Meetings Ahead
Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch.
Thursday, July 16
- Board of Health, 4 p.m.
- Zoning Board of Appeals, 6 p.m.
Friday, July 17
- Local Comprehensive Plan Committee, 10 a.m.
- Cemetery Commission, 12:30 p.m.
Thursday, July 23
- Planning Board, 6 p.m.
Conversation Starters
Covid-19 Update
As of July 13, Provincetown had no confirmed active cases of Coronavirus, one death from complications related to COVID-19, and 28 additional cases considered recovered.
Mask Order Extended by Select Board
During a July 13 meeting, the select board voted to expand both the hours and the area included in the town’s mask order.
The order, which originally made mask-wearing mandatory from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., will now be in effect during all hours of the day and night.
The mask zone now encompasses the entire Town Center Commercial zoning district, which includes Commercial Street between Bangs and Franklin streets, Standish Street up to the CVS, and the public area of MacMillan wharf.
The east side of the wharf, which consists of commercial fishing docks, was noted as an exclusion.
Callers Want Action Against Hatch
During the July 13 select board meeting, several public statements from callers expressed outrage over what they perceived as harassment by Mark Hatch, chair of the finance committee.
Callers accused him of hate speech, racism, and harassment, and pressured the select board to remove him from his position. The board did not discuss the issue further during the rest of the meeting.
Hatch, who has chaired the FinCom for five years, has recently come under fire for his incendiary posts on Facebook, including a post in May criticizing the town’s Black Lives Matter protests.
Both Hatch and Town Moderator Mary-Jo Avellar have defended the posts as expressions of free speech.
Two Fishermen Reclassified
The Public Pier Corporation ruled on the appeals of two fishermen, Jeff Souza and David Flattery, at its July 9 meeting. The two had recently lost their classifications as full commercial fishermen.
Souza and Flattery, who were represented by Attorney Bill Henchy, were facing higher dockage fees due to their reclassifications.
According to Pier Corp. chair Ginny Binder, both Souza and Flattery provided more detailed information about their fishing activities as part of their appeals. Souza, who was objecting to his reclassification as “limited commercial fisherman,” was reinstated as a full commercial fisherman. Flattery, who was objecting to a denied renewal application, was reclassified as “limited commercial,” meaning he will still face increased fees for his dockage slip.
So far this year, the Pier Corp. has reclassified seven fishermen. They say the changes represent an effort to enforce existing regulations that the pier’s previous management occasionally overlooked.
“I understand that there was a misunderstanding amongst the fishermen that people were being thrown off the pier,” said Binder. “That is just not true.”
Binder emphasized that the Pier Corp. is trying to create a “transparent and objective process” in evaluating whether or not fishermen are indeed deserving of the “commercial” title and the dockage-fee subsidies that come with it. —Will Powers
