Annual Report Town of Hingham 2019 1 Table of Contents GENERAL ADMINISTRATION Selectmen .................................................................. 5 Town Administrator ................................................... 11 Town Clerk Elected Officers and Appointees ........................... 13 Annual Town Meeting .......................................... 30 Appropriations .................................................... 61 Elections Town Election ................................................... 69 Vital Statistics ..................................................... 71 Building Department ................................................. 72 Conservation Commission .......................................... 74 Planning Board ......................................................... 77 Zoning Board of Appeals............................................ 79 Historic Districts Commission ..................................... 82 Historical Commission ............................................... 84 Information Technology ............................................ 87 Personnel Board ........................................................ 88 PUBLIC WORKS Dept. of Public Works ................................................ 90 Sewer Dept./Sewer Commission................................. 96 Municipal Light Plant ................................................. 98 PUBLIC SAFETY Fire Department/Emergency Management ................ 101 Police Department ................................................... 106 Traffic Committee ............................................. 108 Traffic Safety Division ........................................ 109 Harbormaster ................................................... 110 Animal Control .................................................. 113 EDUCATION, HEALTH AND HUMAN CONCERNS Affordable Housing Trust ......................................... 114 Audit Committee ..................................................... 116 Bare Cove Park Committee ...................................... 117 Bathing Beach, Trustees of ...................................... 120 Beautification Commission ....................................... 122 Cable TV Advisory Committee .................................. 123 Cleaner, Greener Hingham ...................................... 125 Community Preservation Committee ......................... 132 2 Country Club Management Committee ..................... 134 Elder Services, Dept. of ........................................... 137 Energy Action Committee ........................................ 142 Fire Station Building Committee ............................... 144 Fourth of July Parade .............................................. 145 Grand Army Hall ..................................................... 149 Harbor Development Committee .............................. 151 Health, Board of ..................................................... 154 Hingham Cultural Council ........................................ 157 Hingham Housing Authority ..................................... 158 Massport Community Advisory Committee. ............... 160 Memorial Bell Tower Committee ............................... 162 Plymouth County Mosquito Control ........................... 163 Public Library .......................................................... 166 Public Schools ......................................................... 170 Recreation Commission ........................................... 175 School Building Committee ...................................... 179 Scholarship Fund Committee ................................... 181 Shade Tree Committee ............................................ 184 Veterans' Services ................................................... 185 Water Company Acquisition Study Comm. ................ 188 Water Supply Committee ......................................... 189 Weir River Estuary Committee ................................. 190 FINANCES Accountant/Finance Director .................................... 194 Treasurer/Collector ................................................. 200 Assessors ............................................................... 203 Contributory Retirement Board ................................ 205 Report compiled and edited by Sharon Perfetti Cover Design by Kate Richardson, IT 3 This is Your Town www.hingham-ma.gov 2019 Annual Town Meeting, Hingham High School Area 22.59Square Miles Shore Line 21 Miles Population 23,426 Registered Voters 17,936 Dem. 4,293; Rep. 2,828; Un-enrolled, 10,618; Other, 141 Number of Houses, including Condos 7,555 Assessed Value Real Property $6,652,412,754 Personal Property $107,749,420 Tax Rate $11.53 Schools 6 Public School Children, K-12 4,267 Professional Staff 391 Support Staff 297 Total FY2020 Town Budget (includes Capital) $111,723,344 Total FY2020 School Budget (includes Capital) $55,295,577 State Senator State Rep. State Rep. Norfolk-Plymouth Third Plymouth Dist. Fourth Norfolk Dist. Patrick O’Connor Precincts 1,3,4,5,5A,6 Precinct 2 State House, Joan Meschino James Murphy Rm. 520 State House, Rm. 437 State House, Rm. 156 Boston, MA 02133 Boston, MA 02133 Boston, MA 02133 617-722-1646 617-722-2425 617-722-2240 4 Mary Power, Karen Johnson, Joseph Fisher Board of Selectmen I am pleased to submit the following report for Fiscal Year 2020 on behalf of the Board of Selectmen. Although it seems like a long time ago, we began the year with the positive momentum of a historic Annual Town Meeting attended by over 2,000 citizens who overwhelmingly approved the decision to purchase the Hingham Water System from Aquarion. Thanks to the incredible work of staff and volunteers alike, the meeting ran smoothly and efficiently and was a very proud moment for the Town. The vote was the culmination of more than 8 years of effort and leadership by prior Boards of Selectmen, Advisory Committees, staff, lawyers and, in the true Hingham tradition, a number of talented volunteers, most notably the members of the Water Company Acquisition Study Committee, Jon Asher, Ed Siegfried, Joe Bierwirth, Josh Krumholz and Bob Higgins. Their tireless work, coupled with the comprehensive outreach efforts by Citizens for Hingham Water, provided Town Meeting with the confidence that the acquisition was not only the right thing to do, but it also made financial sense for the Town and the ratepayers. Approval of Article 10, Water Company Acquisition, was a landmark vote in the history of Hingham’s Town Meeting. 5 Unfortunately, we will end the fiscal year on a much different note, in the midst of a global pandemic that brought the world as we know it to a halt. We extend our sincere gratitude to the municipal and school leadership for taking immediate action on March 13, 2020 to close Town buildings and reimagine municipal services and education in a manner that keeps the staff and public safe while providing virtual access to essential services. Thanks to the work of our small but mighty Information Technology group, Steve Becker, Kate Richardsson and Joseph Lindsay, local government went online within a week of the Declarations of States of Emergency at the federal, state, and local levels. The Department of Health led by our Executive Health Officer, Susan Sarni, and the Board of Health members, Peter Bickford, Lizzie Eldredge and Kirk Shilts, have been vigilant in implementing procedures and reporting protocols to enable the Town to respond to and monitor this crisis. It truly takes a village and staff members from across all departments have joined together to keep the Town functioning and to keep us all safe. In addition, Hingham volunteers have answered the call to take care of each other (especially those particularly vulnerable at this time) and to support front-line workers here in Hingham as well as in Boston and the greater South Shore. As I write this report, the Town is in the process of developing a reopening plan for both Town government and the community. Once again, we will need the cooperation and commitment of the citizens of Hingham to be successful in our efforts. Based upon past experience in this community, we are very confident in that regard. As we look to the coming fiscal year, we must also consider the potentially drastic and unsettling economic effects of the pandemic on the Town’s financial condition. With the work of the municipal and school departments, we are confident that we will conclude FY 20 with budgetary “turn backs” that will provide a cushion against the financial blow that we are expecting will hit our FY 21 budget. Looking back a few months, we concluded the customary FY 21 budget process on schedule on March 12th after months of public hearings and deliberations. As required by law, at that time expenditures in the FY 21 proposed budget were fully supported by conservatively anticipated revenues. A week later the world changed, and in response the Board of Selectmen, the Advisory Committee and the School Committee joined together to commit to the implementation of a financial management plan for Fiscal Year 2021. A full copy of the Plan follows this report, but in short, the budget proposed for FY 21 is balanced in part with the use of approximately $3.3 million of Unassigned Fund Balance (sometimes called our “rainy day fund” or the Town’s savings account) on the condition that both the municipal and school departments adhere to spending constraints 6 and deferrals and agree to proportionately share potential budget reductions in cooperation with future guidance