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Early voting a hit: Convenience, lessened wait time are keys

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Early voting is a hit with local residents.

“We’re doing very well and people seem to really appreciate it, that’s the best part,” said Hanson Town Clerk Elizabeth Sloan. “I would like to see it for all elections. I think it’s great.”

Whitman Town Clerk Dawn Varley would agree, as 2,210 residents turned out to cast early ballots along with 276 absentees between Oct. 24 and Nov. 2 — and there were two days left in the early voting window, which closes at the end of the business day on Friday, Nov. 4. Hanson’s total as of Nov. 2 was 1,160 with 220 absentee ballots.

“We’re very busy today, very pleasantly busy,” Varley said during the extra Saturday early voting hours Whitman offered Oct. 29. “During the first hour today we had about 100 people.”

Working couples with families and seniors hesitant to stand in long lines seem to appreciate the convenience equally, Sloan said. As she spoke, all five of the voting booths set up in her office and the hallway outside it were busy and more people were arriving to cast ballots.

“They don’t have to make their families drive them, it’s difficult to make arrangements because they’re working,” Hanson resident Leah Guercio said of her fellow seniors as she waited for a friend to finish voting Friday, Oct. 28. Guercio works with the Hanson Multi-Service Senior Center’s supportive day program.

“I love it,” another resident said as she checked in to vote early at the Hanson Town Clerk’s office. “It’s amazing. I don’t know how anybody else feels, but I think it’s wonderful.”

“They love it,” Varley agreed regarding Whitman voters.

Whitman saw more voters cast ballots before the end of its second day, nearly 600, than turned out for the state primary in September, according to Town Administrator Frank Lynam at the Oct. 25 meeting of Whitman Selectmen. Only 375 people voted in that primary in Whitman.

“It’s amazing the traffic that’s coming in [Town Hall] just to early vote,” Lynam said.

By the morning of Oct. 28, Sloan had seen 540 early voters cast ballots and had received another 200 absentee ballots. Whitman also had about 200 absentee ballots before they dropped off during early voting. She said absentees will resume once early voting ends.

“I think there’s a lot of people that just don’t want to wait in line,” said Whitman Selectman Brian Bezanson, who also reminded residents watching the Oct. 25  meeting on Whitman-Hanson Community Access TV to vote on Election Day, Nov. 8. “It’s obviously a very important election and we need as many people as possible to chime in on this as we can. There’s many ways to vote, so please do it.”

In addition to early voting — from Oct. 24 to Nov. 4 — and regular voting hours from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Nov. 8, voters unable to go to the polls in some circumstances may cast absentee ballots.

Whitman Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski, who voted early, had a concern about the security of the process.

“I’ve had a lot of questions,” Varley said as she checked in voters Saturday. “I’ve had a lot of people questioning how many hands are going to touch these ballots, what happens to these ballots — things like that. My answer to them is, if you want to know what happens to your ballot show up here on Nov. 8 at 8 o’clock at night, and you’ll see.”

Early voters place their ballots in a signed and dated sealed envelope, which poll workers run through voting machines in the appropriate precincts on Election Day.

“They do that at a time when they don’t have heavy voting, because the folded ballots could jam the machine,” Lynam said.

“Whoever opens it, knows how I voted, if he or she decides to glance,” he said. “This is something that struck me.”

Varley said the security of ballots is an issue she takes very seriously.

“It’s a process,” she said. “We have to do the check-in and the check-out for your ballots. This makes more work for the clerks.”

Selectman Daniel Salvucci said he has also spoken with Varley, principally about the time involved in counting the ballots Nov. 8, noting a final tally in Whitman is expected to be available by 11:30 p.m. that night.

“She also said that, if we wanted to, the room will be open [during the count], but lines will be drawn where people can stay there and watch them do what they have to do,” Salvucci said, echoing Varley’s comments. “You have to stay a certain distance away.”

“The final numbers are going to take a while on Election Night,” Kowalski said of the time involved in processing early ballots in the 28 states and the District of Columbia, where early voting is permitted. Another 20 states allow early votes with an excuse. There are 10 states that still prohibit early voting.

No new audit of Camp Kiwanee: New commission vote is delayed

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HANSON — Selectmen have voted to seek a new computerized bookkeeping system at Camp Kiwanee, but rejected a deeper audit of past event contracts and the applications of five residents seeking appointment to the Recreation Commission.

The latter vote hinged on whether the proper application process had been followed by former commission members Janet Agius, Tricia Dransfield and Sheila Morse as well as resident John Mahoney, who has been active in Camp Kiwanee programs over the years. Only former Commissioner Audrey Flanagan had completed an application form to support her letter seeking appointment, but she was also passed over in a 3-2 vote when Selectmen voted on the applications as a slate, instead of individually.

Selectmen Bruce Young and Don Howard voted to approve the appointments and Kenny Mitchell, Bill Scott and Chairman James McGahan voted against. Young and McGahan had earlier voted to support a more detailed audit while Mitchell, Scott and Howard voted against it.

“For us to move forward would be putting the cart ahead of the horse,” Scott said on the appointments vote while the 30-day period for objections to the Kiwanee report is still in effect. “I want to hear the results of that, to hear whether or not that changes anything … and then consider applications.”

He said at that time anyone who applies would be considered. Young, however, argued there is no correlation between the two issues.

The heated discussions on both the audit proposal and appointments came after Young had proposed three recommendations regarding the Recreation Commission in the wake of last month’s report on the Camp Kiwanee investigation by labor counsel Leo Peloquin. Besides the new bookkeeping system and audit, Young had also suggested disciplinary action be considered against the town employee whose “serious errors” fueled the investigation. No action or discussion followed that recommendation, as it was deemed a personnel matter.

“The report basically deals with examination of records,” Young said. “One of the problems you have at Camp Kiwanee is the records down there are not integrated with the rest of the town.”

Young, a retired accountant, successfully argued that the WHRSD technology department, which also serves the town, be asked to install a simple online bookkeeping system to solve the problem.

His urging for a more detailed audit, however, met with resistance from some Selectmen who wished to move forward on the issue.

Young’s concern was that the 49 contracts focused on as examples of improper rental discounts in the report were pulled by “the same individual who had a strained relationship with many people named in the report, members of the commission and some employees.”

“The possibility does exist that there are many other instances of mistakes or deviations from the rental agreements and policies and procedure over that time,” Young said. “We need somebody to go through and ascertain what the magnitude of those deviations are because I don’t think it ends with the 49.”

He said he went through some of them before the Tuesday, Nov. 1 meeting and found 10 to 15 other contracts that showed rates that deviated from policy.

Young said a neutral third party should have reviewed the contracts as part of the investigation.

“I want to move on with this,” said Mitchell, who did agree a new bookkeeping program was needed going forward. “I don’t want to keep going back and looking into contracts and coming up with the same result. We’ve got to move forward.”

“We’re talking about things that were done and completed and are gone,” Howard agreed. “Can’t we just start now?”

Several members of the audience, including past Recreation Commission members, expressed concern with Young’s findings even as they agreed on a need to move forward.

One resident reminded Selectmen of their decision following Peloquin’s report, against seeking unpaid balances owed on improperly discounted rental agreements. Young replied that was not the point of an audit.

“He still wants to know how much of this is a problem,” McGahan said.

“We have no idea what the magnitude of this problem is,” Young said.

Resident Colleen McGrath-Smith said the purpose of a compliance check, with which she has experience, is simply to establish an historical record and offered her services to conduct one on a voluntary basis.

“It’s how you build the framework for the future,” she said.

Former Kiwanee employee James Flanagan also urged an audit.

“Everything was pointed at me [in the report] … now everyone wants to sweep it under the carpet,” he said. “I’m getting stuffed under there, too.”

McGahan expressed concern about the cost and time involved in a “full-blown audit,” but that, going forward, an independent audit every three years would be desirable.

Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett also reminded the meeting that the Recreation Commission has been given until Nov. 30 to challenge the report with Peloquin, but added that since the problems are already known, the benefit of “exhuming all these bodies” is unclear.

“I don’t think it’s going to further our goal of moving forward [and] getting things on the straight and narrow,” she said.

“She obviously doesn’t understand what I said,” Young retorted, drawing a reprimand from McGahan for a lack of respect. Young also reminded residents that the records, as public documents, are open for any resident to review.

Mitchell’s aside sparked another argument about Young’s offer to do just that.

“That’s not a conflict of interest?” Mitchell said.

“I don’t have any financial interest in this,” Young strongly countered. “I resent that remark.” As McGahan gaveled for order, Young said, “He went there.”

appointments
delayed

The contentious atmosphere intensified when the Recreation Commission appointments were discussed.

McGahan started that conversation by reading a decision from town counsel that the Recreation Commission members’ August mass resignation was effective as soon as their letters were filed with the town clerk.

“A resignation need not be accepted by the appointing authority to be effective,” McGahan read. “Unless a resignation notice sets forth a public future date of resignation, it it’s effective on the date of its submission.”

Selectmen were divided on whether the letters for application or reappointment they received from four of the five applicants constituted actual applications since a form had not been filled out.

“[In] the letters we sent you, we asked to be reappointed,” Agius said.

McGahan said he did not think the window for applications had been opened, but Town Administrator Michael McCue said the board had alluded to its wish to fill the positions.

Members of the audience, including Audrey Flanagan noted the vacancies have been read as announcements at Selectmen’s meetings since Sept. 9, which meant that the application window had been opened.

Agius said if the board waits much longer to reappoint a Recreation Commission, hiring a new director by January would not be possible, but McGahan indicated McCue could start that process in his current status as interim director for Kiwanee. Young also pointed out that McCue has said he does not want to serve in that role any longer than he has to.

“It’s a seven-member board,” Joanne Blauss said. “You have five people here who are willing to go on it now, that still gives you two positions for the general public.”

McGahan said public servants owe their service to the public interest, not self-interest. Resignations, therefore, should be limited to “just cause,” such as health or family considerations.

“Resigning simply to make a statement was a selfish thing,” he said to a chorus of catcalls. “That’s how I feel about it, regardless of whether you agree with it or not — with all due respect.”

McGahan said, for that reason, his personal vote would be no.

Morse said they were told the matter had been tabled when the resignations were discussed and that they were later told a letter of application were appropriate. Dransfield said that, when she was first appointed to the Recreation Commission in January by a letter of application, she was given no indication that an investigation was being conducted and her resignation outlined how she felt about the situation and her inability to be effective as the investigation dragged on.

“We’ve been accused of bad record-keeping from another perspective,” McGahan said. “I want to see the paperwork.”

McCue said he had told the applicants that a letter would be permissible, based on past discussions with the board.

“It seems like you’re moving in the right direction,” said resident Tim Leonard. “But you’ve got a lot of people who want to help you out, and they are eager to do it. Why not just let them do it?”

The 3-2 vote was followed by an emotional outburst, prompting McGahan call a recess during which time a police officer was summoned to ensure order and McGahan, as well as other Selectmen, held sidebar conversations with some of the applicants before the meeting was resumed.

Whitman goes Green: Ex-selectman is assistant administrator

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WHITMAN — Whitman Selectmen on Tuesday, Nov. 1 voted, 4-0, to appoint Lisa Green of Whitman as assistant town administrator.

Green, an attorney who served as a Whitman Selectman from May 2011 until this past July 29, works as a disability examiner and adjudicator for the Center for Disability, Office of the Regional Commissioner at the Social Security Administration in Boston.

Green was one of two finalists for the position interviewed by selectmen Tuesday night.

Asked by Selectmen Chairman Carl Kowalski to list two adjectives to describe her candidacy, Green said “enthusiastic and motivated.”

After the meeting, Green said she knows she has a tough job ahead of her, learns quickly and she will do the best job she can for the citizens of the town.

“I want to thank the selectmen for entrusting me with the position. I will work hard to not let them down,” she said.

Kowalski and selectmen Scott Lambiase, Daniel Salvucci and Brian Bezanson voted to appoint Green.

They made the appointment Tuesday after interviewing Green and the other finalist, Michael Mullen of Rockland, who is a Rockland selectman and works as director of government affairs and communications for the Massachusetts Association of 766 Approved Private Schools (MAAPS) in Wakefield.

Board members Tuesday praised both finalists as strong candidates who could eventually step in for longtime Town Administrator Frank Lynam when he eventually retires in three or more years, and in the end voted to appoint Green to the assistant town administrator position.

“I have no doubt Lisa is the best candidate for the position at this time,” Kowalski said. “We know her. She’s a hard worker.”

Sixty-six people applied for the position. Two-thirds of them have master’s degrees and nine are attorneys. A subcommittee that included Lynam, Lambiase and Kowalski interviewed and screened them.

Selectmen Tuesday asked the finalists if they would feel comfortable if called upon to fill the town administrator’s shoes in the future should he retire, how they would balance their personal views of Proposition 2-1/2 with the will of the voters should there be conflict, and to discuss moments in their careers when they were at their personal or professional best.

During her interview, Green said the town administrator’s shoes are big shoes to fill. She said she lives five minutes away from Town Hall and would be able to work a full day during the day, have time to go home for supper and return to attend meetings of the finance committee and other town boards.

“I think I would be able to step into those shoes and hit the ground running,” she said. “I’m in awe of the many hats Frank wears. I’m well aware of all the hats that need to change and all of the directions he heads in.

“I’ve been a presence in Town Hall for five years,” she said. “I’m invested in the town. I live in the town.”

Green said she had to scale back her role as a Whitman selectman after she got a promotion at work and could no longer get the time off to attend Massachusetts Municipal Association conferences and training sessions.

Green has worked for the Social Security Administration for the past eight years, and said employment as assistant town administrator in Whitman would give her the time to make a full-time commitment to the town.

In her current role, Green serves as an authoritative specialist and program expert in the development and adjudication of Social Security Title II and Title XVI disability cases.

She communicates with claimants, attorneys and medical sources; reviews and summarizes medical records; evaluates case evidence, consults with medical and psychiatric doctors; performs multi-step sequential analysis according to Social Security disability rules and regulations; adjudicates and authorizes applications for disability benefits; and writes decisions and personal denial notices.

Green was also a case management specialist and team leader for the Office of General Counsel at the Social Security Administration in Boston.

In that role, Green provided comprehensive legal support to attorneys, supervisory attorneys, regional chief counsel and deputy regional chief counsel with Social Security disability and federal labor and employment litigation cases. She was also team leader of the paralegal staff and support department.

Green is certified as a notary public, has training in the fundamentals of appellate advocacy, privacy and disclosure of official records and information, Freedom of Information Act litigation, effective advocacy in disability litigation, business writing and plain-language writing, according to her resume.

As mother of a 17-year old Whitman-Hanson junior, Green said she can be passionate about Proposition 2-1/2 and school funding.

However, as an attorney, Green said she has been trained to separate personal and professional considerations. As assistant town administrator, Green said she could separate her personal feelings from the needs of the town on Proposition 2-1/2.

“You can’t let your personal feelings get involved in your professional decisions,” she said. “It’s got to be a balancing act. We know how Whitman and Hanson voters feel. We know how the schools feel. It’s got to be a balancing act and a tennis match.”

During his interview Tuesday, Mullen said he has strong passion for the “nuts and bolts” of local government, where, “the rubber meets the road.”

“It’s not a nine-to-five job and it never will be,” he said. “I know that going in with eyes wide open.”

Rockland experience

Mullen leads the annual budget and legislative efforts of the 86-member MAAPS association, to support the work of Chapter 766 special education schools, and coordinates and mobilizes participation in the association’s  grassroots network, which has nearly doubled in membership during the past two years.

Mullen was a chief of staff for the office of former Brockton mayor Linda Balzotti. He facilitated negotiations with

labor organizations, staff and department heads. He also directed day-to-day municipal operations and emergency response efforts in Brockton, the state’s seventh largest city, according to his resume.

Mullen coordinated project management efforts on the city’s $100-million downtown economic development initiative.

Mullen cited his efforts leading planning work on Brockton’s new $4.3-million City Hall Plaza renovation project. The city was awarded a grant for the project, and Mullen was asked to take the lead on it after he was hired. There is a firefighters’ memorial at the plaza that needed attention, and Mullen said he brought city firefighters into the planning process. He also worked with disability and accessibility advocates to address accessibility in the renovation project.

Mullen said he is able to bring people together to build respect and communicate.

“I’m proud of all that work and I hope to continue that work in Whitman,” he said.

Mullen, who served on the Rockland School Committee from 2007 to 2013, also cited his efforts as co-founder of the Rockland CARES Drug Abuse Coalition. He said two adjectives he would use to describe his candidacy are “passionate and caring.”

Mullen said Proposition 2-1/2 pre-dates him in terms of age.

“I view it to be a non-negotiable,” he said. “It’s the law of the land, unless there’s an override or debt-exclusion to go beyond the two-and-one-half levy limit. It’s a reality that every town has to live within, work within.”

Mullen said he is not sure he would be ready to take over for Lynam in three years should the incumbent town administrator should decide to retire at that time.

“I would really be interested. I would want to master the job as an assistant town administrator first,” he said.

‘tough decision’

After Tuesday’s interviews, Bezanson said Mullen offered quite a bit of municipal experience, which would be good for Whitman, but Green knows the players on the town committees and the intangibles of how Whitman operates.

“It’s a very tough decision to have to choose one. We’d like to have both of them, but we can’t,” he said.

Salvucci said both finalists are outstanding, but one of them, Green, made a statement about wanting to serve the people of Whitman that impressed him.

“That hit a home run,” he said.

Lambiase said both finalists are very strong candidates, but Green offers a lot of institutional knowledge and spent a lot of her time when she was a selectman acting as that board’s liaison to other town boards and committees.

Kowalski praised Mullen for his work with Rockland CARES and said the coalition has done good work in garnering the attention of parents, and that Whitman is still working toward that level of parent engagement.

Kowalski said Mullen should not be discouraged, and Lambiase predicted that people would be seeing a lot of Mullen in government in the future.

More than just a side dish: Author talks of cranberries’ past, future

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HANSON — With a little more than a month to go before we celebrate Thanksgiving, the Hanson Public Library, and its Foundation, welcomed author Susan Playfair Oct. 16 to discuss her book on a component of that feast — the cranberry.

Playfair answered audience questions and sold copies of “America’s Founding Fruit: The Cranberry in a New Environment” and signed copies during her Sunday, Oct. 16 talk at the Hanson Library/Senior Center.

Along with blueberries and Concord grapes, cranberries make up the trinity of America’s native fruits, Playfair noted.

The cranberry, originally known as the “crane berry,” derives its name for the graceful bend of the plant’s flower. Commercial growing dates back to 1812 in New England and, by 1865, cranberries were being shipped across the country by rail.

“It truly is our iconic fruit, because, among other things, it was sent to King Charles in 1677 as sort of a diplomatic gesture to show what we could provide [as a colony] and as a sign of good will,” she said.

Health benefits

Long used as a food and a medicinal fruit by Native Americans, her book traces the adaptation of the cranberry by colonial immigrants and poses questions about the fruit’s ability to adapt to a warming climate.

“I was really curious about the cranberry and how it might react relative to temperature increases,” Playfair said. “It would, presumably be an indication of how other agriculture would also [be affected].”

It turns out, for example, that cranberry plants are flowering earlier, she said of information gleaned from growers with whom she spoke — two of whom provided access to 30 years of records, including flowering and harvesting timetables.

The plants also need between 1,700 to 2,000 chill hours to set fruit, and scientists are predicting that, by 2099, the climate in this area will be similar to that of the Carolinas now.

Playfair, whose great grandfather owned and managed cranberry bogs, graduated from Bard College and studied at Parson School of design and the French Fashion Academy, among other programs and has worked as an investment broker, fashion merchandiser, fashion and interior designer and author. She has also written a book on the future of the fishing industry titled, “Vanishing Species: Saving the Fish, Sacrificing the Fishermen.”

“When I was researching this book I actually came to Hanson several times,” Playfair said, and interviewed the late Ellen Stillman, who had worked for Ocean Spray for many years.

Local roots

Local residents with roots in the cranberry business also took part in the event. Joanne Estes, whose grandfather, Marcus L. Urann, founded Ocean Spray, brought in an album of photos and postcards depicting cranberry harvesting operations as well as a 1951 issue of Eastern States Cooperator, a growers’ cooperative magazine, on which she was a cover model. Hanson Selectman Bill Scott, a cranberry grower, and his wife Louise donated an assortment of Ocean Spray cranberry drinks for the refreshment table.

“This may be the most learned group that I’ve spoken to,” Playfair said. “Many of you have connections to the cranberry industry.”

Ocean Spray’s products were a way to use berries deemed too imperfect to sell as whole berries — such as white berries or damaged fruit — as reduced waste while increasing profit, Playfair said.

Questions from the audience ranged from the number of cranberry varieties on the market, to the difference between wet and dry harvesting, how the berry is found in nature — in the bogs formed in kettle basins left by the retreating glaciers — and research now being done on climate change.

“It was always dry [harvesting] when I was growing up,” Estes said. Scott said dry picking is not only more time-consuming, it also puts more stress on the vine because of the nature of the machines used.

“It was the only way to get frost protection in the old days,” Scott also said of flooding bogs before the shift to sprinklers. “It looks like an easy crop.”

They also asked how craisins have improved the cranberry commercial market.

“There is a huge market for craisins,” Playfair said. “There is also a fledgling cranberry industry in Chile.”

The latter was started by a West Coast restaurateur to ensure a constant supply of craisins, part of which are used for a cranberry drink he featured on his menu.

“The benefits to him, which are not so good for everyone else in this country, is that because his operation is in Chile, they get very favorable tariff arrangements,” she said. “He’s able to ship them directly to China. As I understand it, that was bought out one or two years ago by Ocean Spray.”

County hopefuls in forum

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HANSON — Candidates for the Plymouth County offices of sheriff and county commissioner fielded questions from voters during a candidates’ forum Sunday, Oct. 16 co-sponsored by the Hanson Democratic and Republican town committees.

Hanson Town Moderator Sean Kealy moderated the event at the Selectmen’s meeting room in Hanson Town Hall.

Incumbent Plymouth County Sheriff Joseph D. McDonald Jr., a Republican, and Democratic challenger Scott M. Vecchi squared off in an often-heated exchange in the room filled with McDonald supporters. County Commissioner candidates Lincoln D. Heineman and incumbent Greg Hanley, both Democrats, and Republican incumbent Daniel A. Pallotta answered a few questions in more subdued exchange. Voters select two on the Nov. 8 ballot.

The 6th District incumbent Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury and his Republican challenger Vince Cogliano were joined by state Sen. Mike Brady, B-Brockton, as well as a statement from U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Mass., read by Hanson resident James Egan were also involved in the event. None of Keating’s opponents took part or provided statements.

Right out of the blocks, in his opening statement, Vecchi went on the attack, describing his campaign as a reform effort against “the corrosive impact of employee campaign contributions, nepotism, patronage, and exploitation of our pension system.”

He said he misses the Joe [McDonald] of a 2004 debate.

“That Joe railed against the same things I’m railing against right now,” he said. “That Joe lashed out against hiring friends and family members [and was for] fiscal responsibility.”

Vecchi charged those problems not only still exist, they have multiplied.

“My colleague likes to say a lot of very bad things about individuals at the sheriff’s office, the budgets,” McDonald countered. “I’m never going to overspend. The budget’s been very fiscally responsible. The people that I work with are the best. There is no patronage, there is no nepotism, there is no pension abuse.”

McDonald said there is only one of the candidates poised to double-dip on a pension.

“It’s not me,” he said.

McDonald, who has been sheriff for 12 years, said for his part, that while elections can be won, re-elections must be earned and he strongly asserted he has earned re-election.

“I’m going to share with you the good news about what’s going on at the sheriff’s office,” he said in his opening remarks. “I have the best staff in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and, I dare say, in the United States of America.”

He refuted Vecchi’s claims that budgets are over-spent.

“We’re right on budget,” he said. “In fact, we have the lowest per-inmate cost of any sheriff’s office in Massachusetts, and at the same time we are providing the highest level of community service.”

He pointed to his department’s work with Hanson, state and other local community departments in the response to an investigation of the Sept. 29 armed home invasion in Hanson.

“They came, they helped with the apprehension, they helped in gathering evidence,” he said of his department’s K-9 units. “This was tangible, this was real.”

He also lauded the work done by inmates on work crews for municipal projects.

A Plymouth resident, Vecchi is a member of the Alden and Mayflower Societies and is a sergeant on the Plymouth Police Department and a retired Marine gunnery sergeant — a combat veteran of Iraq. He is also an attorney with 23 years of police and corrections experience.

“When elected sheriff, I’ll be the only sheriff who’s actually been a corrections officer,” he said. As a police officer, he said he has been on the “front line” in the fight against the opioid epidemic, having administered Narcan and other first aid measures to overdose victims. He said the Police Association of Mass., MassCOP, the Professional Firefighters of Mass., and “numerous other unions” have endorsed him.

A Marshfield native, McDonald has a 25-year history in law enforcement, has a law degree from Suffolk University Law School and is a graduate of the National District Attorney’s Association National Advocacy Center in Columbia, S.C., the National Sheriff’s Institute of Longmont, Colo., the Municipal Police Training Committee Basic Reserve Academy in Plymouth and the FBI Academy’s FBI Leads Academy 59th session in Quantico, Va. He is the immediate past president of the Mass. Sheriff’s Association, and its current vice president, and was a member of the Governor’s Opioid Task Force and council on criminal justice reform.

Commissioners
candidates

Scituate native Heineman congratulated forum organizers for the mostly respectful exchange of views, terming it a “refreshing from what’s happening nationally.” He has worked on municipal budgets in Scituate as well as for the state inspector general’s office and holds an MBA, and he stressed the need for making county government more efficient. He said the commissioners must also do more to combat Lyme disease.

“We have a Lyme disease epidemic going on on the South Shore,” Heineman said. “Approaching it in a regional way is something we must do.”

Hanover resident Pallotta, who is the current chairman of the Plymouth County Commissioners, said that while he and Hanley are “on extreme opposites on the political spectrum,” they have worked together to return a sense of fiscal responsibility to the commission.

“Plymouth County should have been filing for bankruptcy when I took office four years ago,” Pallotta said. “It was selling land, they were selling buildings, they were selling everything they could to balance the budget. They had fraudulent revenue projections and it was just hack-o-rama down there with jobs and everything else.”

He said they worked together to “clean up the mess — and we did it the hard way — we cut people.” Unnecessary programs were eliminated or reduced and, for the first time in a decade, the county will have an audited set of books with a $400,000 surplus for the first time over the same period. He also said the county has already applied for a grant to address the Lyme disease issue and has also filed legislation to eliminate the sheriff’s liability for retirees and to allow the county commissioners to have a savings account.

“When we got into office, the cupboard was bare,” agreed Hanley, who is a Pembroke resident. “The previous commissioners wanted to end county government.”

He echoed President Kennedy’s comments on Russian advances during the nuclear era that, “It’s not the Republican answer that we should seek, nor the Democratic answer — it’s the right answer.” Hanley said, of the hundreds of votes he and Pallotta cast as commissioners, they have differed only once, in a philosophical vote on a labor issue.

They partnered with the legislative delegation on both sides of the aisle and, most important among those bills, saved the county communities from having to foot the bill for $32 million in legacy costs for retirement liabilities when the correctional facility was taken over by the state. The debt was forgiven by adding 10 cents to every transaction at the Registry of Deeds, Hanley said.

“We have a function to do and if we don’t do the function it’s going to go to the state,” Pallotta said.

“I give a lot of credit where credit is due to the existing commission for righting the ship,” Heineman said. “What we need to do now, is to take a new [direct] approach to, across the aisle in a bipartisan way, to make sure the commission is not just meeting its obligations, which it is now.”

He said it is largely agreed that more services can be provided in more ways than are currently being delivered.

Diesel Trucks gets another extension: Whitman Selectmen grant more time to review new site plan

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WHITMAN — Businessman David Federico has another 30 days to work with Building Commissioner Robert Curran on finalizing a new 45-vehicle plan for his Diesel Trucks lot at 575 Bedford St. Renewal of Federico’s Class II Auto Dealers’ License hinges on completion of such a plan.

The board approved the extension by a 3-1 vote, with Selectman Daniel Salvucci voting against it.

Selectmen had given Federico six months to develop the plan after a proposed 60-vehicle lot was not accepted in March. After some delays, Federico’s lawyer E. Pamela Salpoglou of Stoughton said she had received the new site plan just prior to the Tuesday, Oct. 25 meeting. Quincy Civil Engineer Patrick Rosengrave designed the site plan.

Salpoglou said she had made some edits to Rosengrave’s plan and provided both site plans for the board’s reference. She suggested that, if the plan met the town’s requirements, another hearing on the matter could be avoided.

“Mr. Rosengrave has confirmed that we can easily fit 59 spots on the property, and as you are aware, my client came in looking for 60,” Salpoglou said. “I don’t know why he did not take into account the discussion we had at the last hearing, but he clearly, I think, has made a pretty good plan.”

She also indicated that Federico wishes to amend five parking spaces in one area of the lot toward the rear of the property near a stonewall.

“That would create a little bit more space for customers to turn around,” she said. Moving other spaces and consolidating still others would reduce the number of spaces to the 45 Selectmen required, Salpoglou said.

Curran said he visited the site again on Tuesday, Oct. 25 and there were 45 vehicles there and that an effort had been made to clean up the area. He took photos to provide to Selectmen.

There were 50 vehicles on the site Sept. 27, and those were not in approved spaces, Curran said noting that, “the site remained an eye-sore” at that time. A subsequent visit on Oct. 6 revealed that, “nothing has been done since the number of cars has been reduced to 45 and that most of the vehicles had been there “for several months.”

“There’s not a big exchange of the vehicles that are coming and going,” Curran said. “I don’t have anything else to report other than today it looked a lot better than it has.”

Curran said he had not seen the new site plan and could not comment on it, but if the board approved it, he would recommend the lot be kept to the site plan.

“Our building inspector’s going to have to spend some time with it, too,” Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski told Federico and Salpoglou.

Selectmen, following a discussion on the matter, agreed with Curran’s proposal to allow 30 days to move the vehicles to spaces outlined on the site plan so he could review it on the ground and come back to the board.

Salvucci was still not happy with the state of the lot or the state of vehicles now on it.

“Out of all [45] vehicles, how many are for sale?” Salvucci asked, to which Federico replied all of them are and that all of them will pass state inspection before they are sold.

“What I’m looking at here are vehicles that I don’t think are saleable, because I don’t think they’ll pass state inspection,” Salvucci said. “I don’t even know if they’ll all start.”

Federico said they will be serviced before sale.

“We buy used vehicles that need service, we service the vehicles and then sell them,” Federico said, noting he is storing the vehicles that won’t fit on a 45-vehicle lot at another facility. “A customer comes in, I drive them to the storage place, they get turned off, they say no and I lose a sale.”

Salvucci conceded that improvements have been made at this site but that he still has concerns about the product offered. Salpoglou assured the board that her client would not permit the sale of a vehicle that could not pass a state inspection and has been making an effort to make the lot more appealing.

Kowalski cut that discussion short, saying he didn’t want to repeat past discussions.

“The last eight licenses I had from the town of Whitman didn’t have any limit of the number of vehicles,” Federico said.  “There were no stipulations.”

Town Administrator Frank Lynam said that was correct, noting that when a license is approved with an inventory limit, that number is noted on the license.

“For whatever reason, this particular license did not have a number on it and, when it was renewed the same language was used,” Lynam said.

In other business, Selectmen authorized Lynam to negotiate with companies with the aim of reaching a net metering agreement to give the town “a significant discount on the purchase of energy.” The vote also allows Lynam to enter into a 20-year agreement, once acceptable terms are reached.

Lynam said 20-year contracts are standard for the industry.

Early voting under way across Bay State

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Early voting began in cities and towns throughout Massachusetts on Monday, Oct. 24 and ends Friday, Nov. 4. Early voters may not cast ballots on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 8.

Early voting hours in Whitman are from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.,  Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Tuesday. For public convenience, Whitman has also decided to offer weekend hours from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., on Saturday, Oct. 29. Voting is in the Town Hall Auditorium.

In Hanson, early voting is held in the Town Clerk’s office from from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday; from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday and from 8 a.m. to noon Fridays.

Cutler, Cogliano meet in forum

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HANSON — Candidates for state representative in General Court fielded questions, Sunday, Oct. 16, about benefits for illegal immigrants, ballot questions, infrastructure needs and which presidential candidates they support during a candidates’ forum co-sponsored by the Hanson Democratic and Republican town committees.

The 6th District incumbent Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, and his Republican challenger Vince Cogliano — a former Pembroke Selectman — were joined by state Sen. Mike Brady, B-Brockton, candidates for Plymouth County Commissioner and Sheriff in fielding questions from voters at the Selectmen’s meeting room in Hanson Town Hall. U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Mass., sent a statement read by Hanson resident James Egan. None of his opponents took part or provided statements.

Hanson Town Moderator Sean Kealy moderated the event.

Cutler and Cogliano were cordial in their exchanges, but firmly made their case for the very different ways in which they approach the issues. Cutler backs Hillary Clinton and Cogliano supports Donald Trump in the race for the White House.

Cogliano, a veteran and lifelong Pembroke resident who attended Silver Lake Regional High School, still runs his family farm, growing pick-your-own strawberries and Christmas trees. Cutler is an attorney and former owner of the Express newspapers, who is now a partner in Hanson’s Coletta Cutler Real Estate.

Both men are former selectmen and Cogliano was a founding member of the committee that helped Pembroke negotiate and form an autonomous school district.

“It was a very good thing for the town in so many ways,” Cogliano said, of that effort. He has been endorsed by Gov. Charlie Baker and state Rep. Geoff Diehl, R-Whitman.

“We’re all very proud that [the Tank the Gas Tax] measure passed and protected the will of the people, who don’t want taxes raised in the dark with no vote,” Cogliano said in his opening statement, of the ballot initiative Diehl started and for which he collected signatures. Cogliano said that, unless more Republicans are elected to Beacon Hill, Baker’s next two years, as governor will be marked with efforts to block his legislative goals. He argues that taxes should not be raised unless it is made clear “where the money is going, how it is being spent, is it being spent wisely and is it reaching the very people that it’s intended to reach and help.” He advocates a more business-friendly legislature as well.

Cutler, speaking second in his opening, said he is proud of the legislative work being done in Massachusetts, where some significant legislation has been passed in recent years through a bi-partisan effort. Major economic development, veterans’ housing, clean energy were among those efforts.

“We’ve done it on an almost-unanimous basis in many cases, and that’s because we have a reputation for working across the aisle, building consensus and getting things done,” Cutler said.

He noted that he and Diehl put aside their differences to build a coalition of more than 70 legislators, successfully raising the Chapter 70 funding formula to schools from $25 to $55 per pupil. “It directly benefits our communities,” he said.

As a member of the Elder Caucus, Cutler said he has worked to help increase funding for councils on aging. He has also worked to secure funds to help clean up local ponds and Camp Kiwanee improvements as well as to restore commuter rail service.

Cutler said unemployment, currently at 3.9 percent, is the lowest it’s been since the dot-com boom of the late 1990s and the bond rating is at a historic high. State schools rank fourth in reading on a global level, and ninth in math.

“We’ve done much in the commonwealth to be proud of,” he said.

Cogliano said he is running because change is needed and that the state has a spending problem.

“One of the reasons that we have such a high bond rating?” he said. “Bonds are set by the ability to pay back and when you have the ability, because you’re controlled by a one-party system to arrange taxes to pay for the bond, bond-rating agencies love you.”

Brady gave a brief statement, as he has no opponent for the state Senate in November. He has served more than seven years as a state representative as well as many years on Brockton City Council.

“We have worked very diligently on bipartisan legislation to address the opioid addiction crisis,” he said, echoing Keating’s statement, which led off the evening. “It’s affecting too many communities. … We still have to work harder.”

He pointed out that insurance companies restrict rehab coverage to 14 days, “Which is ridiculous,” he said, noting many times first responders are administering Narcan to the same patients multiple times a day. “There’s a revolving door.”

He has also worked toward the increase in per-pupil school funds, as well as funds for Camp Kiwanee and the Monponsett watershed.

“It is vital that we support the education and training of our next generation’s workforce,” Egan read from Keating’s statement. “To this end, I have secured over $10 million in federal funding in the last two years alone for vocational training, apprenticeship, Head Start and youth-building funding.”

Keating said he has supported cranberry exports within the new global market, and worked to limit “misguided regulations” on small cranberry growers as well as supporting the fishing industry.

He credited Cutler and Brady for their work against the opioid epidemic and has worked on bipartisan legislation in the house. Keating also serves on the House Homeland Security Committee and as the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism.

“My work to highlight airport security weaknesses led to a first-of-its-kind, top-to-bottom review of all U.S. airports with TSA presence and passage of my legislation to seal gaps in perimeter and access-control security,” Egan read from Keating’s statement.

Helping peace take root

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HANSON — In a gesture of peace, and as a reminder how learning from history can create harmony in today’s society, Indian Head School students and staff joined in a circle of unity for a dedication Tuesday afternoon to celebrate a single tree — and its exceptional beginning.

Guest speaker and award winning playwright, screen writer and author Jeff Gottesfeld  joined students for a discussion of how he came to write his book, “The Tree in The Courtyard: Looking through Anne Frank’s Window,” an age-appropriate read based on the life of Anne Frank from the perspective of the horse chestnut tree. The tree bore witness to the changes in her life as she played and eventually the reality she endured throughout WWII, the hidden annex and the Holocaust.

A purple plum tree was planted recently at the front of the Indian Head School representing a tree filled with caring and kindness. The real Anne Frank tree seeds were extracted and shared around the world after it fell in a storm in 2010, according to the author’s webpage. The seeds were then shared to grow Anne’s trees as symbols of peace.

Gottesfeld called his visit “a special day.”

In addressing the school prior to the dedication, Gottesfeld reminded the children that their new tree will be here for a long time

“Long after we are gone off this Earth it will remain,” he said. “Here is the mission I give you. It is to make sure that any other kids who come to this school know that this tree is not to be treated like any other tree because it is not like any other tree. It will care and love … If the kids who follow you care for it, watch it and love it. It will live a very long time and be very meaningful.  On the other hand … we can forget about the tree and it will just be like any other tree.  Like so much in life the choice is ours.”

Following the tree dedication Gottesfeld said the event was spectacular.

He was impressed with the children and their response to his work.

“It reminds me on days like this … what is possible,” he said.

He called the children living examples of better human beings.

“It reminds me why I write for kids,” he said. The dedication was well prepared, planned and beautiful, he added.

He also received leaves cut of green paper with resilient words such as: courage, faith, strong, giving, beauty, believe, love, to name a few, which were written on the back representing remarkable character and how they (as students) are learning to create a  better world and a better community.

Each class received a signed copy of his book. Grade four teacher Dianne Zuzevich received flowers and recognition  as a thank you for organizing the dedication with the school and Gottesfeld.

School Committee: No on Question 2

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The School Committee has again voted to endorse a “No” vote on ballot Question 2, as voters head to the polls Tuesday, Nov. 8. The measure asks voters to decide whether 12 new charter schools, or enrollment expansions in current charter schools, should be permitted each year.

The committee has come out against Question 2 in the past, but School Committee Chairman Robert Hayes urged a second commitment as Election Day nears.

“It never hurts to be strong,” he said.

By a 9-1 vote, with Whitman member Kevin Lynam dissenting, the committee joined the long list of state school committees as well as the Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools, in opposing Question 2.

“There’s been quite a large amount of confusion about Question 2,” said Hayes. “When I see the [TV] ads I get nauseated that schools get funded better [with charter schools]. They do not.”

Lynam argued families should retain the right to choose what is best for their children and state funding formulas demand more significant change.

Question 2 proposes that schools would be transitioned off state aid per departing pupil over three years.

“I understand the funding thing,” Lynam said. “I think it’s crazy … there’s no reason they should be touching our local assessment.”

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner reminded committee members that they are allowed to use their official positions to make statements about ballot questions that relate to their position. They are also permitted to take official actions concerning ballot questions.

In fiscal 2013 about 30 students from Whitman and Hanson were enrolled in charter schools, costing the district just over $290,000 in state deductions from per-pupil allocations, according to Business Services Director Christine Suckow. There were 30 in 2015 costing the district $342,000. While the number of students enrolled in charter schools declined to 22, the district’s assessment from the state was $254,000. The district projects there will be 27 students, costing W-H just over $322,000.

The state assesses school districts the prior year’s per-pupil cost multiplied by the number of students. That figure is deducted from per-pupil funding.

“Hear me loud and clear,” Hayes said, addressing cable-access viewers. “What they tell you on the television ads is not true. … Numbers don’t lie.”

Suckow said there is a reimbursement, but it does not come close to recovering what the district loses. In 2014, W-H got a $64,000 reimbursement. For this year, it is expected to receive a $70,000 reimbursement.

“When they say it doesn’t cost, it does cost,” School Committee member Fred Small said. “It hits our budget, and it hits it hard.”

operating costs

Small pointed out that, if one student out of a class of 26 opts to attend a charter school, the costs of operating that classroom is spread over a lower pool of per-pupil dollars.

“They’re taking the numbers and the facts, and they’re twisting them so far from reality, it’s not funny,” Small said of the pro-Question 2 TV commercials.

The Massachusetts Information for Voters booklet on ballot questions provided by the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office explains the issue and provides arguments on both sides.

“My personal feeling is fully fund our school district, give us all the resources that we need to do our job properly, and once we have those resources hold us accountable,” Small said. “Every child today deserves a good education … I’m afraid there are some kids that aren’t getting that within our district, because we don’t have the resources — and this just further drains it. It hurts and it’s wrong.”

School Committee member Robert Trotta said the question is part of an effort, going on for years, to privatize schools.

“When charter schools came in, they were supposed to be innovative,” Trotta said. “They’re finding that a lot of charter schools function as a public school.”

He said he looks at charters as a way to destroy public schools.

Lynam said a lot of things need to change.

“I think the state is pushing us off the cliff with education,” he said. “I envision that significant reform in education is necessary.”