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Rec policies under review

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HANSON – The Board of Selectmen has approved a revised policy and procedures document – minus a few points of concern on which they sought clarification or amendments.

Recreation Commission Chairman Frank Milisi reported on its revised policies and procedures for the Board of Selectmen’s approval at its Tuesday, Feb. 22 meeting.

The 20-page document, according to Milisi, corrects previous amendments not yet approved by Selectmen and adoption of a clause in the vendor contract, as well as fixing typographical errors. 

“There was some Recreation director positions that were in here and we added to some teams we had at the commission level, and things like that,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve had Board of Selectmen voted-on policies and procedures from four-to-five-years, so we’re just trying to shore things up with the rate increase that we did.”

Selectmen Chairman Matt Dyer said he had a question and a comment about the changes.

“I know that we have a relatively new commission up there,” he said.

“Very new,” Milisi agreed.

“One thing I’ve been asking for [over] the last four years … was that we really need a business plan to really understand what’s going on up there operationally, because … the camp’s going to need another subsidy and one thing I would like to see, maybe before Town Meeting, would be a financial plan – a projection of what you guys are going to see over the next couple of years, just so we can get an understanding, because we keep hearing ‘it’s another subsidy, another subsidy.’”

Milisi said a meeting was scheduled for Monday, Feb. 28, and he was willing to out that on the agenda, but that he and Audrey Flanagan had previously present such a document with a rate increase that showed projected revenue for fiscal 2022 and 2023 with different rate increases that didn’t get voted on. That proposal could be shored up.

“We keep hearing it’s going to get better,” Dyer said. While he stressed that no one is going to be critical because of the global effects of COVID, it has been something he has been asking for and it always fell short.

“Yeah, we had the pandemic, but we still need to make a level business up there, that’s what it is, is essentially a business,” Milisi said, noting that they have other ways of generating revenue, including applications for American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) funds and similar programs.

“Obviously those rate increases will do us a lot of good,” he said.

The Camp lodge is already booked for 2022 and the commission is now booking for 2023 when the new fees should take effect, according to Milisi.

He pledged to get a business plan before Selectmen before Town Meeting.

“I don’t take going to Town Meeting and asking for money lightly,” he said. “But we had a discussion the other day about ‘do we have enough money to have the caretaker paint the wall?’”

“That’s getting real,” said Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett.

Milisi said it’s a double-edged sword – if they can’t pay caretakers for upkeep, then the camp will deteriorate faster and will then be unappealing for prospective leasees.

Dyer also mentioned that town counsel had advised against 80-20 fee splits anymore, and suggested another look be taken. Milisi agreed the split is also hard to audit.

Town Counsel Kate Feodoroff said she has asked them to shore up the contracts and is less concerned than she has been in the past about liability, but that Selectmen dictate policy.

“We shouldn’t be subsidizing people’s business, but we shouldn’t be making a huge profit off recreation – we make our profit off of weddings and things like that,” Milisi said.

He also said he believes the 80-20 split is equitable, but that the commission could try to rewrite the contracts to make them equitable, since Selectman Joe Weeks had indicated he would favor putting the issue off to another meeting to decide it and prepare for a discussion with the board.

“Twenty percent of one person’s revenue is not necessarily the same as 20 percent of somebody else’s, but there’s some programs that don’t make that much money, and 20 percent to them is still a good amount of money,” he said.

Dyer also mentioned the pre-COVID intention of the Commission to raise the rates at Cranberry Cove. While he voted for it, he said he was against the principal of raising the rates and an agreement – never really implemented – was placing two day passes with the Hanson Public Library to be checked out by families, as museum passes are already made available. He said he still wants to see that implemented.

Milisi said that could certainly be added to the policy.

“I applaud this, I think it’s very thorough,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. She did note “some ethics things,” including public meeting concerns, and advocated including a clause indicating that town bylaws and state ethics laws prevail over the policies.

Milisi indicated that policies where it is concern, that legal concern would be footnoted.

Preparing for spring at South Shore Tech

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BUDDING CAREERS: The hard work of spring goes on while the snow is still on the ground. Seniors Ryan Franceschini of Hanson and Jaylise Oehlschlagel of Whitman, above from left, and freshman Ryan McCosker of Rockland, from left at left, and seniors Ryan Franceschini and Brady Cook of Hanson, were among freshman and senior students practicing plant identification. The students will be taking part in the upcoming FFA State competition being held in Sturbridge in the middle of March and are all enrolled in SST’s new horticulture program. See more photos, page 7.

Courtesy photos, Keith Boyle, SST

Cheer wins 29th straight Patriot League title

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The cheer team poses after its win. / Courtesy photo

The Whitman-Hanson Regional High cheerleading team won its 29th Patriot League title in a row.

Kayla Crawford won seven Patriot League titles on the mat at Whitman-Hanson Regional High. 

Now the 2012 grad has one as a coach. 

Last Thursday, Feb. 17, the Panthers captured their 29th straight Patriot League title at Duxbury High School. 

“It 100 percent feels better to win as a coach,” Crawford said. “The competition is much tougher now than it was back then. I’m so proud of the girls for hitting their best routine of the season thus far and winning the title again. The girls have been working so hard to keep the streak going.”

Crawford took over the reins of the Panthers in December after Alyssa Pietrasik stepped down because she’s expecting a child. 

“Alyssa has been very helpful getting me adjusted to the coaching position,” Crawford said. “She has kept everything very organized which has made my transition very smooth. She has been very supportive all while giving me space to bond and build my own relationship with the team.”

Next up for W-H is the South regional championship on Sunday, March 6 at Bellingham High. 

“Our goal moving forward is to increase some difficulty in our routine and clean up the little things so our performance is sparkling clean,” Crawford said. 

The Panthers’ rosters consists of: Tiffany Joyce (captain), Brooke Balfe (captain), Leah Cataldo, Emily Diehl, Sheridan Ewell, Isabella Furtado, Bridget Iannone, Sophia Kearns, Jessica LaBonte, Melissa Murray and Kara Sheehan. 

Hanson faces tough budget season

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HANSON — The town is close to $1 million in the red going into the fiscal 2023 budget season, according to Town Accountant Todd Hassett.

“We’re not in the position to present you with a balanced budget, like we typically attempt to do,” he said. “We’ve got a bit of work to do over the next few weeks.”

He and Finance Committee Chairman Kevin Sullivan and made their initial budget presentation to the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Feb. 22. “Where we’re at right now, based on the requests, is that we have about a $966,000 shortfall,” he said, adding that he and Sullivan would be working closely together in an effort to close the budget gap in the town’s best interest. “We’ve got a number of decisions that we’ve got to really grapple with over the next few weeks.” He indicated the town would require “some partnership and cooperation” from the regional school district, or “we’re not in a position to fund the budget as initially requested.”

The $300,000 snow budget is already in a deficit position, as well, with more snow forecast on Friday, Feb. 26, Hassett said.

“We’re starting behind where we normally are,” Sullivan agreed, noting that he had little to add to Hassett’s report. “Even though the town came together last year with some heroic efforts, we still have a deficit to overcome — a fairly significant deficit — and I think we need to look at the individual departments.”

He said that, as personnel is a huge cost, he questions whether this is the right time to add new personnel and pointed to the subsidies provided to both the Transfer Station and Recreation Commission as the usual questions to be considered because the retained earnings “just aren’t there anymore.”

The school assessment is less of a gap than the town has had to cover in previous years, but is still a concern. [See related story, page 1].

Hassett indicated Hanson would not be able to afford much more than a 3.5 percent increase in the school assessment.

“We are a little behind schedule, as you know, in terms of pushing forward the FY ’23 operating budget,” Hassett said, noting that they have developed a sense of the town’s recurring and nonrecurring funding sources available to support that spending plan.

The town’s primary source of revenue is property taxes, Hassett noted, followed by local receipts and, to a lesser extent, state aid, with the governor’s budget showing about a $41,000 increase in revenue — about 2.5 percent higher than current state aid.

Hassett said he anticipates a 5 percent increase in local receipts, related to motor vehicle excise taxes, permits, licenses and other departmental fees.

Property taxes in total are projected to go up about 3.4 percent — a combination of the statutory 2 ½ percent available, which represents about $613,000 — and estimated new growth estimated at about $250,000 — or about 1 percent. Hassett noted that figure is lower than in recent years as there has been a slow-down in construction related to the pandemic and subsequent supply chain issues. There has also been a reduction in permit revenue.

Recurring revenue is projected to increase about 3.5 percent, Hassett said.

There are also debt exclusions still on the books from the police station and the regional high school.

“The state aid is more of a factor for the regional school district that it is in the town,” he said.

“We have a healthy free cash [fund], the two enterprise funds have retained earnings — or their free cash — both of which are on the low side compared to prior years,” he said of funds available for one-time expenses.

Free cash is just over $1.7 million right now, but Hassett said he could foresee that being reduced to around $100,000 by the time Town Meeting is concluded.

Departmental requests include a second of a three-year collective bargaining agreement for all town unions except the water union, which is on a different cycle; 2-percent non-union cost of living adjustments; a few reclassified positions at the Library; the IT director being increased to a full-time position; and a change to full-time status for the building inspector and a request for another police officer. The Highway Department also filled a position and a part-time outreach position for the Council on Aging has been added.

A $5,000 audit bill for required oversight of federal grant programs, including the CARES Act and ARPA is also included in the budget. Every other year an actuarial review of OPEB is required, costing about $7,000 this year. A $20,000 increase has been requested for legal services.

There are also more expenses around elections for the year as 2022 is a midterm election year.

Projected subsidies for the Recreation and Transfer Station accounts were also included in Hassett’s presentation — about $300,000 from the general fund breaking out as $135,000 for Recreation and $165,000 for thee Transfer Station. The latter, a recurring cost, came from free cash this year. There was no subsidy in FY ’22 for Recreation. 

They propose to use $35,000 of about $36,000 in Transfer Station retained earnings to support the operating budget.

Hassett said the town’s five-year plan — which must be voted in May — will also depend on some input from Recreation, the Board of Selectmen and more than $13 million in system improvements from the Water Department.

In other business, Selectmen voted to refer a citizen’s petition to the Town Meeting Warrant to the Planning Board to ensure the proper language is included. 

The petition had been brought before the October special Town Meeting, but the petitioner agreed to table it so the language could be refined for the annual Town Meeting on May 2. Town Counsel Kate Feodoroff will be attending the Monday, Feb. 28 Planning Board meeting remotely to discuss the article, indicating it may be split into two articles.

“The good news for Hanson is that we’ve had a couple of runs at this so we have some templates to go off of,” Feodoroff said. “With all the iterations that went back and forth through various town meetings, etc., there needs to be a cleanup of that particular bylaw, regardless of whether the town wants retail marijuana or not.”

The first article would incorporate that overhaul and the second would involve a potential retail facility and where locations might be permitted.

Selectmen Chairman Matt Dyer asked if the article was limited to retail or if it included all the new business opportunities, including cafés.

Feodoroff said no one need worry about cafés, as the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) still has not “gotten its arms around cafés. A pilot program is still underway and Hanson would not even be eligible because the 12 communities selected for it has led to a need to tweak the regulations. 

“I just want to make sure we don’t unwittingly cut our legs off for what has already been permitted,” Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “A grow facility, delivery, those are already kind of there and have gotten support.”

Feodoroff said that was a good point.

“That’s where I thought it was good to do two separate articles because retail is the one that’s going to generate discussion at Town Meeting,” she said, stressing the first article is purely to clean up legal language. If it were to fail, the old bylaw would remain in force.

“It’s just a messy old bylaw,” she said.

Selectman Joe Weeks wanted to be certain there is enough time to do all that work before Town Meeting.

“One of the things I don’t want to do is try and give too much of an expedient timeline on this and then have that be the reason for debate on Town Meeting floor vs the merits of the actual article,” he said.

Feodoroff said there is enough time, especially if the Planning Board submits a report.

“Because we have such a long history here in Hanson of various iterations of marijuana, it’s not going to be so big of a haul,” she said.

Frank Milisi, who brought the citizen’s petition to the October special Town Meeting, thanked Feodoroff and the board for working on it.

“I don’t think there’s any more of a clear indication for what Todd and Kevin just said, that we need some revenue in this town, how ever we get it,” he said. “Three percent [tax] on any [marijuana] business that’s in here could fund a new police car or fund things like that.”

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School budget figures adjusted

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Unanswered questions about one-time federal funding, long-term financial planning and some initial budget calculation errors were the focus of the W-H School Committee, on Wednesday, Feb. 16

Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak said he had three goals for the meeting – to hear feedback from the School Committee, to answer any questions about the district’s budget presentation and, looking ahead, what to do when federal funds run out in fiscal 2025 to maintain sustainability of programs. The meeting can be streamed at youtube.com/user/WHCA9TV/videos and is rebroadcast on the WHCA cable access channel.

Szymaniak also indicated there was “a couple of calculation mistakes” to clarify where assessments to the towns announced at an earlier meeting were concerned.

“We’ve gone through this a lot,” he said of the budget figures. “We try to do the best we can and give accurate information, and we found another [figure] doubled up today.”

Two people included in the ESSER figures had also been calculated into the district budget when it was presented on Wednesday, Feb. 9.

The new calculations, using a bottom-line budget of $58,543,037, put Hanson’s assessment at 4.51 percent and Whitman’s at 3.67 percent — including full-day kindergarten paid for with half of the funds in excess and deficiency and $400,000 for Chromebooks. Depending on what the committee wants to do with the budget, some things may still have to be moved around, Szymaniak said.

The bottom line figure is still 3.07 percent higher than last year’s budget.

Hanson’s original assessment had been 5.74 percent and Whitman’s had been calculated at 5.16 percent. The new budget document includes $370,000 for full-day kindergarten, $400,000 for Chromebooks and $123,885 for the Whitman water bill.

There is $974,000 remaining in excess and deficiency (E&D).

Without E&D, the assessments would be $5.66 for Hanson and $5.07 for Whitman, Szymaniak said. Using all of E&D, the assessments would be $3.35 for Hanson and $2.28 for Whitman, which is not sustainable.

Committee member Hillary Kniffen expressed concern about the sustainability of full-day kindergarten if it is started with E&D funds. Chairman Christopher Howard noted the start-up cost would be $740,000. The second year is forecast in the five-year plan at $763,000; the third year would be $785,000. The numbers reflect salaries.

Previous full-day kindergarten discussions had presented the start-up costs as high, but that subsequent years would be lower.

Committee member Christopher Scriven said deciding how the committee wants to proceed is vital.

“It’s not only about having enough information to vote for it or not,” he said. “It’s about voting something we believe in and going into the community and supporting it. So its very important that we have an accurate and understanding what we’re trying to accomplish.”

Howard asked Szymaniak to continue crunching the numbers.

“I really want to thank [Business Manager John] Stanbrook,” Szymaniak said. “He’s kind of been working tirelessly since January putting documents together.” Szyamaniak said he and Stanbrook would try to answer as many questions as possible during the meeting.

“Last year, when we were here, we were projecting a budget for kids to return to school,” he said, noting there are still a “lot of moving parts” in the budget. “We still weren’t in school yet. We were in a hybrid mode. I still had home-school students, and I had more than 500 students in a remote program that we were paying for.”

Committee member Dawn Byers, while lauding the reports, asked if they could be consolidated into a booklet of PDFs.

Effects of ESSER

The district had some federal money that “came out of the blue” [ESSER II and III funds], but they didn’t provide any rules to follow.

Howard noted that, as long as he had been on the committee, there had not been any long-range financial planning.

“I think one thing that we’ve all collectively introduced to the process this year is that long-term planning,” he said. “Some of the challenges that we may have in doing it right now are probably helpful because it’s ‘pay me now or pay me later.’”

Howard noted that the long-range planning being undertaken made for a very different budget process. 

Committee member Fred Small stressed that, for the short-term planning they still have to think of next year and the year after.

“I think a long-term plan is a great thing, but we have to be cognizant of what we may do now that can affect next year and the year after,” he said.

“To me that is the definition of long-term planning,” Howard said. “I couldn’t agree more.”

Committee member Beth Stafford, pointed to the changes COVID has brought to teaching over the last two years as an illustration of how difficult long-range planning is for schools.

“It’s more difficult, I think, than a town budget because we’re talking children’s needs and we never know,” she said. “If you had done a five-year plan four years ago, it would have fallen apart because [of] COVID.”

While long-range planning is needed, Stafford said, she also wanted to talk about what is being done now.

Howard replied that he just doesn’t want to be sitting at the same table in three years discussing lay-offs because of any decision made today, even as he recognizes the need for the programs they are discussing.

“If we’re saying there’s a need today, and we’re falling into the trap of using one-time federal funding to support that need, I can assure you that we’ll be sitting here in three years and we’ll be cutting positions,” he said. “The money is not going to just flow from the sky.”

Szymaniak said the budget process has taken into account the current program needs plus the committee’s wish to offer full-day kindergarten while maintaining reasonable assessments to the towns. He added that interventionist/coaches were included in last year’s budget prior to knowing the ESSER III guidelines because they couldn’t get it into the operating budget.

“Tell me what you want me to spend, or tell me what you don’t want me to spend and I can make those changes,” Szymaniak said.

Committee member Steve Bois said he had been asked what the total expenditure of everything sought in the budget amounts to. 

“I seem to hear that we’re looking for more, but it’s not coming out of the general fund, per se,” he said, asking for a comparison or all the revenues and all the spending included in the FY ’23 budget. [Budget documents are accessible on the school district website whrsd.org].

Vice Chairman Christopher Scriven suggested that the question might be closer to whether one-time funding sources are being used for funding, which is inflating the overall budget for future years. 

The district received a total of $3,608,374 through all three Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) programs over three years.

“I am concerned about the ESSER funds going away in FY 2025, but if we look at it big picture again, that one-time money is for learning loss. … we’re looking to do that through our coaches [interventionists] and special education.”

In fiscal 2022 a total of $1,881,655 in one-time grants and federal program funds (largely from ESSER II) were spent on technology, para-professional support and tutors, employee benefits, data and technology software, according to Szymaniak. The district is looking to use $1,305,385 million in fiscal 2023 allocations to add interventionists — now being called coaches — and staff to help students catch up in the classroom, substitutes, para-professionals, supplies, COVID cleaning, and summer buses all of which — except benefits —can be moved within a budget by an amendment through DESE. ESSER II funding goes away in 2024, leaving $1.3 million in ESSER III funds. The plan to pull expenditures for inclusion, a curriculum director for special education and the Hanson Middle School TLC program with the aim of integrating them into the general budget. 

“Most of those people were integrated into this budget,” Szymaniak said. “We would like to see them maintained, and through this FY 2023 budget we may move some of those folks over … and keep the assessments to the towns as low as possible.” 

Other federal programs, such as Title 3, for which the district my soon qualify due to an increase in ESL students, may also help the budget picture, Szymaniak said.

“I’m really cautious about FY ‘25, because I don’t know what we’re going to need in ’25,’ he said.

“To me, there’s a real danger if we’re using one-time federal money to satisfy those positions,” Howard said of special ed positions paid for through ESSER funds. “You need to make that decision. Are they real positions that we’re going to maintain, because then, to me, they should be in the operating budget.”

Other federal funds

Szymaniak said there are seven positions being funded by federal dollars in the FY ’23 budget, including two English language teachers, a behavioral specialist, a technology coach, two interventionist/coaches and a math interventionist/coach position not yet filled.

Kniffen said the ESL and behavioral positions can’t be paid for with one-time funds.

“I have significant concerns about providing services to students who need them,” she said. Szymaniak agreed that the use of para-professionals does need to be re-evaluated. “We front-loaded this year and we front-loaded for FY ’23, and it’s going to give us two years to really evaluate if we need the amount of paras that we have.”

Regarding the behavioral specialist, Szymaniak said that, while there is a need for on this year, it isn’t clear if it will be needed by 2025. Small said he was not questioning the need, just whether there is another dollar source to fund it. He suggested looking the ESSER funds as a two-or three-year plan the district can wean itself off.

Szymaniak termed ESSER funds a “blessing and a curse,” because they are sent as “free money” but can only be used once, leaving school districts trying to decide how to spend that money.

While there has been an overall decrease in the number of special education students, there has been an increase in needs among the students in the district, Szymaniak said during discussion of the program’s budget impact. Stanbrook said $1.7 million projected to be left in Circuit Breaker is the amount forecast to remain in the account at the end of fiscal ’22 as the amount the district is required to spend in fiscal ’23. The official filing for fiscal ’23 has not been done yet, so a definite figure is not known at this point.

Whitman Selectman Randy LaMattina said that, the school budget as presented would deplete E&D by 2025 and creating a $1.5 million deficit.

“I’m not here to speak on the validity of the services you’re asking for … I truly believe they will make our district stronger,” he said. “I’m here to speak on how reckless this budget actually is. You will not only put services at risk by using one-time money, you’ll be putting teachers’ careers at risk.”

He said a plan is needed and suggested that the obvious plan is that an override would be needed.

“As a citizen of [Whitman], I ask you to come up with a better plan to put forward, rather then risk services, because I think that is what this does, ultimately, in 2025,” LaMattina said.

Szymaniak agreed that sustainability and planning are important.

Whitman strategic plan OK’d

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WHITMAN — Consultant Ann Donner presented the final version of the town’s strategic plan to the Board of Selectmen during the Tuesday, Feb. 15 meeting.

Selectmen voted to approve the plan, which is now posted on the town website and may be obtained as a paper copy as well. The plan will be used to guide budgetary decisions through 2027.

“We’ve been looking at this version of it for a couple of weeks,” said Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski, noting that officials were welcome to call Donner if they felt changes or revisions were needed.

“From what I understand, nothing needed changing,” Kowalski said. “It’s an impressive document. …We need to hold ourselves accountable, and hopefully, there will be people who hold us accountable, too.”

Kowalski credited Forest Street resident Shawn Kain for ensuring the board stayed on-task with the project.

“He saw the importance of it, and we’re seeing the fruit of that right now,” Kowalski said.

Donner thanked the board for the opportunity to work with them on the plan.

“What was impressive was the amount of care and effort that everyone put into this,” she said. “The success of any strategic plan is that everyone’s got their shoulder to the wheel … in order to achieve those results, part of it is keeping track of it.”

Donner said the town’s goals for the plan were realistic, and encouraged them to review how it is being followed, whether on a bi-annual or quarterly basis.

Kowalski agreed that a biannual review is a good idea.

“What we don’t want is for something that you’ve all put so much work into to sit on the shelf,” she said. “I think the way the plan was formulated, it’s really a plan that can be shared with people.”

Budget update

On the heels of approving the strategic plan to help guide budgeting decisions, the board heard Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman’s budget update.

He noted that the Finance Committee is now working on its review of the budget.

“We went through the broad strokes two weeks ago,” he said, noting that he wanted to provide the board with opportunity to take a more nuanced look at it.

Heineman pointed to a couple savings options that, he said, demonstrate “how we can succeed in different areas and find some efficiencies.”

He has instructed IT Director Josh MacNeil to “take a look globally at our telephone operations” with an eye to perhaps buying less expensive plans for some phones or to get rid of some landlines altogether. He also looked into a new firm to oversee ambulance billing, which resulted in some savings in exchange for better service.

Heineman said he is also looking to return the visiting nurse fund to what historically has been there, after the service funding had been transferred to CARES Act funds that are now ended. Additional funding to senior citizens’ bus transportation as well as veteran services, are also being sought in the budget.

Assistant TA

In other business, Selectmen discussed the process for finding a new assistant town administrator.

Selectmen, were forced to table next steps in the assistant town administrator search after the town failed to agree to terms in contract negotiations with designate Rogeria Medeiros-Kowalczykowski last month.

 “What needs to be done now … is to advertise it [again] and go through anther search process,” Kowalski said. “Hopefully, one that will end in having someone in the position.”

He also asked Heineman to consider another position, one that could be called a human resources and operations director, one that could include procurement responsibilities, “with grant-writing on the side.”

Kowalski said such a position, by its very title, would be more focused. He asked that Heineman work on it and present a couple of alternatives to the board for continued discussion at the board’s meeting the first week of March.

When Building Inspector Robert Curran retires on May 26, the town will also be looking into the possible hiring of a full-time building commissioner. A transfer of funds at the May Town Meeting would be required to make a full-time position possible.

“I think now is the time,” Heineman said, proposing that a new job description be drawn up for the position. He argued that the position include a requirement that more support and advice be provided the ZBA and Conservation Commission.

While many towns of a similar size have a town planner and conservation agent, it may not be something Whitman is looking at now, but a full-time building commissioner would be a help.

“I don’t think that anytime soon it’s anything the town wants to look at, but I do think, and the chairs of that board and that commission seem to agree, it would be worthwhile to have some professional assistance for them in their work,” he said.

Selectman Justin Evans agreed that it was a good idea long overdue. Selectman Randy LaMattina said zoning issues and code enforcement also need to be big part of the position, but he didn’t want to get too far ahead on it until the budget is better firmed up.

SST certifies $14.9 M budget

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HANOVER — Brevity was the name of the game at the South Shore School Committee, meeting in the Brass Lantern Restaurant at the school on Wednesday, Feb. 16 as the FY 2023 budget was certified and a new mask policy was adopted.

“We’ve got a lot of little nuggets we’re going to talk about tonight, no big boulders,” Principal Mark Aubrey said, reporting that the school has started to return to a “little bit of normalcy.”

The Committee voted to certify a fiscal 2023 budget of $14,944,722. The assessment for Whitman would be $1,636,552  and Hanson’s would be $1,182,596.

The complete budget document is available on the school’s website www.southshore.tech.

Committee members also approved a revised face covering policy, suspending the normal two-month approval policy.

“As you know, the state has lifted the mask mandate, effective Feb. 28,” said Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey. “We have a policy on the books … which we voted on — it feels like a thousand years ago — back in August 2020. This revised policy would make mask-wearing optional as of Feb. 20, 2022 with the exception of the nurse’s office, school vehicles and individuals returning to school after a positive COVID diagnosis for days six to 10 of their recovery period.”

The policy also provides that, if the federal government removes the requirement for masks on school transport vehicles, the SST policy would automatically revert to an automatic one.

There are 111 students now out in work environments in the co-op program, Aubrey said, including 17 juniors who have only been able to go out within the last week.

“The highest number we’ve ever had as of this date is 89,” he said. “This, I think, is due in part to the team, but also I think we really cut into that cultural change in this building, where the students know they are expected to go out, they know they’re making money, and that’s just what we do here.”

The mission of instilling first-hand preparation for the job market is becoming almost second-nature.

“When you are a junior and a senior, you go out on the job site, you learn about your trade from other people who are doing the work in the trenches,” Aubrey said.

The Credit For Life event is also returning, on Wednesday, April 13 with a twist.

“The students are going to be learning how to talk and relate to other people, maybe while you’re holding a cup of coffee or a croissant, or something like that,” Aubrey said.

All students are eating in the school’s lunchroom at the same time, but desks are available along the sides of the cafeteria for students who still prefer to separate under COVID precautions.

Athletics are also returning to a somewhat normal atmosphere, and there are achievements there that Aubrey reported, including two wrestlers headed for the state tournament in Fitchburg and the girls’ basketball team [14-4] are headed to the tournament. The ice hockey team is also headed to the state tournament for the first time in a decade, he said.

Eighteen of 20 students taking repeat MCAS tests in January passed, with one student needing to pass English and another needing to pass math. There were 17 SST students who did not pass parts of the MCAS exam last year, and did retake exam.

A program has been set up during the school day to provide extra help for students who need it.

Hickey said school representatives have already met virtually with the Abington Finance Committee on Feb. 2 and Scituate’s Select Board on Feb. 15 to review the fiscal 2023 budget.

They will be meeting with Scituate’s Advisory Committee on Feb. 24, Norwell’s Advisory Committee March 15 and Whitman’s Finance Committee on March 22 (in person).

Whitman Democrats to elect delegates to Democratic State Convention

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Democrats will convene at 9 a.m., Sunday, Feb. 27 virtually and at the Patio at McGuiggan’s to elect seven delegates and four alternates to represent Whitman at the 2022 State Democratic Convention. This caucus will take place in line with public health guidance and attendees may participate remotely. To pre-register for remote participation, please contact Michael Hayes at 781-447-2550. 

Registered and pre-registered Democrats in Whitman 16 years old by Feb. 4, 2022 may vote and be elected as delegates or alternates during the caucus. Youth (age 16 to 35), people with disabilities, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ+ community not elected as delegates or alternates are encouraged to apply to be add-on delegates at the caucus or by visiting massdems.org/caucus. 

The 2022 Convention will be a hybrid convention, with in-person proceedings taking place alongside virtual participation options on June 3 and 4 at the DCU Center in Worcester. Delegates will convene to endorse candidates for statewide office ahead of the September Democratic Primary. The MassDems are closely monitoring changes in public health guidance and will update plans accordingly.

Those interested in becoming involved with the Whitman Democratic Town Committee should contact our chair Mike Hayes at 781-447-2550 or visit the Whitman MA Democratic Town Committee Facebook page, or find us at whitmandems.com and @DemsofWhitman on Twitter and Instagram.

Whitman receives more CARES Act $

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WHITMAN — More funds to help with the town’s COVID expenses and a measure to amend town bylaws to permit marijuana retail as well as medical facilities came before Selectmen on Tuesday, Feb. 15.

Plymouth County Commissioners Sandra Wright and Jared Valanzola presented $171,116.39 in CARES Act funding for further applications approved by the County to Whitman during an appearance before the Board of Selectmen Tuesday, Feb. 15. Wright is chairman of the commissioners.

“The County and the Commissioners, together with Treasurer Tom O’Brien, for a year and a half have been distributing money to us from the federal CARES Act through the County,” Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman said. “We’re very appreciative of that. The funds have gone to a myriad of things in Whitman and have really helped a lot.” 

To date, Whitman has received 19 checks totaling $1,950,726.41 in funds for COVID-related expenses, as well as 10,620 COVID-19 rapid test kits — two per the 5,310 boxes packed in 59 cartons, according to Wright.

Among those funds has been more than $1 million to the regional school district, $199,636.37 for South Shore Tech, and funds for Whitman-Hanson Community Access TV, which broadcasts and streams government meetings, a new ambulance for COVID response, vaccination clinics and distribution of masks and COVID test kits.

“The CARES Act program has been a total success and we’re so happy that we’ve been able to manage the program [since March 2020],” said Wright, who noted the commissioners’ management of it was not very popular when the program first began. “We’ve certainly done it at a much cheaper rate and faster than any of the other entities could have done.”

A portion of the new Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s funds will also be administered directly by the nation’s county governments, which own half the roads and four out of 10 bridges across the country, according to the National Association of Counties.

Valanzola also acknowledged Selectman Vice Chairman Dan Salvucci, who serves on the Commissioners’ Advisory Board, which is the legislative branch of the PCC, which is the executive branch of the county government.

“We’re very proud of this program, and whenever we have the opportunity to come before boards of selectmen, we really like to highlight how successful the Plymouth County CARES program really was,” Valanzola said. “This won’t be the last time we’re here bringing you some money.”

The cap Whitman has from Plymouth County, which Valanzola said he was “pretty certain” the town will reach, was more than 50 percent greater than similar-sized communities outside Plymouth County. Whitman received $1 million more than Swampscott — Gov. Charlie Baker’s hometown — received.

Whitman has so far received about 81 percent of its expected total funding.

The PCC assigned Treasurer O’Brien and his staff to executing the program with no extra help, to keep administrative costs low and translated into more money for communities like Whitman, Valanzola said.

“We’re going to close this program out using less than 1 percent of these funds to administer the program to the cities and towns of Plymouth County,” he said. “The state, we’re not really sure how much they spent.”

The state capped comparable communities at $45 million, while  Plymouth County capped its communities to “a hair under $90 million.” Brockton, for example, was capped at $19.3 million and New Bedford at $8,4 million, to date receiving only 25 percent of that, while Brockton has received close to 100 percent of the funding it was promised. Boston, which received its funding directly from the federal government, was the only city in the state receiving more money than Brockton.

“It tells a fantastic story and we’re very proud of this program,” he said.

Valanzola also noted the speed with which Plymouth County obtained COVID test kits after receiving a call on Dec. 29, 2021 informing the PCC that there was an opportunity to buy them.

“We had COVID CARES Act money left. A lot of communities didn’t get to their caps,” he said. “We couldn’t have thought of a better way to have used it.”

Wright and Valazola said the state, meanwhile, “arbitrarily” gave test kits to some towns and not others.

“It was sort of a random and arbitrary formula,” he said. “As always, with Plymouth County, the formula is population-based and every community from Plympton to Whitman and every community in between, was able to receive test kits.”

Salvucci said he recalled that, when the program began, several members of the Advisory Board were concerned that the job might be too difficult for the County to handle, but O’Brien’s presentation seemed to convince them that they could get it done.

“We wanted to make sure it ended up in Plymouth County, to make sure it was all given out,” Salvucci said. “You’ve done an outstanding job. It worked and we were right, even though we upset some people in the state, we proved them wrong.”

He said Plymouth County worked the program professionally and faster, with less administrative costs than the state.

“I believe, since taking this on, we’ve now been recognized nationally for what and how we did it,” Wright said, sharing credit for the program’s success with town officials and legislators.

While the state had to claw back funds misused by some communities, where Plymouth County has not issues any claw-backs.

Valanzola said the PCC as been so successful with CARES Act funds, every single eligible county in Massachusetts has adopted the approach for distributing ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) money and has asked the PCC to take the lead on programming it.

“It’s obviously huge team effort,” Heineman said, offering kudos to town and school district staff who helped with the paperwork involved in accessing the funds. “Every person here has been key in providing all those services on behalf of the residents of Whitman.”

Wright and Valanzola also presented Selectmen with an updated highway map of Whitman’s streets.

marijuana bylaw

Selectmen also, during the meeting, voted to recommend to Town Meeting a draft bylaw for consideration in May that would allow for both recreational and medical marijuana facilities in town.

On Wednesday, Feb. 9, the Bylaw Study Committee unanimously recommended the draft cannabis bylaw, according to Heineman. 

The draft bylaw can be viewed on the town website — whitman-ma.gov.

Like any zoning bylaw coming before Town Meeting, it must be referred to the Planning Board by Selectmen for a hearing and produce a report on the proposed bylaw before Town Meeting. Selectmen would then have to approve the Town Meeting warrant including it.

The draft bylaw would remove the current ban on recreational and medical marijuana facilities in town, allow no more than five establishments in town — with no more than three of them permitted to be for retail sales of recreational marijuana — and would also permit other types of marijuana businesses such as cultivation and manufacturing facilities. Co-sitings, such as a cultivator and a retailer, could be permitted and would count as one of the five facilities.

The businesses would only be allowed in the highway business district, the industrial district north of South Avenue, and must go before Selectmen to negotiate a host community agreement, which would include community impact fees. The usual site plan approval and special permit process would also be required.

A section of state law would also be adopted to impose an additional 3 percent tax. The draft also stipulates that business signs would not include “marijuana lingo” such as “weed” or “pot,” and seeks to control odors.

Selectman Brian Bezanson, who serves on the Bylaw Study Committee with Heineman, said the panel has been “banging this around for quite a while, now,” while lauding the research done by Heineman, Building Inspector Robert Curran and the town’s legal advisers.

“When I first started getting into this, I was a little apprehensive,” he said. “But I’ve come around to this because of … how much revenue the town is missing.”

He compared the prospect of missing the revenue opportunity to that of having the extra sales tax on restaurants and missing that chance.

“We all thought it wouldn’t amount to much and would probably hurt restaurants, when in fact it didn’t hurt the restaurants and we did receive far more than we thought we were going to get,” Bezanson said. “I think, the folks that want this product, if we don’t have it, they’re going to go to one of our neighbors.”

He said he was fully on board with what had been a unanimous vote by the Bylaw Study Committee.

“I think it would be in the best interests of Whitman if we pushed this along,” he said, comparing the establishments to liquor stores.

Salvucci asked if the board was favoring it by voting yes, or merely recommending it go to Town Meeting, because he said he personally is against it.

“I would not vote against anything that has to go before Town meeting,” he said. “But, at Town Meeting, I’d probably vote against it. I think we’re just walking into an issue.”

Selectman Randy LaMattina said he was all in favor of the bylaw.

“It’s in all our surrounding communities and, at this point, we’re just losing money,” he said, urging that a draft copy be posted on the town website immediately.

Selectman Justin Evans also thought the bylaw was a great idea.

“I thought the town may have been a little too hasty a couple of years ago [in] prohibiting this,” he said.

Schools set to unmask Feb. 28

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School mask mandates are being reduced to a recommendation after Feb. 28. Mask requirements on school buses, by federal mandate, and in school health clinics, by state regulation, are still in force. In the meantime, the School Committee is taking another budgetary look at non-mandated busing costs, a decision that ultimately lies with the boards of selectmen in each town.

Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak said his recommendation has been that the school district should continue to follow state education and health guidelines, as it has done since August 2020. 

He stressed, when asked how masks would be enforced for unvaccinated persons, that the policy was a recommendation — not a requirement.

Szymaniak during the Wednesday, Feb. 9 School Committee meeting, said he had a Zoom call with Education Commissioner Jeffrey C. Riley, who indicated he is not asking to renew the mask mandate after Feb. 28.

“What that means for us is that after Feb. 28, DESE and MDPH are recommending masks only for students who are unvaccinated and staff that are unvaccinated,” he said. “They’ve pretty much dropped the recommendation for other folks attending preK to 12 — preK to 22 — schools, with the exception of buses.” 

Because of HIPAA and other privacy rules, no one could really ask others about their vaccination status, making enforcement nearly impossible.

School Committee Chairman Christopher Howard said that, unless the committee disagreed with the DESE/MDPH recommendation and wanted to revisit an earlier vote to abide by them, no action was required. If they wished to reconsider that vote, the only other meeting scheduled before Feb. 28 was the Feb. 17 meeting, which was planned exclusively as a budget session. 

“The uses of masks is a polarizing issue,” Howard said, noting that the committee received about 600 comments the last time feedback was sought.

“I can’t tell you the number of emails I’ve gotten from happy parents wanting to know how soon the masks can come off,” said Committee member, Fred Small, who was attending remotely be phone. He also reminded the Committee that the earlier vote was to abide by MDPH recommendations, not DESE.

He also said parents contacting him wanted to know why masks could not come off as early as the next day.

Committee member Heather Kniffen suggested that all Szymaniak needed to do was communicate with families about the latest information available so they can make an informed decision.

The Committee then followed Howard’s suggestion to amend the August 2020 vote to read that they would follow the recommendation of MDPH or DESE. That vote was unanimous.

Non-mandated busing

Szymaniak noted that the district is mandated by law to bus all K-12 students who live two miles or farther away from a school to school each day.

“This is not your vote, but I want you to be aware,” Szymaniak said of the options open to the towns. “Things shift at Town Meeting [and] it does change the assessment that we can control.”

The district received regional transportation reimbursement for anyone living 1.5 miles and out, he said. They also provide non-mandated busing for students living .5 miles to 1.5 miles around a school, with the towns picking up that cost.

“Questions have come up in the past about non-mandated busing and do we need it? What can we do?” Szymaniak said. “We truly have local regional elementary schools. There’s a lot of kids that are [within] a mile and a half to the school.”

School Committee policy also requires that all kindergarten students, whether they live within 1.5 miles or not, are bused to school,” he said. “It’s our rule that we do that.”

While there has been occasional discussion about whether Whitman should consider halting non-mandated busing, Hanson has not done so and no calculations have yet been done for Hanson as a result of that fact.

Calculations on whether to keep non-mandates busing within a certain distance from a school takes into consideration whether students within walking distance are kindergarteners, have to cross state roads [routes 14, 18, 27 and 58], where there are no sidewalks or where there are registered sex offenders living in the area, Szymniak said. It creates a tier system for bus ridership on which the budget is based. Each tier represents a school to which a given bus drives students. Four-tier buses drive students to the high school, a town’s middle school and each elementary school. Of the 20 buses contracted from First Student, six are four-tier, 12 are three-tier and two are two-tier.

School Committee member Steve Bois said traffic at the intersection near WMS has been increasingly clogged and he wants to see the state address it.

“There’s no way I’m voting to get rid of any non-mandated busing,” he said.

First Student plugs data into software that makes bus assignments within the parameters of school start times and making sure they arrive safely.

It costs $9,747.20 per day for 20 buses to transport students to school in the district. For 180 school days, that totals $1,753,329.60 plus $10,000 for a fuel clause allocation in the First Student contract.

Byers wondered if there was any way, keeping in mind the time restrictions concerning how long students are on buses and the number of students assigned to each bus, the number of buses could be used in Hanson.

“We could continue to look at this,” Szymaniak said about keeping the committee informed.

“If we increased the ridership on a bus in Hanson, that bus would take longer to do its route,” Small said. “We would probably run into some contractual differences as far as start times go within the schools.”

He also suggested the high school might have to start even earlier to get a jump-start, because the same buses are used in both towns. He suggested a Finance Committee motion last year advocated that the non-mandated bus cost not be recommended for passage. 

Pulling Whitman non-mandated busing out, the service costs $9,606.90 while changes the scheduling. Cutting out all Whitman non-mandated busing reduces the number of buses to 19, and costs $9,011.36.

Removing Whitman Middle School non-mandated busing saves $24,087 from the transportation budget and removing all Whitman non-mandated busing saves $131,284 in the overall transportation costs.

The number of students whose parents have opted out of bus travel to school in Hanson is 253 and in Whitman, it is 400.

“I have a concern, as a superintendent of students getting to school if non-mandated goes away,” he said. It would also increase vehicle traffic around schools as parents drop students off.

“It would [also] shift our assessments to the towns, because our transportation costs would remain high even though Whitman or Hanson wouldn’t be paying a line item in the budget,” Szymaniak said.

Complex calculations based on three scenarios have to begin with the fiscal ’23 general fund transportation budget, according to Business Manager John Stanbrook.

Scenario 1 starts with the assumption the non-mandated busing is as submitted in the fiscal 2023 budget at $1,7603,329.60. Scenario 2 assumes a cost of $1,739,242.69 with no Whitman Middle School busing — a savings of $54,680 — and Scenario 3 assumes a cost of $1,632,044.80 — a savings of $292,345 — with non-mandated busing for all of Whitman eliminated. Hanson’s costs would increase by $30,593 in Scnario 2 and $161,000 in Scenario 3.

“There’s still transportation costs,” he said.

“I want to get out in front of this with the committee,” Szymaniak said, indicating that traffic studies could be required if Whitman’s non-mandated busing is eliminated. “We’re trying to do our best.” 

He said getting all parents to respond to any kind of survey is difficult, so it makes it hard for the district to make substantive decisions.

“I think it will be really important for you to build scenarios for Hanson,” said Committee Chairman Christopher Howard. “Based on how things have gone in the past … I would think, if this was to happen in Whitman … it’s going to cause a chain reaction.”