All meetings in Wellfleet are remote only and can be watched online. Go to wellfleet-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch, then follow the instructions on the agenda.
Thursday, March 17
- Herring River Executive Council, 3 p.m.
Monday, March 21
- Select Board, 1 p.m.
Tuesday, March 22
- Select Board, 1 p.m.
- Select Board, 6 p.m.
Conversation Starters
Human Resources
Wellfleet wants to hire a human resources director. The select board voted on March 8 to instruct Assistant Town Administrator Rebecca Roughley to determine the appropriate compensation for the position.
“Wellfleet needs to formalize its HR practices better, which involves a lot of additional work,” board chair Ryan Curley said during the meeting.
Human resources has been one of Roughley’s jobs, but with all her other duties it is not getting the attention it needs.
“I don’t feel great about it,” she told the board. “There are certain policies and procedures that aren’t in place.”
Having someone to manage policies and personnel matters, Roughley said, “would help the town expand and grow.”
The select board members agreed, saying that the town has struggled with discipline procedures and creating a productive work culture.
Interim Town Administrator Charlie Sumner said Wellfleet has over 250 employees and added, “I think consistency in terms of applying regulations and how we treat people is really important.”
War and Workers
Select board chair Ryan Curley has penned a letter to federal legislators requesting more H-2B summer workers because of the likely loss of J-1 visa holders, who will not be able to come here because of the war in Ukraine.
Signed by the rest of the board March 8, his letter stated that in 2019, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, J-1 workers came from Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine.
Cape Cod lacks the workforce necessary to meet the demand for seasonal workers, so businesses rely on J-1 students, who generally come from Eastern Europe, and H-2B workers, who mainly come from Caribbean nations.
Curley’s letter asked for the cap on H-2B visas for the second half of the fiscal year (April 1 to Sept. 30) to be raised from 33,000 to 39,000. The 33,000 limit was reached in February, according to the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security.
“Increasing the cap for H-2B workers … will significantly relieve the labor shortage caused by this conflict,” the letter stated. —Michaela Chesin
