With a $55 million school renovation and addition project on the docket for taxpayers this spring, the Tisbury select board is tepid about adding positions.
At a lengthy meeting Tuesday night, select board members put off a decision on an assistant natural resources position that would split duties between the harbor and shellfish departments. Pitched by harbormaster John Crocker as a necessary position, especially in light of respected seasonal employee Will White leaving the agency, members of the select board initially reacted with a firm no.
Town finance director Jon Snyder said it’s not just the salary of additional positions, but the town must set aside $50,000 for benefits for anyone who works more than 20 hours and is eligible for healthcare.
“Once again, this is not the year to do it,” select board member Jeff Kristal said. “And I know no one really wants to hear that … I just don’t think the timing is right.”
Select board member Larry Gomez agreed. “I just don’t want these to affect the vote on the school,” he said, referring to the assistant natural resources position and a couple of others that are being requested from other departments.
But several people, including White, made impassioned pleas for the position. White said all of the maintenance of the boats falls to either the harbor department or they have to send them out to contractors at a great expense.
Becca El-Deiry, who was in the Zoom audience, said it’s a safety issue. She said a more experienced person is needed to help Crocker. “Boats are very dangerous. We have storms. We have fires,” she said.
Michael Baptiste, a member of the waterways committee, also discussed the need. “Tashmoo is growing. Someone has to be there all the time. Someone has to break up the rafting and they have to be experienced,” he said. “I get that you want to cut costs but this isn’t the place to do it.”
Pressed by board chair Jim Rogers about already having help in the busy season, Crocker said having qualified people is important. He pointed out that seasonal employees aren’t sent for training. “When you have part-time seasonal people, you can’t invest in them,” he said.
Kristal said while he is supportive of the need, he doesn’t think it’s been well thought out. He asked his fellow board members to delay any action on the proposed position for two weeks so he could meet with Crocker and discuss a strategy. The board supported that unanimously.
Meanwhile, a discussion with the planning board about the need for an assistant in that department took a strange turn. It seems the part-time position was approved several years ago and has never been filled.
Elaine Miller, planning board chair, said she was unaware of that position. After a lengthy discussion about the need to get planning board assistant Patricia Harris some help because of all the projects the department is taking on such as a master plan versus the financial burden of adding positions, the select board suggested Miller meet with personnel director Pamela Bennett to discuss how to fill the existing position.
A humbled Miller apologized and then pointed out that she was not the chair when the other position was approved. “I’m sorry for wasting your time,” she said. “We weren’t aware of that other aspect of it. We’ll put that together quickly and put it before you.”
The board discussed a third new position, this one a regional emergency management director. The town’s share, which the board ultimately approved to go on the town meeting warrant, would be $5,000.
Christina Colarusso, Tisbury’s emergency management director, said the pandemic has demonstrated the need for a regional emergency management director.
Kristal said it’s time the Island have a full-time emergency management director under the county with the costs shared based on the county formula rather than a set amount of $5,000 per town.
“We’re trying to crawl before we walk,” Colarusso said.
Snow much trouble
With a couple of recent winter storms dumping enough snow that it needed to be plowed and shoveled, it became clear to town officials that some property owners weren’t following a town regulation that dates back to 1885. That bylaw requires snow to be removed from sidewalks in front of the property or face a fine.
While an infraction faced just a $20 fine for more than a century, in 2011 fines were boosted to $50 for a first offense, $75 for second offense, and $100 for a third and subsequent offenses.
Building commissioner Ross Seavey, who is the zoning enforcement officer, said he intends to enforce the policy moving forward. He said he hopes to alert people to the bylaw, possibly through a notice that goes out with property tax bills (a suggestion made by Gomez during Tuesday’s meeting).
“I think the bylaw probably hasn’t been enforced and because we hadn’t had much snow, it was forgotten about,” Seavey said.
Rogers wanted the fines to be tied to property taxes, but the town’s attorney David Donesko said that would not be permissible.
While much of the discussion centered on some properties that are vacant in the offseason on Main Street, Seavey pointed out that it’s a town-wide bylaw and there are issues on other streets. “Franklin Street, a good portion of it is sidewalk, and right now it’s been very spotty. You have two houses and then a big patch of snow and two houses, which makes the sidewalk basically unusable,” he said.
Beach Road blues
In other business, the shared-use path project on Beach Road was once again a topic of conversation. Grande said the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has hinted at the town being asked to pay to move water and sewer lines that are in the way of the project.
The only thing the town has agreed to pay for is some decorative street lights they requested for the project, Grande said. Any other changes would require agreement from the town.
That prompted Gomez to say the town needs a “hammer” and Kristal to add that the town needs to “scream more” about the project. The failure of MassDOT’s engineers should not wind up costing the town money to fix.
“It’s the DOT that wants to move the pipes, not the town of Tisbury, and this is poor planning on their part and we’re going to be paying for it,” Kristal said.
“They didn’t do their homework and now they want us to pay,” Rogers added.
Grande pointed out there are other issues with the project. MassDOT has not yet fixed a portion of Beach Road that’s been compromised by recent storms, which he called a safety issue. Also, RM Packer has complained that the project is interfering with its business, which supplies fuel and other goods to the Island via barges, he said.
Grande said there’s a meeting with MassDOT upcoming, though he didn’t say when. Gomez suggested getting the Island’s legislative delegation involved.
Earlier in the meeting, the select board approved a truck sale license for Clarence “Trip” Barnes. Barnes has a legal agreement with the town to sell off some of his surplus trucks, but both COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of an updated license since January have conspired against him meeting the terms of that agreement, he said.
“Nobody wants to get it cleaned up more than I do,” Barnes said.
Kristal said the town should extend the license for a year and monitor the progress.
The board approved the license unanimously.
And this summer you’ll be able to take a two-hour educational boat tour and feast on some locally sourced oysters. Greg Martino, an Island aquaculturist and partner in Cottage City Oysters, is offering the tours from Owen Park Pier. The venture was unanimously approved by the select board.
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Is time right for new positions? - Martha's Vineyard Times
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