Meetings Ahead
Thursday, Feb. 20
Affordable Housing Trust, 8:30 a.m., Small Meeting Room, Town Hall
Board of Assessors, 4:30 p.m., Earle Mountain Meeting Room, Town Hall
Dog Owners Association, 6 p.m., Conference Room, Police Station
Monday, Feb. 24
Eastham 400 Commemoration Committee, 10:30 a.m., Public Library
Eastham Elementary School Committee, 5:30 p.m., Small Meeting Room, Town Hall
Select Board, 5:30 p.m., Earle Mountain Meeting Room, Town Hall
Tuesday, Feb. 25
T-Time Development Committee, 5 p.m., Small Meeting Room, Town Hall
Conservation Commission, 6 p.m., Earle Mountain Meeting Room, Town Hall
Wednesday, Feb. 26
Recreation Commission, 5:30 p.m., Recreation Office
Conversation Starters
Sam’s Deli in Limbo
Sam’s Deli owner Susan Knight appeared before the select board on Feb. 10 requesting approval to remove the wall that separates the deli and liquor store in the building, relocate the walk-in beer cooler to the back corner of the building, and move a third register area next to the door of the liquor store.
The request also included changing the name of the liquor store from Sam’s Uncorked to Sam’s Liquors. Currently Foot-Off-First Ventures Inc., owned by Knight, operates both Sam’s Deli and Sam’s Uncorked.
The select board opted to continue the hearing to March 2, asking Knight to come back with a floor plan and a risk mitigation plan.
Some concerns were raised about the project. Board members Jared Collins and Al Cestaro said the alteration could make it easier for minors to get alcoholic beverages because of the open floor plan. It would be harder, they argued, to identify if minors purchasing food were part of a group of other patrons old enough to purchase alcohol. Knight said that scenario could happen with or without the alteration.
Knight acquired Sam’s Deli before the last summer season and was granted a seasonal all-liquor license — the first ever granted in Eastham. In a letter to the select board, Leslie Plumb, owner of Town Center Wine & Spirits, objected to the building alteration request and said she does not think the seasonal all-liquor license should have been granted in the first place.
Knight said she would be willing to give up the seasonal license and only sell beer and wine if she were allowed to change the building layout and if it made the community feel more comfortable.
Select Board Chair Aimee Eckman also asked why Knight was selling nips after telling the board she didn’t intend to sell them. “You said, ‘No, that’s not our thing,’ ” Eckman said.
“We’re trying to compete with everybody else,” Knight said. “We don’t sell a lot of them and we frankly have talked about whether we want to sell them this year or not.”
Charter Review
The charter review committee has been working over the last year to revise the town charter, and Chair Peter Wade presented the proposed revision to the select board on Feb. 10.
Some of the recommendations:
- Change the position of town administrator to town manager.
- Establish a department of municipal finance with a director; the proposed department would include accounting, treasurer, tax collecting, and assessing.
- Create a standing capital projects committee rather than a separate committee for each capital project.
- Raise the threshold for capital projects committee oversight from $500,000 to $1 million.
- Revise requirements for filling vacancies and temporary vacancies on various elected town boards and committees, including town moderator.
- Change the number of select board member votes required for removal of the town manager from three to four, the same number required to appoint a town manager.
Lorenco on the Move
Mike Lorenco, the assistant town administrator, will be leaving his position to become town manager of Mattapoisett. The move was announced by Eastham Town Administrator Jacqui Beebe on Feb. 10.
Beebe said that Lorenco’s date of departure was uncertain. Lorenco said he’s returning to his hometown roots.
“I grew up there — my family still lives there,” he said. —Ryan Fitzgerald
