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Wellfleet Town Meeting

    CIVICS

    Wellfleet Voters Agree to Hold Two Town Meetings Every Year

    Special town meeting OKs all articles, including seven from Town Moderator Silverman

    By

    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 PREVIEW

    For Once, a Town Meeting With No Override Votes

    An abundance of free cash helped smooth out this year’s town budget

    By

    WELLFLEET — Voters whose thumbs are sore from opening their wallets will find relief at this year’s annual town meeting, scheduled for May 20 at 6 p.m. at the Wellfleet Elementary School.

    Interim Town Administrator Tom Guerino confirmed that $2.6 million in unallocated free cash from last year helped contribute to this year’s $4.5 million haul of available funds. (Photo by Teresa Parker)

    The 35-article warrant contains no Proposition 2½ overrides or debt exclusion votes — a major departure from recent town meetings, which have relied on property tax increases to fund the budget after accounting problems left the town without any certified free cash from 2019 to 2023.

    For the second year in a row, free cash was certified at $4.5 million, according to interim Town Administrator Tom Guerino. (Guerino is currently in discussions with the select board to finalize a three-year contract to become the town’s permanent administrator.)

    Two large financial requests — a $4.5-million debt exclusion to pay for a dredging permit and an override to fund a finance director position — were also removed from the warrant after the town meeting was delayed by a month because of the departure of key town staff in February. The delay meant the override requests would have appeared on the ballot at the annual election on April 29 before they could be presented on town meeting floor, a sequence that the select board did not find advantageous.

    But the hiatus in override votes is not likely to last long. At its April 26 meeting, the select board voted to schedule a special town meeting on June 17 and an election the next day to see if the town will authorize the purchase of the Gestalt International Study Center for municipal offices (see story on page A8).

    As for the other two overrides, select board chair Barbara Carboni told the Independent that “there has been no discussion” about putting either the dredging permit fee or the finance director articles on the upcoming special town meeting warrant.

    Financial Articles

    Article 1 on the May 20 warrant funds the operating budget for fiscal 2025. This year, town hall relied on the help of Eastham Finance Director Rich Bienvenue (at a contracted rate of $150 per hour) to help develop the budget.

    The $31.3-million budget is up 7 percent from last year. Roughly half of the $2.6-million capital budget will be funded through this year’s free cash.

    Big ticket items include $350,000 for an HVAC upgrade at the fire dept., $250,000 for beach restoration planning, and $250,000 for wastewater planning.

    Voters will also be asked to sign off on $55,000 to fund the town’s part of an expansion of Wi-Fi service to Cahoon Hollow, White Crest, and Lecount Hollow beaches — a public safety measure for beaches with sharks and no cell phone service, according to proponents.

    The town’s capital stabilization fund will receive a $442,500 infusion of free cash, and another $400,000 will go to the general stabilization fund, which was drained at 2021 town meeting to fund that year’s operating budget. Another $500,000 of free cash will go to the Affordable Housing Trust.

    A further $1.66 million in free cash will roll over into next year’s free cash tally. (Last year, the town left $2.6 million in free cash unspent, which contributed to this year’s $4.5 million total, Guerino confirmed.)

    Article 9 would increase the maximum property tax reduction allowed under the town’s senior workoff abatement program from $750 per qualifying recipient to $2,000.

    Article 10 would establish a spending limit of $76,000 for the shellfish revolving fund, which was set up to fund shellfish dept. propagation efforts, including the seeding of quahogs and oysters. The fund is replenished with shellfish grant revenues and permit fees.

    Article 11 would establish a sewer enterprise fund for fiscal 2025, which according to the warrant article would allow the town to be competitive in grant applications as it moves forward with its wastewater plans.

    Community Preservation Act

    There are eleven Community Preservation Act (CPA) articles on this year’s consent agenda, totaling $1.5 million to be used for affordable housing, outdoor recreation, open space, and historic preservation.

    Four housing-related articles include $750,000 for the Wellfleet Affordable Housing Trust, $175,000 to aid in the construction of four Habitat for Humanity homes on Old King’s Highway (to “defray unforeseen costs” after the project was steeped in a decade of lawsuits), and $7,500 for the Community Development Partnership’s Lower Cape Housing Institute, which offers education and technical assistance to town officials.

    Article 18 would allot $20,000 toward a 45-unit affordable housing complex in Brewster being developed by Preservation of Affordable Housing and the Housing Assistance Corporation.

    Two conservation projects include the establishment of a land conservation fund intended for the purchase of open space, maintenance projects, and creation of trails. The conservation commission requested $150,000 in CPA money to establish the new fund.

    Another $25,000 would fund the removal of a dilapidated structure at 360 Blue Heron Road. The property is in a sensitive lowland marsh and was donated to the town for conservation, but the structure must be removed first, according to the explanation of Article 19.

    Article 22 would allocate $200,000 to help the Cape Cod Modern House Trust purchase and restore the home of renowned Bauhaus architect and artist Marcel Breuer. The house would be the first property the trust owns outright — other architecturally significant houses in Wellfleet are leased from the National Park Service.

    Petitioned Articles

    Article 27 would establish a scholarship program to help eligible Nauset High School graduates from Wellfleet with the cost of college. Financial need would be assessed through a standardized federal financial aid form, and the scholarship could be renewed annually if the student maintained good grades.

    The article requests $100,000 but does not specify a funding source. The select board voted unanimously not to recommend the article.

    Carboni told the Independent that “there are a number of local private organizations that offer scholarships for which Wellfleet students would be eligible. Given the many budget demands on Wellfleet taxpayers, it does not seem appropriate or the right time to ask them to fund this.”

    Petitioned Article 28 calls for “an enduring ceasefire” in Gaza. According to its proponents, similar resolutions have been voted in Somerville, Cambridge, Medford, Northampton, Amherst, Melrose, Greenfield, and Easthampton.

    A copy of the petition, if approved, will be sent to members of Wellfleet’s Congressional delegation and to President Joe Biden. The select board voted to endorse the measure, with chair Carboni voting to abstain.

    Petitioned Article 29 supports a state bill, “Medicare for All in Massachusetts,” which would create a single-payer health care system for Mass. residents. According to the warrant article, Wellfleet spends 13 percent of its payroll on employee and retiree health insurance, so passage of the legislation would save the town over $500,000 annually.

    The bill is currently in the hands of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, which last held a hearing on it in November 2023.

    Finally, Article 30 is a home-rule petition asking the state legislature to let the town regulate the use of toxic pesticides on public and private property. It would not limit the sale of pesticides but would allow the town to levy fines for the use of pesticides not on the town’s allowed materials list. Eastham adopted a similar petition at its town meeting on May 4.

    TOWN MEETING

    Wellfleet OKs Wastewater Treatment, Town Planner

    Inclusionary zoning is approved; only the nips ban gets nixed

    By

    WELLFLEET — The Sept. 18 special town meeting was a bylaw bonanza. Voters approved 10 bylaw amendments as well as an inclusionary zoning bylaw that drew lengthy debate but then sailed through. The only proposal that was defeated was a proposed ban on “nips” — small bottles of alcoholic beverages.

    The three-hour meeting, with child care and Cheetos for all, also saw the near-unanimous approval of adding a town planner position at town hall and funding for a wastewater treatment facility at Lawrence Hill.

    Those authorizations, which require expenditures beyond the limits of Proposition 2½, will appear on the Sept. 27 special town election ballot as questions 1 and 2, along with a select board race to fill the remaining eight months of Kathleen Bacon’s term. Timothy Sayre is the only candidate to have submitted nomination papers; Curt Felix is running a write-in campaign for the seat.

    Proponents of the borrowing authorization articles urged voters to support them as substantial steps for the town in mitigating its wastewater and housing problems. “If we want to remain a year-round community, we need to support this,” said Elaine McIlroy, chair of the Wellfleet Housing Authority, about the $2.6-million request for the wastewater treatment facility.

    The facility is part of the town’s $106.6-million Targeted Watershed Management Plan to cut nitrogen loading in the harbor. The treatment facility will hook up the Lawrence Hill housing development, the elementary school, the police and fire stations, and some surrounding homes to a cluster system.

    Town meeting voters supported the new town planner position costing $145,000 in the first year. Because it will require a Prop 2½ override, it is also contingent on a majority vote at the special town election. Waldo said that the town lacks the staff to proceed with many projects that have been endorsed by voters.

    “We are failing to perform,” Waldo said. The town’s last local comprehensive plan was developed in 2008, Waldo said. Towns should develop a comprehensive plan every five years.

    He added that Wellfleet is the only town on Cape Cod without a town planner.

    Inclusionary Zoning

    Proponents of an inclusionary zoning bylaw managed to persuade voters to support it despite vocal opposition. The bylaw will require developers of multi-unit housing to reserve a fraction of the units to be rented affordably.

    Gerry Parent, chair of the planning board, opposed the proposal. His board had voted unanimously not to recommend it because, he said, the town already has a similar bylaw.

    That bylaw, passed in 2018, allows developers to seek a density bonus for additional dwelling units in exchange for a matching number of affordable units.

    “That bylaw has never been used by any developer,” said select board member Ryan Curley.

    The difference between the proposed bylaw and the existing one, Curley said, was that the proposed bylaw would be mandatory for any development of three or more units.

    Developers could also opt out of the requirement by donating land or money to the Wellfleet Affordable Housing Trust.

    “The formula in lieu of building is extremely difficult to understand,” Parent said.

    The formula, Curley explained, mirrored the one in Provincetown’s inclusionary zoning bylaw, which contains a sliding-scale fee schedule.

    Select board member Michael DeVasto moved indefinite postponement of the article and was supported by Parent and the other planning board members.

    But Town Counsel Carolyn Murray warned that indefinite postponement would count as a negative vote, and bylaw proposals rejected by town meeting cannot be reintroduced for at least two years.

    “It would be a terrible mistake to wait two years on this,” said select board vice chair John Wolf.

    DeVasto’s motion was defeated.

    McIlroy spoke in favor of the new law. “I love this bylaw,” she said. “Over the years, we have lost opportunities to build beautiful affordable housing. It’s important to get this on the books.”

    When the final vote was taken, a wave of green voter cards passed through the school gymnasium, and the bylaw passed with a two-thirds majority.

    No ‘Nips’ Ban

    The article that spurred the most debate of the evening was a proposal to ban the sale of 50-milliliter liquor containers, called “nips,” in Wellfleet package stores. Voters defeated the article, but only after a 40-minute standoff.

    On one side were conservationists and anti-litterers as well as social workers and substance abuse counselors who worried about the accessibility of nips for drivers. On the other side were owners of local liquor stores who expressed concern about the financial impact the ban would have on small businesses. They also doubted the efficacy of such a ban, considering that the surrounding towns do not have similar bans.

    “Wellfleet is sandwiched between four towns which do not have a ban,” said Alan Kogos, owner of Seaside Liquors. “If this passes, we would be pushing our customers to neighboring towns where they would be purchasing nips.” Those customers, Kogos said, would be purchasing the rest of their grocery list of beverages along with the nips.

    Julie Seabury, owner of Wellfleet Spirits Shoppe, supported Kogos’s argument. “It sounds great but really doesn’t solve anything,” she said. “I would suggest we work as a region or statewide, and then it will be effective.”

    Christine Shreves, cochair of the recycling committee, hoped that Wellfleet could take the first step. “I don’t think we can depend on state action anytime in the near future,” she said.

    Trees, Dogs, and Square Footage

    Locally notable trees, defined as trees with a girth of 120 or more inches, will be protected from removal or trimming unless it’s authorized by the zoning board of appeals through a special permit.

    The vote to amend the definition of cottage colonies to expand the allowed square footage of individual cottages will bring more cottages into conformity. And an affirmative vote on an amendment related to the intensity of use of multi-family dwellings will eliminate the requirement to have 8,000 square feet of additional land for every dwelling unit added to a development in the commercial district.

    Two bylaw amendments proffered by Animal Control Officer Jacob Berrick were accepted. They will require dog owners to register dogs within 30 days of adoption and will allow dogs to visit cemeteries. Dogs will be prohibited from lifeguarded portions of beaches and ponds between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. in the summer, and owners will be prohibited to leave their dogs unattended in their vehicles.

    Voters agreed to increase the infraction penalty for all bylaws to $300 per violation.

    WELLFLEET OVERRIDES

    Town Meeting Voters Say ‘Yes’ to Whole Warrant

    But a housing coordinator position is defeated at the ballot box

    By

    WELLFLEET — With the opportune arrival of an influx of free cash, a largely agreeable gym-full of voters at Saturday’s town meeting left no article defeated.

    The six-hour meeting was Wellfleet’s first in the elementary school gymnasium since the pandemic pushed the meeting outdoors. What might have been debate about plunging the town deeper into debt was avoided by the infusion of $4.5 million in free cash on April 21. Discussion of expenditures on the town’s capital budget and on housing and wastewater specialist positions led to yes votes all around.

    But at the town election on May 1, a Proposition 2½ override to fund the housing specialist position approved at town meeting was defeated. The override lost by just 17 votes.

    The new housing position was endorsed by numerous town meeting speakers. “It has gotten to the point where we can no longer do this with volunteers,” said Gary Sorkin of the community preservation committee and housing authority. “We desperately need professional help.”

    “We have many housing programs, but there is no monitoring or enforcement,” said select board vice chair Michael DeVasto. “The town does not have the resources, and we’ve had issues come up that are the result of not having key staff to support housing.”

    The meeting approved $115,000 for the new position.

    Voters approved an operating budget of $28 million, including a permanent override of $635,192, with virtually no opposition. Town Administrator Rich Waldo named the school budget and county retirement assessment as the main drivers of the override, along with “operational changes to improve our structure.”

    Questions on how to pay for items in the $3.8-million capital budget provoked debate. DeVasto proposed funding a $200,000 marina master plan with free cash instead of borrowed money.

    With $2.8 million in free cash unallocated, he argued, the town would still have more than 10 percent of its operating budget in cash reserves. Taking $200,000 from free cash would leave $2.6 million, “which is more than we have ever had,” DeVasto said.

    His fellow board members Ryan Curley and John Wolf objected. But former Town Administrator Harry Terkanian sided with DeVasto. “It’s poor policy to borrow for capital items, which, in reality, are operating expenses,” he said. “We have sufficient free cash to meet our policy reserves and still fund this.” DeVasto’s amendment was approved.

    A big chunk of the capital budget, $1.65 million, will be funded through debt exclusions. A water main extension project costing $850,000 proved to be the most contentious item.

    The main would extend Eastham’s water system to Maurice’s Campground to serve the affordable housing development planned there. Waldo said “time is of the essence” for the project, given the Mass. Dept. of Transportation’s plans to resurface Route 6 in Wellfleet in the next two years, which would put a moratorium on cutting into pavement.

    But Water Commissioner Curt Felix said the funding mechanism for the project “makes very little sense. Eastham is ultimately going to get paid for that water, so this is a benefit to the town of Eastham through fees that Wellfleet residents will be paying.”

    Felix said funding the project now could endanger grant opportunities down the road. But DeVasto said, “The longer we wait to do this, it will end up costing the town a lot more money. We see that with everything.”

    “What we’ve got before us is the most imaginative, creative thing this town has come up with in years,” said John Cumbler, referring to the Maurice’s project. “Let’s not nickel and dime today so that we don’t get to put in as many affordable housing units as we desperately need.”

    Housing authority chair Elaine McIlroy added that “this is what regional cooperation looks like, and we need a lot more of it.”

    The Maurice’s water main was approved by a large margin.

    With minimal debate, voters approved a wastewater and water superintendent position to oversee the town’s targeted watershed management plan. “This will not be an easy nor a cheap endeavor, and we need someone to lead us through this process,” Waldo said.

    “Water and wastewater are inextricably linked to housing, and they are the two most important challenges we face today,” said Terkanian. “We’ve been doing more with less for a long time. Now we are doing less with less, lurching from one crisis to the next. It’s time to face the music.”

    The position will cost $145,000 per year.

    Voters also approved a stipend increase for select board members, with $7,000 for the chair and $5,000 for other members, over former board member Helen Miranda Wilson’s objection to paying the chair extra.

    “It’s a five-member committee,” Wilson said. “They can all share the work.” Her amendment to equalize the pay was defeated.

    Four hours into the meeting, Christine Hight noticed the crowd dwindling and questioned whether there was still a quorum present. A count revealed there were 175 voters, 11 short of the required number.

    During a 30-minute recess, voters frantically called friends and neighbors to come to the meeting. When Moderator Dan Silverman called the meeting back into session, a recount of 180 was still six voters short. More filtered into the gym, and the tellers moved about the room conducting a third count.

    “We have quorum,” Silverman announced, and the room exploded in applause. “I would ask those that are here to stay,” Silverman said. “As retired fire chief, I am not going to allow the doors to be locked.”

    TOWN MEETING

    Wellfleet Adopts $24.9M Budget, OKs All Overrides

    Town service cuts are avoided, but spending must still pass at election

    By

    WELLFLEET — Town meeting voters approved nearly all of the 54 articles on the warrant on Saturday, including a $24.9-million operating budget, a $1.1-million capital budget, a $2.2-million sprinkler system for the elementary school, and $400,000 in Proposition 2½ overrides for two new police officers and two firefighters or EMTs.

    While the four overrides and one debt exclusion (for the sprinklers) passed by two-thirds majority votes at the meeting, they will need to be affirmed at a special election on Tuesday, June 21. If all are approved, property taxes on a house of median value ($619,000) would rise by $546, said former interim Town Administrator Charlie Sumner.

    At Saturday’s Wellfleet town meeting, left to right, former interim Town Administrator Charlie Sumner, Town Counsel Carolyn Murray, new Town Administrator Rich Waldo, and select board member John Wolf. (Photo by Michaela Chesin)

    Select board chair Ryan Curley asserted that an increase in the residential tax exemption from 20 to 25 percent would “offset most of the tax increase” for year-round residents, although his analysis appeared to be faulty. For the owner of a median-value house, the increased residential exemption would save about $240, not the $408 Curley mentioned.

    The meeting drew 266 voters to the ballfield across from the Wellfleet Elementary School.

    Select board members and town staff urged voters to pass the operating override to avoid cuts to various town services, including recreation, child-care vouchers, library staff and operating hours, and amnesty day at the transfer station.

    The 2.4-percent increase from the previous fiscal year will ensure that the budget is level-funded, Sumner said, without needing to depend on debt exclusions or using other one-time revenue streams, local receipts, and reserves, like draining the ambulance fund each year, as was done in the past. Sumner had already resumed his retirement, but attended the meeting with new Town Administrator Richard Waldo, who started on May 31.

    “The last time we had an operating override was over 15 years ago,” select board member Mike DeVasto said. Silverman confirmed that the last operating override was at the 2005 Annual Town Meeting, for $400,000.

    “I can’t express how excited I am to put that chapter in the rearview mirror,” said DeVasto of the town’s extended financial debacle. “I can confidently say that we are in a better place than we were prior to the accounting crisis.”

    Select board member John Wolf said that the town also faces “a credibility gap,” which must be addressed by the new town administrator and finance department staff.

    Wolf warned against taking a punitive stance toward “the outright incompetence that has taken place in the past.” But he questioned DeVasto’s rearview mirror metaphor, saying that “a good helmsman is aware of what’s going on in the back as well as what’s coming up ahead.”

    The biggest item on the warrant was the $2.2-million fire suppression system at Wellfleet Elementary School. Steven Kopits asked if the expensive system was “absolutely necessary.” Fire Chief Rich Pauley replied that the town was violating state law and that fire marshals could close the school building down.

    “Should there be a fire, the cost of sprinklers would be modest in comparison to the town’s liability,” Wolf commented.

    Supplemental funding of $334,500 for a fuel storage tank at the marina was approved. The new tank would be underground in the same location as the old tank, according to Harbormaster Will Sullivan.

    Police Chief Michael Hurley and Fire Chief Pauley urged voters to approve increases in their departments without further delay. The need has been present for several years, they said, but funding was put off due to the town’s financial disarray.

    Voters approved Article 46, placing a community impact fee of 3 percent on “professionally managed” short-term rentals. Article 47, also adopted, expands the provision to include owner-occupied properties.

    The money collected from the impact fees will be placed in two stabilization funds established by the town meeting: 35 percent of the funds will go into an affordable housing stabilization fund, aimed at providing housing for those earning less than 80 percent of area median income (AMI). The remaining 65 percent will go to a mixed-income housing stabilization fund, to benefit those who make more than 80 percent of AMI but still struggle to afford housing in town.

    Other articles approved at the meeting included authorization of an easement for the Herring River Restoration Project and a nonbinding resolution asking the select board to draft a tree preservation bylaw.

    The 54-article warrant was dispatched in just over four hours, a significant improvement over last year’s annual town meeting, which took six and a half hours.

     

    MORE THAN A GAME

    Wellfleet Residents Play Ball Again

    By

    WELLFLEET — Fans of civic life here paraded, sun hats in hand, onto the baseball field across from the elementary school for their annual (or semi-annual, in this case) town meeting on Saturday.

    After most had checked in by the dugout and received either a neon green voter card or instructions on where nonresidents could find bleacher seating, Moderator Dan Silverman took the mound and prepared to lob each of the 54 articles on the warrant at the 266 voters arrayed across the infield.

    A total of 266 voters showed up to participate in what Moderator Dan Silverman called “the most basic form of democracy we have.”(Photo by Michaela Chesin)

    Asked what drew her to the meeting, Mary Fox, a 23-year resident, said, “I want to assert my privilege of voting.”

    Standing next to her was John Connors, who joked, “I come to give the town the benefit of my presence, which it desperately needs.”

    It was a perfect early summer day, and while most sat in folding chairs, a few came ready to relax, setting up beach chairs, blankets, umbrellas, and coolers in the outfield.

    Silverman commenced the event formally with a reminder of the importance of this ritual.

    “Town meeting is the most basic form of democracy we have,” said the moderator.

    With most articles passing unanimously, the voters seemed all to be playing for the same team.

    The longest discussion was about Article 1, which included an override for the town’s operating budget. Most speakers supported it, encouraging others to think of the services, including library hours and preschool vouchers, that would otherwise be cut.

    “Call the vote!” shouted a voice from the crowd after 30 minutes of discussion.

    “That is not how we do things here,” said Silverman. Town meeting requires civility and follows procedure, he said. Article 1 passed by an overwhelming vote.

    The discussion of Article 48, a citizen-petitioned tree preservation resolution, provoked the least traditional discussion of the meeting, when Kathleen Stafford led a meditative breathing exercise.

    “I invite you all to take a deep breath in,” she said, pausing to inhale, “and appreciate this fresh air we have,” she continued. “The trees are giving us this oxygen,” Stafford said. The article, after a few adjustments, passed by majority vote.

    Article 15, which called for another override to fund the hiring of two new full-time police officers due to the end of the summer staffing program, received applause when it passed.

    In its most heartening resemblance to a baseball game, town meeting brought the residents of Wellfleet together.

    “The best part of town meeting is seeing my neighbors,” John Connors said.

    FISCAL CRISIS

    Free Cash Won’t Be Certified by Town Meeting

    Finance review shows chronic depletion of reserve funds

    By

    WELLFLEET — The town’s free cash account won’t be certified by the state in time for Saturday’s annual town meeting because the books for fiscal 2020 and 2021 are still not closed, interim Town Administrator Charles Sumner told the select board on May 31. He repeated the news on June 2 at a session of the Wellfleet Community Forum.

    With no free cash, several projects will be deferred until at least this fall. Article 14 on the warrant, to protect the town’s bond rating by replenishing the stabilization fund, will have to be pushed back to a September town meeting. Some capital projects will also wait until September: the recreation dept. bandstand repair project ($50,000), water refill station replacements ($20,000), a culvert replacement on Briar Lane ($75,000), the harbor flora and fauna study ($60,000), and revetment engineering at Keller’s Corner ($50,000).

    The town has been in regular contact with the state Dept. of Revenue (DOR) as Sumner and interim accountants Lisa Souve and Mary McIsaac have worked to close the books, Sumner said.

    Once the books are closed, the town’s auditors from Powers & Sullivan will take about three weeks to conduct an audit, said Sumner. He predicted that free cash certification would happen at the end of July. The money can’t be used without a town meeting vote, probably in September at the earliest.

    Free cash certification was just one of several issues related to town finances that officials hoped would be sorted out before the June 11 town meeting. At the meeting, voters will be asked to approve $1.77 million in Proposition 2½ overrides to fund the operating budget, the capital budget, the hiring of two new police officers and two new firefighters, paramedics, or EMTs, and a fire suppression system at the Wellfleet Elementary School.

    If the $518,820 operating budget override doesn’t pass by a two-thirds vote at town meeting and a majority vote at the June 21 town election, some services will have to be cut. An alternative “austerity” budget has been offered to deal with that situation. It proposes cuts in the preschool voucher program, swimming lessons, library hours, amnesty day at the transfer station, and other reductions.

    Without the $672,700 capital budget override, repair and resurfacing of the basketball courts at Mayo Beach, bulletproof vests for police officers, replacement of portable radios for the fire dept., a DPW dump truck replacement, and technology upgrades at the library would be put off again.

    “It should be apparent that we’ve had an excellent team of people doing excellent work to identify these problems, come up with the solutions to correct them, and put in place what we need going forward,” said select board member John Wolf. “If the overrides do not pass, the only people we will be hurting are ourselves.”

    Sumner described a flawed budget process that preceded last year’s annual town meeting.

    “It didn’t have the robust review process that is necessary,” he said. “When you look at the warrant, you’re going to see that. We have a lot of unpaid bills. We had a lot of budgetary transfers on the warrant. We have a lot of deficiencies in the current budget we’re going to have to deal with on June 11.”

    McIsaac said that the finance team tracked the town’s accounts over the last five years and found limited growth in reserve balances, because those funds were being used to fund the budget. She said that was not a sound financial practice.

    Wellfleet has gone from using 50 percent of its ambulance reserve funds to using 98 percent, McIsaac said, “completely depleting that reserve without the capacity to grow it back.” The same was true for beach revenues, where about a million dollars has been used every year to fund the town’s operating and capital budgets. For fiscal 2021, she said, “you left yourself with $110,000 to begin the next year. Instead of addressing the balance in your budget and considering you were getting beyond what you could afford, you were simply drawing from these buckets to backfill and balance your budget,” McIsaac said.

    In a way, not having free cash certified is “a gift,” McIsaac said. “It gave the town a chance to recover from abusing the free cash balance.” Real financial stability comes from raising the levy ceiling through minimal, occasional overrides, she said.

    Closing the Books

    For nearly three hours on May 31, Sumner, McIsaac, and Souve discussed the findings of their 14-month effort the balance the town’s books.

    They said they conducted a comprehensive review of the set-up and processing of the town’s accounting software, called Vadar, and the accuracy of records. The work was expanded to include guidance to town officials and employees and preparing the year-end reports required by the DOR to set the tax rate.

    Their main finding, they said, was that thousands of expense records had been posted to the wrong accounts.

    “We have lists and lists and lists with numbers and numbers and numbers of items that have been charged to the wrong place, double posted, not posted at all,” Souve said.

    The review was undertaken to investigate problems revealed in the auditors’ fiscal 2020 management letter, including a $765,000 “unknown variance” in the accounts. Most of that variance has been detected in various funds, Sumner said, promising to disclose more details once the books are closed.

    “There’s been some conversation to suggest we’re here because we’re looking for stolen money,” McIsaac said. “That is so far from the truth. We were brought in to fix the mistakes.”

    McIsaac would not classify any of the errors or omissions as purposeful. “I think these mistakes happened because people weren’t paying attention,” she said. “They didn’t know or understand their job. They didn’t understand the accounting system. I find it difficult to walk across that line and say that people willfully ignored the direction they were supposed to take in their jobs.”

    McIsaac did describe the conduct of the town’s accounting department as “negligent.”

    Sumner worked with McIsaac and Souve for at least two decades in Brewster before the three came in to sort through Wellfleet’s financial woes. Souve served as Brewster’s finance director; McIsaac worked for the state and served as finance director for Barnstable County.

    “We were going to do a little chart to show how many years of municipal finance experience we’ve had, but we decided that would be a little embarrassing because we’re a little older,” Sumner said. He added that the project was helped by a three-member task force of the finance committee, which met with the team regularly.

    As for the town’s auditors, Sumner said, “I know it’s been a difficult process, but Powers & Sullivan has been the auditor for the town since 1989.” The auditors issued their 2020 management letter only after a former town accountant raised alarm bells about the accounting problems. In the previous year’s audit, there was no management letter at all. Nevertheless, Sumner defended the auditing firm. “They provided a lot of assistance and backup information to us as we started to work on this project,” he said.

    McIsaac said that, as the team leaves, she will draft an exhaustive report on their findings “to be sure they stay on track and keep their eye on the ball. I’m pretty sure you won’t see this again,” she said.

    Select board candidate Judith Ahern asked the finance team if they had interviewed former town administrators Harry Terkanian or Dan Hoort, or former Town Clerk Joe Powers.

    Sumner said that, while he has worked with Terkanian on a number of issues, the team did not meet with Hoort or Powers.

    “For us, the detailed work that we’ve done is where we really needed to focus our energies on, and the numbers don’t lie in these cases,” Sumner said. “It was a snarled ball of yarn. Missing links were broken threads for us, and we worked with a lot of diligence to identify issues and make corrections. That was where the value was for us.”

    Wellfleet Town Meeting
    ON THE WARRANT 

    In addition to the town’s operating and capital budgets, at least 50 other warrant articles will go before town meeting voters on Saturday at 10 a.m. Among them are the sprinklers at the elementary school, hiring police officers and firefighters, zoning amendments, and easements for the Herring River Restoration Project.

    Elementary School Sprinklers

    Three years ago, it was revealed that a required sprinkler system had not been installed at the Wellfleet Elementary School when the building was renovated in 1990. Without it, it is in violation of the state’s building code.

    Article 23 asks town meeting voters to approve the bonds required to pay to install a $2.2-million fire suppression system.

    If the debt exclusion is approved at town meeting and at the June 21 special election, the funds will be borrowed and paid for over a 20-year period. The annual cost of $187,280 would add $0.067 cents to the tax rate, costing the median priced single-family homeowner $41.46.

    Hiring Police Officers and Firefighters

    With the police summer reserve officer program being phased out and fewer on-call firefighters, Articles 15 and 16 call for Proposition 2½ overrides to fund both two new police officer positions and two new firefighter, paramedic, or EMT positions.

    The need for more officers is an unintended consequence of the governor’s police reform law passed in December 2020, requiring one standard of training for all officers, said Police Chief Michael Hurley.

    Having 8 to 10 summer officers costs about the same as two full-time positions. “Now we’re at this crossroads,” Hurley said.

    The $186,759 override to fund the police officer positions would add $0.067 to the tax rate and would cost the owner of a median priced single-family home $41.34, though the tax impact may decrease if Chief Hurley is able to obtain a federal COPS grant that would help pay for three years of the position. “I want to help the best I can,” he said, “but the town needs to commit to the positions.”

    Fire Chief Richard Pauley says he needs to fund four more full-time positions within the next two years in order to move two ambulances out the door with five people on shift.

    The $206,964 override to fund the firefighter, paramedic, or EMT positions would add $0.074 to the tax rate and would cost the owner of a median priced single-family home $45.81.

    Contractor’s Yard Definition

    Article 43 would amend the zoning bylaw to change the definition of a contractor’s yard.

    The current definition “just isn’t working for the town of Wellfleet,” said planning board chair Gerry Parent during the April 26 select board meeting. The amendment would require that contractor’s yards be granted a special-use permit, an idea proposed by the planning board last January.

    Article 38 would grant temporary easements for the Herring River Restoration Project to restore tidal flow and provide ecological benefits provided by a healthy estuary.

    Article 40 seeks town approval to continue support for the state’s Dept. of Transportation Route 6 and Main Street intersection project, anticipated to commence construction in 2023. “That one should be the end of a very long process,” said Ryan Curley, the select board chair.

    A citizen’s petition asks for a tree preservation bylaw “supporting the preservation and protection of trees on residential, municipal and commercial lots preceding or during significant demolition or construction activity.” The proposed bylaw’s provisions are impractical, Curley said. “There’s no capacity to review every single landscaping project.”

    A special town meeting will be held Sept. 10 to consider articles on the original draft warrant, which has now been split in two. Key items in September will include other zoning amendments and the purchase of Maurice’s Campground. —Michaela Chesin

    FISCAL CRISIS

    Wellfleet Town Meeting Delayed by Financial Pickle

    Meeting is put off to June 11; 15% tax increase expected

    By

    WELLFLEET — The town’s continuing financial fiasco has now prompted the select board to postpone the annual town meeting until Saturday, June 11. The town charter requires that the annual meeting be held on the fourth Monday of April, “unless otherwise provided by Bylaw.”

    Town staff are still deep into untangling accounting records from 2020 and 2021, preventing the state from certifying the town’s free cash account. Going to town meeting without free cash certification would stall replenishment of the stabilization fund, jeopardizing the town’s AAA bond rating.

    “I had hoped to be further along in the process relative to closing out fiscal ’20 and ’21, but here we are,” interim Town Administrator Charles Sumner said during the March 8 select board meeting.

    Interim accountants Mary McIsaac and Lisa Souve came out of retirement last summer to straighten out the books by December. Three months later, they still are not done, partly because the accounting department is so understaffed, Sumner said.

    There has been no town accountant for a year, though the town just hired Nick Robertson, who will start in April. Assistant Town Accountant Jane Tesson took a leave of absence from Oct. 1 to the end of January, and former Town Treasurer Miriam Spencer resigned Nov. 30. A new treasurer started work March 7.

    “You have to pay bills; you have to do payroll; you’ve got to do all your banking,” Sumner said. “Those were a higher priority.”

    Last month, the state Dept. of Revenue (DOR) notified Sumner it could not certify the town’s free cash account until an audit is done on the fiscal 2021 books. But the audit can’t be done until the books for the last two fiscal years are closed. Sumner had predicted the audit could happen in time for an April 25 town meeting. But he revised that completion date to mid-April, he told the Independent last week.

    Free cash, which is unspent, unrestricted funds from the previous fiscal year, cannot be used until it’s certified by the DOR. The last date for which Wellfleet’s free cash has been certified was June 30, 2019, according to DOR spokeswoman Naysa Woomer.

    Taxes Will Jump

    Given all of that, the select board voted on March 8 to delay the annual town meeting until June 11. That leaves just 19 days before the fiscal year closes on June 30. The warrant for the meeting will now close on April 12, according to Executive Assistant Rebekah Eldridge.

    A special town election has been scheduled for June 21 for the required approval by ballot of budget overrides and debt exclusions voted at the town meeting. The regular annual town election to fill vacancies on the select board, school committee, and other boards will be held as planned on May 2.

    Sumner expects that voters will be asked to approve a Proposition 2½ override of $1.3 million, though he is still working to trim that down, he said. He will present a memo to the select board on March 22 with a recommendation for a possible delay of some expenditures.

    “I’m trying to find solutions that are not shortsighted and going to boomerang in a negative way next year,” Sumner said.

    With the current projected override amount, property taxes would rise by more than 15 percent — an estimated increase of $719 for a median-priced home, according to Sumner’s financial forecast.

    That estimate includes the general override as well as debt exclusions (temporary tax increases for expenditures like a fire engine replacement or the sprinkler system at the Wellfleet Elementary School).

    For year-round residents, some part of the tax increase can be offset by the residential tax exemption, which the select board raised from 20 percent to 25 percent in November. The exemption shifts the property tax burden marginally from “domiciled” residents to part-time and nonresidents.

    “Out of 4,251 parcels, there are 754 owners who asked for exemptions,” said Ryan Curley, chair of the select board. In other words, about 18 percent of Wellfleet property owners have applied for the residential exemption.

    The select board also voted on March 8 to divide the annual town meeting into two sessions because there are 65 articles on the warrant, including several bylaw changes and enabling legislation that could be postponed until the fall, Sumner said.

    Last year’s annual town meeting lasted six and a half hours. With 65 articles, “We’re looking at maybe an 8-to-10-hour town meeting,” said Curley. “That’s unsustainable.”

    Only board member Helen Miranda Wilson argued against having two meetings. She said special town meetings are more sparsely attended and come with added costs for advertising, printing the warrant, and staff time.

    Select board member Mike DeVasto countered, “I don’t think we wind up with representative democracy in these marathon town meetings that go on forever.”

    Meanwhile, there is still a pending financial management review from the DOR to shed light on the severe accounting errors that first became public in 2020. These reports are prepared when towns run into financial troubles. They explain what went wrong and recommend ways to prevent history from repeating itself.

    Wellfleet’s report was due months ago, but Sumner said it is still not ready. “I have asked, and they’re just so far behind,” Sumner said.

    WELLFLEET TOWN MEETING

    Voters Back Estimated 13% Tax Increase

    The chaotic budget process raises few questions at meeting

    By

    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.

    Resident Steven Kopits spoke several times during the six-and-a-half-hour town meeting. (Photo K.C. Myers)

    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 overwhelmingly approved $1.9 million to fund a wastewater treatment system for the affordable housing project at 95 Lawrence Road. (Photo K.C. Myers)

    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 TOWN MEETING

    Committing to Water, Shelter, Bureaucracy-Free Farming

    In second half of town meeting, voters grapple with basic needs

    By

    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.”

    WELLFLEET TOWN MEETING

    Voters Face 24% Budget Bump in Accounting Fiasco

    Maybe it’s just a typo, says finance committee chair

    By

    WELLFLEET — Heading into the annual town meeting this Saturday, June 26, there is still a lot that town officials say they do not know, including exactly what the tax impact of a whopping 24-percent budget increase will be.

    On June 22, four days before town meeting, finance committee chair Fred Magee said his committee had not yet recommended or even discussed the town’s fiscal 2022 operating and capital budgets because it had not seen them.

    The town meeting warrant shows an overall spending increase from $23.1 million in the current fiscal year to $28.5 million, including more than $3.5 million in expenditures proposed in warrant articles other than the operating and capital budgets. Charlie Sumner, the interim town administrator, said he will know the tax impact by Saturday and will explain it to the voters. But, he cautioned, Wellfleet is dealing with an accounting fiasco, and he is discovering new deficiencies daily.

    “Every spreadsheet has totals that aren’t accurate,” Sumner said. “That’s why I’m here. We uncover problems every day and we try to fix them. Will we solve these problems by Saturday? These have been two years or more in the making.”

    Accountants Mary McIsaac, left, and Lisa Souve with Interim Town Administrator Charlie Sumner at work in town hall to straighten out Wellfleet’s accounting mess. (Photo K.C. Myers)

    The town is employing two part-time accountants who were hired by Sumner to correct municipal accounting deficiencies going back years and come up with new procedures going forward. This came after the town accountant was fired last fall by a new town administrator, Maria Broadbent. She hired a new accountant, Heather Michaud, in December. In April, both Michaud and Broadbent resigned, amid revelations that the fiscal 2022 town budget had not been prepared. The select board brought in Sumner, a retired former Brewster town administrator, in May. He and the two part-time accountants have been consumed with correcting longstanding accounting problems ever since.

    “The reality for us,” Sumner said this week, “is we’ll go to town meeting on Saturday, and we’ll present a budget for the fiscal year and we feel we’ve gotten that firmed up. We have concerns about fund balances and revenues, but those will take time to analyze.”

    What does this mean for voters who must approve or reject a major spending increase? The figures in the warrant include $3.1 million in new debt exclusions, or borrowing articles, to fund a wastewater treatment plant for a future affordable housing project and several new trucks, cars, and radios for the dept. of public works and the marina, fire, and police departments.

    Usually, the finance committee reviews all spending articles and provides advice on whether requests for new equipment or projects are reasonable.

    This year, due to the last-minute scramble to create the budget, the finance committee will make its recommendations at 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 24, Magee said. At that point, he hopes to have enough answers either to support the administration’s requests or to reject them. The committee may also opt to abstain or reserve its recommendation if it is still unable to get sufficient information from the town administration.

    “We know that Sumner and several accountants are working on getting correct values and year-to-date spending, and that won’t be finalized until after town meeting,” Magee said. “The real numbers don’t yet exist. People will get angry at town meeting. I think that’s another thing we can predict.”

    In previous years, Wellfleet’s town budget has risen modestly. It went from $21.8 to $22.2 million from 2019 to 2020, a 1.9-percent increase, according to the warrant. In 2021, it rose to $23.1 million, a 3.7-percent increase.

    When asked about the nearly 24-percent jump this year, Magee said there might have been a typo or miscalculation in the warrant. Everything had to happen so fast this year, he added.

    Magee said it is also conceivable that not all the borrowing articles presented to voters will go out for financing, if the town comes up with the money through untapped revenue sources discovered over the summer.

    Sumner and the select board have agreed to hold a town meeting in the fall, when the town might have access to its free cash. That is surplus funds that the state Dept. of Revenue must certify and can then be used to pay expenses. Due to accounting blunders, Wellfleet’s free cash was not certified this year, leaving the town without access to about $1 million.

    “Is Wellfleet in such bad shape?” Magee asked. “Well, we don’t know that yet. All we know is that the accounting is messed up. I think Wellfleet is better off than people think it is. I think a big part of the select board and Charlie’s challenge is to calm the waters and not be patronizing.”

    Wellfleet Town Meeting

    When: Saturday, June 26, 10 a.m.

    Where: 100 Lawrence Road, Wellfleet Elementary School Ball Field

    Wellfleet Town Election

    When: Wednesday, June 30, 12 noon to 7 p.m.

    Where: Wellfleet Senior Center, 715 Old King’s Highway

    WELLFLEET TOWN MEETING

    Wastewater, Safety Needs Are Adding Up

    Alternative septic system plans may not satisfy state

    By

    WELLFLEET — Voters at the June 26 annual town meeting must prepare for a 53-article warrant that includes $3.3 million in Proposition 2½ overrides and debt exclusions. If all of the spending articles on the warrant are approved with those overrides and exclusions, the annual tax bill on a property of median value would increase by an estimated $173.

    The largest debt exclusion is Article 19, requesting $1.9 million for a wastewater treatment system for a potential 46-unit affordable housing complex at 95 Lawrence Road. The wastewater system for the yet-to-be-designed-or-approved development would reduce nitrogen from effluent more effectively than a traditional Title 5 system and is like the one that was approved for the Truro affordable housing development called the Cloverleaf, said Curt Felix, chair of the comprehensive wastewater management planning committee. By adding the elementary school and the fire and police stations, as well as a small number of homes to that system, it would further reduce nitrogen loading in groundwater, Felix said.

    The town meeting begins at 10 a.m., outdoors at the Wellfleet Elementary School playing field, where the last annual meeting was held in September. The annual town election follows on Wednesday, June 30.

    Among the technical terms voters will be faced with is the “debt exclusion,” which authorizes borrowing so that the town can levy taxes above the 2.5 percent legal limit, but only for the life of the loan. A Proposition 2½ override, of which there will be just one on the warrant, to hire two more firefighters, permanently raises the levy limit beyond the 2.5 percent cap.

    The three wastewater-related debt exclusion questions on the warrant come after 10 years of Wellfleet’s attempting to develop a comprehensive wastewater plan to bring the town into compliance with a court-ordered mandate. Every town on Cape Cod is under this court order, and several have had their plans approved by the state Dept. of Environmental Protection, including Orleans, Provincetown, Falmouth, Chatham, and Harwich, said Andrew Gottlieb, executive director of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod.

    Wellfleet’s plan, however, is not approved. State officials say that the town’s plan to use lots of alternative treatment systems is not good enough because it lacks a “plan B,” that is, sewering the town if the alternative systems don’t improve water quality enough.

    Gottlieb said Wellfleet voters need to know that, by approving the articles on the warrant, they are not necessarily protecting themselves from further legal action from the Conservation Law Foundation or from having to build a town sewer system anyway.

    Gottlieb noted that Felix is enthusiastic about alternative treatments, but “when people are more passionate about the technology than meeting the water quality goal, you’ve lost your way as an advocate,” Gottlieb said.

    But, Felix said, each of the wastewater articles on the warrant will reduce nitrogen going into the Wellfleet Harbor watershed.

    Article 19 asks for $250,000, which would give anyone who must replace or build a new septic system $12,500 to make that system an enhanced or “innovative alternative” system, which increases nitrogen removal.

    Article 20 asks for $50,000 for an engineering and hydrogeological assessment of a permeable reactive barrier along Commercial Street. This technology would use filters to remove nitrogen and other pollutants from groundwater. Commercial Street wraps around Duck Creek, which is among the most impaired water bodies in town. The wastewater committee will seek grants to repay the costs for the system, Felix said.

    Wellfleet’s overall plan can “meet the goal with alternatives that will provide a faster approach that’s one-fifth less costly than sewers,” Felix said.

    John Cumbler, also a member of the comprehensive wastewater management planning committee, said the alternative systems could work. And the one at 95 Lawrence Road is important, because it provides treatment for an affordable housing development.

    But, Cumbler added, the short-term goal of saving money may not solve the problem and could ultimately cost the town even more.

    “I don’t think Curt is wrong, but I do think we have to be very careful,” Cumbler said.

    Two New Firefighters

    If Article 9, asking for $168,000 for two new firefighters, looks familiar, it’s because this is the fourth time that Wellfleet Fire Chief Rich Pauley has asked to increase his staff. Each time voters have approved the appropriations. One firefighter costs the town about $80,000, Pauley said. In the last six years, the fire department’s roster has gone from nine full-time staff to 16 full-time staff. The loss of “call” or part-time firefighters who answer the bell in emergencies has made it necessary to get each shift covered with full-time people, Pauley said.

    Only three of the current fire dept. staff live in town — including Pauley — and most others live south of Orleans, the chief said.

    Each ambulance run to Cape Cod Hospital occupies a minimum of two staff for three hours, and currently two shifts have only two full-time people, Pauley said. Each shift should really have four people, though five is ideal, Pauley said.

    Eastham, which has 4,901 year-round residents compared to Wellfleet’s 3,617, has five per shift, Pauley said. Truro operates with back-up from the nonprofit Lower Cape Ambulance service, which the town pays through a contract. Pauley said he doesn’t think a regional model such as Lower Cape Ambulance is workable, at least not without a serious discussion about how to fairly divide the financial burden.

    “Everyone has to bring the exact same resources to the table,” he said.

    AN INVESTIGATION

    Why Wellfleet Elementary School Has No Sprinklers

    Thirty years ago, the fire chief ‘was asked not to do his job’

    By

    WELLFLEET — At the Sept. 12 annual town meeting voters agreed to spend $110,000 to design a sprinkler system for the Wellfleet Elementary School, because, the fire chief said, one was not installed in a $4.5-million 1990 renovation.

    CIVICS

    Wellfleet OK’s Water Main and Firefighters

    Officials hit a home run at first-ever outdoor town meeting

    By

    WELLFLEET — Standing on the pitcher’s mound at the Wellfleet Elementary School ballfield, Moderator Dan Silverman pitched a no-hitter on Sept. 12, with voters approving all the articles that came before them at the town’s pandemic-inspired outdoor annual town meeting.

    The crisp and sunny weather may have helped bring out 200 voters, double the reduced-because-of-Covid-19 quorum of 100. Many voters looked like they were in a witness protection program, with hats, sunglasses, and masks. But they sat far apart and got the business of town government done in just under four hours.

    The sound system worked well, and voters were able to stay in their seats to ask questions by beckoning “microphone wranglers,” posted throughout the outfield with microphones on selfie sticks.

    All the articles on the warrant were adopted, with the exception of those that were indefinitely postponed for various reasons, including the fact that four did not survive a Proposition 2½ override ballot on Sept. 8. Those were: a new police cruiser for $50,000; a fire command vehicle for $55,000; a public works backhoe for $168,000; and a new transfer station guard shack and canopy for $55,000.

    Voters hold up their cards at Wellfleet’s outdoor town meeting. (Photo K.C. Myers)

    Six budget overrides were approved both at the ballot and at town meeting. The most costly was for borrowing up to $3.8 million to replace a water main for the town’s secondary public water source. Jim Hood, chair of the water commissioners, said the town hopes to receive “a substantial portion” of the cost in grants.

    The water main upgrade is to fulfill the state requirement for a secondary or backup system should the first fail. Wellfleet’s primary water source, the Boy Scout Camp wellfield near the Council on Aging, pumps more than enough water for the town’s current peak use: 100,000 gallons daily. Current peak daily use is just over 63,000 gallons. But the secondary water source on Gristmill Way uses a four-inch main that can handle only 40,000 gallons a day.

    By replacing that with an eight-inch pipe, the neighborhoods of Old Hay Road, part of Route 6, and Briar Lane would also get access to town water. This could add 80 customers in all to the municipal system, including some on Briar Lane that do have water quality problems, Hood said. And since the water system is funded by user fees, additional hookups help spread the cost.

    Lastly, an additional 9,000 gallons a day will be needed if the town is able to construct a proposed 46-unit affordable housing complex on Lawrence Road. Though this is within the capacity of the primary system, it would further tax the secondary system.

    Select board member Helen Miranda Wilson said she didn’t like that proponents were unnecessarily tying the affordable housing project to the water main or that they were “recruiting” users to help pay for the water system.

    “Hooking up people who don’t need water is environmentally a very bad idea,” Wilson said. “Groundwater is our most precious resource.”

    Kathleen Bacon, a former select board member, said town meeting voters were actually sitting on top of the proposed affordable housing complex’s septic system. Tying the water to the housing project is a way to secure a state grant for the water expansion, she added. The necessary override for the project passed at the Sept. 8 election, 501 to 239.

    Town meeting voters also agreed to hire two new firefighter-paramedics, which will allow the fire dept. to have three people on each shift for 24-hour coverage, said Fire Chief Richard Pauley. The $148,000 for salary and benefits is a permanent tax increase and will cost the owner of a $538,524 home $35.12 a year. It passed at the ballot, 460 to 280.

    Voters also approved $110,000 to engineer a sprinkler system at the Wellfleet Elementary School. Somehow, Pauley explained, sprinklers were not included in a major school renovation in the early 1990s, although legally required. “Someone waived that requirement and it should not have been done,” Pauley said.

    There was some debate about two petitioned articles, one a ban on the sale of single-use plastic water bottles, and the other a nonbinding referendum to change the state seal, which features a Native American image topped by a colonial swordsman’s disembodied arm.

    Justina Carlson and Mike DeVasto, both select board members, said the ban on water bottles, which will go into effect on Sept. 1, 2021, encourages the use of carbonated beverages and Gatorade. People with jobs outside or on the water need to stay hydrated and may not be prepared for this ban.

    “I think behavior shouldn’t be legislated,” said Carlson.

    Carlson also argued against a petition to change the state seal. Though her own great-great-grandmother was “a full-blooded Cherokee Indian,” she said, she was not in favor of the “erasure of history.”

    TOWN MEETING PREVIEW

    Wellfleet Voters Will Be Asked to Spend $23 Million

    One big budget increase was for porta-potties

    By

    WELLFLEET — The annual town meeting is set to kick off at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 12, five months after it was initially postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. It will be held outdoors, at the elementary school ballfield on Lawrence Road. Masks are required, and those seeking to attend the meeting will be screened for Covid symptoms and their temperatures taken.

    The warrant includes 38 articles and total proposed expenditures of $23,076,473, which represents a 3.7-percent increase over last year’s total.

    The fiscal 2021 town operating budget to be presented at the meeting totals $20,232,924, a 6.3-percent increase over 2020. Proposed capital expenditures and debt service, however, are both lower than last year.

    Wellfleet
    Wellfleet’s annual town meeting is set to kick off at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 12

    A significant chunk of the final amount approved at the meeting will depend on the 10 big-ticket items on the warrant, all major purchases involving budget overrides and exemptions from Proposition 2½ limits.

    “The big purchases are always a deciding factor,” said Fred Magee, the finance committee chair. “In theory, you could not spend any of that money, or you could spend all of it.”

    Several of the larger items are for vehicles and infrastructure for the fire and police depts. and the dept. of public works. The largest item, though, is the proposed $3.8 million for a new secondary water piping system.

    With concern about town revenues being lower due to effects of the pandemic, the large number of big money items on the warrant concerns some townspeople, including former select board member Kathleen Bacon, who chose not to run for re-election this year.

    “I see that police, fire, and DPW have some big-ticket items on the warrant, and I’m a little surprised at it because of Covid,” she said. “I believe the revenue of the town will be down for fiscal year 2021.”

    Bacon is most concerned that the other big purchases will distract attention from what she sees as a crucial item on the warrant, upgrading the water system.

    Initially installed in 1989, the current secondary water piping system is at the edge of its capacity. Although able to handle the existing water pressure for the households that are currently connected to the system, the antiquated pipes would not be able to accommodate the addition of 46 affordable housing units planned for 95 Lawrence Road.

    Because only 2.45 percent of Wellfleet’s housing is deemed affordable, far below the state’s goal of 10 percent, Bacon said the new water system should trump the other purchases.

    Magee, though, said that arguing against other proposed purchases will not be that easy.

    “Most recommendations that the finance committee makes are based on budgets that are presented to us,” he said. “If the fire dept. needs a fire truck, we ask if there is an off-market or used one we can get to save money. If the answer is no, then it’s no, and then you are back to ‘We need a fire truck.’ You don’t want the fire dept. without a fire truck.”

    Other than major purchases, one of the largest operating budget line item increases this year is under community services.

    Last year, the department’s operating expenses were $75,750. This year they are up to $211,899, thanks to the porta-potty contract the town signed with M.A. Frazier Inc.

    As a Covid health measure, the town deemed porta-potties easier to clean than regular bathrooms, and therefore placed porta-potties and handwashing stations at public places like beaches and parking lots, Community Services Director Suzanne Grout Thomas said.

    Another noticeable line item increase is under “Barnstable County Retirement Assessment.” The town’s employee retirement fund is managed by the county, as it is for all Cape towns, Town Administrator Maria Broadbent said. Wellfleet’s share went up by $158,881 this year to $1,406,557.

    The increase is nothing out of the ordinary, Magee said.

    “People are always the largest component in operating budgets because of salaries, benefits, all that stuff,” he said. “That’s true all the way to the highest levels of government.”

    One of the more controversial nonbudget articles on the warrant is Article 16, which deals with a proposed multi-part restoration plan for the Pleasant Hill Cemetery.

    The select board unanimously voted against the plan; it is the only article that received a 0-5 vote from the board.

    According to Ryan Curley, the newest member of the select board, the work that the Wellfleet Cemetery Commission has done to date is unacceptable.

    “The quality of the work that has been done is not good and has likely caused permanent damage to many grave markers,” Curley wrote. “Addressing these issues is hard because the intention of the commission is good, and there is an obvious need for a restoration program, but the results are atrocious.”

    The issue, Curley said, is not with the commission itself, but with Robert Devaney, who was hired as a contractor to repair damage at the cemetery.

    Some of the problems include resetting headstones crooked, painting plaster over inscriptions, and using white gel epoxy instead of paste to fill cracks in stones.

    Curley said, “It will cost more money to do it the right way,” but it’s a cost he deems appropriate, considering the importance of keeping gravestones in good condition.

    The final town meeting warrant published online also contains a typo under article 27. The document says that the Open Space Committee recommended the article by a vote of 0-0. Vice-Chair Thomas Slack confirmed that the committee voted to recommend the article 7-0.

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