Meetings Ahead
Most meetings in Provincetown are in-person, typically with an online-attendance option for both committee members and residents. Click on the meeting you want to attend on the calendar at provincetown-ma.gov for a link to an agenda and details.
Thursday, Jan. 12
- Public Pier Corp. Board, 5 p.m., Town Hall
- Planning Board, 6 p.m., Town Hall
Monday, Jan. 16
- Town Hall closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Tuesday, Jan. 17
- Personnel Board, 5:30 p.m., Town Hall
Wednesday, Jan. 18
- Historic District Commission, 3:30 p.m., Town Hall
- School Committee, 5:00 p.m., Provincetown Schools library
Thursday, Jan. 19
- Board of Health, 4 p.m., Town Hall
- Zoning Board of Appeals, 6 p.m., Town Hall
Conversation Starters
Spring Cleaning for Tourism Dept.
The select board’s Dec. 11 complaints about the condition of the historic town-owned building at 330 Commercial St. have apparently been heard. Assistant Town Manager Dan Riviello told the board on Monday that the DPW will be painting the shutters, front door, awning, and railings, and the public landscape committee is planning new plantings, with work currently scheduled for April.
Housing Dept. Now 2 People
The town has hired a deputy housing director, Riviello told the select board Monday, though he did not name her because she had accepted the job that very afternoon. The new hire will bring the housing department to two people for the first time.
The department could grow more, according to Riviello’s memo to the select board about future town meeting articles. If the town were to adopt a deed restriction purchasing program like the one in Vail, Colo. (see related story), additional staff would likely be needed to run it, he wrote.
Members of the Year-Round Market-Rate Rental Housing Trust have complained that there are not enough staff to address the needs of the Harbor Hill apartments, which the town purchased in 2017. The Trust has still not produced the details of a capital improvement program and related funding requests for town meeting, which was the source of some heated conversation at the Monday select board meeting.
“You can look at our minutes and see how many times we have asked for this to be done,” said Louise Venden, who is a member of both the select board and the Trust.
At the Dec. 19 housing workshop, Trust member Cass Benson asked for a housing czar. “We’re just groups of people that show up once a month,” Benson said of her fellow Trust members. “We need more help.” —Paul Benson
