Meetings Ahead
Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch.
Thursday, July 9
- Planning Board, 6 p.m.
- Public Pier Corp., 3 p.m.
- Select Board, 5 p.m.
Wednesday, July 15
- Historic District Commission, 4 p.m.
Thursday, July 16
- Zoning Board of Appeals, 6 p.m.
Conversation Starters
Covid-19 Update
As of July 6, Provincetown had zero confirmed active cases of Covid-19, one death from complications related to Covid-19, and 28 additional cases considered recovered.
Town Manager on Agenda
The select board is holding a closed meeting July 9 and Town Manager Robin Craver is listed as the topic of the discussion.
Local government boards may hold private meetings under specific exceptions to the Open Meeting Law. In this case, the board is using an exemption allowed for discussion of strategy in preparation for negotiations with nonunion personnel or to conduct contract negotiations with nonunion personnel.
Craver was hired six months ago at an annual salary of $190,000, with a $9,000 housing allowance. (The previous town manager earned $170,000.) Her contract called for a six-month probationary period, during which she could be let go without severance pay. After that, if she is terminated or asked to resign, the select board will have to provide a “lump sum cash payment equal to eight months base salary,” according to the contract.
She may also receive pay increases based on performance reviews, according to her contract.
Mask Order May Be Extended
Town Manager Robin Craver will recommend at the next select board meeting that the current mask order be extended past 9 p.m. The meeting is tentatively set for Monday, July 13.
On June 1, the select board and board of health adopted a rule making mask wearing mandatory (even with six feet of social distancing) from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the downtown area of Commercial Street between Bangs and Pleasant streets.
On Monday, Craver told the Independent it’s busier in town now, so more masking makes sense. Also, there are plenty of signs reminding people of Provincetown’s rule on Commercial Street but not much signage about the statewide order to wear masks everywhere else if you cannot be socially distant. For people who aren’t familiar with the governor’s order, it gets confusing, Craver said. So she will recommend no time limits on the downtown mask order.
At a July 2 meeting, some of the select board, who will ultimately decide, supported this idea. But board of health members were less enthused about making a change mid-season.
“I think our job is to show leadership by having realistic expectations,” said Steven Katsurinis, chair of the board of health. “I hear over and over again that our current rule is confusing but it’s been around long enough that it would be more confusing to change it. Consistency is important.” —K.C. Myers