Town of Chatham, MA - Selectmen's Meeting Minutes 2/12/08

Mr. Coleman Yeaw asked the Board of Selectmen to reconsider their vote to file a Notice of Intent with the Conservation Commission to allow vehicles on South Beach. He noted there are property line issues, National Seashore permits and other possible obstacles to this use.

Ms. Antigone Malita, Manager for New England Pizza, attended this meeting to ask the Board of Selectmen to allow her business to close from February 14 through March 16, 2008. Ms. Connors moved the Board of Selectmen vote to grant the request. Mrs. Bohman seconded the motion and the Board of Selectmen voted unanimously in favor.

Mr. Whitcomb referred to a memo from Finance Director Jennifer Petit regarding the Cable License Agreement Renewal. Ms. Petit’s memo explains, in brief, the charge in leading a portion of the negotiations and the Cable Advisory Committee’s vital participation. The Cable Advisory Committee currently has two members appointed to a seven member committee and therefore cannot meet since they cannot convene a quorum. Mr. Summers moved the Board of Selectmen reduce the membership of the Cable Advisory Committee to three. Mrs. Bohman seconded the motion and the Board of Selectmen voted unanimously in favor.

Mr. Richard Stenberg, Chairman of the Human Services Committee, attended this meeting. Mr. Stenberg made two changes to his written report. He noted there are sixteen agencies as opposed to seventeen in the report. He also noted his fellow member on the Committee is named William Browne.

In 2007 the Committee met with all of the agencies to discuss the services available and how they might coordinate with each other. The meeting was taped and will air on Channel 18 to inform the public of the services that are available.

In response to Mr. Whitcomb’s question of how the Board of Selectmen can support the Committee, Mr. Stenberg said he will provide the Board with a copy of a regional study of child care. The Committee hopes to study the need and try to develop plans for partnerships between the Town and the business community.

Director of the Council on Aging Ellen Ford attended this meeting. She reported the Council continues it mission to provide services to Chatham’s senior population. The Council is supported by the Council on Aging Board of Directors, the Friends of the Council on Aging, staff and many volunteers. Ms. Ford said government statistics show an increasing rate of isolation and depression among seniors and a goal of all the Councils in the State is to provide outreach. The Council has two vans for transportation for seniors for visits to the council and to allow seniors to shop, meet appointments and other needs they may have.

The very successful computer classes is the largest program of its kind on the Cape. Health and reflexology and massage are just a sampling of programs centered around health issues.

Mrs. Bohman said she took a computer class recently and observed the building is very busy with participants of the various services offered. Mrs. Bohman supports the concept of an adult day care facility. She also said she feels the outreach is important because loneliness and depression leads to malnutrition.

Ms. Lee Fuller addressed the Board of Selectmen to ask them to place a nonbinding ballot question on the Spring election ballot. The petition seeks to call upon our Congressional representatives to vote only for funding a withdrawal of United States military troops from Iraq.

Mr. Summers said, although he shares the sentiment of the petitioners, he does not think it is wise or responsible to withdraw from Iraq abruptly. There is a lot the United States will have to do before we leave Iraq.

Mr. Bergstrom, Mr. Whitcomb and Mrs. Bohman felt the question will give the Town a sense of what the community feels about the issue. Ms. Connors said she was uncomfortable with the wording of the ballot question and its limitations. The Board voted three in favor of placing the question on the ballot and two opposed (Ms. Connors and Mr. Summers). The motion carried.

Mr. Donald Poyant, a member of the PD/Annex Design Review Task Force, addressed the Board of Selectmen to go over the budgetary changes for the project based on the new design. He noted $700,000 has been added to the project because of escalation costs as the result of delaying the project. He explained the Task Force has compared the new estimates with the original figures that were recast to fully reflect the cost comparisons. He said a generator was added to the Annex building. The disposal for unsuitable material was much more than the original estimate since more information was available. This number is considered to be very conservative and will be more accurate in the next phase of the project when more data is available.

The costs for winter conditions were doubled because two buildings will have to be wrapped and heated as opposed to the one building design. He also noted that wherever cost escalations were calculated contingencies were affected and increased because they are based on percentages of the total costs.

The temporary relocation is also an additional cost, but the Task Force sincerely felt that the project will take less time for completion with a clear site and, as a result, save money on the overall project.

There was some discussion concerning the economy and why the prices haven’t fallen. Mr. Poyant said the Town needs to have a level of trust in the professional estimates and, until the bids come in, the definitive figures are unknown.

Ms. Connors moved the Board of Selectmen vote to accept the final design for the project as recommended by the PD/Annex Design Review Task Force. Mrs. Bohman seconded the motion.

Ms. Connors moved the Board of Selectmen place this Article on the Annual Town Meeting Warrant. Mrs. Bohman seconded the motion and the Board of Selectmen voted unanimously in favor.

Ms. Connors moved the Board of Selectmen recommend approval of this Article to the Town Meeting. Mrs. Bohman seconded the motion and the Board of Selectmen voted four in favor, one opposed (Mr. Summers).

Article 15 is an for the supplemental appropriation for additional monies for the project. Mr. Bergstrom moved the Board of Selectmen place this Article on the Annual Town Meeting Warrant. Mr. Connors seconded the motion and the Board of Selectmen voted unanimously in favor.

Ms. Connors moved the Board of Selectmen vote to place the debt exclusion question for Article 15 on the Annual Town Election ballot. Mrs. Bohman seconded the motion and the Board of Selectmen voted unanimously in favor.

Article 16 asks the voters to appropriate an additional $267,000 to the project costs for alternates/additions to the PD/Annex design. Mr. Poyant explained that during their deliberations, the Task Force added items that had been previously cut from the original design. The Task Force feels it would be reasonable and prudent to add them at this time. He also told the Board this amount was cut from a list of alternatives that originally totaled over one million dollars.

Mr. Bergstrom asked why these items were in a separate Article. Mr. Hinchey explained this was separated to allow the voters to see the comparison of the original costs vs. the new design costs without obscuring the figures.

Ms. Connors moved the Board of Selectmen place this Article on the Annual Town Meeting Warrant. Mrs. Bohman seconded the motion and the Board of Selectmen voted unanimously in favor.

Mr. Whitcomb said he attended the meetings were these items were deliberated and, although the Task Force did not want to skew the comparison figures, they feel the additions would be a benefit and would be more costly to do at a later time.

Mr. Summers said if the staff was comfortable taking these items out of the original design the Task Force should be also. He said it was not a directive to the Task Force to look at alternatives.

Mr. Eric Whiteley, also a member of the Task Force, said it would be more cost effective to add these items at this time. Mr. Hinchey noted these items are needed and would have been placed in the Capital Plan for funding at another time. Mr. Whiteley also noted the storage for the Police Station is not incidental storage but items that need to be available to them at the station.

Harbormaster Stuart Smith attended this meeting to present the Board of Selectmen with proposed changes to the Mooring Regulations, Selectmen’s Fish Pier Regulations, Harbormaster’s Fish Pier Regulations and Town Landing Regulations for Town Docks, Piers, Wharves and Bulkheads.

Mr. Smith first reviewed the draft for Qualified Mooring Inspectors and Mooring Inspection Guidelines. These are to be added to the Mooring Regulations. Mr. Smith noted none of the changes described in these changes are related to the proposed Waterways Mooring Bylaws that are under consideration by the Waterways Advisory Committee. Mr. Bergstrom asked if the Waterways Advisory Committee has reviewed these changes. Mr. Summers said he was at the meeting of the Waterways when this was discussed and this product was a result of good discussion and compromise.

Mr. Smith told the Board of Selectmen the Aunt Lydia’s Cove Committee has been reviewing the Fish Pier Rules and Regulations and have made some changes, most notably definitions to clarify the meanings. Because of the changes in use of the Pier, other types of vessels for hire such as sport fishing boats and tour boats have been added to the definitions.

Persons unloading finfish will be required to obtain a groundfish offloading permit except those persons unloading to the lease holders. Mr. Smith explained this will eliminate the need to administer the collection of 25 cents per box, which is a time consuming and unproductive practice.

Mr. Smith explained the South jog float used to be seasonal, but since it is now concrete and is used year round, provisions have been added to the regulations under Section 1007 “Use of floating docks.”

There is a provision being added to allow commercial fishing vessels who have had a valid docking permit for a period not less than five consecutive years to transfer or obtain a party boat permit with the permission of the Harbormaster. This compensates for the changes in use at the pier and allows someone with seniority to continue to use the pier without having to go on a waiting list.

Ms. Connors asked if the $300 fee is equivalent to what was previously paid at 25cents per box over the year. Mr. Smith said that would depend on the amount of work each individual does. Some will be paying more, but the system now being used is antiquated and difficult to administrate.

There was discussion about charging non-residents a higher fee. Mr. Smith said he has been trying to research the history of the fees for resident vs. nonresident. He will discuss this with the Aunt Lydia’s Cove Committee. It was noted twenty-two of the eighty docking permits are issued to nonresidents. Traditionally the nonresidents fees were higher but Mr. Smith said he would like to know why that changed. He suggested the nonresidents pay more because they pay $3 per foot in addition to fees to the lease holders.

Mr. Smith said minor changes were made to the Regulations because the fish pier can now accommodate larger boats and a clarification was made to the violations section to include the words “and subsequent offenses.”

Mr. Smith explained that sometimes people display dangerous behavior at the Mitchell River Drawbridge but the Town has no authority to encourage people to conform to requests from the staff or Police.

He asked the Board of Selectmen to add an Article to the Annual Town Meeting adopting regulations for the Bridge to make certain conditions enforceable and safer for users.

Mrs. Bohman moved the Board of Selectmen place a general bylaw amendment, Section 208-25 Article on the Annual Town Meeting Warrant. Mr. Bergstrom seconded the motion and the Board of Selectmen voted unanimously in favor.

Ms. Connors moved the Board of Selectmen recommend approval of this Article to the Town Meeting. Mr. Bergstrom seconded the motion and the Board of Selectmen voted unanimously in favor.

Ms. Connors moved the Board of Selectmen vote to eliminate Paragraph 3 of the Board of Selectmen Fish Pier Rules and Regulations and allow renumbering of Paragraph 4 to 3. Mr. Bergstrom seconded the motion and the Board of Selectmen voted unanimously in favor.

Mrs. Bohman referred to a legal notice, from private property owners, warning any persons with dinghies on their private property should come to claim them or they will be removed by the owners and disposed of. Mr. Smith told the Board this is becoming more and more of a problem for the fishermen. He said he would go down to the property and see if he recognized any of the dinghies and alert the owners. He also said he would go to the property after the deadline and any dinghies could be stored until the owners could be found.