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Provincetown Public Pier Corp.

    PIER REVIEW

    Who Should Pay to Repair an Aging Pier?

    A longstanding argument about dockage rates is about to resume

    By

    PROVINCETOWN — Twenty years after an $18-million reconstruction, MacMillan Pier — the town’s economic and cultural heart — needs work. All agree on that. What is disputed is who should pay for it.

    “We have competing goals,” said Jamie Staniscia, chair of the Provincetown Public Pier Corp. “Fishermen want low rates. The select board wants to cater to its constituents. And the Pier Corp. wants to carry out their mandate, as outlined by the state.”

    Increased fees for tenants of MacMillan Pier are scheduled to go into effect in April. (Photo Michaela Chesin)

    The Pier Corp. has operated MacMillan Pier for the past two decades under an agreement that enabled the town to receive a $14.3-million state grant for the last renovation. It was created by the Commonwealth “for the purpose of bringing sound and market-based management practices to MacMillan Pier operations,” according to the enabling act of 2000 that established the Pier Corp.

    But lobsterman Dana Pazolt sees the 21-year-old public corporation “trying to beat up tenants to drive the fishermen out. They want to put a bunch of pleasure craft there.”

    The pier’s fiscal 2022 draft budget, unanimously endorsed by the Pier Corp. board on Dec. 2, includes controversial rate increases that will go into effect this coming April. Dockage rates will go up by about 50 percent. While the Pier Corp. board originally voted to raise rates in February 2021 (to go into effect in April 2021), the resulting public outcry led to postponing the increases for a year, as fishermen regained their footing amid the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

    The budget’s projected revenue for the coming year is $997,799 with the planned rate increases. That budget is 32 percent higher than the revised fiscal 2019 budget. The fiscal 2023 budget is projected to jump by another 11 percent.

    “This is a good budget,” said Pier Corp. board member and treasurer David Colton during the Dec. 2 meeting. “The budget wouldn’t have been possible without rate adjustments.” The budget will be presented to the select board.

    The life of the pier is 40 to 50 years, said Pier Manager Doug Boulanger. Needed repairs include a cracked water line, rusting electrical switches and gears, and other structural repairs, like replacing pilings and broken ladders, said Boulanger.

    At the last annual town meeting, voters approved $270,000 in electrical upgrades and infrastructure maintenance like the failed pilings. The plan is to cover essential repairs with town meeting appropriations over several years, according to Boulanger.

    Past and present Pier Corp. members say dockage rate increases are needed because there have been none since 2005, and taxpayers are continually subsidizing pier users who aren’t Provincetown residents. Only four of the 54 MacMillan slips are currently occupied by Provincetown residents, Staniscia said.

    “The select board caves to political pressure from nonvoting nonresident tenants,” said Staniscia. “That is unfair to Provincetown taxpayers.”

    But the tenants — commercial fishermen, whale watch boat owners, and ferry companies — say that the current plan is not feasible and ignores a core mission of the pier: to support and sustain the commercial fishing industry.

    “Rate hikes will push more fishermen out of an already struggling industry and will also stop newcomers,” said third-generation lobsterman David Young, who now lives in Eastham. His family moved as the cost of living in Provincetown rose. “For any young person coming up,” he said, “it’s going to be a hard challenge. My son will not begin next year because he can’t afford it.”

    A reasonable rate increase should be implemented, said fisherman and Pier Corp. member Beau Gribbin. “But 10 percent annually for five years,” he suggested, “instead of the drastic increase we’re seeing now.”

    Rather than asking for fee increases, the Pier Corp. should pursue grant money, Pazolt said. “There are too many people calling the shots now and distracting the pier manager,” he said. “There is grant money out there. You just have to ask.”

    Tenants say the Pier Corp. board has done a poor job managing pier maintenance, causing an increasing reliance on town funds.

    Pier Corp. members attribute the pier’s failure to run independently to longstanding politics: proposed rate increases have always been met with objections about bad timing. “How can we sustain the pier if we can’t increase the rates?” Staniscia asked.

    Young sees no need for the Pier Corp. to exist. “I’d rather deal with the selectmen myself,” he said. “Have it go back to the way it was, because we’re too far removed from the decision-makers. You go to the Pier Corp. with your grievance, and they must go to the selectmen. There are way too many players. I like one captain on the boat.”

    Before there was a Pier Corp., the pier was run by the town. Maintenance was ignored for decades, and at length you could feel the structure move when a truck drove onto it, said former Town Manager Keith Bergman.

    “We needed a business plan,” Bergman said. “The necessary funds weren’t being put aside for the pier, so it needed to be operated as a business. That’s where the Pier Corp. came along.”

    In 2025, the lease between the Pier Corp. and the town will expire. “If people want a different option,” Staniscia said, “it’s up to the town to have an honest conversation with taxpayers about what their options are.”

    WHARFINGERS

    The Lagasses’ Marina Deal Required a Harbor Walk by 2019

    Pier Corp. board members question using public money to help get it built

    By

    PROVINCETOWN — When Chuck and Ann Lagasse bought Fisherman’s Wharf in 2016, the Chapter 91 license they secured from the state required them to construct a harbor walk on the pier to ensure that the public would have access to the waterfront.

    Five years later, there is still no harbor walk.

    Chuck Lagasse said the delay was the result of design changes, permitting problems, and supply chain issues related to the pandemic. He said he hopes to start construction next year on a 10-foot-wide boardwalk that will go from Ryder Street up the west side of his wharf to its end. Lagasse also said he plans to turn the current building at the wharf’s end into public restrooms and a restaurant and event center.

    The entrance to Fisherman’s Wharf. (Photo Jamie Demetriou)

    These improvements, he said, will cost more than $20 million, on top of the $6 million cost of the walkway.

    On the select board’s agenda for its Oct. 25 meeting was its approval of an application for a $1 million state Seaport Economic Development Grant to help Lagasse pay for the walk. The price tag includes new pilings that must be driven beneath the pier and a widening of the pier itself, according to the grant application.

    The application appeared in the board’s “consent agenda,” which is where officials usually deal with routine housekeeping matters that warrant little or no discussion. But when Jamie Staniscia, chair of the Provincetown Public Pier Corp., which manages MacMillan Pier, saw the application there, he objected on two grounds.

    First, he said, the town should not be applying for state money to be used by a private business owner. The Fisherman’s Wharf harbor walk, he said, will siphon pedestrians away from town-owned MacMillan Pier and send people to Lagasse’s restaurant. Meanwhile, Staniscia argued, all the businesses and nonprofits that support the “blue economy” mentioned as justification for the grant are actually on MacMillan Pier, including whale watch boats, the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy outpost, and sailing charters.

    Second, Staniscia questioned why this item appeared in the consent agenda, since it seemed to be worthy of public debate.

    Select board members agreed to pull the item from the agenda for discussion at a later date.

    “Why would we be partnering with a for-profit pier for $1 million for a Seaport Grant?” asked board member Leslie Sandberg.

    The Seaport Grants are given out twice a year, she added, so withdrawing the grant application from the agenda would not eliminate the town’s chance of receiving the funds.

    “My concern is the Seaport Economic Grant money is precious and the town needs to look at how it can be spent wisely,” added Ginny Binder, a former member of the Pier Corp. board. “I would urge you to dig further to see if this is the best use of $1 million.”

    After the meeting, Lagasse told the Independent that Staniscia and others are missing years of history. The Lagasses bought the pier from Robert Cabral and Raymond Cabral in 2016 for $3.5 million. Developers of private marinas first in Newburyport and then in Boston, the Lagasses began to upgrade the facilities to attract yachts to their Provincetown Marina. There are now 100 slips that accommodate vessels up to 300 feet long, according to the marina’s website.

    Town officials defended their decision to go after state money to help pay for the harbor walk.

    “Success of the Provincetown Marina has huge potential for the town in general,” said Assistant Town Manager David Gardner. Its failure, he added, would be catastrophic.

    But the Lagasses still have work to do. The state license requires them to build the walkway. They contend that what has kept them from getting that done is related to the fact that the town insists the Lagasses continue to offer commercial parking — about 200 spaces — on the wharf.

    Making room for both parking and the walkway, Lagasse said, is the reason the wharf has to be widened. And that expansion triggered an environmental review because it would affect a bed of eel grass. That, in turn, necessitated design revisions. As a result, Lagasse said, he has received an extension on the 2019 walkway deadline.

    Rex McKinsey, the town’s marine and emergency management coordinator, confirmed that. No one from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers returned a call seeking comment before deadline.

    Staniscia said the harbor walk design is the result of cookie-cutter Chapter 91 requirements. Why not lobby the state for something that would really benefit the town, he asked, such as a boardwalk along the waterfront rather than down a pier? It would cost $3 million instead of $6 million — and Lagasse could pay for it.

    Chapter 91 requirements can be negotiated, Staniscia said.

    PIER REVIEW

    Pier Corp. Controversy Goes On as McKinsey’s Role Changes Again

    Town meeting indefinitely postpones an article to dissolve the board

    By

    PROVINCETOWN — Criticism of the board of the Provincetown Public Pier Corp., which led to an unsuccessful bid to dissolve the corporation at Saturday’s annual town meeting, grew intense in the summer of 2019 when the board suspended popular Harbormaster Rex McKinsey and ultimately removed him from the position.

    Previously undisclosed documents from that year suggest that McKinsey’s management of MacMillan Pier could have exposed the town to hundreds of thousands of dollars in civil penalties from the U.S. Coast Guard.

    On Aug. 1, 2019, McKinsey received a letter from the Coast Guard telling him that MacMillan Pier could no longer host cruise ships because he had failed to send in a complete facility security plan.

    “On April 22, 2019, the facility security plan for MacMillan Pier expired,” stated the letter, which the Independent obtained through a public records request. “It has been reported to my staff that your facility has been continuously operating without an approved facility security plan.”

    C.J. Glander, Coast Guard Captain of the Port for Southeastern New England, asked McKinsey for the proper paperwork and warned that “failure to comply … is punishable by a civil penalty of not more than $91,901 for each day the facility is in violation.”

    By the time McKinsey got that letter, his bosses, the five-member Pier Corp. board, had placed him on administrative leave as of July 14 and appointed Don German acting harbormaster. German, a retired Army reservist and a marine training and standards officer, completed the facility security plan without incurring fines. German is now the harbormaster.

    The Pier Corp. board did not know about the incomplete security plan until they got the letter, said member Scott Fraser. But that mistake just added to their list of grievances.

    At a May 9, 2019 meeting, Pier Corp. chair Ginny Binder asked McKinsey for the security plan due date. He replied, “The last weekend of June.” When she asked if he could get it done a bit earlier, he said, “I’m planning to have that done next week.” The Coast Guard letter stated that an incomplete plan arrived in July.

    McKinsey told the Independent that he was “overwhelmed with the workload” at that time, and “had more balls in the air” than he could handle.

    At a July 11 meeting, a few days before they suspended McKinsey, Binder said her board had given McKinsey extra staffing and support. They hired a facilities manager and an office manager at MacMillan Pier. Still, she said, his execution, budgeting, and time management had been “disappointing.”

    Pier Corp. board member Carlos Verde said, for years, McKinsey’s communication has been “fluff” and his follow through lacking.

    Acting Town Administrator David Gardner ultimately suspended McKinsey, who had been harbormaster and pier manager for 14 years, without pay for two weeks in the fall of 2019 for “negligence of duties.” Gardner reassigned him as the “marine coordinator.”

    At this year’s annual town meeting on May 1, the new town manager, Alex Morse, gave McKinsey a new title, with a combination of his old duties as marine coordinator and some of the emergency response duties of the former emergency management/transportation coordinator. Another town staffer will take on the transportation job, so that one full-time position is cut, with savings of $44,000.

    McKinsey will get a raise: from $65,483 to $69,051, as of Jan. 1, Morse said.

    The bad-mouthing of the Pier Corp., which is charged with management of the pier, reached a peak this year when it doubled fees to pier users over two years. (Under pressure, the board delayed the hikes for a year.)

    This led to a petitioned article on the town meeting warrant, signed by several members of the harbor committee, to abolish the Pier Corp. “due to mismanagement.”

    “I worked on the pier for almost 35 years,” said Josiah Mayo, a supporter of dissolving the corporation. “And there has been so much ill will generated by Pier Corp.”

    Mayo cited the “removal of a competent and well-liked harbormaster,” a no-confidence petition signed by tenants of the pier in 2019, and “unsustainable tenant rate hikes.”

    Ultimately, voters indefinitely postponed that article because, as one speaker said, they didn’t know enough about the issue.

    Jennifer Cabral said the town manager should prioritize untangling the longstanding issues of pier management and the fraught relationship between the town and Pier Corp. MacMillan Pier should be subsidized to support the people who use it, she said.

    “I’m so tired of fighting about the pier,” she added.

    Fraser, who has served for 10 years on the board, said he’s tired, too. He said the board had tried to be quiet about McKinsey’s shortcomings. They did not reveal his error with the security plan and allowed the narrative that McKinsey “had too much on his plate” as a face-saving measure.

    But, on reflection, Fraser said, maybe they should have been more outspoken, because ignorance allowed the public to be manipulated by pier users, who have their own self-interests in mind.

    “Maybe it’s good this is all coming out now,” Fraser said. “It helps correct the public record. Then, as now, the people at Pier Corp. were just doing their jobs. I’m tired of the nonsense that is thrown at our board and our staff.”

    Going forward, the town meeting did act to make changes to the Pier Corp. Voters adopted an article to add an alternate to the board to vote on issues when a member, such as fisherman Beau Gribbin, must recuse himself due to a conflict of interest. And they voted to allow two pier users or stakeholders to serve as nonvoting advisers to the Pier Corp.

    This was done at the suggestion of another new member, David Colton, a retired town administrator, who said stakeholders should be heard and included.

    “I’m putting together a stakeholder engagement plan,” Colton said this week.

    The Pier Corp. board, he said, has done good work. The members have been earnest, sincere, and competent, he said, but have not done well communicating with the public. “I want to get that information out to the public, the select board, the finance committee, and press,” he said, “so they understand what the Pier Corp. is trying to accomplish.”

    ON THE WATERFRONT

    Pier Corp. Approves Controversial Fee Hikes

    Fees will rise about 50 percent this year

    By

    PROVINCETOWN — The Public Pier Corp. has decided to raise the dockage rates at MacMillan Pier by 50 percent for commercial vessels over the next two years.

    At the second public hearing on new harbor regulations on Feb. 15, the members of the Pier Corp. board responded to a raft of negative comments from fishermen and the owners of charter boats and whale watch vessels, and then approved the new fees. New rates go into effect this year and rise annually through 2023.

    “We acknowledge these are difficult times for a lot of people,” said Scott Fraser, a member of the board. “But the natural processes of decay happen whether there is a pandemic or not.”

    Fraser said rust and rot do not stop, and that further deferred maintenance will cause a public safety hazard.

    “It’s not that we’re raising prices because we want to; it’s because there are really big projects coming,” he added.

    The revised harbor regulations increase the dockage fees for large commercial fishing vessels (50 feet long or larger) from $44.47 per foot to $65 per foot this year and to $85 per foot by 2023.

    For smaller commercial fishing boats, the rate goes from $61.73 per foot to $95 this year and to $120 by 2023.

    For the Dolphin Fleet Whale Watch boats, the new dock fee goes from $10,350 to $15,000. The Pier Corp. members delayed a vote on passenger fee increases applying to ferries and whale watch vessels pending an opinion from town counsel. The board proposes to increase the passenger surcharge from $75 to $95 per seat and the per-person embarkation fee of 75 cents to $2.

    Dockage fees at MacMillan Pier will rise almost 100 percent over the next two years under new regulations adopted this week by the Pier Corp. (Photo Nancy Bloom)

    The board’s decision to consult town counsel came after the Dolphin Fleet owner’s attorney told them on Feb. 4 that these passenger fees amount to a tonnage tax, which can be levied only by the federal government, not by the town, according to Seth Holbrook of the Boston law firm Holbrook & Murphy.

    The Pier Corp. members appeared not to be too worried about this legal challenge, however. In 2015, when the passenger fees were imposed for the first time, Provincetown’s lawyer said the tonnage tax argument was irrelevant. The argument was used successfully to strike down unreasonably high fees charged by a port authority to a passenger vessel, according to Pier Corp. board member Jamie Staniscia.

    The Provincetown fees are in no way similar to the port authority case, said Staniscia, who then asked his fellow board members to approve the passenger fees along with everything else. But the others voted to wait. For that reason, Staniscia was the lone dissenter in approving the new harbor regulations.

    Fishermen and other pier users circulated a petition asking the Pier Corp. to freeze the new rates because of financial hardship from the pandemic, said Regina Binder, chair of the Pier Corp. board.

    Staniscia said the petition included many signatures of people who are not Provincetown citizens.

    Fraser addressed complaints about a change in the harbor regulations that gives slip space preference to Provincetown residents. Current users should not worry, he said, because there is a grandfather clause allowing all those who have slips to remain. This new rule applies only to vacant spaces, he said. Only about six of 50 slips are currently occupied by Provincetown residents, Fraser said.

    Provincetown taxpayers have paid $2.3 million for pier improvements, Fraser said, so they are entitled to some preferential treatment.

    ON THE WATERFRONT

    Fees to Nearly Double in Pier Corp. Proposal

    Commercial boat owners feel ‘gut punched’

    By

    pier1
    Provincetown’s MacMillan Pier in Tuesday’s late-afternoon wind and snow. (Photo Jamie Demetriou)

    PROVINCETOWN — The Public Pier Corp., which operates MacMillan Pier, is proposing fee hikes for this year of around 50 percent to commercial fishermen and recreational businesses like whale watch companies. The pier dockage fees would nearly double by 2023.

    In revised harbor regulations unveiled on Feb. 4, the Pier Corp.’s proposed fee structure for large commercial fishing vessels (50 feet long or larger) includes an increase from $44.47 per foot to $65 per foot this year. The fee would go to $85 per foot by 2023.

    For smaller commercial vessels, the fees would go from $61.73 a foot to $95 this year and to $120 by 2023.

    “I don’t understand the increase, and I don’t know how any new business can afford this,” said David Young, a lobsterman. “It’s putting a death grip on everything. I don’t think we’re going down a good path.”

    pier2
    In the Pier Corp.’s proposed fee schedule, some large commercial boats would pay as much as $91,000 per year. (Photo Nancy Bloom)

    Revising the harbor regulations has been in the works for the past three years, according to Scott Fraser, a Pier Corp. board member. The management structure has been totally redone, with the long-time harbormaster-pier manager’s job divided into three separate positions. Physical upgrades to the pier have included the addition of a wave attenuator and repairs to the floating docks, he said. Now comes the last part, the new fee structure, which is subject to a public hearing that continues on Thursday, Feb. 11 at 3 p.m.

    “I’d like to focus on the rates and the realities we face together,” Fraser said.

    The reality, he said, is that MacMillan Pier is getting older and the cost of maintaining it is increasing. Repairs to the electrical system and other facets of the wharf will cost $300,000 to $400,000 a year for the next few years, Fraser said.

    Only two sources of income exist, he said, tenants and taxpayers.

    “So, obviously, someone has to pay an increase,” Fraser said. “Who will pay going forward, the tenants or the taxpayers?”

    Tenants have not faced “a real price increase” since 2005, he said. Cost-of-living increases were imposed, he added, raising the user fees by about 10 percent in the last 10 years.

    But in that same time span of 10 years, Provincetown property taxes have gone up 18 percent, he said.

    Town meeting voters have chipped in $2.3 million for renovations and improvements to the pier, Fraser reported.

    Steve Milliken, who owns the Dolphin Fleet Whale Watch company that occupies three floats on MacMillan Pier, brought his lawyer to the Feb. 4 Pier Corp. board meeting.

    By 2023, Milliken said, with higher embarkation fees, passenger surcharges, and dockage fees, he will be paying $91,500 for each of his three floats.

    His embarkation per-passenger fee will go from 75 cents to $2 a passenger; a float fee will rise from $10,350 to $15,000; and a large-vessel passenger surcharge will increase from $75 a person to $95 a person by 2023. The surcharge is an annual fee based on the capacity of the boat; for a 300-passenger boat, the fee goes from $22,000 to $28,000 a season.

    “I don’t know about you, but $91,000 for each float is not reasonable,” Milliken said.

    His attorney, Seth Holbrook of the Boston law firm Holbrook & Murphy, said the passenger embarkation fees and per-person surcharge are violations of the U.S. Constitution.

    “My research shows … the municipality cannot charge a tonnage tax,” said Holbrook. “Other courts have ruled it’s a duty on tonnage. Even though it’s passengers, it’s tonnage.”

    Tonnage taxes fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government, not the town, he added.

    The Pier Corp. board members did not respond to Holbrook or to other public comments.

    “This just seems like a gut punch after a hell of a year,” said Kathleen Burns, who owns the Bay Lady, a schooner that takes passengers on cruisers around the harbor.

    Vaughn Cabral, who owns a fishing charter, the Cee-Jay, said he had to operate at half capacity to comply with Covid-19 safety guidelines and could fill only 21 of his 42 seats.

    “And I was only full 17 times out of 137 trips last year,” Cabral said.

    Other proposed new fees include charges for parking, even for people who already pay for dock space. Pier Manager Doug Boulanger said the parking fees will be discussed on Feb. 11. This won’t just affect boat owners. The new regulations propose to charge taxis $200 for the privilege of waiting for ferry passengers. Pedicab drivers would be charged $75 a season.

    This Week In Provincetown

    Meetings Ahead

    By

    Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. 

    Thursday, Jan. 28

    • Public Pier Corp., 3 p.m.
    • Planning Board, 6 p.m.
    • Zoning Board of Appeals, 6 p.m.

    Tuesday, Feb. 2

    • Conservation Commission, 6 p.m.

    Wednesday, Feb. 3

    • Historic District Commission, 4 p.m.

    Thursday, Feb. 4

    • Public Pier Corp., 3:30 p.m.
    • Zoning Board of Appeals, 6 p.m.

    Conversation Starters

    Covid 19 Update

    As of Jan. 24, Provincetown had nine active cases of Covid-19, 74 total cases to date, and one death attributed to Covid-19.

    Sal’s Loses Appeal

    Sal’s Place manager Michela Carew-Murphy appealed a $300 fine for staying open beyond the governor’s mandatory closing time of 10 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, but her efforts failed.

    Sal’s, along with four other restaurants — Liz’s Café, Tin Pan Alley, Ciro & Sal’s, and the Blue Monkey — were all cited by Aaron Hobart, the town’s code compliance officer, for exceeding the closing time on Dec. 31. according to the Provincetown police report.

    Lezli Rowell, the health agent, said the health dept. has taken a “guided compliance” approach, to keep license holders informed; citations are a last resort, she said at the Jan. 21 board of health meeting.

    On the afternoon of New Year’s Eve, Hobart said he told the managers of all open restaurants he would be enforcing the 10 p.m. closing rule. That night, he found five restaurants in violation. Sal’s is the only one that has appealed so far.

    Carew-Murphy, manager of Sal’s winter pop-up at 186 Commercial St., said the people seated after 10 p.m. were employees enjoying a staff meal. The governor’s order does allow staff to stay beyond closing. But they should be cleaning up, not being served dinner, Hobart said.

    “Staff meals,” said Health Director Morgan Clark, “are still not Covid-compliant.”

    The board voted 3-2, with one abstention, to deny the appeal and uphold the fine. Kalliope Chute, who voted against the fine, said the governor’s rule contained ambiguity about the presence of staff after closing. Susan Troyan abstained.

    New Harbor Regs Hearing Feb. 4

    The Public Pier Corp. will unveil new harbor regulations on Feb. 4 at 3:30 p.m.

    The Pier Corp. board members have updated policies, regulations, and business practices, according to an announcement. “The changes also remove ambiguity and provide greater specificity within the categories of commercial fishing and residency,” it stated.

    A link to the proposed regulations can be found on the town’s website.

    —K.C. Myers

    CURRENTS

    This Week in Provincetown

    By

    Meetings Ahead

    Thursday, June 18

    • Board of Health, 4 p.m.
    • Zoning Board of Appeals, 6:30 p.m.

    Monday, June 22

    • Select Board, 7 p.m.

    Tuesday, June 23

    • Public Landscaping Committee, 4 p.m.

    Thursday, June 25

    • Charter Compliance Commission, 12 p.m.

    Conversation Starters

    Covid-19 Update

    As of June 16, Provincetown had zero confirmed active cases of coronavirus, one death from complications related to Covid-19, and 28 additional cases considered recovered.

    Ferry Good News

    The two Boston to Provincetown ferry services have announced their new schedules.

    Bay State Cruises will start its usual roster of trips on June 22. Boston Harbor Cruises will be starting up on June 29 with a limited schedule, Pier Manager Doug Boulanger told the Pier Corp. on June 11.

    The limited schedule is meant to keep crowds down during the phased reopening of the state due to the coronavirus, he said. But the Bay State ferry service owners hope by offering a full schedule of boats that crowds will be smaller aboard each ship, he said.

    Town’s Emergency Manager Is Leaving

    Eric Sussman, the town’s emergency manager and transportation coordinator, resigned to take a new job with the U.S. Dept. of Energy. He leaves at the end of June.

    During his 14 months in Provincetown’s town government, Sussman coordinated with the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority “to ensure vital transport and service options for Outer Cape residents — which has been essential during Covid-19, and providing crisis communications during the pandemic,” stated Leslie Sandberg, who is a media strategist recently hired by the town for the summer.

    Sussman also spent the last year managing a major technological upgrade for town parking lots with the installation of Parking Access Revenue Control System (PARCS) — an electronic system that will read automobile license plates, Sandberg stated.

    Erin Ellis, currently the town’s project administrator, will take over parking duties, crisis planning, and communications when Sussman leaves.

    Media Strategist Hired

    Town Manager Robin Craver has hired Rose, Sandberg & Associates to be the town’s media consultant from June 1 to Aug. 31.

    The contract calls for the agency to be paid $5,000 per month for 100 hours of work, which comes to a rate of $50 an hour. (This is discounted from the $100 per hour the agency normally charges and is charging the Pier Corp. for similar services.)

    It’s highly unusual for the town to hire a media consultant. But Craver said she wanted help with communications due to the high volume of public education necessary during the coronavirus pandemic. Leslie Sandberg, a partner in the firm, said she will also do some staff training in media relations.

    Pier Corp. Delays Appeals

    The Public Pier Corp. on June 11 delayed a hearing on two fishermen’s appeals of the Pier Corp.’s change to their commercial status, effectively doubling their dock fees.

    The hearing will now be June 25. The attorney for Jeff Souza and David Flattery missed the deadline to turn in all his paperwork.

    The amount of paperwork filed by attorney Bill Henchy was such that “we need a wheelbarrow to carry it out,” said Pier Corp. chair Ginny Binder. —K.C. Myers

    CURRENTS

    This Week in Provincetown

    By

    Meetings Ahead

    All meetings are held remotely. To watch a meeting, go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch.

    Thursday, June 11

    • Planning Board, 6 p.m.

    Wednesday, June 17

    • Historic District Commission, 4 p.m.

    Conversation Starters

    Covid-19 Update

    As of June 8, Provincetown had zero confirmed active cases of coronavirus, one death and 28 additional cases considered recovered.

    Planning Board Site Plan Review

    Among the applications to be reviewed at this week’s planning board public hearing on June 11 is one from Dave Krohn seeking site plan review by special permit pursuant under the town’s inclusionary bylaw to construct five dwelling units at 66 and 72 West Vine St. The project involves building two septic systems, gravel driveways, and retaining walls, re-aligning fencing, and adding hardscape patios and other landscape improvements, resulting in the moving of more than 750 cubic yards of earth, which will alter the topography from natural grade on the properties.

    Pier Corp. to Consider Two Appeals

    The Public Pier Corp. meeting on June 11 will include its consideration of two appeals from fishermen who have been reclassified as “limited commercial” rather than full commercial, meaning higher dockage fees. See story on page A7 of this week’s edition.

    OP-ED

    Pier Dispute Calls for Mediation

    The fight over longtime fishermen who face displacement

    By

    The Provincetown Public Pier Corp. board, all volunteers, is trying to bring consistent application of rules and regulations to the pier, as well as rate increases that will meet the select board’s mandate that pier operations be revenue neutral as much as possible.

    Two longtime fishermen, Leo Rose and John Browne, with families firmly rooted in Provincetown via the church, business, and commercial fishing, who have always paid their pier bills and obeyed the rules, have been told they no longer qualify for discounted commercial rates. They have fished in the same fashion and have been called “commercial fishermen” by the pier manager every year until now.

    What has changed? We have a new wave attenuator, new docks, and now, supposedly, more people want a slip.

    The Pier Corp. members have stated they want more “full-time” commercial fishermen. At times board members Scott Fraser and Carlos Verde have said, in effect, they want younger fishermen. Johnny Browne is almost 75; Leo Rose is turning 65. I don’t believe for a second that age was intentionally a factor in this decision; Fraser and Verde are better than that. At times, however, actions may result in unintended results.

    The mission of the Pier Corp. is to support the small-boat commercial fishery, especially those from Provincetown and Truro. The Pier Corp. has stated that many other commercial fishermen are waiting for slips. Who are they? Are they from other towns? We have not been told.

    Should we take two long-term Provincetown- and Truro-based commercial fishermen, make it impossible for them to remain, and then give their slips to younger fishermen from other towns?

    There are arguments on both sides. Both sides strongly believe in their interpretation of the facts. But, thanks to Covid, “discussions” are happening via e-mails, texts, and virtual meetings, and, trust me, it ain’t pretty.

    Let’s back down from the emotions, look at the whole situation, and ask what’s best not only for the pier and the two fishermen but also for the town. Let’s put our egos and reputations aside and work something out. Get an independent third party — a respected member of the community — to be a mediator: someone who understands both sides of the equation.

    This could happen face to face, six feet apart, with fewer than 10 people. Where there is a will there is a way.

    THE WATERFRONT

    Pier Corp. Cleans House, Hires PR Firm

    Mayflower II visit is canceled; blessing of fleet will be ‘private’

    By

    PROVINCETOWN — The Public Pier Corp. has raised the slip fees on seven MacMillan Pier tenants and rescinded permission for the Mayflower II to land here in September.

    The Pier Corp. board also reviewed plans for the pandemic-altered Portuguese Festival, which will this year be a private affair where boats will be blessed from the harbormaster’s launch rather than from the pier, packed with onlookers, or from the 900-passenger Provincetown II Boston ferry.

    In an action-packed virtual meeting on May 28, the Pier Corp. denied appeals by Leo Rose and John Browne. Those two fishermen were among seven who had been paying discounted slip fees as commercial fishermen, but have now been reassigned by the Pier Corp. staff, said Leslie Sandberg, a public relations consultant for the Pier Corp. board.

    Pier Corp. staff found that Rose and Browne, both tenants for the last 17 years, failed to meet the definition of “commercial fisherman” — that is, someone who spends most of his working time at sea fishing, according to Pier Corp. board member Scott Fraser.

    Rose landed only four tuna last year, Fraser said.

    Brown’s landing reports stated that he caught five fish in 2019, Fraser added.

    The Pier Corp. reclassified both men as “limited commercial fishermen,” which means they must pay $128.62 per foot for a spot at MacMillan Pier instead of the commercial rate of $64.10 per foot.

    For Rose, that means his fee went from $2,564 for his 40-foot boat to $5,144.80, according to Sandberg.

    Browne shares a slip at the pier, and though sharing slips is not really allowed, Sandberg said, it was tolerated under the management of former harbormaster Rex McKinsey. Last season, Browne paid $1,282 for his 20-foot boat. His new rate as a limited commercial fisherman is $2,572.

    There are people who spend 150 or more days fishing, Fraser said, and some of them are waiting for those slips.

    Chris LaMarco, who identified himself as Rose’s spokesman, argued that the rules are vague and the distinction between “commercial” and “limited commercial” isn’t clear.

    “Changing rules in the middle of the pandemic isn’t fair,” said LaMarco, “and sounds like discrimination based on Mr. Rose’s age.”

    “We’re not changing the rules,” Fraser replied. He said the Pier Corp. was simply enforcing existing regulations that were not being enforced.

    Browne’s wife, Frances Coco, argued that Browne, who caught his first striper at age 12, has not had a lot of landings because “it’s like a fish desert” these days, with very few striped bass.

    Fraser said Browne had failed to report the number of his trips, as required in the application for a commercial slip.

    Two other commercial slip tenants, David Flaherty and Jeff Souza, are also appealing their reclassification as limited commercial fishermen. Their appeals will be argued by attorney William Henchy of Orleans at the Pier Corp.’s June 11 meeting.

    The three remaining fishermen who have been reclassified have not appealed the change, Sandberg said.

    The reclassifications are part of the Pier Corp.’s efforts to reform the way the waterfront is managed. It has added two new staff, a pier manager and harbormaster, and given Rex McKinsey, who previously did both jobs, the title “marine coordinator.”

    The discounted rates for 54 slips on MacMillan Pier are designed to support the commercial fleet, said Sandberg.

    Sandberg’s job is also new, though it’s not full-time, but based on an hourly fee. Her firm, Rose, Sandberg & Associates, was hired on an “as needed” basis. Faced with harsh criticism from some fishermen and others in town, the Pier Corp. members decided a public relations strategist would help them, said Regina Binder, chair of the Pier Corp.

    So far, Sandberg has done “public affairs advising, including drafting correspondence, research issues, drafting talking points, and strategic problem solving,” she said. Her rate is $100 an hour. She has been paid $3,500 for services rendered between Feb. 1 and May 31, she said.

    In two final pieces of business on May 28, the Pier Corp. rescinded its invitation to the Plimoth Plantation’s Mayflower II, a replica of the Pilgrims’ ship, which was due to come to Provincetown in September as part of the 400th anniversary of the original Mayflower’s landing here.

    The 400 celebration events have gone the way of the Fourth of July parade and Carnival — cancelled in order to stop people from gathering in large groups to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

    And the board discussed the plan to discourage crowds from gathering at the pier during the annual Blessing of the Fleet by having the blessings done from a small boat. Even getting Bishop Edgar Moreira da Cunha, of the Fall River Diocese, to come to Provincetown as usual is not a sure thing, said Donald Murphy, organizer of the Portuguese Festival. But the festival committee members are determined to celebrate a Mass, as usual, followed by a private blessing of the boats in the harbor.

    “No parade, no dancing — it will not be as it was in the past,” Pier Manager Doug Boulanger said. “It is private. The thought process is to have one harbormaster vessel driving around and blessing the boats by water.”

    CURRENTS

    This Week in Provincetown

    By

    All meetings are held remotely. To watch a meeting go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Follow the link to the agenda for instructions on how to watch and participate.

    Thursday, May 14

    • Board of Health, 4 p.m.
    • Library Board of Trustees, 6 p.m.
    • Planning Board, 6 p.m.
    • Public Pier Corporation, 10 a.m.

    Tuesday, May 19

    • Conservation Commission, 6 p.m.

    Wednesday, May 20

    • Historic District Commission, 4 p.m.

    Conversation Starters

    Covid-19 Update

    As of May 11, Provincetown had one confirmed active case of coronavirus, one death, and 26 additional cases considered recovered.

    Town Meeting Sept. 21

    Forget a spring town meeting this year. Provincetown is joining Wellfleet and other communities in making the special and annual town meetings a fall affair. This will give the town staff a better idea of how much (or how little) revenue the town has to work with for the year.

    Town Manager Robin Craver said the staff is planning for two scenarios: one where the town loses 50 percent of normal room, parking, and meals tax revenue, which would amount to $1.7 million. Or, if the virus makes the summer really bleak, the meals, rooms, and parking revenue could be down by 75 percent, or $2.6 million.

    A town ballot, however, will go ahead on June 30. It will include a question to raise $64,000 to increase the compensation of select board members to $15,000 a year, as well as a select board contest for two seats. Incumbents Louise Venden and Bobby Anthony are running again, along with challenger Austin Knight.

    To avoid overcrowding at the polls, early voting is encouraged.

    Absentee ballot applications can now be found on the town website.

    On the Pier

    Alongside various reports set to be made at the Public Pier Corp. meeting on Thursday, May 14, are two agenda items of special interest: a discussion of pier reopening plans, and a proposal for a floating art gallery on the F/V Bearded Maiden.

    Policing Those Masked Men and Women

    Provincetown has extra mask-wearing requirements on top of the governor’s advisory to wear masks if you cannot stay six feet away from others. In Provincetown, visitors and residents must don masks from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Commercial Street between Bangs and Pleasant streets.

    Police Chief James Golden told the select board it’s a difficult order to enforce, and so he has instructed his officers to educate citizens and give out masks to those who don’t have them, rather than attempting to issue warnings for a first offense and $100, $200, and $300 fines for subsequent violations.

    “The governor’s order mandates that the first offense is a warning,” Golden said. “And I don’t know how I’ll know that a person has been encountered and received their warning. Some logic has to prevail, some patience, some understanding, and some common sense.”

    Select board member Lise King pressed the chief to commit to helping business owners whose customers become rude and argumentative about wearing masks. Canteen co-owner Rob Anderson wrote on social media on May 4 that police officers had walked right by a conflict at his restaurant.

    “When things were at their worst here,” Anderson wrote, “with a lot of people standing around at too close a distance (after not listening to us ask them to distance) Provincetown police officers walked by, saw what was happening, and did not say or do anything.”

    Town Manager Robin Craver said if anyone has a problem they should call the police for help. —K.C. Myers

    currents

    This Week in Provincetown

    By

    Meetings Ahead

    All meetings will be held using video conferencing. For details: provincetown-ma.gov/27/Town-Boards and from there click on Upcoming Meetings.

    Thursday, April 9

    • Planning Board, 6:30 p.m.

    Monday, April 13

    • Select Board, 7 p.m.

    Tuesday, April 14

    • Licensing Board, 5:15 p.m.

    Wednesday, April 15

    • Historic District Commission, 4 p.m.

    Thursday, April 16

    • Zoning Board of Appeals, 6:30 p.m.

     Conversation Starters

    Coronavirus Update

    As of April 6, there were five confirmed cases of coronavirus in town, with one death and 16 additional cases considered recovered and cleared from quarantine, according to the town’s website.

    Pier Corp. Meeting Delayed

    The Provincetown Public Pier Corp. delayed a controversial meeting that had been scheduled for April 2, said Leslie Sandberg, a consultant hired to conduct public relations for the Pier Corp.

    Members of the Pier Corp. had planned the meeting to review the current criteria by which boats are selected to rent slips on MacMillan Pier. Several commercial fishermen were not happy with the changes that members of the Pier Corp. had suggested. Fishermen worried about a dockage fee increase and a new parking fee. They also worried that the new rules would push out some of the current tenants.

    On April 3, Dan McKiernan, acting director of the state Dept. of Marine Fisheries, sent a letter to the Pier Corp. arguing for further delay of regulation changes until after this summer. “The DMF is working to assist the commercial fleets through this crisis by assisting them in opening new markets for seafood and encouraging direct sales of lobster and finfish to local residents,” McKiernan wrote to Pier Corp. Chair Regina Binder. “Other agencies are looking to relax rules where possible to avoid unnecessary burdens at this critical time. I hope you will take a similar approach and suspend the deliberations on altering fees and eligibility for longstanding commercial fishermen who depend on your port.”

    Shellfishing Extended

    The recreational shellfishing season will be extended until April 26 in three areas: east of the West End Breakwater; from Captain Jack’s Wharf to the Provincetown Inn, and in the East End by Johnson Street, for bay scallops only. No new licenses will be available for purchase until the town clerk’s office reopens. —K.C. Myers

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