Whitman Board of Selectmen Approves Firefighters MOU After Closed-Door Session

WHITMAN -- September 23, 2025, Whitman Board of Selectmen 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 Board of Selectmen member Justin Evans to carry the feedback back to the regional agreement committee before any vote is scheduled.