Hingham Select Board Unanimously Hires Three Officers as Department Faces Six Vacancies

HINGHAM — July 22, 2025 — Hingham Select Board hired three police officers and fielded sharp debate over a proposed senior center at Bear Cove Park. The board voted unanimously on two roll-call motions to extend conditional employment offers to lateral transfers Daniel Martini and Dylan Dur, both already POST-certified officers, and to academy recruit Jenna Herberg, whose offer includes a $4,650 recruiting-fee repayment clause and is contingent on her September 5 graduation. The department is currently down six officers, and Chair Bill Ramsey credited the new police station and a recently negotiated collective bargaining agreement for improving lateral-transfer recruitment. In a separate joint session with the Center for Active Living Building Committee, architect Chris Wanty of EDM Studio presented a revised floor plan of approximately 25,950 square feet — a roughly 10 percent reduction from the prior 28,700-square-foot design — with parking estimated at 160 spaces and a publicly cited construction cost of approximately $19.4 million. Resident Glenn Mangurian argued that the 10 percent size reduction would save the average taxpayer only $19 per year against a baseline tax impact of roughly $350 annually, while opponents including Anita Ryan challenged the Bear Cove site's environmental permitting; town special real estate counsel Susan Murphy said the National Park Service had issued a categorical exclusion finding no significant environmental impact.