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Whitman override averted in fiscal 2021

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WHITMAN — There will be no Proposition 2 ½ vote in Whitman for the fiscal 2021 budget, Selectman Randy LaMattina told the full board during its Tuesday, Jan. 14 meeting.

A fiscal 2022 override, however, has not yet been ruled out.

During a marathon three-and-a-half-hour meeting the previous night, the Budget Override Evaluation Committee decided.

Town Administrator Frank Lynam said a joint meeting between Selectmen and the Finance Committee on Tuesday, Jan. 21 will further discuss the issues.

“We had quite a bit of discussion [Monday night] that probably will be best served giving one presentation next week at a joint meeting,” LaMattina said. “It’s a very complex budget — lot of questions still up in the air, issues still in flux with the schools — but what has been determined is that … with the adoption of some policies that the consultant has recommended, it was the determination of the board last evening that we will not seek an override for fiscal year 2021.”

He added that, more than likely, an override for fiscal 2022, even with the option of more stringent policies, may still be on the table.

“But we feel confident that departments will be sustainable, some may actually see growth and we will have money to fund a very solid part of the Collins Report for capital projects,” LaMattina said.

LaMattina added that a strategic budget plan was “the only missing piece” and, with the work done by the Budget Override Evaluation Committee, “80 percent of it is there.”

That will be addressed at next week’s meeting, as well.

“You’ve done the groundwork for being able to come up with something in writing,” Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski said. “The strategic plan is impossible without the work that your committee has done.”

LaMattina credited the members of the Budget Override Evaluation Committee: Selectmen Justin Evans, Fire Chief Timothy Grenno, resident Christopher George, Finance Committee members David Codero, Scott Lambiase and John Galvin, School Committee member Dawn Byers, Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak and DPW Superintendent Bruce Martin for the time they committed to the work over the past couple of months.

Capital projects focused on were Whitman Middle School and the DPW building.

“The Budget Override Committee is definitely recommending some type of article be places on the May warrant for a feasibility re-evaluation of the DPW building,” LaMattina said.

Selectman Brian Bezanson lauded the committee for doing a lot of work in a short amount of time.

“It brought to light a lot of information for everybody that we otherwise might not have had,” he said.

“We thanked the committee, but I think we also have to thank Randy,” Kowalski said. “It was a huge task to lead this group, and the most important work that this board has done for a while.”

Road project

In other business, Lynam announced that, after two years of work by the DPW, the town has received a grant for $363,674 to redesign and layout the intersection of Essex Street and Park Avenue.

“That has been a challenging intersection over the years because of the way it merges,” Lynam said.

Judge grants bail in child death

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WHITMAN — Shaniqua Leonard, 29, of Whitman was granted bail of $2500 cash following a dangerousness hearing on Monday at Brockton District Court in which she was deemed dangerous.

With strong conditions set in place by Judge Julie J. Bernard — who left the stand for half an hour before making a ruling — that Leonard not have any contact with her remaining six children she; have no contact, direct or indirect with minor children; refrain from using drugs and alcohol and submit to random testing, cooperate in a mental health evaluation, wear a GPS monitoring bracelet, and not possess firearms.

The judge rules Leonard may attend her daughter’s funeral,  if she stays 10 feet away from her children and notifies probation.

She had been held without bail on Friday January 10 charged with one count of reckless endangerment in the death of her biological child Lyric Farrell, 2.

On Friday, during her probable cause hearing, Leonard pleaded not guilty to one count of reckless endangerment of a child through her defense lawyer Michael Tumposky.

On Jan. 10, Assistant District Attorney Jessica Kenny entered into the record the details from the Whitman police 911 call and the medical examiner’s report regarding injuries Farrell had sustained including: a contusion of both the front and back of the skull, a brain bleed, multiple levels of bruising in different stages of healing, fresh, deep clawing and scratch marks about the head, neck and face among other injuries.

Kenny read from the police reports that Leonard had stated to police that the child had somehow harmed herself by hitting her head.

Continued testing through the medical examiner on Lyric’s eyes and brain will be used to determine the manner and cause of death.  A degree of head trauma such as Farrell’s could not be accidental in nature, Kenny stated as she read from the M E reports entered into the court.

Lyric’s father Chris Farrell was present at the court but declined comment to this reporter on Friday.

He had previously stated in published reports that his daughter was in his mother’s custody (Lyric’s grandmother) before being returned to her biological mother Leonard by the Department of Children and Families approximately four weeks before her death.

Leonard had seven biological children and lost custody of all of them in 2017. She had gradually regained custody of each child and had delivered a set of twins approximately a year prior to her regaining custody of Lyric. The child was returned only weeks prior to Christmas 2019 and pronounced brain dead Dec. 31.

Prosecutors played 911 calls entered into the record, including the initial call for help that Leonard placed stating her child was not breathing. The call took place around midnight on Dec. 28 and, for nearly three minutes, EMS could be heard pounding on the door on Washington Street before they were let in to assess the child.

Once inside EMS detailed the condition of the child in a blanket found on the couch, which prompted immediate care. She was taken  to the Brockton Hospital and  then airlifted to Boston where she was taken off life support two days later.

According to details read from the police officers’ reports the other children were all dressed and in their coats when first responders were let in the house on Dec. 28.

Leonard reportedly told officers that she had been waking the children to use the bathroom as she always did when she realized Lyric wasn’t breathing.

Video evidence

ADA Kenny entered more than a dozen cell phone videos into the record, which showed Lyric to be incapacitated, wheezing, eyes rolling and having trouble holding her head up, she said. She also read the documented length of time Leonard waited to take the child for medical attention. Other videos were entered that appeared to be taken by Lyric’s siblings on Leonard’s phone with taunting of Lyric as she struggled to breath and in one video a sibling threw water at Lyric; holding a cross to her to ‘get the demons out’ she stated. Her siblings were interviewed with the 9-year-old child reporting that her mother said, “Lyric is dead,” and instructed them to go get dressed.

In the continued dangerousness hearing on Monday Jan. 13,  a statement was released by the Office of Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz.

“The District Attorney respectfully disagrees but accepts the court’s decision,” Cruz stated. “State Police and Whitman Police have been actively investigating the circumstances surrounding Lyric Farrell’s death since she was brought to the hospital for treatment. That investigation continues, and additional charges will be sought if they are supported by the evidence once the Medical Examiner completes the autopsy. We moved today to have Ms. Leonard deemed dangerous and asked that she be held without bail due in part to concern for the safety of Lyric’s six remaining siblings. The Judge set a monetary bail with conditions for Ms. Leonard, one of the most important being that she not be permitted to have any contact with those children.”

Reveling in a January thaw

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WHITMAN — Whitman Park was teeming with activity as families emerged for a peek at the sun during a spring-like day on Sunday, Jan. 12.

With temperatures reaching over 70 degrees, forecasters and the National Weather Service proclaimed the centuries old record was beat by Sunday’s short heat wave.

Max Capelotti, 6, and his sister Valerie, 4, of Rockland spent time running and jumping around the playground with their mom and dad nearby.  Miles, 8,  and Charlotte Davidson, 10, of Whitman  had races back and  forth on the field  with a  “no jackets” rule catching on quickly as children came down the slide. Another pair of soccer players squared off in shorts one even going shirtless in the sun.

There were no boots or cross-country skis to be seen along the dirt paths. However Jessica Smith walked with her two children Collin, 4, and Annabelle, 6, as they rode their bikes diagonally on the dry fields toward the park.

The Barry-Gill family of Whitman could be heard laughing as they raced down the hill — rolling from the top to the bottom — the flag pole directly behind the Civil War Monument is normally  frozen at this time of year; with parents keeping watch as their children sled down and race back with their snow tubes. The hill was bare Sunday.

The Whitman family normally sleds on the hill, but said they were thrilled to be outside on such a beautiful day.

Mom Sherri Barry-Gill took photos from the bottom of the mound as her daughters and husband Mike Gill rolled as fast as they could towards her.

Amari Romera, 4, of Whitman took a walk with his parents and proudly showed off his Popsicle it appeared that it too was not going to stay cold as he sipped the liquid from the plastic.

Others could be seen walking their dogs, teens on bikes pedaled by and families threw pebbles in the frog pond. Two couples sat on the benches overlooking the pond resting their heads back a bit as if to sun their faces.

An unlit holiday tree somehow appeared out of season on its stand in the middle of the pond. The gift of a cold weather reprieve however short was gladly accepted by so many smiling faces on Sunday.

Season Preview: Girls’ indoor track chasing ‘little victories’

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Despite a small team, head coach Steve George is expecting the girls’ indoor track team to be competitive.

Little victories are what the Whitman-Hanson Regional High girls’ indoor track team is striving for this winter.

“I will feel our season will be a success if our small team of 32 girls can win five to seven events each week,” said sixth-year head coach Steve George. “A small team by its nature has difficulty winning meets due to the sports scoring method of five, three and one point for first, second and third places in each event.”

Despite fielding a team of just 32 girls, George’s expectations aren’t any lower. 

“I expect our girls to rise to the occasion,” said George, whose club finished 0-5 last season. “We have a small team, but each of its members are very competitive.”

In the distance events, it will be sophomore Myah Kamperides and junior Anna Sullivan leading the way for W-H. In the mid-distance events, senior Tori Boss and junior Izzy Amado will each run the 1,000-meter run, 600-meter run and 4×400 relay. In the long sprints, seniors Ryley Hurley and senior captain Courtney Woodward could make an impact in the 300-meter dash and possibly the 600-meter run. Senior captain Samantha Perkins, junior Emma Rogers and sophomore April Keyes are expected to make an impact in the sprinting and hurdling events. 

As for departures, George knows he has his hands full with the graduations of Ally Bartlett and Dorothy DiMascio-Donohue. Bartlett scored nearly 40 percent of W-H’s points last winter, while DiMascio-Donohue competed in the indoor pentathlon. 

“I don’t know that I can replace [them],” George said. “They scored a lot of points for us last year in sprints, hurdles, jumps and relays.”

George said he believes this year’s strength will the 300-meter dash and 600-meter run, while he’d like to improve his team’s relay skills. 

“With a small squad, most of our kids are needed in two individual running events, so it leaves us a little lacking in the relays,” George said. “There is nothing more disappointing than being close in a meet going into the relays and knowing you can’t win those events.”

W-H returns to action Wednesday, Jan. 22 at 3:45 p.m. at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center against Hingham and Silver Lake. 

“What I’m really hoping for is that we can achieve a lot of little victories, and the success stories on our team result in those kids promoting this great sport and in increased participation in the coming years,” George said. 

Boards issuing audit request

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HANSON — The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Jan. 7, supported the drafting of a letter to the School district saying they are — in conjunction with Whitman — conducting an audit of school expenditures in hopes the district will “open up their books” so the work can be done when an auditor is hired.

Outgoing interim Town Administrator Meredith Marini said a retired official that Hanson Town Accountant Todd Hassett had recommended is already swamped with post-retirement consulting work and will not be able to take on a School District audit for Whitman and Hanson town officials. He did provide some names, and she has been in communication with Whitman Town Administrator Frank Lynam on the matter and Marini has also been looking at regional agreements, especially those involving two communities, for comparisons to W-H.

“We are united, Whitman and Hanson, in being committed to looking at the books to see where money’s being spend and kind of ticking and tying that to the ask that we’ve got before us,” said Selectmen Chairman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett. “I don’t want to hire an auditor only to find that we’re not going to have access to those records. I’m not suggesting that’s the case, but I just want to make sure.”

Representatives of the Whitman and Hanson boards of selectmen were slated to have another discussion on the school assessment issue Wednesday.

“This is a very specialized discipline, to be able to audit school books,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “It’s not your garden-variety auditor that you’re looking for … it’s a much more specialized discipline so it may not be easy to find this person, but we need to find the right person to do the job.”

She said there is nothing to discuss in terms of revising the regional agreement until an audit is completed.

“We don’t know where the money’s being spent,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

She also noted that, with a regional agreement still in place, she did not see how Whitman officials could be insistent on using the statutory assessment formula instead of an alternative one as the district towns have done in the past.

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.

Town Counsel Katherine Feodoroff had been asked to brief Selectmen on the process going forward if a statutory budget is presented and what “potential plays” the town can make, especially if a state take-over of the schools occurs.

“It seems to me that we control the [Town Meeting] warrant,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “I can certainly see the writing on the wall … but that doesn’t mean I’m going to be comfortable knowing there’s a regional agreement in place, voting for statutory as a selectman.”

She said she does not think it is in the best interests of citizens and said her preference would have been for negotiations to have been opened prior to Whitman and the School Committee voting to go with the statutory formula. FitzGerald-Kemmett said she did not think that would be in the best interests of Hanson.

“Everybody wants the budget approved, because when you don’t approve the budget a whole bunch of automatic processes go into place,” Feodoroff said.

Town Meeting options are to amend from the floor.

She said despite the past drafting of the regional agreement, the new state law was passed requiring the statutory assessment.

“Your option is to vote it down — and then they don’t have an approved budget,” she said. That sends it back to the School Committee to either acquiesce to what the dissenting town wants or come back with a different assessment, which the town would have to vote up or down at another Town Meeting. With no budget by the new fiscal year on July 1, the state imposes a 1/12 budget based on the assessment of the previous fiscal year — through the statutory method.

The next step would be a “super town meeting,” with the state able to take over a district if that fails to produce a budget by Dec. 1.

“Nothing gets done without the state signing off,” Feodoroff said. Sometimes the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) approves a budget greater than was originally requested.

“The sad part is the kids are being held hostage by this,” said Selectman Wes Blauss. “In the end its not even Whitman vs. Hanson.”

FitzGerald-Kemmett asked if the situation didn’t boil down to a breach of contract.

“We’re being painted into a corner and it just doesn’t seem fair,” she said. “I know the law isn’t always fair but it’s befuddling to me that a confluence of facts and events would get us to a place where a town literally has very little control over what we are going to spend on our schools.”

Two rescued from icy pond in Hanson

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HANSON – Just two hours before a time of celebration New Year’s Eve, two local men were rescued from the icy waters of Maquan Pond — both found semi conscious and clinging to an overturned canoe.

Hanson Fire Chief Jerome Thomspon said the two men who were still in the hospital as of Wednesday were barely able to communicate when first responders reached them Tuesday night.

Between the time of the 911 calls at 10:35 p.m. for reported “yells  for help” coming from the pond, and the time the firefighters made contact with the men, they had already been in the  ice-covered pond for a half hour.

Firefighters in survival suits deployed an ice rescue sled as they made their way over the ice in darkness however, their boat could not break through the tricky, deceptive thickness of the ice, which made the rescue challenging.

Broken chunks of ice were visible and an overturned canoe that floated inland on Wednesday could be seen wedged off shore behind the Needles Lodge.

The men, who are 50 and 33, are reportedly residents in Hanson but have not been identified by authorities. There has been no clarification on why the men were out in the small craft in the late, frosty night.

Thompson, who praised the efforts of all the responders on Thursday, had emphasized Hanson Fire Department members drill annually in ice rescue and, despite the preparation, each circumstance can be different.

“Any type of rescue is labor intensive,” he said. “It was a coordinated effort – with a positive outcome.”

Both men were transported to South Shore Hospital in Pembroke ambulances suffering from exposure. A Whitman ambulance was called to stand by, and evaluated the firefighters that performed the rescue. Fire personnel were assisted at the scene by Hanson Police.

Stanbrook sworn in as Hanson’s TA

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HANSON — The Board of Selectmen welcomed new Town Administrator John Stanbrook on board — and lauded the work of the town’s first responders, who rescued two men after a New Year’s Eve canoe accident, during their first meeting of the year Tuesday, Jan. 7.

Town Clerk Elizabeth Sloan administered the oath of office to Stanbrook before the meeting was recessed for a welcoming reception in the Town Hall kitchen.

“I’m so excited, I can barely contain myself tonight, and I may not — just a warning,” joked Selectmen Chairman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett. “This board has accomplished a lot in the past year, but I think the most important thing we accomplished was, with the help of [interim Town Administrator] Merry Marini and [Administrative Assistant] Greer Getzen, laying a foundation for the future.”

She said that future is embodied by Stanbrook.

“He comes to us with impeccable credentials and years of diverse municipal experience and skills, which we know will serve us in good stead,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

Stanbrook’s family attended the ceremony and reception.

“I’m looking forward to working here. Day two is going very well,” he said to laughs. “There’s only 200,000 more, or whatever.”

After Stanbrook’s reception, FitzGerald-Kemmett kept the “good new train” rolling along as Selectmen applauded Hanson Police and Fire personnel who responded to the New Year’s Eve incident [see story, page one].  She began the congratulatory segment of the meeting before Marini suggested the recess for Stanbrook’s reception.

“I have cake,” Marini said.

“I’m sorry, you know me, I just wanted to cut right to [it],” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “For me, it’s not the cake — no carb thing.”

“At this end of the table, cake is important,” Marini said.

New Year’s rescue

When the meeting resumed, FitzGerald-Kemmett noted that, while most Hanson residents were ringing in the New Year on Dec. 31, the town’s first responders were addressing a “life and death drama on Maquan Pond.”

Police and Fire chiefs and personnel who were involved in the rescue were invited to the meeting so the board could “express its heart-felt gratitude to the life-saving measures that they took that evening,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

Fire Chief Jerome Thompson Jr. provided an overview of the incident and said the first responders appreciated the recognition even though what they did was just part of the job.

He did acknowledge that the job they did that night was “more than routine.”

“From the beginning of this call, from dispatch getting all the pertinent information, relaying it to the crews out on the street, to the police officers getting there and locating these individuals quickly … we were also assisted by some bystanders who did a really good job attempting to help us,” Thompson said.

He called the rescue labor-intensive because the ice, while too thin to hold firefighters’ weight, was too thick to break easily. Police and fire personnel on shore worked together to pull the rescuers and victims back to shore with ropes.

“This was a team effort,” Thompson said. “It definitely made a difference that night — it was great work.”

He also credited Hanson’s mutual aid partnerships with Pembroke, East Bridgewater and Whitman for the three responding ambulances that were used to transport the victims and evaluate rescuers for signs of exposure.

Selectman Kenny Mitchell said he listened to the whole incident on his scanner, noting he had once thought he could be an on-scene incident commander, if the occasion called for it. Now he knows differently.

He learned that a generous resident was willing to launch his own boat to aid in the rescue, and thought that was a great idea. At first.

Police Sgt. Peter Calogero, however, then responded on the radio that Hanson Fire should get their boat in the water before they had a second rescue on their hands.

“That’s why Cal’s got the stripes and I don’t,” Mitchell said, relating the drama he followed along at home.

“There was a point where I was concerned you weren’t going to get to him,” he said.

Mitchell conceded there are things going on at a scene that the public may not be aware of as they listen to the scanner.

“Just listening to you guys work together was just unbelievable,” he said. “What a hell of a job by everybody.”

Bay Circuit Trail

Selectman Matt Dyer, who served on the Final Plymouth County Hospital Reuse Committee with Conservation Commission Chairman Phil Clemens, recommended an easement at Bonney Hill Way to allow the Bay Circuit Trail to skirt the former hospital property. The easement would be accessible to foot traffic only.

The trail goes through 37 communities from the North to South Shore for 200 miles. Selectmen’s approval for the easement was needed for a Mass. Trails Grant application, due in February,

The mile-long stretch through the PCH site would include bog walks and trails.

Marlborough Fly Fishing show set

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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.

Overturned canoe in Hanson

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An overturned canoe lodged in the ice still  was visible at the water’s edge at Cranberry Cove Wednesday where firefighters made a double rescue on New Year’s Eve at Maquan Pond in Hanson.

Hanson mulls uniform management policy

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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.