Hanson Pack 34 held its Blue and Gold Ceremony Thursday, Feb. 2, during which 15 Cub Scouts crossed over and become Boy Scouts. Above, – Blake Miller received his Boy Scout epaulets At left, Brady Adams crosses over to Boy Scouts See more photos, page 6.
Courtesy photos, Craig Guido
WHRSD holds budget hearing
The W-H Regional School Committee held its public hearing and budget presentation on the fiscal 2024 budget on Wednesday, Feb. 1.
The current budget figure of $60,510,901.43 for fiscal 2024 represents a 3.45-percent increase over the final operating budget of $58,492,314 for the current fiscal ’23 budget.
“The budget I present today aligns with the district’s strategic plan, the School Committee goals and what we believe provides a quality education for the students of Whitman and Hanson,” Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szimaniak said. “What you will see tonight is a level-services budget.
But he is willing to move the financial needle, if the School Committee wants to do that.
Szymaniak said he has also included options for increasing services and “enhancing the educational opportunities” for students.
“This budget is different from the budget presentations in December and January, and I assume this is not the final iteration of the district budget,” he said.
Gov. Maura Healey’s state budget does not come out until March 1, as new governors are given extra time to assemble their first spending plan.
Szymaniak gave a Powerpoint presentation, answering questions from the committee and pubic attending.
The four points of the disctrict’s strategic plan are: ExSEL (Excellence in Social Emotional Learning), a Pre K-12 system of teaching and learning, safe and secure school environments and community engagement.
The School Committee’s focus areas are: Early college and Innovation Pathways, robust related arts curriculum in kindergarten to grade 12, improving school culture and climate ad an examination of school start times. The strategic plan initiatives included in the FY24 budget presentation are an adjustment to school start times, inclusion of a K-8 robotics and foreign language with implementation of Spanish in grade 8.
A presentation on transportation costs will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 15, but the cost of aligning elementary start times in one of three scenarios, could cost as much as $148,666.72 more than the proposed budget of $1,759,984.88. Excess and deficiency would be looked to in that case.
The deadline for sending the school budget to the towns is March 16, with a certification vote slated for March 15.
A major unanticipated cost to the budget is a 14-percent potential increase for private and public special education placements. Szymaniak said administration has recently learned there is a potential for two out-of-district placements to be moving into the district under the new budget year.
“It could be 14 percent,” he said, noting Business Manager John Stanbrook had included a 3-percent benchmark in the budget for the increase. “But, I’m also not confident that it’s going to be 14 percent, so this number of $650,000 is not in the budget.”
He pulled it out of the budget, where it was included in December and January, and has placed it as a separate line item that the School Committee will have to provide guidance in funding, using either excess and deficiency (he sees it as a one-time cost), or fiscal 2025 Circuit Breaker funds could be used.
Szymaniak is estimating that retirements planned across the district could save $313,937 in replacement costs at lower salaries. ESSER III funds used in the fiscal ’24 budget are $67,000 for BCBA (?), $125,000 for English as a second language teachers and $260,000 for interventionists as well as $300,000 for paraprofessionals. ESSER funds expire in fiscal 2025.
“The goal and objectives for FY 2525 will be to drill down, after three years of data collecting, [to learn] how well the interventionists worked in the district and if they’re a necessity moving forward , or how we could pare down that,” Szymaniak said. “I know that’s a big number, but it’s a number we’re going to be working on moving into this school year.”
Interventionists were hired to help students struggling after the isolation of remote instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. The efficiency of paraprofessionals will also be studied.
State and federal student support guidelines also inform district programs.
For STEM and robotics trough grade eight, the options are to conduct if through library class at elementary schools with pre-constructed curricula of iRobot ($30,000) for K-2 and Robotifi ($25,000 online programs) for grades three to eight, and revamping middle school ccurriculm to create a solid foundation for high school instruction. The additional cost to move the district forward is $55,000.
Foreign language options are: an approach with independent student work augmented with part-time teachers for a cost of $98,400, or adding three Spanish teachers and two reading teachers between the two middle schools at a cost of $335,000 to add.
“I don’t know if we can hire three Spanish teachers in this current climate of teachers – they’re few and far between,” Szymaniak said. “I’m also looking at a potential building project in Whitman, moving between a grade alignment.”
He said he’d prefer phasing the language program in through an online presence, but noted that was a discussion for another time.
But W-H is no longer at the bottom of per-pupil spending in the state.
“We’re not at [the per-pupil spending level] of the area communities yet, and I don’t know if we’ll ever be … but it’s important that we are still behind,” Szymaniak said. “Most of our league-mates in our athletic league, and most of our colleagues on the South Shore [spend more].”
Committee member Fred Small said state officials are anticipating a revenue increase of 1.6 percent, rather than the larger percentages of recent years, and that projections should be cautious. “We’re talking about how much we’re going to get in reimbursement,” Small said. “But we’re also a year behind on reimbursements, but yet we’re factoring in those funds.”
Chair Christopher Howard said the Budget Committee had been discussing that issue.
“It’s not going to help us for this year, but it kind of speaks to the one-time offset,” he said.
Small said that if the Committee was sure a reimbursement was definitely coming back, then the special ed increase would be a proper use for one-time money.
“But it’s not in here, anywhere,” he said of the budget and presentation
Committee member Dawn Byers commented on Szymaniak’s assessment of teacher morale and it’s impact on the budget.
“I have a teaching staff whose morale is teetering,” he said. “Things are difficult in the classroom. Things are difficult with our students.”
Students are returning to school with socialization issues following the pandemic, acting differently. Parents are also different, while they have always been respectfully demanding, there has been an increase in the attitude that “I want an answer now,” he said.
“It’s not bad, it’s just different,” he said.
Szymaniak said he wanted to avoid presenting a budget that residents attending would feel there is no way they could succeed with, and have teachers fear layoffs.
“We pink-slipped 62 people while we were home during COVID, and I don’t want to do that again,” he said.
Byers said the new state Secretary of Education has already been speaking about the importance of working to stabilize, heal and transform.
“I feel that’s where we’re still at,” she said. “When you say staff is panicked about pink slips, I don’t think we’re at all near that, nor should we.”
She said the towns, having received the MARS report on funding formulas, officials know where they stand.
“We know that best practices for finances in municipalities is that they should take care of their largest budget first, and the schools are the largest budget,” she said. “Absolutely. They should be. It’s education. It’s the future. I can’t at all participate in any type of false narrative, if we get there, that the town’s can’t afford our education budget. It is important and we are nowhere near providing what our students and staff deserve.”
She asked Szymaniak if he had anything in writing pertaining to what is being done with the savings to the budget from teacher retirements.
“As I said before, the numbers I had in December were off,” he said. “Salary increases moved the budget needle to 5.5. That $300,00 went right into making sure this budget was around a 3.5 target [increase], pushing it forward.”
Small said the committee should try sending a Student Success Budget again.
“It’s not up to us to go over the town’s budget and try to tell the town, ‘You should cut this, you should cut that. You have too many police officers, you have too many firefighters.’ They have their budgets and they have what they’re doing for a reason,” he said. “We know there’s a guidance for us, at least in Whitman, and if we can live within a guidance … I would hope we can make a case for everything we want.”
Whitman, Carter reach TA contract
WHITMAN –As they welcomed a new town administrator – set to start work on Feb. 21 the Select Board heard a sobering update on the state of the town’s finances from Budget Subcommittee member Shawn Kain.
Former Treasurer/Collector Mary Beth Carter has accepted a contract proposal to become town administrator, interim Town Administrator Frank Lynam announced during the Tuesday, Feb. 7 Select Board meeting.
“I’m already loading up her email,” he joked. “While I’ll be happy to assist in the transition, I’m looking to that light at the end of the tunnel [so I] can go back home and do what I was doing when I was doing nothing.
Chair Randy LaMattina thanked Lynam on behalf of the board and the town for coming back.
“I think, for the transition, you’re going to make that as smooth as it possibly can be,” he said.
“I’m excited for the town,” “Lynam said. “We’re moving into a new era [with] a different focus and I have nothing but confidence in the board’s selection of Mary Beth Carter.”
Carter thanked the board, as well.
“I truly appreciate your confidence in me,” she said. “I have known many of you for several years, and a few of you for over 19 years. You know my work ethic – and it has not changed. I will work tirelessly as an agent of the Board of Selectmen to carry out mandates and policies set by you.”
She pledged to work collaboratively with department heads, boards and committees to assist in the preparation and final presentation of the budget for fiscal 2024.
“I am really looking forward to being back in Whitman,” she said.
Budget review
Kain began the meeting’s work with a report on the town budget status and the Budget Working Group’s progress, noting it would take a couple weeks to fully update Carter so she can give her feedback for future action.
“We’re looking at the excise tax and the trash [fees], and because we’re through January now and we have an indication of what the first commitments were,” Kain said, noting that 75 percent of excise taxes were collected in the first commitment in January. “We have a pretty good indication of where we’re at, and surprisingly, we’re doing really well.”
He thought there would be a dip in excise tax revenues, but so far collections are $140,000 over what was collected by this point last year, pointing to estimates on both excise taxes and trash fees moving in the right direction.
Expenditures are showing this year is a “bit of an anomaly” for contract steps and lanes because of recent negotiations, he said, particularly in the fire department where an unusually large number of firefighters reached their 20-year mark.
“Big picture, again we’re looking at our level service,” Kain said. “When we look at level service, and that does include some of the salaries that we’re talking about … and the schools’ at 5 percent [assessment increase], we’re really close to a balanced budget.”
He is concerned that the town side still doesn’t know where the school budget will end up, however. Town figures are estimating 5 percent, but it looks like it would be more, Kain said, noting School Committee member Dawn Byers questions about what the town can afford.
“She talked about a false narrative, meaning that there is a little bit of confusion in the community about this,” he said. “What we can afford … of pretty much what we can afford within the tax levy.”
He said Byers is suggesting the town consider what it could afford if it didn’t take into account the tax levy and just compared it’s education costs to other towns, saying it’s “a different kind of big picture argument.”
“For us, one of the things that we really need to consider is what we can afford within the tax levy,” he said, where the Madden report was clear that 5 percent, or up to it, was what could achieve a balanced budget along with level-serviced town expences.
“For me, it still seems relevant that that 5 percent is still a good number to use,” Kain said.
Right now, with numbers coming in from the schools and department heads, the budget gap is a little over $1 million.
Lynam said the town is “kind of downplaying” the impact of the 5 percent on the town. While he agrees with the analysis that consultant John Madden did and that the town needs to support education, the 5 percent absorbs every dollar of revenue the town grows – and then some.
“That’s the type of thing we have to keep in mind,” he said. “We continue getting additional revenue from other local receipts, but at some point in time, just like the 3-percent budget growth started to become unattainable at the district level when we had state support and it faded, we are now building a budget that’s going to be difficult to maintain, even at 5 percent with the efforts we’re making.”
He said it was more critical that they jointly growth and expenditures to make the budget work, because voters will be the ultimate arbiters of how much will be spent.
“We have to start looking longer and harder at things,” he said.
LaMattina requested that Lynam meet with Hanson Town Administrator Lisa Green about the reality of what they are dealing with, because he is concerned that the School Committee has not yet voted a budget ceiling.
“It is frustrating that there’s a lot of things that possibly could be added between now and then that we will not be able to fund in this budget,” he said.
Lynam also expressed concern that the town has been financing capital improvements through free cash.
“That’s not always going to be possible,” he said.
“This is a really valuable, document guiding us going forward,” Select Board member Justin Evans said. “If we can … continue this process every year, it’ll help shape how we look at the whole budget cycle.”
He noted that town budget increases are also nearing 5 percent and cautioned that, if the town wants the schools to control budget increases, the town should do so as well.
COVID report
According to Fire Chief Timothy Clancy’s regular COVID-19 report, saying he is hopeful that the town’s numbers will follow predictions that numbers should be going down shortly, adding the town is still “not doing too bad.”
Over the preceding week, however, Whitman saw 35 cases among 291 tests performed for a 12.02 percent.
“We see a significant jump of almost 4 percent in the positivity rate, but also realize that’s not always accurate. It’s based on seven additional cases and we did less testing.”
He said health officials would continue to watch the numbers and keep selectmen advised.
Burst pipes at senior center
HANSON — The Hanson Multi-Service Senior Center sustained “extensive water damage” due to a burst pipe during last weekend’s sub-freezing cold snap, according to Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett, who has arranged an alternative site for senior programs while repairs are being made.
Senior Center Director Mary Collins, however, told FitzGerald-Kemmett they can “make do” during the month or so it might take to repair the damage.
FitzGerald-Kemmett said security cameras indicated the pipes burst at about 6:30 a.m., Sunday night
She contacted Camp Kiwanee Commission Chair Frank Milisi to obtain permission to offer use of Needles Lodge for the Senior Center. Melisi agreed, she said, noting the Kiwanee staff is there from 8 a.m. To 2 p.m., anyway, and the building is handicapped-accessible. Hanson Middle School also sustained some flooding from burst pipes, she said. There has been no damage to the Hanson Library.
Health Agent Gil Amado and Local Inspector Kerry Glass inspected the damage Monday and determined, since there are still bathrooms available in the connected library building, some programming can still be offered.
“Frank’s telling me don’t worry, he’d love them to use the [Camp Kiwanee] building,” she said she told Collins. “I left it with Mary and Frank are going to connect and talk about whether she’d be better off there, or whether she could hold some programs there and have some at the senior center.”
South Shore Tech Superintendent Dr. Thomas J. Hickey, whose carpentry and electrical shop students had just recently completed a project creating an office space where Senior Center staff can offer confidential health insurance consultations, said the school would be willing to help with repairs if they can.
“I’ll ask my off-campus projects [director] to look into it,” Hickey said. “The only thing that could possibly get in the way would be if the town has an issue with insurance, but it’s worth an ask. If we can help them out, we certainly will.”
Hickey explained an insurance company might require other measures under their coverage, that would take precedence. He confirmed on Tuesday afternoon, that insurance requirements would, indeed, prohibit his students from offering assistance.
Hanson reviews strategic plan
HANSON – The Select Board on Tuesday, Jan. 31 reviewed the recent strategic planning session held at Camp Kiwanee with consultant Ann Donner of Ann Donner Consulting in West Newton.
A citizen’s survey had been conducted earlier last year to “lay the foundation” for the November session, according to Select Board chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett. Donner has also interviewed the Select Board members, department heads and other stakeholders in town to gauge opinions on plan priorities.
“This is not a document, or even an effort that’s set in stone,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “This is a placeholder and then it’s an organic document, going forward. We’re constantly going to be updating this to reflect where we’re at, but we need to start somewhere.”
Donner was brought in to determine where that somewhere would be.
She focused on the key strategic areas developed as part of the November session and a possible framework through which those goals could be achieved through the draft document.
The five areas identified were: public facilities; public programming and recreation; economic development; citizen engagement and town administration.
“These strategic priorities are very reasonable,” Donner said. “This grew from … the citizens’ survey and out of the discussions with the Select Board, with the Department Heads and reflect a synthesis of what can we do in response to the priorities we heard that people value.”
There are high-level initiatives identified for each goal, for example, a five-year matrix for facilities to understand the state of facilities so the Select Board can convene a summit to identify and prioritize public facilities while improving internal and public communications about the projects and the outcomes envisioned.
“For every goal or priority there are stakeholders,” she said. “It’s like asking ourselves who needs to be involved … to make these things happen?”
Resources needed to achieve initiatives in each goal area are also listed.
The Economic Development goal aims to initiate and promote economic development as a way of mitigating tax increases while providing first-class services to Hanson residents.
Increasing traffic through MBTA use was one of the preferred outcomes.
Hanson has also wanted to involve more people in town government by filling volunteer positions and boosting Town Meeting attendance by developing and publicizing a table of board and commission openings, a mentorship program for new members and other suggestions among others.
“The thinking outside the box was really evident in this conversation,” Donner said.
An HR department and retaining town employees are key goals of improving town administration.
A reporting schedule for the rest of the year are designed to keep residents informed and to gauge what is working and what is not working.
“I’m looking at all the great work that has been done and I’m saying we’ve got to get on with it here,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. She said it was the first time in her six-year tenure that she saw a cross-section of town officials and departments gathering to discuss the town’s direction.
“We have made some progress,” she said of the hiring of Capital Strategic Solutions to improve communication with residents through the town website.
“We talk every meeting about tactical things we need to get done – and we get stuff done – but we’ve got to take it to the next level.”
Select Board member Ann Rein said a primary focus should be the table of board and committee vacancies.
Vice Chair Joe Weeks said that, once the town reaches 100-percent filled vacancies for boards and committees, they could look to making them more competitive and diverse in membership.
“Everyone here is on several different committees,” he said. “How do we diversify that and keep [membership] at 100 percent.”
Board member Ed Heal said it should be a line item on board agendas to keep the goals before the Selectmen.
FitzGerald-Kemmett asked Town Administrator Lisa Green to prioritize what she wanted to see as a next step.
Hanson looks at early budget numbers
HANSON – Interim Town Accountant Eric Kinsherf and Town Administrator Lisa Green presented “real preliminary budget numbers” to the Select Board on Tuesday, Jan. 24, while the board said “no thank you to sharing accountant services with Whitman,
“I think we have a good start for this time of the year,” Kinsherf said about the amount of information now available to the acountant’s office.
Green said all departments had submitted their budgets on time but “we don’t have numbers outside of Town Hall to work on,” as Gov. Maura Healey plans to unveil her state budget March 1 and the W-H School District is still dealing with preliminary numbers because of that, too
“We have put together, based on some revenues, a very preliminary initial budget kickoff,” Green said, handing off the presentation to Kinsherf, who termed it “a good footprint to work with,” but noted some information such as real estate taxes is easy to forecast.
Hanson can anticipate $883,000 – 3.4 percent of the levy – in new real estate taxes next year, he said. Of that, the new growth forecast is level with last year at $250,000.
Local receipts were also fairly level, according to Kinsherf.
Based on initial receipts from the new meals tax, he is estimating a $48,000 gain, for the town coffers.
State aid figures will not be available until March.
“The long and short of it, for new revenues, compared to last year, we’re looking at $945,000,” he said.
Budget requests have not been vetted yet, he said, but the biggest preliminary numbers are from the school budget, where a $1 million increase is being estimated.
Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett again asked if any information about local impact revenue from cannabis business Impressed LLC had yet been determined.
“It seems to be taking quite a long time,” she said. “It’s been more than a minute.”
Green said they would be seeing real estate and personal property taxes, but sales tax information would not be available until the business harvests its third crop, having grown two test crops so far.
“It seems we have not been having a robust and ongoing conversation with them,” said FitzGerald-Kemmett, in asking that the company be contacted for more information. “We’ve taken quite a leap of faith in entering into a community host agreement with them and we’ve seen – other than the real estate taxes and the real property, we have not seen the money that we were hoping to see.”
Select Board member Ann Rein advised Green to see if there have been any top-level changes at the company, and she said that she had heard a rumor that they were missing a certification, which was holding everything up.
FitzGerald-Kemmett said the community host agreement requires Impressed LLC to inform the town of such personnel changes, if any had been made, and no mention of test crops had been made, either.
Green said she would contact the company.
FitzGerald-Kemmett also said a lot of new growth given the green light by either the ZBA or zoning inspector had been delayed by materials shortages during the supply chain crisis, and related cost increases, have lately shown signs of activity only to halt.
The board also discussed Whitman interim Town Administrator Frank Lynam’s suggestion that the two towns share an accountant.
“Financially, it looks like it’s a good idea,” Green said. “But after speaking to Eric about it, and looking at how sharing somebody has either benefited us or not … in the past, it may not be the best road to go down, but I’m going to leave that to the board to discuss.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett said she agreed with that reasoning, as well as the prospect of sharing an accountant with a town with which Hanson is in a regional schools agreement – “which, at times, has had some contention and difficult moments” – might not be the best fit.
“I appreciate them reaching out and, for certain services, I certainly would entertain shared services, town accountant is just way too close to home for me,” she said.
Despite the standards of practice and ethics in the accountant profession, FitzGerald-Kemmett said she felt the optics are “not great.”
The board was unanimous in agreement.
“I think we’ve decided we’re looking for someone full-time here,” Weeks said. “It’s a good Plan B if we ever needed it.”
“[We] would like to thank our brethren in Whitman for thinking of us and for reaching out and … no thank you,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said, noting that former accountant Todd Hassett had urged the town to hire a full-time, in-house accountant. She also note that, no matter how well-intentioned such a partnership is, it is difficult to get an even 50/50 split of services.
Vets’ agent, senior center make impact
HANSON – With the federal PACT Act going into effect this month, veterans service officers are already seeing an increase in the need for their services, and it’s making Hanson reconsider sharing a part-time VSO with another community.
The PACT Act is a new federal law that expands VA health care and benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances, adding to the list of health conditions that are presumed to have been are caused by exposure to these substances.
Town Administrator Lisa Green also recommended making Hanson’s VSO a full-time position, paying $55,000 to $60,000, with benefits, for 32 hours per week of work. The Select Board voted unanimously to support the move.
Green reported to the Select Board on Tuesday, Jan. 31, on the pros and cons of shared services officer in the wake of current VSO Timothy White announcing his departure to take a full-time position in another community.The board had voted to accept with regret White’s resignation when Green announced it last week. He has been a part-time agent in Hanson and is taking a full-time position as veterans’ agent in a neighboring town.
“We’re losing a part-time, wonderful, talented, dedicated veterans’ officer to a full-time position,” Green said Jan. 24. White has agreed to stay on while the town vets the process and would be willing to train a new agent.
Hanover had expressed interest in shared veterans services with Hanson, with Hanover funding the position benefits.
Green said, in talking with Hanover officials, there were more cons to the arrangement than she anticipated – difficulty in transportation for Hanson veterans if the agent were located in Hanover and conflicts in ceremony and parade schedules, among them – suggesting that the town consider making the position in Hanson a full-time one.
PACT Act
Key among the considerations for that move has been the added services for veterans included in the new PACT Act provisions, which is not only opening new benefits for Vietnam-era veterans, but Gulf War and Post-9/11 veterans, as well as the geography of where veterans served when they were exposed.
“The word is spreading,” White said. “More than half my work is PACT Act or visitation.”
He said a veteran who may have passed away of cancer or another connected illness years ago, the surviving spouse is now eligible for assistance through the legislation, so long as they have not remarried.
“That’s the workload that people don’t know, and the word needs to spread more and more [of] the importance of outreach, if you decide to go in a full-time mode,” White said. “There’s [also] tons of surviving spouses out there that are out there that may, quite possibly be eligible for VA compensation.”
Memorial Day parade schedules are also difficult without angering “multiple American Legions, VFWs, DAVs” when more than one event takes place at the same time.
“All of the people who show up, care deeply,” he said.
White has put in more that the two-days a week he is scheduled to serve Hanson in his shared role with Rockland.
“As veterans’ agent, everything I do brings back money to the town,” he added, through VA claims that aid veteran’s bank accounts, to benefits that come back to the town through state aid programs.
The part-time salary for the position is $31,998, according to Green, citing the FY 2023 budget. In fiscal ’24, it is $32,637. A full-time salary range from $56,100 to $73,358 in surrounding South Shore communities.
“Talking with Eric today, my thought was if we offered a 32-hour a week position at $55,000 per year, that might be enough to entice someone to join us as a veterans’ service officer,” Green said of accountant Eric Kinsherf. “We can actually use some ARPA money to supplement the budget for the next two years.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett also said housing the Hanson VSO in another town was a “no-go” for her, as well, but she cautioned about one-time ARPA funds to pay for recurring expenses like salaries. Interim Town Accountant Eric Kinsherf said $25,000 to fund the post was something that could be funded in the budget, especially if the VSO is effective in bringing funds to the town.
“The way I look at it, would be a bridge to build it in the budget,” he said. By the third year cannabis tax funds can be used to help the cost and a good VSO can also the town will ensure state and federal revenues will be obtained as well. Meals taxes could also be a funding source.
“This is important,” Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said, noting the difference the PACT Act has made in her own family. Her father died of cancer caused by Agent Orange exposure.
“I will tell you, the fact that he applied for [VA] benefits has made a tremendous difference in my mother’s life,” she said.
White said the $55,000 Hanson is offering is competitive. He said a lot depends on the candidate, saying for example, as a Coast Guard veteran he does not take benefits from the town.
White said some veterans he is assisting now has held off seeking benefits for years.
“These type of human services, supports and resources that we have – I like the way, in talking about this, you put revenue as dead last,” Select Board Vice Chair Joe Weeks said. “It’s about quality of life, it’s about people. It’s about people that have contributed to society in some way, either through the elder affairs office or … the services that you do. We already know it’s a full-time job, just in people coming to you.”
Weeks said a bigger impact would be to go find people that do not know about services for which they may be eligible.
White said Council on Aging Director Mary Collins, provides equally vital services. She has saved 104 in-person and 17 over-the-phone applicants $45,077.66 in supplemental Medicare insurance costs during open enrollment this fall. During the rest of the year, she has counseled an additional 171 residents as they contemplate retirement.
“We very strongly encourage our seniors to seek out a SHINE counselor each year … even if we think things are going well,” she said. “We want to try and get the most bang for their buck.”
She has also seen 22 new fuel assistance applicants this year.
Senior Center
In her update to the board, Collins said the new Outreach Coordinator Linda Mulrey is “the perfect fit” for the position helping with fuel assistance applications, and she will be taking SHINE counseling training, along with two volunteers, to help with health insurance applications next year.
Families may be eligible for fuel assistance without realizing it, she said, with an application deadline at the end of April. Applications may be completed online or in-person. Last year the deadline was extended, and Collins said federal officials quite often add funds to the program.
“It’s been a really tough year for people,” she said regarding fuel assistance. “They are really struggling.”
To obtain fuel assistance, salary requirements are up to – $42,411 for a single applicant; $55,461 for a family of two; $68,511 for a family of three; $81,561 for a family of four and $94,610 for a family of five.
She also urged elders to stop by to peruse food donations, which are often given by stores like Shaw’s as well as charitable groups.
South Shore Elder Mental Health Consortium through a grant, will offer mental health counseling and classes for seniors by Bridgewater State University second-year masters-level social work students at the center in the fall.
“This is something that, sadly, very few senior centers can afford to provide, but is very, very necessary,” she said.
She also thanked local groups such as South Shore Tech, Hanson Community Christmas, the Hanson AKTION Club, the Senior Center Friends Group and the volunteers and staff at the Senior Center for all they have done to support the town’s elders.
“You are amazing and we always feel grateful to have you in this role,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
“Mary talks about other people,” Select Board Member Jim Hickey said. “She would never say the stuff that she does. She’s just an amazing woman.”
Hanson board grounds wandering dog
HANSON – Jet will have to come in for a landing.
The Select Board on Tuesday, Jan. 24 conducted a nuisance or dangerous dog hearing on a following complaint by Charles Williams of 115 Leon Court against a dog named Jet owned by David Leighton of 73 Leon Court. Jet has allegedly been out of its yard on two occasions – Jan. 9 and 11.
Town Administrator Lisa Green said she had received two videos purporting to be of the same dog being out of its yard.
Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald Kemmett said Leighton’s other dog Scout, had been the subject of a previous dog hearing, stressing this complaint was on a different animal named Jet.
“We have not had a discussion or met about this particular dog,” she said. Leighton was asked to work with the animal control officer on ways to control Jet, including walking the animal on a leash while the other dog is on a tether, and he will shore up his fence.
“I mean this in the nicest way possible,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “We don’t want to see you again. We want harmony to reign on Leon Court and you can do your part.”
Leighton said he has been having a problem getting his mail, or he would have acknowledged receiving a first notice about the situation.
Green emphasized that the town has received no information about the dog in this case being threatening or dangerous.
One video shows Williams following the dog to record the situation when it barked at him, but Green said that, under state law, a dog cannot be considered a nuisance just because it is barking or growling, reacting to another animal or a person in a manner “grossly out of proportion” to the circumstances. A dog’s breed cannot be used as a reason to declare it a danger or nuisance.
The board is empowered to determine whether the dog is a danger or a nuisance. There has been no evidence or complaint that the dog is dangerous.
Watching the videos, Select Board members said they did not perceive the dog behaving in an aggressive manner.
Animal Control Officer Joseph Kenney said the dog has not been aggressive or threatening to him, nor has he received reports of it behaving in such a manner to anyone else.
“I get both sides,” he said, noting how he could see someone nervous around dogs being fearful.
Kenney said there had been construction going on at the Leighton property on Jan. 9, which could explain the dog getting out.
“I’m going to blame my kids on this one,” Leighton said adding that when he puts Scout outside on a tether, as he had been directed to do at a previous hearing, bringing Jet with him and taking them both in the house at once. He said he will discuss the seriousness of the situation with his kids, who are in their 20s.
“The kids don’t do that,” he said, so the dog wanders around to the front door, and that may be why Jet ended up in the William’s yard.
FitzGerald-Kemmett said William may be concerned about the safety and fears of his children.
“I’m going to bring him out,” Leighton said about controlling his dog. “I told the kids, ‘Don’t even bother bringing the dogs out, I’ll take care of it.’ This is the last thing in the world I need or want.”
He suggested the complaint was personal.
“I think it’s vindictive and it’s petty,” he said.
“To me, it seems like a powder keg ready to go off,” FitzGerald said, asking Kenney for his recommendation.
He recommended requiring Leighton use a lead to walk the dogs and a six-foot tall fence to keep the dogs in the yard as well as tethering.
Leighton said he doesn’t have the room to put both dogs on a tether, but will continue walking Jet on a lead while Scout is tethered.
“It’ll never happen,” Leighton said, noting he only has one tree. He later apologized for stating it that way when some Select Board members said the phrase could be taken as dismissive.
Select Board Vice Chair Joe Weeks asked how the board could ensure that the dogs are not the subject of complaints, requiring them to call Leighton or his adult children before the board again.
Kenney said the only way anything could come of the case outside regular leash laws would be to deem the animal dangerous or a nuicance, at which time different standards kick in.
“We could be gerbils on this wheel forever,” FitzGerald Kemmett. Member Ann Rein said she didn’t mind holding more hearing if they became necessary so long as the dogs and people involved are safe.
“But, us as gerbils, each time it happens, we’re not spending so much time on it, because we know,” Select Board member Jim Hickey said. “It’s your dog, you’re responsible for it. …Don’t blame your kids.”
Weeks said he was concerned with containing the issue before the board, recognizing the stress on both sides of the situation.
Whitman eyes use for Carlton property
WHITMAN – Plans are being considered for the sale of the Whitman portion of land for development into a youth sports training center.
Select MA company representatives Matt Monroe and Steve McAuliffe presented their proposal regarding the Camp Alice Carlton land on Route 58, of which the town has been the holder and owner since the late 1980s.
Interim Town Administrator Frank Lynam said seven acres of the land are in Whitman and about 25 more are in Rockland.
“It’s essentially open space right now,” he said.
Select MA is a sports company that teaches soccer and manages ballfields, and are interested in having access to some of the Alice Carlton land, either through long-term lease or purchase, according to Lynam, who invited them to present their proposal to the Select Board on Tuesday, Jan. 24.
The plan already encompasses most of the Rockland property. The Hingham-based company is a club sports organization with 1,000 members.
Currently they have to go to Weymouth and Rentfield for the outdoor————- space they need.
“We’re kind of at an inflection point with our program,” Monroe said. “We identified this land that would suit our needs and … we had talked about plans [with Lynam] to initially put in full-sized fields.”
He said the company would like to use the facility for training its own members as well as donating time of field use to the towns for recreation departments.
“I think you guys downplay a little bit just how established your company is,” Select Board Chair Randy LaMattina said. “We are well aware.”
LaMattina said his family has several friends who have daughters who have gone through the soccer program.
“I think this is a fantastic opportunity for the town and, hopefully, for you guys, if there’s a partnership,” he said. “I see great advantage for the town in that partnership.
Hours of operation are currently through 8 p.m., and there are a limited number of abutters in the area, Lynam said.
The next phase is to evaluate the land and open a discussion on the plans and the company’s intent, which the board vote to support.
In other business, the board approved with regret, the rescinding of the common victualler’s license held by Waikiki House restaurant after the eatery’s owners announced their retirement and closing of the business.
Select Board vice chair Dan Salvucci noted the restaurant had been in business for about 40 years, and thanked them for doing business in Whitman, and wished them a happy retirement.
“I can remember us having twins and the young lady that worked there and owned it, she and her husband had twins,” he said. “I remember their two boys riding around the parking lot on their bicycles.”
2/3 School Committee vote discussed
WHITMAN – A suggestion made during the Monday, Jan. 9 WHRSD Regional Agreement Committee that all School Committee votes require a two-thirds vote to carry, was greeted with concern by Whitman Selectmen at their Tuesday, Jan. 24 meeting.
Right now, only budget certification needs a two-thirds vote to pass.
Whitman representative to the Regional Agreement Committee, Select Board member Justin Evans reported on the two meetings held on Jan. 9 and 23. The vote issue was discussed on Jan. 9.
Evans said the voting threshold was the only issue on that agenda that delved into deep discussion.
Hanson Select Board member and Regional Agreement Committee representative Jim Hickey said that is why he felt that a two-thirds vote on any kind of vote taken by the School Committee would make would be the easiest way to solve the problem.
“On anything that the School Committee would actually vote for, you’d need seven out of 10,” he said on Jan. 9. “If the School Committee is doing their job, there’s never a tie vote.”
Evans told his board that the expectation was that Hanson would seek reconfiguration of how many members come from each town, as that approach has been discussed to this point.
“I wanted to get the opinion of this board because I think that will be the biggest area of disagreement when we go back for next Monday’s meeting,” Evans said. “How do we feel about every vote the School Committee takes being at least a two-thirds vote.”
Interim Town Administrator Frank Lynam said that, just like a budget vote. The proposed change would require two-thirds of all members, and not just of those School Committee members present to approve anything.
“It would really be inappropriate to change the number of members from each town,” Lynam said, noting that representation is based on population. “The alternative was a suggestion that there’s some – I would call unfounded concern – that Whitman having six members and Hanson having four members, puts them in a difficult position when issues are controversial, and the interests of a particular town are at hand.”
Lynam said he could only remember one vote, in all his years of dealing with the region, that broke down along town lines, 6-4 and that was the assessment method of dividing costs to the schools.
“The question is, is there enough concern, either on the Whitman side or the Hanson side, that we need to put in some type of circuit-breaker that prevents us from voting along town lines on issues that effect the School Department,” Lynam said.
Evans said he thinks the School Committee members will push back on the proposals as well, because it couldn’t function without seven members.
“I think they’ll push back on that pretty hard,” he said. “They may entertain two-thirds of present members, which would create all kinds of strange scenarios for voting.”
Evans said he is uncertain if he could personally support the proposal but stressed he is the representative to the committee from the Select Board and wanted to get their opinion.
“I don’t even know if they’d reach out to counsel to see if it’s allowable, according to state law,” Evans said.
Select Board Chair Randy LaMattina said he understood Evans’ concern and the nature of compromise, but that the most important vote the School Committee takes every year is the budget and views the issue as “an internal problem.”
“I don’t know if I would argue it,” he said.
“This is a decision that doesn’t effect our hand so much as the School Committee themselves,” Evans said. “I think their opinion matters more than ours, but I wanted to see how we felt.”
Select Board members Dr. Carl Kowalski said he didn’t see any reason to go to a two-thirds vote.
“It doesn’t make sense to me,” he said. “Leaving it the way it is, does.”
“For as long as I’ve been involved, Hanson’s had the chair,” Evans said.
“Yes, they have,” Kowalski said.
Evans noted that Regional Agreement Committee members do see the reorganization votes are a time when the two-thirds vote would definitely come into play.
The current agreement stipulates that “in accordance with one man, one vote committee members will be elected by voters in member communities, with each community’s representation apportioned according to population” and adjusted every five years, beginning in 1995.
School Committee Chair Christopher Howard said his interpretation was that the passage pertained to the interim committee and that the proposed agreement kept that unless and until “a shift in the effective populations in the member towns … creates an impermissible disparity, based on the one person, one vote principal, the committee will address the disparity by either adjusting the committee members or weighing the votes.”
A state law governing how regional committees can form their membership through one of five ways:
Electing committee members by voters in each town with the number of members apportioned by population;
Electing members through district elections on biennial state election ballots;
Electing members with residency requirements in district elections on biennial state election ballots;
Weighing the votes of committee members according to the population they represent; or
Appointing committee members by locally elected officials such as school board members.
Howard said issues that had been difficult to surmount in past years because “we couldn’t get a two-thirds vote.”
School Committee Vice Chair Christopher Scriven noted that, while it may not always be right, people tend to vote for their town.
“To me, that’s wrong,” Hickey said. “I think the School Committee, as members has to hold themselves to a higher standard.”
Evans also reported to the Whitman Select Board on Jan. 24 that the Regionalization Committee discussed busing calculations again as well as what capital needs of the schools come under the heading of an “emergency” cost.
Evans said in years when the School Committee has a large balance in excess and deficiency, they could pay for emergency repairs of most kids, but in leaner budget years, even some of the smaller costs will have to be sent to the towns.
“I personally think an emergency cost is an emergency,” LaMattina said. “It is going to impact you going to school the next day, or impact a particular school or classroom.”
“That’s where most of the conversation was,” Evans said.
Select Board Vice Chair Dan Salvucci stressed that he did not want to see repairs delayed until they were big enough to pass along to the town.
“As far as I’m concerned, that is mismanagement of town buildings,” he said.
Evans also said requiring a periodic review of the Regional Agreement was relatively non-controversial.
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