HANOVER – What immediately comes to mind when you hear the words “gold medalists?”
If you’ve been among the millions of Americans tuned into the 16 days of Olympics coverage just concluded on Sunday, Aug. 11, you might naturally think of gymnast Simone Biles and swimmer Katie Ladecky and their contribution to the 40 gold medals among the 126 total medals won by U.S. athletes competing in Paris.
But Hanson’s Sofia Grasso and Rook Sulc of Rockland would argue that you should think of graphic design and visual communications. The two – Grasso graduated South Shore Tech in June, and Sulc will be a senior this fall – won gold medals in the annual SkillsUSA national competition in Atlanta this past spring.
“I really like the creative aspect of it,” Sulc said. “I get to express myself a lot more than in other areas. It’s such a big industry and we do so much because we don’t just do designing. “We also do print production, bindery and finishing – there’s just so much that it can go into. I’m going to probably go to college to get a bachelor’s degree … in graphic design and we’ll see where that takes me.”
Grasso, who starts a paramedic/EMT course at Quincy College in the fall as well as taking a CMTI course online right now, with an eye toward following her dad, Whitman Fire Lt. Nicholas Grasso’s, bootprints to a career as a firefighter, said she was initially drawn to the design program at SST because she had been a good artist.
“I learned and did really well,” she said, noting she was fascinated by screen printing and – at one point – started her own business with a friend, but divergent interests and the time consumed by their different coop jobs at SST, led them to set that aside, at least for now.
“It was so much fun,” she said.
Sulc got their foot in the SkillsUSA door as a freshman when a teacher asked if they were interested in the program.
That four-level competition had entrants in the design discipline designing a safety poster to present to a judging panel, winning second place in the state competition. There were more competitive levels open to them the following year.
Grasso competed in the screenprinting category. To compete, SkillsUSA entrants must take an exam in their shop, with high scorers advancing to district competition.
“Students could take one or more different knowledge tests to figure out which competition they would be practicing or participating in for this year’s district test,” she said.
With 60 different schools within the six districts, which each crown three winners, but only the top two move on to states.
“I did well in the graphic imaging sublimation (GIS) category, so I went to the districts,” they said. That meant another written test, pitting Sulc against the other 12 district schools competing with first and second-place entrants advancing to the state competition.
In the words of the late North Carolina State basketball coach Jim Valvano, it was a “survive and advance – one game at a time,” he once said of his strategy for the 1983 NCAA tournament.
“It’s pretty scary,” Sulc said of those SkillsUSA exams. “It’s 100 questions and you can’t go back [and change an answer] because it’s on the computer.”
After waiting a couple of weeks, entrants receive their scores, knowing that only the top two scores meant a ticket to the states.
As for their category, graphic imaging sublimation seems complex, Sulc said, but it’s really not.
“It involves transferring printed images onto different products,” they said. “If you’ve ever seen a coffee mug with someone’s dog on it, you know what it is.”
District competitions are conducted at Blackstone Tech, but Sulc competed at Shawsheen Valley Tech in Lowell, where questions focused on OSHA requirements and SkillsUSA symbols and culture questions, but for states, they had to create two projects, including skills such as color separation, register printing and other technical skills.
“States are more difficult than nationals,” Grasso said. “My teachers and advisors got me where I am today.”
At nationals, one adds the pressure of filling up the World Congress Center in Atlanta with the most talented of your peers from vocational schools across the country. There is some downtime for students to see some of Atlanta during the competition week, Sulc said.
But for Grasso, much of that free time was devoted to preparing for the business of the competition.
“At times, it was stressful,” she remembered. “I’d feel like I messed up [on a test], but I kept my head high and believed in myself. … I knew that, if I wanted to get first, I had to work for it.”
Still, the week offered some fun when the competition was over.
“We had so much fun,” she said. “There were so many things to do.”
Besides everything going on at the WCC there was a festival happening that week, as well.
“We didn’t get to head to it, because we were so tired,” Grasso said of the competition which included an employability test as well as a screen printing technology orientation and a written knowledge test.
“It was different at the states than at the nationals,” Sulc said. “It was different products and we had to do different tasks. At states, it’s one day – over four hours. You get everything all at once and you do all of the tasks. At nationals, it’s spread over a few days and you’re given a time slot.”
Competing students had to get through six or seven stations, taking them from the creation of a digital design, printing it on a pair of socks, and transfer three other designs onto a wooden panel, a bag and a coffee mug.
That was followed up with a quality control problem.
Another challenge for Grasso, who uses an automatic press at her co-op job, was the work involved in every part of the printing process, including the muscle strength involved.
“They gave us a bunch of products that had minor defects and we had to find the defects and tell them whether it was something we could sell,” Sulc said. “It was kind of tricky because there were some without any defects and there were some where it depended on how you could see it.”
“Basically, that’s what I do, now,” Grasso said with a laugh. “Ever since I’ve been in the shop, I correct everything.”
The opinion-based nature of that distinction made it challenging, Sulc said. That was followed up by a mock job interview.
Between classwork and the experience of the nationals exercises, Sulc said they are more apt to notice small details in products as a consumer.
“It’s usually small little things that no one else will see,” they said, noting that she noticed a tape mark on one of their projects, but judges missed it.
At the conclusion of the competition, everyone’s work was displayed, giving students a chance to see how well their competition performed.
“I thought that everyone did so well,” they said. “Last year, when I won fourth, it didn’t seem as close.”
There are also design competitions at nationals in photography, graphic communications and advertising design within the Design and Visual Communications umbrella.
“It’s such an amazing experience, even if you don’t medal at all,” Sulc said. “You get to meet people from across the state and the country.”
SST’s focus on professionalism, not only in their shops, where they often produce materials for member towns, but there are job interview projects in English classes.
SST sends schematic design budget to MSBA
HANOVER – The South Shore Tech School Building Committee voted in a special meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 13 to submit a schematic design budget of $276,449,480 to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) by the required Thursday, Aug. 15 deadline. There will be a final schematic design vote at the end of the month to submit all schematic design documents and the MSBA will begin its review process.
“We have a budget,” said Chair Robert Heywood of Hanover.
The budget was being submitted on Wednesday, Aug. 14, according to Kevin Sullivan of LeftField, the owner-project manager firm working with SST.
MSBA had approved the project to move into the schematic design phase at its April 24 board meeting.
The district’s share of the cost at this stage is projected to be $167,581,808.
The project has also received a basis of grant of $176,213,157 and an estimated MassGrant of $107,119,978, before contingencies are factored in.
The district also has a base reimbursement rate of 55.00 percent, Sullivan said. However the projected reimbursement rate was increased because the building construction intends to meet higher environmental standards and also because the district has shown strong capital maintenance practices.
The Building Committee approved a total project budget is $276,449,480. The project team projects that the district will receive a MSBA grant of $107,119,978, leaving approximately $167,581,808 at the local level. The local share of 167,581,808, notably, is over $7 million dollars less than the projection made at the Preferred Schematic Report (PSR) phase earlier this year.
Based on maintenance and capital planning practices has meant the district has received 1.79, which means hard work done to preserve the building’s condition.
Most districts receive a 1.5 or lower.
“Getting this 1.79 percent is impressive,” Sullivan said. “It doesn’t happen that often.”
Additional reimbursements shave another $7 million from the preferred schematic report, according to the budget Sullivan reviewed for the committee.
The project was also under budget for the feasibility study.
“These are estimated costs,” Sullivan stressed. “We’ve done our best to manage costs, based on the information we have and based on our experience on quite a few MSBA projects.”
But until MSBA does their review in August and September, the exact ineligible costs will not be known. These exclusions are things the MSBA does not typically pay for. An example Sullivan gave was removal of contaminants such as underground tanks, if found on a site, and a number of them will be based on price caps.
“There are caps on every single part of this budget, to be honest,” he said. For example. MSBA never participates in the remediation of ceiling or floor tiles.
“These are projections, and I believe they are conservative projections,” Sullivan said of the budget totals he presented.
The preliminary design budget for the preferred schematic had been 260,000 gross square feet.
“We were tasked, as a project team to find ways to make the building more economical – responsibly of course – and to make it more efficient,” Sullivan said. “I think, with some hard work, especially by the architect and the folks at the Vo-Tech, here we are with a schematic design for the building [in which] the size has been reduced to a gross square footage of 249,365 square feet.”
In terms of cost, the changes have reduced the cost by $1.7 million ($2.1 million with mark-ups)
“This is one of the most important milestones in the MSBA’s process,” Sullivan said of the reason for three estimates – including one for $223,603,801 from the construction firm now on board – which maximizes the grant obtained from MSBA and reduces the original estimate by some $2.1 million.
The preferred schematic cost estimate of $283,595,433 has been brought down to the current total schematic cost of $276,449,480.
LeftField had been tracking the district’s share at anywhere from $176 million and $178 million with an MSBA reimbursement between $105 million and $107 million during the preferred schematic design phase. It is now being tracked from $167 million to a little over $169 million with an MSBA reimbursement of between $106 million to $109 million. The district’s share has gone down “significantly,” Sullivan outlined.
“In my experience, this type of cost regression is very unique,” Sullivan said. “It doesn’t happen a lot in MSBA projects. Typically, you’ll see the progression, but this whole project stayed almost exactly the same. Sometimes costs go up a little, sometimes it goes down a little, but in this case, it has gone down significantly, and I think that’s a direct response to your team’s hard work.”
Heywood asked if Sullivan’s firm sees this kind of cost regression often.
“We don’t see this often,” he replied.
“This is an exciting time,” said Mateo Battista, vice president and project executive at Suffolk Construction.
The savings had started in the feasibility phase.
“We’ll probably have money left over from that feasibility budget,” said Superintendent/Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey. “Because the district funded the feasibility study with stabilization, when we’re looking at the local balance [local share of the project costs] at the end, we’re not actually financing that because we’ve already earmarked it.”
Sullivan also said some of the purchase of the adjacent house as administrative offices was that about 2,000 square feet of ineligible space for reimbursement in the new school building was absorbed that way.
“The result was a reduction of ineligible costs by the MSBA,” Sullivan said, noting it saved an additional $2 million – and the property did not cost nearly that amount.
“So we saved a lot of money by buying this property and moving [those offices] over here that you did not have to put in the new building,” Heywood said.
Another big portion of vocational building project budgets are the furnishings and technology costs, according to Sullivan, noting it is another area where spending caps apply.
“For as long as I can remember – and I can remember back to 2008 – that type of cap is exceeded in every school [project], even elementary schools,” he said. “On Vo-Tech schools, which require significantly more, that’s what results in a pretty significant exclusion.”
Committee member George Cooney asked if the furnishings and technological equipment for the new school would be moved in during the summer – and if there would be employment opportunities for SST students in that area.
“That’s a firm yes,” said Suffolk Senior Vice President Christian Riordan of the moving schedule. “There’s opportunities for student employment during the entire project. We’re committed to that.”
The next steps for the project are: submission of the Schematic Design Report to MSBA by Aug. 29; MSBA Board of Directors meeting on project approval on Oct. 30 and project approval votes by each member town in January 2025. The Schematic Design Report will be reviewed and voted on by the SST Building Committee on Aug. 27 or 28.
Hanson Library grant at risk?
HANSON – The stark message on Hanson Public Library’s web page made the problem clear – maybe.
“The state Senate recently passed an Economic Development Bond bill that would prohibit municipalities from receiving library construction grant funds if they are not in compliance with the MBTA multi-family zoning requirement,” the message reads.
“We’re not saying anything about MBTA one way or the other,” Hanson Library Director Karen Stolfer said. “Our main concern is, it’s tied into our grant.”
She pointed to the important role the public library plays in a small community like Hanson – as an educational resource second only to the schools, a community resource.
“Just to have that in jeopardy of losing funding …” she said.
Stolfer said that, with the failure of the House and Senate committees to reach a compromise, the funding issues could get pushed to next year. The MBTA Communities Act could impact other funding for town grants and funding sources.
“That’s kind of good news for us because, obviously, it could come up again,” she said. “The senate version of the Economic Bond Bill says you have to be in compliance [with MBTA Communities], the House version doesn’t. … they couldn’t come to an agreement.”
Another point of concern for Stolfer is that the funding comes in two pieces.
The one now pending, up to $100,000 in matching funds for what has already been spent, will reimburse expenses laid out for preliminary work such as planning, including schematics for a potential library, and a second phase after a project attains all the necessary approvals, comes by way of a construction grant in the “millions of dollars.”
The first grant, which has already been applied for, stands to reimburse for the more than $77,000 already spent on the new library project planning, including grant money and trust funds the library already had, Stolfer said, stressing it was not all town money.
“We had to spend that money to meet the requirements to apply for the grant,” she said. “We just have to let them know our concerns and say, ‘This is what can happen – that Hanson could lose a new library and it’s a needed resource in town.’”
She said the alert was posted, along with state officials’ contact information as a way to give residents a way to voice their opinions on the funding issue.
“That [second grant] wouldn’t be until further down the line,” she said.
While Stolfer said there may have been other sticking points, the MBTA Communities portion’s effect on grants is, and has been, her main concern, with hopes for funding of a library building project riding on it.
“The town isn’t in compliance and the potential for this version [of the bill goes forward, then we would not be eligible for a grant,” Stolfer said.
The next round of grants will be announced in October and the status of the bills, combined with any potential impact of a lawsuit some towns are pursuing against the MBTA Communities program cloud the future for Hanson’s library plans.
“There’s so much work that we’ve obviously put in, and when the application deadline was May 31, we met all the requirements, and now, the possibility that that could be changed, just seems really unfair,” Stolfer said.
Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said the issue is not that clear-cut and pointed out that the MBTA Communities article, which was rejected majority of voters at the May Town Meeting did not involve the library grant at the time.
“Quite frankly, we didn’t anticipate that [the state] would pull the MBTA Communities card on us,” she said. “Although, ironically, at Town Meeting we were talking about MBTA Communities, at the time there was a list of grants that were off the table if we didn’t pass it. We were aware of those 13 grants. This was not one of them.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett said the town was also aware the grant sought by the library was a competitive one.
“With the financial shape that we’re in right now, even if we get that grant, I don’t know – the way that that grant works is that it’s a reimbursable grant, which means we’ve got to come up with the money up front and then get reimbursed,” she said. “I don’t think it’s happening.”
While the House passed a similar bill in June, that legislation does not link the library construction grants to the MBTA Communities requirement. The Senate version of the bill retains the language, and a joint conference committee session on Monday, Aug. 6 was unable to reach a compromise, the Mass Municipal Association was reporting, according to Stolfer said as she encouraged residents to call state legislators “if you would like to express your opinions regarding this matter.”
According to the MMA, the Senate bill (S. 2856) includes many of the same investments as the House bill (H. 4804), including:
- $400 million for MassWorks grants for local infrastructure
- $100 million for the Rural Development Fund
- $150 million for the Public Library Construction Program to help municipalities update and rehabilitate these essential facilities
- $100 million for grants, through the Seaport Economic Council, to provide support for the state’s 78 coastal municipalities to withstand and adapt to the impacts of climate change
- $400 million for climate technology bonding authorizations.
A House-Senate conference committee also was unable to reach agreement on a proposed multi-billion-dollar economic development bond bill, including these provisions, which the governor filed in March as the Mass Leads Act.
“In the closing hours of the formal legislative session for the year, the Legislature enacted a $5.16 billion housing bond bill, but couldn’t reach an accord on a multi-billion-dollar economic development package or a climate bill aimed primarily at promoting clean energy,” the MMA reported. “The housing bill is intended to kickstart housing production across Massachusetts, and the House and Senate had passed different versions in June.”
Hanson residents had been advised at the May Town Meeting that a grant for programs at the Multi-Service Senior Center was in danger of a clawback or denial if they rejected the MBTA Communities Bylaw, but FitzGerald-Kemmett pointed to the actions of the Healey administration as bearing some of the fault for the situation, clapping back at municipalities unwilling to go along with the MBTA Communities program.
“This isn’t going to be the last of it,” she said. “I’m sure there’s going to be other little ‘gotchas’ along the way.”
She would have preferred the administration had approached it differently – adding grants beyond the ones already planned and applied for, that would have been attached to the MBTA program, instead of taking away grant programs for which municipalities would have been eligible.
“Sometimes, I swear, these guys don’t think about [the] basic psychology of people,” she said. “You’re going to take something away from somebody for not complying with something they didn’t know they had to comply with.”
Gov. Charlie Baker may have passed it, but Gov. Maura Healey is the one enforcing it – which is the real issue, FitzGerald-Kemmett argues.
There are few, if any alternatives for the town’s fronting the money, FitzGerald-Kemmett argues.
“I guess we could look for federal grants or there are private grants that we might be able to get, but of course, they would be competitive too,” she said. “But, if we don’t get the state money, this is just absolutely not happening. We don’t have the money for that.”
The $70,000 already spent in the planning stages of the library project now represent funds that could have been spent on something else, FitzGerald-Kemmett noted.
“We’ve got a million other things we could have spent that money on, a generator for the senior center/library – a bunch of other stuff,” she said.
Opponents of the MBTA Communities, incensed by the apparent overstep of state government rejected the bylaw, vowing to fight it in the courts.
But there is no class action lawsuit, FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
“We’re going to have to put money away because we’re probably going to end up getting sued by the state,” she said. “Not only are we losing money and we’re going to have to defend ourselves.”
While the law only requires towns to establish a district defined as “a zone of reasonable size in which an allowance for as of right multi-family housing is permitted” within a half-mile of public transportation, must comply with all Hanson building codes or be denied, and has been discussed at multiple public hearings by the Planning Board and the Select Board, which were sparsely attended and “when asked for input, the Planning Board received input from one office,” according to Campbell.
At the May Town Meeting Town Administrator Lisa Green said the Attorney General has required towns to comply with the law or risk lawsuits and classification as ineligible for forms of state funding, including grants.
“We don’t even have an estimate of what it would cost to fight this,” she said. “They are very serious with this. We’re trying to preserve the grants we’ve received in the last couple of years totaling $2 million.”
Stoler, meanwhile, has been hoping for compromise language to salvage a $100,00 grant to fund the planning stages of a new Hanson Public Library, expressing concern that the nearly $75,000 in funds already invested in the project might go to waste, to say nothing of additional grants, potentially totaling more than $1 million for actual construction.
Whitman OK’s new WHCA-TV contract
WHITMAN –The Select Board on Tuesday, July 23 approved a new contract with Comcast, finalizing contract terms between the town and the cable television corporation, governing the operation of Whitman-Hanson Community Access TV.
Whitman’s special cable counsel William Solomon briefed the board on the contract negotiations during the Tuesday, July 23 Select Board meeting.
He’s worked for the town for about 25 years, starting when the town was transitioning from a company-run program.
“There’s no better program in the Commonwealth,” he said of the current WHCA board and employees. “I work from Pittsfield and North Adams to the Vineyard and there’s no better program than you have here in Whitman-Hanson.”
He also credited Executive Director Eric Dresser, whom he referred to as a “one-person show,” in regard his programming and technical skill, for his contributions to the license renewal process.
“We’re here today, hopefully to get a vote of approval
The facility’s building on South Avenue was owned by Comcast at the time.
Comcast Senior Government Affairs Manager Michael Galla said the 10-year license is what the town and Comcast negotiated – a “normal time period we conduct with all our licenses with our towns.”
Solomon said that, while Galla is a tough negotiator, he has “great insight into figuring out how much does the town care about community television and PEG access and what are those needs.”
“That’s why I think we have an excellent license,” Solomon said, adding that Assistant Town Administrator Kathleen Keefe efforts helped the town obtain a better contract. “There’s a lot of things to do and I know cable isn’t always first.”
There will be public, educational and government (PEG) programming support for the WHCA team – 4.75 percent of gross annual revenues – and Comcast will be increasing the capital dollars that were in the last license to $280,000 over the 10 years – or $28,000 per year to the town as well as a high-definition channel to be provided within the first 24 months.
Solomon also mentioned the improved picture on two of the PEG channels to serial digital interface (SDI), which will require encoders and the hi-def channel, which will also require an encoder.
The Select Board and WHCA would decide together what the hi-def channel would be used for.
“It turns out that there is a strong interest among the towns to have the government channel be the high-definition channel, because when you do your presentations, people at home can read the graph, can read the spreadsheet and can follow along,” he said.
Comcast was looking for some initial funding – $10,000 – for the encoders, Solomon said, adding he has seen numbers ranging from $20,000 to $30,000 for the equipment.
“It’s the major aspects of the contract, which is in Article 6 of the license,” he said. “Those are the main aspects that allow your PEG access to operate.
“I know our community access has grown over the years,” Select Board Vice Chair Dan Salvucci said. “It’s unbelievable, what they’re doing.”
“As a company, we are actively invested in that,” Galla said. “It’s an impressive operation and we’re happy to be a partner of it.”
Extension of cable service, if needed would carry no density requirement, Solomon said, noting all Whitman residents now have the ability to connect to cable.
There will still be a senior discount for those over age 65, Solomon said, stressing that the $2 discount is voluntary on the part of Comcast under the Cable Act.
“Most companies don’t provide it,” he said. “We’re grateful that they continue to provide that senior discount.”
There is a financial qualification, but there are more categories of qualification in Whitman than elsewhere.
Vets abatement plan OK’d in Whitman
WHITMAN – The Select Board has approved a new policy for a tax veterans’ abatement program approved at the May 2024 annual Town Meeting.
Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter has been discussing a Veteran Citizen Property Tax Write-Off program with Veterans’ Services Officer Shannon Burke and Assessor Wendy Jones, to help veterans work off a portion of their property taxes.
“It’s similar in a lot of ways to the senior work-off program,” Carter said during the Tuesday, July 23 Select Board meeting.
She said Burke has written the program policy so the program will be limited to no more than five veterans per program year, but could be further limited by the availability of staff to provide proper supervision.
“The VSO will see who’s interested, check with departments, see who has a need for a volunteer, similar to the COA [Council on Aging],” Carter said. “They will be able to make the minimum wage up to the cap.”
She reminded the Board that the program was approved at the May 2024 Town meeting, to the policy is just to go along with that.”
Right now, the salary cap is $1,500. While the COA has recently increased its tax abatement program salary cap, [the veterans’] program is written that way, without a specific dollar amount.
“It just says, ‘Up to the limit,’” Carter said of the salary listed. And there is no specific age requirement that one has to meet with funds coming out of the real estate and personal equity line of the budget each year – just as the funding for the senior abatement program does.
“The only differences are there is no age limit of veterans and you have to meet the status of a veteran, based off the federal definition of what a veteran is” she said.
“It will open it up, too, because we have a lot of younger veterans who could use the help, and they’re looking. This is a way for them two work for the town and get a financial break from the taxes.”
They are trying to open up the process because they are not eligible for the senior work off.
Select Board member Laura Howe asked about the reason for limiting the program to five participants.
“We’ll start with the five and see what the future brings,” Vice Chair Daniel Savucci said.
Resident Bob Kimball of Auburnville Way asked what would happen if there were, say, 10 applicants for the five spots.
“How do we give the veteran that needs it the most, the ability to [participate]?,” he asked. “Do we give it to people who have Purple Hearts? Do we have people with a disability? We want to make sure that the right veteran gets it.”
Burke said all applicants … will be put in the right order, according to the most need,” noting that, if they are receiving another exemption, they would go on the list below someone receiving no exemptions and “could really use the program.”
“We’re trying to get as many veterans as much help as we can,” she said. “Obviously, our most needy are going to go at the top and the ones that can wait a year or so are going to go toward the bottom. It’s going to depend on who applies and where they are.”
Select Board member Shawn Kain asked if, during the implementation of the program, the board could be updated on it to determine how much demand there is for it.
In other business, the board was updated on work done under a grant from the CPC and Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) and the next steps to conduct a survey to assess and document some 140 selected architectural and cultural resources in town ahead of the 2025 celebrations of Whitman’s 150th anniversary. Th inventory will be presented to the town as part of that observance.
“The properties are ones that have not been previously surveyed, but can be considered endangered in Whitman,” said Mary Joyce, who thanked Carter and Assistant Town Clerk Kathleen Keefe and the town’s IT team for helping “moving some things forward that were stuck.”
Survey results will be submitted to the MHC for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places and provide an article for the 2024 warrant to provide the town with a demolition delay bylaw, providing plaques to properties indicating historic significance of Whitman.
Joyce also said the Commission will establish community resources for the schools and interested members of the public and have already been asked by the architectural firm working on the new Whitman Middle School for some historical items to show within that building.
Key milestones met include: participation in a MHC workshop; submission of a single audit in June; finalization of a scope of work with the MHC, which was approved in late July; development and drafting of an requests for quotes now in final review with the MHC with execution of the contract between now and 2025 left to achieve.
Select Board members agreed to Joyce’s suggestion of providing a periodic update on the project’s progress.
Pilgrim Festival Chorus seeks members
Pilgrim Festival Chorus (PFC), a welcoming, premier South Shore choral ensemble, seeks experienced singers, from amateur to professional skill levels, to join its membership for the 2024-25 season. PFC is widely recognized for sharing the world’s great choral music as a means to bring people together. 25 season features three concert cycles – winter, spring, summer. Rehearsals are held weekly on Mondays from 7 to 9 p.m. at Faith Community Church, 29 Carver Road, Plymouth. New members are invited to join for the winter concert cycle after attending an open rehearsal and completing a Vocal Placement Session (VPS). Open Rehearsals are held Sept. 9 and 16, from 7 to 9 p.m., walk-ins are welcome. Vocal Placement Sessions are held on Sept. 16 and 23, between 6 and 7 p.m., by advance appointment. To make a Vocal Placement Session appointment and confirm open rehearsal attendance before committing to membership, email Artistic Directors William B. Richter and Elizabeth Chapman Reilly at [email protected]. Membership information is available at rehearsal, at pilgrimfestivalchorus.org, or by Pilgrim Festival Chorus’s fall rehearsals prepare the ensemble for its winter concert, “A Basically British Christmas – Seasonal Favorites From Across The Pond,” performing at 7:30 p.m., on Friday, Dec. 6 and Saturday, Dec. 7, and at 4 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 8, at St. Bonaventure Parish, 803 State Road, Plymouth.
PFC continues its annual tradition of joyful music making at Christmastime, a highlight of the magical season. In the last century, British composers created many beautiful choral pieces commonly used at Christmas time. PFC celebrates by performing four works penned by composer giants Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, John Rutter, and the late James Whitbourn. With the added drama of brass, timpani, cello, and flute, this will be a magnificent concert ushering in the holiday season. Tickets are now available at pilgrimfestivalchorus.org.
Commemorating its 25th anniversary this fall, PFC is dedicated to presenting diverse choral works that educate, enrich, and engage both its members and its audiences. In addition to the winter concert, PFC presents an annual “Messiah and Carol Sing” in late December, a larger choral work with orchestra in spring, and a summer concert featuring Broadway and American traditions. Smaller volunteer groups serve the community by engaging in appearances at various local events.
For more information about membership, email [email protected]. For information about this season’s rehearsal schedule, or to purchase concert tickets, visit pilgrimfestivalchorus.org, email [email protected], or follow Pilgrim Festival Chorus on Facebook and Instagram.
Whitman eyes financial issues
By Tracy F. Seelye, Express editor
[email protected]
WHITMAN – The Select Board hear – and expressed – concerns over the financial impact of changes to the host community agreement concerning retail cannabis business Berkley Botanicals, and over the effect of increased interest rates on the Whitman Middle School project at the board’s meeting on Tuesday, July 23.
“We recently heard from one of the holders of the host community agreement license – Berkley Botanicals, hoping to open a recreational marijuana store on Bedford Street – that the Cannabis Control Commission had rejected the host community agreement with the town of Whitman,” said Select Board member Justin Evans. “The short explanation for why is that, after we adopted the … agreement with Berkley Botanicals, as well as our other two licensees, the regulations changed.”
That left Whitman’s agreement with Berkely signed before the date of effective regulations with the state.
There are a couple of options open to the town, he said.
Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter outlined those options:
- Resubmit the existing host community agreement with a new effective date;
- Amend the existing HCA in a way that the town’s and Berkley’s lawyers negotiate and agree is “minimally compliant” with the law;
- Adopt the model HCA with modifications – adding some of the existing HCA provisions into the model;
- Adopt the model HCA. There are meaningful differences between the existing Whitman HCA and the model; or
- Waive the HCA requirement.
Town counsel has made no recommendations about which option the town opts for, he is looking for direction from the board. The one recommendation he did make was to reject the last option.
Evans recommended agreeing to the model HCA to get the business open. He said the town could use the revenue. He also noted that Whitman has spent a ‘fair amount of money’ negotiating with the business – as well as two others – and the town is effectively throwing that money away in signing the model agreement.
The Select Board opted to table the matter until its Aug. 20 meeting in the absence of town counsel, ZBA Chair John Goldrosen and Select Board Chair Dr. Carl Kowalski. Evans said he would support drafting some points to discuss at that meeting.
“There would likely be some benefit to adopting the model with some modifications, but it would likely get approved down the line somewhere not as quickly,” Evans said.
There is also a provision in Whitman’s HCA that, if a more favorable agreement is reached between the town and any cannabis business, the town would reach out to the others and renegotiate their HCAs, he added.
“We’ve seen very little progress with two of them and quite a lot of agreement in one of them – the one that’s reaching out to us to get open soon, so I think we may ‘feel out’ if the other two businesses are still interested in pursuing recreational marijuana dispensaries in town, or if they may want to turn their licenses back in,” Evans said. “That might be a side benefit of changing our HCA.”
Putting it off for another six months or so does not benefit the community, either, he said.
“What we’ve heard so far is that … the CCC has released the model and are only accepting the model to approve,” Evans said. “The thoughts of Berkley Botanicals’ lawyer is that, if the town were to adopt the model HCA and sign the agreement with them or waive the requirement that there’s an HCA – they’d get approved within the next round.”
That round of agreements is expected to be approved in the next 90 days, Evans said.
“If we did anything else, [town counsel] opinion, or perhaps gut feeling, was that they would reject it and, initially, we would have to submit some reason for why.”
That could delay things yet another 90 days, he explained.
The major differences, according to town counsel were a lot of zoning controls relating to noise, smell, Evans reported. He said he likes the timeline for effectiveness, which removes community impact hearings and vehicle management requirements.
“Those are the kinds of things we put in to be over-protective that aren’t in the model HCA,” he said. “I know something that was close to [Select Board member Shawn Kain] when we were negotiating it, was some of the specific community impacts that we carved into our HCA to say, ‘This is something the town considers a community impact,’ they agreed to it, and would have theoretically mad it easier to have made it easier to collect for impacts they are having to the town that other, non-marijuana related businesses have not had on the community.”
Whitman Middle School interest rates
“Why I’m here is because I’m still following [the Middle School] meetings and trying to stay up with the information and over the last couple of months I’ve heard a lot of positive information from the middle school,” Galvin said
In a discussion not included on the agenda, the board heard questions raised by resident John Galvin concerning interest rate’s impact on the bottom line.
Galvin had served on the Whitman Middle School Building Committee, resigning when he no longer supported the project.
“But that’s not why I’m here,” he said, outlining his concern, despite good news he’s heard on the project’s budget. “The concern that I have is not the cost of the project, but the cost of the borrowing for the project.”
The building committee has been able to bond the amount of money that had arrived at this year and the interest rate that came along with that financing “is not pretty,” he said.
“It’s considerably higher than what we just recently borrowed for the DPW building,” he said. “I think it’s important that this board makes it a concern as well, because if we continue along this track, it’s my understanding that next year we will probably do another similar bond to what we did and then, the year after that, the big bond hits.”
Ending up borrowing against the same interest rate being paid now would cost taxpayers a “significant amount of money,” Galvin said, noting his rough calculations put that cost at almost $25 million more over 30 years for the same building if the bond percentage stays at the interest rate the district is now getting.
He also mentioned the district audit that both towns are demanding.
“I don’t know where that stands, but I would plead that both towns move forward with that as quickly as possible, because it’s not looking pretty right now with the borrowing for the Whitman Middle School,” he said.
Asked for a comment by Salvucci, Carter said she is very aware of the BAN taken out – expected to be at $4 million at 4 percent, the BAN the Schools took was $8 million at 5.87 percent, because more money had been needed up-front.
“Once [the towns] get both of their audits done, hopefully they’ll have their bond rating reinstated, allowing them to move forward with a more favorable rate,” she said, noting she has been told no additional borrowing until, at least, after the first of the year.
Salvucci – noting the Moody rating is down because the incomplete audits increased interest rates – asked, if a special Town Meeting would be required, should interest rates go up.
“Town Meeting voted the amount of the project,” Carter said. “The amount of the project they should stay on track with, however, the interest rate they applied to that project does make a difference in the end result to the taxpayers. … They’re waiting for a new cashflow for the financial adviser to update the strategy and planning on borrowing.”
Salvucci also asked if any consideration has been give toward making the project smaller.
Kain expressed hope that, after the audits are complete, the project can be “back on tract and rectified, adding that the issue “Is definitely on our radar.”
Whitman fire officers sworn
WHITMAN –The town officially welcomed two new members to the Fire Department’s leadership with the Tuesday, July 23 swearing in of Deputy Chief Tom Ford and Lt. Brian Trefry.
The ceremony opened the Select Board’s meeting in the Town Hall Auditorium, after which the board recessed, reopening the rest of their session in the Select Board meeting room.
Fire Chief Timothy Clancy noted that Ford had been appointed a firefighter in July 1991 and appointed lieutenant in August 2020 and officially appointed deputy. The top candidate in the promotional process, he holds an associate degree in fire science and is certified as a Fire Service Officer I and II.
He has worked as an acting deputy chief since June and is the only military veteran serving in Whitman’s fire service, having served with United States Army.
“Not to be outdone, Tom has been the department’s SAFE officer for a number of years,” Clancy said. “He has excelled at both the schools and with the senior SAFE program. He has truly helped the children and no matter where you go with Tom, somebody knows [him] from the schools.”
Clancy said it’s quite cool that Ford had that big an impact with generations of children, noting that he.
After Town Clerk Dawn Varley swore Ford into office, his wife Suzanne pinned on his new badge and sealed it with a kiss.
A fire crew had to answer an emergency call the midst of the ceremony.
Trefry was appointed as a call firefighter in 2007 and as a firefighter/paramedic 2012, officially becoming a lieutenant on May 30. 2024. He holds a degree in fire science and was the top candidate for the position.
“Brian is one of the last people to have been on the call department and he’s worked his way up through,” Clancy said, noting that Trefry has a degree in Fire Science and is also certified as a Fire Instructor1 as a Fire Inspector I.,
Trefry’s wife Lindsey and their daughter presented Trefry’s bade during the Town Hall Ceremony.
“He came as a call firefighter, saw a career path and has started put more into being a great fire officer and I look forward to see where he goes in the future,” Clancy said.
Varley recalled that when he became firefighter, Trefry was the first she had sworn in.
“I look forward to what this new leadership brings to the fire department in the future,” Clancy said.
SST panel hears building update
HANOVER – South Shore Tech’s new building project remains on schedule for its October meeting with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) Board of Directors.
“To do that, it requires an August submission,” said Kevin Sullivan, of owner project management firm LeftField. “We are currently working with the cost estimators,” he told the SST School and Building committees on Wednesday, July 24.Kevin Sullivan, of owner project management firm LeftField,
This week – on Tuesday, July 30, three cost estimates were being reviewed to “make sure we have the most accurate and up-to-date budget information before we present to the MSBA,” said Sullivan, who was feeling under the weather and not wanting to get anyone else sick, attended the meeting virtually. He said the updated construction budget being submitted to the MSBA in mid-August will include a full schematic design to the MSBA by Aug. 29. that hasn’t changed.”
Superintendent/Director Thomas J. Hickey said the district is looking at Aug. 7 and Aug. 21 for meeting dates, in order to deliver on the information needed, as part of the MSBA submission.
Sullivan also reported that the feasibility study’s budget, with no major changes over the past month is maintaining a committed amount of 79 percent with the expended amount at 63 percent, up from 58 percent last month, based on the most recent invoices.
There is $410,228 in uncommitted funds and “upwards of $200,000” in anticipated extra services/reimbursables. Sullivan said the latter pays out to sub-consultants, site testing and other expenses for this stage of the budget.
“We believe we are still on track for that,” he said.
“The Aug. 7 meeting will be a deeper dive, as we’ll hear back on the reconciliation numbers from those three sets of cost estimates that the team is working on,” Hickey said. “Two weeks later, when the team has completed schematic design documents, we’ll reconvene to have them support that.”
The meeting on Aug. 21 will meet the Aug. 29 deadline for filing the final schematic design report to the MSBA.
“Those will be the two anchor dates for August,” Hickey said.
Addressing School Committee business, the panel – which acts as both committees, welcomed Joseph Zambello of Marshfield to his first meeting since that town joined the district.
Hickey also reviewed some language changes to the district’s Regional Agreement.
“We’ve been working on a series of language changes to our Regional Agreement, working with the Department of Education, in order to adjust how we calculate our debt share in [it],” he said.
Since a series of member towns are holding fall special town meetings, he said he would likely come back to the committee in early August to obtain the School Committee’s approval.
“There is not a lot that has been substantively changed,” he said. “It’s taken a long time to get loops of feedback from the Department of Education.”
Hickey is, however, having one with state school officials this week and another early the following week.
The goals include changing the debt share calculation by amendment to a rolling/adjustable average as well as a four-year rolling average instead of a fixed rate to improve debt loads for towns on large-debt projects such as a new school.
“The intention here is to square off this important matter before a building project vote is taken,” noted in a presentation on the Regional Appointment process. “The intention here is to change the language, to change this approach. … In a way, Marshfield entered the district under its new rules.” he said.
The genesis of the language change idea came from Whitman, which is already facing building projects for a nee middle school and DPW facility.
“I think it’s a good idea,” Hickey said. “Whether this project passes or not, this is an improvement on our Regional Agreement.”
Hanson’s special Town Meeting on Oct. 7 is the first to go to a vote on the change.
Ford charts new course as Mass Maritime coach
She continues to be a trailblazer.
Whitman-Hanson Regional High grad Meghan Ford has been hired as the wide receivers coach at Mass Maritime Academy.
Ford served as a student-athlete coach working with wide receivers at Coastal Carolina, where she graduated from in 2023.
“I’m so thrilled for this next step, I know with it will come so much growth,” Ford tweeted. “I am so grateful and so excited.”
Earlier this year Ford participated in an NFL Women’s forum.
“I am so honored to be apart of this class,” Ford tweeted. “Truly an experience I will never forget. Your dedication and efforts for change in the sport of football does not go unnoticed. I’m so blessed to have been apart.”
Mass Maritime kicks off their season Friday, Sept. 3 at 7 pm at Maritime (N.Y.).
—Nathan Rollins
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- …
- 199
- Next Page »