HANSON — Camp Kiwanee will become the latest South Shore location for filming of the upcoming Netflix movie, “The Sleepover,” as final approval was granted by the Recreation Commission Tuesday, Aug. 13.

The Board of Selectmen must also approve use of the former Maquan School parking lot for film company vehicles, which is slated for the Tuesday, Aug. 20 agenda.

Crews will be working on scenes at Needles Lodge, the shoreline of Maquan Pond, several cabins and other locations at the camp, according to Assistant Location Manager Liliana Kondracki, who briefed the commission on the project.

Netflix will be paying $25,000 — plus costs associated with camp staff, police details and other expenses, according to Kondracki. Caretakers will be asked to monitor the camp and one or two Hanson Police officers will be contracted for the filming dates.

Scenes have already been filmed at Hanover High School and in Scituate and Boston. Filming at Kiwanee is slated for Aug. 21 to 30 with wrap work on Sept. 3 and 4. Filming will not interfere with a wedding already approved for Needles Lodge Thursday, Aug. 22.

The amount offered for the rental was based on the film’s budget and what work would need to be done to dress the location, Kondracki said.

Selectman Matt Dyer, the board’s liaison to the Recreation Commission, asked how Kondracki found Camp Kiwanne and whether she had any advice on how the commission might better market the facility.

“I found it after a lot of research,” Kondracki said describing the process of narrowing down a Google search for “log cabin” after a couple of weeks’ work.

“I’ve been in Boston for about year,” the Florida transplant said of her research here, after working for 20 years in the Miami area. “If you ask me about Florida, I knew everything, here, I’m starting from scratch. … [Camp Kiwanee] wasn’t easy to find.”

She said she didn’t know what to suggest, except to say the “amazing facility” should be marketed better. As for screen credits for use of the location, she said that is up to the production company.

“If they are feeling particularly generous, they might put [thanks to the] ‘Town of Hanover,’ ‘Town of Hanson,’ or something like that,” she said. “They not always do.”

Kondracki described the adventure/comedy plot as a coming-of-age story mixed with an “Oceans 11”-type crime tale.

It focuses on two boys planning a sleepover while their goody-two-shoes sister plans to sneak out of the house for the first time at night. Their mom, meanwhile, is kidnapped because of a secret in her past and the kids have to come to the rescue.

Kondracki noted, with a resigned laugh, that plot details were supposed to be confidential, but that an Aug. 7 story in The Boston Globe, already outlined a lot of that information.

“We’ve been working on finalizing things with [Town Administrator Meredith Marini] and the [police and fire] chiefs about it,” said Recreation Director William Boyle.

Kondracki provided the commission a filming outline.

“It’s a family action/comedy,” Kondracki said. “They’re trying to compete with Disney, so it’s that type of project.”

Kiwanee was chosen to film scenes surrounding a portion of the plot where the parents are taken to a remote cabin, as well as the sleepover scenes with the kids. The Frontier Cabin is a focal point of the filming, according to Kondracki.

“They obviously need to do a number of changes to it in order to make it work for the scene,” she said. “Anything that we do would be returned to the original condition, unless it’s something you guys want to keep.”

Among the changes would be replacing the windows at the front for those with a more rustic look, adding wood-panel façades to interior walls to give them a more rounded log look to the room, moving a woodstove out of a fireplace, and adding a vintage refrigerator. A certified HVAC contractor will be installing a propane-fed flame to the fireplace and the film crew has cleared the work with Fire Chief Jerome Thompson Jr.

Boyle has also approved the clearing of a few low-hanging branches in one spot for better camera angles and a hose will be used to add water to a dry creek bed for a plot point. The pavilion will be used for catering, with food prep being done in a food truck that has already been licensed by the Board of Health.

A temporary floating dock, which the crew is covering with a wooden dock mock-up is being added for scenes at the boathouse.

Gator vehicles will be used to transport equipment, parking of large trucks will be done at the former Maquan School and Kondracki is working to negotiate with Shaw’s for use of part of their lot for crew parking. They expect about 120 cars.

“We’re taking over,” she quipped.

Filming will be done on most of the days from noon to 10:30 p.m. or 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. On the last day, filming is expected to continue all night with the adult cast members — with filming of scenes involving youth actors complete by 10:30 p.m. to midnight.

“In all likelihood, we’ll be seeing the sun come up on Saturday morning,” Kondracki said with a laugh.

WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen began the transition process for changes at the top in the police and fire departments while they reviewed progress toward addressing the ongoing budget crisis Tuesday, Aug. 6.

Fire Chief Timothy Grenno indicated he plans to retire by Aug. 1, 2022 and requested Selectmen call for a fire chief exam by spring or early summer of next year. Grenno has been chief for 12 years, appointed in 2007.

“My wife and I are in negotiations right now, and I can tell you that you should hold the assessment center or the written tests now,” he said.

A spring test should provide a two-year promotions list for the town. Civil service no longer provides the exam as most towns across the state are opting for assessment centers, which create any written tests. A date cannot be set until an assessment center prepares an exam and/or assessment process.

The board approved the request and also voted to promote Deputy Police Chief Timothy Hanlon as chief as of Tuesday, Sept. 17 and to promote Sgt. Joseph Bombardier as deputy chief on that date.

Police Chief Scott Benton has informed the board that he plans to retire on Monday, Sept. 16.

“Hopefully, between now and then, we’ll have an opportunity to have the chief here to thank him for his years of service,” Town Administrator Frank Lynam said.

Both Hanlon and Bombardier were the top candidates on their respective promotion lists.

Budget update

Lynam also updated Selectmen on the town budget and Selectman Randy LaMattina updated the board on the Monday, Aug. 4 Override Evaluation Committee session.

Lynam said the town is close to receiving a final draft from the Collins Center on capital planning and that he has received some, but not all, departmental budgets including the requested five-year projections for planning purposes.

There was some disagreement between Lynam and override panel citizen at-large member John Galvin about the meaning of a state Department of Revenue.

Lynam said the DOR indicated that revenue raised, if not used right away, the opportunity to use it for that year is gone forever. However, that money then ends up in the levy limit. Galvin argued that his understanding was that, while the excess levy does need to be appropriated, it does not end up in the levy limit the following year.

“It’s a one-time use,” he said. “If our levy is above the levy limit, any excess levy cannot be used the following year. That’s the discussion Frank and I had at length this morning and I still think we’re not on the same page yet.”

Lynam said he agreed that if the money is not used when it is available, the opportunity to use it is gone, but that the DOR said the levy limit would reflect that money.

“We just got a taste of how daunting this is going to be,” LaMattina said, noting that the Override Evaluation Committee has made a lot of progress after its second meeting. They established a mission statement concerning what the committee is going to do — evaluating the town’s finances and determine whether an override is needed.

He reported that the School Committee will be asking the Mass. Association of Regional Schools for an audit and Selectmen also authorized an independent audit, at a cost not to exceed $10,000, to determine where Whitman is now and what it’s five year financial outlook would be.

“This is something that, I think, really helps us in terms of credible support for presentation,” said Lynam, adding that the Collins Center work does not include a budget review and forecast. “This is a third-party, independent assessment.”

Galvin said if the two independent audits reach similar conclusions, it would provide valuable information about where the town is going financially.

“The key word is independent,” he said.

Heat response

Grenno also opened the meeting with an impassioned defense of his department’s — and the town’s — response to the four-day heat wave from July 18-21 in response to criticism on social media and a resident’s tirade against a member of the department in a local grocery store.

“I feel the need to publically set the record straight to reassure our residents as it pertains to our response to emergency preparedness,” Grenno said. “I’m troubled that I need to come before you this evening to defend our great community, you the board and public safety after a rogue resident took to social media making false claims and statements relating to the recent heat wave.”

The fire chief outlined that the response was in keeping with emergency preparedness plans already in place. Those plans call for a cooling center when: power is lost in town; if a heat wave lasts more than 48 hours; and if the Fire Department begins to see issues with residents. On Sunday, a cooling center was opened because the heat wave had hit the 48-hour mark and, after a vehicle had crashed into a utility pole on School Street and National Grid advised the town that power loss was possible.

“Because of those two issues, we opened the center in accordance with our plan,” he said. “We are on the street. We know what’s going on in our community.”

All information was also relayed via social media, reverse 911 and town websites and, Grenno said, no one uses a cooling or warming center or shelter as long as they have electrical power or during the first 48 hours of a weather emergency.

A cooling center was opened at the Whitman Senior Center on Sunday and the only person who showed up, did so out of an effort to see if they could be of help, according to Grenno. All Housing Authority facilities had power, including in common rooms with air conditioning with generator back-up.

“This resident verbally attacked and bullied one of my members at a local grocery store that day, berating him in public as to why a cooling center was not opened and that my lack of action [reflected] poorly on them as firemen,” Grenno added. “It was so bad that another citizen stepped in.”

He said bullying is unacceptable in any venue, but confronting a firefighter in public to the point where others take notice and comment “is not only ignorant, but repugnant,” Grenno said.

“The type of attitude or politics this person displayed has no place in our community,” he said.

WHITMAN — The town’s Override Evaluation Committee met for the first time on July 22 to evaluate the town’s financial needs and assess recommendations it would seek to make regarding an operational override in the fall.

Serving on the committee are: residents John Galvin and Christopher George as citizens at-large; Finance Committee members David Codero and Scott Lambiase; Fire Chief Timothy Grenno; Public Works Superintendent Bruce Martin; Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak; School Committee member Dawn Byers; Selectmen Justin Evans and Randy LaMattina, Town Administrator Frank Lynam and Assistant Town Administrator Lisa Green.

The meeting, held in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room in Town Hall, is being rebroadcast on Whitman-Hanson Community Access TV. The next meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m., Monday, Aug. 12.

The committee organized officers July 22, electing LaMattina, who had expressed interest in the post as chairman. LaMattina was not able to attend the meeting. Lambiase was elected vice chairman and Lynam as clerk.

“Obviously, I think I know what our community needs are overall, but I think the focus of the committee, most important here … is how we’re going to get from here to Town Meeting and get the information out,” Lambiase said.

While a Town Meeting is currently planned for October, Lynam said he would prefer to push it back to November if it means the town’s financial need would be more clearly understood in the process. The committee’s meetings are public and the issue will also be discussed frequently by Selectmen.

Lynam said the short-term task is to take the information already available and information on five-year expenditure estimates that he has requested on capital needs.

“Because no one has responded, I’ve compromised and asked for three-years’ estimates,” he said.

A proposed draft of a capital planning document Collins Center at UMass, Boston had composed — following an earlier version Lynam had sent back to address errors — were to be discussed with the center by Lynam and Selectmen Carl Kowalski and Dan Salvucci this week.

If the draft is acceptable, a public meeting will be scheduled to review it, Lynam said.

The replacement of a primary sewer main between Whitman and the wastewater treatment plant, which has come to town officials’ attention since the capital plan update was requested, will be significant in the upcoming budget. That work is estimated at more than $8 million within the “cheapest alternative” plan, he said.

“We are looking at whether there are impact funds, or anything else, that can help us with it but year-to-year you’re just going to get things that are going to skew the numbers,” Lynam said. “We need a long-term budget [of] at least three years … because the longer you go in an expenditure budget, the less accurate it’s going to be.”

Current budgets and projected expenditures for the following year, based on needs, are calculated for separate town government and capital needs budgets from each department.

“I’m actually confident that, if we just get these things together in a formal way and we look at them as part of a total picture, we should be able to put together a plan that works and can be given to the public in a way that makes sense,” Lynam said.

Grenno said his department has just completed its five-year plan “based on where we are today,” a cumbersome and time-consuming process.

He asked if the override is intended to make departments whole.

“The budget has to reflect what you believe is necessary to operate your department appropriately,” Lynam said. “Some of us can really accurately predict what our budget numbers are going to be because there’s very little room for variance. Others can’t.”

George said the committee should be looking at what the town is missing compared with towns around Whitman, adding that he is aware of where the schools fall short as a parent, but is not as well informed about other departments.

“What does that mean for you?” he asked. “That’s hard for me to see from a Fire perspective or a DPW perspective, or even a police perspective, so I think that will be helpful as you give us that five-year projection.”

Lambiase said the committee must also discuss what cuts would need to be made if an override question fails. He argued an Economic Development Committee, if not hiring at least a part-time town planner, make sense.

“The challenges are immense,” Lynam said. “Small towns can grow on small businesses and do well. As it sits today, we have a fairly productive downtown business center and we have a stretch of business on Route 27 and on Route 18, but trying to grow that business, we have to come up with things that attract people and when you are in our position TIFs are not an option.”

Tax Increment Financing, which provides tax-breaks to attract businesses, would not help Whitman’s need for revenue.

“People think they are over-burdened with taxes here and it couldn’t be further from the truth,” Lynam said.

They also discussed the format of a question — single question or menu approach — scope of work and timeline.

“I’m absolutely opposed to a menu,” Szymaniak said. “If we’re going to be sustainable as a community … it has to be all together.”

A tier of financial options, with every department having a piece of the override was preferred if a menu option were to be offered.

They also discussed going to a regular special town meeting in the fall, as Hanson does, for capital needs.