Most meetings are being held in person, but some are still remote or virtual. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on the meeting you are interested in to learn about meeting locations and any remote options that may be offered.
Thursday, May 12
- Nauset Regional School Committee, 6 p.m., virtual
Tuesday, May 17
- Town Election, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Town Hall
Wednesday, May 18
- Open Space Committee, 3 p.m., Town Hall
- Zoning and Planning boards joint meeting, 5 p.m., Town Hall
Conversation Starters
Family Support Package
Town meeting in 2020 approved a bundle of aid programs known as the Family Support Package to help the town retain families as well as workers. The measure, which passed 221 to 45, established a line item in the town operating budget of $490,500 that will annually go to acquire housing for year-round residents and workers’ needs, including child-care vouchers and free lunches, said Assistant Town Administrator Rich Bienvenue, who is also the finance director.
The town’s strategic planning committee put out a pamphlet to explain how the money was used in its first year. It stated that the program fully covered the cost of lunch for 382 Eastham Elementary School students. It paid for preschool for 33 children. Another $100,000 was set aside to support housing initiatives for those earning over 60 percent of area median income, and $4,000 was used to subsidize after-school care costs.
Bienvenue said the $100,000 set aside for housing will be used to pay the bond interest on the 2022 town meeting purchase of the Beach Plum Motor Lodge at 2555 State Highway for $760,000. The motor lodge’s rooms will be rented as workforce housing, which generally means to tenants earning 80 to 150 percent of area median income. In Barnstable County, a single person earning anywhere from $60,000 to $114,149 would be eligible to rent there, according to the Massachusetts Housing Partnership. —K.C. Myers
