Wellfleet are held remotely 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, Sept. 9
- Nauset Regional School Committee, 6 p.m., Eastham Town Hall
- Zoning Board of Appeals, 7 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 10
- 95 Lawrence Rd. Task Force, 10 a.m.
Monday, Sept 13
- 95 Lawrence Rd. Task Force, 10 a.m.
- Dredging Task Force, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 14
- Cultural Council, 5 p.m.
- School Committee, 5:30 p.m.
- Select Board, 7 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 15
- 95 Lawrence Rd. Task Force, 1 p.m.
Conversation Starters
Background Checks
The select board agreed that the town should check for criminal records of new employees on Aug. 27, after it learned that the town did not have such a policy in place.
Every employee hired by the town must go through a Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) check, interim Town Administrator Charlie Sumner told the board. But it appeared that Wellfleet had no policy on this, nor was there anyone at town hall designated and trained to do the checks, Sumner added.
“This is first time that I have heard that the select board has to accept this,” said member Helen Miranda Wilson. “My hair is kind of standing up on end.”
Those who work with vulnerable people — the recreation and council on aging staff — do receive criminal background checks every two years. Suzanne Grout Thomas, director of community services, confirmed that on behalf of the council on aging. Becky Rosenberg, the recreation director, said it is part of the hiring process of all her staff as well.
The select board approved the policy and appointed Rebekah Eldridge, who does multiple administrative assistant jobs at town hall, and Assistant Town Administrator Rebecca Slick to do them.
Tables for All
For years, Mac’s on the Pier has had 14 picnic tables on the adjacent beach. The land is town owned, so the tables are open to all, but they’re heavily used by the restaurant’s customers. In exchange, Mac’s has maintained the benches and tables.
But following a complaint by charter captain Kevin Coakley, who said he frequently picks up restaurant trash on the waterfront, the select board on Aug. 27 directed interim Town Administrator Charlie Sumner to put together a licensing agreement and charge restaurateur Mac Hay a fee.
Restaurant customers use the restrooms at the pier, and the portable toilets by the beach office, and the septic system for the town’s restrooms had to be pumped twice this summer, at a cost of $1,000 each time, said board chair Ryan Curley.
“It is overdue,” Hay told the board. The tables, he said, provide a benefit to his business. “But,” he said, “it is also a benefit to have a business down there.”
Hay has agreed to pay $7,500 for the use of the town property, Sumner said.
The town’s attorney advised putting the property out to bid, saying it would be fairer. But the select board asked Sumner to put together a licensing agreement, because, according to both Mike DeVasto and Helen Miranda Wilson, that would help preserve the area as a public space. There is now a large sign, Curley said, by the restaurant indicating that the picnic tables can be used by the public as well as by Mac’s customers. —K.C. Myers