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Financial health check up

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By Tracy F. Seelye, Express editor
editor@whitmanhansonexpress.com
WHITMAN – The Select Board heard a proposal for a new formula with the goal of creating a process that is “transparent, clearly defined and easy to understand” – a process that is fair to both the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District and to town departments and must be responsive to current data.
The 5-percent rule that emerged from the Madden Report, while transparent, was not that easy to understand, according to board member Shawn Kain, adding that while it was something discussed with financial consultant John Madden, he never actually included it in the report and guidance on how it should be implemented by the town.
“What I had hoped would have led to cleaning up the budget process with the school department, actually, I think, clouded the issue and made things really difficult,” he said. “Having a stagnant 5 percent doesn’t seem to capture the complexities of our budgets.”
Kain said he intended for own formula should also be a starting point for discussion.
The first step is to project revenue.
“We’ve done this over the last couple of years and I think we’re getting better at doing it,” he said.
The second step to Kain’s formula is calculating a 2 ½ percent increase for all departments, including the schools. In what he termed “Step 3A,” if there is a surplus, additional revenue, recurring revenue excluding one-time funds above 2 ½ percent, “the amount allocated to WHRSD will be proportional to the percent of the general fund expenditures that is spent on education,” currently about 50 percent.
“To me this is the baseline to calculate what we can raise the 2 ½ percent over what we raised the year before,” he said. “This is based on recurring revenue, not based on one-time revenue, which was a little bit of a bone of contention this last year.”
In deficit years, the percentage of decreases would also be felt equally until the budget is balanced.
“By no means is it the end-all, be-all – it’s just a starting point,” Kain said, as he provided the budget update during the Tuesday, July 23 meeting, focusing on the school assessment formula and the system through which the town monitors financial trends.
“The two do complement each other,” he said.
Kain said he was an advocate for hiring Madden, whose recommendations the town has been using as the basis for budgeting decisions.
“The process opened up a lot of healthy dialog, and his recommendations have really helped [us] move in the right direction,” Kain said. “For that, we should be grateful, but this last budget cycle has surfaced a vulnerability in our financial policy, specifically with the school assessment.”
While Madden’s information was a good starting point for moving the town in the right direction, according to Kain, but a lack of clarity and specificity has hindered completion of the budget process.
“For this reason, I’m proposing that we develop a new formula,” he said.
That need not be very complex, he said, especially since officials need to clearly communicate the budget challenges to the people of Whitman, assuring voters that they are working to improve the budget process.
“We want the people to know there is integrity behind our decisions,” he said, adding he was sharing the information to gauge the board’s support for those efforts.
“Hopefully, this is the start of a healthy conversation that will lead to a meaningful solution,” he said.

Financial trend monitoring
Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter, Assistant Town Administrator Kathleen Keefe, Finance Chair Kathleen Ottina and Kain met with financial consultant Zachary Blake from the state Division of Local Services on Tuesday, July 9 as part of a Community Compact Best Practice Grant the town received to help with making improvements in that area.
Blake and his team will help the town implement a financial trend monitoring system and to develop a financial forecast.
“He already has lots of data from Whitman though the Department of Revenue, and we are planning on developing a usable report for the fall,” Kain said. “This report will be essential for us to strategically address the upcoming budget.”
The monitoring system is intended to monitor factors that identify the financial condition of a community, arranging them into a more rational order so they can be more easily analyzed and measured, he explained. The goal is to predict and prepare so the town is better able to prepare for fiscal distress in order to prevent fiscal crisis.
The town of Northborough uses the system.
Select Board member Justin Evans said Kain’s presentation represented a great first start.
“The 5 percent has not necessarily been the easiest to stick to either for the town or for the schools,” he said. “It was a number based on some work that John Madden did a couple of years ago, but it’s time to rethink it.”
He agreed completely with steps 1 and 3.
“Finding a way to divide new revenue is the right way to do it,” Evans said. “I’m a little concerned in Step 2, because whenever the Select Board talks about 2 ½ percent to the schools and when the Finance Committee about 2 ½ percent to the schools, it’s not necessarily the same as the School Committee talking about 2 ½ percent budget growth.”
He noted that a 2 ½ increase in the assessment to the schools allows them to increase their budget to grow between 1 and 1 ½ percent, while permitting 2 ½ percent budget growth for the district, it breaks it away from Prop 2 1/2.
“That immediately takes some of our new revenue every year, but I think it puts a more equitable start to that system,” he said. “General government can grow 2 ½ percent, School Department can grow 2 ½ percent, new revenue above those parts can be divided up somehow, but that probably does lock us in somewhere around a 5-ish – 4- to 5-percent assessment increase every year until the schools come out of hold-harmless.”
School Committee member Rosemary Connolly thanked Kain for his work and said the regional agreement gives away the town’s educational rights under Chapter 71 and that training new school committee members take had stressed that the article at town meeting which tried to separate the two budgets was not legal.
“They had just come down, hot off the presses, with what they said, so I’m concerned that this gives the impression that we actually have control of this,” she said. “There is a financial process that we’re supposed to do to insulate and that is come to the assessor first, and at my end on the School Committee have a good sense of where we’re going … early in the fall.”
She advocated asking how much something is going to cost before talking about what the town has to spend.
“We’re going to have a big jump in the vocational, but it isn’t an unusual cost, when you spread it out and say ‘what is everybody paying for it,’” she said. “We may have to look at what did we overpay to another community and how can we get that [$4.5 million] back and then move forward in some sort of trending more appropriately.”
Kain said he does not want to send the message that Whitman is trying to develop a formula to coerce Hanson into a budget formula rather he was striving for a formula they could agree on.
“What I’d like to do is develop a budget formula that we can agree upon early in the budget process so that, when it comes time to actually compute the budget, we’re all on the same page,” he said. “I believe we are partners.”
Ottina said Kain has kept her informed and up-to-date on the proposal.
“Having this discussion in July is a lot better than having it in April,” she said.
School Committee member Dawn Byers, also of Whitman, asked if the Superintendent of Schools or School Committee was aware of the meeting, noting she had attended because she noted a budget presentation on the agenda.
“I’d be remiss if I didn’t say I’m disappointed that the agenda itself wasn’t more clear that, in fact, you’re talking about the school assessment,” she said.
She agreed with Ottina that this is a good time to be discussing next year’s budget, but noted Northborough’s budget may be different to W-H school deficit may be much different than it appears based on the budgeting formula.

Casting light on safety

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HANSON – Town officials have reached a consensus on the need for finding alternative, lower-cost methods of providing street-lighting for safety, especially at street intersections.
The discussion —marred by technical difficulties caused echo on the audio feed and rendered useless a virtual connection with Planning Board Chair Joseph Campbell — hinged on changes to street-lighting at the Meadow Brook subdivision on County Road.
“Historically, the town was paying to light all kinds of public ways, like cul de-sacs, and then did some kind of a little ‘come to Jesus’ kind of a thing in the late ’90s/early 2000s, and said, ‘Why are we paying to light all of these streets?’” Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said, “Many of them were shut off. I can’t say for [certain that] all of them were shut off, but the vast majority of them were shut off.”
She added that the town is in no financial position to simply decide to turn them back on and the town would pay for them.
“I think that’s where it becomes a problem,” she said.
“That’s why I’m here,” said Town Planner Anthony DeFrias. “This road is not at a point where these street lights are going to go in.”
That’s what brings the town to place the onus on developers or coming to another alternative arrangement instead of getting to the point where the town would be getting more street lights that then get turned off.
The Planning Board has already voted its approval for the new subdivision, which proposes street lights, DeFrias added, nodding to the town requirement for street lights in general and the subdivision in question
Past discussions centered on the unknowns concerning cost in relation to streetlights.
“Is that the board’s position?” he asked about the concerns. “Because, if it is, obviously it’s in conflict with the subdivision control law and, if that’s the case, now’s the time for us to talk to this developer about coming back to the Planning Board and ask for a waiver for that section and propose some alternative street-lighting.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett asked if the town would have to foot the bill for the street lights.
“Once the rule is accepted, it will be the town’s responsibility to pay for those streetlights,” he said.
Select Board member Ann Rein asked if there were plans to establish a homeowners association in the development, suggesting that such a group could be expected to shoulder the cost through fees. She pointed to Stone Bridge as such a development.
DeFrias said he believes there is some language toward establishing one.
“But there typically is and there hasn’t been one occasion when that doesn’t even come to fruition or its an ineffective arrangement,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
DeFrias said he has done subdivisions in other communities where, instead of a street light, the town went away from street lights, going with an alternative carriage lamps at the end of driveways, paid for by the homeowners. The only street lights would be put in where the subdivision road meets a main street for safety.
“I think that’’s what we’d want to do where it meets the main drag, which would be the case in this,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
“What we do for one, we have to do for everybody,” Select Board member Joe Weeks said. “If we’re going to be spending taxpayer money, we have to do it so it’s fair and equitable for everybody because it’s everybody’s money.”
He asked it would be possible to switch to an alternative power source, such as solar?
DeFrias said that was another option worth exploring. The towns’ subdivision control law has not been updated since 2012, including newer engineering standards, drainage requirements and street lights.
In other business, the Select Board referred an amendment to the zoning by laws proposed by the Planning Board for review and on which to conduct hearings.
Town Planner Anthony DeFrias told the board that a zoning bylaw discussion was to center on a new battery energy storage project approved at Town Meeting last year, but “shot down” by the state attorney general’s office.
“They felt it was two issues that didn’t go [together],” he said. “One had to do, basically, with language that we have that they felt was in conflict with the Waltham case, which is regarding solar – it’s become a crucial case regarding solar. Basically, in a nutshell, there was an access road from one town into Waltham for solar.”
Waltham lost a legal battle over the issue, being found in non-compliance with the Dover Act, which exempts agricultural, religious, and educational uses from certain zoning restrictions.
“We had some language in here that the AG’s office didn’t like, so they turned down the bylaw,” he said. “I’m working with town counsel. We’re going to revise the language so that it meets with what the AG’s office will be comfortable with.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett asked if the issue came down literally to that one tweak.
“That is just a draft at this point,” DeFrias said of the adjustment she referred to and asked the Select Board to consider the change. The Planning Board had given it to the Select Board for that consideration, passing it on to the Planning Board to schedule a public hearing and finalize language with input from Town Counsel before it is returned to the Select Board for placing the issue before the October Town Meeting.
“It’s a draft copy, there’s probably going to be even more changes to it, but this is the starting point,” he said.

Summer nights and simple times

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By Linda Ibbitson Hurd
Special to the Express
When we were growing up in Hanson there was a cozy little house, across the street from our Elm Street home, owned by my Grandfather Ibbitson. He and my grandmother had lived there until they moved their expanding family directly across the street into a big blue shingled house.
The little house had a nice living room, a kitchen, bath and two bedrooms with a small upstairs room that overlooked the big front lawn. The living room led to an enclosed porch which was across the front of the house and had many windows. Inside the porch was what looked like a long built-in bench that was actually storage for toys and an assortment of other things such as blankets, towels and clothing. The house and yard were care of by a man who owned it back then and my grandparents had a key as some of their things were kept in the storage bench until the owner could find a tenant.
On summer evenings my grandmother could be seen sitting in her Adirondack lawn chair in the front yard of the little house with her teenagers, my aunts, Sally and Sam and two of my uncles, Richard and George. My sister Penny and I were allowed to go over and some of the neighborhood kids would end up there as well along with friends of our aunts and uncles. The gathering usually evolved into a fun fest for the kids. 
We’d lay on the ground looking up at the clouds, watching them change shape while we called out what they looked like. When we got restless or bored, we’d pluck the stems off the narrow leaved plantain weeds with the little black heads on them that looked like raisins and curl the stems upwards to snap off the little black tops at each other while running around the yard. Inevitably one of the kids would end up falling or crying if they got snapped and Gramma would put a stop to it. 
Richard and George would start swinging us around and we’d laugh and scream until they set us down and we’d stumble around from being so dizzy; we always went back for more. Sally and Sam would go into the porch and come out with a couple of blankets. We all took turns laying down in the blankets while our uncles, aunts and their friends, Rita and Loraine who were sisters, helped by picking up either end of the blankets that now looked like hammocks with a kid in them and they swung us back and forth into the air while we giggled and shrieked with delight. Gram approved, commenting it was safer than swinging kids around any other way. 
Aunt Sally was very good at doing and teaching us handstands. She and Sam and their friends also showed us how to do cartwheels. When we played games like Red Light or Simon Says, some of the dogs and barn cats liked to join in. When we tried Leapfrog one time, Gram put her foot down making it clear it wasn’t allowed on her watch. 
To the far right of the front lawn was a Lilac grove where my siblings and I played as did our aunts and uncles before us. It magically transformed into anything we wanted it to be. In the spring it was fragrant and beautifully dressed in its white blossoms. Further out in the yard beyond the Lilacs was a small pond. Around its edge were Pussy Willows in early spring and also the home of Cattails that both Gram and my mom loved putting in vases. We made a few rafts out of barrels and boards and had fun floating around on them pretending we were pirates until they sank. It wasn’t too deep of a pond, we always landed on our feet and were careful of the turtles and frogs. 
We watched many a sunset from the lawn of this house and when it got dark, the Lilac grove and the woods beyond became enchanted with fireflies. We knew once it got dark it wouldn’t be long before our parents would call us in. Sometimes my dad would come over and Penny and I would get to stay until the moon came out. When dad was there he and Gram would sing an old song I came to love called, “The Old Lamplighter” That would prompt more singing and we’d all join in. Two favorites were “K-k-k-Katy” and “Oh Suzannah”. 
The little house is still there and I’m happy to say a family member lives in it. I may not frequent it like I did growing up but the memories of those simpler times and what we did for fun stay with me. I still love watching the clouds, a sunrise, sunset, fireflies and the magic of a full moon. It brings back those simpler times and the faces and voices of my Grandparents and all my Aunts and Uncles.  

Trying it on for size

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HOW DOES IT FIT? — Students who participate in the Whitman-Hanson ESY program at Duval School had the chance ‘kick the tires’ on possible career dreams last week as Whitman Police & Fire Department brought a few vehicles for them to see and explore. They had a great time sitting in the vehicles and speaking with the firefighters and officers. Above a student tries on firefighter turnout gear. See more photos, page 11. Courtesy photos

Hanson confers on selling an override

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HANSON – The Select Board on Tuesday, July16 grapples with the need to communicate the necessary operational override for the town next year, with the apparent logical conflict of spending ARPA funds to do it.
The good news, they were told as they met virtually with consulting firm Capital Strategic Solutions, was that those leftover federal funds are in an account that can only be used for municipal government purposes. The firm’s officials pledged to fine-tune cost estimates of about $50,000 plus an anticipated $5,000 for mailers – down to the $49,000 to $50,000 without an added cost for voter information mailers.
At the same time, they had another communication issue on their hands.
“We now sound like we’re on the Starship Enterprise,” Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said as she welcomed them to the meeting as an intermittent echo reverberated through the meeting room. “I have no way to control it.”
Whitman Hanson Community Access Television production assistant Paul Watson worked throughout the meeting to correct the problem.
Capital CEO Nicole Figueiredo led the presentation, which the Mass.-based, certified women-owned business specializing in municipal engagement and other forms of public administration, community engagement and project management – among other specialties – spoke to the firm’s expertise in Hanson’s need for explaining the need for an operational override for the town next year.
“Some of the key objectives in doing outreach and engagement for an override is explaining what an override is and outlining the specific needs the override will address, whether it’s funding for public safety, infrastructure and schools, etc.,” Figueiredo said.
While the Select Board has been emphasizing the need for such outreach, they also expressed concern about the cost.
“Your development of educational materials [is important], but then there’s an additional service for direct mailers, which would be delivering the educational materials to the townspeople,” Vice Chair Ann Rein said. “That’s an extra five grand. I noticed that – that wouldn’t come out of the cost of the contract.”
Figueiredo granted that would be an additional cost.
“That’s why I’m talking about costs, because we’ve been down this road before,” Select Board member Joe Weeks said. “[We] thought we had the costs figured out, and then, come to find out, it wasn’t what we thought it was. That’s why I want to be very clear what this is, because it’s going to be, already, a hard sell if we’re asking people for an override, by spending $15,000 that we say we don’t have to spend.”
“Which makes no sense,” Board member Ed Heal said.
Rein said Capital did a marvelous job getting the town social media running properly, proving themselves worth the money, but the question is, does the town have the money.
Town Administrator Lisa Green said leftover ARPA funds from the treasury bucket could be used for Capital’s costs as a general government services expense.
“That’s why we’re even talking about this,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
Michael Gallagher, a professional consultant with Capital Strategic Solutions, is a retired administrator in North Attleboro where he participated in the town’s change of government and a recent Proposition 2 ½ override.
“We were able to get an override passed because of the outreach we had done,” he said, noting he has a lot of experience in both the public and private sector.
“One of the things that was very important and a key to the process was part of our public outreach and making sure we were very open and had a plan in place,” Gallagher said of his experience in North Attleboro. “We also did a lot of making sure we were very specific about where every dollar went.”
He and the North Attleboro Select Board had provided a spreadsheet where every expenditure was outlined down to the dollar to show where the override would be spent for the following three years, he said.
Figueiredo agreed that municipal finance can be very challenging to explain to residents.
“We highlight the benefits and address the potential concerns,” she said, adding that press releases, the town website, media channels and community meetings are leaned on to get the word out.
Feedback from the community during the process is really important, Figueiredo said.
“You don’t really know what your community members do understand and don’t understand about an override,” she said. Both representatives of Capital Strategic Solutions have override experience under their belts.
They start with data-gathering centering on historical revenue and expense information, which they described as critical, then they can do projections on “what it might look like without any type of revenue enhancement through an override,” building their strategic plan on how the town intends to use that information.
“If you show them what’s happening to their town – because it is their town, it’s their money – people understand when you show them all the data,” he said.
“You’re giving them ownership on how these funds are being spent,” Figueiredo agreed.
As the town moves into the voting phase, providing maximum access to that information ensures people know what they are voting for, encouraging as many people as possible to vote, regardless of which side of the question they favor.
Weeks, satisfied that leftover ARPA funds could be used for the voter education project, asked if there wasn’t a more pressing need in town for that $50,000 wallet.
“I have to ask the question, because someone’s going to kick me if I don’t,” he said.
“The most important thing is to collect the data and get the information out there,” Green said. “Given the staffing in the office, we can’t do this alone, we really need the support of Capital Strategic Solutions, where they have people who have been through this process, that have a lot more insight – this is what they do every day.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett also responded to Week’s question about whether there are more important uses for the money.
“I don’t think there is,” she said. “We are at a critical crossroads here, and if this does not happen, we are looking at catastrophic cuts – not just town government, but schools – the whole way across. This is it. … This year, we felt a little bit of the pinch and next year, we’re going to feel the full blow.”
She also pointed out that residents often complain about rising tax rates.
“No,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “The tax rate has not been raised. Your value of your property has increased because that’s what property values do. The tax you are paying is based on the value of your property.”
The Board of Assessors sets the property values based on state formulas, not haphazardly does.
“I wish they would realize they could work with us,” Rein said. “We all have to work through this. It is not an easy thing to do.”
Weeks said that, while he agrees the outreach is one of the only permitted uses for these ARPA funds, he wanted to ensure the cost would not increase.
“I just want to make sure that that $50,000 doesn’t turn into $100,000 or $75,000 and then we’re pulling it out of free cash,” he said.
“If we hold the budget, I think it’s a good thing,” Rein said.
Figueiredo said Capital’s goal is to work side by side with Green and the board to help them communicate the financial health of the community, its revenue sources and expenditures, and develop the strategic plan to get out before the voters.
“We’re going to provide the support services they need that they don’t [already] have,” Figueiredo said. “A lot of communities that do overrides have a lot of staff.”
They will review the data and financial reports with Green and develop a game plan for how the override revenue is going to get back to the community in a positive light, as well as what would happen if an override failed – from impacts on snow plowing and public safety to infrastructure permits that communities need.
“That’s the backbone of your community right there,” she said.
The town’s financial health – revenue sources, expenditures and capital projects – will also be reviewed in order to develop a comprehensive voter education and engagement plan, including meetings and forums with community members.
FitzGerald-Kemmett characterized the plan as “a little bit vague” in terms of numbers the town stands to receive and she asked Capital to reconsider – after seeing what officials have already done with other consultants hired with ARPA money to do some fiscal forecasting.
“I’d like to see the mailer included in the $49,000,” she said. “Clearly, we have to do a mailer and we don’t have another $5,000 kicking around. That may be the only way to reach all these people.”
Figueiredo agreed to re-examine that and come back at another meeting or otherwise submit a clear, concise plan for what they need to do in terms of public meetings and the number or mailers needed.
“I think we’d like more meat on the bones in terms of a project plan and timeline, with costs,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “We’re really excited about our staff … and us having support in trying to educate people and get the facts out there.”

Positive West Nile sample in Hanson

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The Board of Health has been notified of a West Nile Virus (WNV) positive mosquito sample in Hanson. The test raised the town’s threat level to moderate, according to Health Agent Gil Amado.
Whitman’s Board of Health Administrative Assistant Dina Amado said that town, as well as neighboring Rockland have also raised their risk levels to moderate.
They join the communities of Halifax, Plympton, Kinston, Middleborough, Carver, Plymouth and Wareham on the moderate risk list for WNV. The rest of the state is low-to-remote risk of EE and only a few at low-risk only for WNV at the moment, according to the ma.gov website.
No mosquitoes have yet tested positive for WNV, Dina Amado said.
“Only a small number of mosquitoes are infected at any given time, so being bitten by a mosquito does not mean you will get sick,” the state Department of Public Health stresses. “However, the best way to avoid both of these illnesses is to prevent mosquito bites.”
West Nile Virus (WNV) and Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) are viruses that occur in Massachusetts and can cause illness ranging from a mild fever to more serious disease like encephalitis or meningitis.
While the risk of human infections is low, certain steps should be taken to protect yourself.

  • Be prepared: Repair screens, clean up to get rid of mosquito breeding sites, be aware of stagnant water on private property (e.g. unused swimming pools).
  • Wear mosquito repellent between dusk and dawn;
  • Wear long sleeves and long pants from dusk to dawn;
  • Use mosquito netting on baby carriages and playpens.
    — Tracy F. Seelye

Transfers dot the i’s in Whitman budget

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WHITMAN – In a special joint meeting of the Select Board and the Finance Committee, held virtually, on Tuesday, July 9, the two boards approved line-item transfers totaling $2,453.82 for fiscal 2025. Select Board Chair Dr. Carl Kowalski was unable to attend.
“The Finance Committee is meeting jointly with the Select Board tonight, because our agendas are identical,” said Chair Kathleen Ottina. FinCom member Mike Andrews was unable to attend.
The first, was a transfer of $1,000 from Line Item 35 – Medical/life insurance, town match, to Line Item 32 – recording secretary.
“We’ve had a change in the recording secretaries recently,” said Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter. “We’ve had a couple of new recording secretaries just getting used to the format, but the line was over by $711.59 when I put this request in, so I did request $1.000. I’m showing right now that it’s up to about $780. Anything we don’t use in this line, we’ll simply wash back to free cash.”
Both boards approved the transfer unanimously.
The boards then OK’d a transfer of $582.88 from Line Item 35 – Medical/life insurance, town match, to Line item 2 – PILOT fund.
“This amount is the exact amount we need to complete the title for payment in lieu of taxes for Whitman land that is located in Rockland,” Carter said. “We get this bill each and every year.”
Last year’s bill was $4,800.39 and this year, the bill came in at $6,582.88, we budgeted $6,000.”
Finance Committee member Al Cafferty asked what the town’s overall intentions are with that property.
Carter said it was land put forward to Town Meeting in 2023, known as the Camp Alice Carlton land. A committee was formed and met several times this year to determine whether it would be in the town’s best interests to lease, sell or keep the land as-is. While no consensus was reached, the town is now engaging in an open space and recreation plan and a member of that committee was to be placed on the new steering committee formed to examine all the town’s open space and recreation facilities.
“The last time the town updated its open space and recreation plan and open space was 2004,” she said.
Cafferty said he was very interested in serving on that committee.
“I’d love to do that,” he said. Both boards approved the transfer unanimously.
The two boards then voted to transfer $210 Building Inspector, town match, to Line item 17 – Assistant Building Inspector Salary and to transfer $120 to
Carter explained the $210 represents seven inspections done by the assistant building commissioner while the building inspector was on vacation or otherwise unable to do them, which ran $30 over the budget line.
Two emergency inspections of $60 each for electrical inspections. Select Board member Justin Evans asked if both transfers were from expense lines under the building Department’s budget.
“Wouldn’t the consolidated budget have served that?” he asked. “I’m just not sure if emergency response is a salary or expense line.”
Select Board Vice Chair Dan Salvucci said it appeared to be salary if it allowed the inspectors to go out and do it.
“We are allowed to do that,” he said. “We are not increasing their per-hour wage.”
Carter concurred.
Both transfers were unanimously approved.
A request to transfer $500 to from Line item 16 – All Other Services to Line item 16 – Expenses.
Carter said that Fire Chief Timothy Clancy was originally going to request $5,000, but he had some Emergency Management money he hadn’t used and was able to get that down to just $500 from the expense line.
“His expense line ran over for a few reasons, and they’re basically related to the expense lines for the town-owned sprinklers and fire alarm maintence, which was over $5,037.76, and ambulance billing, which was over by $7,943.86” Carter said. “That was directly related to the Brockton Hospital closure as ambulance billing is higher. Of course, we’ll see that in the fees we collect for the more runs that they’ve done.”
The transfer is needed to close out the year. Both boards unanimously approved that transfer, as well.
“The chief called me this morning and gave me a detailed explanation of the request, which made perfect sense to me,” Ottina said. “I appreciated the phone call and I appreciated the open line of communication.”
The final transfer concerned a request from the assessors to move $40.94 from Line Item 5 – Clerical to Line Item 5 – Expenses. There had been a formula error in the spread sheet, Carter said. Both boards also approved that transfer unanimously.

Fernandes wins endorsements in state senate bid

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State Rep. Dylan Fernandes, D-Falmouth, has received the endorsement of both the Sierra Club and the Environmental League of Massachusetts (ELM) in his bid for State Senate. These endorsements from two of the most respected environmental organizations in the state underscore Fernandes’ strong record on environmental issues and his leadership in the fight against climate change.
“We need to protect the water resources of the Plymouth and Barnstable district and ensure that our communities are resilient in the face of climate change,” said Fernandes. “In the eight years as state representative, I’ve been a champion of clean air and water and we have more work ahead to protect our environment.”
Fernandes has been a critical leader on environmental policy in his time in the legislature, according to Casey Bowers, Executive Director of the ELM Action Fund. “He has successfully championed clean water, the blue economy, and innovative ideas to ensure that Massachusetts remains a national leader in combating climate change. We are certain that he will continue to prioritize our beautiful beaches and outdoor spaces in the Senate.”
“Dylan Fernandes has been a strong advocate for clean air, clean water, and offshore wind,” said Celia Doremus, Political Chair of the Sierra Club Massachusetts Chapter.
Since his initial election in 2016, Representative Fernandes has sponsored dozens of bills advancing clean air and clean water.

Miksch sees progress amid challenges

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HANSON – Police Chief Michael Miksch said salary issues have already motivated one police officer to leave the department, acknowledging to the Select Board on Tuesday, July 9 that the main reason was money.
Despite the sobering personnel news, Miksch saw reason for optimism in how the department handles persistent issues of addiction and mental health needs of residents.
“It is what it is,” Miksch said of the salary motivation behind departures, adding that the department’s shared clinician, who often accompanied officers on non-violent calls involving mental health issues, also departed for the greener pastures of higher salaries city departments could offer.
“Obviously, the budget is a challenge, every year maintenance on the building is difficult,” he said. But despite two of the HVAC systems going down on the first day to go over 90 degrees, there were funds in the fiscal 2024 budget to fix it.
“Eric, don’t panic, I’ve got some money to turn back to you,” he said to Town Accountant Eric Kinsherf.
While the grant which four towns used to fund the clinician they all shared, Miksch said his department would not be able to replace the officer who recently left.
“It’s very difficult,” he said. “I can’t fill that position, at least until January.” The departure also left a supervisory position [that of a sergeant], vacant.”
During the next two weeks, he plans to hire a consulting company to come in and give a written exam, based on policies and procedures, Massachusetts case law and criminal law, followed by an assessment center for those passing the exam, which puts them through real-life scenarios geared toward assessing their skill. Within three or four months, the process should yield a new supervisor, which Miksch had already planned for and budgeted, meaning the vacancy would then be that of a patrol officer.
Another lieutenant or deputy chief assessment center may also be needed, but that would be further into the year, he said.
In the meantime, calls for service remain a challenge. But where there was some concern about the numbers, Miksch focused on the positives in how his department approaches the people making those calls, or who are the subject of the calls.
making a difference
Miksch said there have been 5,640 calls so far this year.
“Which is actually up a fair amount from last year at this time by 800 to 900 calls,” he said, chalking up some of that to the department’s increased traffic enforcement this year. But while calls are up, arrests have decreased this year, according to Micksch in his regular report to the Select Board. To date there have been 26 arrests this year.
“One of the main reasons those numbers are down is there’s been a shift – and we try to do that through training, too – to some minor, non-violent offenses, we try not to bring anyone in the station,” the chief said. “We’re doing the same amount of work, whether we summons somebody to court or we lock them up.”
Cases involving violence, obviously call for talking a person into custody, Miksch said, but charges stemming from someone not having their drivers’ license, unless the suspension involved OUI or another substance issue where they don’t present a danger to the public or a similar offense, may skew the numbers away from the higher numbers of people in custody Hanson had seen in the past.
As the Police Officers’ Standard Training (POST) Committee, established a couple of years ago to certify officers, enters its third year, Miksch said he thinks complying with the new requirements should prove to be getting easier.
“It’s not that difficult, but it is time-consuming,” he said of procedures demanded of department leadership, rather than patrol officers, and May and June have proven to be their busiest months because of training deadlines.
Hanson has partnered with Halifax, Plympton and Carver to obtain a grant to hire a clinician, who was in place for a few months.
“She was absolutely wonderful,” Miksch said. “I’m a huge fan of this co-response model … if there was a nonviolent thing, we’d bring her along and she was extremely helpful.”
But Braintree had an opening, and she took that job.
“What tends to be a problem in the small communities, we’re not going to compete with them financially, so she left” he said. “Mental health right now – if you’re trying to find a clinician or anybody in the mental health field, good luck – they’re few and far between.”
The four communities are still looking and trying to find another clinician.
The department has also partnered with a new group in the area called The Loss Team, trained volunteers who come in to assist victims of suicide, the family members and friends of people who have committed suicide, Miksch said.
“Sadly, I’ve had to already use them,” Miksch said. “But, once again, it’s another great resource. [We’re] constantly trying to find those other groups, those other entities that can help us and still serve the citizens of the town.”
Hanson has for years, also part of East Bridgewater Hope, the substance abuse interdiction program, which has received another grant for training of Hanson officers.
“The good news is our fatal overdoses last year, were zero,” he said. There were 17 overdoes that required sending an officer out with a recovery coach.
“Most of the county was up a couple of percentage points, even in fatalities,” he said. “So, we’re doing well there.”
The office of District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz is working on a grant that would enable bringing community resource dogs in with the recovery coaches to help people with their anxiety and trying to work their way through their addiction problems.
Select board member Joe Weeks lauded Miksch and his department’s support for mental health services.
“A lot of people are afraid to access [these] services because they’re afraid they’re going to be arrested or penalized, or it’s going to follow them the rest of their lives,” Weeks said. “They’re isolated for a thousand different reasons, and you’ve really tried to make sure that people feel safe – and I feel it has to be said out loud – that I really hope that this legacy continues, because you’ve done an amazing job.”
Miksch said it is the “connection with the other chiefs” in the area that has done that. The big push for the clinician, for example, came from Carver, he said, noting that the officers have bought in and understand the need.
“But that’s a legacy, too,” chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “You’ve now got officers [for whom] this is a routine part of what they’re used to – what is part of the job. It’s destigmatized [mental health], that’s important, so that’s a legacy.”
contract votes
In other business, the Select board voted to reaffirm executive session votes on:

  • A three-year contract, July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2027 for Deputy Police Chief Michael Casey involing the compensation rate of $147,900 per year and a $2,00 stipend for inservice training each year; paid the last payroll each August, he is allowed detail work, but only after all other officers have been offered the details.
  • A three-year contract for town Administrator Lisa Green, July 1. 2024 to June 30, 2027 to include: a 2-percent pay increase to $151,541.64 in the frst year, $154,571.88 n the secnd year, $158,43.18 for the third year; an educational stipend of a juris doctorate degree, which she holds, of $5,000 for each of the first two years and $4,500 for the third year, payable in the first payroll date of December each year; 30 vacation days with a possible carryover of not more than 10 days or a buyout with permission of the Select board; sick time accural of 1.25 days per month with a maximum carryover of 30 sick days per fiscal year and professional development and fees for professional memberships.

WMS project update is heard

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WHITMAN – As the town turns attention to the planning process for a proposed new South Shore Technical High School, the Whitman Building Committee’s last meeting on Tuesday, June 11, discussed current vacancies on their own committee.
The committee had authorized its submission of plan documents to the MSBA at it’s previous meeting, a special session held remotely via Zoom, on June 5. Hard copies are at the district office, according to Assistant Superintendent of Schools George Ferro.
Among those leaving the building committee is former W-H School Committee Vice Chair Christopher Scriven, who also submitted his resignation from the WMS Building Committee.
Scriven opted against re-election to the School Committee in the Saturday, June 18 annual Town Election.
“We also are required to have someone from facilities as part of the committee,” said Chair Fred Small, who also serves on the School Committee. “This was a little bit of an omission. … But, as we get moving, we do need a facilities person.”
Assistant Superintendent George Ferro had been assuming that role on a temporary basis.
“That would be Mr. Driscoll,” Small said.
New WHRSD Business Manger Steven Marshall, it turns out is also a Mass. Certified Procurement Official, (NCPPO), which Whitman is required to have on its WMS Building Committee project, so the panel voted to add Marshall and remove former Business Manager John Stanbrook, who had resigned during the spring, effective June 30, as the start of the new fiscal year began July 1.
The committee voted to remove Scriven from the member roster and added Driscoll.
“Mr. Marshall is starting already,” Small said. “I’d like to welcome him to not only the committee, but the district itself.”
Ferro also suggested the committee welcome Marshall as the new NCPPO, which Small said he thought had been done.
“I know you said he had been an NCPPO, maybe he can be NCPPO for this project,” Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak said.
Although Marshall has been attending meetings regularly of late, but Small requested that he be brought up to speed on “many meetings,’” of business.
Michael Carroll of Colliers, the firm serving as owner’s project manager, also made a report to the committee.
“When we’re talking about new members, we might just try to continue that trend,” Carroll said, noting that the Colliers’ contract had been extended in November or December, when they presented a work plan that had included a project manager. “We took a little time to find out who we thought is the right person for that job, and she’s sitting right here next to me,” he said, introducing Shirley Ng.
She said she has more than 10 years’ OPM experience, holds undergraduate and master’s degrees in architecture from Wentworth University. The committee unanimously voted to bring her on the team and then introduced themselves.
Techincally, the committee is not required to take a vote, Carroll explained.
“We’ve been doing it through this process,” he said. “We want to support the committee and the committee support Jeff and we thought it was proper to bring it to the committee.”
Carroll also provided a financial updates, but said there was new little to report.
“We’re pretty much just under budget here, we’re still on target,” he said.
Small suggested 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, July 23 as the date for the next meeting at which time there will be a cost estimate update.
Ferro suggested a virtual or combined virtual-in person meeting through Google’s platform, to accommodate any travel plans committee members might have.
The committee voted to hold that meeting virtually.
There were no schedule updates, other than to note the project is 60 percent through construction documents. Adjustments to the site plan were also discussed, including the location of the sports fields’ concession stand, and interior design concepts were reviewed.