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, Jan. 27
- Natural Resources Advisory Board, 11 a.m.
- Cape Cod Commission Public Hearing Chapter A & C, 3 p.m.
- Joint Meeting of the Nauset School Committees, 4:30 p.m.
- Joint Meeting of the Nauset School Committees, 6 p.m.
- Shellfish Advisory Board, 6 p.m.
- Zoning Board of Appeals, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 29
- Joint Meeting of the Nauset School Committees, 9 a.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 2
- Conservation Commission, 4 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 3
- Nauset Regional School Committee, 6 p.m.
Conversation Starters
Financial Management Policies
Select board chair Ryan Curley presented his 83-page draft of a comprehensive report that outlines the town’s financial management policies at the board’s Jan. 18 meeting. The board unanimously voted to send the report to town administration, department heads, and interested committees for feedback. They gave the staff until Feb. 28 to comment, and on March 8 the select board will review the comments.
The town administrator and accountants normally head up the task of drafting such plans. But amid Wellfleet’s accounting crisis, Charlie Sumner, the interim town administrator, and his team of interim town accountants have been too swamped with untangling the records to do so. Because they have been confronting “rougher waters than expected,” Curley said, he assumed the responsibility, spending a week drafting the policies. A priority, he said, is having Sumner and the accountants, Mary McIsaac and Lisa Souve, weigh in before they leave.
Curley drew from four sources to craft the policies in his draft report: those developed by the Edward J. Collins Center for Public Management, policies adopted by Brewster after its own financial crisis of a few years ago, model bylaws available on the state’s website, and Wellfleet’s pre-existing policies.
“A lot of it has to do with best practices,” he said. “I was hoping to have it alongside the Dept. of Local Services report that we’re waiting on, but I don’t know when that will happen.”
The rest of the select board and other officials thanked the chair for his work. “It’s really an amazing document,” select board member Helen Miranda Wilson said during the meeting.
“This is really an excellent document,” said Sumner. “A lot of these things are best practices that exist in many places. It’s a great start.”
Town Administrator Search Begins
The Town Administrator Search Committee had its first meeting on Jan. 18. Attorney Bruce Bierhans was chosen to be the chair of the five-person committee, which also includes retired police officer and private investigator Arthur Parker, finance committee member Kathy Granlund, Fire Chief Richard Pauley, and interim Town Administrator Charles Sumner.
The committee is working with consultant Richard White of Groux-White Consulting of Lexington and Chatham to interview candidates.
Prior to the first meeting, White conducted interviews with 12 community leaders, most of the town’s staff, and the members of the select board to better understand the qualities needed in a candidate.
An advertisement for the position has been posted, and a few inquiries have come in, Sumner said during the meeting. The team will start reviewing resumes during the next meeting on Feb. 10.
Interviews of candidates will most likely happen at the end of February. —Michaela Chesin
