PROVINCETOWN — Former harbormaster Rex McKinsey, who has been on administrative leave since August, will return to work on Oct. 15. But he may have a new title, marine coordinator, and a more limited set of duties, as town officials consider splitting his old job into two or three new ones.
As a personnel matter, the disciplinary process was confidential. McKinsey was placed on paid administrative leave while the latest complaint against him was reviewed, and it ended with Gardner putting him on a two-week unpaid leave as a penalty following a September hearing. During that time, the Pier Corp. elevated assistant harbormaster Don German to acting harbormaster.
McKinsey was previously disciplined by the Pier Corp. for not following proper budgeting, material acquisitions, and operations procedures.
The select board, harbor committee, Pier Corp. board, and Acting Town Manager David Gardner held an unusual joint working session on Monday, Sept. 30 to hammer out a reorganization of the harbormaster’s duties. No consensus was reached, however, and no votes were taken.
The harbormaster position has been a matter of contention all summer. All parties now seem to agree, or at least accept, that the job is going to be split into two or three pieces. How that split will be made, and who will supervise the various new positions, were areas of strong disagreement. Gardner, the Pier Corp., and the harbor committee all offered different visions for the new arrangement.
Since at least 2005 McKinsey has been the principal employee of the Pier Corp. and has also been the harbormaster, with wide responsibilities for the whole harbor, reporting to town government. This hybrid role was formalized in the marine services agreements of 2005 and 2010 — contracts between the town and the Pier Corp. in which the town sent its “295 money,” designated for marine and harbormaster responsibilities, to the Pier Corp.
In exchange for this money, the Pier Corp. agreed to pay and supervise the harbormaster and the deputy and assistant harbormasters.
Working without an agreement
That arrangement was formalized again in one-year harbormaster services agreements in 2015 and 2016. The last agreement expired in 2017, however, and was never formally renewed. The town and Pier Corp. are currently operating “in the spirit of the 2016 agreement,” according to Gardner — but the fact that there’s no binding contractual agreement means that the entire arrangement is now open to revision.
The Pier Corp. began the process of splitting up the harbormaster job in July, when it voted to create the position of pier manager, co-equal to the harbormaster but reporting directly to the Pier Corp. In August, the Pier Corp. initiated a disciplinary action against McKinsey for “negligence of duties,” a process that the Pier Corp. may set in motion but over which the town manager has actual control.
On Oct. 15, when McKinsey’s leave ends, he will return to work at his old salary but with a new set of work assignments from Gardner, his former and future supervisor. His tentative title is marine coordinator, and his work is focused on the harbor plan, coastal resilience, shellfish, dredging, Chapter 91 compliance, climate change, and other town government-centered maritime work.
McKinsey is highly regarded by commercial fishermen, the recreational charter fleet, and other members of the marine community. This was made clear by a letter of support signed by the owners of 34 commercial fishing vessels, and presented to the select board in August by Charles “Stormy” Mayo, founder of the Center for Coastal Studies.
But members of the Pier Corp. have been complaining for at least a year that their priorities were being neglected in favor of town-assigned duties. They asked McKinsey to split his responsibilities into two or more job descriptions back in July. He reported back with a “three-bucket” model: one bucket of duties connected to management of MacMillan pier; one connected to the management of the wider harbor; and a third group assisting other town officials. This was the prototype for the three positions now being proposed: pier manager, harbormaster, and marine coordinator.
Who supervises whom?
The main disagreement at Monday’s meeting was not the outlines of the three jobs — it was who should report to whom.
Gardner had the marine coordinator reporting to the town manager but also acting as deputy harbormaster, working from MacMillan Pier and helping with a range of maritime functions. The Pier Corp. was adamant that the coordinator should work on land, from either town hall or the DPW building, and should not be a part of the harbormaster’s operation.
The harbor committee had prepared a motion to strip the entire harbormaster operation, including the 295 budget that supports it and all its support staff, away from the Pier Corp. and relocate it back in town government, where it could be supervised by the town manager.
The select board members asked questions about the origins of the current arrangement and tried to understand the choices before them. Because the harbormaster services agreement has expired, a wide range of outcomes is possible, Gardner emphasized.
“The ability to move forward and enter into a new management agreement is what we are deciding,” Gardner said. “It’s not a done deal. What would be the alternative if we didn’t have that? The divorce, as maybe I’m inappropriately calling it, is not something that’s clear either.”
Gardner added that, because municipal budgets are prepared in November, that would be a likely time for making decisions on the changes to come.
