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harbormaster

    WELLFLEET HARBOR

    Marina Committee Blames Former Staff for Poor Management

    Interim harbormaster says budget is inadequate to address concerns

    By

    WELLFLEET — Following three resignations in the harbormaster’s office within a two-week period earlier this summer, members of the town’s marina advisory committee claimed former staff failed to address critical safety and operational concerns at the marina.

    Committee chair Joe Aberdale and vice chair David Stamatis told the Independent that former staff had repeatedly dismissed their concerns.

    “There was a lot of dysfunction, as far as I was concerned, with communication, cooperation, and understanding the needs of the marina,” said Stamatis. “Instead of taking a professional approach, many times the staff took it personal, and it was never personal.”

    But in an interview with the Independent, former seasonal assistant David Perry, who resigned on July 12, defended the staff who had resigned. He said that the communication breakdown was primarily the result of disagreements about assessing and addressing problems, many of which were outside the scope of the marina’s budget.

    At the Aug. 21 meeting of the marina advisory committee, interim Harbormaster Stuart Smith, who was harbormaster in Chatham for 25 years, acknowledged many of the safety issues noted by Aberdale, Stamatis, and other committee members and provided his own assessment of the marina’s condition.

    “There’s a number of electrical, plumbing, and safety issues with the docks that we’ve begun to address,” said Smith.

    But Smith also said that the budget was a key constraint in carrying out needed repairs. “There isn’t a lot of flexibility in that budget to make any heavy improvements or even maintenance,” he said.

    Smith told the committee that he and his staff had assessed the plumbing and lighting, repaired malfunctioning pump-out equipment, and identified structural issues at the commercial L-pier and buildings, which he said are in “pretty poor” condition.

    He said that because of staff turnover few current workers were trained to operate the boats, and none had the training to operate the fueling facilities. Training for the latter was scheduled to begin this week, Smith said.

    Revisiting the Resignations

    As the Independent has reported, former interim Harbormaster Brittany Tilton alleged that political interference and mistreatment from town board and committee members and harbor business owners contributed to her resignation on July 12. She did not name them or respond to follow-up interview requests from the Independent.

    Perry, who started working as a seasonal assistant at Provincetown Harbor on Aug. 6, told the Independent that friction between the harbormaster’s office and the marina advisory committee had contributed to his resignation. He said that an allegation of multiple complaints about his conduct that he said were relayed by Town Administrator Tom Guerino had at first kept him from commenting on the reasons for his resignation.

    A public records request to the town by the Independent for all complaints filed against Perry produced no record of any complaints. Other than stating that it was “a personnel issue,” Guerino declined to comment.

    Perry said that many of the marina committee’s recommendations and demands for immediate repairs were unrealistic and financially impractical. Tilton suggested in her written statement that some of those demands were simply not allowed by law.

    Perry said he thought Tilton was referring to the committee’s requests to place markers in the federal channel, which staff cannot do without the approval of the U.S. Coast Guard, and to place signs indicating boater-only spaces at the town-owned marina. He said that both Tilton and former Harbormaster Will Sullivan had told the committee that the harbormaster’s office would not carry out these requests.

    “They want something, they snap their fingers, and expect it to be done,” Perry said. “But it’s not that simple. It comes down to money, finances, and budgeting.”

    With regard to concerns about the L-pier and other structures in need of repair, Perry added that former staff were awaiting recommendations from consultants at Weston & Sampson on the $200,000 marina master plan before determining which repairs to make and how to fund them.

    Sullivan did not respond to interview requests from the Independent. In July, he said that problems between the harbormaster’s office and the committee had existed for years. He praised Tilton for having the courage to speak out, which he said many feared to do, but he said his reason for leaving Wellfleet was for a good job opportunity in Provincetown.

    Sullivan departed his post in Wellfleet on June 30 and started as harbormaster in Provincetown on July 1.

    In an email to the Independent, Provincetown Human Resources Manager Katie Buckley wrote that the hiring panel, which consisted of Buckley, Town Manager Alex Morse, Assistant Town Manager Dan Riviello, DPW Director Jim Vincent, and Pier Manager Jamie Demetriou, “selected the candidate whose experience was most in line with the job description” from a pool of four applicants.

    This Week In Wellfleet

    Meetings Ahead

    By

    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

    • Housing Authority, 10 a.m.
    • Nauset Regional School Committee, 6:30 p.m.

    Monday, March 8

    • Nauset Regional School District Capital Asset Subcommittee, 4 p.m.
    • Nauset Regional School District Budget & Finance Subcommittee, 5 p.m.

    Tuesday, March 9

    • School Committee, 4:30 p.m.
    • Cultural Council, 5:30 p.m.
    • Select Board, 6 p.m.

    Thursday, March 11

    • Zoning Board of Appeals, 7 p.m.

    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

    WATERFRONT

    Eastham Harbormaster’s Office Plan Downsized

    A new concept is scaled back, in an effort to satisfy abutters

    By

    EASTHAM — The Rock Harbor Improvements Capital Project Committee unveiled a new design concept for the harbormaster’s office at its Dec. 28 meeting. It involved a smaller footprint, lower roofline, and different location than its controversial predecessor.

    “I think we’ve taken the building totally out of any viewscapes that any of the abutters might see,” said committee member Jacqui Beebe, who is also Eastham’s town administrator. “I honestly think we’re going to be able to pretty much hide this building in the tree line and with plantings. You’ll see it but it’s not going to be as visible as it was.”

    The committee requested the revision from Kuth Ranieri Architects in response to abutters’ criticisms of the first design that was presented in September.

    The earlier proposal included a 594-square-foot office with 1,297 square feet of ramps, decks, and landings, sited on the east side of the parking area just north of the boat ramp overlooking the docks.

    A group called the Rock Harbor Alliance (RHA) met with committee members in October to discuss the proposal. In a follow-up letter to Beebe, the group asked that the structure be the smallest possible, placed as far north as possible, at or near ground level, and be considered for seasonal only use.

    The revised design has a 563-square-foot shed-like structure on eight-foot-tall pilings to protect the building from sea level rise and expected storm surges. The new design calls for a 432-square-foot ramp and one staircase. The decks and landings total 191 square feet — a 550-square-foot reduction from the previous design.

    The current harbormaster’s shed sits on the site of the new proposed location for the harbormaster office, north of the parking lot on the Eastham side of Rock Harbor. (Photo Linda Culhane)

    Tony Schoener, who owns three properties on the harbor — a house and lot on Keene Way and a lot on Dyer Prince Road — had, at an October meeting on the project, served as RHA’s spokesperson. The group’s main concern, he said, was about the possibility of increased use of the harbor. “We want to minimize the amount of activity that is in Rock Harbor,” he stated at the time.

    Since then, design revisions have focused on the building itself, its location and scale. Schoener was present at the Dec. 28 meeting, and, after hearing the proposed changes, still had questions. He wanted to know if the new design, which had been reduced in height from 29½ feet to 24½ feet, could be closer to ground level.

    “I thought we heard something about 5 feet or 5½ feet,” said Schoener, referring to the overall reduction in the structure’s height.

    “I think I tried to promise you a 4½-foot reduction in height, and we’ve gotten a 5½-foot reduction in height overall,” said Beebe. “But,” she added, “the pilings still remain eight feet.”

    “So again, just to be clear, by code or regulation it cannot be lower?” asked Schoener.

    Beebe said that, while the building inspector required 7½-foot pilings, further height reduction would require additional railings to be installed around the building.

    “I don’t think you’d be happy with the aesthetic of that,” she said.

    Harbormaster Scott Richards noted that, while the revised sketch suggested the smaller building would still be functional, he would need to go to the site to determine how much of the harbor could be seen from the building’s new location. “I’m sure we can see most of what we want to look at,” said Richards.

    The capital project committee will circulate the new design concept to the RHA and to the select board for their feedback. No other public presentation of the plans has been announced at this stage.

    “I think the feedback from both those groups would be valuable to us,” said committee member Thomas Gardner.

    Rob Marcalaw, the project manager from Kuth Ranieri, said that, in order to stay on schedule, they would need a decision on the concept within two weeks.

    WATERFRONT

    Rock Harbor Panel Mulls Change of Plan

    Committee rejects idea of repurposing antique house as office

    By

    EASTHAM — The Rock Harbor Improvements Committee will not recommend moving an antique half Cape from 60 Dyer Prince Road and turning it into the harbormaster’s new office. Instead, the group may propose a new design modeled on the Provincetown Harbormaster’s Office.

    WATERFRONT

    Worries Stall Rock Harbor Building Plan

    An alliance of neighbors puts pressure on town officials

    By

    EASTHAM — The Rock Harbor Improvements Committee, a subgroup of the Capital Projects Committee, has hit pause on a plan for a new harbormaster’s building while town staff try to get the neighborhood on board.

    “We’re not comfortable spending more money on any other design until we have an agreement that a majority of neighbors would like one option over the other,” Town Administrator Jacqui Beebe said at the committee’s Oct. 26 meeting.

    Some residents have objected to a proposed 600-square-foot harbormaster’s building with additional decks and ramps, including Donelle Denery, who wrote that she opposed increased use of “environmentally sensitive areas” in an op-ed column in the Oct. 1 issue of the Independent.

    About 30 neighbors met virtually with Beebe and other town staff and officials on Oct. 21 via Zoom, in what should have been a posted public meeting under state law because two of the three voting members of the Rock Harbor Committee were present.

    The following week, in response to questions from the Independent, Beebe issued a statement acknowledging the violation. “Although it was not intentional,” Beebe wrote, “I did violate the Open Meeting Law by sending a Zoom meeting invitation to a member of the Capital Projects Committee, who joined the call. I take full responsibility and will be more careful about invitations in the future.”

    The Open Meeting Law requires that if a committee quorum is present the meeting must be advertised in advance and open to the public.

    The Oct. 21 meeting was recorded and is available for viewing on the town’s website, Beebe wrote, adding that, while “many ideas and concepts were discussed, none of these concepts or ideas have been deliberated on or decided by the Capital Projects Committee.”

    Tony Schoener, an abutter to the project, spoke on behalf of what he called the Rock Harbor Alliance, which he said began meeting in September and now has more than 50 members.

    “We certainly want the harbormaster to be able to take care of the town’s business in that area,” said Schoener. “We’re also clearly interested in having as small an impact on the general harbor area as possible.”

    The harbormaster’s office would also house the shellfish constable and a natural resource officer. They currently operate out of a 168-square-foot area in the Department of Public Works building on Old Orchard Road.

    Beebe said the natural resource employees were usually out of the office working on projects and doing regulatory work. Permits would continue to be sold at the beach sticker office on Old Orchard Road.

    Eastham neighbors object to a plan for a 600-square-foot harbormaster’s building at Rock Harbor. (Photo Linda Culhane)

    During the Oct. 21 meeting, Schoener questioned whether all three employees needed to be headquartered at Rock Harbor when the resource areas were spread throughout the town and much of the work was not specific to the harbor.

    “We want to minimize the amount of activity that is in Rock Harbor,” said Schoener. “One of the things we’re struggling with is we don’t really want an office building in Rock Harbor.”

    “It is an office building,” responded Beebe, “but it is the place where the harbormaster can see the harbor and watch the ramp and assist people. I don’t have another place I can put them. In 2018, the town said I could put them at Rock Harbor. I understand what you’re asking me to do.  I just don’t have another place where I can put them.”

    The meeting went on to discussion of the location and design of the building, with a number of attendees giving a thumbs up to the idea of it being a half Cape. Recent suggestions included the relocation from 60 Dyer Prince Road of an antique half Cape that is facing demolition, or building a replica of that house and incorporating elements of the original.

    Another idea suggested at the meeting was giving the building a buoyant foundation, to reduce the overall height of the building. It would otherwise need to be raised at least 7½ feet above grade to keep it above the flood level. A buoyant foundation would allow the structure to be closer to ground level because it would float if there were a flood.

    Planners had included a floating design in their initial set of options, but it was dismissed because of concerns that a floating foundation would not fare well in the Cape’s icy, windy winters.

    “They actually loved the idea of a floating amphibious building,” Beebe said at the Rock Harbor Committee’s Oct. 26 meeting. “I reached out to Building Commissioner Justin Post to do some research for us. Has this ever been permitted in Massachusetts? Is it allowed in the building code here?”

    In an unsigned follow-up letter to Beebe, the Rock Harbor Alliance asked that, due to “tenuous off-season conditions,” the town consider a mobile or removable office. “It was stated that this option was not viable due to zoning restrictions, but we believe it would be permissible by special permit,” the letter stated.

    Should the town proceed with plans for a permanent office building, the letter asked for the smallest possible structure, placed as far north as possible, and tucked into the landscape, at or near ground level. The letter also asked that the town consider using the facility only in season.

    The Rock Harbor Improvements Committee’s members are Town Administrator Beebe, Thomas Gardner of the finance committee, and select board member Jared Collins. Gardner was the member who was invited to and present for the Oct. 21 Zoom meeting, although he did not speak.

    civics

    Select Board Eyes Shake-Up of Harbormaster’s Dept.

    Employees could be moved from Pier Corp. to town staff

    By

    PROVINCETOWN — The select board will hear from the Pier Corp. on Nov. 12 about the harbormaster’s budget, money that the town has paid to the Pier Corp. for years. This arrangement dates to 2005, but the agreement defining it expired in 2017. The select board must now either develop a new agreement with the Pier Corp. or bring its money and the staff it pays for under the direct supervision of town government.

    The harbor committee has already recommended the second course, advising that the harbormaster’s dept. move into a new division of marine services.

    The end of a busy day on the harbor in Provincetown. (Photo Jamie Demetriou)

    The Pier Corp. began operations in 2003 as an autonomous, public nonprofit corporation, responsible for running town-owned MacMillan Pier, and supervised by an all-volunteer board, appointed by the select board. Before 2005 the Pier Corp. had one employee. The various assistant harbormasters were supervised by a marine superintendent, who reported to the town manager. But after Supt. Chris Flavell unexpectedly resigned in 2004 the town signed its first marine services agreement with the Pier Corp. With that, the lone employee at the Pier Corp. — Pier Manager Rex McKinsey — became a combined pier manager-harbormaster.

    This arrangement seemed to promise efficiencies, said Acting Town Manager David Gardner. The responsibilities of that combined position have grown over the years, however, and it has become a point of contention between the Pier Corp. and the harbor committee this year.

    On July 16 the Pier Corp. voted to split the position back into two, a pier manager and a harbormaster, each reporting to the Pier Corp. Doug Boulanger was elevated to pier manager, and McKinsey stayed in the harbormaster job. The Pier Corp. instructed McKinsey to study how his time was divided among pier management, supervision of harbor traffic, and other marine municipal work — like dredging, dune restoration, coastal resilience, and harbor access compliance. In August, shortly after he reported back, the Pier Corp. initiated a disciplinary action against McKinsey on unrelated administrative matters.

    Control of the disciplinary process rests with the town manager, and Gardner chose to place McKinsey on two weeks of unpaid administrative leave as a penalty.

    McKinsey returned to work on Oct. 15 with the provisional title of marine coordinator, assigned to him by Gardner. Don German had been elevated to acting harbormaster in his absence, and McKinsey now reported to town government, rather than to the Pier Corp. His old job was breaking into three, along the lines that McKinsey had outlined to the Pier Corp. back in August, but with uncertainty over who would be reporting to whom.

    Who’s the Boss?

    The harbor committee has already asked the select board to bring the harbormaster position into town government as well, leaving only a pier manager at the Pier Corp. The new dept. of marine services would include the marine coordinator, the harbormaster, his assistants, and the shellfish constable.

    “I firmly believe the harbormaster belongs under the jurisdiction of the town manager,” said harbor committee member Susan Avellar at the Oct. 28 select board meeting. “Somehow, something got convoluted, and if you think the individual in the job had too much to do, then maybe also the Pier Corp. had too much to do.”

    Harbor committee member Laura Ludwig added, “A separation of harbormaster services from the Pier Corp. would allow the Pier Corp. to be the facility manager, and allow them to really embrace that role, know who they work with and whom they report to.”

    Now the Pier Corp. and select board will hash out the money issue. The harbormaster and assistant harbormasters have been paid principally from the so-called 295 budget, an annual allocation of around $205,000 that the town pays to the Pier Corp. for this purpose.

    The Pier Corp. board has argued for years that the allocation is too small. Board member Scott Fraser said at the July 16 meeting that it should be more like $260,000 a year, and that the Pier Corp. has been effectively subsidizing $55,000 in staff salaries out of pier user fees — money that he said ought to be going into long-term maintenance projects. These numbers are all likely to figure in the Pier Corp.’s presentation on Tuesday.

    Ultimately, the select board will need to vote on whether to start a new agreement with the Pier Corp. or keep the 295 money and move staff into a marine department, as was done before 2005. Chair Dave Abramson indicated he would like the board to vote on this next Tuesday.

    civics

    McKinsey Will Return to Work, Perhaps With New Title

    Suspended harbormaster may now become ‘marine coordinator’

    By

    Provincetown Harbor at Night
    Provincetown harbor glows even while its management is being debated. (Photo Jamie Demetriou)

    PROVINCETOWN — Former harbormaster Rex McKinsey, who has been on administrative leave since August, will return to work on Oct. 15. But he may have a new title, marine coordinator, and a more limited set of duties, as town officials consider splitting his old job into two or three new ones.

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