South Shore Tech Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey is asking for people’s patience as the regional vocational school district shares what they know about the cost of a new school building.
“It may not be best marketing, but it is what we know,” Hickey said in Whitman on Thursday, Dec. 14. “We’ll [soon] know more, and at least we can start having a conversation [about what each design version might cost].”
School officials know that building costs are high these days and the building committee will be smart and practical about what they are looking for, prioritizing shop settings.
“They’re a workforce provider. There’s a lot of benefit that comes from our [vocational] schools – even after-hours – local employers and the local economy benefit,” Hickey said, noting there is a need for advocating for greater support from the Legislature. “You can support local taxpayers by juicing up the reimbursement rates in a few areas that are unique to our school.”
He said his Christmas wish would be a one-time earmark for SST to enable the school to push off the first year of costs.
“Maybe that’s too selfish,” he said. “But at the very least, systemically, we should not be reimbursed as a regular high school. Period. There should be certain categories where our reimbursement rates are higher – that would be a game-changer.”
Hickey said he does not believe for one second that anyone is opposed to the school’s building proposal.
“It’s just about threading that needle with something that will get us that next 50 years and not break everybody’s bank,” he said.
If the aggregate of the nine communities pass a single ballot question to be voted on during the same time window on the same day of January 2024, the project would be deemed approved. Hickey has met with town clerks in all nine communities concerning what the statute says about a district-wide ballot, knowing that 2024 is also a presidential election year and town clerks will have limited free time.
“I can say with great confidence that, if we got to that point, nearly all of my nine communities would have to consider a debt exclusion for that,” Hickey said.
While they do not have accurate estimates of the project cost, the design team has calculated cost estimates based on square footage.
Design 2.0 is estimated at $344.1 million to $350 million with $104.6 million reimbursable and $239.6 million divided between the member towns as the local share. For Design 2.1, the total cost is so far estimated at $349.8 million with $106.7 million reimbursable and $243.1 million on the towns.
Hickey said he hopes to be able to report, after Jan. 17, that the reimbursement amount will hold, but the total amount will drop and that the 30-percent reimbursement number they are now seeing will be higher.
“We know that MSBA reimbursement rates have improved, but it’s still not good enough and certainly not good enough for vocational schools,” Hickey said, noting the MSBA does not have a separate reimbursement scale for vocational schools. “We’ll continue to advocate with our legislative delegation in the hopes that they will be able to advocate for adjusted reimbursement rates.”
Whitman’s percentage, based on enrollment, is the highest at 25.4 percent. Hanson is currently 13.8 percent. The percentages are calculated by adding the enrollments for the last five years, dividing it by the aggregate number of in-district kids.
“If these fake numbers held, Whitman’s share could be anywhere from $58 million to $62 million,” Hickey said. “These are cost estimates that … are clocking in at $1,400 per square foot. The market, right now, is not costing $1,400 a square foot, its probably costing under $1,000 – hence the reason for some optimism at least.”
Bob Kimball, a former school committee member and proponent of vocational education, asked about whether Whitman’s 24 percent of the cost burden, based on current enrollment would be in effect if its enrollment declined during the life of the debt exclusion and how Marshfield figures into it.
Hickey said it would have to carry the 24 percent in that case. Marshfield agreed to pay a little under 18 percent of the SST existing stabilization fund – about $400,000 – based on enrollment trends.
“Their buy-in [to the building project] comes in over time – four years of adjustable debt share and then a fixed debt share after they’ve been in the building for five years,” he said.
There are currently three Marshfield seniors attending SST as non-resident students admitted before state regulations changed, and freshmen will attend as residents of a member community in the fall.
“First of all, we want this,” said Finance Committee member Rosemary Connolly. “We want this for our kids, but we want to make sure that it’s equitable and fair.”
She asked how the reimbursement to communities would be handled by the MSBA.
“We’ve got the largest amount [of the cost] and we’re a poor town,” she said. “Will we be enjoying the reimbursement that would have been given to us if it was separate?”
Hickey said he didn’t think he could confidently and concisely answer that, saying he would have to look into the reimbursement model and how it is calculated. The reimbursement rate for the feasibility study
Public information session is held
was 55.5 percent.
“We’re the largest amount and we’re also now burdening in two different ways to subsidize, in a sense, other wealthier towns,” she said. “I would like you to watch that, maybe re-look at those numbers a little bit.”
Finance Committee – and Whitman Middle School Building Committee – member Kathleen Ottina followed up with a question on the reimbursement rate.
Hickey said the 55.5 percent for feasibility study would not necessarily carry over to the next phase,
“All bets are off for the construction phase,” he said. “You have to look at the situation when we’re eventually going into construction.”
While Whitman has the most students at SST, Ottina noted they have the lowest per-pupil cost based on the statutory model, because they have the highest Chapter 70 funding because Whitman as the poorest town in the district.
“You can tell, based on your fiscal 2024 budget, who can afford it and who can’t,” she said, adding that she has looked into how the MSBA calculates the reimbursement rate, and two of the three factor are similar to how the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education does reimbursement – aggregate wealth and income. “We’re going to get clobbered unless there’s a pro-rated [formula]. We’re 24 percent of the students and 24 percent of the debt, so 24 percent of the reimbursement rate should be what Whitman would get by itself.”
Hickey said those issues are something he could definitely get answers for – not only how MSBA makes the sausage, but how it cuts it up.
Project Manager Jen Carlson from the firm LeftField said the designs have been closely following the allowable space guidelines from MSBA.
Resident John Galvin, who has served on both the Finance Committee and WMS Building Committee, asked several questions, including the evolution of the square-footage in design plans, time between MSBA design approval and the January vote, whether any forecasting has been done on how a new building might affect enrollment, and the prospect of reviewing the SST regional agreement and the calculation of student share.
Carl Franshesci said they are working off a program that calls for a certain number of classrooms and shops and the square-footage needed, which will work for both plan options.
Starting conversations with town clerks now, and providing feedback has been important, Hickey said. The early message received has been one of timing based on the demands of those running local elections.
Carlson also noted that it is not permitted on a state or federal ballot, requiring a separate ballot and check-in process.
“The [enrollment] variable for me right now is Marshfield, because we don’t have any data on that, but Scituate and Hanover have changed in the last few years,” Hickey said, noting that those two communities’ enrollment have begun tightening up. “That means that, in some respects, Whitman’s share will likely plateau and then decline if all those factors hold true.”
Hickey said if enough communities want to review the calculations of student share a review of that portion of the regional agreement is possible, depending on how risk-averse they are to a fixed formula to something adjustable.
“I think the idea deserves to be looked at,” he said.
Getting an early start on FY ‘25 budget
WHITMAN – Year-end financial snapshosts continued last week as the Select Board on Tuesday, Dec. 5 met in a joint session requested by the Finance Committee
“The Finance Committee always looks forward to a joint meeting with the Board of Selectmen just for an update since we last met during the special Town Meeting,” Chair Richard Anderson said, introducing new member Mike Warner. The meeting reviewed revenue projections, and reach concensus on overall expenditure levels, use of reserves and generaly allocation of resources as well as the distribution of budget guidelines to department managers to enable them to prepare appropriation requests.
“The benefit from this process … has helped us, I think, better prepare for Town Meeting,” Anderson said.
Finance has already met with police, fire, veterans’ services, the treasurer-collector and were meeting with the Building Department and assessor later that night.
Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter reminded the two panels that the town aimed to begin the budget process earlier this year. She met with Anderson, Assistant Town Administrator Kathleen Keefe, Hanson Town Administrator Lisa Green and Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak in July to discuss a preliminary budget timeline and the 5-percent increase budget increase over last year’s appropriation. She followed that up with in October with a request for all budget submission with 2.5 percent salary increases and level-funded expenses.
Carter began meeting with individual department heads in November and met a second time with Green and Szymaniak about what the two towns can afford for a school budget increase in fiscal 2025.
“This process will continue for the next couple of months,” she said.
So far this month, she has met with the assessor, treasurer-collector and accountant to prepare information for Town Meeting budget Article 2. She also drafted a budget based on the submission criteria she supplied to department heads.
“This budget is very fluid and is a work in progress,” she said.
Select Board member Shawn Kain said conservative revenue projections put the current levy is $30,971.437. Adding the Proposition 2 ½ increase of $774,286 and $450,000 in new growth raises the projected levy to $32,195,723. New growth estimates of $9,999,746 brings the total to $42,195,469 – a $1,143,299 increase over fiscal 2024.
Expenses in salary and insurance cost hikes and regional schools increases, among others, brings the town’s expenses up to about $1.4 million over last year – higher than revenue increases. That puts the town at a $273,060 deficit.
“We’re trying to get better and better at forecasting,” Kain said.
“This information is more comprehensive than anything we’ve ever had,” Anderson said. “I think it’s good that we’re here together to talk about where we need to end up at an earlier time than we have in the past.”
Carter is also reviewing approved expenditures at previous town meetings that could have come in under-budget, but funds of which, were not returned to the town – as was discovered about some DPW budgeted funds that were discovered unspent during the lead-up to the November special Town Meeting.
“I want to condense that …, but there are several articles with balances for projects that have not yet been started or completed,” she said of a plan to boil out some information.
A small miracle in Christmas moonlight
By Linda Ibbitson Hurd
Special to the Express
Every year when it was time to get a Christmas tree my siblings and I would follow our dad across the field through the snow in back of our house and into the woods on my grandfather’s land to find that one special tree. It was always a pine tree and we all had to agree which one it would be. Dad would cut it down and we’d follow him home.
When the four of us were grown with families of our own, we continued to follow this tradition.
One summer in the ’80s there had been a drought and there were very few trees to pick from. My kids and husband Dave and I were disappointed but made the best of the situation. We decided to go to Nessralla’s Farm stand near our house to pick out a tree.
There was a beautiful full moon that night and the Farm stand was busy with people picking out wreaths and trees in a very festive atmosphere. Everyone seemed to be smiling and calling out greetings to friends and neighbors who were there. Our kids were in their teens by then and found the perfect tree and we brought it home.
As Dave and my son Brian were bringing in the tree, my daughter Heidi and I carried the box of decorations up from the cellar. Once the tree was up and Brian was putting the lights on it, I reached into the box of decorations to pull out the angel we always put on the top of the tree and noticed my wedding band was not on my hand. My heart sank and I began looking for it, thinking I may have put on my dresser.
I looked all over the dresser top and in my jewelry box, all over the room, all over the house and then all over the yard and in our truck. I looked in all my pockets and coat pockets and could not find it.
Dave and I went back up to the farmstand to see if anyone had found it and we looked all over the grounds. The Nessrallas told us if anyone found it, they would call us. We thanked them and left.
When we got home, I turned on the big outside light that shone on the backyard and Dave, the kids and I looked and looked for my ring. The dusting of snow on the ground made it harder to look and we finally went back into the house. They were very comforting to me and tried to get me to relax saying maybe it would turn up in the morning.
I sat for a while watching the kids decorate the tree and I just had to go back out and look again. I said a prayer and walked across the driveway, even moved the truck to see if it might be underneath and checked all inside it once more. I walked out into the backyard again and finally decided to go back into the house.
As I put my foot on the flagstone for what seemed like the 100th time to step into the back door something caught my eye. Some of the snow had melted on the stone making a v shape and something was shining. When I stepped closer to look down, there was my wedding ring shining in the moonlight.
District reports on budget health
The School District finished fiscal 2023 with a balanced budget and was able to put funds back into the excess and deficiency account during a year when they were also negotiating teacher contracts, Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak said during a budget review at the School Committee’s Wednesday, Dec. 6 meeting.
“We balanced our budget through the [date] breach and we’re able to move forward with kids and FY ’24, which we’re working through with the state,” he said.
During his budget update, Business Manager John Stanbrook reported that interest income received by the district during the first quarter of fiscal 2024 has been much higher than anticipated.
“Things that are interesting, at least worth discussion is interest income – I budgeted $11,330,” he said. “Already, through September, we’ve got $37,000 – that’s about $12,000 a month times 12 [or] $144,000 if that continues.”
Committee member Dawn Byers noted that interest income had been forecasted for about $11,000 last year, but Stanbrook reported that the district had earned $235,000 overall.
“That’s fantastic, getting more than $200,000 more in interest,” she said. “Could we have budgeted more for interest income? … Likewise, when I look at the FY ’23 closeout, what worries me most is our state reimbursement on transportation.”
That account is showing a $366,000 deficit for fiscal 2023 and she is concerned that fiscal 2024 will show a similar deficit when the books are closed.
Szymaniak agreed.
“I would say that, when the business director makes a recommendation on transportation reimbursement, the committee sticks with that recommendation and doesn’t go over, because that’s what happened in the past,” he said.
While Szymaniak has had a conversation with state Rep. Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, and feels the transportation reimbursement should be in a better place at the closeout this year. Cutler said transportation had been level-funded over the last three years, but have increased it in the FY ’24 Governor’s budget for next year.
Szymaniak also said the interest income was unexpected last year.
“When we were budgeting in February, we didn’t have any idea,” he said, noting all the budget documents being reviewed by the committee were done by hand as part of the district’s data recovery following a recent system breach.
“That’s why when we got delayed, [Stanbrook] had to create 211,000 accounts for Munis,” he said. “They’re not a company that’s working with us. We were working with them [but] they’re not necessarily working for us. … I know things have been delayed in the past, but all this information was done by hand. Two years ago, he could push a button and we could get a report.”
Szymaniak said the district is also cutting paper checks.
“We’re almost out of the breach,” he said. “But the breach significantly impacted all of our data and how we present things.”
He asked for a conservative idea on the interest income that the district could realistically expect for the coming budget year, now that the problem has been identified.
“It would impact our budget in a positive way,” he said.
The Committee unanimously voted in support of policy revisions for their meeting norms, which will be printed up and placed in front of each member during meetings as well as at the sign-in table for those wishing to speak during public forum.
Member Glen DiGravio voiced objection to a policy against using cell phones during meetings, noting he uses his smartphone for everything, pushing the laptop issued to the committee aside for emphasis.
“I like this [he closed the laptop and picked up his phone] but this is how I do things,” he said. “This is my Google Drive. This is my everything. I don’t need this [laptop], I bring it because everyone else does.”
He said he also uses his phone to research information brought up in presentations.
“I just Wikipedia’d the Hamilton duel [as Hanson Middle Schoolers performed a re-enactment],” he said. “That’s my phone and [while] I’m not allowed to do that anymore, I’m still going to do it.”
Chair Beth Stafford said the policy change was because the Committee receives complaints that members are using phones to communicate with the public during meetings.
“That’s why a lot of the information now is printed,” she added.
Member Hillary Kniffen agreed, noting that was the reason Boston School Committee members’ phones were confiscated a few years ago because people thought they were texting each other during a meeting.
“It’s more to protect us,” she said of the policy change. “If someone sees you … you might be looking something up, but they don’t know and they might want to see your phone and it could be problematic.”
Vice Chair Christopher Scriven says he has a lot of the same functions on his laptop, allowing him to text on that device.
“I think the idea is we’re supposed to try to pay attention as much as we possibly can, and if you can balance that and work off your phone, I don’t see it a problem,” he said.
DiGravio said he would do his “absolute best” to transition to the laptop during meetings.
In other business, new Whitman Student Resource Officer Mark Poirier introduced himself to the committee. He succeeds Kevin Harrington, who has been promoted to the rank of sergeant on the Whitman Police Department.
“I’m excited,” he said. “It’s a whole different role for me.”
Poirier went to Whitman Schools along with Committee Vice Chair Christopher Scriven.
Whitman’s Rota in Food Network Holiday Baking finals
WHITMAN – She’s in the finals.
Whitman baker Justine Rota wowed the Food Network’’s Holiday Baking Championship judges Carla Hall and Nancy Fuller on Monday, Dec. 11 with her Kwanzaa-inspired plantain upside-down cake.
“This is another challenge where I have no idea what I’m doing, but [in] those challenges, I’ve been hovering in the top two, so I must be doing something right,” Rota said as she got to work on her cake. As she said that she is adept at upside-down cake, she opted to basically not try to fix what wasn’t broken.
Her sugar cookie kinara with the traditional red, black and green candles depicted on them for her preheat challenge, drew Hall’s special raves. The dessert had to depict the kinara in some way.
“You sure have done a good job,” Fuller said. “The upside-down cake, oh, my word – the carmelization and that battah…”
“The kinara sugar cookies? Perfect,” Hall said. “They’re so clean, the drips, the flames, the movement. Beautiful.”
They liked the taste even more.
“That carmelization that you’ve got on those plantains and into this cake is absolutely amazing,” Fuller said.
“What I love about your whole dessert, [is] it gave us all these different textures,” Hall agreed. “You get this chewiness from the plantains [and] then your cake is a dense cake that’s still moist with big crumbs, and then you finish with your sugar cookies … it’s really well done.”
Rota was the winner of the preheat challenge.
But, as sometimes happens with the advantages in such victories, Rota and her selected teammates Kevin Conniff of Alberta, Canada and Javier Trujillo of Chicago in an extra challenge to create an edible “ornament,” ran into production problems that cost them a win – and a loss of 10 minutes in the final – a Christmas-tree themed pull-apart pastry with a complimentary dipping sauce.
Celebrity baker Duff Goldman returned from his absence in time to judge the final challenge.
Rota picked raspberry for the filling flavor in her pull-apart pastry tree with an orange carmel dipping sauce.
“Last time I made a blitz puff pastry I did not bake it enough,” Rota said of an earlier challenge in the competition. This time, Goldman had a question for her.
“I don’t understand what happened.” he dead panned. “I leave for a couple weeks, I come back and all your pastries are amazing. What did you do with Justine? I’m kidding. This is really out of this world.”
“I think it’s bautiful,” Fuller said. “The colors are absolutely gorgeous. It’s so cohesive. I’m very impressed.”
Hall’s main criticism was that the trunk of Rota’s tree was a bit thick, limiting the size of the pull-apart branches, she also thought the sauce was a little acidic as a dip for a raspberry pastry.
“Delicious,” Fuller said as her eyes widened.
In the end, Rota was the second-place contestant, after Coloradan Thua Nguyen, with both of them, along with Conniff and Ashley Landerman of New Braunfels, Texas, head to the final round of baking challenges next week.
Holiday Baking Championship. Food Newtork. 8 p.m., Monday, Dec. 18.
The top prize in the contest is $25,000.
Finding strength in our diversity
WHITMAN – While the nation seems to grow further divided with each passing day, a group of Whitman residents have looked to area towns for an idea aimed at bringing residents together.
It’s called the Whitman Freedom Team (WFT), and perhaps the holiday season is the best time to explore it.
Former teacher and principal Thomas Evans, and School Committee member Steve Bois are heading up the project, based on similar efforts in Natick and Scituate. There is no limit foreseen regarding the number of people who might choose to become involved, to aid in drawing on expertise specific to a situation.
Evans pointed to the fact that he and Bois are on opposite ends of the political spectrum.
“He’s a very dear friend of mine, he’s very fair, and that’s what I want,” he said. “I don’t want people to agree with me, I want people to tell me what the problem is, define it and then go to reconciliation.”
Select Board Chair Dr. Carl Kowalski said both Bois’ and Evans’ involvement speak well of the program.
“My attitude about finance committees changed when Steve became the chair of the Finance Committee,” Kowalski said. “And you, Tom, absolutely best principal I have ever seen.”
“You don’t know any others,” Evans said.
“I know a few,” Kowalski said. “To have you as the headpin on this will work out perfectly and I’m looking forward to working with you.”
The freedom team mission: “to preserve freedom through unity in the community,” according to Scituate’s website scituatefreedom.org.
“This is something that is going to take a while to germinate and to become official,” Evans said in his first public opportunity to discuss the program and its aims. “It’s something I’ve been working on since last March after watching a TEDXNatic talk on the program presented by Jamele Adams. TED Talks are influential videos from expert speakers on education, business, science, tech and creativity. The X in the program’s title denotes it is an independently organized TED event. A former dean of students at Brandeis University Adams is the first Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Scituate School District in Scituate.
He gave the TED talk in Natick, dedicated to inspiring others to “be L.I.T.” – as love, inclusion and trust are keys to bringing communities together.
“We’re going to do it,” Evans said. “The more we talk about things and the more that we talk about how our country is, is moving toward being as good as we can be. We can help with that.”
Evans said Adams was not only passionate about the idea of Freedom Teams, but was also willing to help people form teams in their own communities. When no intervention is needed, they discuss ways to improve their communities.
“That’s why I’m here tonight, because of my friend, Jamele Adams,” Evams said, noting that Adams, of Franklin, has been very supportive of his efforts to form a team in Whitman. “My hope is that those who might be interested in helping in making the WFT a reality will give me a call and then we’ll go from there.”
While he supplied the Select Board with some information on what a freedom team is, he began his remarks on Tuesday, Dec. 5 by stressing what it is not.
“It’s not political,” Evans said. “It’s not partisan and it’s not a law-enforcement agency. The WFT is made up of Whitman volunteers and is based on the 10-point communal engagement model that roots pillars of the community, and people central in the community as a team dedicated to love, inclusion and trust. It might sound corny, but that’s what we’re about.”
While not a law-enforcement agency, Evans said the key to the team’s success will be the police chief, a person trained in what is lawful and whose expertise the team would defer to in such matters.
Chief Timothy Hanlon, for example, has advised that should the WFT set up a hotline number as Scituate has, it cannot be affiliated with the police department because of town liability issues.
Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter and Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak have also had helpful discussions with the team, Evans said.
“The superintendent … has offered us support,” Evans said noting issues often come to the attention of freedom teams through the schools. “He has allowed [Director of Equity and MTSS] Dr. Nicole Semas-Schneeweis … to speak with students who are interested in getting involved.”
Parents, a lawyer, clergy, and local political officials (including three Select Board members) are involved. Evans said he is working to include a social media expert, a mental health clinician trained in trauma and multicultural lenses and a transformational justice facilitator.
“We hope that more people will hear about this will learn about it, respond to it and come forward,” he said. “Tonight is just the beginning. There’s still much more to do before the Whitman Freedom Team becomes a reality, but rest assured, it will happen.”
The WFT is also working to organize as a 501 (c)3 non profit, which will allow it to stay independent of the town, raise funds to finance some of its goals and programs.
Select Board member Shawn Kain, who does similar work professionally, urged caution in dealing with people in crisis, even as he supported the effort.
“Point well taken,” Evans said, noting that members of any organization should know their limits.
Police chiefs in Franklin and Natick have been supportive of their communities’ freedom teams and the positive impact they have seen from the teams’ work.
“The Freedom Team assists in helping our community heal when needed, and will join the network of the freedom teams, of which Whitman will be number eight,” Evans said. “It exists to listen and facilitate discussions for individuals and groups, encouraging people to be ‘up-standers,’ not by-standers in interrupting racism, bigotry and prejudice wherever it’s encountered, preserving freedom through unity and a commitment to gaining new understanding in the community.”
Those goals have been adopted from the teams in Scituate and Natick.
While Evans said he is not looking to be the only person making decisions in the team but he has suggested the motto: “Find a Way,” in memory of the late J.P. Drier, a young man who had so much to give to our community. The former W-H student athlete died from complications of Type 1 diabetes in July.
“The mission of the Whitman Freedom Team is to preserve freedom through unity in the community,” he said. The team will meet monthly, usually via Zoom, to explore ways of offering dialog in support of individuals and the entire community in the goal of moving beyond tolerance to celebrate and share the community’s diversity.
“We’re beginning to change, and we need to change,” he said. “We can be different, but we can also work together.”
Evans said he was advised by the seven other freedom teams in eastern Massachusetts – including Natick (where the first team was started in 2016), Hingham, Frankin. Hopkinton and Scituate – to adopt some of their organizational frameworks and goals. rather than trying to reinvent the wheel.
“Once we’ve formed officially, the members will decide what the wording should be, but this is where we’re starting” he said.
When a report of hate, bias-motivated threats, harassment or violence related to race, color, sex, gender, gender or sexual identity, age, ethnicity, national origin, religion, disability or class, is received by the team it will offer a safe, private and respectful place to discuss such an incident, using a transformative justice model.
“We respond to violence without creating more violence,” Evans said. “We are trying to be healing – having parties come together, be educated and de-escalate situations.”
Whitman baker in national spotlight
WHITMAN – Somewhere, Ruth Wakefield has been watching the Food Network this holiday season.
That might be because one contestant, Justine Rota, is a home baker from Whitman, hoping to bake her way past keen competition – and a lot of truly bad puns – as the Food Network’s Holiday Baking Championship 2023 rolls along. She’s also educating the world about the home of the chocolate chip cookie.
During the Monday, Dec. 4 block of broadcasts, she had survived a smash cake contest in which the baked good had to look impressive from all directions, including underneath through a window the cake was set on. She also dodged a problem with white chocolate that wasn’t setting well in a baked goods mosaic contest, in which she and a partner were supposed to create mini desserts that came together to form that design
The Season 10 Week 5 challenge, aired Monday, Dec. 4, saw her baking close to her New England roots with a Sweet Potato Tartlet with maple creme in a Hanukkah latke-inspired dessert.
Through it all her South Shore accent stood out for fun by fellow contestants and judges alike.
“Your textures are spot-on and beautiful,” Judge Carla Hall said of the tartlet.
“Justine keep it up, you are on fire,” Nancy Fuller agreed.
Baker Duff Goldman was under the weather and unable to participate in the two episodes.
Representing Whitman’s status as the home of the chocolate chip cookie, Rota she is the proud owner of Sweet Standards, a home-based bakery.
The Episode 5 final bake called on them to turn a bar cookie into a letterboard.
“I’m making a raspberry oat bar with a white chocolate ganache,” she told host Jesse Palmer, deciding to switch it up to a white chocolate eggnog ganache with the challenge ingredient. “I’m making bars all the time for my family,” she said. But she had never made eggnog before.
That was key since Josh Juarez of Austin, Texas, winner of the latke prebake, was given the choice of eggnog or mulled wine, with his choice the surprise ingredient the contestants then had to incorporate in their bars.
“This bar is going to lift the judge’s spirits,” she said.
But, just before going to commercial, her raspberry filling ran over onto the bottom of the oven where it began to burn.
“It’s OK, you can do this,” competitor Thoa Nguyen of Englewood, Colo., reassured her after lending a helping hand as the timer ran down.
Then it was time for the judges to weigh in.
“I think that I like your little decorations around it,” Hall said. “I love your colors, that said, I don’t think it looks so much like a sign.”
Rota said during a contestant interview, spiced into the judging comments that she felt her bar looked “a little sad” but hoped the judges liked her flavors.
They did.
“You ‘shu-ah’ did this good,” Fuller quipped with her version of a Massachusetts accent after her eyes lit up on tasting Rota’s dessert. “I’ve got the crunch, I’ve got the brightness of the raspberries, I got the eggnog. You have the most special tasting holiday bar today.”
“This sign didn’t look good, but this is delicious,” Hall agreed.
Rota finished among the top two in the episode, bested for the top spot by Javier Trujillo of Chicago, but finished in second place, to continue in the competition’s semifinal. Juarez, unfortunately, was sent home.
Rota, a Johnson & Wales graduate, says her favorite part of the holidays is baking cookies with her family and then driving around together in search of the best Christmas lights, according to her contestant bio. She’s also a self-proclaimed shopaholic and lover of all that is pink and sparkly.
One more week of competition remains before the final three bakers compete in the year’s finale – “Gifts of Greatness.”
The semifinal airs on the Food Network at 8 p.m., Monday, Dec. 11 and the final is being broadcast at 8 p.m., Monday, Dec. 18.
Shop has generational appeal
WHITMAN – The town center has been gifted with another retail business – just in time to help shoppers find a gift for the particular people on their lists.
Mimi’s Closet Boutique – co-owned by Michele Allen, who lives on a nearby street, and her daughters Julie Taylor, 30, and Nicole Walls, 26, – opened at 83 South Ave., off Day Street in September, just in time to take off in time for the holiday shopping season.
Allen said the shop’s name is a loving nod to her own mother in-law, who loved clothing and accessories.
“She would have loved this store,” Allen said.
Part of their marketing strategy has been to direct customers to the door – as the store’s entrance is off Day Street, as they were searching for it on the South Avenue side.
“I have had a couple of in-home businesses, Town Pride Candles is one of them, I started that about eight years ago, and Two Sisters Design,” Allen said. “The person who was in this [space] before me was a photographer and she contacted me and said she had to give up the lease and did I want her space.”
Traveling in New Hampshire at the time, Allen asked her daughters to look at the space and see if they liked it.
“We really didn’t have an idea of what we wanted to do,” she said on Saturday, Dec. 2, a morning when Taylor and Walls were off. “So we did this, beginning in September.
The shop offers a lot of selection in a small space, and that is by design.
“It’s been great,” said Allen, whose day job is as an executive assistant at Voya Financial as well as a recording secretary for the Select Board. “It’s all new.”
While there have been a couple people stopping by on the assumption that Mimi’s Closet is a consignment shop, Allen stressed it is a boutique which they stock through a couple of wholesale vendors from which each of the three do their own buying.
And variety is their stock in trade.
“We have all generations doing the buying, so we attract all age groups,” Allen said. “We don’t show each other what we’re buying, we just all buy.”
Sizes range from extra small to 3X and designs that appeal to all ages.
The selection of plus sizes alone has motivated a lot of positive reviews both in the store and online, as well. In fact, the first thing Allen always asks new customers is, ‘How did you hear about us?’”
Most, it turns out, have heard about the shop from Facebook.
“A lot of them have said, ‘I came in because I heard about your plus sizes,’” she said.
Another “plus” is the price range.
“We try to keep everything $35 and under,” she said. “Our average price is $22 and we have a lot of things that are $17. Our rent is reasonable, so we can keep our prices low.”
The store also places items on hold from customers online, who either pay by Venmo or when they pick up.
“If people can’t get in during our working hours – between the three of us, we do four-hour shifts – my daughters both have kids, I work from home, so we post a lot of pictures of things we can hold.”
Taylor Swift’s line being extremely popular, when Allen posted that the brand’s slippers were back a few days ago, she said “The door kept opening.”
As Allen spoke a woman and her teenage daughter came in the store to browse.
“You should see on half days how many teenage girls are in here,” she said. “Then they’ve come in with their moms. … We’re grateful for the community support. It’s just been amazing.”
The owners hold shopping events quite often, including a “Sip and Shop” on Thursday, Nov. 30 that attracted about 40 to 50 people, during which tables were stacked with merchandise for customers to shop, including holiday sweatshirts and slippers which are part of the Taylor Swift brand.
“It kind of cleared us out a little bit,” Allen said.
The next event is a Mimosa Sunday from 10 a.m. To 2 p.m., on Dec. 17 and have decided to have a guest vendor at shopping events from now on.
Another new promotion gives customers a scratch-off for percents off or free items. if they’re shopping within five days of their birthday.
“It’s really been fun,” Allen said.
The shop has held four fundraising shopping events for local football and cheer teams.
“We like to give back to people who support us,” she said. “They get cash back for their teams and brought people in to introduce us to the community. We’ve met so many nice people.”
A lot of those people have already become repeat customers.
(Editor’s note: This updates a version of the story with an incorrect address. The boutique is at 83 South Ave.)
Hanson rings in the holiday season with Santa, food, fun and fireworks
The well-attended Hanson Holiday Fest was held on Saturday, Dec. 2 at the Town Hall Green, featuring photos with Santa and the Grinch. Many local businesses, restaurants, and groups provided free goodies for all attending, and fireworks followed at 7 p.m., all compliments of the Hanson Fire Department. Above, Mark and MaryAnne Brown take a selfie with the Grinch as it ‘snows’ on them and others. See more photos, page 6. Photos by Carol Livingstone
Whitman sets FY 2024 tax rate
WHITMAN – While unanimously voting to set the tax rate on Tuesday, Nov. 28 the Select Board also signaled its concerns for residents who might be forced out of their homes by the decision.
The board to adhere to historic precedent and set a single tax rate for fiscal 2024 during the town’s annual tax classification hearing. The Board of Assessors had voted to recommend adoption of the single tax rate, with no commercial or residential exemptions, which is also customary. They estimate the excess levy capacity to be $4,435.48.
“The town has always voted a single tax rate, as opposed to a split rate,” Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter said.
By a vote of 4-0 the Select Board voted in favor of the recommendations. Select Board Chair Dr. Carl Kowalski was absent.
Resident John Galvin, of 41 High St., who has served on the finance committee as well as the Whitman Middle School Building Committee, voiced concerns about the ability of elderly and low-income residents to bear the tax burden.
“I stand here challenging the [Select Board], to start taking the lead instead of just letting all of this happen,” Galvin said. “In the last year, this board just let this all happen.”
He said it was time the board consider how to help seniors and low-income people, who are in “significant risk” of being forced out of their homes.
“I don’t know what, but we have to do something in order to help those taxpayers out,” he said.
The Board of Assessors has vowed to “leave no stone unturned” in an effort to help low-income and senior residents.
Select Board Vice Chair Dan Salvucci said that in his 30 years on the Finance Committee and Select Board, the town has always done a factor one tax rate. Why?
“By not doing factor one, we put more pressure on the businesses in town,” Salvucci said. “What’s going to happen is we’re either going to drive businesses out of own or they’re going to increase their prices. … Rents are going to go up. It’s going to hurt the citizens one way or the other.”
Businesses are what keeps the town going he said, but also expressed his concern for seniors.
“I’m a senior, but we have a town to run and businesses are a big part of it,” he said.
Select Board member Justin Evans agreed with Salvucci’s point on businesses and noted that a couple of other towns have begun to look at tax exempt properties and trying to negotiate a pilot payment from them.
Select Board member Laura Howe, who said she, too, is a “pretty much” a senior, too but noted Galvin brought up low-income residents and expressed her willingness to work with anyone who has a solution to help taxpayers in general.
“Low-income is huge,” she said. “There are people suffering and I have made note of that several times of what not being able to pay your bills does to a family. It’s very destabilizing and it affects [people] across the board.”
Galvin’s questions centered on the estimated status of tax receipts, and whether an exclusion has yet been taken for the middle school project.
“I’m thinking, now that we are out of the feasibility study that there will be significant expenses this year as we move forward in design, and I don’t know if that’s going to be something that we wait for the district to put that through in the upcoming budget, or is that something that needs to be considered?” he asked. “With the estimated receipts not being certified by the DOR, with an excess levy of only $44,000 as of right now, if there are any estimated receipts that are not necessarily approved, so that number comes down a little, do we still have room to adjust?”
Carter agreed with his characterization of the process that the town would have to wait until the district makes the assessment for the middle school project.
“We have not done any borrowing yet for either the DPW or the middle school,” Carter said.
Assistant Town Administrator Kathleen Keefe said the estimated receipts are never approved until the town submits them to the DOR to set the tax rate. The tax classification held this week is the first step in that process.
Figuring it out
Principal Assessor Wendy Jones provided a presentation to update the board on the town’s fiscal situation including approved values by the Department of Revenue for the valuation of all classes for the town of Whitman and approved new growth figures, most of which is new construction.
“This is the point at which we can vote to distribute, based on the percentages of the levy in each class, and shift the burden with factor ratings from residential, commercial, industrial and personal property classes,” she said. “This is something we do every year, based on when the values have been approved and adjusted based on [property] sales.”
The valid 2022 sales, also approved by the DOR, were the primary reference point.
“Based on those sales, it determines how much we adjust each class and what types of adjustments we do for each class,” she said. “We’re also looking at the properties in terms of the assessment as of Jan. 1.”
As a Chapter 653 community, Whitman is allowed to assess new growth and construction beyond Jan. 1, as well as sending out supplementary bills on new construction, Jones added.
A full property revaluation, also known as certification is completed every five years. The last one occurred in 2022. Interim year adjustments are based on the market sales analysis during non-certification years, Jones explained.
Whitman’s total approved valuation for 2024 is $2,510,191,250 – of that, 89.5 percent, or $2,246,581,005 is residential; 4.6 percent or $114,771,466 is commercial; 1.1 percent, or $27,947,905 is industrial and 4.8 percent, or $120,890,874 is personal property.
Estimated numbers still to be finalized and approved by DOR put the total amount to be raised, as voted by Town Meeting, at $50,522,578.95, with the town’s total estimated receipts at $18,542,742.43. The tax levy needed to be raised by property taxes is $31,979,836.52.
“That is the levy, based on last year’s levy, plus 2.5 percent, plus new growth and then the debt exclusion, and we haven’t exceeded that, so that’s good,” she said.
The tax rate is reached by dividing the tax levy by the total value of the town. Tax rate shifts, in 5 percent increments are permitted, up to a factor of 1.5, if the Select Board wished to vote in that way.
The usually supported factor of 1.0 puts the tax rate at $12.7 for all classifications. If a factor of 1.5 was to be approved, it would bring the residential rate down to $11.99 by increasing the other classifications up to $19.11.
Shifting the burden in such a way would be detrimental to the town’s business climate, the board has argued.
The average single-family house, valued at $470,189, would bring a tax bill of $5,990 in a 1.0 factor, with a factor of 1.5 bringing the bill down by $174, while increasing the tax for commercial, industrial and personal property classes of $1,588.
Galvin had asked if only single-family homes were included in the calculations, and Carter assured him they were.
“In a lot of the analysis that we were doing on the middle school we were just seeing how it affected single-family homes and not necessarily multi-family homes,” he said. “I sat here last year at this meeting and I voiced my concern over the impact that the taxpayers were going to get hit in the next year or two years, three years. Two of those projects – the DPW building and the WMS building. I have been voted and approved by voters of Whitman. Now we’re looking at South Shore Tech … low-income residential exemption – seniors. … In my opinion, there’s a crisis with that class – low-income seniors.”
Galvin noted that Whitman would not have a lot of say in the South Shore Tech project.
“I stand here, challenging the [Select Board] to start taking the lead instead of just letting all of this stuff happen,” he said, “In the last year, this board just let this all happen … and it all happened and, yet, we’ve got taxpayers – seniors, low income – who are in significant risk of being forced out of this town.”
A small commercial exemption, for property owned by a certifies business that employs fewer than 10 people and is worth $1 million or less, is permitted, but the board has not supported it because most small businesses lease their space – which benefits only the property owner. Residential exemptions are permitted for higher-priced owner-occupied homes or large numbers of rental properties.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- …
- 179
- Next Page »