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town meeting

    CIVICS

    Hoort Proposes Mail Ballot for Town Meeting

    Can a New England tradition survive the pandemic?

    By

    WELLFLEET — Town Administrator Dan Hoort has asked the Outer Cape’s state legislators to try to get Beacon Hill to consider a radical remedy for the possibility that the traditional town meeting can’t survive the Covid-19 crisis: “I believe Massachusetts should allow a mail-in ballot to replace annual town meeting this year,” he wrote to Sen. Julian Cyr and Rep. Sarah Peake.

    Dan Hoort
    Wellfleet Town Administrator Dan Hoort. (Photo Ed Miller)

    Hoort is clearly concerned that the crisis will have a devastating effect on town finances, with tax revenues and local residents’ incomes greatly reduced. He said he was looking at ways to make cuts now in the fiscal 2021 budget.

    “Revenues relying on a busy summer season are going to be hit and hit hard,” he wrote. “If I can recommend adjustments now it may not be as bad for the FY 2022 budget.”

    Hoort is worried that it will be a long time before residents feel comfortable crowding into the school gym for town meeting, which by law cannot conduct business with fewer than a quorum of citizens — currently about 175 voters.

    “Everything I’m reading says we won’t even resemble being back to normal (or a new normal) until a vaccine is available, which is at least a year into the future,” he wrote. “Having just had our first Covid-19-related death in Wellfleet, I can’t imagine a scenario where our residents are willing to sit next to each other at town meeting for at least a year, if even then.” [See story on the death of Bruce Drucker, page 9.]

    Cyr replied to Hoort’s message, saying that a chair of the legislature’s Joint Committee on Municipalities, Sen. Becca Rausch, was looking into the ideas of remote participation in town meeting and voting by mail. Peake’s response echoed Cyr’s, adding, “Let’s see where we are as we move forward. I think no one today can imagine what July will look like.”

    The idea of remote participation in town meeting raises a host of questions with few answers. If participation depends on having access to a particular kind of computer technology and being comfortable with using it, does that seriously limit the ability of many citizens to exercise their rights? Is it feasible to conduct an open, orderly, and fair discussion and debate on town warrant questions with a large group of people using video or teleconference platforms?

    Hoort noted that “through recent legislation the town has the option of reducing quorum requirements, but I find that to be a bad option, as it reduces participation. The mail-in ballot really is the best way to include everyone.”

    He suggested that the ballot might include all the articles of a normal annual town meeting, or just those items considered high priority by the select board. “Each item would have the following voting options: (1) Approve; (2) Disapprove; (3) Indefinitely Postpone,” he wrote.

    “Any ballot question that does not receive 50 percent or more in favor would be considered to have failed. This would allow those opposed to any item ample opportunity to vote against it.”

    Mia Baumgarten, Wellfleet’s media operations manager, told the Independent on Tuesday that setting up town meeting for remote participation was possible, but it wouldn’t be easy.

    “It would be very clunky on Zoom,” she said, referring to one of the most popular videoconference platforms. “You’d have to open it up to several avenues, and you’d still have issues of access. And what if there’s a storm? But it could be done, as long as the state says it’s OK.”

    Baumgarten and other town officials said the part that concerned them most was the ability to have a real debate. That’s the essence of our town meeting form of government, they said.

    The Independent has set up a videoconference “virtual open newsroom” to discuss the status of town meeting in the pandemic crisis. It will take place this Friday, April 17, from 4 to 5 p.m. For information on how to participate, call the newspaper at 508-237-8381.

    RENOVATION

    Nauset Asks for High School Project Extension

    The district has filed for a 120-day extension for project voting

    By

    EASTHAM — The Nauset Building Committee has requested an extension from the state of the deadline for getting four towns’ approval for the proposed renovation of Nauset Regional High School.

    The Mass. School Building Authority (MSBA) voted to endorse the project on Feb. 14. State regulations give the district towns (Brewster, Orleans, Eastham, and Wellfleet) 120 days from that endorsement to secure approval for the expenditures at town meetings and elections. The 120-day window expires on June 11.

    The building committee held a virtual meeting on April 8 and the regional school committee did the same thing the following day to discuss the project.

    Gov. Charlie Baker has signed legislation giving towns the ability to reschedule town meetings up to or beyond June 30, the last day of the fiscal year. Town elections can be rescheduled for as late as June 30.

    The district towns have begun some tentative rescheduling of town meetings and elections because of the coronavirus pandemic.

    Town Town meeting Town election
    Brewster TBD June 23
    Orleans June 15 June 23
    Eastham June 15 June 23
    Wellfleet June 1 TBD

    Some towns have rescheduled town meeting and elections, while two dates are still up in the air.

    The regional school committee has also postponed its vote on the bonding method and request for funds for the project. Once the committee takes that vote, district towns have 60 days to hold town meetings and elections to vote on the matter.

    “The school committee votes to request the funding,” regional school committee chair Chris Easley said. “That sets a 60-day time frame for towns to respond. With no town meetings being established in any of the towns, just preliminary discussions, we do not want to force the hand of the towns. We want them to make the decision, then we’ll determine the best way to proceed with our request for funding.”

    Project Manager Richard Marx said that the MSBA can authorize a 120-day extension from the June 11 deadline, which would push it back to Oct. 9. The MSBA was scheduled to hold a board meeting on April 15.

    Proposed NRHS site plan
    The site plan for the proposed renovation of Nauset Regional High School. (Courtesy Nauset Building Committee)

    Both Marx and Easley said it may be necessary to ask for another 120-day extension after the October deadline, based on the current predictions about the pandemic.

    “They want to be able to commit funds to other schools,” Marx said. “They don’t want to tie up funds.”

    Greg Levasseur, chair of the building committee, said right now they’re not trying to push out too much information to residents and are waiting for town meeting and election dates become firm.

    “Part of the reason we’re kind of slowing down is that this is not really the time to be bombarding folks about the project,” Levasseur said. “We want them to deal with the crisis and their families and their personal lives. When we do have a schedule for the four towns we can regroup and move forward.”

    “I think as towns we have a conundrum right now,” said Eastham Town Administrator Jacqui Beebe. “I think it would be unreasonable for the MSBA to not allow us a further extension, given that it is the emergency order of the governor that we cannot have town meeting until he’s lifted his ban.”

    Beebe said the select board and finance committee in Eastham had unanimously endorsed the project. Levasseur said the Brewster Select Board had also endorsed it, but the town’s finance committee had not met to vote on it yet.

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    This Week in Truro

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    Meetings Ahead

    All meetings are being held remotely. For viewing information go to the town’s website, truro-ma.gov, and look on the left for “Remote meeting information.”

    Tuesday, April 21

    • Truro Cemetery Commission, 10 a.m.
    • Select Board, 2 p.m.
    • Board of Health, 4:30 p.m.

    Conversation Starters

    Coronavirus Update

    As of April 13, Truro had one active case of Covid-19 and eight resolved cases.

    Live-Streaming Available

    On April 14, Truro town government began live-streaming meetings for the first time since the town banned public meetings in mid-March. Town Manager Rae Ann Palmer said the town needed a piece of equipment, difficult to obtain, called a TRMS live-streamer server. Now the public may watch and participate in public meetings live, from their computers.

    Pre-Town Meeting on Hold

    Along with the annual town meeting and town election, the pre-town meeting and candidates’ night that was going to be held on April 14 at the Truro Community Center was also postponed. New dates will be announced when they are determined.

    Hand-Crank Voting Is Back

    On Jan. 28, the Truro Select Board voted to begin using the ImageCast Precinct Optical Scan Tabulator, also known as an electronic voting machine, effective Sept. 1, 2020, the date of the state primary election. But due to the delay in town meeting, the timing will not legally allow the town to switch voting methods. Therefore, the select board was expected to vote Tuesday to continue using the old hand-crank ballot box.

    If the board members wish to try again to switch to electronic voting, they must revote to discontinue the hand-crank machine in the future, stated Assistant Town Manager Kelly Clark in a memo to the select board. Until this recent reprieve for the old ballot box in Truro, Provincetown was the only remaining town on Cape Cod that had not made the switch to electronic voting. —K.C. Myers

    Truro Board Defends Itself on Crisis Response

    The Truro Select Board had one topic on the agenda for its April 9 meeting: to discuss and respond to two articles in the April 2 edition of the Provincetown Independent.

    In one article the newspaper reported that Truro had lagged behind other Outer Cape towns in making regulatory board meetings accessible to the public. The second was an opinion column by the editor, criticizing town officials for a March 27 message on the town website warning of “an influx of people fleeing urban centers” and advising such people to stay away.

    The meeting concluded with the board voting to send a letter to the editor of the Independent, which was posted on the town website that same day. The letter said, “Resort communities nationwide are struggling with this same issue.” It also said, “The statement followed the governor’s guidance to avoid unnecessary travel.”

    Editor Edward Miller of the Independent responded to the select board on April 9, explaining that the board’s letter was more than twice as long as the newspaper’s word limit for letters and offering to help craft a shorter response for publication. No one had responded to the offer by this week’s deadline.

    At the board’s meeting, member Susan Areson proposed meeting with the editor to “clear the air here and see if there is something going on.”

    Board Chair Jan Worthington, Vice Chair Robert Weinstein, and member Stephanie Rein dismissed Areson’s idea.

    “We are dealing with, and I use the term loosely, a ‘local press,’ ” said Weinstein. “I don’t think it would be productive to meet with them.”

    Areson said the newspaper was correct “in pointing out that we have lagged behind other communities” in providing access to meetings during the pandemic.

    “I won’t even give [the Independent] credence for the fact that other towns are doing a better job,” said Weinstein. “I have no evidence of that.”

    At the time, Provincetown, Wellfleet, and Eastham had all had directions for accessing and participating in meetings on their town websites for several weeks. The following week, a notice appeared on the Truro website announcing the live-streaming of Truro Select Board meetings beginning on April 14.–Devin Sean Martin

     

     

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    This Week in Eastham

    By

    Meetings Ahead

    Town Hall is closed to the public. Meetings are being conducted remotely. Check the town’s website, www.eastham-ma.gov, for information on meeting schedule changes and how to view and take part remotely.

    Tuesday, April 21

    • Charter Review Committee, 5:30 p.m.

    Conversation Starters

    Beach Cleanup on Hold

    The recreation dept. and chamber of commerce’s beach cleanup set for April 22 has been postponed to a date yet to be announced.

    Let the Sun Shine In

    Town Administrator Jacqui Beebe brightened the mood at the April 6 select board meeting with news that a company wants to build a 10-acre solar array close to the municipal sand pit. “It would give us new revenue of almost $700,000 a year,” she said. The town may have to issue a request for proposals, and the installation would need town meeting approval.

    Beer and Wine OK’d for the Landing

    The select board granted a seasonal beer and wine license to the new owners of the Landing, a convenience store near Campground Beach. The vote on April 6 was 4 to 1, with member Martin McDonald opposed.

    “Historically, the Landing is kind of a gathering place for young people in the area,” he said. “I’m a little upset with the combination of two things,” he said, “the young people in the area and the ice cream bar.”

    “Martin, I’m with you,” member Jamie Rivers said. “But this was already an establishment that had this type of set-up without issues, so I’m open to giving the new owners the same opportunity the previous owners had, so long as they stick to the same guidelines.”

    Boards Vote on Warrant Articles

    The select board and finance committee have very few areas of disagreement on warrant articles for the annual town meeting, now likely to be held in June.

    The board and the committee are backing the Nauset Regional High School building project, the former unanimously. The draft finance committee letter does not include a vote. In an email reply, committee chairman Jerry Cerasale wrote, “We did not vote on article 8, the NRHS building project. We had a sense of the committee and waited to see what the draft paragraph might say and any future developments. So we’ll likely vote on April 28.”

    In recommending a vote for the project, the committee’s draft letter notes that the school “does not meet current code and needs renovation.” If the member towns turn down the proposed project, a rejection that the letter states would be “fiscally imprudent,” they will lose the $36 million promised by the state toward the $132 million total cost. The committee added that if major repair were needed, the state would require that the entire existing building be brought up to code at a cost of about $97 million, borne by the towns alone. That’s $2 million more than what the four towns would pay for their share of the rebuilding project.

    The committee has asked for an analysis of the incremental costs of the school choice program, which would allow a cost-benefit analysis and discussion during the four years of building construction. “If the towns decide to curtail the program,” the letter notes, the committee “believes that the district should consolidate school buildings, close the middle school and house middle school students in the brand-new school facility.”

    The two groups unanimously recommended the creation and funding of an education, housing, and human services needs special purpose stabilization fund to support working families through subsidies for preschool and childcare services, school lunch, and an after-school elementary program. The new fund would also hold money to be tapped by the town’s affordable housing trust for workforce housing development.

    “We are in competition with all our neighboring towns to attract younger individuals and families that can both work and live in our town,” the finance committee draft letter states.

    Although the board is unanimously for a ban on commercial sale of single-use plastic water bottles by Sept. 21, 2021, the committee split 3 to 3 on the petitioned article. “Those opposed to Article 23,” the draft letter states, “believe that the Article should state that approval of neighboring towns be a condition precedent before Article 23 is endorsed.”

    At its April 6 meeting, the select board didn’t disagree with that analysis. “Since it’s a petitioned article, we can’t change anything now,” Chair Aimee Eckman said. “If it passes and we’re the only town, we can always come back at town meeting and push that effective date out until the other towns pass it.”

    The two bodies parted company decisively on a proposed general bylaw to commit the town to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from human activity to zero “at the earliest technically and economically feasible time.” The select board voted 4 to 1 in favor; the finance committee 0-6 against. “I feel like this is in line with our strategic plan,” board member Jamie Rivers said.

    The finance committee letter did not address its position. “It’s true that it does no harm,” Town Administrator Jacqui Beebe said of the article, “but it doesn’t say anything very specific either. They did not know what to do with this particular animal.”

    “It’s vague,” said board member Martin McDonald, who cast the lone vote against. He also voted no when the rest of the board backed a petitioned article requiring the town to push the governor and legislature to provide better security for spent nuclear fuel at the closed Pilgrim power station in Plymouth. The finance committee opposed the petition 1 to 5. —Ed Maroney

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    This Week in Eastham

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    Meetings Ahead

    Town Hall is closed to the public. Meetings are being conducted remotely. Check the town’s website, www.eastham-ma.gov, for information on meeting schedule changes and how to view and take part remotely.

    Thursday, April 9

    • Nauset Regional School Committee, 6 p.m. The meeting will be conducted remotely, with a recording and minutes posted on the Nauset website and town website afterward. To attend remotely, go to Zoom Meetings and enter ID 116 337 791. The password is 010311. To telephone in, call 1-646-558-8656.

    Monday, April 13

    • Select Board (tentative), 5:30 p.m.

    Tuesday, April 14

    • Conservation Commission, 8:15 a.m., 555 Old Orchard Road and on to site visits
    • Conservation Commission, 6 p.m.

    Wednesday, April 15

    • Planning Board, 5 p.m.

    Conversation Starters

    Pencil in June 15 for Town Meeting

    It’s not official yet, but June 15 is the target date for the rescheduled annual town meeting. “Really the only date that allows us to have the town meeting and election in June would be if we pick June 15 … and have the election June 23 or 30,” Town Administrator Jacqui Beebe told the select board Monday.

    Noting that “there are quite a few tendrils to town meeting,” Beebe said she’s working with Nauset Regional High School on the date and is seeking to secure electronic voting equipment. As for the election, she’s consulting with Town Clerk Cindy Nickerson “about how much early voting we could have. We could have at least two weeks of early voting by mail or drop-off ballot. That would allow people not to have to congregate on voting day.”

    Nickerson and Town Moderator Steve Cole will be invited to the select board’s Tuesday, April 21 meeting (the Monday before is Patriots’ Day) to help settle on dates for town meeting and the election.

    No Races in Town Election

    Everyone running for town offices in the annual election is unopposed. Incumbent Aimee Eckman and planning board chair Art Autorino are seeking the two select board seats. Library trustees Al Alfano and Mary Shaw and Town Clerk Cindy Nickerson drew no challengers. Judy Lindahl is seeking another term on the elementary school committee, but no one took out papers for the second seat up for election; voters will have to write in a fellow citizen. Scott Kerry is the sole candidate for moderator.

    The ballot will have four questions covering funding for new police radios and dispatch consoles; the proposed education, housing, and human services special purpose stabilization fund; and the town’s share of the Nauset Regional High School building project, as well as a petition calling on town officials to ask the governor and legislature to do more to see that spent fuel is stored safely at the closed Pilgrim nuclear power plant.

    On Monday, Town Administrator Jacqui Beebe noted that, while the state has passed legislation allowing communities to hold annual town meetings after June 30, elections must still be held by that date. “We have ballot questions reliant on people’s understanding of the issues we are going to discuss at town meeting,” she said, stressing the need to have town meeting before the ballot vote.

    Two Looks for Town Budget

    The select board voted Monday to recommend most of the articles on the annual town meeting warrant but held off on a few at the request of Town Administrator Jacqui Beebe. One of the latter is the town’s operating budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

    The current number, $31,310,410, “is what I’m calling the ‘A’ budget,” Beebe said. “I have developed a ‘B’ budget that cuts about $400,000 based on reductions in revenue… We most likely will see drastic reductions in some of our revenues and have to make decisions… I don’t want you to vote [now].”

    New Finance Director

    Wellfleet native Rich Bienvenue, the Yarmouth’s municipal operations director, will be coming back to this neck of the Cape as Eastham’s finance director and assistant town administrator. Citing his “fantastic credentials,” Town Administrator Jacqui Beebe told the select board Bienvenue, a C.P.A., worked for many years as an auditor specializing in municipalities.

    “Rich spent the last two years figuring out ways to pay for all the wastewater needs of the town of Yarmouth, over $300 million, without raising the tax rate, which most of us in the business thought was totally impossible,” Beebe said. “Rich managed to pull it off.”

    “I don’t think we can go wrong,” Select Board Chair Aimee Eckman said, “having a finance director named Rich.”

    More Time for Shellfishermen

    Commercial shellfish and aquaculture permit holders will have until July 31, rather than April 30, to submit applications for this year’s season. Shellfish Constable Nicole Paine requested the change “due to the current market disruption and hardships brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic,” and the select board agreed unanimously.

    Honk for First Responders

    The men and women of the fire and police departments won’t have to toot their own horns this Friday night. The community will do it for them.

    The Eastham Elementary School Parents Group is inviting everyone to drive by the stations on Route 6 between 6:30 and 7 p.m. on April 10 to express appreciation for the town’s first responders in this trying time. Horn beeps, waves, posters, and flags are encouraged.

    Parents group president Ashley Vasques Foster said she saw a posting from a Provincetown firefighter who “thanked people who drove by their station and beeped. They were so appreciative. I said, ‘Let’s make this possible for Eastham.’ ”

    A celebration of the public safety officers’ dedication that also respected the need for social distancing made sense to the board, including a member whose husband is a firefighter. Foster wrote to both chiefs who, she said, “showed great appreciation.” Both plan to have department members outside to wave back. —Ed Maroney

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    This Week in Provincetown

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    Meetings Ahead

    All meetings will be aired through video conferencing. For details: provincetown-ma.gov/27/Town-Boards.

    Thursday, April 2

    • Public Pier Corp., 2 p.m.
    • Zoning Board of Appeals, 6 p.m.

    Thursday, April 9

    • Planning Board, 6:30 p.m.

    Conversation Starters

    Fishermen Ready for Dock Fight

    The Public Pier Corp. meeting set for 2 p.m. on April 2 (still scheduled as of the Independent’s deadline, but may be postponed due to technical issues) will review controversial changes proposed for the dock policies.

    Though no new regulations have been finalized, several lobstermen and fishing boat owners worry about parking and docking fee hikes.

    Regina Binder of the Pier Corp. wrote by email that the old dock allocation system was “full of favoritism, haphazard, and allowed Provincetown taxpayers to subsidize commercial fishermen who were not full-time.” As the 2020 season approaches, the goal, she wrote, is “making sure that there is a fair and uniform policy in place.”

    The lead-up to this public hearing has involved “two years of research and seven months of meetings,” Binder wrote.

    Chris King, who says he runs the last groundfishing boat docked in Provincetown, said along with rate hikes, the Pier Corp. is considering an onerous new application process. He and other fishermen are asking that the Pier Corp. delay any changes for another year because of the economic devastation already caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Captain Rich Wood said he is worried that waitlisted people will get preference over current dock tenants.

    Help for Families Available

    Year-round Provincetown residents living with children, ages birth to 18 years, may be eligible for financial assistance from Provincetown’s John A. Henry Trust for Children.

    The fund can help with the cost of housing, basic utilities, food, child care, transportation, and medical care. Due to the recent coronavirus outbreak, and the closure of town offices, applications may be obtained at: capecodchildrensplace.com/provincetown-family-resource/.

    This will take you to the Provincetown Family Resource page. Scroll down and “Click here” to download and print out a copy of the application.

    Or to have the application mailed to you contact Charlotte Fyfe, family support consultant, at [email protected]; include your name, mailing address, telephone number and email address in your request.

    Applications will continue to be processed as long as funds are available.

    OCHS Gets Boost

    The Provincetown Community Compact, which is the fiscal sponsor of the Swim for Life and other nonprofits, has started a fund to help Outer Cape Health Services get through the financial crunch created by a drop in the number of patients seeing doctors. The fund drive was posted on March 30 and raised $4,500 in that first day, said Jay Critchley, founder and director of the compact. The Swim for Life has benefited Outer Cape Health Services for years, so Critchley was moved to do something when the agency announced it was furloughing 70 employees and was also running short on critical protective safety gear. For more information: thecompact.org/Help-Us-Get-Through-The-Crunch.htm. —K.C. Myers

     

     

    currents

    This Week in Truro

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    Meetings Ahead

    Truro meetings are generally held via telephone or video conferencing and are aired for the public after they are over. See: www.truro ma.gov/home/news/viewing-the-33120-select-board-meeting-and-general-remote-meeting-information

    Thursday, April 2

    • Zoning Board of Appeals, 5:30 p.m. (procedural only)

    Monday, April 6

    • Conservation Commission, 5:30 p.m.

    Tuesday, April 7

    • Board of Health, 4:30 p.m.
    • Select Board, 5 p.m.

    Conversation Starters

     Cloverleaf Affordable Housing

    The zoning board of appeals is expected to vote on April 2 to delay review of the Cloverleaf, a 39-unit affordable housing development at 22 Highland Road, until May 28, according to the meeting agenda. The ZBA has been reviewing the project for months now. The recent delay, due to the closure of public offices because of the coronavirus, will not threaten the project’s financing, said Ted Malone, president of Community Housing Resource, the developer.

    Malone said he can continue working remotely with designers and engineers to finalize the plans in accordance with changes already suggested by the board. He also can communicate by email with the town officials if necessary and be ready for further review on May 28.

    An Appointed Planning Board?

    Town meeting, originally set for April 28, will be postponed until a still undetermined date, but the select board has begun making recommendations on the warrant articles. On March 10, board members voted three to two not to recommend a petitioned article that would make the planning board appointed rather than elected.

    Truro is one of six towns out of 15 in the county that elects members of the planning board. Select board members Stephanie Rein, Sue Areson, and Jan Worthington voted to keep the planning board elected, while board members Bob Weinstein and Kristen Reed voted to recommend the change to town meeting voters.

    Raphael Richter, who sponsored the petitioned article, said the elected races are almost never contested and so there would be more accountability if they were appointed following interviews by the select board.

    Areson said she was distressed by “unwarranted public criticism of the planning board,” according to minutes of the March 10 meeting.

    The board has been criticized as working against business and affordable housing. —K.C. Myers.

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    This Week in Provincetown

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    Provincetown is conducting virtual regulatory town board public hearings through an online live stream. Follow the instructions below to watch and participate in the meetings.

    Go to the Provincetown website homepage. Scroll down to the “Most Requested” section and click on “PTV Videos and Livestream.” There you will be able to view the live feed for town regulatory meetings by clicking the “Channel 18 Stream” button. Once in a live meeting stream, you will be able to participate by typing into the chat screen beside the video. There will also be a phone number on the screen that you can call or text to provide input. The upcoming schedule for town regulatory meetings is available by clicking the “Channel 18 Schedule” button on the page before the stream. There you will also find the archive for past meetings.

    Thursday, March 26

    • Visitor Services Board, 3 p.m.
    • Finance Committee, 5 p.m.
    • Planning Board, 6 p.m.

    Friday, March 27

    • Charter Compliance Commission, 11 a.m.
    • Open Space Committee, 10 a.m.

    Tuesday, March 31

    • Year-Round Market Rate Rental Housing Trust, 6 p.m.

    Wednesday, April 1

    • Historic District Commission, 6 p.m.

    Thursday, April 2

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

    Conversation Starters

    Election and Town Meeting Delayed

    Both town meetings and town election have been delayed in order to allow enough time for public hearings to take place following a period of social isolation. The April 6 town meeting is tentatively set for June 8, though there has not yet been an official vote on it, since the date can only be posted 30 days ahead, said Moderator Mary-Jo Avellar.

    The select board Monday voted to move the town election from May 12 to June 9, at which time voters will decide on three ballot questions and the election of town officials.

    The ballot questions include one to exempt from the limits of Prop 2½ the amount of money required to buy a new ambulance to replace an old one for $325,000.

    And there is a ballot question to raise the select board’s salaries. Whoever is elected in June may get $15,000 instead of $2,000 (or $2,500 for the chair). Arthur Egeli, an artist and gallery owner, submitted the ballot question, which would permanently raise the tax limit under Prop. 2½ by $64,500.

    A Race Is On

    There will be a contested seat for the select board. The deadline to return nomination papers was March 24. Both incumbents, Louise Venden and Bobby Anthony, are running again, and they are being joined in the election contest by a former select board member, Austin Knight, who resigned in 2014 from his previous seat on that board.

    The rest of the elected town officials are running unopposed. —K.C. Myers

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    This Week in Truro

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    Meetings Ahead

    Truro, as of the Independent’s deadline, was in the testing phase for a platform that can broadcast regulatory meetings and incorporate viewer input remotely. The town does not currently have a way to access regulatory meetings online. It conducted regulatory meetings via conference call. On Tuesday, the Truro Select Board did hold a meeting that Truro residents could view on Channel 18 TV. Viewers were instructed to email Town Manager Rae Ann Palmer with questions to participate.

    Wednesday, April 1

    • Planning Board, 5 p.m.

    Thursday, April 2

    • ZBA Cloverleaf 40B Hearing, 5:30 p.m.

    Conversation Starters

    Town Meeting Postponed

    The select board voted Tuesday to delay the April 28 town meeting until an unspecified date. Officials at Tuesday’s meeting did not schedule the new meeting date yet, because they hope that in two weeks they will have a better idea about public building closures and emergency declarations due to the coronavirus, said Town Manager Rae Ann Palmer. The board members did not make a decision about any possible postponement of the annual town election, which had been scheduled for May 12. —K.C. Myers

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    This Week in Wellfleet

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    Meetings Ahead

    Wellfleet is holding virtual regulatory town board public hearings through Zoom conference calls. To access the meetings and participate, follow the instructions below.

    Go to the Wellfleet website homepage. On the right side of the screen, you will see a calendar. Hover your mouse over a day to see what meetings the town is holding that day. Click on the meeting in which you would like to participate. From there, scroll down to where it says “Join Zoom Meeting.” Make a note of the “Meeting ID” listed as you will need this later. Click on the link below “Join Zoom Meeting”; this will bring you to the Zoom website. Click on “click here” and then click “join from your browser.” Type in the “Meeting ID” number from before if prompted. Once the meeting has started, you will be able to speak, as well as see and hear everybody else on the call.

    Tuesday, March 31

    • Herring River Stakeholders Group, 5:30 p.m.
    • Water Commissioners, 6 p.m.

    Thursday, April 2

    • Cape Cod Commission Herring River Hearing, 3 p.m.

    Conversation Starters

    Town Meeting June 1

    The Wellfleet Annual Town Meeting will not be held on April 27 as originally planned due to the restrictions on public meetings resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. The select board set a new date of June 1, though that could change.

    Since the warrant had not been signed yet, the select board had the authority to leave open the date, according to Gov. Charlie Baker’s COVID-19 emergency actions.

    On March 24, the select board agreed the meeting could be delayed again to June 15 if Baker’s orders banning public gatherings over 10 people and a stay-at-home advisory continues. But for now, the board has settled on June 1.

    Town Administrator Screening

    The select board picked four of the five members of the committee that will help select the new town administrator. Town Administrator Dan Hoort is resigning June 30, though he has said he’ll continue working part-time if no one has been hired by July 1.

    The new members of the screening committee are Harry Terkanian, David Mead-Fox, Liz Smith, and Jim Hood. There is still a fifth seat to fill. David Agger had told Kathleen Bacon, a select board member, he wanted to serve on the board, Bacon said. But since he had not made it onto the agenda, all applications are still being accepted, said Janet Reinhart, the select board chair. —K.C. Myers

    currents

    This Week in Eastham

    By

    Meetings Ahead

    Town Hall is closed to the public. The meetings listed below are still posted but may change.

    Eastham is holding virtual regulatory town board public hearings through online live stream. Follow the instructions below to watch and participate in the meetings.

    Go to the Eastham website homepage, www.eastham-ma.gov. Scroll down to the “Popular Link” menu on the left-hand side and click “CH 18 Schedule and Live Streaming.” There, you will be able to access the upcoming meeting schedule and view meeting live streams by clicking the video box. When a live meeting is in progress, a phone number will be posted on the screen that viewers can use to call or text any input or questions. The chair of the meeting will read aloud any questions or comments you send.

    Thursday, March 26

    • Board of Health, 3 p.m., Earle Mountain Meeting Room, Town Hall

    Monday, March 30

    • Eastham 400 Commemoration Committee, 10:30 a.m., Eastham Public Library

    Tuesday, March 31

    • Search Committee, 4 p.m., Small Meeting Room, Town Hall

    Wednesday, April 1

    • Community Preservation Act Committee, 5:30 p.m., Small Meeting Room, Town Hall

    Thursday, April 2

    • Zoning board, 5 p.m.

    Conversation Starters

    Stay in Touch

    Eastham Public Library
    The Eastham Public Library is closed for a while, but the staff has made sure that book-hungry patrons will be served. They plan to replenish this cart regularly. (Photo Ed Maroney)

    The town has issued guidelines for public participation in meetings while town hall is closed to the public, and they seem to be working. Monday’s select board session found members Aimee Eckman and Jared Collins sitting with Town Administrator Jacqui Beebe around a square of tables in front of a big-screen TV filled with images of select board members Al Cestaro, Martin McDonald, and Jamie Rivers, who were calling in. As Video Services Coordinator Mike Caliri tweaked the equipment, the voices of shellfishermen, Shellfish Constable Nicole Paine, and the new owner of The Landing joined the conversation. There were only occasional blips in the live stream.

    The phone number for the public to call to participate is 508-922-5983. Information about sending texts will also be displayed on the screen.

    “Thank you all for your patience,” Caliri wrote in a March 18 posting, “as we continue to explore better ways to conduct non-meeting meetings!”

    No Rush on Town Meeting Warrant

    A review of town meeting articles was on the select board’s agenda Monday, but “we’re not going to do that,” Chair Aimee Eckman said. “We have bigger fish to fry. Everybody have fun reading the warrant, and I’m sure we’ll be talking next meeting about what our plans are for town meeting and the town election.”

    Town meeting “won’t be May 4,” the date now on the schedule, Town Administrator Jacqui Beebe told the board later. “It may be sometime in June, and we’d have a second date available. I’m consulting with the moderator and town clerk and coming up with some options for you.”

    Plans for the meeting, and the May 19 town election, have been thrown into a cocked hat by the pandemic. Legislation to allow delays of both events, perhaps even past the end of the fiscal year on June 30, is in the works on Beacon Hill.

    Town Departments ‘Open’ for Business

    “We have valiantly been trying to keep up with everything we would normally do,” Town Administrator Jacqui Beebe reported to the select board Monday. “As we go into this new phase of staying in place, we will have some things that may take a longer time or that we may not be able to do until after April 7. I hope people will be patient with us but let us know what’s critical versus noncritical.”

    Staggered shifts of employees are working at town hall while it’s closed to the public, but “we are all on duty and available,” Beebe said. “I have a lot of staff working from home…. We are still doing building inspections, electrical inspections, plumbing and fire inspections.” She said water testing for rental certificates may have to wait until next week.

    Beebe said the state is extending some deadlines, such as allowing residents to go conduct real estate closings without a fire inspection for up to 90 days, if the realtor and owner agree.

    “It’s amazing to see our town come together,” Board Bember Jared Collins said as the meeting began. “I think we’re doing things a lot faster than the state and federal [governments]. It’s our ability to adapt.”

    “Try to be patient with people, and us,” Eckman said just before adjournment. “Everybody’s sort of stressed about this. Be patient and we’ll get through this. Keep as safe as possible, and see you in a couple of weeks.”

    Health Board and COVID-19

    The board of health is scheduled to discuss the pandemic and the town’s response today (March 26) at 3 p.m. Also on the agenda is a review of two proposed housing developments on Route 6, one for townhouse units and the other a mixed-use commercial building with apartments on the second floor. (See separate story on page 5.) Those developments will also be reviewed by the zoning board at its April 2 meeting.

    On the Run?

    The last day to obtain nomination papers to run in the town election — whenever it will be held — is March 30. Contact the town clerk’s office for more information. —Ed Maroney

    CIVICS

    Town Meeting Likely to Be Put Off

    Voters will eventually consider Harbor Hill, water bottles, and off-leash beach rules

    By

    PROVINCETOWN — The annual town meeting is unlikely to take place on its scheduled date, Monday, April 6. Gov. Charlie Baker issued an emergency order on Sunday limiting gatherings to fewer than 25 people — an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus.

    Technically, town meetings are exempt from the order, but legislation proposed by the governor outlines a path to delaying them. Town moderators would be able to order a 30-day delay, and select boards could postpone them even longer — past the start of the new fiscal year on July 1. Towns could spend money at the prior year’s budget level until town meeting authorized a new budget.

    If approved, this framework, and the continuing danger to public health, could mean putting off annual town meetings until well into the summer.

    Town Manager Robin Craver said on Tuesday that she will recommend that the select board “cancel” town meeting for now, while the state works on options for maintaining municipal government and services.

    When town meeting does eventually come, Provincetown voters will be faced with decisions about Harbor Hill’s finances, a plastic water-bottle ban, an eminent domain taking for the Ryder Street dune, and a change to the off-leash laws on Provincetown’s beaches.

    Paying for Harbor Hill

    Two articles on Harbor Hill’s finances will generate discussion. The first, an immediate spending authorization on a special town meeting warrant, allocates $100,000 to the completion of the renovation and construction work at the property, which the town voted to purchase in 2017. The second, Article 9 of the annual town meeting, calls for $595,000 from the general fund to be used for the bond payment on the project.

    In a joint meeting of the select board and finance committee on March 9, Craver introduced the articles and explained her reasoning. The $10.7 million that the town voted for in 2017 was not an expenditure of cash, said Craver — it was a vote to authorize debt.

    “When people talk about the debt service like it’s a subsidy, or an addition, they’re counting it twice,” she said. “That $595,000 is your mortgage, basically. This doesn’t go away; it’s not like you’re throwing $595,000 to the wind. You’re actually investing in a property, and at any point you’ll be able to sell it.”

    “It appears to me the rents will be able to cover the operating costs, which they should,” Craver continued. “You will be paying your debt service, which you should. The town owns it. I know there’s been conversations about what other options you might have, such as public-private partnerships, selling some of the portions off, condo-ing it — this also gives you an opportunity to do that.”

    Finance Committee Member Mark Del Franco noted that the project was originally pitched as nearly paying for itself and requiring only around $175,000 a year from the town. At that time, the expansion of the rooms tax to short-term rentals had been seen as a source of funds. Craver recommended against using that tax or the new marijuana tax to pay for Harbor Hill, though.

    Ryder Street Dune

    Another article seeks authorization to purchase or take by eminent domain a series of easements along the harbor between Ryder and Gosnold streets. This stretch of beach was the pathway for devastating coastal flooding in January 2018. The town wants to build a seven-foot dune to prevent the area from flooding again.

    “We have learned that to qualify for grants to cover the construction work, we have to show that we have a continuing legal right to maintain the dune,” Conservation Agent Tim Famulare told the select board in January. “Permission or consent from the underlying property owners is not sufficient. We will need easements that give the town permanent access privileges.”

    The cost of the easements is not yet known.

    Plastic Water Bottle Ban

    A petitioned article from Ted Jones and the environmental action group Sustainable Practices would ban the sale of water in single-use plastic bottles of less than one gallon. Sale of water in aluminum cans, cardboard cartons, and glass bottles would still be allowed, as would soda water and sweetened drinks of all kinds. This same bylaw will be on the town meeting warrant in 11 of the 15 towns on the Cape this year, and its advocates were hoping that Provincetown’s meeting would give them an early and trendsetting win.

    “About 60 percent of the single-use plastic bottle market is for plain water,” said Madhavi Venkatesan, executive director of Sustainable Practices. “Hardly any of them are recycled. Recycling rates are much higher for aluminum cans, and of course reusable bottles filled from the tap are even better.”

    Changes to Off-leash Rules

    An article brought by the animal welfare committee would change the times that dogs can be off leash on town beaches. Currently it’s from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. for seven months of the year. From Memorial Day to Nov. 1, they can be off leash from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

    The article would apply the summer rules to the whole year.

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