ANNUAL REPORT
SUMMER RESIDENTS ADVISORY COMMITTEE
SUMMER 2008
HISTORY AND PURPOSE:
While there has been an informal summer residents committee and a summer town meeting for sixty-two years, it was not until 1996 that the Town Meeting established the Non-Voting Taxpayers Advisory Committee (NVTAC), since renamed the Summer Residents Advisory Committee (SRAC), whose members, appointed to three-year terms, work to:
- give summer residents a voice
- give Selectmen the benefit of information and views
- give fresh outlooks to the town
- take a position for or against town matters
Chatham is the only Cape town to establish such a committee.
MEMBERSHIP:
The SRAC committee consists of eleven members and two associates, all
taxpayers but not voters. They are from various areas of Chatham, while historically Riverbay and South Chatham have been under-represented or not represented at all.
OUR CONSTITUENTS:
Thanks to Andy Machado, Director of Assessing, we learn that 3,020 of the 5,666 single family homes in Chatham are second homes, representing 53% of the total. Of these 3,020 , over 2,000 tax bills are sent out of State. Based on various sources, it is assumed that one-third of the 3,020 homes are rented seasonally. The valuation of all the second homes is 45% of the total valuation of the Town of Chatham. It should be kept in mind that a great many summer residents retire here and become resident voters.
OUR SUMMER CALENDAR
We are constrained by public meeting laws from discussing and voting on matters by telephone or e-mail, and thus we rely on one-way communications during the off-season. In season, we met six times, starting in late June and ending in August, and on the first Tuesday in August we held our annual Summer Town Meeting that was open to summer and winter residents alike, non-voters and voters.
OUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
1. We streamlined
- reducing the committee from fifteen to eleven (with two alternates)
- reducing sub-committees from nine to four:
--Communication and Customer Service
--Streetscape
--Town Management, Finances, Facilities, Maintenance
--Transportation and Safety
2. We testified before MEPA
- on behalf of the wastewater management plan, and
- we wrote to MEPA, urging them to support re-use water systems.
3. We updated and kept current the Summer Residents section of the Town Website, including agendas, minutes, and position papers.
4. A Chatham-wide Reverse 911 Emergency Notification System, first proposed by our committee, is very important to all residents, especially those who are absent much of the year, both summer residents and snowbird voters. We have recommended that the town seek a provider other than the Barnstable Sheriff’s Department, since their Rapid Alert system does not contact home telephones outside Massachusetts.
5. For the first time, we participated in the July Fourth parade—in a 1918 Packard Phaeton.
6. We prepared the committee for our public meetings by receiving from most of our presenters a memo setting forth their responsibilities, accomplishments, issues, and plans. We recommended that the Town adopt a similar personnel record.
7. Our six public meetings brought into focus
- Chatham Matters—Sean Summers and Bill Hinchey
- Beaches & Parking—Dan Tobin
- Chatham Water & Sewering—Bob Duncanson
- Boating and the Breach—Stu Smith & Ted Keon
- Chatham Planning—Mark Zibrat and Kevin McDonald
- Chatham Traffic Issues—Police Captain John Cauble
8. The August Summer Town Meeting (our 62nd!) was the best attended ever, due in part to the air-conditioned meeting room in the Community Center, and in part to the excellent management by Town Moderator Bill Litchfield and our outstanding presentations:
- State of Town Finances--Town Manager Bill Hinchey
- The Breach and Coastal Issues—Coastal Resources Director Ted Keon
- Sewering Chatham—Health & Environment Director Bob Duncanson
- Chatham Scorecard—SRAC Chair of our Sub-Committee on Town Facilities & Finance, Hugh Moulton
- Audience spoken and written comments gave high marks to the presenters, and
- there was strong applause for getting more attractive toilet facilities at the beaches, and for undergrounding utilities.
- There were many comments on parking issues, especially Bridge Street.
- Ironically, while for years audiences decried the sweltering heat of the High School auditorium, some thought the Community Center meeting room too cold.
CURRENT ISSUES & PLANS
9. We continue to urge Chatham and MEPA support for a re-use water system.
10. We applauded undergrounding utilities, just as the audience at our Summer Town Meeting applauded it, and we provided Cape Cod Commission’s proposed undergrounding plans.
11. We urged clear information on sewering costs for individual homes.
12. We continued to support enhanced safety for bikers and proposed special crossings markings and rumble strips.
13. We applaud replacing port-a-potties, and we provided Parks & Rec with information from Clivus and Romtec, since examples can be inspected locally—there is a Clivus system on Wilfred Drive, and a ROMTEC system at Provincetown’s Herring Beach, at the very end of Rte. 6.
14. We expressed concern with planned markets/service stations at the Rotary and Rte. 28/Stepping Stones.
15. We sent the Town Manager suggestions for cutting costs and increasing revenue, and we sent the Selectmen proposed goals for FY 2010.
16. We identified summer residents’ organizations/committees in other Cape towns. Only Chatham has a committee appointed by the Board of Selectmen, and there is a BOS liaison to our committee; six other towns have freestanding civic groups; the eight remaining towns have no summer residents’ representation.
17. We proposed that summer residents be solicited for full membership in certain town non-regulatory committees that deal with matters of special concern to seasonal residents.
There has also been discussion of extending summer residents membership in all non-regulatory committees. For the time being, we propose membership in the following--
- Public Ceremonies
- Underground Wires
- Traffic Study
- Parks & Rec
- Waterways
- Bikeway
FINALLY
We live in a town that is extraordinarily well led, well managed, well administered, with offices that are efficient and courteous and helpful.
For summer residents, Chatham is indeed a “second home community,” and those of us fortunate enough to have a home here have chosen well, as Hugh Moulton said in his Chatham Scorecard presentation at 2008 Summer Town Meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Donald Edge Chairman 2009 At-Large Committee Member*
Jill MacDonald Vice-Chairman 2009 Chairman*
Peter Tarrant Treasurer
Arnold Trebach Secretary
Kathy Abib 2009 Secretary
Bob Champlin 2009 Treasurer
Kay Flynn
Kathy Malfa 2009 Vice-Chairman
William McGagh (Associate)
Hugh Moulton
Nell Pinckert
Philip Richardson
Bob Young (Associate)
Len Sussman Board of Selectmen 2009 Liaison
*assuming BOS reappointment
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