WHITMAN – Now that Whitman has a new town administrator in Mary Beth Carter, the work begins on finding an assistant administrator.
“Now that we have a town administrator, I think we need to move to get the assistant in place sooner, rather than later,” Select Board Chair Randy LaMattina said at the Tuesday, Feb. 21 meeting.
He suggested a small committee, consisting of a couple of selectmen, a department head and Carter, undertake the screening interviews after the job is posted
Vice Chair Dan Salvucci asked if the board was interested in looking at an assistant administrator or going with a previous suggestion of changing plans and hiring a human resource officer.
“I think we’re going to go back to the ATA,” LaMattina said. “But, I guess we should probably discuss that.”
Salvucci agreed that an assistant administrator would be the best option.
“When down the road, it’s time to retire, it’s part of your job to teach the person – that is, your assistant – to be able to take over, if that’s our choice,” he said. “I’m always one for promoting from within.”
But he suggested “extending the position” to include other things such as grant-writing and in this day and age, a human resource officer can be very important.
“I’m wondering if a person can do both,” he said.
LaMattina said grant-writing and human resources were included in the desired skill set of the original ATA position.
“I think the job, combined with the town administrator job is complex and is multi-layered,” Select Board member Shaw Kain said. “I have full faith in [Carter’s] leadership, that for me, I’m primarily going to be leaning on your recommendation – your skill set, the skill set that’s necessary to do the job.”
He said that identifying the person who can work best with Carter is the recommendation he’s looking for in an ATA.
Select Board member Justin Evans, who served on the last two selection committees, said the HR director/grant writer position didn’t draw quite the same pool of applicants as an ATA.
“At least my experience over the last year and a half doing this, we got a bigger candidate pool when we put it out as an ATA even though it was larger skill sets we were looking for,” he said.
Evans and Selectman Dr. Carl Kowalski volunteered to serve again on a search committee as did Fire Chief Timothy, along with Carter.
Salvucci asked if administrative assistant Laurie O’Brien should also sit in on interviews since she would work closely with the new ATA.
“I don’t like the idea of somebody working under somebody hiring them – their potential boss,” LaMattina said.
Kowalski said he wanted to hear Carter’s preference for the search.
“This is going to be your crew,” he said.
“I was thinking of an assistant town administrator that would have grant-writing [skills],” she said. “I would like to see grant-writing and procurement as well as to help me with the other duties that I have, as well, on my plate, and some human resource work, as well.”
She said the town had done that in the past.
Carter will compose and post the job description and salary range for the board to review and vote on at its next meeting. The committee will review the applications and chose some candidates to interview with an eye toward recommending, through Carter to the board, for final interviews.
COVID update
In other business, Clancy, in his regular COVID-19 update, said that as of Feb. 21, there had been an additional 41 cases in Whitman out of 313 tests conducted – for a positivity rate of just over 13 percent.
“It’s only gone up four people from the previous week,” he said. “We seem to remain constant in that area. We haven’t had any significant spikes, but we have been climbing.”
He said the COVID team is monitoring the situation closely and will advise the Select Board if anything drastic changes.
Civil Service list
Deputy Police Chief Joseph Bombadier received the board’s approval to call for a Civil Service appointment list for two new department hires.
The potential hirees have served in part-time roles at the department since 2017 – Robert Hoey is a 13-year as a supervisor at Massasoit Community College as well. Patrick Hickey has been working for the department as a reserve officer, filling in shifts.
“They’re both great candidates,” Bombardier said. “They both meet all the criteria and we’re asking for you to move forward with the process. … They’re the only reserve officers we have left and, after they’re gone off the list, we don’t anticipate ever having reserve officers come back because there’s no mechanism in place anymore because of the post commission. There’s no part-time academy.”
Comfort dog
The Select Board also voted to accept the Police Department’s proposal for a community resource dog.
“This is a project we’ve been contemplating over the last couple of years,” Bombardier said. “We think there’s some value in having a community resource/comfort dog.”
He said the move is growing in popularity among police departments for its value in addressing the need for communication with some communities, such as autistic people. Hanson has had one for about a year, and Plymouth and Hanover just obtained comfort dogs.
Whitman is working with the same company that Hanson did – Golden Opportunities for Independence (GOFI), of Walpole – which provides the dogs, provide training (a two-year process) and takes care of initial medical expenses for the dog.
Bombardier said a resident has approached the department about donating some money toward the project, a $5,000 donation that would cover about 25 percent of the cost, and the Plymouth County DA’s office has grants the town could apply for to help further defray costs.
“They have assured us we will be at the top of the list for an upcoming grant [$5,000], if we so choose,” he said. The other half of the cost would need to come from fundraising, but Bombardier said other departments have said the public is more than willing to donate.
The dogs live with their handling officers and retrofitting cruisers is less expensive than police dogs, which must be in running vehicles for the air conditioning when they are not working. Comfort dogs are only in the vehicles long enough for transport.
Police Chief Timothy Hanlon wants to award the handler’s role through a bid process with criteria officers need to meet in order to apply.

The wheels on the bus may go round and round, but budget dollars are needed to grease the wheels, and the question school district and town officials are grappling with is where those dollars will come from and how they will be spent.
The School Committee, discussed transportation costs, school start times and the effect changes might have on the budget during its on Wednesday, Feb. 15 meeting. No decisions have made on the issue yet, as the governor’s budget is not expected until March 1. Incoming governors receive extra time in which to compile their inaugural spending plan.
School Committee Chair Christopher Howard noted at the Wednesday, Feb. 15 meeting, that the conversation was a continuance of summer discussions and Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak’s goals for the year, as they heard a presentation on how both issues effect the district budget.
“Tonight is all about trying to share a little bit of a plan, or a potential plan for how the district looks at transportation, which would include start times, as well as how we transport both mandated and non-mandated students,” Howard said.
He explained he had received several emails concerning a vote on school start times that evening, which did not take place, but stressed it had never been included on the meeting’s agenda.
“That may happen,” he said, explaining committee members could always make a motion during the meeting. “But it’s a transportation update in the superintendent’s presentation.”
Committee member Dawn Byers argued the emails could have been a reaction to a previous budget presentation centering on three transportation and start times scenarios the committee might consider.
Szymaniak said some numbers included in the original presentation and discussion about start times had been incorrect.
“We have adjusted those in the budget package we’ll be talking about later,” he said. “This is, by no means, the be-all-end-all.”
The presentation inclusion of language from regional agreements (1991 and 2018); School Committee transportation policies; MGL CH. 72 S.7A; current transportation procedures; inconsistencies in the procedures; options and recommendations and how start times effect transportation.
“We are under the ’91 agreement, but I think it’s important that I clarify what was in the 2018 agreement that we voted and has been taken back in being passed over in Whitman,” Szymaniak said.
The 1991 text of the Regional Agreement requires the district to provide student transportation with the cost apportioned to Whitman and Hanson as an operating cost, with the committee determining each year whether the district will fund non-mandated busing. In 2018, the agreement was revised to define which students come under non-mandated busing, requiring the School Committee to subtract transportation reimbursement from cost to the district, with the remaining cost apportioned to the towns based on student population.
He said if the Committee makes any changes moving forward in this fiscal year, it would have to change policies governing bus scheduling and routing, walkers and riders, the school bus safety program and student conduct on buses.
Among the inconsistencies in busing policies, all Hanson students qualify for a bus ride to school, but Whitman students do not; Whitman’s school route maps are outdated; Non-mandated bus zones differ from state guidelines and Whitman uses crossing guards but Hanson does not.
Options to consider include busing all kindergarten students; discontinue busing all students living within 1.5 miles of a school, regardless of grade level; allow Hanson to continue its current busing all students policy; allow Whitman to bus students according to the state guidelines of between .75 and 1.5 miles of a school; change the walking distance to agree with the state guidelines; and busing all students living within 1.5 miles from a school.
“If we bus all kids, Whitman numbers go up $28,000 and Hanson numbers are actually reduced [at about $46,000],” Szymaniak said. “These are different numbers, but I think it’s clearer and it buses all our kids and we don’t have to worry about “routed” roads, we don’t have to worry about sex offenders, we don’t have to worry about using crossing guards
Szymaniak’s recommendations were to bus all kids.
The district is currently budgeted to spend $1,671,748.24 on mandated busing and $264,041.76 for non-mandated busing. The split between the two towns for mandated busing is 60.6 percent – or $1,013,246.61 – for Whitman and 39.9 percent – or $658,506.63 for Hanson. The cost for non-mandated busing is divided by town as Whitman paying $211,270.41 and Hanson contributing $52,671.35.
Reducing the non-mandated radius for busing to a half-mile or less radius from a school would mean only 94 students in the entire district would be affected, Szymaniak said. The total cost for Whitman would be an additional $7,593.07 over fiscal 2023. For Hanson’s nine students the added cost would be $964.42.
That number increases to about 935 students if the radius is expanded to 1.5 miles, which would mean an additional $221,268 for Whitman and $45,447 for Hanson.
“That’s almost a break-even of where we’re at for total non-mandated busing for this year,” he said.
The number of kindergarten students is unavailable right now. He argued that towns would be “financially OK.”
“It’s not a huge increase,” he said. “It’s much better than what we used to send the towns when we did the per-pupil piece. This is all based on mileage and it works out for our district costs.”
Committee member Fred Small asked what the cost difference would be to bus all Whitman students.
“It seems like it would be negligible,” he said.
“It would be,” Szymaniak said. The estimate is that would cost $17,000 more then the $211,000 it is anticipated to cost Whitman for the proposal.
“To me, it’s a win-win if the town can save money and we can provide transportation [to all our students],” Small said.
Committee member Dawn Byers asked for clarification between the two busing scenarios for Whitman.
Szymaniak said the difference was between grade levels included in the options and whether the non-mandated busing limit is a half-mile from a school or all students are bused.
“My recommendation is we bus all kids,” Szymaniak said.
She also indicated a precise number of buses and ridership that are included in the $1.769 million to First Student would clarify that no buses are being added.
The division of cost within the Regional Agreement surrounding mandated busing also concerned her.
“Whitman is paying a substantially large cost of this transportation when we only have 43 percent of the riders,” she said comparing that with a traditional 60/40 split based on population or 43 percent of Whitman students actually riding the bus compared to 57 percent in Hanson.
Member Glen DiGravio asked if the aim of no walkers in Hanson applies to his son who is “right down the street” from the school he will attend next year.
“He can walk if he wants,” he said. “I see walkers all the time.”
“He can choose,” Szymaniak said, noting that the numbers include eligible riders.
“I’m trying to understand,” member Michelle Bourgelas said. “If we’re trying to get everyone to ride the bus, how are we not needing more buses?”
Szymaniak said the district has never told towns how to fund it by a percentage split between towns, instead using a per pupil basis, based on mileage.
“Whitman has always taken ownership of their [non-mandated] students, and Hanson has always taken care of theirs,” he said. “The Regional Agreement Subcommittee is talking about that busing language and is bringing it back to their boards.”
Whitman Select Board member Shawn Kain, who is also a teacher and parent, said he wants to see more students walking and fewer on the bus because it is healthy exercise and well as money-saving to walk – and exercise also helps social-emotional interaction between kids.
A parent who had attended a previous School Committee meeting because of the length of bus rides in Hanson and that effect on student’s behavior, said she has already noticed an improvement on the bus ride. It has gone from about an hour to a half-hour.
“There are less issues,” she said. “My children are home quicker because there isn’t an issue with bus drivers knowing where they’re supposed to go.”
She also said there is more consistency of drivers on the route.
Hanson Select Board member urged all boards and committees to make decisions with an eye toward 10 or 15 years down the road, when they may not be serving anymore.

WHITMAN – Facilities Manager Todd DeCouto asked the Select Board on Tuesday, Feb. 7 to consider hiring an additional full-time maintenance person for town buildings, as he described an stutter-step approach to the maintenance work in town during the years he has worked there while other town departments are experiencing custodial and maintenance needs as well.
“I can talk about how maintenance has started to warp since I started about 15 years ago to where we are today,” DeCouto said. “It’s been a big change.
His responsibilities when he began working for the town were to maintain Town Hall, including cleaning and snow removal. At that time, there were also part-time maintenance workers at the library, Police Station and the Council on Aging. After three years, those positions were eliminated, and the work combined under DeCouto’s job description.
A full-time maintenance person was hired about three years after that, which made his job a lot easier, he said, even as he still had responsibilities for some work in the other buildings.
“Then that dissolved and I went back to taking care of all the buildings,” he said.
An outside company was then hired for a couple of years, DeCouto outlined, as he remained the contact point for department heads.
“That dissolved, and then it fell on me, again,” he said about another three-year period during which he averaged about 60 hours per week, aided by a part-time associate on the weekends who helped with snow removal.
“Now, with the position that I’m in, the part-time maintenance associate went into the full-time union, but it’s a lot of buildings to cover for one person,” DeCouto said.
While the Police Department still has an outside company come in three days per week for the building that takes a minimum of 30 hours a week to clean and maintain, DeCouto said his job is still difficult.
“It’s definitely not a want, it’s an absolute need,” he said of his request for another worker. “I know money’s tight, but it’s definitely something we do need.”
He said a full-time hire at-will person could fill the need, as well, doing custodial work at the library – which is a 20-to 25-hour job – and the Senior Center is another 10- to 15-hour job.
“To be truthful with you, we probably need a full-time and another part-time, but, I know that’s not going to happen,” DeCouto said.
Vice Chair Dan Salvucci asked if there was anything in the library, police or senior center budgets from which funds could be used to fill the positions.
“If the Police Station is hiring outside, and we eliminate that and hire somebody for the town that would take care of the Police Station … does one offset the other?” he said. “I’m just asking.”
Police Chief Timothy Hanlon said part of the issue is control.
When they’ve needed DeCouto he’s been able to come in, but some of the outside vendors the department has used were also doing work at the DPW, Council on Aging, Library [and] no one was certain where they were or what they were doing, Hanlon said.
“When they came in a bare minimum and showed up, we were kind of thankful,” Hanlon said. After the pandemic the department determined they needed someone on a more permanent basis, which is what we did, and they’re working out fantastically, so I don’t want to change that as far as custodial service goes.”
Maintenance, on the other hand, is lacking, he said, saying that as the 11-year-old building ages, more maintenance needs will crop up. DeCouto said the station’s backup cooling system has failed a couple of times and needs to be replaced and the HVAC control systems need to be upgraded.
The town is barely keeping up with the needs of the library, Town Hall and senior center to “give them the attention they need – that they deserve.” DeCouto said.
Select Board member Justin Evans asked if the department’s outside cleaning service was CARES Act or ARPA-funded or built-in to the budget. Hanlon said the funds were built-in.
Fire Chief Timothy Clancy said his department has been “single-handedly” keeping DeCouto busy during that week, as well as ongoing projects.
“The problem becomes, he’s only one person,” Clancy said. “I think Todd will agree, I can probably keep [him] busy 40-plus hours a week, just at my station.”
Chair Randy LaMattina asked DeCouto to put together a job description and salary ranges so the board could further discuss it at the next meeting. He said the market is tough for finding someone qualified to perform the maintenance work the town needs.
Interim Town Administrator Frank Lynam said the reality of the situation is that this is not a year to add [personnel].
“I can’t remember the last year that was a year to add,” he said. “But we’ll address the needs as best we can.”
“I just want to put it on the radar,” DeCouto said.
In other business, the board reached a consensus against supporting a request to place vending machines at Memorial Field to be used by teams that play there.
Lynam said he had some minor concerns centering on the installation of power and the potential for vandalism, which has been seen there from time to time. He reached out to DPW Parks and Highways Superintendent Bruce Martin for his opinion and he had similar concerns as well as the potential for empties being left strewn on the ground.
“I’m just not too sure it’s worth taking that step,” he said, noting most kids today bring their own reusable bottles of beverages to drink such as water or Gatoraid. “My observation is, it’s a solution looking for a problem. I rarely see kids unprepared for a couple hours of baseball.”
LaMattina said his concern was that the request was coming from a private vendor instead of one that would roll over funds into a town league. Lynam said his understanding was it would do that.
“It seems like a highly motivated guy who’s willing to do a lot of work to make something like this happen,” Select Board member Shawn Kain said. He said, while it doesn’t seem like exactly the right fit, with the right connection with an organization like WSBA, a solution could be reached.
Lynam said he has seen a lack of respect for facilities at Whitman Park.
“It’s sad,” he said. “I’m not adamantly opposed to it, I’m just not sure it’s a good idea.”
Hanlon said town security cameras can provide a limited view of the area.