjects, she started local and expanded on an interest her family had kindled..
“I think, overall it was the not knowing and uncertainty of my own family history, as well as this history that has such rich stories and ideas … and needs more recognition that it has a story applicable to governments around the world,” she said.
Family, parishioners at the Albanian Eastern Orthodox Church she visited in Boston, taking a trip to Albania to hear more recent accounts as well as the stories of people who have passed provided a wealth of information.
Among the most powerful stories Lee had heard was from a Muslim Kosovar who works at an optometry shop where she has her glasses tightened.
“I had originally set out to interview an X-amount of Christian Albanians and the same amount of Muslim Albanians and have it spread out over a time period,” she said. “But, when I interviewed this man – I’ll keep his name anonymous – I think that it would be almost too many stories to interview a bunch more because he was sharing other people’s stories, as well.”
He had been forced to leave his home when the Serbs invaded Kosovo, he had to flee and ended up in a refugee camp in northern Macedonia, among others, before he was finally able to relocate to the United States. His story of his escape on the day Serbians came to his village, and separated the men from the women and girls before beating them provided the title for the book.
Some wrapped up in these conflicts are faced as Dimitri must, with the decision of whether to flee and leave other family members behind. That family connection, as well as personal safety and agency all enter into a person’s decision to flee and seek refuge in another country, she said.
Available through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, she found that process allowed a quick turnaround for her book to get published, but a career in writing is not definite at this point, she said.
“I always wanted to be [a writer] when I was younger, but I think, now, I’m so interested in the idea of international politics and relations, I think maybe going that route, and using writing as a way to support that,” she said. “In the foreign services, you are writing a lot and that’s a major part of your job. … I think that’s what I want to do.”
Lee said she wants to improve her command of the Albanian language – something offered at some New England universities – with Harvard and Yale offering budding Albanian programs. Yale, where Lee will be studying also offers a major in Slavic, Baltic and Albanian languages. At Harvard, it is part of the languages curriculum.
She is also keeping a sober eye on the effects of current politics on the place she hopes to work one day – the United States Department of State.
“It’s important to maintain civil relationships with other countries and to have good diplomatic relationships with these other states,” she said. “I am concerned with the future of the State Department, but hopeful that future politicians and generations that will be running the State Department in the future, will recognize the need to support the State Department and diplomacy abroad.”
That said, she noted that – as with the military — chain of command is important.
One member of the audience lauded Lee’s work as not many of the world’s genocides are known about.
“Being able to allow complex histories and contrasting viewpoints as a way of bring communities together and spark conversations to uplift society, rather than be the driving force for division, is something that we all need to take away in our country and other countries everywhere,” Lee said. “Political polarization is something that people talk about a lot, but just the idea of allowing differences to start conversations that bring people together instead of dividing them is something that I really wanted to get across in the book.”
Just because it’s history, she said, doesn’t mean it’s in the past.
Finance Committee recommends $3M override
HANSON – Members of the Finance Committee met with the Select Board on Tuesday, March 11 to brief the board on the budget they are looking to approve as a group, according to Finance Chair Kevin Sullivan,
“There’s a little more information in here than you all are probably aware of,” Sullivan said. “We’re trying to build a case for where we’re going in FY ’26.”
He said his goal, as always was to paint the picture of where town finances are in the current fiscal year, using numbers from either the Department of Revenue Office of Local Services or Town Accountant Eric Kinsherf.
The overall FY 2026 budget of $39,186,078 is showing roughly a $3 million deficit, including a 10-percent assessment increase from the school district. Kinsherf had pinpointed the deficit at $2,9 million on Feb. 25.
It would move the fire chief’s request for $348,000 to add personnel back into a budget line, for example.
“We’re increasing an average of 6 percent each year for the last five years,” Sullivan said. “However, it’s a 37-percent increase from FY ’21 to FY ’26.”
He characterized that kind of jump in the budget within five years is “pretty severe.”
Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett asked what portion of that increase was attributable to the school district. Sullivan replied, “a significant portion.”
Hanson’s general government budget for FY 2026 is up by 11 percent. Public safety budgets increased by 10 percent. Education is up by 9 percent overall, but 10 percent came from WHRSD and South Shore Tech showed a 4-percent decrease. The Board of Health budget increased by 24 percent in the salary line.
“We haven’t gotten to the bottom of it yet,” Sullivan said. “This is kind of the raw numbers. … I was shocked to see some of these in double digits.”
Recreation, however, continues to be in the red.
“They are no longer self-sufficient, they are no longer turning a profit … so that will be a hit to us, combined with an estimated deficit at the transfer station of $130,000,” Sullivan said. But that figure is not included in the 24-percent increase in the Board of Health budget.
“You can tack that number [$130,000] in as well, and it will look even worse,” he said.
While the Finance Committee has not officially voted on it, Sullivan said the general consensus of the committee is that the town should seek a $3 million override to close the operational budget deficit.
Based on a property valuation of $515,000, it would increase the tax rate by $752 per year. Hard numbers for all home values are on the Finance Committee page on the town’s website (hanson-ma.gov).
“That $3 million would include everything operational,” he said. “It would include bringing another shift of the Fure Department on board, it would keep everyone on the hours that were restored in October … the $3 million would cover everything. … It doesn’t prioritize one department over the rest.”
Kinsherf said the recommendation was “right on point,” reflecting modest improvement in the town’s fiscal situation and staffing levels.
“We’ve still asked people to put in austerity measures,” said FitzGerald-Kemmett. “It’s not like we’re in a spending spree, but it does allow growth in areas that we’ve identified that we need.”
Select Board Vice Chair Ann Rein asked what increase was being allowed for the school department.
Sullivan said a 10-percent school increase was calculated for W-H schools.
“And I’m planning for the worst,” he said. “We have had no luck in negotiating that number down.”
Revenue snapshot
Looking at incoming funds, Sullivan reminded the board that 93 percent of the town’s revenue comes from taxes. If you add personal property [excise taxes] that figure rises to about 95 percent.
“Commercial-industrial taxes account for very little in this town,” he said. “We always look for these mystery piles of money. They don’t exist, other than the value of your house.”
There is no new growth, and Sullivan said it is actually down slightly.
The average single family tax bill in Hanson increased by 12 percent in FY ’20 through ’22, that was the override passed at the time. It’s actually currently decreasing, according to Sullivan, who said “the increase is getting less.”
“I look at this as how are we keeping pace,” he said. “We’re great at keeping our taxes low, because we’re under the Prop 2.5 levy, the levy restricts us, we can only raise taxes that amount – it’s sort of this interesting shell game that you can go play with the assessors and the collectors, and they say, ‘We adjust the rate based on where you are.”
Where free cash is concerned, the town uses about 20 percent of certified free cash, but since FY ’23, use of free cash levels have steadily increased, Sullivan said.
“Historically we have used it for capital expenditures, articles. The things that a small town doesn’t have the money to do generally,” he said. “We buy police cruisers, we pay for conservation, we do all the stuff that our budget doesn’t let us do.”
Sullivan, who is vice president of the Association of Town Finance Committees, said he has been arguing with his peers to change the term “free cash.”
“We’ve got to work to change it, because it gives people a false sense of hope,” he said. “You want to save that ‘free cash’ so you can buy those police cruisers.”
Rein compared it to the “Peanuts” storyline of Lucy pulling the football away.
“But here it’s like putting the football back,” she said. “I wish we could not have that roller coaster.”
But Hanson has hit a point where it’s not sustainable as town expenses grow exponentially, according to Sullivan.
In FY ’24-25 the town used almost 135 percent of the previous use of free cash.
“We’re lucky that we had it,” he said. “We’re not going to have it always. There’s a limit – there’s an end and we’ve been lucky that the town accountant’s found some sources to load back to free cash. … Free cash can be a crutch for a lot of small towns.”
Select Board member Joe Weeks said the Finance presentation was great, because it shows people what the situation is.
“Statistics can be scary if you don’t know what they’re made of,” he said. “The more information, the more data that we can get out there, the more people can make an informed decision.”
“I think this puts us on a good footing for the future,” Sullivan said.
FitzGerald-Kemmett agreed.
“Perhaps we’ll even see some modest growth,” she said, noting that the Finance Committee has been meeting with department heads and vetting their requests against what their needs are.
“The majority of the Finance Committee is not thrilled about higher taxes,” Sullivan said. “We’re not higher tax people, we’re just coming to a point where we’re going to be hitting a wall.”
Budget survey
Town Administrator Lisa Green said a survey is being conducted through the town’s engaging of Bridgewater State University, focusing on the town budget and override. A link to the survey is available on the town website budget page (hansonbudget.com).
“As people answer the survey and submit them, BSU graduate students will be tallying the responses,” Green said. “This is really going to give us a taste of where the appetite is in the town.”
Paper copies of the survey will be available at Town Hall and will be mailed to residents at the expense of Bridgewater State.
Green: ‘People need us’
HANSON – Back an override or make deep cuts in the budget – that’s a decision being made in town halls around the state this year.
Hanson Town Accountant Eric Kinsherf, who said all town department and school budgets were in, told the Select Board in a budget update at its last meeting on Feb. 25 the facts of budgeting life in town today.
“I’m going to just cut to the chase,” he said. “The best thing for the town to do financially, and maintain all these services, the town would need to vote an override. I’m thinking $2.9 million, and – if that happened – we’d be able to fund this [he said, holding up a sheaf of department budget documents] and we would not be touching any of our reserves, like free cash and so forth.”
An override amount could also go as high as $3.4 million, if new firefighter positions are included.
“It’s not an easy conversation to have,” he said.
“I think we need to have it, because people need to know, if we don’t pass an override, what’s going to happen – not in a threatening way, but in a factual way,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
That would bring the override question a $3.4 million one.
The board asked to see something more closely resmbling a final budget with harder numbers for Kinsherf’s next update.
Kinsherf argued there are two ways to decide the matter: Hold another department head working group session at Camp Kiwanee, as they did under the Madden Group’s strategic planning exercises; or give each department a dollar figure and ask them to come up with a budget to match it.
The bottom line is, if the override fails, the town would be see its reserves reduced to dangerously low levels and cutting services, Kinsherf said.
Town Administrator Lisa Green said the impact of an override failure would be devastating.
“All town departments, basically, are already operating on a minimal staff,” Green said. “So, this level of budget cuts is going to result in a loss of staff. The loss of staff is going to require office hours to be reduced significantly – 36 full-time employees will lose their jobs. That is taking most of the departments here in the town of Hanson, and putting them down to, maybe, one person.”
Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett asked if the $2.9 million included in those new positions Fire Chief Robert O’Brien Jr., has said his department needs.
“No. It does not,” Kinsherf replied, “That would have to be a separate vote.”
“In talking to the Finance Committee, they would like to have one amount,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said, “Is there a way you could work on getting that [included]?”
Kinsherf said that, if the Select Board wished, he could add the approximately $348,000 needed for the Fire Department position into the override figure.
“I don’t think we’d have to raise all that on the residents right away,” he said. “I think the chief is going to get a grant for the first three years.’
FitzGerald-Kemmett said O’Brien doesn’t know if it will happen or not.
“There’s no easy way to even do it, because it’s going to be impactful” Kinsherf said, recommending, as an alternative, using $1.1 million from free cash and cutting $1.8 million from the existing requests, including the schools. He said it would be hard to identify that many budget reductions.
“Mathematically, that would work, and the $1.8 million would include the schools, because the [W-H] schools are asking for a $1.1 million increase. If the town departments had to take that whole $7.8 million, it would not be good,” he said searching for a word to adequately describe the impact.
Thinking of contingency plans, Kinsherf said, a $1.1 million draw from free cash would leave the town with $1.1 million in unappropriated free cash and $1.7 million in the stabilization fund – or all the town’s reserves – forcing the need to drain those reserves almost to zero if the schools insisted on the full amount of their assessments.
Board member Joe Weeks, knowing the Select Board has already asked the question – asked if the rest of the town’s operating budget is limited to a 2.5 percent increase, how big an increase does the W-H school budget pose for Hanson?
Taking the non-fixed budget, Kinsherf said he calculated the school increase to be about a 9-percent increase.
The schools make up 47 percent of Hanson’s overall budget.
“To be fair to the schools, their total budget is only projected to go up 5.7 percent,” Kinsherf said. “But they’re in the same situation as we are … their state aid is next to zero [in terms of an increase].”
FitzGerald-Kemmett said the Select Board has a limited, if any influence on how the School Committee votes on a budget. They’ve had discussions with the Committee on the effect of school increases on town budgets in the past, as well.
“We really haven’t had a lot of success in partnering with the School Committee and with the district on tempering the spending there,” she said.
She acknowledged that they have no control over how the school budget reflects the Committee’s role in funding the education of the town’s children, but asked Green how they could handle the money the Select Board does control.
Green repeated that about 36 full-time positions will be lost.
“Everything has to be on the table,” she said. “It’s unfortunate because, again, we’re already operating with a minimal staff. Many offices only have two people, some have three … but all departments are going to be impacted in some way.”
Green said voters have to be aware of how budgeting works.
“People don’t understand that, once these cuts are made, and they go to the Senior Center the next day to find it closed, you can’t just say, ‘Oh, I didn’t realize that was going to happen, let’s put the money back,’” she said. “It can’t happen like that.”
She explained that, once services are cut, they are gone until the town goes through the whole process to bring them back with funding.
“These are services – and [Senior Center Director] Mary Collins is a perfect example of this – people need us,” Green said. “They need town services. Maybe people don’t realize it right away. You might not need us today, but you could possibly need us tomorrow.”
She had another question for people looking for the services after an override failure.
“Who are they going to turn to?” Green asked. “It’s not just Senior, it’s Highway.”
Weeks said he wasn’t certain the town even has 36 people they can cut, and said they’ve been through this before. Last year, positions were cut, only to be brought back at the October Town Meeting.
“I remember being very adamant that I didn’t want to bring them back because I knew we’d find ourselves right back to where we are now, where we’re talking about cutting things again,” he said.
Kinsherf was asked what decimating the cash reserves in an attempt to balance the budget do to the town’s bond ratings, but he was also concerned what would happen if the town needed those cash reserves.
“This is a little like DEFCON 5 on the budget cycle,” he said. “Good thing we have the reserves, because, if not, it would be even worse.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett asked what would happen if there was a catastrophic event after the town had tapped into its reserves.
Kinsherf said the town would need special permission from the Department of Revenue Division of Local Services to deficit spend and would have to go before the Emergency Finance Board and most likely placed under some type of receivership. Bonding companies would also likely put Hanson on a watch list if its reserves were low.
“I don’t want to over-dramatize it,” he said. “That’s what it is.”
Asked how the town got to this spot, Kinsherf reminded the board of past use of free cash. His first year on the job the town used $478,000 of that one-time money to fund the budget. Last year’s budget was balanced using $1 million in free cash plus $1.2 million in unused article money from past years.
“We have to make up that $1.2 million this year,” he said. Realistically, he said the override would be good for about three years unless something structurally changes the way it does business.
“It’s a misnomer that, over the years the budget’s been mishandled,” Weeks said. “We are on top of it.” He lauded Kinsherf for finding funds where no one had thought to look before.
“It was underneath the couch cushions and underneath those cushions,” he said. “It is not a manner of mismanagement. It is not a matter of money mismanagement. We just don’t have the dollars.”
Budget certified for SST
HANOVER – The South Shore Tech School Committee certified the school’s $16.9 million fiscal 2026 budget on Feb. 12, and spent most of February visiting town select boards and finance committees to review the spending plan. Those visits concluded on March 6.
Superintendent/Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey noted that SST is obligated to certify a budget number at least 45 days before the earliest Town Meeting among its member towns, which is April 7 in Scituate.
The $16,944,649 budget figure was unanimously certified.
“By certifying the budget, the committee sets a ceiling,” he said. “The budget process is always moving forward and does not come to completion until we’ve secured at least six out of nine towns at spring annual town meetings.”
The certification allows no changes or amendments that would raise it.
SST is looking at the highest enrollment in school history with 685 students with more than 430 applications for the 180 freshmen seats next year.
Enrollment trends set the assessments to individual towns, with Whitman and Hanson, which have historically had among the largest enrollments, decreasing by six students in Hanson and 18 students in Whitman.
Based on the Chapter 70 formula, a three-year rolling average toward capital, transportation calculations, other costs and debt service as well as enrollment, down by 18 students next year, Whitman’s assessment will be $1,650,218 – a reduction of $143,109 from fiscal 2025 (1,793,327) –and with six fewer students next year, Hanson’s will be $1,042,487 – a reduction of $56,178 from fiscal 2025 ($1,098,635).
Chapter 70 aid increased by $51,648 and Regional Transportation Reimbursement is projected to increase by $185,281. The district will use $318,250 from the stabilization fund to cover the first year of debt for the building project.
Cost increases include $97,987 more in the Plymouth County Assessment and $173,819 more to fund health insurance. Additional bus routes and afternoon runs is expected to increase that expense by $72,000.
Reductions include a cut by $140,000 – to $90,000 for future vehicles.
More teaching positions will also be paid partially by grants:
An electrical teacher ($8,377 – 80 percent on the budget;
Horticulture teacher ($21,519, fully on the budget);
An English learner/special ed teacher ($34,383 – 76 percent on the budget) and a
Special education team chair ($33,654 – 51 percent on the budget).
A grant will also add $8,492 to increase time for a Culinary Arts aide.
Three fires in three days
WHITMAN — The Whitman Fire Department saved three residences from more extensive damage during a busy week of calls last week, with Fire Chief Timothy Clancy crediting fast response times and quick action at the scene with preventing a total loss to home and property owners.
“Our crews responded and acted fast to bring these fires under control,” Clancy said in a statement about the fires on Wednesday, March 5. “Damage at all three scenes was minimal for structure fires, but could have been far worse.”
No injuries were sustained at any of the fires, and no residents were displaced as a result of the incidents.
“The biggest thing was we were fortunate that we had staffing at headquarters that were able to respond, and he ability to have members available to respond to the calls immediately,” Clancy said. “I’m just fortunate [that], I don’t believe any of the ambulances were out, so to have the full complement of staff here to respond definitely made for a positive outcome.”
The trio of calls began with a deck fire at a house on 651 Plymouth St., on Sunday March 2 as fire crews responded to late afternoon fire at 5:58 p.m.
Whitman Car 3, Engine 243, Ladder 246 and Car 240 arrived to find a two-story, wood-framed single-family residence threatened by a small fire at the rear of the home that had extended to the home’s rear deck after briefly leaving a fire pit unattended, according to Clancy.
The homeowners told firefighters that they had a small fire in their backyard fire pit, about five feet from the deck, the chief states. The residents briefly left the fire unattended and returned to find the deck and several lawn chairs burning.
The residents immediately called 911 at 5:54 p.m. and attempted to extinguish the fire with a garden hose and small fire extinguisher, but were unsuccessful. The home’s five occupants and three small dogs evacuated the residence by the time firefighters arrived on the scene. They reported no injuries
Engine 243 quickly extinguished the fire. Ladder 246 crews entered the residence and found no evidence of smoke or fire extension into the house. Plymouth County Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) responded to the scene to photograph the damage.
Fire crews extensively wet down and overhauled the fire damage.
Damage to the exterior of the home was estimated around $30,000. The home’s interior was not damaged, and the occupants were not displaced by the fire.
All Whitman Fire Department units cleared the scene by 6:37 p.m.
“We’re going to do another fire safety posting,” Clancy said. “All three of them were accidental. All three caused minor to moderate damage – one was mostly smoke, the other two involved fire.”
He said residents need to be more careful in the way in which they dispose of smoking materials and to remember to be vigilant when they have any outside burning going on.
“Follow the rules,” he said. “Have a hose in place. Do not leave a fire unattended and pay attention to the weather.”
Clancy said that, when the department approves burning permits, they do so at 10 a.m., the morning a burn is requested.
“People should be cognizant that weather conditions could change throughout the day.
Oven fire
The next day, Monday, March 3, Whitman Fire Department received a 911 call for a reported oven fire in a unit at 629 Washington St. at 7:09 p.m.
Car 3, Engines 242 and 243 arrived on the scene by 7:14 p.m. From outside of the four-story, lightweight wood-constructed residential unit over a commercial building, no alarms were sounding, and no flames or smoke were showing.
Firefighters manually activated the alarm to help evacuate the building. They went door-to-door to ensure all occupants were out of the building.
Firefighters entered the unit and found moderate smoke and the remnants of a small fire inside the apartment’s oven. The resident told firefighters that he was pre-heating the oven and did not realize there was a plastic pan inside.
After the oven started to smoke, the resident shut it off, called 911 and evacuated the apartment with his wife and cat.
Firefighters removed the melted plastic pan and ventilated the building’s adjacent hallways. The building was checked for carbon monoxide but cleared. Adjacent cabinets and walls were inspected, but no indication of heat was found.
Car 2 and Engine 241 arrived on the scene to assist. All units cleared the scene by 7:47 p.m.
The fire department reminds residents to check smoke and carbon monoxide batteries at the change over to Daylight Savings Time to ensure all alarms are in good working order.
Porch fire
An early afternoon fire requiring mutal aid from five nearby towns at 821 Washington St., resulted in an estimated $15,000 worth of damages on Tuesday, March 4. The 1:45 p.m., fire was apparently caused by the improper disposal of smoking materials.
The Holbrook Regional Emergency Communications Center received a 911 call from the occupant reporting that the front porch was on fire. Whitman Fire Department’s Car 1, Car 2, Car 3, Engine 243, Engine 242, and Abington Tower 1 responded to the initial alarm.
Light smoke was visible from the second-floor porch when fire crews arrived on the scene. Firefighters opened up the porch and found fire in the void spaces between the first and second floors. Deputy Chief Nicholas Grasso identified the blaze as a working fire.
Firefighters used two handlines to knock down the fire, bringing the flames under control within 20 minutes.
Mutual aid fire companies from the towns of Abington, East Bridgewater, Hanson, Rockland, and a Halifax ambulance responded to the scene. A Bridgewater engine covered Whitman Fire headquarters. The Whitman Emergency Management Agency Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) provided rehab services on scene. Whitman Fire was also assisted on scene by the Whitman Police Department, and the Plymouth County Sheriffs Department Bureau of Criminal Investigation Unit.
The cause of the fire was determined to be improper disposal of smoking materials. Damages to the home are estimated at $15,000.
Hanson hires new vets’ agent
HANSON – The Select Board on Tuesday, Feb. 25 hired a new veterans’ agent, making a tough decision between two qualified applicants.
In the end, they said it was one applicant’s on-the-job experience that tilted the scale in his favor – a “plug-and-play” choice, as it was described more than once.
The Board voted 4-0 to hire Thaddeus Nowacki currently a veterans’ service officer in Randolph since August 2024. Vice Chair Ann Rein was absent.
He has also worked in the private sector and has service with the Maine Air National Guard, the U.S. Air Force, the Mass. Army National Guard and has volunteered for the Randolph Veterans’ Service Office.
Kingston native Lindsey Fairweather is an Air Force veteran who graduated Silver Lake High before serving four years on overseas active duty supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom, and has worked with Volunteers of America on veteran case management and veteran and family support through the VA and the state Department of Veterans Services as a program manager as well as the Veterans’ Benefits Administration as a disability rater. She has also served as operations administrator for the Rhode Island Veterans’ Home. She is also a lifetime member of the VFW and the American Legion.
She is seeking the position to give back to the community more directly, she said.
“We’ve had a little bit of turnover in this position,” Chair Laura FirzGerald Kemmett said. “We really need to have stability because it’s tough for these guys and gals to get comfortable with somebody … that their going to open up about their personal situation and share and get to the point where they’re going to ask for help.”
She noted after the interviews that she had meant for the time given each applicant to be equal, but said the board had more questions in clarifying how Fairweather’s job history could be applied to the position and the board’s concern for longevity in the position.
Fairweather’s extensive experience immediately concerned FitzGerald-Kemmett over how long she might stay in Hanson.
“I’m looking at your credentials and I’m thinking, ‘Why would this person take a part-time job in Hanson with the really amazing credentials that you’ve got?,’” FitzGerald-Kemmett said, “I’m thinking ‘Is this woman going to leave us after 15 minutes?’”
She asked if Fairweather was committed to doing the job if it continues to be a part-time position.
She said it is the kind of position she has wanted to do for a while – and had stuck it out for four rounds of interviews for a veterans services position that was ultimately never filled.
“I’m trying to fulfill what I believe is my duty,” she said, noting that, while she hoped it would mean more hours down the road, “If it stayed part-time, I would stay.”
Select Board member Joe Weeks noted that Hanson’s veterans had gone through “turnover after turnover,” and cautioned Fairweather that more hours were hard to guarantee in light of the town’s current budget climate.
Select Board member David George, himself a veteran, said he was concerned about Hanson veterans’ ability to count on Nowacki holding predictable office hours, even if vets would have to schedule a time to return if he was busy.
“I think most importantly to the veterans in Hanson is keeping on a timetable – a schedule – that you’re going to stick with,” he said. “Right now, it’s chase the veterans agent down.”
both applicants pledged to commit to that.
FitzGerald-Kemmet asked about the Heroes’ Act, signed by Gov. Healey last year that includes about $1.13 trillion of emergency supplemental appropriations to federal agencies, as well as economic assistance to governments at the state, local, tribal, and territorial levels.
After the interviews with the board, Weeks said he wanted to hear Town Administrator Lisa Green’s recommendation before he offered an opinion on who to hire. George and Member Ed Heal nodded their agreement.
“I guess we were really fortunate to attract two very accomplished veterans who want to work for the town,” she said, noting both have also stated they were OK with the part-time position. “Their focus is to provide services to veterans.”
For that reason, she thought both deserved to come before the board.
George expressed concern that Fairweather had served four years and was still a first lieutenant when she separated.
“Thaddeus spent his time as a crew chief, so he was either an E7 or E8 – this guy had some clout in the military,” he said, also suggesting that Hanson veterans would be “more comfortable opening up to” Nowacky.
“She’s a nice girl, don’t get me wrong, she’s a nice person, but I think he’s the better choice,” he said, noting Nowacki’s service as an enlisted man having served in Afghanistan and on the U.S. Border. “Do we have a lot of doctors and lawyers in Hanson? No, we have lot of working people in Hanson, and that’s what you’re going to get for veterans in Hanson.”
George also noted there would be no time lost in training Nowacki.
“My concern is a lack of focus,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “I feel like she’s done a lot of things and she could be good … but I don’t think we’re in a place where we could take a gamble that she’s going to work out, out of the gate, because we don’t have anybody to train her. I love her passion, though, she clearly has a heart for that job.”
Heal’s worry was that Fairweather is way over-qualified, while not knowing the basics of what this job entails.
“I don’t know enough about the job to know whether she would fumble or he would succeed – or vice versa,” said member Joe Weeks. “I will back the decision, because they report to you [Green]and they have to have a good fit with you. [But] if it was up to me, I know who I would hire, 100-percent, but it’s up to you and who you think is best for the town, but I will say I think we spent a lot more time talking to one candidate than the other, because they clearly had a lot of experience that would lend this town a new way of servicing and doing some outreach.”
Weeks said he likes it when people come with a plan and a vision and are able to articulate that, and he said one candidate did a better job of that than the other.
Green had recommended Nowacki.
Charter school challenge
The budget outlook for W-H schools was complicated by a move to increase enrollment at South Shore Charter School last week.
The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education – a different entity than DESE – had less encouraging news for the W-H school district, however, as it approved an increase in enrollment [by 225 seats over the next four years] for South Shore Charter School.
“The school’s growth plan is to increase enrollment from 1,075 students to 1,300 students beginning in FY 26 and to be completed by 2030,” Szymaniak said. “That affects not only us, but about 14 other communities where students go there. Remember, we pay tuition [for students going] to South Shore Charter.”
Other charter school districts were turned down for increases, but this decision affects W-H.
“Local superintendents sent a letter to the Board of Ed saying, ‘Please, don’t, especially in this financial climate,’” Szymaniak said. “They did it anyway. They voted 6 to 4 for it yesterday [Tuesday, Feb. 25.]”
He said W-H gets an increase each year for Charter School reimbursement through Chapter 70, but Charter School tuitions keep going up as well.
“It’s not a win for us.” Szymaniak said. “Some of the reasons parents were going to South Shore Charter was for kindergarten, because it was free. Our population at South Shore Charter has declined [due at least in part to W-H offering full-day kindergarten]. It’s a good school, don’t get me wrong, but anytime it affects me financially I want you to know.”
Norfolk County Agricultural-Technical High School’s tuition is close to $29,500.
“Ours is around $17,000,” he said. “But I’m never going to tell a student they can’t go to a certain school.”
Teachers at South Shore Charter do not have to hold a Massachusetts teaching license,” committee Vice Chair Hillary Kniffen said. She asked if that difference could be stressed by public school superintendents.
“I just don’t like it when they inflate seats, now.” Szymaniak said.
“I’m really frustrated right now, that we missed this, and took our eye off this,” said member Dawn Byers. “I’m going to ask superintendent, if anything comes across your desk in the future, could you share it with the committee? We are 10 people who could have advocated for this, and the vote was only 6 to 4 – that is so close.”
The acting commissioner wrote that he was not recommending approval of this request at this time. While the state is still without a full-time commissioner, the interim commissioner Russell Johnson resigned Feb. 25.
“This is so important and so dangerous for our budget,” she said.
“I can’t believe that they didn’t listen to the superintendent,” Chair Beth Stafford said.
“But, I can believe that,” Connolly said. “There’s a political push to undermine public education and put it into voucher, and this is the step – it’s more expensive, it’s less effective. … So, anytime you see this, we as those people who advocate for public education, and a great public education, [need to know]”
South Shore is a state charter school.
Szymaniak also updated the board on discussions at a joint meeting of the Whitman Select Board and Finance Committee on Feb. 25., expressing frustration with communication issues.
“Our numbers are not that far off,” he said, despite some points of disagreement. The next joint meeting in Whitman is March 25.
He also wanted to applaud the Whitman Finance Committee.
“The positive message about the schools was definitely heard by me and I wanted to share that with you,” he said. … “There was some good discussion of what the schools need and a couple [Select Board members] were saying the schools need more,” Szymaniak said. “Now, it’s up to the taxpayers to understand that and how it’s presented, but I think there’s a realization, at least verbally, that our budget is what it is – there’s not a lot of fluff and we’re not adding programs. It’s to sustain what we have now, to provide those programs so people aren’t going to South Shore Charter.”
He said the numbers received from an independent enrollment analysis is that W-H is leveling off at the elementary and middle level grades, but students are lost from eighth- to ninth-grade for the vocational options, because there is a national push toward vocational education and some are lost to charter schools.
“I’m an advocate of not using any type of excess and deficiency to balance the budget this year, because we don’t have it,” Szymaniak said. “The numbers we need to sustain what we have are the numbers I presented in February.”
He also stressed that Whitman officials were clear the override is being viewed as an operational override for the community and he appreciated having a seat at the table for the discussion.
Hanson committee member Kara Moser said she hopes the same invitation is extended by the Hanson Select Board.
State report card
While this district has still not caught up to the state average, it is making some progress in per-pupil spending, despite a decline in enrollment.
Assistant Superintendent George Ferro reviewed the district’s report card from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, issued to each school in the state and the district as a whole, during the meeting
“Just as a student’s report card shows how they’re doing in classes, the school and district report cards are designed to show parents and the community members how a school or a district is doing in various different areas,” Ferro read from a DESE explanation.
“They are written for people who are not necessarily involved in the business of education,” he said, noting there are also graphs involved in the report cards.
Topics covered in the report cards are:
• Who are our students and teachers? Enrollment of the school, demographic makeup and teacher information;
• Academic opportunities available to students?
• Student attendance and discipline;
• Outlook for student success after high school;
• Student performance on state tests;
• District school spending; and
• How the district is doing within the state accountability system.
The report is available on the DESE website under “School and District profiles,” Ferro said.
There are also responsibilities that state have.
“Once the report cards are online, it’s the school’s responsibility to provide a letter home to every person in the district … telling them exactly what to click on to see their schools.” he said. Once that letter is sent home, it must also be available through a link posted on the district website [whrsd.org] found on the district documents page. The 2024 report cards can be compared to previous years on the site.
If people have questions, they are asked to first contact a school’s principal – or the superintendent’s office for district questions.
School Committee Chair Beth Stafford asked Ferro if there was anything that stood out in the report to him.
“Although we talk about budget a lot, and we never have to add real programs – like more and more and more programs – we have steadily increased at least our per-pupil expenditure from the previous years of stagnation, so that was good to look at,” Ferro replied. “Also good to see were the drop-out and the graduation trends and the plans of our seniors. … It’s a better snapshot of the high school, because they provide more information for the high school students.”
For schools with lower grades, there isn’t, Ferro said, “a lot of ooomph.” But for families perhaps looking to migrate or consider moving to a new school district, it provides a good snapshot of what students need improvement and offers an idea why.
“Great job for the committee that did recognize that [the per-pupil formula at WH] was not appropriate,” Committee member Rosemary Connolly said. “We still have work to do.”
“It’s slow, but it’s moving,” Ferro said.
“And we’re moving in the right direction,” said Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak, noting there has been a steady increase in per-pupil spending from 2008 to 2024. “[But] we’re still not catching up to the state, and we’re not close to our technical or agricultural schools in per-pupil spending, but we’re not in the bottom five anymore.”
The district moved up from the bottom fifth to the bottom third, and Szymaiak to the middle of the road, at some point.
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