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School panel delays final assessment vote, mulls suing state

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When the W-H Regional School Committee convenes a special budget meeting at 7 p.m., Monday, April 23, it will be decision time on the assessment increase to the towns.

In the meantime, the committee voted at the Wednesday, April 11 meeting to seek legal representation, on a contingency or pro bono basis, to determine if the panel could or should sue the state for the past 10 years of underfunded regional transportation reimbursements that the state requires, but does not fully fund. They are also seeking other area regional school districts to join in such a lawsuit.

“We need to do something, we need to try something,” School Committee member Fred Small, said in support of his motion, arguing the funds owed could be as high as $400,000 per year. “To do nothing is not an option.”

The April 23 meeting was scheduled to permit more time for more focused discussion before a vote, as well as additional talks with town officials in the interim, without delaying a School Committee vote on a final assessment too close to the Monday, May 7 town meetings.

The percentage can remain the same or be reduced, but cannot be increased as the budget has already been certified. Every percent cut from the budget cuts three positions.

An 11-percent increase was voted when the committee certified the fiscal 2019 budget on March 20 — a $1,387,777 increase in Whitman and an $840,705 increase in Hanson over last year. Without that assessment, the school budget is in deficit by $2,228,482 after transferring $450,000 from excess and deficiency. After conferring with the town administrators and finance committee members last week, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner said the increase could come down to 9.5 percent with a cut of one position at the Conley School — where there had been an enrollment bubble that has moved through the grade levels — and if proposals for adding a special ed science instructor at each middle school as well as an elementary-level social worker parent liaison were scrapped from the budget. The Conley position cut lowers the budget by $90,000 and the other moves could save about another $300,000.

Hanson Town Administrator Michael McCue said his town could potentially handle a 7-percent increase, while Whitman Town Administrator Frank Lynam said a 5-percent increase is as far as his town could afford to go.

“I want to express my appreciation to Ruth and her team for the conversations we’ve had over the last couple of weeks,” McCue said in urging the committee to seriously consider Gilbert-Whitner’s recommendations. “Both towns are obviously, and unfortunately this seems to be the case every year, struggling in terms of meeting the assessment that the School Committee has voted.”

Excluding the enterprise fund that exclusively finances sewer and water projects, Whitman’s budget is $31 million.

“I have 5 [percent]. I know where I can get the extra money,” he said. “If we went to 7, then I would have to do some other things, but I could still get the money. If we go to 9 or 10, we’re changing the way we do business in the town because that’s the only way I can make it work.”

“We do not want to eviscerate the schools but we also do not want to eviscerate our towns,” McCue said. “The town of Hanson cannot support an 11-percent increase without some draconian cuts that I don’t think anyone in either town wishes to see.”

It would take an increase of $370 to the median single-family household in Whitman to meet the 11 percent assessment increase, Lynam said.

COMMUNITY IMPACT

“Frankly, I’m concerned about the viability of our communities,” he said. He said that, as bedroom communities, the only thing Whitman and Hanson have to offer prospective homebuyers is the quality of life, a significant part of which is the quality of town social structures, especially the schools.

Lynam said that while he personally would be willing to pay an added $440 on his home as a result of an override, he does not think enough others in town would support it for an override to pass.

He also expressed concern with towns’ ability to sustain an average 4-percent budget growth from the school district with no help from the state.

Small asked if a 7-percent commitment could be made if an override was needed for the rest. Lynam said he would have to explain to his residents why an override would be necessary and it would have to be one to fund all town operations, including schools.

McCue also stressed that the towns are committed to educating the children in their communities, but must also be able to fund some requests of other departments as well.

“We find ourselves faced with a very significant challenge in one of the most difficult budget deficits in recent history,” Whitman Finance Committee Chairman Richard Anderson said. “The reality is that the town cannot financially support the budget that was presented by the district earlier this year.”

He added that the Whitman Finance Committee has not yet voted any recommendations for the town budget, but at its April 10 meeting “it was generally accepted” that a 5-percent assessment ($623,402) increase could be recommended — but even that amount “represents a significant challenge” for the town, he said.

Lynam said even that percentage would be “absolutely devastating” to Whitman as it represents 76 percent of this year’s new growth.

“As Yogi would say, ‘[It’s] déjà vu all over again,’” Lynam said. “It’s easy to say we’re going to do better next year. I think we’ve been saying that for 15 years — and then the act of governing happens, the act of education happens … and we start doing all the things we have to do to make our world function and the budget sits back there a little bit.”

He said Whitman has contributed an average of 83 percent of town growth to the school budget, which he said sounds great.

“The problem is, our growth is a terrible number,” Lynam said, noting it averages between $250,000 to $300,000. “Neither Whitman nor Hanson has industry. Neither Whitman nor Hanson has an opportunity for rapid and strong growth.”

A “phenomenal” jump in growth last year, which saved Whitman’s budget according to Lynam, was from National Grid, which came under the personal property category and is not sustainable, Lynam said. That $92 million figure has already amortized over two years by almost $30 million and will be gone in three or four years and while, the tax revenue it generated still exists, it has shifted from commercial to residential property.

School Committee member Dan Cullity said Whitman’s decision to fund the new police station within the levy limit about the same time state Chapter 70 funds began to decrease in 2007 created a “perfect storm” of budget problems.

“With that happening, the schools began getting rid of things left and right,” he said, suggesting the towns had not provided sufficient financial backing, to which Lynam took exception.

The total impact of budget increased in all other departments is 2.1 percent, while the schools increase was 4.2 percent.

“I don’t have an office that’s overstaffed,” he said. “When I make cuts in personnel costs I may be closing offices.”

School Committee member Kevin Lynam suggested Cullity’s question was more a political than management one.

“Only the voters can go and vote for a tax increase,” he said. “Short of that, you’re talking about reallocating the money, changing the pie chart. … Maybe that should be on the table.”

LEGAL OPTIONS

School Committee member Robert O’Brien Jr., prompted Small’s idea for a lawsuit when he asked how much the district loses each year to unfunded or underfunded mandates from the state. He pointed to communities pushing back against plans to bring towns under OSHA oversight.

“Towns have to push back because it happens in the public safety sector all the time,” said O’Brien, who is Hanson’s deputy fire chief. “You want [us] to do something? OK, but the state’s got to fund it.”

School Committee member Robert Trotta pointed to teacher strikes and protest marches in West Virginia, Oklahoma and Arizona as evidence that educators are finding support in their demands for adequate state funding.

While not opposed to taking legal action, School Committee member Christopher Howard urged the amending of the motion to see if other regional districts might join in the effort.

“Going it alone may be a challenge, but I do think its time to come up with something,” he said. “We talk about the same thing over and over, year after year.”

Small’s only concern would be the potential for receiving a watered-down settlement and said he would start making calls the next day.

Gilbert-Whitner said the other option would be seeking legislation that permits regional districts to charge for transportation.

Whitman Selectmen, Fincom weigh ‘what-if’ scenarios

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WHITMAN  — In a joint meeting with the Finance Committee Tuesday, April 17 — which involved some heated exchanges between Selectmen and Finance member Shawn Kain — officials discussed the town’s ongoing revenue problem and how to balance the fiscal 2019 budget.

Town Administrator Frank Lynam has already “X-ed out” 20 articles from the annual Town Meeting warrant, including those seeking new DPW vehicles, public safety radio, data terminal and radar equipment and a reduction in requests for police cruisers and another which reflects a change to the approach in repairing the library roof, as well as some schools maintenance articles. Some others, including a new utility vehicle for the Fire Department, are in question.

“You’ll see the articles that we went through and said, ‘Can’t do it’,” he said. “What I’m saying is we’ve gone bare-bones and there’s a danger in this because we’re now removing items that involve capital maintenance.”

It also leaves the town’s budget still $1 million short, Lynam said.

“Some of these are critically important,” agreed Finance Committee Chairman Richard Anderson, noting his committee had not yet voted on recommendations. “We’re going to look at budget scenarios that may reinstate some of them or that may actually remove additional ones.”

Selectmen plan to continue that deliberation on Tuesday, April 24 following the Finance Committee’s work in the interim and a special School Committee meeting at 7 p.m., Monday, April 23 when its members are expected to make a final vote on assessments to the towns. Recommendations on annual Town Meeting warrant articles will be voted on next week. The annual warrant must be posted by April 30 for the May 7 Town Meeting.

Four special Town Meeting warrant articles were recommended by a 4-0 vote of Selectmen — Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski was absent — and 7-0-1 votes of the Finance Committee — with Kain abstaining. A fifth article involving town speed limits was recommended by Selectmen.

Right now, Whitman Selectmen are weighing the options between three “what if” scenarios involving the tax impact of each one.

“I would be really opposed to an override that funds part of the deficit and doesn’t fix the problem,” Lynam said.

‘WHAT IFS’

Based on a $16.01 per thousand tax rate, tax bill using the current value with stabilization added, based on a median single-family home worth $278,400 would be $4,596.38 per year with a 50-cent per thousand increase or $139.20. Calculating the current value and adding the school assessment increase would put it at $4,667.12 per year with a 79-cent per thousand increase or $219.94. The current value with both amounts would increase it to $4,821 with a $1.31 per thousand increase or $364.70.

“That’s a fix that solves the problem — for this year,” Lynam said. “But we haven’t solved the problem and with due respect to people who think we have to do more planning, we have a revenue problem.”

That median single-family annual tax bill is now $4,457.18.

“I don’t think any of us are seriously recommending that W-H accept 5 percent,” Lynam said, reminding the board that Whitman is not the only town player involved in the school budget. “We’re probably not going to do 7.25 [percent].”

The town is also taking a serious look at the $381,357 cost of non-mandated busing. While it would not likely be eliminated, discussion will continue to center on subsidizing only part of it.

There are currently 775 students who ride the bus and live outside the 1.5-mile mandated busing radius around schools, putting the per-student cost at $493.

A user fee of $165 per year per student is being looked at to help reduce the cost of non-mandated busing by one-third or $86,245. The School Committee is also looking into a possible suit against the state for unpaid regional transportation funding. [See related story].

“Again, the title of this document is “What If?” so none of these things are etched in stone,” Lynam said. “It’s merely a suggestion for another way to reduce some of the cost that the town is experiencing from non-mandated busing.”

School Committee member Fred Small said the impact of decisions parents make based on user fees will help in calculating how bus routes can be reconfigured and how much would ultimately be saved.

“I think the impact is greater at the high school with people not riding than at the elementary schools,” Small said.

Selectman Brian Bezanson questioned the fairness for large or low-income families. Lynam said non-mandated busing fees only impact families not entitled to a ride in the first place.

“We did set this up and they are counting on it,” Bazanson said. “It’s become a common practice.”

Finance Committee member Marion Mackerwicz said that, as a parent, she appreciated Bezanson’s words but didn’t see the problem.

“If it comes down to will they get an education or if we’re going to cut teachers, I think that walking can be seen in a positive light and I think we’re looking at that,” she said. “We have to look at what creates revenue — the schools do, busing doesn’t.”

But Bezanson questioned if the savings would be enough to improve education. Small said that staggering school start times has already saved the school budgets about $400,000 a year.

“That would be something we’d love to see back to normalcy, but for now it’s just not in the cards,” Small said. “You could establish a family threshold so it would only cost X-amount of dollars per family.” He also suggested a financial need waiver could be considered.

“We’re trying to present this in a way that is mindful of everybody’s interests,” Anderson said.

Lynam said Selectmen had set a 2-percent guide for increases in non-contracted salaries, and requestors who exceeded that were “communicated with” and advised about that position.

ONGOING TALKS

“This is very difficult,” Selectmen Vice Chairman Dan Salvucci said. “We haven’t seen anything like this since 2 ½ went in. … No way am I a fan of doing layoffs … I will not even consider that, me personally, but I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

“Whether it is 9 percent of 11 percent, the budget is devastating to the town,” Lynam said because of constraints of Proposition 2 ½ and the makeup of Whitman’s largely residential tax base.

He argued that the quality of the schools is one of the most important factors in maintaining that tax base.

“We have been fortunate, over the years, to have a good, well-balanced school system, but we’re beginning to lose it,” he said. “We have less services, we have limited language arts in middle school. … When the schools come in and present a budget, what they’re trying to do is meet the basics.”

Anderson said it is important to continue that discussion.

“We obviously have a unique situation,” Anderson said. “While we’re waiting for the schools to certify a budget number, we still have to move forward with recommendations for the rest of the budget.”

He said time is not on the Finance Committee’s side and agreed more time is needed to work on the budget next year.

Lynam and selectmen also argued that the real solution can only be found at the state level.

“We’re not in a unique position here,” said Bezanson, while acknowledging that the town could have acted sooner when state local aid funds were reduced. “There are many other towns in this commonwealth that are in the same boat and that boat is sinking.”

Selectman Randy LaMattina, among other issues, advocates restructuring the police station debt to free up about $860,000 from the levy limit and sees the damage done to the school budget from underfunded regional transportation mandate.

“But I will not strip-mine departments to fund another,” he said of the school budget, while advocating more than a 5-percent assessment increase. “Something needs to be done and it has to start with the people in this room.”

HEATED EXCHANGES

Kain then weighed in with his request to create a strategic capital plan, focusing on Fire Chief Timothy Grenno’s budget requests and recent comments in response to Kain’s last appearance before Selectmen to advocate more responsible budgeting.

“I really hadn’t intended to reply, but I’m going to,” Lynam said, noting he appreciated Kain’s enthusiasm and efforts to stress his points. “You are part of a committee. This discussion occurred in your committee. You have been zealous about establishing a capital plan this year.”

But he added it was made clear to Kain and the Finance Committee in February that the town was not prepared to build that.

“I really enjoy your comments about capital improvements because right now we have no revenue source for capital [work],” Lynam said, raising his voice. “The one revenue source we might have … is committed to paying for a debt that already exists. So, if you’re the guy that has the answers, tell me where it’s coming from.”

Kain argued that there is a misconception that a plan is only needed when there is financial growth.

“We need a plan when there is not growth,” he said. “When we’re in negative feedback loop we’re in triage. The plan tells us what to do. People need to see that we’re in triage, they need to see the financial trends and see what we’re struggling with so that this is an open, transparent process.”

He said the job of Lynam and the Board of Selectmen is to set priorities.

“I think that’s what a leader does,” Kain said arguing that Selectmen should meet weekly until at least 10 p.m. to create budget policy. “We’re in crisis and we need leaders who are going to have swift, decisive action to help us get out of crisis. We don’t need passive leadership right now and I feel like we’re getting passive leadership.”

Board members took strenuous objection to that characterization.

 “You have the answer for everything but you haven’t given one damn answer yet,” Lynam said. “You talk about manuals. Tell me how that’s going to increase money, I want to hear it.”

 “It doesn’t matter how we got here, we’re in a problem,” said LaMattina at another point. “Your solutions right now, although I agree with some of them — I agree with some of the practices, do not solve the problem right now. As the appointed and elected officials in the town, we need to solve the problem and not argue with each other.”

Mackerwicz argued there should be ways to develop revenues in town and that guidance should come from Selectmen.

“They voted for you to provide that guidance,” she said.

Bezanson later in the meeting said he was offended at the charge that the board lacks leadership and he found it “humourous” that Kain followed his comments critical of passive leadership with abstentions on the special Town Meeting warrant articles.

Keeping future in balance

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HANOVER — “So, life is going to punch us in the face.”

As they walked to their first booth at South Shore Vo-Tech’s ninth annual Credit For Life Fair Thursday, April 12, one student summed up to her friend the day’s lesson with her own take on the program’s motto — “If you don’t have a plan for your money, someone else will.”

The object is to help students avoid getting a financial “punch in the face” from life.

Credit For Life is intended to be a practice session for the realities of budgeting before being faced with the need to do so when it counts. It’s a chance to get financial do-overs, and sometimes they are needed.

Rockland Trust Hanson Branch Manager Karen Sharon, a Whitman resident, said there are two common mistakes most students make during the event — they don’t realize they may not be able to afford a new car right away and that budgeting $25 per month for spending money won’t get them very far. Rockland Trust is the program sponsor at SSVT.

“We’ve been telling them for four years what’s involved in the real world. The Credit For Life Fair, with two months left before they graduate, gives them that one concise, complete simulation — that there are a lot of difficult, challenging and exciting decisions they’re going to have to make,” Superintendent/Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey said the timing of the program is part of its impact.

“This is when the senior countdown begins,” he told the seniors during a breakfast gathering in the school cafeteria. “Clearly, we’re sending you a message that you must always have money in your budget for Dunkin’ Donuts and coffee.”

In a more serious vein, he told the largest senior class in school history that they harbor more potential wealth, based on learned skills, than any other group of high school seniors on the South Shore.

“Generating wealth is only half of it,” he said. “[Planning] what you’re going to do with this money, and in what disciplined manner you are going to use this wealth, is essential.”

He urged students to applaud event planner and Math teacher Mary Farmer and the business and Parents Association volunteers staffing booths to help them calculate the funds needed for food, housing, transportation, insurance, credit lending, education and even luxuries and unexpected windfalls or liabilities.

Students’ budgets had to balance and be reviewed by teachers or Rockland Trust offcials at the event’s credit counseling center.

Student Council President Rosa Gachia of Whitman, an Allied Health student said she hopes to become a surgeon and was interested in the cost of the higher education she will need. She has been accepted at three colleges and universities.

“I’m hoping it will help me learn how to manage my money better,” she said, noting her Credit For Life job assignment and income was as a licensed practical nurse (LPN). “I’m hoping this will at least give me an idea of the path I need to take moneywise, because I know I’m going to be in debt a lot because of the schooling and the amount of years and not enough money for it.”

Students were assigned a job title, gross and net annual income figures and charged with making financial decisions with an eye toward maintaining a balanced budget at the end of the event.

Hanson Automotive student Calvin King was looking for some pointers in balancing his credit and savings.

“Trying to get the car was kind of a pain,” he said, but he was one of the prudent ones who opted for a used vehicle for his first purchase. He found “all the math you have to do” to be an eye-opener.

“It’s a lot,” King said.

“The fact that everybody needs a house at some point” was a sobering reality for Hanson Computer Information Technology student Michael Andrasy, who was going it alone on that decision during the event. “I haven’t really calculated it yet, but [the budget’s] going pretty good,” he said. “I’m just out to learn about what I’ll need in the real world.”

Cheyenne Chaplin of Whitman, a Collision Repair Technology student, learned at the Reality Check wheel that even good surprises have a downside.

“I got Patriots tickets, but have to pay for parking and tax,” she said. “I’d like to see how [the event] relates to real life.”

And real life for these students, some of whom are directly entering the workforce, is two months away.

“The timing is perfect,” Hickey said. “We have more students out on co-op[erative learning] than ever before. We have more students working part-time jobs or otherwise in the workforce.”

Threat deemed not credible

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According to Whitman Police Chief Scott D. Benton and Hanson Police Chief Michael Miksch, police determined there was no credible threat against Whitman-Hanson Regional High School last week. Police investigated after an anonymous tip was received concerning a student that had been allegedly making threats to shoot a weapon in the school.

The situation came to light at approximately 10 p.m. Thursday, April 5, when another student left their name on the Whitman police tip line about a comment overheard through a third-party conversation.

“We were able to investigate and confirm the statements that were made — shutting down the threat,” said Lt. Casey of Hanson Police. “At no point and time were the students or the staff ever in danger. The situation was under control.”

Casey applauded the students for reporting their concerns to authorities “the incident was thoroughly investigated,” he said.

None of the juvenile students are being identified by authorities, although they are students at the high school.

“I want to assure everyone that the Whitman and Hanson police and fire have the first and utmost priority for the safety of our community, students and staff,” Casey added.

Hanson police said charges may still be pending against the student.

In a prepared joint press release Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth C. Gilbert-Whitner, said the student was taken to a local hospital for evaluation.

“Principal Jeff Szymaniak and I would like to thank  Chief Benton, Chief [Timothy] Grenno, Chief Miksch, Chief [Jerry] Thompson, and the Police and Fire departments in Whitman and Hanson for their support, assistance, and partnership,” said Gilbert-Whitner.

Extra police presence was provided by both towns at the school on Friday, out of an abundance of caution, according to the joint statement.

Chief Benton commended the student who demonstrated the courage to provide a tip through the anonymous tip line.

“Any comments about harming others will be treated with the utmost seriousness and vigilance. The safety of the students and our communities is our top priority,” said Benton. “I would also like to thank Superintendent Ruth C. Gilbert-Whitner and Principal Jeff Szymaniak for their assistance every step of the way with this situation.”

Chief Miksch said, “Detectives made quick work of locating and speaking with the suspect and were able to determine that there was no credibility to the threats.

“Great work by officers from both Hanson and Whitman in quickly resolving this issue,” he said. “We want to remind everyone that if they see or hear any suspicious activity to immediately report it to police.”

In an unrelated event, at 9:55 a.m. on Friday, the fire alarm sounded at Whitman-Hanson Regional High School and the school was evacuated.

It was determined that a trip switch on a sprinkler valve failed, causing the alarm to go off, according to the statement.

What’s in a town’s name?

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HANSON — What does a deadly riot in Baltimore have to do with the founding and naming of Hanson, Mass., eight years later? More than one might think … and therein lies a tale.

Sixth-District state Rep. Josh Cutler, who represents Hanson, Pembroke and Duxbury, has put his previous career as a newspaper editor and publisher to work in tracing the story of early American politician Alexander Hanson and how the Maryland native’s name was adopted for the new town of Hanson, Mass., in 1820.

The work, “Alexander Hanson and the Mobtown Massacre,” will appear in an upcoming issue of The New England Journal of Historyand he is working to expand it into a book, currently looking for a publisher. He brought the story to a Thursday, April 5 meeting of the Hanson Historical Society to give its members a sneak peak.

“This has been a pet project of mine, and for those of you who know my background as a former newspaper editor-turned-politician, the whole idea of Alexander Hanson, a former newspaper editor-turned-politician, is intriguing to me,” Cutler said. “It’s been a fascinating journey for me. I’ve been working on in my free time over the last year and a half.”

The story relates how Federalist firebrand newspaper editor Hanson’s editorials against President James Madison and the United States’ prosecution of the War of 1812 in the midst of heavily Democratic-Republican Baltimore precipitated a three-day riot, which cost the life of Revolutionary War hero Gen. James Lingen as well as itinerant doctor Thaddeus Gale who was a leader of the rioters.

Hanson was born in Annapolis, Md., in 1786, the second son of a prominent family. His grandfather, John Hanson, served in the Revolutionary cause and as first president in Congress assembled under the Articles of Confederation — a title akin to today’s speaker of the house — and is viewed by some historians as the real first president of the United States.

At 22, Alexander Hanson launched his newspaper The Federal Republican and Commercial Gazette.

“He was a hard-core Federalist,” Cutler said of Hanson, who later merged the paper with another publication edited by Jacob Wagner, brought on board as a partner and co-editor. “The paper soon became known very quickly as one of the most extreme of what we call the partisan press of that era.”

With 46,000 citizens, Baltimore was at the time the third-largest city in America, after New York and Philadelphia, and was a Democratic-Republican stronghold.

His editorials had spurred a duel and court-martial when he was a member of the militia, before the 1812 riot.

“[Hanson] didn’t like [Democratic-] Republicans, number one, he hated Madison and he hated France,” Cutler said about Hanson’s opposition to the War of 1812.

An editorial of about 450 words was the match that ignited a plot by the Democratic-Republican mob in the first of two riots. Gen. Lingen and Gen. “Lighthorse” Harry Lee, who was the father of Conferderate Gen. Robert E. Lee, were members of Hanson’s Spartan Band defending the paper against the mob.

Emboldened, Hanson penned another editorial, critical of the “mobocracy” of the first riot.

“This was a different kind of rioting,” Cutler said. “Historians have agreed this particular riot marked a pivot point in rioting in the United States.”

In the 18th Century, riots were more civil and property-based, but the new kind was more violent.

The mob returned to attack Hanson’s house and, after Gale had been shot while trying to force his way into the house by Lee, Baltimore officials convinced the Spartan Band to take shelter in the jail for the night. Rioters got wind of it and tried to ambush Hanson and his supporters on the way to the jail, but missed the opportunity by about five minutes.

Once safely inside the jail, the Federalists were safe until rumors spread that they would be bailed out and the mob descended on the jail the next afternoon. With help from inside the jail, the rioters gained access to the jail and severely beat the Federalists, which ultimately cost the life of Lingen and caused injuries to Hanson from which he never fully recovered.

“It was really a gruesome scene,” Cutler said, noting that it took a suggestion by responding doctors that the wounded were dead and should be taken into the jail for safeguarding to be used as research cadavers to save them. “This probably saved the lives of a number of them.”

Hanson was later elected to Congress and appointed to the U.S. Senate, the second-youngest at that point.

He became a rallying point through which the Federalists were able to bounce back for a time while he, himself died from the lingering effects of his injuries in 1819 at 33.

“He had really sort of faded,” Cutler said. “Although one of the places he was most popular was here in Massachusetts and New England, which was a big Federalist area.”

During a fishing trip to Hingham, Cutler said, may be where future Hansonites got the idea to petition to name Hanson for the town splitting off from Pembroke in 1819-20.

As for Lingen, when Hillary Clinton was first lady, she honored him during the dedication of the Freedom Forum in 1996 as the first American to die in defense of the free press.

Water future eyed

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HANSON — The town’s Water Department is working to inform residents — specifically abutters — of plans and progress in the effort to secure future water supplies for Hanson residents.

Water Commissioners Don Howard, Gil Amado and Don Harvey met with a group of concerned residents to address questions and concerns about proposed new town wells on Wednesday, April 4 in a session broadcast by Whitman-Hanson Cable Access TV.

The project is expected to take about a year.

“I’m a water man,” said Howard, who had worked in the field beginning in 1957 and has served five terms as a water commissioner. “Hanson is fortunate now to have two watersheds,” the Taunton since 1982 and the North River.

There are four town wells sunk into the Taunton where water was pumped directly into the water main, until the million-gallon tank was placed off High Street in 1999 to maintain constant pressure.

Two new wells are planned for a watershed off East Washington Street that empties into the Indian Head River, a brook in that area runs 365 days a year, Howard said.

“We’re doing this now to pump out of two watersheds,” Howard said. “That way it will be easier on the aquifers that are under the ground.”

Howard stressed emphatically that no private land in the area would be touched for the project. The entire project will be on conservation land.

“If there’s no water from the wells, the people that live in the area are going to have a walkway,” he said of the 12-foot wide gravel access road that would connect to other trails there now. “But hopefully we’re going to windup getting a couple nice wells in there.”

Doug Martin of CDM Smith engineering consultants said two studies had already been done on new water sources in 1993 and ’94. There must be 400 feet of conservation, or pristine land, around each wellhead.

Two other areas considered, one near Hanson Middle School, were too close to septic systems or not entirely on public lands.

The location now looked to, area five, showed groundwater in an area that met the other criteria. The property was then surveyed to determine the best access route, flag wetlands and inventoried trees to determine which trees could be removed. That survey located a Colonial-era red oak, which required remapping the access road.

Water quantity and quality must be studied next to determine if wells could be placed.

Residents’ concerns centered on the location of the access road, the type of road being put in and its ability to bear the load of drilling rigs, grade changes, and the extent of future vehicle access needed on the road.

Martin said that, while in some places grade will need to be changed a bit, it would follow the natural contours of the land as closely as possible. No other traffic besides maintenance vehicles will be permitted on the road.

The two well systems would work cooperatively with each other to keep the water tank full.

“By pumping out of two aquifers, you’re pumping less water out of each one, and it makes it better for the system,” Howard said.

“The town of Hanson needs a second water source,” Amado agreed. “If anything happens to our existing source — like it did before — we have to go on Brockton water. That’s the only backup we have.”

Brockton water is also expensive. Two years ago it cost Hanson $330,000 to go on Brockton water for three months while the inside of the water tank was painted. Electricity charges for Hanson to pump its own water for that period of time would be $30,000, Howard said. More water would also mean a more effective hydrant-flushing program, he argued.

Amado said the town is committed to the project with the best available engineers working on it.

Conservation Commission Chairman Phil Clemons said the Water Commissioners came to his board early on to discuss its plan to increase the town’s water security and to gain the ConCom’s help in deciding on a location with the least impact on wetlands and other natural resources. The Conservation Commission has continued to keep in close communication on the proposal.

“There’s pretty good water quality in the area and we agreed that it made sense to look there,” Clemons said. “One of the reasons to conserve land as open space and wetlands and all, is for the purpose of protecting water supply. … Why would you protect a water supply and then never, ever consider using it?”

He also agreed a second well field would ease pressure on current water systems as well as the aquifer.

Chiefs defend budget process

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WHITMAN — Fire Chief Timothy Grenno addressed the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, March 20 to defend his department and budget priorities against comments made at the March 6 Selectmen’s meeting and a March 1 Buildings, Facilities and Capital Expenditures Committee session.

The Selectmen’s public forum discussion led to some ideas for an earlier start to the municipal budget process.

“There have been accusations of greediness, untruthful statements and comments or decisions made by unqualified persons related to my proposed budget articles and needs requests for equipment,” Grenno said. The Selectmen’s meeting was broadcast by Whitman-Hanson Community Access TV.

He characterized Finance Committee Chairman Richard Anderson’s assertion on March 6 that, “Whitman has a spending problem,” as a “rather strong accusation coming from someone who has little experience with our town budget.” He also reminded selectmen that a year ago, Town Administrator Frank Lynam said the town has a revenue problem.

“I have a high opinion of Frank’s financial expertise related to the town budget — far more than anyone else out there. His years of experience is telling when working on budgets,” Grenno said in his prepared statement. “This year, the town’s financial needs were turned around and made into what I believe is an attack against department heads — accusations that we spend too much and that we are the problem.”

Grenno focused on comments made by the Finance Committee to the effect that a number of departments continue to appear at budget meetings “with extraordinary expectations,” in Anderson’s words.

“Those are the most unethical, accusatory statements I have ever heard from a recommending committee,” he said. “The department heads of this town work together every year to put the best financial option for this community forward.”

He said the “premature” presentation of a draft form of Article 2 during the March 6 meeting was “in my opinion, irresponsible” and a personal attack to discredit department heads “who are simply trying to do what is best for our departments and our customers.”

He said the Fincom’s presentation left taxpayers with undue anxiety and a “picture of financial disarray.” The first round of budget talks, Grenno stressed, usually includes the “wants,” while the second round boils the items down to what is needed.

Grenno also pointed to misstatements made during the March 6 Selectmen’s meeting, including that firefighter personal protective gear is contractually mandated. It is, he noted, recommend by national firefighting safety guildelines that gear be replaced every 10 years as cancer-causing agents are released in fires more frequently than in the past and become embedded in protective clothing.

“Cancer is killing firefighters at an alarming rate,” he said adding that two Whitman firefighters have been diagnosed with it in the past five years.

Police Chief Scott Benton also said a Finance Committee comment that a request for additional rifles and ammunition was never explained by his department was incorrect. He countered that he had explained to them that department shotguns are more than 20 years old and his goal to place a rifle in every cruiser.

“I don’t think I have to speak about school shootings to drive that point home,” Benton said. “But when this type of misinformation gets out to the public people start asking, ‘why do they need rifles?’ and I get it.”

Benton said he would have preferred an opportunity to more fully explain the request.

Grenno said he has never been invited to review capital requests with that committee at the March 1 meeting. The armory renovation request is intended to protect vehicles as well as to address space needs, he said.

“Did I expect $300,000 to move forward? Absolutely not — wish list stuff,” Grenno said. “I do expect discussions on the Fire Department’s space needs and a solution for the future.”

Ambulance costs were the source of most of Grenno’s disagreement with Lynam. The chief reminded officials that the $25,000 per year in ambulance maintenance comes out of the $600,000 to $700,000 in ambulance revenues each year — as well as $35,000 in billing charges, $100,000 per year in debt service for the 2001 building project, $285,154 in salary costs all of which — plus already voted lease-purchases, administrative assistant’s salary and regional dispatch — total $661,63.40 for fiscal 2019. Much of it, he said, would otherwise come from within the levy limit.

“You tell me where you can find $661,000 within the tax levy limit,” he said. “The ambulance account assures that we have the basic tools necessary to provide our critical mission of public safety.”

Lynam said he has, for years viewed the ambulance account as a captive fund that provides a great opportunity for the Fire Department to purchase capital equipment, but is at the expense of the general fund because most Massachusetts towns don’t have that account. General funds — $800,000 of a $3.2 million budget — do support the Fire Department, he added.

“I have not once, and I challenge [Grenno] or anyone to say that I have recommended discontinuing that account,” Lynam said. He said his comment was editorial in nature, and something he has said it before and would likely say it again — that the town has been fortunate enough to have decent equipment because of that fund.

“We stand equal in some areas of equipment and we stand less than [equal] in some areas,” Grenno said, noting that he has made strides to reduce costs since becoming chief. “There is no excessive or frivolous spending.”

Proposals

Selectman Randy LaMattina suggested getting rid of the “wish list” process to start off, noting that the Finance Committee is a group of hard-working volunteers already working in a limited amount of time.

Grenno agreed, but said the department heads do not have a complete financial picture by the time budgets are due in December.

Selectmen Vice Chairman Dan Salvucci suggested early, prioritizing after the first round of talks with the Finance Committee before it comes to Building Needs.

“I really think we need to try a different approach,” Lynam said. “We’re working on numbers now that were initially calculated in December. With few exceptions, those numbers aren’t going to change. … We ought to start talking about budgets toward the end of the summer, not in December because we can do a first pass in September and have a pretty decent idea of what’s available.”

He said talks with both chiefs have resulted in the removal of a couple of articles that “we just know we don’t have the money to fund.” One is the armory renovation project and the other is the radio system, the latter of which will be addressed with funds voted at the December special.

Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski asked if the answer lies in Finance Committee member Shawn Kain’s suggestion to take a step backward in favor of long-range planning over always catching up.

“What you’d have to be prepared to do is to actually sit down, somehow, as a town and figure out what we value and then the money would flow that way,” Kowalski said. “It might come out completely different from what we have now.”

Three arrested in break-in

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HANSON — Three Braintree men are being charged in connection with the armed break-in of a Hanson house Saturday night, March 24.

A Hanson resident was able to call 911 with help from neighbors after he fled his home Saturday night on Adams Circle while two masked men smashed their way in.

Christian Paiva, 19, and Christopher Paiva, 22, were taken into custody in the immediate area of the home. Giovanni Rodrigues, 23, fled on foot and was taken into custody on State Street. All three are from Braintree, said Hanson Police Chief Michael Miksch in a press release.

The three have been charged with breaking and entering while armed, malicious destruction of property over $250, and larceny over $250.   Hanson Police later recovered property taken from the home on Sunday.

The homeowner, who was not identified by police,  was not physically harmed. Police were seen photographing the lower level entry of a ranch style home Saturday at around 8 p.m. A K9 handler and State Police were also seen combing the wooded area by the dwelling.

Hanover Police Officers and the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department BCI Unit also assisted in apprehending the three. Rodrigues was found to be carrying a knife when he was taken into custody on State Street by Hanover Police and Sheriff’s Department officials.

“Hanson Police Department would like to thank the many witnesses who called in to assist us in locating the third individual,” said Miksch. “We would also like to thank the Hanover Police and Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department for their assistance.”

Hanson Officers investigating the case were Officers Billy Frazier, Jared Meegan, Christopher Dominguez, and Ben Ford. Detective Paul O’Brien, Sgt. Gene Andrews, and Lt. Michael Casey also assisted.

The three suspects were slated to be arraigned in district court today [March 26].

According to police, the break-in is not a random incident as the victim apparently knew one of the suspects.

Whitman writer finds muse on old block

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WHITMAN — Sometimes a safe corner can change your whole life.

Whitman artist and writer Russell DuPont has explored his world on canvas, through a camera lens and with poetry. Now he has turned his direction toward prose, and his lightly fictionalized memoir “King and Train,” the story of his youth on the tough streets of South Boston and Dorchester — available as an e-book through Amazon — is the result.

Names are changed and characters he has developed for the story are composites based on “a number of people” or invented to serve the story, according to DuPont.

“I try to keep the incidents, what actually occurred, as close to fact as possible,” he said of his writing process. “It’s sitting down [to write] and seeing where these characters take me.”

The title refers to the intersection of two streets in Dorchester where he and his friends would hang out “in what I consider one of the most significant periods of my life,” DuPont, who moved to Whitman in 1975, said in a recent interview.

“I grew up in the projects in South Boston, where every day I fought,” he said. “I had to fight — I wasn’t a member of a gang — the local gang was the Mustangs, and for some reason, I was targeted.”

One reason could have been that his girlfriend at the time was connected in some way to one of the gang members. His family moved to Train Street in Dorchester when his fights “reached a danger point.”

“I ran into a group of guys there who were just terrific guys,” he said of the corner at “King and Train.” The concept of fights and gangs was unheard of there and when the owner of the corner store, “a grouchy elderly woman who hated to see us around there,” sold it to two Armenian brothers, and the new owners allowed the guys to hang out there.

“In turn, we’d do things for them and clean up, and make sure there was no mess and no noise,” he said. “It was just the opposite of South Boston. I never had to look over my shoulder or around corners.”

The non-fiction piece published as “The Corner” in the poetry anthology, Streets of Echo, was expanded and fictionalized to become the novel, “King and Train.”

While DuPont says his poetry is based on observation of detail in a scene, his prose, both fiction and non-fiction is based on large incidents and experiences that have affected his life: including “canoe trips over dams and finding, up in Wisconsin, hearing my name in the middle of nowhere.”

One of his two non-fiction works, “Up in Wisconsin,” had brought him face-to-face with another Russell DuPont in a bar in a remote community on the Michigan border.

“We tossed that around for awhile,” he said. In fact checking for his story, he called a county office and was told “we have loads of DuPonts here, they all came down to log from Canada. She said the whole county is full of them.”

If he had it to over again, DuPont said he would still be moved to write the book, but would hold out for a book-publishing contract for “King and Train” as he is doing for a subsequent book, despite the time and effort agents and publishers now require.

“I feel like I rushed into Amazon [eBooks] too quickly,” he said. “I wish I had not been so anxious to get it out there.”

He just finished another novel titled “Waiting for the Turk,” which stems from an old football saying about the process of making cuts during training camp. It’s the kind of noir-ish detective story DuPont says he’s always wanted to write. Set in South Boston it’s about a former football player who reluctantly joins the Vermont-based detective agency started by his father, a retired Boston Police detective.

He has also started a sequel to “King and Train.”

DuPont has done four previous limited-edition, hand-made books — two of poetry and two non-fiction — as well as in Streets of Echo and in two issues of Boston Seniority, a magazine published by the city for its elder population. He has also been a freelance sportswriter for the Patriot-Ledger and has also reported for the Melrose Free Press and the Dorchester Community News, where much of his writing was columns on politics — particularly the Boston school busing issue which engulfed much of the ’70s.

“I started writing poetry in my late teens and had some published in local literary magazines,” he said. “I had my own magazine, The Albatross, back then and I was working both in journalism and [creative] writing.”

When his family began to include children, however, he found that carving out time to “lock myself in a little room after work” was difficult to fit into family obligations. That’s when he put down his literary pen and picked up a camera.

While he became a teacher in the Sharon School District to support his family, he eventually became interested in painting, and a grant from the school of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts helped him take a year off from teaching in 1993 to develop his talents in that genre.

“It was one of the most wonderful, productive years of my life,” he says. “When I was there, I decided this was it, as soon as my kids are gone, this is what I’m going to do.”

In 1990, he resigned his teaching job and obtained the first of a couple of different studio spaces, which included Rockland’s erstwhile Fourth Floor Artists, which he had helped found. In 2010, he returned to photography and about two years ago began working through Boston’s Elder Affairs office Memoir Project to hone his prose skills.

“That got me back into writing again regularly and I produced the piece for the anthology and pieces for the city of Boston,” he said.

Hanson revisiting by-laws

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HANSON — Selectmen have appointed an enforcement officer for a town earth removal bylaw already on the books, as well as a placeholder article on the May 7 Town Meeting for a resident’s proposed petition bylaw to govern the storage of sand, soil, mulch and similar materials.

The storage measure will have to be reviewed by Town Counsel before the board votes on specific language, however. The removal bylaw was approved by a vote of 4-1, with Selectman Kenny Mitchell voting against it during an unusual Thursday night session — due to last week’s nor’easter — on March 15.

Town Administrator Michael McCue said the draft soils storage bylaw was composed by Town Counsel Jay Talerman of Mead, Talerman & Costa LLC, and was given back to Talerman and concerned residents in the Robinson Street area where an ongoing agricultural soil removal operation has been an issue.

McCue suggested that a placeholder article sponsored by Selectmen would negate the need for the resident seeking the bylaw to rush for signatures before the vote to close the warrant March 20. The board was not voting on any proposed language yet.

“The feeling that I’ve gotten from the board, in a general sense, is that the board would be in favor of putting something like this in place as long as it was reasonable and didn’t unduly burden the average person,” he said. An example would be someone with a small pile of mulch they are going to spread around their property.

Specifics would be ironed out before the warrant is printed.

“You don’t have to vote the same way every time you look at it,” said Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett. “If this evolves and you don’t like it, then you can vote against it.”

Town attorney Katherine M. Feodoroff of MTC said the petitioner had wanted the language to include retail enterprises in the bylaw’s regulations, but businesses are already governed by existing regulations. Commercial farms could be included under the retail umbrella.

Selectmen Chairman James McGahan said his only concerns centered on defining limits to amounts allowed for storage and

“Anybody who has large amounts of material of this type on their property, its impacting other people’s quality of life,” he said.

The board voted 5-0 to sponsor the placeholder article.

The earth removal bylaw vote was a revision of the existing bylaw, intended to clarify that the enforcement authority would be the building inspector.

“When you look at the bylaw online, there’s a small link at the bottom that says enforcement, and that basically says who enforces these bylaws,” McGahan said. “I clicked onto that, and I was educated to know the Board of Selectmen do that. … I didn’t know that we were the policemen of that bylaw.”

The board has the authority to appoint a different enforcement officer, with McGahan suggesting Building Inspector Bob Curran, adding that Curran had agreed to take on that responsibility.

McGahan also urged a review of other policies in which the board does not have expertise in an effort to appoint enforcement officers who do.

“I think it is appropriate, very appropriate, for the Board of Selectmen to authorize — and in all honesty, I think it should be the building inspector, to authorize someone as the enforcement officer, aside from the Police Department,” McCue said. “I wouldn’t expect an officer of the law to go out and interpret these sorts of bylaws.”

He did suggest he come back to the board at a future meeting with an omnibus recommendation of enforcement authority for other bylaws as well.

“I think it makes sense to do it all together instead of piecemeal,” McCue said.

McGahan argued that recent windstorms made the earth removal bylaw enforcement more urgent and the issue has been going on with no enforcement officer for too long.

“I think he might have other things he may be enforcement officer over,” Mitchell said of Curran. “I think we should take a couple weeks and have [McCue] review everything so we’re not calling Bob every other week, going, ‘Here’s another one.’”

FitzGerald-Kemmett agreed with McGahan that residents have become frustrated and that she has been receiving calls on the issue and enforcement of the bylaw, especially centering on the soil removal operation near Robinson Street

Planning Board member Joe Campbell suggested an alternate from either the building or health departments for situations when issues come under one of those two agencies. McCue said he wanted to confer with potential alternates to ensure they could do the job before they were appointed.

In other business, Campbell and Planning Board members Don Ellis and Joe Weeks attended the Selectmen’s meeting to discuss street and private road acceptance policies.

McCue agrees with them that there were some key gaps that could be filled. A private way is a road not yet accepted by the town as a public road, which requires betterments to bring a roadway up to standard first.

“The town is very limited on the funding and the man hours that can be spent in this kind of repairs,” Campbell said. “This way, we’d have a policy in place to actually have those roads accepted onto public roadways.”

McCue added that a policy would also ensure consistency.

Ellis said the problem arises when a developer fails to meet requirements for seeking acceptance of development roads when projects are completed.

“Some of these guys just don’t care,” he said. “The poor citizens on that street want it accepted at that time.”

McGahan said that’s where it gets complicated as people are paying town taxes and they can’t receive services for the upkeep of their road.

“The developer owns the road until he wants to relinquish it.” Ellis said. Some towns take those roads by eminent domain when the road is complete.

Feodoroff said the question becomes whether the town wants to accept a private road with all the expenses that the process incurs. She said a policy does a good job of educating the Planning Board about the condition of a road before it is accepted and hearings should be required first.

Engineer, attorney and construction costs must be borne by residents of the road — another source of concern for Feodoroff.

“For the residents to be able to afford that on the front end is probably very unlikely,” she said, especially on shorter streets and cul de-sacs. The language also has to clarify whether the street residents or the town bear the cost of betterments and urged that the language be refined.

“I think with a couple minor tweaks we’re good to go,” she said.

Campbell said it is meant to indicate the costs should be shared.