Veteran Services Will Soon Expand to Scituate

Regional services for Veterans were on the Agenda at Tuesday’s Board of Selectmen meeting as two agreements were presented for signature and approval before the Thanksgiving break.

Following a successful Veterans Day in Hingham last weekend, the Selectmen were presented with an Inter-Municipal Agreement between Hingham and Scituate that seeks to establish a veterans service district to provide veteran services for both towns. This state sanctioned initiative will initially be conducted on a trial basis until March 31, 2012 with Keith Jermyn, Chair of Veteran Council, spending some of his time streamlining the services that can be offered to local veterans.

Under the terms of the agreement, both Hingham and Scituate will allocate funds to provide the services with the apportionment between the two towns determined upon total population and seventy-five percent of the funds expended will be reimbursed by the state.

This will allow for part-time clerical staff to be employed by the VSO in both towns, alleviating some of the workload that is currently undertaken by Jermyn. The first priority will continue to be Hingham but this is the first step in providing a regional agreement that will be cost-effective and allow for a standardization of benefits.

According to the terms of the IMA, “The full-time (35 hours per week) incumbent Veterans’ Services Officer in the Town of Hingham shall serve as the Director of the Hingham/Scituate Veterans’ Services District and will supervise, in both communities, all staff in their duties as relates to this Agreement.”

Although only two towns are involved in this IMA, the document allows for neighboring communities such as Hull or Cohasset to join the program at a later date although there is a state mandate for Veteran Services to become more regionalized by January. 

Selectman Laura Burns praised Jermyn for his hard work in putting this agreement together and acknowledged “the dance is necessary to make everyone comfortable.”

“Anything that we try to regionalize takes forever and is really hard,”  Burns said. “Things that seem like a no-brainer turn out to be really complicated and take a lot of time.”

The Community Preservation Act Funding Agreement for Fort Hill was also presented to Selectmen with the proposed allocation of affordable housing for Hingham veterans set to be up and running by May 2012.

This project, which was agreed at Town Meeting in 2010, is a joint initiative between the Community Preservation Committee and Fort Hill Housing, Inc. with the intention being to provide accommodations for six homeless veterans in a facility that will be supervised by Father Bill’s & Mainspring, a third party charity.

The CPC will provide a $250,000 long-term, no-interest loan for the development and construction of these dwellings, which will also involve a commitment for the project from the state of $750,000 to be funded in 2013. This loan from the CPC protects the interests of the Town and is a significant step in ensuring that homeless veterans are not on the streets.

Keith Jermyn presented the Selectmen with copies of a presentation made by John Yazwinski, Chief Executive Officer for Fort Hill Housing Inc., and complimented the “aggressive timeline” that was being adhered to.

“It’s a great plan and yet another trial but we hope that it comes to fruition and we can help to end homelessness in Massachusetts,” Jermyn said. “Whether it’s six or 60, I believe that having six veterans not on the street in May is a great thing and it should be rewarding for the Town of Hingham as a whole.”