Absentee/Early voting ballots for the May 18, 2024 annual Town Election are now available in the Whitman Town Clerk’s office. Voters that want to vote by absentee/early ballot for this Election are asked to fill out an application as soon as possible.
Anyone voting by absentee/early ballot by mail must fill out an application or send a letter to the Town Clerk with their signature by Monday May 13, 2024.
Early voting must be done by mail.
Absentee voting may be done in person at the Town Clerk’s office during normal business hours. You can absentee until noon on May 17, 2024.
Voters may vote absentee only if you are absent from the town during the hours the polls are open; physical disability; or religious belief. You can visit VoteinMa.com for application or information.
For more information, call Town Clerk Dawn Varley at 781-618-9710.
TM votes reject override
Town Meeting voters in both Whitman and Hanson voted against supporting an override to fully fund the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District operating assessment during their respective sessions on Monday, May 6 – but the votes will affect the fiscal 2025 school budget in different ways.
In their “no” votes, Whitman Town Meeting opted instead to follow the Finance Committee’s recommendation to fund the $509,212 needed to balance the school district’s budget from free cash. Hanson’s override ballot question, which will appear on Town Election ballots in both towns on Saturday, May 18, will largely decide how the schools’ books will be balanced.
Whitman Town Counsel Michelle McNulty instructed voters that, if the article and the ballot question failed and Article 2 ended up being any less than the School Committee’s certified budget, that would equal a rejected budget, which goes back to the School Committee – which has 10 days to recertify the same, budget, make changes or do something new. The town would then have 45 days to consider the new budget and, if that is also rejected, then there must be a joint – or Super Town Meeting.
Hanson residents were asked to vote during consideration of the general budget lines without an override, which was the subject of Article 6.
School Committee member Hillary Kniffen noted that Article 6 is dependent on the $372,141 increase for the W-H operating assessment being “expressly contingent upon passage” of a proposition 2 ½ question on the May 18 ballot.
“I think it’s about time we voted no on this and stopped these overrides and give the taxpayer a break,” the lone Hanson resident to comment on the article said.
After a counted vote, Hanson was found to have rejected the override by a vote of 231 to 127.
The question is still on the ballot and will be used to determine the capacity to raise taxation would be as it heads back to the School Committee to determine the next step.
Whitman went into Town Meeting, deciding on a consolidated budget with $1.37 million in free cash and $681,142 in capital stabilization. Hanson began it’s Town Meeting with $1,486,433.56 in free cash and $1,459,355.70 in stabilization – of which the town planned to spend $794,000; $145,180 in Recreation retained earnings was available for expenditures.
There were so many people attending Hanson’s Town Meeting that they ran out of copies of the warrant and residents were asked to share during the two-and-a-half-hour meeting.
“My goal is to complete all business tonight and I ask that you remain for the duration of this meeting,” Moderator Michael Seele told the more than 223 people in attendance – he was good to his word as the session, which dealt with 54 warrant articles took more than four hours to complete.
The $509,212 being drawn from free cash would have meant about $96 a year in additional taxes on an average single-family home in Whitman.
Select Board Chair Dr. Carl Kowalski said this year’s approach to the school department budget was different from past years in that “the three sides” – schools, Finance Committee and selectmen – agree on what the assessment to the town should be.
“The support for the schools is unanimous, but there is also a decided disagreement over where that money should come from – and that does complicate matters,” Kowalski said, explaining that the Select Board favored an override because it adds to, rather than subtract from future fiscal stability. But he said he was confident that Town Meeting would do the right thing.
Voters speaking at town meetings spoke of concerns about senior homeowners being able to afford the added taxes, the impact of the Madden report on town financial planning, as well as parents fearful of what potential school department cuts could mean for their children’s education.
Police Chief Timothy Hanlon reviewed some facts about the Madden Report, which was presented to the town in November 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It couldn’t have been calculated to incorporate such a shift in life for all of us,” Hanlon said. “The Madden report listed a 5-year average annual operating budget increase of 4.86 percent for the town and advised that this was not sustainable compared to annual increases in town revenues.”
The report also advised to refrain from using free cash to fund ongoing expenditures and mandated that few cash be used as a funding source for capital improvement plans.
“If you take all those things into consideration, this Article 49, so-called, the school override budget should be put to the people, not just the people who are here.” Hanlon said.
Resident Chris George, who served on the Madden Committee emphasized that the 5 percent formula being referred to was only to be used after the schools are fully funded.
“It was not to come into play until we got to that point,” he said. The state will not provide more funding until the towns act in that direction, but he supports the Finance Committee’s recommendation because an override right now would end up pitting one department against another.
High Street resident John Galvin said the article was not a yes or no vote for an override. It stipulated that, if it passes at the ballot, Article 49 would have passed that funding on to the schools.
“If we vote no tonight, we’re not killing the override,” he said. “It will still go to the ballot in two weeks, and if it passes in two weeks, the override passes. Whatever we do tonight doesn’t really matter.”
The “no” vote on Whitman’s override article provides another 90-day window to have another Town Meeting to vote on this again if it passes on the ballot,” Galvin cautioned. “So, let’s just pass this thing tonight so we don’t have to come back in two weeks if the ballot passes.”
That is precisely what Hanson voters are facing on their May 18 ballot, as well.
Whitman School Committee member Dawn Byers, meanwhile, argued that a question has already been decided.
“This exclusively puts teacher and staff positions at risk in our town,” she said. “The [Select Board] decided that this was strictly a school override, however by financial decisions made in the past and throughout the towns has shown us that this deficit affects our entire town.”
She argued that a “no” vote would not be a rejection of the school budget itself, but rather, a rejection of how the assessment is being presented, which represents only a 4 percent overall increase over last year’s budget – something often confused with the assessment increase.
“It is being split into two separate amounts, but as a School Committee member, I voted one number,” Byers said. “I voted $19,135,687. I believe in this budget.”
Residents like Bob Kimball of Auburnville Way, expressed concern that free cash is a symptom of overbudgeting.
Another resident pointed to the tax impact already being felt because of Whitman Middle School and the DPW project, but she also said a lot of families are looking at the high cost of college and looking to send their kids to a vocational school.
“I think, as a taxpayer, I should have the right to vote [about] if the School Committee should get the extra money,” she said. “To me, I think they have more than enough.”
A mother of a first-grader, was worried about the effects of reducing the school budget.
“Education has costs,” she said. “And we owe it to the people of the town, whether they have children or not to educate [the town’s children].”
Select Board member Shawn Kain said he realized this is not an ideal time to seek an override, but he urged the meeting to vote “yes,” saying it is the right decision.
“But the question is, during financial circumstances how do we keep on financial ground that is solid?” he said. “If we use one-time money this year, then it leaves a hole in the budget next year that just amplifies the problem then the override we’re talking about is a much bigger one.”
Select Board member Justin Evans announced to the Whitman Town Meeting that Hanson had already rejected an override. Hanson’s Town Meeting had convened at 6:30 p.m.
“The board doesn’t ask for this lightly,” he said, noting that last year they asked for a little over $160,000 in one-time funds to support the W-H assessment as a compromise.
“It was, ‘Buy us time to fix this problem in a sustainable way,” he said. “It bought us a year, and this is the proposed fix. Hanson had a similar measure on the floor tonight. They voted it down … so it sounds like we’re going back to School Committee with a rejected budget, at least on Hanson’s side.”
He argued that an override is a sustainable option, raising the levy so that, going forward, the money is there.
Finance Committee member Kathleen Ottina said their budget recommendation fully funds all departments as recommended by the Town Administrator and Select Board, as well as fully funding the schools’ operating assessment and avoiding layoffs to town department and teachers by using free cash and capital stabilization to fund some capital articles and close budget gaps in Article 2.
“It does not require an override, so why has the fiscal ’25 budget developed into a power struggle between the [Select Board] and the Finance Committee?” she asked, suggesting it was the Select Board’s commitment to holding the School Department to a 5-percent assessment increase.
She said the FinCom recommendation is not the long-term solution needed, but said, “It is the cleanest way to get us through fiscal ’25.”
“Whitman can afford fully fund the fiscal ’25 Article 2 without an override, funding the school assessment and avoiding the layoff of eight Whitman elementary teachers and seven Hanson K-eight teachers as well as fully funding the recommendations .. that avoid the layoffs … of departmental positions,” she said.
The override, in Article 49 on the Whitman warrant, was taken out of order so it could be decided before the annual budget in Article 2.
“Using one-time funds, such as free cash for recurring expenses in a budget is never a good idea and is a frowned-upon financial practice,” said Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter in her opening statement at the meeting. “This is something we have worked very hard to avoid this year and it’s something we plan to avid every year, going forward.”
She said the dual budget presented in Article 2 was needed because the district certified a budget with a 7.87-percent assessment increase, which was 2.87 percent ($509.212) above what the town could support within the budget. One budget was presented as “Selectmen support with override,” including a 5-percent or $18,626,475 for the school assessment, in accordance with consultant John Madden’s recommendations for spending planning. Other town department requests were reduced by a total of $703,548.
A budget column headed “Selectmen recommend without override” is reflective of the many cuts that budget would necessitate if the district’s full 7.87 percent request was funded without a Proposition 2 ½ override – including 40 percent of salaries in unemployment costs for those laid off, including potentially three firefighters, three police officers, a DPW position, a clerk’s office position, one assessor’s office and one health board office position and another from the Council on Aging.
She sought support for the override article to permit voters to decide the issue at the ballot box.
A third column “Finance Committee Recommendation,” would fund the district to the full 7.87 percent increase by using the $509, 212 – and were the figures Town Meeting approved in Article 2.
“The FinCom budget presented tonight shows a deficit in the amount of $509,212,” Carter said of the figure sought by the override question. “The Finance Committee budget is not a balanced budget as presented.”
She said the reason the Finance Committee is not recommending an override this year because, among their reasons is that they want to see a “multi-million dollar override next year, which she does not support because of the new middle school project, a new DPW building and a proposed South Sore Tech building project, and other capital needs.
Carter outlined her use of the 5-percent increase in the school assessment, cutting all other town departments while increasing revenue where possible, “We were able to present a balanced budget” to the Select Board.
For his part, Finance Committee Chair Rick Anderson said the budget process “should not be confrontational,” their recommendation merely presented an alternative method of paying for the school budget
But, while he said the Select Board was seeking an override figure its members thought the town could afford, Anderson was urging a “no” vote on Article 49.
“This proposal does very little to address the long-term needs of Whitman,” he said. “We also feel that the School Committee has presented a school assessment that brings the needs of the district inline with developing a proposal for an operational override in the near future. This will not be an easy ask or an easy task. … A proposition 2 ½ override for one department is not going to get us there.”
Anderson said the recommendation to fund the school shortfall is in no way setting a precedent, but is rather, a bridge to the fiscal road ahead.
Ottina noted that little had been done to support an override article, and that surrounding communities, including Hanover are facing votes on multi-million-dollar overrides, which are being heavily campaigned for by both sides.
“Driving through these towns, you encounter signs: ‘Vote Yes!’ or’ Vote No!’ for their overrides,” she said. “I have yet to see a single sign for or against and override in Whitman. No effort has been expended to secure the taxpayers’ support.”
Towns divided on MBTA communities
In the end, while Whitman residents were voting to confirm the potential of offering more affordable housing in the future through the state’s MBTA Communities bylaw amendment, the majority of Hanson residents attending Town Meeting Monday, May 6 made quite another thing clear.
They were there to say no – loudly and emphatically. Hanson’s vote, in fact could put a $300,000 state grant for the Senior Center through the Executive Office of Elder Affairs at risk of clawback of a state grant already awarded.
The grant is specifically to reinstate a supportive day program that was unfortunately unable to restart after Covid-19.
Director of Elder Affairs Mary Collins wrote it to allow a small addition of roughly 800-square feet in which the center could bring the supportive day program back five days per week. It will pay for the first-year salary of a supervisor of the program and if the past is any indication, can be self-sufficient after that year.
“We did it for over 26 years successfully prior to Covid – a one-of-a-kind program not widely available in the area,” Collins said Tuesday, May 7. “They are programs specifically designed to meet the needs of mentally frailer seniors as well as those experiencing social isolation.”
It is just one example of state grants tied to participation in the program.
Planning Board Chair Joseph Campbell introduced the amended article by proposing an amendment requesting a letter of action be sent to Hanson’s legislative delegation on Beacon Hill to immediately take action toward repealing the Baker-Polito administration’s proposed amendment of MGL Sec 3A C40A-Zoning. Multifamily zoning as of right – the MBTA Communities Act. In addition, his amendment would have referred the matter to an MBTA Communities Act Committee to be appointed by the town moderator to study and provide a comprehensive report at the October special Town Meeting on all “aspects, impacts, and assessments regarding a recommended action on the adoption or denial of MBTA Communities law” and zoning amendments.
A member of each of the Planning Board, ZBA, Select Board, two residents of Precinct 3 (which stands to be most impacted by the change), one from Precinct 2 and one member from Precinct 1 would serve on the committee and would meet no fewer than two times a month, submitting a preliminary report to the moderator, town Planner and Town Administrator no later than July 31.
While the law only requires towns to establish a district defined as “a zone of reasonable size in which an allowance for as of right multi-family housing is permitted” within a half-mile of public transportation, must comply with all Hanson building codes or be denied, and has been discussed at multiple public hearings by the Planning Board and the Select Board, which were sparsely attended and “when asked for input, the Planning Board received input from one office,” according to Campbell.
Although applicable to the Affordable Housing Act, and not the federal Section 8 program – housing is considered affordable in Hanson if one makes $92,000 a year.
“Indeed, as already seen it is having an effect on Mass. State grants applications, seen by our town of Hanson grant writers,” Campbell said. “The Planning Board has heard on numerous occasions, and agrees, this was legislation rushed through the state government machine in an attempt of quick resolution to a larger issue without thinking it through or respecting all the commonwealth’s citizens’ rights protected by our constitution.”
Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said that board, meeting just before Town Meeting, unanimously voted to support Campbell’s amendment. By October, she said it would be more apparent which other towns had voted no and what kind of repercussions have they seen from the state.
Bob Windell of High Street said the amendment sounded like town officials thought they were going to be voted down.
“I say, let’s knock this thing out of the park and get rid of it now,” he said to applause.
“I believe the intention put before you was deceptive,” said Daniel Strautman of Monponsett Street, who agreed with Windell.
Moderator Sean Kealy would not permit questions of people’s motivations. Strautman countered that they push back and vote it down now.
“The Town Meeting will ultimately have to decide, maybe not even at one meeting, but at several meetings, whether the grant money is worth changing the zoning, or if we’re going to hold fast,” Kealy said.
Campbell said that his amendment would enable Hanson to push back on legislation as no other town in the state had been able to do.
“It also sends a very strong message to the government that we’re going to hold our legislators accountable,” he said, while cautioning that, saying no to the State House is no small matter. “We will warn everybody that we don’t know the ramifications to their full extent for the towns that have said no.” There have been four, so far, only one of which is an MBTA community.
Town Administrator Lisa Green said the Attorney General has required towns to comply with the law or risk lawsuits and classification as ineligible for forms of state funding, including grants.
“We don’t even have an estimate of what it would cost to fight this,” she said. “They are very serious with this. We’re trying to preserve the grants we’ve received in the last couple of years totaling $2 million.”
Selectman Joe Weeks also urged approval of the amendment.
But that was not enough to satisfy the most vocal opponents of the MBTA law, who voted it down 196 to 155.
Debate then continued on the original article, which was also rejected by a voice vote.
“We’re not done,” Kealy said as residents attending because of the MBTA law begain to leave. “We have stuff to do here. Oh, come on, you can look up the score of the Bruins game on your phone. Good, lord!”
They left anyway.
Whitman, meanwhile, approved the zoning bylaw change by a simple voice vote.
Whitman Select Board member Justin Evans noted the state mandate for the zone reqiring multi-family housing by right. Not having a town planner, Whitman sought and received to grants totaling $40,000 to hire a planning group and “turned this requirement into an opportunity for Whitman.”
“We put this zone in underutilized industrial land within walking distance of the Commuter Rail – a number of old shoe factories that had seen better days, a property that had received an EPA grant to cleanup and existing multifamily housing,” Evans said.
When Whitman fell briefly out of compliance in 2022, the state threatened to take away 10 percent of the town Housing Authority’s capital funding. Evans worked with former interim Town Administrator Frank Lynam to get the town back in compliance, and he cautioned the town has applied for $600,000 in grants that could go away if it happens again.
Planning Board Chair John Goldrosen also spoke in favor of the law, noting it protected the single-family housing areas near the zone.
“This is an opportunity for the town,” he said, echoing Evans’ remarks. “This is an area where, if it grows, will help revitalize that section of town. … Voting against this will not take out the risk of multi-family housing in town because there is always 40B.”
He also noted that most people attending Town Meeting probably know someone who moved out of state because of the cost of housing.
Hanson energy program sparks questions
HANSON – While questions remain in the community about the town’s energy aggregation program, which begins later this month, town officials and representatives of the energy consultants are working on answering them.
The town’s Energy Committee held an informational session on the Community Power program on Monday, April 22 at the Hanson Police Station Community Room, as well as an online meeting Thursday, May 2 and another in-person session at the Hanson Senior Center, Thursday, May 9.
In 2021, Hanson residents in Town Meeting voted to allow the town to explore a municipal energy aggregate program, which is designed to provide savings on electric bills for residents who are now National Grid customers, according to Town Administrator Lisa Green, who introduced the April 22 meeting.
Hanson contracted with Good Energy to guide the town through the steps of the two-year process to set up the aggregate program, including submitting data to the state Department of Public Utilities (DPU) to obtain its approval. Once provisional acceptance was issued, the town had to make adjustments to achieve full approval from the DPU, which was received this spring.
During that phase, energy supply companies made bids on their kilowatt hourly rates.
Direct Energy, which provided the lowest bid, was selected and an agreement was signed with the town.
“The town itself has a similar agreement with a company called Sprague Energy,” Green said. “It gives the town lower costs, and the town has seen [more than] $42,000 in savings in both our natural gas and electricity costs over the last four years.”
Energy Committee Chair Marianne DiMascio and representatives from Good Energy also attended the meeting to provide more information and answer questions.
DiMascio is designed to be a five-member committee that was named after Town Meeting passed the aggregate energy article, noting the panel was down a member and putting in a plug for the process of joining, should anyone be interested.
Select Board member Ed Heal, James Armstrong and John Murray also sit on the Energy Committee.
Rachel Ferdinand, program manager for Hanson with Good Energy, gave an informational program for those at the meeting, which can be streamed on Whitman-Hanson Community Access TV’s website – at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irTByt-DmIE.
“This program is a way for the town to offer different [energy] supply options,” Ferdinand said. “This will only affect the supply portion of your bill.”
In fact, savings and support of renewable energy options in the area are Good Energy’s main goals, she said. While National Grid’s rate changes every six months may mean periods when there are few savings, Ferdnand stressed that “over the course of the 30-month term, we are expecting to see savings across the board.”
The program officially begins in June 2024 for a 30-month contract with Direct Energy. National Grid will still be the billing company and should still be contacted in the event of outages. At the end of 30 months, the town will decide whether or not to continue the program and, if it decides to continue, it would repeat the competitive bid process to find a new supplier.
“We’ll never just change the price on you,” Ferdinand said.
Three program options are available:
- Standard – the one most people join. It adds 10 percent renewable among its energy sources and costs 13.692 cents per kilowatt hour.
- Basic – with no renewable sources and a price of 13.280 cents pre kWh.
- Plus – adds voluntary renewable energy to a total of 100 percent at 14.738 cents per kWh.
“It is completely voluntary to be in this program,” she said. “There’s never going to be a fee to opt out of the program … but if you do join it will differ based on who your supplier is right now.”
National Grid’s basic residential service, by comparison, costs 18.213 cents per kWh and includes no additional renewable energy sources.
Renewable sources include wind and solar and are local to the New England region.
Those eligible for automatic enrollment would start at standard first, Ferdnand said.
Supplier services will be listed on page two of energy bills.
Residents eligible for automatic enrollment should be receiving letters about it and, if they take no action, will be enrolled in the standard product category in June.
Those not wanting to be in the program may opt out when they receive their letter but must do so by May 18. One can still leave the program after that date, but it will show up on bills until the change is made.
One resident said he believed he was already in the program after receiving his letter.
“I’m saving money right now,” he said.
Residents can also make their preference online at hansoncommunitypower.com. Direct Energy can also be called at 866-968-8065. It is a good idea to have your bill handy if you plan to opt out or make changes to the program because information on the bill, such as account number, will be asked for.
Those already in a contract with a third-party supplier should consult their provider in case there is a fee for changing that contract.
“There’s never going to be a fee with us to join, but it’s important to know the ins and outs of your contract,” Ferdinand said.
Good Energy has been reaching out to residents by letter, postcard, social media, brochures and news articles.
One resident asked about fees. Outside of the usual National Grid delivery fees, Direct Energy will not add new fees to bills.
Customers receiving credits for solar panels from National Grid, which still handles billing, will not see any change in those credits. National Grid will also continue to be responsible for addressing power outages.
There is no connection between the program and the municipal budget.
The aggregate program will not affect the performance of oxygen machines or generators.
MSBA moves SST building plan ahead
HANOVER – A project to build a new South Shore Tech building, in order to meet the educational and workplace needs of this century, is ready to take the next step forward.
The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), at its April 24 Board of Directors meeting, voted to authorize the South Shore Regional Vocational School District to move to the next phase of its high school construction project. The district now officially enters the Schematic Design phase, where its project team will continue to develop detailed plans for a proposed new 900 student building at 476 Webster St., Hanover.
“We’re very excited the MSBA invited us to go onto the next step in the process, which is preferred schematic design,” Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey said this week. “It’s basically a six-month window [during which] our architect, working with our project team to refine and develop designs for the school.”
Those designs will be reviewed by MSBA on Oct. 30 for the decision on what the project is valued at and how much MSBA will reimburse the district. Bringing Marshfield into the district – even with increased enrollment – should help each member town’s cost share, Hickey said.
Approved in February by the SST Building and School committees, the design being reviewed had been referred to as “New Construction 2.0” for 900 students.
The district’s homework assignment between now and August, according to Hickey, is to start refining numbers during the design refinement phase.
“Right after we selected the design, and the enrollment number, the design team has been [doing] some preliminary work,” Hickey said.
“While there is never a perfect financial time for such projects, South Shore has served students since 1962 and it is the second oldest regional vocational school in Massachusetts. Its infrastructure and systems need attention,” said School Building Committee Chair Bob Heywood, who also serves as Hanover’s representative to the SST School Committee. “We have a waiting list that is only growing, and we have expanded our district to include the town of Marshfield in an effort to share costs. We look forward to having a quality design ready for further review by the MSBA in the fall.”
The district will be hiring a construction manager in May to help with the final schematic design. A construction manager will provide suggestions for more cost-effective ways to construct the building.
The MSBA, meanwhile, is beginning to interview participants in the school’s shops as well as academic departments, facilities and administration personnel to “zoom in” on what is now a “very rough, conceptual plan,” as Hickey described it.
“We know what the shell is going to look like and how the different spaces are going to be laid out,” he said. “We make shop number estimates.”
From there, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s (DESE) minimum recommended square footage guidelines based on employers’ stated need and projected enrollment.
Hickey said a lot of SST’s programs fit that description, especially the manufacturing shop, which has a lot of new equipment, so – even if there were no more students enrolled, that shop has a need for more space for the machinery used.
New program plans would also be reviewed by DESE.
“It’s not an overreach,” he said. “We have a sense of what our demand is right now, we have a sense of what shops would take more kids if there was more space. … I know which programs have waiting lists. I also know which programs are very tight for space.”
The district also has to submit viability documentation to DESE, to verify the need for programs either enlarged or added. SST is planning to add veterinary science and plumbing with the construction of a new school. Hickey said that, without a new school, veterinary science could not be offered and plumbing could only be offered as a small add-on to the HVAC program.
“It’s showing the need for it and also validating that what we’re currently offering gives kids a job or post-secondary pathway after graduation,” Hickey said. “We should not be running programs for career pathways that don’t lead anywhere in our region.”
Industry data also shows that, while a given industry might not be growing, some might be “graying out,” needing new people to fill retirements.
“While the industry’s not expanding, who’s taking these jobs?” he said. “I think that message is resonating, and people are in fact, at a younger level, seeing this as an alternative for their high school experience. All the while, it doesn’t mean that they can’t go to college.”
Refined decisions on the placement of instructional spaces, safety and security measures, landscaping of fields and parking will be made over the next four months.
The hiring of a construction manager this month will help make a more affordable plan by advising architects as they create the final design. That position will be paid for under already earmarked feasibility study funds.
The district is also committed to providing preliminary tax impact projections for member towns, and while the amounts won’t be finalized until Fall 2024 officials are prioritizing the importance of informing taxpayers on impacts at the town and household level early in the process, Hickey noted.
So, where does the project go from here?
● April-August 2024: The designers will complete the Schematic Design phase, making revisions along the way and submitting the proposed design and budget in late August
● August-October 2024: MSBA reviews Schematic Design Submission
● October 30, 2024: MSBA Board approval, if on track, will include final total project budget and precise amounts of the MSBA grant for the project.
● January 25, 2025: District-wide ballot question to determine local support for the project. “District-wide” means that all the votes are tallied and combined from each town and the total number of yes and total number of no votes are compared to determine the outcome.
In terms of how district communities will fund the project if approved in January 2025, Hickey points out: “Each town will determine how to fund the project. My sense is that most of our communities will suggest a debt exclusion approach, but that is a local decision. We stand ready to provide information as often as we need to keep residents in our district towns fully informed.”
As of now, the project is estimated at $283.6 million, with about $107 million in state subsidy expected, bringing the anticipated local share to around $176.6 million. Using these preliminary projections, it would put the first year of interest-only borrowing, FY26, at about $700,000 shared between the nine towns.
The amounts will increase for FY27-FY29 when entering the construction phase, with about 60 percent bonding in FY27, 90 percent bonding in FY28, and 100 percent bonding in FY29. If this all goes to plan the new South Shore Tech would open for the 2028-2029 school year.
Separate from this MSBA process, and prior to a project vote in January 2025, the district School Committee is making plans to bring a regional agreement amendment to the member towns in Fall 2024 to change how debt shares are apportioned, moving from a fixed amount to a four-year rolling average based on actual student enrollment. “The idea is that a ‘pay as you go model’ reflecting gradual changes in enrollment is a more fair system of apportioning debt shares over a 30 year period,” Hickey said.
Hanson: Replace your divots
The Hanson Select Board on Tuesday, April 23, approved, contingent on some final changes, a modified road opening permit application process, mainly geared toward utility companies who must open the road surface for repairs.
Town Administrator Lisa Green explained that the town has had a road opening permit application process on file for many years, but that she had never actually seen the form until Interim Highway Director Curt McLean had brought one in to discuss the changes he’s looking for.
“He realized that there are quite a few improvements that could be made that would better serve the town, and be a better watchdog for the town, so companies put the roads back in the condition that they found them in – or make them better,” Green said.
The permits govern what companies seeking to open the roadway pavement to make repairs and must be applied for through the Highway Department.
“I’ve noticed some of the utilities are, I’ll say inconsistent and, perhaps, not as judicious as we’d like them to be, about sealing things back up after they’ve torn everything up,” Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
The application is more extensive, at eight or nine pages compared to the page or two of the past, McLean said.
“This here really holds companies to the gun, that when they’re done, they will restore the road – full width – and basically come in and mill the road an inch and a half, and then repaving an inch and a half,” which is the Highway Director’s responsibility to check.
“East Washington is kind of a disaster area,” he said about recent work there. “[It’s] understandable, they did a lot of work. … Now we have to do a refurbishment of the whole road. The gas company is putting money forth toward that. Is it enough? No.”
He said this policy will prevent that in the future.
The gas utility is now looking to do 2,800 feet on West Washington Street, with the policy in place, they would have to refurbish the whole, roadway where they are working.
Green said town counsel has not yet reviewed it.
“Thank you for taking the initiative to point out something we could do better,” FitzGerald said, noting a legal review would be prudent.
Vice Chair Weeks asked if the new policy has been reviewed with a fine-tooth comb to make sure there are no contradictions within it.
“How do you hold someone’s feet to the fire?” he said, asking how the town’s interests are protected.
FitzGerald-Kemmett said there are enough checks and balances in it that the policy update is a definite improvement.
“I’m not saying the questions negate the pros that this brings,” Weeks said. “We’ve been burned a couple of times … and we’re still kind of paying the price for [that]. … I feel a lot more comfortable if someone internally is the one who’s signing off on it.”
Weeks asked Green if he could send a list of items for town counsel to check, to which she agreed.
They have to apply for the permit, McLean stressed of the construction companies, adding that the Highway Director is the one who is going to be checking on the process of how the road repairs are made.
“If they don’t abide by it, good luck getting another permit in town,” McLean said.
FitzGerald-Kemmett also wanted to see fees, which are now doubled, to be increased to protect the town.
“If you’re coming to seek forgiveness and not permission on something like opening up our roads, I don’t think just doubling a $100 fee is very punitive at all,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
Ed Heal asked if the mention of West Washington Street meant there was a time-sensitive issue.
McLean said it is a little time-sensitive, because the work there is being considered for a start in early May.
In other business the Select Board, which had voted to seek ARPA funds to pay for a new ambulance during a recent meeting, heard an update Green on the effort to obtain that funding.
She said she has completed the grant application and submitted it, but a grant agreement is required, which the board had to approve and sign it so she can submit it to the Plymouth County Commissioners.
The board also has the issue as an article on the May 6 Town Meeting warrant.
The process through which the Select Board processes reapplications of former Planning Board members that had been part of a recent investigation was also clarified by the board.
“We’ve had a couple of people in the past who, either we chose not to appoint to the ZBA or we chose to remove from the ZBA, seeking to be reappointed to the ZBA,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “Is it the will of the board to entertain those applications?
She noted that previously, when the board discussed the issue, it had centered on an individual who had been removed from the ZBA after a hearing and unanimous decision that the board did not want to “exhume that body,” she said, and go through that whole process again, because they had already made a decision.
She asked if the board had the same feeling about such situations now.
“My opinion hasn’t changed,” Board member Ann Rein said.
“We’re not putting that band back together,” FitzGerald Kemmett asked.
“Right,” Rein replied.
“It makes sense [to ask],” Weeks said. “Every time there’s a new board we [should] circle back to this, because the will of a previous board might not be the will of the current board. As long as there’s a status check every once in a while, I think that’s the fairest way to do it.”
That special Mother’s Day gift
By Linda Ibbitson Hurd
Special to the Express
I was in my bedroom dusting and vacuuming recently and happened to look up over the closets where there’s a shelf holding several items. Among them a wooden plaque caught my eye. It’s a decoupaged picture of a little dog wearing a puffy bonnet with a little blue bird nestled into it and a thin blue ribbon tied in a bow around the brim. It brought back a Mother’s Day memory of when my son Brian was eight and my daughter Heidi was five.
After my marriage broke up I was lonely at times and had concerns about raising two children by myself. I was taking college classes at night and was exhausted, worried about finances and many other things. I got a job cleaning houses during the week while the kids were at school so I could pay the bills and put food on the table. When the kids were small I had gotten piggy banks for them to teach them the value of saving money when they received it. Brian being the oldest I was also pleased he hadn’t asked to take any out. It saved us from going hungry one night before I was receiving child support and had used the last of my money for the mortgage payment. There was no food, no money and I didn’t want to ask my parents, who had already helped me with getting a car when mine was no longer drivable. When Brian asked what was for supper that night I told him we’d have to have cereal. A few minutes later he came out to the kitchen carrying his bank with Heidi in tow carrying hers. I had forgotten all about the banks and was so relieved. When we opened them there was enough money to get food with some left over until I got paid at my house cleaning job. From the time they were little, I noticed how caring and generous they were; that’s never changed.
When Mother’s Day came around that year I was especially distracted about money I needed for a bill and also had to study for finals as the semester was ending. I often got very little sleep but that Sunday morning I slept late and was so surprised when I got up that the kids hadn’t woke me. I went out to the kitchen and they were nowhere to be found. There was a note on the table in my son’s handwriting that read, Mom we will be back. I was relieved after reading the note and thought they must be next door but why didn’t the note say that. I got dressed and was about to walk around the neighborhood to find them when they burst through the door with expectant smiles lighting up their little faces. They were carrying a paper bag and Brian asked me to sit down because they had a mother’s day present for me. I was so surprised and doubly so as I had forgotten it was Mother’s Day. They handed me the bag and Brian asked me to be careful opening it. My mind was going a mile a minute wondering how they got these things and where, as I took the bag. Brian had to ask me again to open the bag. I reached in and pulled out the wooden plaque thinking the dog was so cute with her big eyes and hat. “Keep going”, Brian said. I pulled out littlecheetah cats made out of china, some small plastic deers, a pretty candle and some candy. I looked up at them and was both speechless and torn because I was a little upset they spent money we might need again and torn because I was touched beyond words they did such a loving and unselfish thing. I wrapped my arms around them, squeezing them tight with lots of kisses. When the hugging was over I asked, “Where did you get these things and how did you get them without money?” Without hesitation and in a very confident way, Brian said, “The Runkles were having a yard sale so we took some money out of our banks to get you a present.”I started to say, “but we need to save.” That’s as far as I got. Brian came back with, “Mom, you deserve a Mother’s Day present, some things are more important than money.” This, from an eight year old. I looked at Heidi, her hearing aid was on and she was also reading our lips. She looked back nodding yes with a smile.
In that moment everything changed. I realized how consumed I’d been by worry and my own problems to the point I’d forgotten all about Mother’s Day. I also realized in spite of my worries my kids and I were okay and would remain so. I felt bad forgetting about my own mother and how awful it would have been for her and what regret I would’ve been left with. I looked at my kids realizing the real gift they had just given me. I said to them, “Why don’t we go pick out a card and a gift for Gramma and go see her today?” They got all excited as we left to spend a wonderful day together.
USPS/Girl Scouts hold Whitman food drive
The Girl Scouts will again assist the volunteers of the Whitman Food Pantry and St. Vincent de Paul of Holy Ghost parish in collecting food for the USPS/NALC Annual Food Drive on May 11, 2024.
We are excited to pursue reaching and surpassing last year’s collection total of 6,000 pounds of food!
And you can help!
Simply leave your non-perishable food item/s by your mailbox by 8 a.m. on Saturday, May 11 – and your mail carrier or one of the girl scouts or food pantry volunteers will collect your donation and deliver it to the food pantry! Take advantage of the buy one, get one (BOGO) or two-for-one sales at your grocery store now and save the extras for the food drive! THANK YOU, in advance for your generosity in helping our neighbors in need!
Towns dot the i’s on warrants
Whitman’s Select Board voted on Tuesday, April 23 to close the warrant for Town Meeting after removing two articles deemed unnecessary. The warrant includes dual budget to present to the annual Town Meeting to fund town departments while offering an override to close a $509,212 gap in the W-H Regional School District assessment.
Vice Chair Dan Salvucci attended the meeting virtually by phone.
Select Boards in both towns again reviewed their warrants in preparation for the Monday, May 6 town meetings. Hanson’s Select Board, which had already closed the warrant, held its annual run-through of the warrant at it’s meeting Tuesday night.
One side of Whitman’s budget is marked recommended by the Select Board with an override, including a 5 percent increase over last year’s assessment for the W-H Regional School District. The balance of the certified district assessment of $509,212 included in a warrant article for an override.
The second column of the dual budget includes Select Board recommendation without an override, which would include the district’s full certified assessment of 7.87 percent over last year, however reductions in staff in several departments were necessary in order to balance that budget without an override.
“The budget, in both scenarios, do not include any one-time funds to balance the budget,” said Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter. “As many of you know, the use of one-time funds to balance the budget is not recommended.”
The amount to be placed on the override, if it is voted at Town Meeting and the Town Election is $509,212 and the estimated tax increase, based on the current average residential single-family home with an assessed value of $470,190 is $95.38 a year, Carter said.
Board member Shawn Kain also provided an updated financial outlook for the town.
“For some of us, who have been living the budget over the last couple of months, we’ve been trying to stay in tune with this, but we know for an everyday person this stuff can be overwhelming,” he said.
With the permission of the moderator, the board is planning to discuss the override question first at Town Meeting, Kain outlined.
“What we decide at the very beginning of Town Meeting will kind of set our course of action for the rest of Town Meeting,” he said. “We want people to vote yes [on the override question]. That’s formally our recommendation. We want people to vote yes to put the override on the ballot. If you agree with the override or not, we want it to go to the ballot.”
If it is approved at the May 18 town elections, then the appropriation if the full 7.87 percent, with $509,212 coming from new revenue. If it fails at the ballot, “We basically reject the school assessment,” Kain said. It then sends it back to the School Committee, which can lead to some “complex scenarios.”
Chair Dr. Carl Kowalski said, if Hanson voted not to support the override, it would have the same effect.
If Town Meeting votes against placing the override on the ballot, the school assessment would be funded at the full 7.87 percent, however, Kain said, warning that in order to balance the budget at that point, it would have to be taken from other town services.
He also provided some background on how the town got here and “what to expect, moving forward.”
The town should also be proud of the way it has funded education since fiscal 2012. There are more teachers and a better student-to-teacher ratio with a better per-pupil funding level. But enrollment, which is directly connected to state funding, is down.
Current fiscal policy also prioritizes the school department and the budget process will keep the town on sound financial ground while the School Committee unanimously agreed with the plan and leadership in Hanson is on board, he said.
“So an override will be presented to support the school department, but the key point to remember is this – whether you agree with the override or not, we need to support it at Town Meeting and send it to the ballot,” Kain said. “Doing so would ensure we collectively move forward in a way that is financially sound.”
Carter also noted that, if the override failed on Town Meeting floor, it will still be on the ballot – and absentee ballots now going out include it – and the ballot question passes, the town has 90 days to hold another special Town Meeting.
“We’re hoping for sure that this article moves to the ballot,” Carter said. “And that’s all that the article is doing: putting it in front of all the taxpayers to decide.”
“If the override passes, no one-time money is in the budget. If the override fails, no one-time money is in the budget,” Kain said. “That’s why it keeps us on sound financial ground.”
Article 54, which the Select Board proposed to appropriate a sum of money from available free cash to reduce the amount to be raised through taxes in fiscal year 2025, but was not recommended by a unanimous vote of the Finance Committee was left to Town Meeting. An opioid settlement article, deemed unnecessary was also removed from the warrant
“This was a placeholder a couple of months ago,” Carter said of Article 54. “As I was working on the budget, there was a deficit of over $100,000, so I put this in just in case we needed to use free cash.”
She didn’t want to end up in that position because using free cash for that purpose is not recommended as a sound budgeting practice and revenues and additional cuts had not yet been reviewed at that time.
“The budget we have now is a level-funded budget, so this article is not needed for budgeting purposes, for the reason I put it on there, however the Finance Committee is not for the override, [and are] looking for a different way,” Carter said. They have suggested using a different funding source and she was unsure if the article was needed for their overall plans.
“I just wanted to be honest on everything,” she said. “I put it on there because we had a deficit, and we don’t have a deficit.”
While Carter made no recommendations on whether or not to take Article 54 off the warrant, Select Board members Shawn Kain made a motion to remove it.
While Kain said the Finance Committee had good intentions in their vote, he said he argued their vote against recommending Article 54 puts town departments at risk.
He said he likes and is proud of the budget that Carter and Assistant Town Administrator Kathleen Keefe put together and feels strongly that the town should be presented with that plan and make decisions based on that.
“I think what the Finance Committee is doing is undermining that,” he said.
Carter later explained that it was the lack of a specific dollar amount that prompted the Finance Committee’s action.
Kowalski said it also undermines the relationship that the schools and Select Board reached a few weeks ago when the chairs of both town select boards met with Superintended of Schools Jeff Szymaniak and School Committee Chair Beth Stafford.
“They came back toward us and they reduced their assessment with the knowledge that what we woud try to do is to provide for the difference in an override election and they were all for that,” Kowalski said, agreeing that Article 54 should be removed from the warrant. “It was kind of a surprise that the Finance Committee did not support it.”
Board member Laura Howe agreed and commended Carter for the work she has done on the budget and the solid footing she is providing for the town.
“I think we have to give credit to the School Department and to Beth Stafford for approaching us to try to close that divide we were developing between the town and the schools,” Kowalski said. “What the Finance Committee is doing doesn’t help that at all.”
The schools are visibly supporting the override to get the towns through the year.
“I think that the only way the override passes in both towns is if it’s very clear that both [select boards] and the schools agree that this is the right path forward,” Board member Justin Evans said. “Doing anything else doesn’t make sense to achieve what they’re trying to achieve.”
Evans questioned what the Finance Committee’s vote meant.
“They need it to meet their plan, but they’re not recommending it?” he asked.
The previous night, when meeting with the Finance Committee, Carter said she told them that, where the town has a balanced budget, the Select Board may find Article 54 is not needed.
“[Finance Chair] Rick Anderson said, ‘that’s fine, whatever you decide,’” she reported. “They always just vote against the articles if it just says ‘a sum of money’ … until a number is inserted.” Then they give their final recommendations on Town Meeting floor.
“I still think we want this article,” Evans said. “Not for the thing the Finance Committee’s attempting to pull off but because this is our safety net.”
Salvucci also counseled for removing the article.
“We’re taking away the choices of Town Meeting and the public,” he said. “If they want to fund the schools through an override, I think we should leave it on there so they can make that decision.”
South Avenue update heard
WHITMAN – It’s all about balance.
The town’s DPW, and the state Department of Transportation, are envisioning a balance of different needs by roadway users for more comfortable accommodations for bikes, pedestrians, motorists and transit users along a stretch of South Avenue – linking them all together.
“We’re looking to improve safety, promoting traffic to travel through efficiently, as it currently does, but making sure motorists are traveling at a safe travel speed,” said Principal Engineer Jim Fitzgerald of Environmental Partners. “The project, in general would [also] invigorate the local economy in that area. Complete streets projects have been proven to really provide a boost to local economies and allow for redevelopment with all the placemaking opportunities to be had with a project like this.”
Visual alerts to the presence of pedestrian crossings or a cyclist in the roadway are also safety goals.
Whitman’s DPW Commissioners, meeting with the Select Board Tuesday, April 9, provided an update on the South Avenue reconstruction project.
Select Board Chair Dr. Carl Kowalski said the update was billed as a joint meeting, even though not all the DPW Commissioners were present.
“We needed to say [it was a] joint meeting just in case anybody else showed up,” he said.
DPW Commissioners Chair Kevin Cleary said the South Avenue Corridor Improvements project has been discussed by the Commissioners for about two years, as a MassDOT Transportation Improvement Project (TIP) effort, a five-year program, in which the state’s transportation department would fund and manage, with the town funding only the engineering and right-of-way side of it. The potential timeline could see it ready for bidding by July 2030.
“It’s a multi-year process,” Cleary said. “The good news is we got accepted and approved to continue the process with MassDOT and we do have an article coming up on Town Meeting to continue funding that engineering and design [phase] and we just wanted to share with the board where we’re at, including next steps and the timeline.”
Fitzgerald and Senior Project Manager Benny Hung with Environmental Partners began by tracing the project timeline from the initial visioning in February 2018 to the present. The firm had also presented it to MassDOT.
“They were very supportive of the project and what it stands for,” Fitzgerald said before the department’s Project Review Committee which approved it for the TIP process.
Under the project, about one mile of South Avenue from Commercial Street to Plymouth Street will focus on multi-modal accommodations that are “safe and comfortable for all users, whether they be motorists, walkers, bikers or transit users,” according to Fitzgerald.
Land uses along the corridor involve a mix of residential amd commercial properties.
“A lot of residential development surrounds this area, but when you think about the ease of walking, or the close distance between residential neighborhoods and the Commuter Rail station, for instance, it’s really a lot of benefits that could be had from this project,” he said. “The project also stands to address or improve – or allow for – redevelopment in the area.”
Safety is also an issue, as Fitzgerald noted there are a few areas along the South Avenue corridor where a “significant amount of crashes have occurred,” including adjacent to the train tracks by the station that falls within the top 5 percent of statewide crashes as well as other locations with a significant number of crashes involving injuries.
“Certianly the intersection of South Avenue at Franklin and Pleasant streets is one that could stand to have some improvements made to it,” he said. “Instead of a single intersection, we’re faced with three, where we are creating additional contact points.”
Among the options there are conversion to one conventional, more perpindicular, intersection with Pleasant Street converted to an access road to businesses and parking.
There are also “skewed maneuvers” where drivers have to look back over their shoulder to merge and a lot of excessive pavement within the intersections, which allows for faster travel speeds and “uncontrolled chanellization of motorists.” For pedestrians, Fitzgerald said those intersections also mean excessively long crossing distances, which means safety risks.
The potential concept includes on-street bike lanes, areas of on-street parking, curb extentions – or bump-outs – at crossing areas to slow traffic and improve pedestrian safety and green buffers on one or both sides of the street.
Septarated or buffered bike lanes have also been considered.
“Ultimately, the preferred alternative is something that will be worked out with the group as a whole in advancing the project to the next phase,” Fitzgerald said.
“I travel those roads a lot and I’m really thankful for what you’re envisioning,” Kowalski said.
Vice Chair Dan Salvucci asked about the status about TIP funding, to which Fitzgerald said it has not yet been assigned a TIP year, which typically happens further along in the process.
“When do you expect that to happen – so I can push for it?” asked Salvucci, who is vice chair on the Joint Transportation Planning Council.
Fitzgerald estimated the pre-25 percent design could be approved by April 2025 and completed and approved by April 2027.
“That could certainly be expedited,” he said.
Select Board member Justin Evans noted the project is pretty close to that involved in the MBTA Communities compliance district.
“Taking these two projects together, it is a total rethinking of East Whitman,” he said. “This makes it a much more walkable community from, really, Colebrook Boulevard – which is already a community path – to Route 58.”
He noted the project’s estimated price tag is $14.8 million and asked for an updated estimate.
Fitzgerald said that was the latest estimate, with the design estimate at 14 percent of construction costs. The $14.8 million figure includes extra things over the construction costs.
Select Board member Laura Howe asked how specific design options will be decided.
“The town is leading the charge with the design and it’s a town-owned road, but it’s also a project going through the MassDOT process and they will weigh in heavily,” Fitzgerald said, noting it would be, hopefully a consensus decision.
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