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Hanson boards back 8.5% for schools

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Hanson Selectman clarify school budgeting processHANSON — Hanson Selectmen, with the support of the Finance Committee, agreed on an 8.5 percent — up from 6.5 percent — increase in the Whitman Hanson Regional School District assessment Tuesday, April 30, still leaving them several percentage points behind the regional School Committee’s proposed increase of 12.5 percent. The Selectmen also voted to support a warrant article to acquire the Hubbell/Litecontrol property and rehearsed town meeting.

Finance Committee chair Kevin Sullivan liaised between the selectmen and his committee, and after offering several detailed explanations of their recommendations on warrant articles for town meeting he went to meet with his committee to work out a compromise on the school assessment issue.

Sullivan said the money for the 2-percentage point increase was found in the snow and ice line item. The Finance Committee found about $17,000 to fund the increase.

He said that the snow and ice budget was rarely spent, and that they had been increasing it over time so that they were comfortable taking money from it for the school assessment and the Selectmen agreed.

The board was likewise comfortable supporting the increase in order to compromise with the school committee, but Selectman Chairman Ken Mitchell wants to change the process.

He said that they cannot be doing this on the eve of town meeting in the future.

Hubbell/Litecontrol property

Selectmen voted to support a warrant article at Town Meeting to accept the formerly heavily polluted 9.5-acre Hubbell/Litecontrol property with an eye to move the Highway Department there.

The board had a lengthy discussion about the pros and cons of receiving the property.

Selectman Matthew Dyer was at first suspicious that the company was giving the property to the town, noting that corporations generally are in the business of making money, not giving things away. He also noted that it could be used for commercial uses, bringing tax revenue to the town.

He changed his mind after the discussion, though, and voted to support the land transfer.

FitzGerald-Kemmett was vocally opposed.

“I don’t want to be the member of the board of Selectmen [who accepts] an ‘Erin Brockovich’-like property,” she said. She went on for some time explaining her rationale.

The property was heavily polluted and has been cleaned-up. It has been given a “clean bill of health,” according to Town Counsel Kate Feodoroff, except for “sensitive uses” like residential development. Wells cannot be dug on the land.

It can be used for municipal or commercial uses, and has been eyed for the Highway Department, which even FitzGerald-Kemmett admits is housed in an unhealthy building.

Selectman James Hickey asked the Highway Department if they could use the two buildings currently on the site to park equipment that is currently left outside until a more permanent solution could be found. The response was yes, and that seemed to seal the deal.

With only FitzGerald-Kemmett opposed, the Selectmen voted to support the warrant article, 4-1.

Hanson Public Library Director Karen Stolfer offered a brief preview of what library trustees would present at Town Meeting regarding a possible building project at the library.

She said that the library is currently involved in a planning project which requires two documents, a “strategic plan” and a “building program,” both of which have been completed.

The Library Board of Trustees adopted the strategic plan Sept. 29, 2018, and approved the building program March 5, 2019, after conducting an involved survey of library user needs, she said.

Stolfer said a presentation and documents will be provided at Town Meeting to inform the residents of different options that trustees hope the town will approve in the future, either an expansion of the current library, to approximately double its space, or a new library altogether. Flyers and a PowerPoint presentation will be provided at Town Meeting the strategic plan and building program are available online at hansonlibrary.org.

Hanson board recommends ‘20 budget

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HANSON — Selectmen, in a special session Tuesday, April 23 voted to recommend budget Article 5 to Town Meeting — including a 6.5-percent assessment increase for schools — and approved the contract for the town to join the Regional Old Colony Communications Center (ROCCC) for 911 dispatch services.

“I just left here [after the April 16 meeting] feeling a little guilty because we have our financial team … that works really hard to prepare our budget … and we didn’t recommend it because of the 6.5 assessment for the schools,” Selectmen Chairman Kenny Mitchell said. “I just really feel that that’s what they say we can afford … and I just think we should support our team and recommend the budget.”

The board had tabled Article 5 over uncertainty surrounding the assessment the town faces over school costs.

McCue also reported to Selectmen that the town could support a 6.5 percent assessment for the schools, a figure recommended by the Finance Committee.

Selectman Wes Blauss asked what would happen if Town Meeting approved the 12.5 percent currently being sought by the schools. McCue said that scenario would require an override in October. The Town Meeting cannot adjourn until the budget is balanced, meaning cuts would have to be made on the floor with an override needed to make up any cuts, in the event that a 12.5 percent assessment were to pass.

Echoing Mitchell’s praise for the town’s financial team, Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said her hesitancy to vote on the budget article had stemmed from her understanding that “the ball was still in play with the [school] district.”

“We haven’t been given anything to respond to,” she said. “If we vote this budget in with the 6.5 percent, then the next step would be, presumably, there’s still some negotiating … or sharpening of the pencils with the district and with Whitman.”

She said that the vote does not signal any change in that outlook, but rather says that 6.5 percent is what Hanson is comfortable with and that, if more is needed, the district should come to the town and explain why.

The School Committee was slated to meet Wednesday, April 24, with the budget being the only item on its agenda.

The ROCCC contract, like the budget article, was approved by a 5-0 vote.

Last week, Selectmen FitzGerald-Kemmett, Matt Dyer and Jim Hickey had questions on the year-to-year cost of preventing a dark police station, radio equipment maintenance and equal representation on the ROCCC board, prompting the delay of a scheduled contract vote.

“I think Duxbury responded pretty well to [our] questions,” Mitchell said.

FitzGerald-Kemmett, however, said she found the numbers provided to be “somewhat mystifying.”

State 911 Executive Director Frank Pozniak had responded to a letter from Town Administrator Michael McCue that the department agreed with McCue’s outline of the funding breakdown. The 911 department has approved a $200,000 grant to Hanson to defray the cost of joining ROCCC.

The current fiscal 2019 budget includes $366,190 for total dispatch salaries and wages with $454,470 requested in the fiscal 2020 budget as the town transitions to regional dispatch. McCue’s estimate for operating a “non-dark station” is $254,470 — or $454,470 from the proposed budget minus $400,000 to ROCC plus $200,000 from state 911.

FitzGerald-Kemmett expressed some lingering confusion about the way the numbers were presented.

“When we move to the regional dispatch, there will be approximately $250,000 for the police chief to make arrangements to keep the station from going dark,” McCue said.  “He’ll have the next year to figure out how to properly use those funds to reach that goal.”

McCue said it is not his place to tell Police Chief Michael Miksch how to make that happen.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said her concern remains additional pension and insurance costs are the “elephant in the room.”

“I don’t want the approach of when you go to buy a car — ‘How much can you afford to buy?’ — I don’t want that,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “I want a couple of options laid out to us with the price tags attached and have us be able to respond to them.”

Dyer also had lingering concern about the numbers.

“Right now the numbers work because we’re being subsidized by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to the tune of $200,000 and, from my understanding, that’s more than any other community is receiving to go to a regional dispatch,” he said. “Going down the road … the subsidy might disappear and is the town of Hanson really going to be able to afford regional dispatch as well as keeping the station’s lights on … and without making any substantial cuts to our first responders.”

Overall he said he supports the program and its use of current technology.

Both Dyer and FitzGerald-Kemmett have also expressed concern about the potential difficulty in withdrawing from the agreement later, if the town so decides.

“I don’t know if it is enough of a concern for me that I wouldn’t want to enter into it, but I think we do need to have a jaundiced eye … and why we need an equal seat at the table,” she said.

Dyer said he was more trying to get concerns off his chest than voicing opposition to the ROCCC agreement.

Mitchell thanked the members of the dispatch union, Chief Miksch and Lt. Michael Casey of the Police Department, Fire Chief Jerome Thompson Jr., Deputy Fire Chief Robert O’Brien Jr., Duxbury Fire Chief Kevin Nord and Captain Robert Reardon and ROCCC Director Michael Mahoney as well as Pozniak for their work on developing the contract with Hanson. McCue and Administrative Assistant Meredith Marini were also thanked for their work.

SST receives positive FY’19 audit report

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HANOVER — Auditor Bruce Norling reported to the South Shore Regional School Committee on Wednesday, April 17 that South Shore Tech had a “good year” in fiscal 2019.

The district received a report with no adverse findings, and he reported that the school has “very adequate financial controls.”

“You’re pretty much on budget,” he said. “The overall bottom line is on budget. Your revenues were a little higher than you expected, but your expenses were a bit higher than you budgeted. It all came out pretty close.”

Norling said the school did a good job managing to stay within its budget.

“I also think, at year end, reserving money … for future projects,” he said. “I think that’s another way of how you manage to also keep the state happy that you’re not retaining too much dollars [in excess and deficiency].”

Norling said the only “black cloud” was the other post-employment benefits (OPEB) and pension obligations, which are also a concern for many government agencies.

“It’s a very large liability that doesn’t affect your budget so much now, but maybe in 20 years it will [have an effect] if you can’t fund that,” Norling said.

School Committee member Robert Molla of Norwell asked if revolving accounts from shops that deal with the public, such as culinary — through the Brass Lantern Restaurant — and the cosmetology shops, are being used effectively and not “hoarded.”

Norling said he found no problems with the revolving funds or enterprise accounts.

“I don’t see any abuses there,” he said. “I didn’t see any hoarding or excessive amounts of keeping profits.”

District Treasurer James Coughlin said the state requires those accounts to be audited every three years, which was done last year. He also said the district is not using excess and deficiency to balance budgetary costs.   

Officials outline budget issues

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WHITMAN — A handful of residents attended a pre-Town Meeting presentation in Whitman’s Town Hall Auditorium, Wednesday, April 17 — where the annual Town Meeting will convene on Monday, May 6 to hear a summary of the town’s fiscal outlook.

“The reason we’re having this meeting is to make people aware of our current circumstances, what our budget picture looks like and what our future plans are,” said Town administrator Frank Lynam.

All information he reviewed by PowerPoint presentation is available on the town website, whitman-ma.gov.

The presentation is being rebroadcast on Whitman-Hanson Community Access TV and on the WHCA YouTube page.

Representatives of the Board of Selectmen, Finance Committee, schools and other town departments staffed information tables around the perimeter of the room in case those attending had questions about services or budgets after the program.

Selectmen have voted to present an operating budget that including contributions from free cash to pay for capital payments required by previous financial commitments and to provide a budget reflecting reductions in most departments as well as a 6.5 percent increase to the W-H Regional School District, Lynam said.

The Finance Committee will be making its budget recommendations in the next couple of weeks, Lynam said.

“The process continues right up to Town Meeting,” said Finance Committee Chairman Richard Anderson.

“Part of our issue is — and I hate to blame the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, but I’m going to throw them under the bus right now — we are bound by law to fund things that the commonwealth says we need to fund and we’re supposed to get reimbursed for,” said Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak. About $5 million of more than $8 million in mandated program costs are under-funded or unfunded.

W-H is seventh from the bottom in per-pupil spending among all public school districts in Massachusetts.

Health insurance costs also present a problem for the schools as well as for the town.

The School Committee voted on Wednesday, April 10, to seek a 12.5 percent assessment, following a transfer of more than $561,000 from excess and deficiency, leaving $400,000 in that emergency fund.

“Unfortunately, as we look at our ability to meet those needs, we come up short,” Lynam said. “I’ve heard a lot from people who feel that our taxes are too high, our tax rate is too high, they’re not getting value out of the community.
He looked up the taxes paid and tax rates charged to residents of more than 27 surrounding South Shore communities, none more than 25 minutes away.

Regional trend

“Our tax rate, of $15.38 [per $1,000 valuation] is 24th out of 27 communities,” he said. Only Middleboro, Lakeville and Brockton are lower. Hanson comes in at 23.

There are 17 communities with tax bills higher than Whitman residents pay.

“When you look at these numbers, what you really see is a community with needs — needs that haven’t been fully met in the past,” he said. “Sure, we’ve done some good things … but along the away we’ve tried to manage by keeping taxes low and, what’s happened is we’ve reached a point where we can’t do that anymore and still deliver the services that people have come to expect.”

A debt exclusion is being sought to remove the bond for construction of the new police station and renovations to the fire station and Town Hall from within the levy limit to fund capital expenses not currently available in the budget. While the town has no current capital plan, it is working with the Collins Center at UMass, Boston to develop such an approach.

A operational override of perhaps between $2 million and $2.5 million in the fall will be sought to fund some capital articles but the town’s future fiscal needs depend on raising the levy limit, according to Lynam.

“The total capital being requested in this budget is $3,197,000, unfortunately, we don’t have that money,” Lynam said, explaining he will recommend that Town Meeting stop work on the warrant at Article 29 and adjourn until after the Town Election.

The total municipal budget requested within the levy in Article 2 is $33,129,808 — an increase of $816,000 over last year.

Personnel costs, a big part of the budget will be $6,383,000.

Available capital within the levy is $461,980. Other funds, including free cash add up to $903,800 with $100,000 in ambulance funds going toward the cost of paying the final debt on the Town Hall, $30,000 for the third of five payments for a 2016 ambulance, $7,000 for the fifth of seven payments for a pumping engine, $42,000 for the purchase of protective equipment for firefighters and $85,000 to complete the upgrade to the radio system for police and fire.

Lynam also explained to voters the workings of ambulance and water/sewer enterprise funds, as well as how deficit accounts such as snow and ice removal, operate, and capital debts owed on buildings and equipment purchases.

“The biggest numbers in the budget right now are the school budget requests,” Lynam said. “The budget that we prepared provides $14,570,000 to W-H, $1,948,000 to South Shore [Tech] and Norfolk Agricultural, so the total budget for education this year, based on the Selectmen’s budget, is $16,518,543 — that is a $900,000 increase over last year.”

Public Works’ budget is up $80,000 — all due to the cost of hauling and disposing of trash due to global changes in the recycling stream since China stopped accepting shipments.

Whitman mourns Schmitt

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WHITMAN — The town is mourning the death of veteran call firefighter and former Emergency Management Director Robert H. Schmitt, 91, who died Thursday, April 18 after a brief illness.

Fire Chief Timothy Grenno said Schmitt, who retired as WEMA director in 2011, was dedicated to town emergency planning. [See obituary, page 13].

“He did a ton of work for the town,” Grenno said. “His dedication, his sense of humor and his overall love and commitment for the town of Whitman will be missed.”

Town Administrator Frank Lynam described Schmitt as “a true gentleman.”

“He cared deeply about his town,” Lynam said. “He served since its inception as director of Emergency Management, he was just a fully committed individual who was always there to lend a hand.”

Schmitt was active in the Civil Defense Administration beginning in 1960, which became the Whitman Emergency Management Agency, where he served as director until 2011. During his time as Director he helped develop the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). He was a man of many accomplishments, but he was most proud of his time serving Whitman as a call-firefighter. He first volunteered as an auxiliary firefighter in 1961, was appointed as a call-firefighter in 1963, and retired in 2008 after 47 years of service to the Whitman Fire Department.

Selectmen had designated July 1, 2011 as Robert Schmitt Day in recognition of his retirement as WEMA director and his service to the town.

“Bob was instrumental in bringing the town emergency operations and emergency management department into the 21st century with the town’s hazardous mitigation plans and emergency response team and it’s training.”

Lisa Riley, the Fire Department’s administrative assistant worked closely with Schmitt.

“Bob was instrumental — he was the catalyst — behind getting the CERT team as well as the Rehab Unit put together,” Riley said. “He conducted CERT training classes, he was on the Civil Defense so when the President [George W. Bush] came down and said Homeland Security now wants the communities to be involved and become an organization of emergency management teams, Bob took that under his own initiative, brought it into our town, researched it, trained under the CERT program and brought it to the community here.”

CERT classes were offered every year when they first started, according to Riley, beginning about 2003.

“Bob conducted the training classes, got guest speakers in, got everybody totally involved,” she said. “At this point he was already in his 80s. … He was always here at the station helping out.”

Riley said Schmitt’s trainees were devoted to him.

“They loved him and worked for him and came to these meetings because he saw that they wanted to give back to the community just like he did,” she said.

The development of the Rehab Unit was a way of keeping the CERT team more active in an area where natural disasters are not as common as other areas of the country, Riley noted.

“That’s the way Bob was,” she said. “Bob was an action guy — if you were going to do something, Bob was a planner and got things done.”

The CERT team posted a salute to Schmitt on its Facebook page:

“It is with deep sadness we share the news that retired Whitman Emergency Management Director, Robert H. Schmitt, passed away on Thursday, April 18th. A long time call firefighter and civil defense volunteer, Bob was an integral part in forming not only our Emergency Management Department, but developing our CERT program and Rehab Unit. Without Bob, our program wouldn’t be what it is today. We send our condolences to his family and pray for their comfort during this sad time.”

Regional dispatch vote delayed

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HANSON — Selectmen have tabled a vote on joining the  Regional Old Colony Communications Center (ROCCC) for 911 dispatch services over lingering questions of cost and equal representation for the town.

The concerns, voiced again Tuesday, April 16 by Selectmen Matt Dyer and Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett came after the board had a chance to review the contract they were slated to approve and sign the agreement.

Headquartered in Duxbury, the ROCCC already handles 911 calls, police, fire and EMS dispatching for the towns of Duxbury, Plympton, Halifax and Rochester.

The cost for Hanson would be $400,000 minus $200,000 received through a grant from state 911 officials, the result of a meeting between state and officials and ROCCC.

Before the discussion over the vote, the board, in executive session voted to approve memorandum of agreement with the dispatchers’ union to pay a one-time severance payment based on their years of service with the Hanson Police Department in anticipation of acceptance of the ROCCC contract. Dispatchers working four years or less would receive $2,500; less than six years, but more than four would receive $4,000; six years or more would receive $5,000 — a stipend for them to stay until the end of the transition period to ROCCC. The union has agreed to stay on during the transition period — if the board was to vote to join ROCCC, which is planned to go into effect by July 1, 2020.

The talks for the transition began more than a year ago.

“I think this board and all the departments, the chiefs, have done their due diligence to look at making a change in our dispatch,” Selectmen Chairman Kenny Mitchell said. “Our dispatchers are great and they do a great job, it’s just sometimes they get multiple calls and one person can only handle so many calls at one time.”

All five Hanson Selectmen have toured the facility.

“There are a couple of concerns to overcome, and I believe we can, but at the end of the day, I truly believe this is a better decision for the residents and a public safety decision,” Mitchell said.

ROCCC staff in Duxbury, Mitchell, Town Administrator Michael McCue, Police Chief Michael Miksch and Fire Chief Jerome Thompson Jr., Police Lt. Michael Casey and Deputy Fire Chief Robert O’Brien Jr., would all be involved in the transition work.

“I’m very happy with what I’ve seen so far,” Mitchell said of what he termed a “standard agreement” for all member municipalities.

Dyer questioned a contract provision that Hanson would be responsible for maintaining service or support agreements that Hanson may have for it’s own radio or computer equipment, for which the town would continue to be responsible.

“When we went and toured the facility, I thought the chief over there and the director said that we wouldn’t have to worry about licensing or anything like that for software, that we wouldn’t have to worry about maintaining our radios here in Hanson, that they were all going to take care of it,” he said.

Mitchell said that provision involved radios the town already has.

FitzGerald-Kemmett questioned what software Hanson would need if the ROCCC was going to be operating it.

McCue agreed with Mitchell’s assessment that the clause meant ROCCC is not going to assume responsibility for equipment Hanson already owns.

“I respect the questions that some members of the board have in terms of [the clause] being a little too loose,” McCue said, suggesting the board vote the contract and he would work to clarify the language.

Dyer also noted he had also requested “hard math” on the cost of maintaining operations in Hanson, bringing on extra dispatchers and ensuring that the police station does not go dark.

“We both asked for that, and we were told that they couldn’t give us the numbers until they applied to the state and heard back from the state,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “Now that they’ve got [the $200,000] we need the information we asked them for.”

She also questioned who would be staffing the station and how often it would be staffed as well as her continuing request for Hanson to have equal representation.

“I specifically asked that, in this agreement, that there be a stipulation that, as soon as they can, we have an equal seat at that damn table to be voting,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “I don’t see anything in here that says that. This is acting like, forever and a day we’re going to be under Duxbury’s domain, and I am not OK with that.”

She reminded the board that she has mentioned her concern about representation every time she has talked with ROCCC officials.

“It’s not going to go away,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said, suggesting language supporting equal representation as a goal would be sufficient. “I’m OK with it if it’s temporary, but the way this is structured, that’s not the way it reads.”

Selectman Jim Hickey, who also opposes a dark police station, said he wanted to see cost figures and expressed concerns about a 90-day transition if Hanson opts to leave the center.

“That seems like a steep hill to climb,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

Budget questions

In other business, the board tabled Article 5 on the annual Town Meeting warrant — the budget — over uncertainty surrounding the assessment the town faces over school costs.

McCue also reported to Selectmen that the town could support a 6.5 percent assessment for the schools, a figure recommended by the Finance Committee.

Selectman Wes Blauss asked what would happen if Town Meeting approved the 12.5 percent currently being sought by the schools. McCue said that scenario would require an override in October. The Town Meeting cannot adjourn until the budget is balanced, meaning cuts would have to be made on the floor with an override needed to make up any cuts, in the event that a 12.5 percent assessment were to pass.

“I don’t feel comfortable voting on this until the eagle’s landed and I just don’t think the eagle’s quite landed yet,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

But he also stressed that the School Committee is slated to discuss the budget again before Town Meeting.

“It feels weird to be voting on the 6.5 percent and I’m not seeing anybody from the School Committee here or [Superintendent of Schools] Jeff Szymaniak here to talk to us about what will happen if we go with 6.5 percent,” FitzGerald Kemmett said.

McCue said school representatives had met with Hanson’s Finance Committee last week.

“I think because we’ve been quite clear from the beginning of what we could afford — and that number has not moved — that they know where we stand,” McCue said.

Pleas for school funding sway board

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Frightened and tearful parents as well as concerned teachers, town officials and a high school student spoke Wednesday, April 10 of the potentially devastating effect of cuts to the fiscal 2020 level-service school budget.

Through tears falling on the podium, a mother of a student with Down Syndrome expressed her concerns about her son’s educational future.

“The staff in Whitman have made it possible for my son, who has Down Syndrome, to be fully included within public education and that, alone, is worth more than anyone can say,” she said. “If you cut paraprofessionals — they are the heart of the program — it is detrimental to the special ed population. It’s detrimental to the population of children that are operating with social-emotional needs.”

She is a teacher herself and noted the only way to help children with trauma is on a one-to-one basis.

“The more you cut, those sick children are going to be hurting and the more they’re going to end up in an outside placement, possibly residential, or they’re going to hurt themselves,” she said noting there have recently been two suicides in the district’s middle schools.

Children who are being helped improve their grades through the work of dedicated young teachers first in line for layoffs also concerned the Bedford Street resident. Her daughter is one of them.

“She has changed my daughter this year,” she said of the teacher. “My daughter has become a phenomenal student, she has risen to the top. Her papers are coming home … with 100 on almost every test because that teacher has taken the time to pull her aside and work with her. Without her, without the paraprofessionals, my family wouldn’t be where we are today. … Don’t go lower [than 12.5 percent] tonight, just don’t go lower.”

Teachers’ union official Kevin Kavka noted there have been 100 teaching positions lost in the district since 2000.

Whitman resident Christopher George said W-H already has the second-worst foreign language program out of 31 surrounding towns.

“I know that because we took the time to email every single middle school principal and find out what they offer,” George said. “If people cared about that program, if the taxpayers cared about this program, we wouldn’t be talking about this right now, we’d be ready to pass an override.”

As a baseball coach, he said before any other educational program, athletics and other after-school programs should be “put on the chopping block.”

“People talk about sports in this town, they don’t talk about education,” he said. It’s like banging my head against a wall.”

A senior WHRHS band member spoke in support of the district’s teachers and of the music position facing cuts.

“Cutting even one position to [music] is a very emotional thing for me,” she said, noting the inspiration music teacher Devin Dondero has provided her. “That man has changed my life … He is someone who has helped me grow to the person I am today.”

Even one staff cut could be devastating for another student like her in the future.

“That could be the passion that a person has for an instrument,” she said. “To know that you could be cutting a position for someone who could have that same impact on a student as he’s had on me is hard to face.”

Residents and town officials who have been working on the budget process also spoke.

“If you feel like the town has been really with us for the last year, hand-in-hand trying to reason this out and being supportive, then I would approach this one way,” Whitman resident Shawn Kain, an advocate for capital planning said. “I do think this is a fundamental question. This is a negotiation and keep on negotiating with them, but I think they are negotiating strongly. …People are taking strong action for their departments and if you are taking a mild action because they’ve been pretty supportive over the last year, I think you are going to get a harsh result.”

Kain said there should be an override on the ballot, but Whitman officials weren’t prepared, for that lack of preparation he said he could not support an override right now.

School Committee member Christopher Howard said, while he respects Kain and his passion, he does not view the process as a negotiation.

“I don’t care whether the town can support it or not, I think we need to do what is right for the students of this district,” Howard said. “I’m not here to play games or negotiate.”

Emphasizing that he was speaking for himself, Whitman Selectman Randy LaMattina said that, at last year’s Town Meeting three members of the Whitman Board of Selectmen chose to use an “unorthodox funding solution to try to make every department whole.”

“It was very clear to me that evening exactly what we were doing — that we were putting ourselves in a shortfall situation and we would require an override,” he said. “What I will agree with is [it] failed. The process failed. We should have been ahead of this. The town of Whitman absolutely should have been going for an override this year, no doubt. Time was wasted. I’m not going to point fingers at anyone — I’ll shoulder the burden myself. Maybe I should have been more vocal, but we shouldn’t be in this position again.”

But at this point, Whitman is not in the position to go for an override before the fall, he added. He said he also didn’t want the schools to be left with a 4-percent assessment increase, so he supported the proposal to pursue a debt exclusion to remove the new police station and renovations to the Town Hall and fire station from within the levy limit and seek an operational override in the fall. He did disagree with Howard’s statement that the budget situation was not a negotiation.

“If you were dealing with an infinite amount of money, no, it’s not a negotiation,” LaMattina said. “But in the position I’m in, there’s a limited source of funds and we need to negotiate those alleys to determine the best possible result.”

Finance Committee Vice Chairman Dave Codero said no motions or commitments were made after the April 9 joint meeting with Selectmen, which he said — in his opinion — was “the most anti-school meeting I have ever, ever attended.”

He said he was shocked by a selectman’s contention that “our people didn’t get cut,” in reference to town employees.

After the 12.5 percent assessment discussion, Whitman parent Leah Donovan of Old Mansion Lane said, while she was pleased that nine positions could be saved, that still meant many positions would be cut.

“I don’t think that’s true across other departments in town,” she said.  “I’m not here to consider what other departments can do. … We’re here to fight for the kid. We’re not here to be considerate of the others — there’s a time and place for that — but right now is not that time.”

Special education teacher Jill Kain also warned about the impact of cutting special education paraprofessionals, who she described as key to the success of students on IEPs.

“The next few years, if we cut these paras, there’s going to be more kids going out of district  [at more than the $20,000 paraprofessional salary],” she said.

School Committee OKs 12.5 percent

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After a lengthy debate on Wednesday, April 10, the W-H School Committee voted 7-1 to support a 12.5 percent assessment increase to the towns.

School Committee members Alexandra Taylor, who was absent, and Michael Jones, who had to leave the meeting early, were not present for the vote and Fred Small, who had supported the 6.5 percent increase Whitman officials have indicated the town could afford, voted against the new assessment. The School Committee meets next at 7 p.m., Wednesday, April 24.

“The 6.5 is based on what they can give in jockeying different lines and different things,” Small said.

School Committee member Robert Trotta had proposed a 10-percent assessment to begin discussion, before the committee ultimately opted on the 12.5 percent, which, in tandem with a transfer from excess and deficiency, avoids more cuts to the school budget.

A transfer of $561,237 from the $961,237 in excess and deficiency brought the assessment down from 15.1 percent to 12.5 percent. Small also advocated using $5,000 from the School Committee travel account, keeping only enough to maintain memberships. It could also help the budget.

School Committee member Steve Bois also made a motion to seek 12.5 percent from the towns after the excess and deficiency transfer closed the gap to that point.

At 12.5 percent, Whitman would see an assessment of $1,658,773 — a total of $14,928,958 — and Hanson’s would go to $1,114,168 — a total of $10,027,508.

The 12.5 percent assessment saves about nine teaching positions.

The level-service budget now stands at $53,270,534 after an initial cut of $290,000 from legal costs, supplies “everything that doesn’t live or breathe.”

E&D, as it is called, is depended on to deal with unanticipated costs such as a new special education student in the district. Individual education plans, ranging from extra time on tests to residential placements, have increased in cost by more than 50 percent over the past five years.

Special education is also among the $5 million in unfunded state educational mandates impacting the budget.

“Students learn differently, students are being emotionally challenged differently … we’re seeing more and more students not being able to cope because of anxiety, because of stress — and that’s starting in kindergarten and preschool now,” Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak said.

Special education and related accounts, such as transportation and legal costs, are among increasing unanticipated costs, school officials said. Even with the cuts that would have to be made if the towns provide only 6.5 percent assessments, Szymaniak said new programs would have to be developed to keep more special education children in district to reduce costs long-term.

Special education costs have jumped from $2.5 million in the 2016-17 school year to $4 million this school year for out-of-district placements.

He said Hanson officials had informed him that their town could support a 7.5-percent assessment.

He repeated his breakdown of program and staff cuts that he had provided Whitman Selectmen on April 9.

The 6.5 percent assessment would mean the loss of three non-union employees, middle school foreign language, six paraprofessionals, three duty aides, the part-time elementary music teacher, a guidance staff member and 19 teachers — with 4 percent meaning a math curriculum and 23 teachers in addition to the other cuts. Special education costs have run over by $630,000 this year. There are 82 staff members paid through federal grants.

Reduction in force (RIF) notices were sent out on Thursday, April 11 to teachers and staff in line for layoffs in the event cuts are made.

School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes explained once again how assessments are made based on what school officials say they need in a budget, cautioning that the original 15.1 percent assessment to the towns was not a 15.1 percent increase in the overall budget.

“[Taxpayers] are getting a Cadillac for a Yugo right now,” Szymaniak said referring to the Yugoslavian-made economy car that became the butt of jokes shortly after its introduction to the American market from 1985 to 1992. “This is the best bang for your buck around.”

Finance Committee member Rosemary Connolly had made a similar argument during the April 9 Selectmen’s meeting.

“This 6.5 percent increase, even though there will be layoffs, maintains a curriculum that we’re committed to give our teachers,” Szymaniak said. “It also maintains social-emotional learning and support for our students.”

School Committee members said they were also concerned about the effect of additional budget cuts on class size and the potential of any more state funding.

“I’m happy to play ball and I’m happy to be in agreement [with the towns], but we still need a little bit more,” Bois said. “There’s still work to do here.”

Small, meanwhile, said the committee also has to be cognizant of what the towns are able to give.

“Were they prepared? No. Should things have gone differently? Probably. But if we have to, I’d be all for taking E&D money to try and supplement different things and really preparing for the fall and having a proper override presentation showing the need for everyone to reset,” Small said. “And we’d take control of that ourselves.”

Szymaniak also spoke about the budget impact of the 3.1 percent increase in the overall South Shore Tech budget approved by both towns.

“If we were to get a 3.1 percent increase to our budget, that would be an 8.5-percent assessment to both towns,” he said. “I’m just asking both towns to treat us as equals.”

The assessments SST is seeking comes to 3.12-percent increase to the towns — $48,000 for Whitman —but still must be approved by the two town meetings. W-H’s overall budget increase is 5.6 percent.

Szymaniak also noted the difference in per-pupil expenditures for both school districts — W-H now spends $12,740 per pupil while SST spends $21,142 per pupil.

“There are less kids so there is less cost [at SST],” Szymaniak said.

With special education costs factored in, W-H spends $13,385 per pupil, while SST has no out-of-district special education expenses. Thirty percent of SST students, however, are on IEPs. Equipment costs and other factors. Safety factors dictate that we have some limited student teacher ratios in some shops, which also contributes to higher per pupil costs, according to SST Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey.

“That’s the only school I wish to compare us with because we are sending students over there,” Szymaniak said. “I don’t see and apples and apples situation, I see an apples and oranges-type situation and I think South Shore Tech is a very good institution for our students if that’s their choice. I just want equal footing as far as finances for the teachers we employ as a district and for the students that decide to stay here.”

Small described his vision of an override as not just one that solves immediate problems, but returns the school services to a level where it should be.

“If we are going to go for an override, we should give the voter the opportunity to fund us to the level where we should be, and that’s a whole helluva lot more than we’re talking about tonight,” he said.

In other business, the committee approved submitting a letter to the  Commissioner of Education requesting a waiver of the 185-day requirement to the school year for Conley School following the norovirus-related closure of the school for one day last month.

Assistant Superintendent George Ferro explained that requiring Conley students to make up the day at the end of the school year could cost the district $2,800 in busing costs and that the time on learning could be made up in other ways.

Ferro said the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education  (DESE) said the number of days in school was the key measurement.

“The hours do not count,” he said of the DESE’s regulations. “It’s the showing up on the 185th day.”

“The content of an education is not in the length of days or the minutes you spend,” said Bois in making the motion for the assessment. “That is very valuable time, but I’ve seen kids that have continuity from a group of people that deserve millions of applause … for the everyday work that they do.”

O’Brien pointed out that the decision would be counter to the reasoning behind a recent vote to reject a 2019-20 school calendar which included extra days in the Christmas vacation.

“Everybody brought up time in the classroom,” he said of that vote. “You’ve got to learn, got to learn, got to learn. I’m OK with applying for it, no problem at all, but we seemed to have done a 180 here. … I’m just making a point.”

Ferro said waivers have been granted to districts in the past.

Murray search leaves questions

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Maura Murray, pictured on a missing persons poster. (Courtesy image)

A lack of evidence during an excavation in a New Hampshire basement crosses something off the list of questions surrounding Hanson native Maura Murray, a family member says.

Despite a day of hope last week, no evidence was found in the search for Maura Murray, a Hanson resident and UMass Amherst student missing for 15 years. After an extensive search of a long-suspected house close to where the 21-year-old Murray was involved in a single-car crash along Route 112 in February 2004, New Hampshire Senior Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey A. Strelzin made the announcement Wednesday, April 3.

Maura Murray’s half brother, Kurt Murray, 30, of Halifax, said in a later interview that his family was given less than 24 hours’ notice regarding the imminent search of the basement. He said it was important to him and his family that they be there.

No evidence was found in connection with the case, said Strelzin, and, “certainly no evidence of human remains.”

Kurt Murray said, “No scenario is a particularly good one,” when asked what the family was hoping to find.

The Murray family has been critical of law enforcement over the years, blasting authorities for not doing enough to find Maura.

Officials from the New Hampshire State Police, the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office and the FBI searched the house at times over the month of March, culminating in law enforcement tearing up a basement floor April 3 with a jackhammer, with the present homeowner’s consent.

“We certainly did not believe there was any credible evidence,” but searched anyways, said Strelzin. “It was really done to cross something off a list.”

“There certainly wasn’t any probable cause to search the house,” he added.

But, he said, “Everybody involved remains committed to following every lead that’s out there. There’s a lot of information we continue to follow up on.”

Kurt Murray said of the next step for his family, “We’ll have to try to work with New Hampshire authorities.”

The nursing student’s mysterious disappearance has sparked attention in the press, on the internet and on social media over the course of the last decade-and-a-half across the world.

“The community support has really been astonishing,” said Kurt Murray.

Her father, Fred, said that the house that was searched was “astonishingly close” to the site of the accident, in a previous interview with the Express. According to him, locals first tipped him off about suspicious activity at the house in the first year after his daughter’s disappearance, including a rumor of new concrete being poured in the basement, but the owners of the house would not cooperate with the investigation.

In November and December 2018, Fred Murray brought in two trained, accredited cadaver detecting dogs to the house, after it had changed ownership, each one on separate occasions. They alerted, he says, by lying down in the same spot in the basement of the house.

Later, he brought in ground-penetrating radar which he said indicated strong findings of an abnormality in the same spot in the concrete.

“It’s astounding that this [basement] wasn’t looked at before. I told the police about this in the first year … the State Police did an inadequate job when my daughter first went missing,” he added.

Exactly where Maura Murray was headed, and why, has remained a mystery over the years. Moments after the crash, a good Samaritan stopped to assist her, but she waved him off and told him not to call the police, according to original police reports from 2004. The passerby called local police anyway, although he did drive off. A Haverhill police cruiser arrived 19 minutes later, but Maura Murray’s Saturn was locked, and she was gone. She has remained missing ever since.

“The case is still open and active.  We do receive tips and information periodically, as well as generate new information from investigative efforts,” said Streizen in a previously emailed statement.

But this does not satisfy Kurt Murray. “Not knowing for 15 years … she deserves to be home. She’s too special a person to be left unfound somewhere,” he said.

Debt exclusion now, override later

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WHITMAN — Selectmen on Tuesday, April 9 approved the presentation of a debt exclusion question at the Monday, May 6 Town Meeting and on the annual Town Election ballot on Saturday, May 18 — and to wait until the fall to seek an operational override.

The debt exclusion removes the cost of the new police station and renovations made to Town Hall and the fire station from within the levy limit. Selectmen faced an April 13 deadline to approve a ballot question. The planned pre-Town Meeting informational session has been moved to 6 to 8 p.m., Wednesday, April 17.

In an often-contentious joint session with the Finance Committee — attended by a large crowd of department heads, town employees, School committee members, educators and school supporters — the question of whether to seek both financial approaches at the same time or the order in which they should be approached separately.

“We’ve gone through several iterations of budget estimates,” Town Administrator Frank Lynam said. “We’ve had differing opinions on how to proceed, based on at least in part, whether we believe we will get the support we need.” He reminded Selectmen that a long-term capital plan and budget model is in the works, with completion expected at the end of the month. That work would provide an idea what kind of override would be sought in the fall.

Lynam suggested a debt exclusion would be the most effective method to start with the aim being to free up some capital money and to build a long-term plan based on increased revenue from an override.

Free cash and capital stabilization would be used to pay for previous budget commitments, which would leave a balance of $460,000 in free cash and stabilization.

That would fund essential warrant articles through Article 29, include the debt exclusion to fund the bond and adjourn the Town Meeting until June 3, after the Town Election decides on the debt exclusion question, either funding the remaining articles if it passes or making cuts if it does not.

The budget under current consideration by the Finance Committee would include $13,800,992, a 4-percent increase to the W-H school assessment — and a request that Lynam recalculate the remaining lines on Article 2. Lynam countered that his proposal gives the schools a 6.5 percent assessment increase.

Finance Committee Chairman Richard Anderson and Vice Chairman David Codero expressed reservations with the approach taken.

“The day after the Selectmen’s meeting of last week, I sent an email to the members of the board to relay the unanimous concern we have for the newest direction you appear to be taking with respect to a recommendation to Town Meeting,” Anderson said about the new Article 2 based on a meeting called by department heads and to which Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski and Vice Chairman Dan Salvucci were invited. “The biggest concern we have at this point is eliminating the Proposition 2 ½ override as part of the recommendation.”

Anderson said the Finance Committee views an override as a critical component of this year’s budget discussion. Codero was more blunt, while he commended department heads for their budget cuts made to avoid layoffs.

“It’s not a sustainable approach, that’s the headline,” Codero said of the new Article 2 recommendation. “It’s my understanding that the department heads’ Article 2 is reliant on both passing the override and the debt exclusion. It’s a dangerous way to play with the sustainability of our future.”

He also characterized the department heads’ meetings with Kowalski and Salvucci as being done “in the shadows of [the] Open Meeting” law, and that the first such meeting excluded the schools. Lynam vigorously countered that department heads are not governed by that provision.

“The fact that they held a meeting and I wasn’t aware of it and wasn’t invited to attend, does not shake me as being something inappropriate or untoward,” Lynam said. “If they choose to meet that way, then they meet that way. They are not obligated to post meetings, they are not obligated to invite the public, they have an opportunity to sit down and plan together.”

Whether or not the schools were invited was up to the organizers of the meeting and Lynam made sure school representatives were invited to the second department head meeting.

“We had town employees that were fearful of losing their jobs,” said Salvucci, who attended both department head meetings. “They took … your Article 2 and made cuts where they could to save people’s jobs.”

He said they agreed to make additional cuts to bring the school increase up to the 6.5-percent level Hanson is offering.

School Committee member Fred Small vigorously argued that the schools are part of the town, too.

“We’ve got high school students going to school in the black of the dark of morning because we’re able to save $300,000 on busing,” he said. “We have done so many things over the years — cutting, cutting, cutting — the only thing left to cut, for us, is bodies.”

Small also said he understood the 4-percent increase was only intended as a discussion point.

“I certainly never intended the number to be used by department heads to formulate a separate Article 2,” Anderson said. “We’re working on two separate budgets. … This is not the recommendation to Town Meeting. This is a working document for the Finance Committee and the Board of Selectman.”

He said the Selectman and Finance Committee are basically in agreement over what needs to be done, it is just a question of when.

Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak echoed Small’s commending of town departments, but said the 6.5 percent assessment would mean the loss of three non-union employees, middle school foreign language, six paraprofessionals, three duty aides, the part-time elementary music teacher, a guidance staff member and 19 teachers — with 4 percent meaning an elementary math curriculum and 23 teachers in addition to the other cuts. Special education costs have run over by $630,000 this year. There are 82 staff members paid through federal grants.

Rosemary Connolly noted the Finance Committee makes decisions based on demographics, rather than a whole town.

“They did it in a bubble,” she said. “It will not be in the best interests of the town … and I hope to not see things like this in the future.”

Kowalski said that, at some point the residents of town will have to agree to spend more money, but that the department head meetings could sustain the town for awhile as they build the budget sustainability by increments.

“There’s a fear that a Proposition 2 ½ override will not pass,” he said.

Selectmen, for a time Tuesday night, seemed close to opting to seek both and override and a debt exclusion at the same time, or to look toward an override first.

“I, for one, am not willing to wait to fix it in the fall,” Anderson said.

Selectman Randy LaMattina said the debt exclusion option works because departments would use it to fill their budgets and he has “seen a budget that works with a debt exclusion.” He has also advocated for the debt exclusion for years.

“The problem with an override is you can’t just ask for a blank number and that’s what I think we’d be doing with an override,” he said. “I have faith that we can pass an override. It needs to be completely detailed where the money’s going.”

LaMattina also said he had concerns after hearing about the first department head meeting, but after attending the second one, he could “only applaud the department heads.”

“I could understand where they are coming from,” he said. “When your back’s against the wall you want to fight your way out of it.”

Whitman Middle School

In other business, Selectmen approved beginning the statement of interest process to the MSBA for a new or renovated grade five to eight Whitman Middle School. The School Committee has already approved the SOI.

Szymaniak said ongoing issues represent challenges for the future health and safety of students and teachers as well as ongoing repair costs.

“This could be a short-term process — probably not — but it could also be a five- or six-year process before they accept us,” Szymaniak said. “It depends on the severity of what they deem is important to our middle school.”

South Shore Tech has been in the queue for five years on a renovation project for which they are seeking MSBA funding.

Facilities Director Ernest Sandland offered a lengthy explanation of the selection process, including the forms that must be submitted to the state. Need outlines, budget process, history of the school and past upgrades, safety concerns such as mold and vermin (termites, bees and mice) problems, and the timeline proposed must all be submitted by April 12. The MSBA Board of Directors will comprise a list of approved projects in December. If Whitman is approved, selecting and creating a schematic design and budget could take about two years more.

“We’re spending so much on repairs over there, that it’s a budget-killer,” Sandland said.