Whitman Select Board Approves Firefighters MOU After Closed-Door Session

WHITMAN — September 23, 2025 — Whitman Select Board approves firefighters MOU and hears sharp challenge to regional school agreement. The board voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a Memorandum of Understanding with the Whitman Firefighters Association, Local 1769, IAFF AFL-CIO after a closed executive session on collective bargaining strategy, with Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald noting the underlying three-year fire union contract is in its "final, final stages." The sharpest debate came when Dawn Byers, a former six-year Whitman School Committee member, told the board that the proposed Whitman-Hanson regional school agreement amendment would disadvantage Whitman taxpayers by maintaining a per-pupil enrollment formula for the $10.6 million in above-minimum assessment costs — leaving Whitman carrying 61 percent — rather than an aggregate-wealth model that she said would drop Whitman's share to 54 percent and save residents up to $850,000 per year. "If this agreement as written moves forward unchanged, I can't support it at town meeting," Byers said. The board directed Select Board member Justin Evans to carry the feedback back to the regional agreement committee before any vote is scheduled.