Meetings Ahead
Most meetings in Provincetown are held in person, typically with an online-attendance option. Click on the meeting you want to attend on the calendar at provincetown-ma.gov for a link to an agenda and details. All meetings are at Town Hall unless otherwise noted.
Thursday, Jan. 16
- Community Preservation Committee, 2 p.m.
- Board of Health, 3:45 p.m.
- Board of Fire Engineers, 4 p.m., Fire Station
- Open Space Committee, 4 p.m.
- School Committee executive session, 4 p.m., School Library
- Zoning Board of Appeals, 6 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 21
- Conservation Commission, 6 p.m.
Wednesday, Jan. 22
- Coastal Resiliency Advisory Board, noon
- Harbor Committee, 2 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 23
- Board of Assessors, noon
- Shank Painter Zoning Presentation, 5 p.m.
- Planning Board, 6 p.m.
Conversation Starter
Regional 911 Dispatch
The select board agreed on Jan. 13 to redirect Provincetown’s 911 calls to the Barnstable County Regional Emergency Communications Center, run by the county sheriff’s dept. at Joint Base Cape Cod in Bourne.
The proposal was endorsed by town fire and police leaders. The regional communications center already handles 911 calls for Falmouth, Mashpee, Harwich, Brewster, Orleans, and Wellfleet, and will take over dispatch services for Eastham and Chatham in March.
Police calls will be routed back to the local department’s dispatchers, according to the plan, but medical and fire calls will remain at the regional dispatch and be handled by a team of dispatchers. There are seven “telecommunicators” working there at all times, and the full staff numbers 30 people, according to Thom Ashe of the sheriff’s department, who also spoke to the select board.
Provincetown usually has only one dispatcher per shift now, and that person can be overwhelmed when a major incident happens, such as eight people calling in seven minutes when the Surf Club caught fire in 2017. —Paul Benson
