Long a couple, two towns consider tying the knot
There's the Hamilton-Wenham Library, the Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School, and the Community House of Hamilton and Wenham.
A visitor might be forgiven for failing to distinguish between the neighboring hamlets of Hamilton and Wenham, each with its leafy neighborhoods of historic homes and wooded fields north of Boston. But there is a two-century-old line that divides them. On one side are the Myopia Hunt Club and a small shopping plaza. On the other are a quintessentially quaint town center and a single restaurant. On both sides of the line are residents with deep feelings about what it means to live there.
Any differences, subtle or sacrosanct, could go by the lushly landscaped wayside. Burdened by increasing expenses and imperiled revenues, the towns have asked the state to study what had long been taboo - a merger.
In an unprecedented step, the state has agreed to examine whether combining the two towns makes sense economically, practically, and bureaucratically. If Hamilton and Wenham decide to erase their boundary, state and local officials said, they would be the first Massachusetts communities in memory to merge in a state where local identity is revered.
While it's unlikely communities as starkly different as Weston and Waltham or Hingham and Weymouth would be next, a successful merger of Hamilton and Wenham could be a model for others, state officials said.
"Ninety percent of the seniors in Hamilton feel the way I do," said Mimi Fanning, chairwoman of the town's Council on Aging. "They just feel the town is theirs, and they don't want to lose it."
In Wenham, Peg Bode was equally adamant as she waited for customers inside the landmark Wenham Tea House, the only establishment in town to hold a liquor license.
"Personally, I hope they don't," Bode said of a merger. When pressed, Bode admitted reluctantly, "I've always thought of Wenham as better."
Barbara Ramsey of Hamilton, standing nearby, said she was stunned when she attended her first Town Meeting in Hamilton almost 40 years ago.
"I was in complete shock when they talked about Wenham," she recalled. "It was the good guys and the bad guys. I jabbed my husband and said, 'Oh my God.' "
Across the street, at the cozy Wenham Museum, executive director Lindsay Diehl opened her eyes wide when asked about a full marriage between the towns.
"No comment!" Diehl said with a laugh.
Inside the Mobil gas station on the Hamilton-Wenham line, owner John Fallon has yet another perspective on the debate. Fallon, who lives behind the station, pays business taxes to Wenham and property taxes to Hamilton.
"I get the double whammy from both towns," Fallon said, leaning back in his chair and shaking his head. "From a standpoint of saving money, especially in this tough economy, I think it's a good thing. But one thing's for sure, everyone ain't gonna be happy."
One topic that is sure to raise hackles is what a new, larger town would be called.
"Hamilton-Wenham" strikes many as too long, despite its bland functionality. "Wenilton" is another suggestion. And even "Ham-ham" has gained some humorous traction, said Ashley Perkins of Wenham, a 2004 graduate of the regional high school.
Combining some services is one thing, but changing town names should be off-limits, said Butch Crosbie, president of the Hamilton Historical Society. "We both have our histories," he said.
The study has not begun, but selectmen in both towns have given a green light to the analysis, which the state Division of Local Services is scheduled to begin in January and wrap up by April. The study's purview will include a comparison of tax rates, debt, employee contracts, salaries and benefits, municipally owned facilities, and legal issues related to any differences in town government.
If a merger went ahead, the state's work could become a template for other communities, particularly in sparsely populated Western Massachusetts, that want to trim expenses and boost efficiencies, said Robert Bliss, spokesman for the state Department of Revenue, which includes the local-services division.
Any merger, however, would have to clear a host of legal and sentimental hurdles. First, the idea has to make sense financially. And second, town meetings in both towns would be required to endorse the proposal. Then, the Legislature would likely need to approve a home-rule petition before a consolidation became official.
"We owe it to the citizens of the towns to really look into this," said Candace Wheeler, town administrator in Hamilton. "The financial pressure on municipalities is tremendous."
Jeff Chelgren, Wheeler's counterpart in Wenham, said the concept of merger has infiltrated local conversation more and more.
"For the last three to four months, we're starting to see politicians freely speaking about it," Chelgren said. "Before, if you even uttered the word, you'd get your head cut off."
The notion gained momentum recently during a voluntary management review in Hamilton, during which state officials noted the towns already shared several services. The towns agreed to share expenses for the schools and emergency communications system in 1959, the recreation department in 1995, an elderly van in 1998, and the state's first two-town library in 1998.
To Perkins, the communities always were considered one town when she attended high school. "When you drive through, you can't tell a difference," she said.
But among older residents, wariness is the watchword.
"I love my little town of Hamilton, and I wouldn't mind it one way or another, but I know so many people who would," said Annette Janes, a library trustee. As library director when the merger of that institution was underway, Janes knows first-hand how challenging and sensitive a consolidation can become.
Joanne Patton, of Hamilton, the wife of the late Major General George S. Patton, said a merger would be a positive step.
"Economics are what's going to drive it," said Patton, whose father-in-law was General George S. Patton Jr., the legendary World War II hero. "Everybody's proud of where they are, but I myself would have no objection. I think what we need to do is start talking. Like other things in the world, we're learning that if we have dialogue, it's an appropriate first step. Sometimes, we learn we have more in common than we have differences."
In Patton's view, a merger is sensible and inevitable.
"I've often told my children," she said, "that by my grandchildren's lifetime, this will be one town." 