WELLFLEET — Monday was a perfect spring evening: warm sunshine lingered, and there was a nice breeze blowing off the bay. While the rest of the Cape was enjoying it, 328 Wellfleet voters filed into the elementary school gym for town meeting.

Moderator Dan Silverman began by announcing new hires, plugging the elementary school’s spaghetti supper fundraiser, and calling for respectful debate.

Then, Silverman read a statement adapted from one posted by Arlington Town Moderator Greg Christiana to his fellow moderators: “Right now, people are afraid. They see a government systematically chilling free speech. The tyranny of fear is setting in. It might seem like a good time to keep your head down and stay quiet, but silence at a time like this would be a grave mistake. Here in New England, we always stood against tyranny, including by votes at town meetings like this, and I hope we always will.” The statement received loud applause.

While the warrant covered everything from the marina enterprise fund to septic system upgrades, there was clearly one subject that people really wanted to talk about: housing.

In an early test of sentiment on the Maurice’s Campground project, an amendment to a budget item being funded by free cash, Brian Stern said, “I don’t know what free cash is. I’ve never had free cash in my life.” He got some laughs.

But when he added, “You can buy someone a house for $250,000,” the response from numerous voices was a hearty “Not in Wellfleet!” Stern’s amendment was shot down.

John Cumbler’s objection to the idea of the select board doubling as sewer commissioners didn’t mince words: “The select board, not always, but sometimes, can be dysfunctional,” he said.

Select board vice chair Michael DeVasto pointed out that Provincetown’s select board is also its sewer commission. “And we all know Provincetown can have its own dysfunction as well,” DeVasto said.

“I think it’s probably not good form to throw shade on our neighboring town,” said Silverman.

“No shade!” DeVasto responded. “I’m just saying.” The article passed.

When Article 26 on Maurice’s Campground finally came, long lines formed at the mics. People had a lot to say, both for and against the project.

K.C. Myers said that the only worthy argument against the development was its potential to affect abutters’ privacy, and that could be addressed in an RFP. “Unless, of course, you consider one other impact on the neighbors, and that’s the cost of Halloween candy that they will need to invest in,” she added.

This received applause and a few boos, which prompted Silverman to remind people not to clap until after the vote.

As the conversation went on, the applause and scattered boos grew in volume, to the moderator’s consternation. When John Cumbler called for the town to “build housing, build it soon, and lots of it,” a few booed loudly.

“I will have none of that!” Silverman said. “You do not boo speakers. You offer everyone the same politeness that was offered to you when you got up to speak. This is a legislative body.”

The meeting had been running for three hours by the time the vote was taken, and it seemed like the remaining articles might go quickly. But then, a nonbinding resolution to devote 80 percent of short-term rental tax funds to the affordable housing trust resulted in 25 minutes of debate followed by a close vote.

“I hate to have to count at this hour,” Silverman said as the clock ticked to 9:30 p.m., “but I cannot tell.” As the count progressed, one person in the audience whined, “I want to go home.” The article failed — the only one to do so.

The meeting lasted four hours. Afterward, Tim Olsen called town meeting “torture by democracy.”

Just before adjourning, Silverman had a few announcements to make: both DeVasto and finance committee member Fred Magee would be retiring. Even as everyone itched to get home, there was still time to give the two one last round of applause — and this time, Silverman had no objection.

This article was updated on Oct. 24, 2024.

WELLFLEET — After next year, there may not be anything “special” about a town meeting held in October.

That’s because Wellfleet’s voters approved a series of amendments to the town’s charter and bylaws at a special town meeting on Monday, Oct. 21 that would change how the town organizes its decision-making. Instead of holding one town meeting in the spring that often spans multiple evenings, Wellfleet would hold two every year: a spring meeting focused primarily on financial matters, and a fall meeting focused on zoning, general bylaws, and other matters.

The changes were proposed by Town Moderator Dan Silverman, who said that he wanted to make town meetings less of a slog for Wellfleet residents. The changes to the town charter must be approved by a town election vote, most likely at the annual election next April or May, said Silverman.

If the charter changes are approved at an election, they will take effect at the beginning of the next fiscal year, so they would have no effect on next year’s annual town meeting or any special town meeting that might take place before then.

While neither of the two annual meetings would be restricted to the topics in Silverman’s proposal, he hopes that the changes will result in shorter meetings, thereby encouraging voters to attend and stay until the end.

Quorum Rules

Maintaining a quorum at town meeting has been a challenge for Wellfleet, and another of the measures proposed by Silverman and approved by voters this week aims to fix that.

Wellfleet requires a quorum of at least 6 percent of the town’s registered voters to be in attendance for a town meeting to continue — which means that if too many people leave the meeting early it sometimes has to be adjourned until the next evening.

If the charter changes are approved, the quorum will be required only at the beginning of the meeting. This means people would be free to go home early and the meeting could continue without them.

“Be advised that if you wish to participate in the decision-making process, you have to show up,” said select board member John Wolf.

Several voters argued that conducting official business without a quorum was unfair to those who can’t attend a meeting all the way to the end.

“We don’t want anything decided by just a handful of people,” said former select board member Helen Miranda Wilson. “We usually get our first real information about the articles during the session.”

Silverman, who did not moderate Monday’s meeting while his own proposed articles were being considered, said that sometimes a large number of people come to vote on a specific article and then leave after it passes or fails. “No one has to stay for the whole meeting, but those who do remain should be able to complete the business of town meeting,” he said.

(In a small bit of irony, the quorum was established only once on Oct. 21, at the meeting’s outset at 6:25 p.m. No one offered a motion to confirm that a quorum was still present, even though the number of voters clearly dwindled toward the end of the evening.)

Voters also approved Silverman’s proposals to change the way Wellfleet advertises future town meetings. The town would no longer mail the entire warrant to every registered voter — instead, it would mail postcards inviting voters to pick up copies of the warrant at the library, post office, and other town buildings.

The only one of Silverman’s proposals that didn’t pass as written was Article 11, which would have amended the town charter to set the date of town elections by bylaw or select board vote rather than having the date set in the charter itself.

Select board member Ryan Curley proposed striking the clause that would have allowed the board to set election dates — an amendment that voters approved unanimously, according to temporary moderator Bruce Bierhans, who presided over the discussion of each of Silverman’s proposals.

“I didn’t feel comfortable letting officials set their own election dates,” Curley said.

Staffing Debate

Article 4, which appropriated $36,500 for the new Gestalt Municipal Facility’s operating costs, passed quickly and almost unanimously.

Article 5, which authorized $40,000 to pay for “shared general administrative support” for the town departments that would work from that facility, however, proved to be the most contentious item on the warrant.

“I would need proof that an administrative assistant is necessary,” finance committee chair Kathleen Granlund told the assembly. Finance committee member Stephen Polowczyk said he found the measure to be “very nebulous” and said a “clear position” for the new staffers would be necessary for the measure to earn his vote.

“Job descriptions are up to the town administrator and the select board,” Town Administrator Thomas Guerino countered. “They’ve never been the finance committee’s choice.”

Town Planner Beth Pyles spoke strongly in favor of Article 5, saying that her administrative support had moved to assist the marina, leaving her without an assistant. “This is very important to me,” she said.

After an extended discussion, Article 5 passed with about 30 votes against it.

Articles related to staffing at the marina, by contrast, received unanimous approval from voters. A transfer of $173,250 from the town’s Stabilization Fund — including $53,250 to pay marina staff — was approved to supplement the marina’s operating budget. An equal amount is expected to be transferred from the town’s Marina Enterprise Retained Earnings back to the Stabilization Fund at the next town meeting.

“This pier will be the heartbeat of Wellfleet,” Police Chief Kevin LaRocco enthusiastically told the town.

Acting Harbormaster Stuart Smith said that besides providing salaries for the marina’s staff, the money will also be used to fix numerous electrical problems at the marina and pier, including bare wires, broken fittings, and a breaker panel in need of replacement.

Smith also said that most of the town-owned boats are “not seaworthy.”

The town also unanimously approved road widening easements for the Herring River Restoration Project, two articles relating to the construction of a permanent facility for the Wellfleet Food Pantry, and a $3-million MassWorks grant to fund construction of a wastewater treatment facility at 95 Lawrence Road.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article, published in print on Oct. 24, omitted the requirement that charter changes adopted at town meeting be approved at a town election before they take effect.

WELLFLEET — Town meeting on June 26 was costly and long, but voters approved the town budget and the purchases requested by officials during the six-and-half-hour session on the elementary school ballfield.

Voters elected to spend a total of $28.2 million, an increase of about 13 percent from the previous fiscal year, according to Interim Town Administrator Charlie Sumner. For a house valued at $551,000, the current median assessment, the property tax increase will be about $534 a year. But this total is contingent on all 11 debt exclusions and overrides passing at the town election, which was held on June 30, after the Independent’s deadline.

These figures were not accurately printed in the town meeting warrant, however. The warrant showed a 24-percent increase. But, Sumner explained, that was a misprint resulting from the fact that Wellfleet’s former town accountant and town administrator resigned suddenly in April. The budget and town meeting warrant had to be written by Fire Chief Rich Pauley and Harry Terkanian, a former town administrator who volunteered to put the document together in record time and without the help of an accountant.

Recognizing the uncertainties in the budget as of June 24, the finance committee refused to make a recommendation on it.

“We don’t know what we are voting on,” Fred Magee, the finance committee chair, told the group on June 24.

The town is still embroiled in a financial crisis that Sumner and two part-time accountants are trying to rectify.

But the 266 citizens, out of 3,018 registered voters, who attended town meeting did not ask many questions about the budget increase or the accounting problems.

Mike DeVasto, the select board chair, said the town has had four accountants and four town administrators since 2019, and so it will take time for the team now in place to resolve accounting errors going back two years. He said the many items on the warrant authorizing purchases totaling about $4.2 million, according to Sumner, were important. Many reflected delayed purchases due to Covid-19 last year.

“We have kicked the can down the road,” DeVasto said.

Voters supported all of the requests, including $168,000 to hire two new full-time firefighters. The fire dept. has lost all but four on-call firefighters, and the chief is trying to increase his full-time staff so that four firefighters will be available for every shift.

Voters also agreed to spend $290,000 for the marine dept. to replace an emergency response boat, which will be made of aluminum and fitted with the latest electronics and capabilities to pull people safely from the water or the beach. The current rescue boat was built in 1994. Harbormaster Will Sullivan said Bay Sails Marine technicians have advised that it is not worth putting any more money into. The U.S. Coast Guard is 45 minutes away. Two voters told stories of having to wait in the water for a private rescue that took three hours because Wellfleet’s rescue boat did not have the capacity.

Voters approved $35,000 to replace the ballfield backstop, which was “dilapidated since I was a teenager,” said DeVasto.

The most debated expense was $138,000 for the design of road improvements at the Route 6 and Main Street intersection. Opponent Dale Donovan said the plans won’t suit Wellfleet’s needs. They include painted bike lanes on both sides of the road and a 10-foot walking and biking path by Cumberland Farms and PJ’s restaurant.

The design is only 25 percent complete, and townspeople will have input into what they do not like about it, countered Terkanian. The state has already backed away from building a rotary there, due to local opposition.

Ryan Curley of the select board said the Cape Cod Commission counted 20 accidents at that intersection in 2020, an increase from 11 in 2011. Improvements are necessary and the town’s investment ensures the town has a say in the project, he added.

To fund affordable housing programs, voters agreed to increase the short-term rental tax from 4 to 6 percent. The new tax revenue, however, has yet to be dedicated to affordable housing.

WELLFLEET — At the school ballfield on Saturday, voters showed they’re committed to dealing with two of the biggest issues facing the town: affordable housing and water sustainability.

They elected to go ahead with plans for a wastewater treatment facility at the 95 Lawrence Road affordable housing site. The advanced system will connect future housing units, Wellfleet Elementary School, and the police and fire stations, yielding better water quality even with the additional residents at 95 Lawrence. Select board member Ryan Curley called the vote one of the “most critical” on the warrant. Curley said he hoped the site would become a “backbone” for wastewater management in that part of town.

Kevin and Marla Rice, who live near the proposed site, expressed support for the project. Progress on wastewater has stagnated for too long, Kevin believes. “Let’s change things now,” he said.

Voters also passed a septic upgrade pilot program with the long-term goal of reducing the nitrates that seep into the harbor. The program will provide home owners needing to replace their septic systems with $12,500 grants.

Later in the meeting, voters unanimously passed an article permitting residents to establish accessory dwelling units (ADUs) on their properties. Select board chair Mike DeVasto urged voters to pass the bylaw change, saying that the town “can’t wait any longer” to move on solutions to the housing crisis. He characterized the ADU bylaw as a way to bolster the town’s stock of year-round housing without using taxpayer funds. Vigorous cheers and applause followed the vote.

Voters also passed a home-rule petition on the so-called mansion tax, which would tack a 2-percent fee onto real estate transactions exceeding 120 percent of the median house price. The proposal will now go to the state legislature, where it recently failed on the floor.

In a separate vote, the town passed a home-rule petition to tax year-round rentals at the residential rate; they are currently taxed as seasonal rentals.

Other Notables

The town supported the passage of a right-to-farm bylaw, but opted not to establish an agricultural commission. In the debate over the farming board, David Mead-Fox said the number of vacancies on existing committees was already too high to justify another. Finance committee member Ira Wood attempted to assuage concerns about the “right to farm,” arguing “if you’re a small gardener, you may be a bad farmer. But if you’re a good gardener, you may be a small farmer.”

Voters narrowly rejected a proposal to transfer a parcel of land near the bike path to the care of the select board. The article’s passage would have opened a path for its proponents, Jim Nowack and Kate Clemens-Nowack, to buy the land from the town and then redraw and split their current property. The Nowacks planned to sell the newly created lot to their daughter. Helen Miranda Wilson, who favored the proposal, argued that the town needs all the money it can get. John Cumbler said he was concerned with selling the land before knowing how the town may want to use it in the future.

Articles granting Richard Blakeley an easement and allowing him to access his property via the parking lot on Lecount Hollow Road passed unanimously and without debate. The vote elicited a brief cheer from the outfield fence where Mr. Blakeley was seated.

Near the end of the meeting, voters beefed up the town’s animal control ordinance. Going forward, dogs must be leashed unless on the owner’s property. In addition, police will have the power to write tickets for excessive barking and dog waste violations.

“We’re not trying to go out and give tickets to people,” said Animal Control Officer Desmond Keogh. “We just need the tool.”