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By Jasmine Lu
WELLFLEET — Chopper Young was working on his oyster grant one day when a shrill note pierced Chipman’s Cove. Stranded in the mucky tidal flats was a woman in a kayak. She puffed on her whistle, over and over. “Fire and rescue were down there already,” Young said, “but they couldn’t reach her.”
He decided to take matters into his own hands. Wading out into the gummy harbor, Young tossed the woman a rope and tugged her out of the mud.
But not without sinking in himself, said Young, “balls deep.”
Meetings are held remotely. From wellfleet-ma.gov, hover over a date on the calendar on the right of the screen and click on the meeting you’re interested in to open its agenda and find information about how to view and take part remotely.
Thursday, March 4
Monday, March 8
Tuesday, March 9
Thursday, March 11
Conversation Starters
Black Custard
The Natural Resources Advisory Board (NRAB) is seeking funding for a project they hope could replace dredging in the north channel of the Wellfleet Marina. The project would involve distributing dredge spoils, a.k.a. black custard, onto nearby marshes.
At the Feb. 23 select board meeting, the chair of the NRAB, John Riehl, requested a warrant article that would, if approved at town meeting, provide $25,000 toward the project. The motion passed unanimously.
It all started about five years ago at the Wellfleet State of the Harbor Conference, said Riehl. There, he had a conversation with Dennis Murphy, a former member of the select board. Murphy complained about the cost of dredging, said Riehl, and asked if the NRAB could find a way to minimize that cost. Riehl’s board then went before town meeting and secured an initial $25,000 for what is now known as “the black custard project.”
Now, Riehl said, he hoped the board would consider an additional $25,000 to take the sediment and safely move it onto the marshes adjacent to the inner harbor, such as Duck Creek. The funding would go toward engineering and permitting plans.
Promotion to Harbormaster
Will Sullivan, the assistant harbormaster, was promoted to harbormaster on Tuesday. Since Dec. 31, 2020, when Harbormaster Michael Flanagan retired, Sullivan has served as acting harbormaster.
The select board held a public session on Tuesday afternoon because, explained Chair Michael DeVasto, every new department head hired by the town administrator is placed on the agenda “as a formality.” The select board is not the hiring authority, but they do have 14 days to veto or take no action on a hiring decision if they feel the process was inadequate. This hearing was held outside the regular session, he said, because the hiring was announced too late to put on the Feb. 23 agenda.
“Promotion from within deserves a little extra attention,” said member Helen Miranda Wilson of the hearing, “partly to reassure the public, partly so that the appointing authority gets to think about it a little more carefully.” Wilson emphasized the importance of a fair, public process.
Hiring people locally is the preference of the board, “when they’re qualified for the position,” said DeVasto. He added that the town administrator did a “good job putting together a panel of people of conduct interviews.”
The panel included Town Administrator Maria Broadbent, Shellfish Constable Nancy Civetta, Chatham Harbormaster Stewart Smith, Fire Chief Richard Pauley, Martha Wilson, and Executive Assistant to the Town Administrator Rebekah Eldridge. Broadbent said they had a dozen applicants for the position, which she narrowed down to four based on whether or not the candidates had previous experience as harbormaster or assistant harbormaster. The decision to promote Sullivan was unanimous.
Since Sullivan does not have a background in management, board member Justina Carlson recommended he take some classes at Cape Cod Community College. As harbormaster, she said, Sullivan “will be responsible — and ultimately, Maria, you’ll be responsible — for the performance of the enterprise fund, for the budget, for the infrastructure, and for the capital budget.”
Wilson provided her own advice. “The harbormaster doesn’t have to do it all,” she said. “You just have to figure out how to have it done consistently and well — and it doesn’t all have to be you.”
“We had a lot of letters in support of this candidate,” said DeVasto, “He clearly has extensive knowledge of our harbor, great work ethic, dedication to the town and the marina.” —Tessera Knowles-Thompson
WELLFLEET — Agnes Mittermayr, a marine ecologist at the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) in Provincetown, has coined a new term to describe the dark, sludgy material that fills Wellfleet Harbor: “black custard.”
“Initially, everyone called it ‘mayo,’ ” she said.
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