All meetings in Truro are remote only. Go to truro-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. The agenda includes instructions on how to join.
Thursday, Sept. 30
- Finance Committee, 3 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 5
- Conservation Commission, 6 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 6
- Council on Aging Board, 1:30 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 7
- Historic District Commission, 4 p.m.
Conversation Starters
Three Staff Resignations
Three municipal staffers are leaving town hall.
Josee Young, the town’s finance director, announced her last day will be Oct. 22, though she will help Town Manager Alex Morse through the transition to a new director, Morse said. Morgan Clark, the director of health and environment, informed Morse she also plans to resign, though she has not given Morse a firm date yet, he said on Sept. 27. And Erin Ellis, the project administrator and transportation coordinator, worked her last day on Sept. 28, Morse said.
Clark and Ellis did not respond to questions from the Independent.
But Young said she has accepted a job that will cut her commute by two-thirds, though she would not say where or what the new job will be. Young has been the director of finance since 2016.
There is a severe shortage of trained municipal accountants in the state and nation. Truro is poised to hire a finance director following a search that went on for months. Truro Town Manager Darrin Tangeman said he is hoping to announce the new finance director’s name on Oct. 7.
Wellfleet’s accounting office has had a revolving door for several years, and the position is currently open. —K.C. Myers
Swatting, Slapping, Swearing
Earlier this summer, mosquitos swept across Wellfleet, unleashed by an overwash at Duck Harbor that greatly expanded breeding grounds. They chased people indoors. They left welts. They flew into Truro and Eastham. Now, on the heels of last week’s rains, it’s Provincetown’s turn to swat, slap, and swear at the minuscule monsters.
The Cape Cod Mosquito Control Project runs a weekly trap in Provincetown. At the beginning of September, it was catching fewer than 100 bugs. This past week, Mosquito Control counted around 1,700 brackish mosquitos and 2,000 freshwater mosquitos. “This is a response to all of the rain we’ve gotten this month,” said Gabrielle Sakolsky, Mosquito Control’s entomologist and superintendent.
Among the freshwater bunch are individuals from the Psorophora ferox species. They’re partial to shady, dark areas, where they can be “super aggressive,” Sakolsky said. P. ferox is identifiable by its hairy purple legs, capped at the end by what Sakolsky calls “white socks.” Mosquitos from the Culex genus have also multiplied, emerging from manmade containers where rainwater has pooled. These species can carry the West Nile virus, which is on the rise across Massachusetts, but has not yet been found here.
“People can do their part and make sure they don’t have any containers holding water on their property,” she added. Empty bottles, tubs, and trays make for prime mosquito real estate. —Jasmine Lu
