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Full-day kindergarten OK’d

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In Hanson, the school budget vote came with no questions or comments from Town Meeting, while in Whitman, voters approved the town’s $16,104,903 assessment to the regional school district unanimously. Whitman voters also voted to approve a marijuana facilities bylaw and to approve playground equipment at Duval and Conley schools, among 50 warrants before the annual Town Meeting.

Resident John Galvin, who with fellow resident Sean Kain, has been working with the School Committee’s budget subcommittee on a new funding formula for non-mandated busing costs, among other things, took the opportunity to sound a caution about the overall fiscal health of the school district.

“The services covered in this budget are services that are needed,” he said. “They are things that our students should be having and that our teachers should all have. … The problem that I have is the way that it’s getting paid for.”

He credited the strategic planning points the town has followed from the Madden Report — recommended to the town three years ago by consultant John Madden.

One of those recommendations was that the school’s increases equal no more than 5 percent of what the town is assessed, he said.

“Technically, this budget does that, but what we don’t see in this budget are all the items that are being funded outside of the budget,” Galvin said. Grants, federal funds and state funding makes up the rest. Several positions are also being funded by one-time American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.

“The problem is that, next year, that money is gone,” he said, noting that the district is already forecasting it will start next budget cycle with a $600,000 deficit. “I’m not asking you not to vote for this, I just wanted it to be known and on record.”

“At some time it’s going to come to a head,” said budget subcommittee member Chris George, adding that good planning has likely staved that off for now.

He also ticked off the things the schools lack including full-time librarians, adequate computers and tech education and foreign languages in middle school. It is also one of the last districts to offer full-day kindergarten.

The article providing non-mandated school busing for Whitman students was also approved unanimously.

The three school playground articles totaling about $500,000, raised a question from Select Board member Dan Salvucci as to why the cost is so high.

“I know the playgrounds are around 20 years old,” he said asking how old the Whitman Park playground is. DPW Parks and Highways Superintendent Bruce Martin said it is about the same vintage.

“Over the years, as something breaks, are the schools repairing what’s breaking?” Salvucci asked. “If it’s yes, then why do we need three new ones when we don’t need a new one in the park? We repair on a regular basis.”

School Committee member Fred Small said the playgrounds are repaired, but there are different materials in question. Small is chairman of the committee’s facilities subcommittee.

“The wrought iron that’s underneath out playground that’s in need of replacement is rotting away,” he said. “It makes it a simple choice — it’s no good.”

He said the playgrounds are regularly inspected because we want to make sure they are safe for the children.

“These aren’t safe any longer,” he said. “They’re not safe, they need to be replaced.”

Finance Committee member Rosemary Connolly asked Martin how much the DPW has spent over the past 20 years to maintain the park playground by comparison to how much is being asked to replace the schools’ equipment. Martin said it would be hard to put a number on it off the cuff.

Resident Thomas Evans, who was a school principal for 20 years in Whitman, said that every month he inspected playground equipment, along with the rest of his school building.

“If you think for a minute that the people you put in charge of your children are going to let them go on unsafe equipment, you’re mistaken,” he said. “The evaluation that has been done by the subcommittee … is very, very thorough.”

He said the Duval footprint is small and without a playground for children to vent their energy, “it would be chaos,” adding that equitable and safe places equipment for children to play on are a right.

Parent Heather Clough of Beaulah Street also noted that none of the elementary school playgrounds are accessible to students who use a wheelchair or who have other mobility issues.

“These playgrounds will allow them to play with their typical peers, which is so important,” she said. 

The Conley playground articles passed unanimously. Marshall Ottina of Lazel Street, who is president of the Duval PTO, proposed an amendment to appropriate $235,000 from Article 11 of the 2017 special Town Meeting (Duval School Roof)  and $226,318 from free cash in order to fully fund the new playground project there. The article had proposed an appropriation of $235,000 from Article 11 of the 2017 special Town Meeting (Duval School Roof) and $165,000 from free cash.

The new total represents what Ottina termed a “significant savings” from the $500,000 estimate made by Playground Inspections of New England after an October 2021 inspection. That inspection had noted several hazards including hazards that listed “potential loss of life and permanent injury” as risks to children using it.

Town Counsel ruled that the amendment exceeded the scope of the warrant, because it excceds the dollar figure.

Small said the DPW will be able to do the excavation on the project — listed out at $60,000 — which covers the difference in dollar amount between the article wording an Ottina’s amendment. The article was unanimously approved.

On the cannabis front, Article 41, a proposed marijuana bylaw to allow up to a maximum of five marijuana establishments — either medical or recreational — in town, no more than three of which can be retail facilities was approved by a vote of 107-44. An article calling for a 3-percent excise tax on marijuana and related products was also approved.

These facilities would only be allowed in the highway business district [most of the area on both sides of Route 18 and a small section of Route 27 centered along Caliper Road] or in the industrial area [only above South Avenue between Hobart and the MBTA tracks].

Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman outlined the rigorous process potential businesses must follow for approval and noted the potential revenue from such facilities could help the town.

“Recreational marijuana establishments have opened in several municipalities in the state,” he said of the years since the Massachusetts voters approved legalizing marijuana. There are now 91, each on track to generate more than $400,000 in excise tax revenue as well as community host agreement fees.

“The perceived morality of marijuana use, that’s been decided by the voters,” Heineman said. “In an attempt to moderate the effect of residential property tax increases, this is a real revenue option and it’s something the bylaw study committee thought made sense to bring back to the town.”

Residents opposed cited the close proximity of shops in surrounding towns, traffic increases, stress on public safety, the ability of younger children to access marijuana from older siblings, potential vandalism in the park and that there is no need for it because of other available revenue sources.

Select Board member Brian Bezanson, also a member of the Bylaw Study Committee said he had “not been thrilled with the idea at first.” But he came to see a need for it and voted to bring it to voters because it is their decision.

“In this town, you’re voting to put that near somebody’s home,” resident Kevin Lynam said of the town’s dense population over a small area.

Clough said her sister works in the industry at a full-time job with an incredible benefits package, which is difficult thing to find in town. Some speakers, in agreement with Clough, also cited the purity of product and security of buildings — including one who is a pharmacist.

“The town lines are not what’s keeping it in and out of the town, we’re just keeping the business revenue from coming here,” Select Board member Justin Evans said. 

Hanson shuts the door on cannabis retailers

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HANSON — Voters at Town Meeting on Monday, May 2 supported a marijuana bylaw amendment to clarify language now on the books, but followed that vote by rejecting articles seeking retail, currier/operators and use of property on Hawks Avenue for possible cannabis businesses.

Debate also focused on articles that proposed a senior outreach position at the Council on Aging and that sought to remove recent controls to the recall provision. The town’s $15,069,795 share of the Whitman-Hanson Regional School budget was approved without question or comment. A $32,346,578 municipal budget was also approved.

As expected, the five cannabis-related articles were the subject of most discussion during the meeting.

Moderator Sean Kealy and Town Counsel Kate Feodroff admonished voters that the issue of marijuana was not the tricky part, and that the articles one issue at a time, because “amending these bylaws is a very complicated thing,” Kealy said. “The problem is each article depends on the article before it.”

Still, much of the debate, indeed, focused on marijuana and its attractiveness to youth, its stronger potency than in the past — especially where edibles are concerned — and their concern of children being exposed to it.

All four votes required a count.

The first, Article 25, re-codifies and updates existing language and combined bylaws governing medical cannabis facilities and cannabis establishments in their current forms. They required two-thirds margins for passage. Article 25 was passed by a 144-67 vote.

Attorney General Maura Healy’s statement that medical marijuana cannot be barred from a town was a focus of debate on the article, making one resident express the wish that Article 26 — seeking to permit cannabis retailers for adult use by special permit — was up for a vote first. Article 26 was later rejected by a vote of 95-83.

“If medical can’t be barred from a town, then potentially, someone could come in and do medical and eventually switch that to retail,” one resident said.

Feodoroff said that would not be possible under the combined bylaw because, while oversight for medical and adult recreational use both fall under the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) they are still separate entities requiring entirely different host community agreements and zoning bylaws.

“They’re all chipping away, they’re all looking for a chink in the armor, from what I can tell, to get marijuana in this town,” resident Dan McDonough of Carriage Road said, noting he appreciates the work the Select Board has been doing. “Any money we save in taxes, we’re going to pay for down the road in rehab.”

Bob Huston of West Washington Street said all the articles relate to a map for the overlay district plan.

“You’re taking out the restrictions on the placement of [retailers] in church zones, in school zones and other places where youth congregate,” he said.  “Our issue is to protect our families and our children.”

Kealy said he wanted to avoid arguing all the articles at once in order to have clear idea of what each article entailed.

Retired teacher Peter Travaline of Pleasant Street said it upsets him that the language “… and other places where children congregate…” would be removed from the bylaw [Article 25]. “If you’re not going to help the kids,” he said gesturing with his hand flicking outward from his chin.

Kealy, who stressed he does not vote at town meetings, said the intent of the bylaws was to place the town in compliance with the latest state legislation. 

Frank Milisi, who sponsored, and worked with town officials to develop the cannabis articles as revenue sources, said there was no intention to place a retail establishment on Hawks Avenue near Burrage Wildlife Management Area.

“Marijuana is already here in Massachusetts,” Milisi said, noting that it brought in more revenue for the state than liquor excise taxes. “This is a tax source that is not on the backs of people in this town.”

He said a bad idea for his kids would be failure to have fully funded schools and a recreation department.

Annette Benenato of Brookside Drive gave a lengthy, impassioned statement about the dangers of allowing cannabis retailers in town, touching on the risk to younger teens, the THC potency in cannabis today, the experience of other states and the relatively low amount of funds the impact fees would raise.

“Adding more drugs to our community does not add value to our community,” she said.

Article 27, which would add Hawks Avenue to the list of eligible locations for marijuana retail establishments was also rejected by a voice vote. Article 28, to permit cannabis delivery operators and couriers in the town’s industrial zone was also defeated by a vote of 67-26 and Article 29 aimed at authorizing the Select Board to enter into a 20-year lease of 3.8 acres of town-owned property at 100 Hawks Ave. for commercial and/or industrial use was also rejected.

Voters also voted against an initiative petition article seeking to again amend the town’s recall law and make it easier to seek a recall — in the interest of forging a less toxic political climate in Hanson. 

Recall change
rejected

The article brought by Kevin Cohen argued for reinstating the previous recall law, allowing residents to establish their own grounds for recalling elected officials, rather than the seven listed in the new recall under Chapter 93 of the Acts of 2019.

“The toxic political arena in this town is causing good people not to run for those seats up front,” said resident Joseph O’Sullivan of West Washington Street, gesturing to the Select Board and Finance Committee. “People should be recalled for malfeasance, misfeasance or nonfeasance, not because the took votes, in doing their jobs, that some of you didn’t like.” 

Three present or former town officials, ex-Select Board Chair Jim McGahan, former School Committee Chair Bob Hayes and current Finance Committee member Patrick Powers outlined how they had been threatened with recall for casting unpopular votes on their respective boards.

McGahan, who ran for office during a recall effort in the past, said he had since his election been subjected to threats of recall if he voted opposite to the position of others in town.

He said the board, during his tenure, changed the rules to provide guidance for proper use of recall by listing seven reasons for a recall: conviction of a felony, admissions of misdemeanors by Mass. law, admissions to facts while in office that would lead to a conviction of felony misdemeanors, violation of any of the 29 sections of conflict of interest law, attendance of less than 50 percent of posted meetings, lack of fitness and sobriety while performing official functions, involuntary commitment to a mental health facility and/or corruption convictions.

“We modeled the town of Norwood,” he said. “We used it to protect our official to [allow them] to have ideas and present them without feeling they are under duress or influence,” McGahan said.

Hayes, who was a six-time elected member of the School Committee, serving as chair for 15 years, and had experienced threats of recall, too.

“Every time we went to build a school, or talked about it, I was getting threatening phone calls,” he said. “Changing this recall law [would be] a disaster. It’s tough enough to get five people that are up there [the Select Board] … but I ran six times unopposed. If I didn’t run, that seat would have gone vacant. … It’s not democracy. It’s pressure that is undue elected officials.”

Powers said he did not disagree with the purpose of the article, but said it was a little too wide open.

“There are folks in this room who have threatened me, threatened my family, made accusations on social media… posting disgusting things, both personal and private,” he said, noting some officials’ employers have been called, as well. “I don’t think this is the language to do it if we want to see people get up there.”

Senior outreach position OK’d in Hanson

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HANSON — Residents in Town Meeting Monday, May 2 voted to fund an outreach director for the Senior Center as well as approving a meals tax. A portion of those proceeds, it was argued could be used to fund the Senior Center position.

The Finance Committee voted against recommending it. FinCom Chairman Kevin Sullivan noted they had not recommended any article that was aimed at adding personnel due to the town’s tenuous fiscal position.

But Select Board liaison to the Senior Center Jim Hickey and Council on Aging Director Mary Collins both argued it is a labor-intensive process that robs her of time to do other important work.

Select Board member Jim Hickey reiterated that 41 percent of Hanson residents are over age 55, with 40 percent of those over age 60. He said the SHINE program that helps people with Medicare paperwork takes about an hour per person. Collins helped 100 people with the paperwork last year.

Overall, Collins said the SHINE program saved Hanson residents more than $33,000 last year during the open enrollment period for Medicare.

“There are services that are available to people to help them remain in their homes successfully as they age,” she said. “Many people are unaware of those services. If I don’t have someone to help with that outreach, the outreach relies solely on me. This is a need that is going unmet.”

Residents Joseph O’Sullivan, Judy Caldas and Janine Foster offered their personal examples of the need for services the Senior Center offered.

Caldas, is the outreach worker, social services coordinator and SHINE counselor at the Marshfield COA, said she is a full-time employee in her role and has the help of a part-time assistant. Collins sought a 19-hoour per week part-time position with no benefits.

“I don’t know how [Collins] could do this,” Caldas said. “I saw over 300 people in that seven weeks of open enrollment. I have four other SHINE counselors working with me that saw another 300 people.” She said they also assist younger people with fuel assistance, housing for the disabled or food stamp programs.

Veterans Agent Timothy White added that Collins’ position is vital to helping the town’s older veterans and surviving spouses, as well.

“We’re talking about $21,736, that’s at the top-end of the scale of 19 hours times $22/hour for a 52-week year,” resident Lance Benjamino said. “If you look down at the next article, you’re talking about a .75-percent meals tax.” He asked what that would bring in.

“That would be about sixty grand ($60,000), sir,” Hickey said.

A second attempt in as many years to adopt a meals tax was successful without discussion, as opposed to the vigorous debate that preceded it’s defeat last year.

Back from the break and onto the fields

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School was back from break and it was a packed week of athletics at Whitman-Hanson Regional High. 

Baseball (3-5) opened the week with a 3-1 victory over Hingham in 10 innings on Monday, April 25. Ethan Smith knocked in the winning runs in the extra frame. Cam Beltramini picked off two runners at first base and threw out another trying to steal from his catching spot in the win. … On Wednesday, W-H fell to Hanover, 3-1. Aidan Barry, Connor Sottak and Braden Kain combined on the mound to hold Hanover to one earned run. … On Friday, Pat Cronin’s club fell to Silver Lake, 3-1, in eight innings. Evan Yakavonis tossed seven innings and gave up just one unearned run for W-H. 

Softball (1-7) fell to Hingham, 11-4, on Monday, April 25. Annie Cook and Lauryn Meade both went 3 for 4 at the dish in the loss. … On Wednesday, the Panthers dropped a 15-3 decision to Hanover. Cook, Meade and Olivia Turocy all had multiple hits in the defeat. … On Friday, the Panthers were beat by Silver Lake, 10-1. 

Boys’ lacrosse (2-7) lost to Scituate, 13-3, on Thursday, April 28. Bobby Hunter, Connor McCarthy and Owen Wolford had W-H’s three goals. 

Girls’ lacrosse (1–5), despite four goals from Ella Nagel, dropped a 9-6 decision to Quincy on Tuesday, April 26. … On Friday, W-H fell to Dartmouth, 16-4. Maddy Allen had two goals in the loss. 

Boys’ tennis (4-4) opened the week with a 5-0 setback against Hingham on Monday, April 25. It’d rebound. … On Wednesday, the Josh Lopes’ team topped Hanover, 3-2. Winning for the Panthers were the first doubles duo of Tristan Baker and Zachary Lindsay (6-1, 7-5), Mateo Santalucia (6-4, 6-4) in No. 3 singles and the second doubles team of Daniel McDevitt and Brady Wright (4-6, 6-2, 6-2) to snap a 2-2 tie and give W-H the victory. … On Friday, the Panthers rolled past Silver Lake, 4-1. Santalucia (6-0, 6-0), McDevitt and Wright (6-4, 6-4) and then Lindsay and Baker (6-4, 6-6, 7-5 tiebreaker) all won again, while second singles player Will Mulligan (5-7, 6-1, 6-4) also came out on top. 

Girls’ tennis (0-7) fell to Hingham, 5-0, on Monday, April 25. … On Wednesday, 

W-H lost a 4-1 match against Hanover. Its lone point came from No. 3 singles player Alyson Tobias (7-5, 6-4). … On Friday, the Panthers fell again, 4-1, but this time to Silver Lake. 

Town Meeting articles ready for votes

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Whitman and Hanson select boards discussed outstanding issues in their last meetings before the Monday, May 2 town meetings in both communities — though most of those issues were concentrated in Hanson as the town continues to work its way out of a deficit.

Hanson’s annual “dress rehearsal” for it’s town meeting on Tuesday, April 26 saw several articles up for a final recommendation vote by Selectmen, following Finance Committee votes — some of which featured a strong difference of opinion between the two boards.

Articles concerning the request for an outreach person for the Council on Aging and requiring the audio or video recording of all town boards and committees were the subject of particular debate.

“We’d love to add more people to provide better services for this town, but the money is not there,” Finance Committee Chairman Kevin Sullivan said. “You’re digging a bigger hole.”

“That is part of the social contract we all sign when we’re in a town and we have to provide services — to our elder folks, to the schools and highway, etc.,” Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said, arguing that the town has given “extremely short shrift” to senior residents.

“I look at this as the need for my snowplow,” Collins said, noting that the town’s mission in budgeting is to give departments what they need to successfully do their jobs. “Services are equally as important as the tools that you need to clean off the roads.”

The snowplows, meanwhile — sought by the Highway Department — to replace vehicles that were 18 and 22 years old were recommended by both boards — at a total of $299,000.

In Whitman, Selectmen briefly discussed the warrant article seeking security cameras at Whitman Park in view of an agenda item concerning a draft of a security camera policy for the police and fire station and Town Hall where they are already in place and for and the library parking lot, where cameras are planned.

No action was taken, as it was the first time the draft appeared on the agenda, but Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman noted that, after conversations with IT Director Josh MacNeil, it made sense to have a policy in place regarding authority over cameras and data storage.

Hanson’s debate over a Council on Aging outreach position began before the full Select Board convened, as the Wage and Personnel Board took issue with the Finance Committee’s unanimous vote against recommending it. Selectmen Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett and Jim Hickey were especially vocal in their disagreement, but postponed the conversation until the full meeting, which Senior Center Director Mary Collins was attending.

Selectmen voted to recommend the article.

“This past year, during open enrollment for Medicare, I saw over 100 clients in about a 30-day period,” Collins told the joint meeting of Selectmen and the Finance Committee. “It was incredibly intense, it took up a great portion of my time and I had other issues that I needed to attend to in my position as the director of Elder Affairs.”

She requested a part-time outreach person be hired to assist with both the Medicare paperwork as well as the outreach she now does.

“I find that I have to be in two places at the same time, which is virtually impossible,” Collins said.

The annual budget for the Hanson Multi-Service Senior Center is a little over $100,000, including Collins’ salary as well as a 19-hour administrative assistant and part-time custodial position.

She classified the expenditure as a “very small amount in the $32 million budget for the town.”

“The last few years have been very, very difficult with COVID in addressing the issues that our seniors have,” she said, noting that many have become quite isolated and have needs that need to be identified. That work is more difficult when the time is not allotted to get out of the office and address the need.

The position Collins is seeking pays $19 per hour. Selectmen Chairman Matt Dyer said the yearly salary range on the position is $14,381 to $22,824 for a position without benefits.

Even attracting a qualified person at the midpoint of that range might be challenging, Collins said.

“It is a very competitive job market,” FitzGerald-Kemmett noted.

Hickey said he and Collins have talked about the need for an outreach assistant quite a lot, and he told her he would speak for it to both boards and let the voters at Town Meeting decide.

“I know you can’t change your vote,” he said to FinCom Chair Kevin Sullivan and member Erin Barr. “But I would be talking directly to you and to the rest of the board tonight.”

He argued that the article language describing 30 percent of Hanson’s population as being over 55 is wrong. It’s really 41 percent, with 33 percent being age 60 or over.

“That’s why, in the last couple of years it has become more of a workload for Mary and her staff,” he said. Hickey serves as the board’s liaison to the Senior Center and is there at least three times a week. He also said that older residents throw away less trash, which affects the solvency of the transfer station and their lower incomes affect the school budget.

FitzGerald-Kemmett suggested that, perhaps, people don’t understand that the senior center provides a social outlet as well as assistance for benefits and legal services.

“You are literally a connector for all of these services,” she said to Collins. “I’m not surprised that our population over 55 has increased dramatically, and in fact, we’re going to continue to see it increase.” She pointed to recent developments of over-55 housing communities in town and said the trend can be expected to continue as school enrollment decreases.

“I’ve said it many times, and I’ll say it until the day I die, ‘Mary is a saint and we’re lucky to have her,’” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “We’ve [received] a lot of positive feedback over the years about an unsung hero she is.”

But that unsung hero status has translated into many years when FitzGerald-Kemmett suspected deeply that Collins needed help, but didn’t want to ask for it. 

“The fact that you’re here asking for help says a lot to me and I would like to find a way to 100-percent support this,” she said, noting that the vote taken that night to remove the free cash subsidy from the transfer station could help with that.

Sullivan said that, starting with a deficit of more than $1.1 million in the town budget, cuts had to be made, the use of free cash carefully controlled and none of the staffing requests from any department were funded.

“The only way to [add positions] is through free cash and free cash isn’t quite free,” he said. “So how do you hire these people and then fire them next year?”

Right now, he said free cash is the only way to pay for the position. The override last year was enough to keep the town above water, but Sullivan warned that taxes would have to be raised in the next few years as it is.

“That is a fact,” he said. “We pay the lowest taxes around. … That is unsustainable. The only way to add these positions is to raise taxes.”

FitzGerald-Kemmett acknowledged the hard work the Finance Committee has done to close the gap as closely as it has, but suggested there were other areas where more savings were possible. She offered the suggestion of not refinishing the gym floor for $25,000, citing the opportunities to raise the meal tax as all surrounding communities have done, revenue from taxes and community impact fees from the new marijuana business, and new building projects are also in the pipeline.

“This is $22,000 and I, in all good conscience, cannot vote against it,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

On recording equipment for meetings, Sullivan said the money to purchase equipment was not available, but Dyer indicated WCHA-TV has cameras available for use. Health Board member Arlene Dias said the community access station also trains volunteers to use the equipment. Sullivan argued that could pose an undue burden on committee members, to which Dyer objected, noting that he also has used his own computer to audio record meetings and prepare minutes.

“I think this is what the town needs because there’s a lot of speculation out there where we don’t know what’s going on on these committees” he said.

FitzGerald-Kemmett agreed, saying that minutes frequently don’t capture the nuance of a meeting the way a recording does.

“If we’re going to have a more transparent town government … I think [this] is very important to the town,” she said. 

The Health Board has approved the $100 transfer station sticker fees, according to Health Agent Gil Amado projected it would take three years to make the facility solvent and no longer in need of free cash subsidies. This year’s subsidy is $165,000. Other towns working on a pay-as-you-throw basis are “hitting the fees pretty hard,” he said.

“I asked for a plan, a sheet to be able to break everything down instead of just throwing numbers around, and we don’t have that tonight,” Dyer said. “I don’t support just continuing to use free cash to fund the transfer station. … There doesn’t seem to be the will from the Board of Health to charge what it costs to operate the transfer station.”

Sullivan said the FinCom is taking the transfer station on as its focus to try turning things around.

Budgets on a roll

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HANOVER — Both Abington and Scituate have approved the South Shore Tech budget for fiscal 2023 at their respective town meetings, Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey reported to the School Committee on Wednesday, April 13.

“We now go into a bit of a town meeting lull and we head into the first Monday of May  — the Super Monday [May 2] — where the other communities’ town meetings are scheduled,” he said. “I believe, at this point, we’re done with any finance committee or advisory committee meetings, but stand by to answer any questions between now and the town meetings that are left.”

Hickey also asked the committee to establish a building committee for the renovation expansion program for which they are seeking MSBA funding. 

The committee, consisting of Hickey and the School Committee, was approved.

The district was advised of the invitation to into the MSBA’s Core Program last month.

“The letter basically puts us in a pretty exclusive club — at least 17 schools out of at least 58 received this letter saying, ‘Your needs that you identified and our own research confirms that you have been invited to show us in the next nine months that you are ready to begin this process,’” Hickey said at the time. “We’ve been applying since 2015.”

He said those previous applications, and the funds set aside during those years, puts SST in a position to move very quickly through this first phase.

“They want to make sure you have local support, that you have feasibility funds that you need, that you have plans that make sense,” Hickey said last month said of the MSBA’s caution not to get ahead of things. “[SST] has put some thought and time into this. I have every confidence that they’re going to fulfill all the particular requirements.”

A building committee is one of the earliest concrete steps in the process MSBA requires, but, Hickey said it is unlikely that the committee would have any tangible goals or tasks until later in the process when permission is received to appoint an owner/project manager and an engineering firm.

MSBA has approved a questionnaire to determine whether current programs should be augmented, he said.

“These are all vision statements,” Hickey stressed adding he is more interested in responses to a Chapter 74 program document comparing data from applications and wait list against programs in place or that might be offered against a labor market analysis.

“They want to know, if we had the ability to offer new programming, what might we want to offer?” Hickey said. “If we had the opportunity to expand programs that are currently here, what might we want to expand?”

Hickey said the MSBA looks at enrollment data, including the percent of total students in the district are applying for entrance, as well as attrition rates as part of enrollment projections.

At some point, MSBA would discuss the size of an expansion sought, based on the number of students the district could reasonable attract. They could set a range of students such an expansion could handle, including in the eventuality that another town might join the region.

Hickey expects to bring motion language for a feasibility study before the committee in May. He said early indications are that a reimbursement of 55 percent are to be expected at the end of the project.

“We’re in very good shape for completing the homework assignments,” he said of the process MSBA has put in place with the ability to move to the next step expected in the fall.

Leaving workdays in the dust

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HANSON — When Town Administrator Lisa Green has a bad day, we all do from time to time, she has a unique way to vent frustration — she burns rubber.

Heck, she gets behind the wheel to leave ’em in her dust when she’s had a good week, too.

“It’s a great stress reliever,” Green said. “When I’m sitting at that starting line, I’m not thinking about, ‘I have to get the warrant for Town Meeting printed out,’ or I have to address this records request, or that personnel item, or this budget request. It’s just focusing on the lights and trying to win the race.”

Her results may not be setting the world on fire — yet — but then, she is basically bringing her car back from the dead. While Green is still awaiting that first win, she said she doesn’t go into a race day thinking she has to win, she is simply aiming to improve at this point as she hones both her car’s mechanics and her drag racing technique.

“I got beat in the first round, but that’s OK. That’s to be expected,” she says of her first competition this season. “My win light will come.”

Last weekend at Epping, she said her car ran really well, even in a loss. She put in a speed of 122 mph in 11.26 seconds over a quarter-mile.

“It is so much fun,” she said of the sport recently. “There’s a strategy to it … learning how to do a burnout is not easy.”

Driving through water and spinning the tires both dries the tires and warms the rubber so it sticks to the blacktop easier for faster takeoffs.

“You have to watch the ‘tree,’” she said. “As the lights come down, you have to make sure you accelerate as soon as that green light goes on.”

Those who fail that, get a red light indicating a false start, and they automatically lose.

So, how many times has that fate befallen her?

“Once,” she said. “It happens even to the most experienced racers.”

Green, who has been interested in cars her whole life through her father Les Lucier,  who was also involved in racing.

“He raced, and ever since I basically could walk, he’s been racing, so I’ve spent my whole life growing up [spending] weekends at New England Dragway,” she said of the Epping, N.H. course where she races the 1983 Camaro that once belonged to her dad while he raced from 2006 to 2009. The car was put away after that — sitting in one place for 10 years.

Getting it back in shape to race has been an investment. The whole bottom had to be sanded, mice had found their way into it and established a lot of nests. The roll bars had also rusted and needed to be restored.

The car itself has a new paintjob and the engine required a lot of work — as well as new brakes, rotors and front tires. After all the work had been completed last season, Green spent it on the “test and tune” phase to see what more needed to be done to get back on track — literally.

“Back in the day, when my father raced that car, the fastest it did was 120 mph down a quarter-mile,” she said. “It did a quarter-mile in 11.023 seconds.”

Last year she drove it in 111mph — in 11.47 seconds.

Over this past winter, a whole new fuel system was put in the car, because a lot of the engine components were old and needed to be rebuilt, sand-blasted or replaced. The rear tires were also replaced this go-round. Hanson mechanic John Sandahl, who owns Tube Chassis Designz on off Franklin Street near the Meadow Brook Restaurant, worked on the fuel system.

She was just hoping for a weekend that was not cold and rainy for another test and tune — she got that this past weekend and her first race in the BP Fuels Points Race Series.

She got the sun, but with a temperature of 47 degrees and a 38-degree wind chill, it still was not perfect weather. It cut the track distance to an eighth-mile because of the track conditions and required recalculations to determine how fast the car would have gone at the full quarter-mile.

“I call myself right now in the ‘PeeWee league,’” Green said, compared to the funny car circuit.

“My father’s crew chief, who is Jimmy Reed from Reed Automotive in Whitman, his son, Jim Jr., and myself are a month apart in age,” she said. The younger Reed has also been racing for a long time.

While racing may run in her family — and that of their friends, Green’s father was not a fan of her wish to take up the sport.

Her dad had three cars through his racing career, the 1983 Camaro being his last one.

Jim Reed, Jr., is now racing a 1952 Corvette, Green said. That one is a nine-second car.

‘Let’s play two!’

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‘Let’s play two!’

WBSA teams and coaches ring the main ballfield at Whitman Park for ceremonies following the Saturday, April 23 Opening Day Parade, above. Enzo Valentin, right cheers during the ceremonies. As Chicago Cubs legend Ernie Banks used to say, ‘It’s a great day for a ball game; let’s play two!’ See more
photos, page 8.

Photos by Carol Livingstone

The end of an era in Whitman

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WHITMAN — It’s something David Menard, 69, has been thinking about each Christmas for the past few years now, but this past holiday season he made up his mind — he’s retiring.

“We had our best Christmas ever, we had our best Valentines ever, had my best March ever,” he said. “I’m going out on a winning streak.”

As no one else in the family wished to carry on with the store, that means Menard Jeweler is going out of business after 73 years as a  family business, and 44 years of his own work in helping customers celebrate and commemorate holidays, engagements, weddings, anniversaries, graduations, birthdays and life’s other milestones.

“I’ve got a lot of friends my age that, health wise, have a lot of problems and I’m lucky I’m still good,” he said.

COVID-19 also played a role in the decision to retire.

“It was kind of a wakeup call for me, when we had to shut down for those three months,” he said. “All of a sudden instead of waking up at 3:30 or 4 a.m. [thinking about a particular order], I’m starting to wake up at 6, 6:30 …all the stress was gone and I’m thinking ‘Is this what life is like?’ Maybe my wife is right.”

He’s enjoyed working with customers, solving problems, creating pieces for people and restoring antique watches, but now it’s time to enjoy life. But no specific retirement plans have been made.

“Right now, my only focus is on taking care of our customers,” he said. “That’s basically where I’m at.”

His father started the business in 1949 after his service in World War II. With a background in a family jewelry store, the elder Menard attended the Waltham School of Watchmaking and moved to Whitman because it was between his hometown of Taunton and Rockland, where David Menard’s mother was raised.

“My dad worked for A.C. Tucker,” he said. When they were retiring, they asked if the Menards were interested in buying that store at 27 South Ave. The current location at 31 South Ave., was purchased from the Spellman family in 1960. The building was constructed by Cardinal Spellman’s father in 1885 as a grocery store.

Years ago, Menard came across a bronze medal the cardinal used to present to people, and fashioned it into a keychain for the store’s keys.

It’s been a career full of characters and coincidences David Menard will never forget — from attending watchmaking school at the North Bennett Street Industrial School in Boston, with one of the original Brink’s robbers, Vincent Costa, to graduating on Feb, 6, 1978 – the day of the Blizzard of ’78. But most, of all it’s the customers he’s met over the years and the community he felt a connection to that he’ll miss.

He hasn’t reached for the tissues yet, but some of his customers have.

“There’s been generations — ‘my grandmother was here, my great grandmother was here,’” he said. “We’ve had several women crying last week, this week.”

When asked if he had started feeling the tears welling up, Menard said he hadn’t yet.

“I will,” he said. But he hasn’t had time to think about what the store’s last day will be like.

“We’ve been so incredibly busy,” he said. “It was amazing. We put the signs up last Wednesday night and Thursday, Friday, Saturday last week were just absolutely crazy.”

Some other customers have sent gorgeous flowers.

“It’s been such a nice business over the years,” he said. “People give us food, and candy, and gifts, and tips, and flowers, and just nice comments, thank you cards all the time. It’s really amazing.”

One person who is very happy with his decision is Menard’s wife Doreen. 

“Have fun,” is her plan.

“Basically, it’s freedom,” he said. “I worked for years and years [and] never took any time off, and for many years did six days a week. It’s just what we had to do.”

“Everyone has such nice comments,” Doreen said.

Menard gives Doreen a lot of credit for the business’ success, including her work on the front window displays.

“Without her support in handling so many aspects of the business, I would not have been able to carry on and do what we’ve done,” he said.

After buying the business from his parents in 1980, there was a big mortgage to contend with.

On Tuesday, shortly before closing, Menard waited on a couple purchasing a gift. The woman asked about who he might be referring customers to in the future.

That he has not nailed down yet, he said, noting that a close friend he has “known for decades,” is looking to open a business in town, but hasn’t decided where or what the focus of the business might be.

It appears, however, that a supportive customer base awaits him.

“We’ve been friends our whole life,” realtor and fellow Winterfest Committee member Richard Rosen said. “He’s a wonderful guy.”

It appears, however, that a supportive customer base awaits him.

Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman said the town will miss the vital part of the downtown business community Menard’s has been.

“We really appreciate their contribution to the whole town over many years and they’ll be missed.” he said.

“Menard’s has been a staple of the town for over 70 years,” Selectman Justin Evans said Tuesday. “I wish the family a well-deserved retirement and thank them not just for their business, but for all they’ve given back to the community over the years.”

Selectman Randy Lamatina also lamented the end of the era.

“It is sad to see Menard’s closing,” he said. “The store truly is a Whitman landmark. I’d like to thank the Menard Family for their many years of dedication to our community. I wish the Menards along, healthy retirement.”

“Menard’s has been one of the foundations of Whitman,” Selectman Dan Salvucci said, noting Duval’s Pharmacy is another. “They are just on a pedestal. The entire family has done a lot for the town.”

Rosen agreed Menard’s closing will be kind of a loss for Whitman Center.

“It’s the next to the last original businesses in Whitman Center,” he said. “Duval’s is the other one. Back in the late ’40s and early ’50s there were a number of businesses that all started around the same time.”

Joubert’s and Temple Street Garage, owned by Rosen’s father, were all established in a four-year period.

“I understand David wants to retire, and I don’t blame him,” he said, “But it is a loss to the center. He’s done a great job down there for all those years and he served with me on the WinterFest Committee for 20 years. I wish him all the best.”

Community involvement for David Menard has included the silver bowls presented to the top four WHRHS students each year, a buy local program with fellow merchants in Whitman Center, volunteering with the Winterfest Committee for 20 years, — “one of the most enjoyable things that I did,” he said — helping create the “chocolate chip cookie” for the First Night Cookie Drop in 2015, he served on the playground committee and has supported youth soccer and baseball, the food pantry

“I just wanted to give to the town,” Menard said. “There was a Eugenia Lovell Medal. We used to do that, but over the years that got too expensive and I think we transitioned to the bowls instead.”

The bowls were intended as a salute to accomplishment.

“We just wanted to commemorate the students’ hard work,” he said. “Those kids work really hard for the what they get.”

Graduation will be different from here on, Dollars for Scholars President Michael Ganshirt agreed.

“They’ve always been very nice and generous,” Ganshirt said. “They’ve never said no. They’re genuine, giving people that the community will miss greatly. … We always appreciated what they did for us.”

While Menard wasn’t certain that the silver bowl project was also done at South Shore Tech that Ganshirt alluded to, he did take a welding class there that came in handy.

“I just wanted to learn it,” he said. “I do goldsmithing and I work on cars as a hobby. When we did the Toll House Cookie Drop several years ago, I kind of instigated the [making of] the cookie.”

The Winterfest Committee had been discussing a change to a first night celebration and he told them about his welding class, offering to talk to the teacher about the midnight cookie drop idea.

The event ushered in 2015 and 2016.

Menard almost followed a career path in medicine, graduating from Bridgewater State with a degree in biology and worked briefly at an area hospital he declines to identify.

“I didn’t like the politics there,” he said. “It was awful, I kind of felt like I was in junior high school again.”

He told his dad he wanted to work in the jewelry business at the family store, but his parents tried to dissuade him, because of the time demands of the retail business.

At watchmaking school — a two-year program of 10 months each year — he spend the first year without ever touching a watch. Instead he had to make his own tools. 

“The second year we got to work on watches,” he said.

While the jewelry business has not changed much in the course of his career, he has concentrated on dealing with American jewelry makers.

“A lot of really nice manufacturers have gone now,” he said. “There’s [also] very, very few people going into the business.”

Some new businesses don’t want to get involved in the repair end of the business, either.

District looks to busing savings

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School district calculations on an alternative transportation formula may bring retroactive reimbursements as far back as fiscal 2021, district officials told the W-H School Committee at its April 13 meeting.

“I don’t want to speculate to put a wrinkle in what we’re talking about tonight,” Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak said, thanking the residents who suggested new ways of looking at the problem. “But, I think this is positive for the district and for both communities in that we could get more mandates reimbursibles and we also cut the cost of non-mandated busing tremendously.”

The committee voted unanimously to amend the fiscal 2023 costs for non-mandated busing for Hanson at $55,234.19 and unanimously to amend the fiscal 2023 costs for non-mandated busing for Whitman to $216,059.44.

They also voted 8-1 amend the operating assessment to Hanson to $13,245,052.04 and to 8-1 set Whitman’s operating assessment at $16,741,119.30. Committee member Dawn Byers voted no to each operating assessment change.

“This is what being a good partner is, working together with members of the community, finding savings, passing them along,” said Committee Vice Chairman Christopher Scriven. “I don’t see the benefit to anyone of doing anything else at this time.”

After two recent Zoom meetings with DESE following a suggested alternative transportation funding formula, Szymaniak then had a conversation with “the men from MARS (the Mass. Association of Regional Schools),” who asked if the district had ever looked at busing and mileage.

“When you take an Über, you pay so much from Point A to Point B … and if it’s 10 miles further, Über charges you more,” he said. He and Committee Chairman Christopher Howard, after discussing the idea, asked Business Manager John Stanbrook to investigate the option.

“He spent quite a bit of time analyzing every student, where they live … and he came up with a theory on mileage and transportation, for mandated transportation and mileage,” Szymaniak said. “The goal … is to try to maximize the amount of state money we could get in reimbursement — and I think we found a solution.”

After running it by DESE funding expert Jay Sullivan, he suggested an easier way to do it.

“That methodology is accepted by the state, and retroactively to fiscal 2022,” Szymaniak said. When a Whitman Finance Committee member asked if the amended calculation could be applied to fiscal 2021 as well, Sullivan said it could.

“I don’t know what that means yet, so I don’t want to discuss numbers, but Jay has John working on fiscal ’21’s actuals to see what we can get for reimbursements,” he said. “Thank you [Kathleen] Ottina for throwing that suggestion out there.”

He also thanked Selectmen Randy LaMattina and Justin Evans, Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman and residents John Galvin — who also serves on the Finance Committee — and Shawn Kain for helping the district “look through a different lens” at the problem of non-mandated busing costs.

The “mile method” — assuming a 90-percent state reimbursement method and approval of the method — Whitman’s assessment could be about $17.3 million, the operating assessment $16,741,000, non-mandated busing $216,000, and capital assessments would stay the same. In Hanson, the assessment could be about $13,782,199, the operating assessment $13,245,052.04, non-mandated busing $55,234 and capital assessments would stay the same.

While the bottom line of the certified budget of $58,492,314 would not change if the mile method were approved, Whitman’s assessment would go down $420,603.92 and Hanson could see a $163,001.20.

Criteria for non-mandated busing services would not change, only the manner in which cost is calculated.

“This is a permanent change,” Howard said of the decision to be made. While that is good, the committee has to keep in mind that reimbursement rates change, he cautioned.

School district counsel, meanwhile advised the assessment breakdown forwarded to towns be continued so it is clear what the process will mean.

Committee member Dawn Byers suggested a single line item for the school costs in accordance with Mass. General Law, but member Beth Stafford urged that a detailed breakdown was needed this year to show the work the committee has done to lower costs.

“It’ just a matter of seeing it,” Stafford said.

Member David Forth, who has been critical of the implementation of the Regional Agreement in the past, suggested continuing the present method of calculating non-mandated busing costs until a Regional Agreement Amendment Committee could hash out what changes should be made.

Both Heather Kniffen and Fred Small expressed concern that the change could create an inequitable situation.

“The way it’s done right now is equitable for both towns, it distributes the costs where they should be distributed, and to whom they should be distributed,” Small said. “And that’s fair and I think both towns should feel that that’s fair.”

Forth said the 80-20 split, in place since at least 2001, is more of an inequity.

Hanson Selectman Jim Hickey agreed there have been problems with the regional agreement for a while and characterized the regional district as a “bad marriage for Hanson.” 

“I can tell you that people in Hanson think that the School Committee has somehow lost their way and forgot why they were voted into the seats,” he said. “I think it can be fixed. I think we have to sit down at the table and start from the beginning.”

He said there is a need to fix the system now in place.

“I’m a bit gobsmacked that I’m hearing for the first time about legal opinion that has been received about a busing issue, that have been received that our town has not seen,” Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett. “We have not been asked for an opinion.”

She said she has not seen either the Whitman town counsel or the school committee counsel’s opinion on the busing funding.

“That feels extremely wrong to me,” she said. Talk of breaking non-mandated busing as a separate warrant article does not help Hanson, either, as the town voted the night before to place articles onto their warrant with a deadline of Friday, April 15 to close it. Any additions past that date would require an emergency meeting.

“It feels very much like the line of communication is broken,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “What feels like a very unilateral discussion of the budget is not going to help heal the wounds that we’ve still got from the change in the methodology.”

She did agree with those who suggested the need for a new Regional Agreement.

“We need to sit down and have the hard conversations and come up with a regional agreement that we all feel accurately represents what each town should be bringing to the table, and then we just move forward,” she said. 

Howard noted that Whitman folks have been present at about four or more public budget subcommittee meetings where busing has been discussed. The School Committee received a letter from Whitman town counsel after its last meeting and then consulted its own counsel in turn.

He, too, agreed that a new Regional Agreement needs to be negotiated.

“The cleaner we can make this, the more better off we will be,” Howard said.