News Flash

Administration

• Meetings: I met with Earl Hinton to discuss the process and next steps regarding our DEI efforts. I met with Bart Mitchell, President and CEO of The Community Builders to discuss their interest in 3 Jerome Smith Road, as well as Province Landings, which they developed. I also met with Jay Coburn of Community Development Partnership to discuss Harbor Hill and other projects in town.
• Police Station Project: The Building Committee met last week to continue advancing plans for a new Police Station. 

Building

• 419 Commercial Street: The stabilizing along the perimeter of the existing foundation adjacent to the buildings on the east and west and along Commercial Street has begun. The method is the use of helical piles drilled into the subsurface strata and laterally restrained with an I-beam. There has been some disruption to the Chapter 91 access path between 421 and 419 Commercial Street, however, it remains available to pedestrians.
• 53 Commercial Street: The seawall/bulkhead work is concluding and the process of constructing the foundation for the bay ward building is scheduled to commence mid-week.  This first building will be a 3-bedroom single family home.

Harbormaster

• Harbormaster Boats: Beginning a grant request process for replacing the land-side pump for pumping out the pump out boat.
• Seasonal Assistant Harbormasters: Requesting CPR recertification training through Fire Department for pier staff.

Housing 

• Ownership Units: 6 Sandy Hill Lane #11 closed on June 29^th. 36 Nelson Unit #3 [1 bedroom, 1 bath, $178,500, as part of the inclusionary zoning development at 30 Shank Painter, lottery was held 5/17/21, with deed restriction placed on 7/12/21 Select Board agenda, and closing potentially on 7/16/21. I anticipate one-bedroom unit at 30 Shank Painter Rd. to become available for outreach this summer.
• VFW Development: Select Board approved moving forward with RFP on 5/24/21, RFP was issued, several developers and other potential team members attended the site visit on 6/24/21, proposals are due by 7/29/21.
• Community Housing Resource: CHR is accepting pre-applications for a new combined waitlist for all existing CHR properties [seven properties in Provincetown, Truro and Wellfleet; this does not include non-CHR properties]. Pre-applications are due by August 16^th to be followed by a lottery and new waitlist. This has been several years in the making; previously applicants had to submit separate applications for each property and each property maintained its own waitlist. Pre-existing waitlists have now expired, so people must re-apply to be part of this new waitlist.
• Harbor Hill: The complex continues to be at 100% full occupancy. Property Management continues to work on upgrades and CIP planning with the assistance of staff including the public works department. Challenges to repairs and landscaping are being experienced in conjunction with lack of staff for businesses in the region.

Human Resources

• Open Year-Round Positions: Currently the Town is seeking a Town Treasurer and On-Call Secretaries
• Open Seasonal Positions: Various Seasonal Positions for the 2021 Season: DPW Highway Dept. Laborer, DPW Transfer Station/Sanitation Laborer, DPW Barrels & Grounds Attendants, DPW Third Barrel Pickup Attendants, DPW Comfort Station Attendants, DPW Beautification Maintenance Staff, DPW Groundskeeper Maintenance Staff, DPW Floating Custodian, Parking Lot Booth Attendants, Community Ambassadors/Greeters, PPPC Deck Safety Crew Patrol Staff, PPPC Assistant Harbormasters, PPPC Night Watchperson- Deck Safety Crew Patrol, and PPPC Operations Staff.
• Applications and job descriptions for all positions can be found on the Town’s website. 

Library

• In-person Programming: The Library will resume in-person programming on Thursday, August 5 at 6pm with “Lost and Found: Time, Tide, and Treasures,” a presentation by Amy Heller and Gail Browne about their new book of the same title.
• Library Open to the Public: Since June 1, the Library has been open to public Monday-Friday 10am-4pm and Saturday 1pm-5pm and has welcomed an average of 300 people a day. Library staff continues to be available by phone and online during all regular library hours (7 days a week) to offer reader’s advisory, assistance with electronic resources assistance, and help answering questions and finding answers. Wireless printing is also available. Streetside pick-up of circulating library materials continues. Items may be requested through clamsnet.org, by calling 487-7094, or emailing pplstreetside@gmail.com. The Library intends to be open to the public for the usual 52 hours beginning Monday, August 2, 2021. 
• Library Greeter: The Library is thrilled to have Paul aka The Pink Lady as a greeter this summer. His welcoming and fun presence is ensuring tourists are finding the restrooms and boat without delay and he is spreading good vibes as well.  

Licensing

• Licenses: Helping late applicants renew licenses. 
• Licensing Board: Have an opening for a regular member and an alternate member.
• Licensing Regulations: Reviewing regulations for updates/amendments.

MacMillan Pier

• Pier Activity: The Pier was busy over the 4^th of July weekend despite the weather. Excursion and sightseeing tours saw a slight reduction in passengers on Saturday and Sunday. The Dolphin Fleet is now up to three vessels as of July 4^th and will not be running their fourth vessel this year due to staff shortages.  
• Ferry Services: Over the holiday weekend, Bay State Cruises and Boston Harbor City Cruises (BHCC) canceled their ferry services on Friday afternoon and all-day Saturday due to extreme weather conditions and ran charters busses down from Boston.   
• Santa Maria: The visiting Historic vessel the Santa Maria provided plenty of educational tours to sightseers and tourists while here. The turnout was great. They will be returning at the end of July for their originally scheduled visit
• Harbor Activity: The crane and barge out by the wave attenuator will be leaving this week.  

MIS

• Cybersecurity: The MIS Department’s effort to improve the Town’s cybersecurity posture is ongoing. We are participating in state-wide awareness program that is being sponsored by the Commonwealth’s Executive Office of Technology Services and Security (EOTSS). We have been introduced to two assignments, as well as multiple simulated phishing campaigns. Awareness is the first line of defense in mitigating the risk of cyber attacks.
• Desktop Replacements: MIS is nearing the end of the process of cycling out a portion of our desktop fleet. We do this every spring; instead of replacing all desktops at once, we stagger it over three years. Each spring/early summer, one-third of the fleet gets replaced. This ensures that desktops are no older than three years, which in turn gives staff access to the most recent technology. We are also deploying new webcams for desktop users due to the increased demand for videoconferencing.

Planning

• Local Comprehensive Planning Committee: Drafting the Capital Facilities section of the plan.
• Historic Preservation: The Town Planner is commencing data collection for draft Historic District architectural design guidelines.
• Street Numbering Standards: The Town Planner is coordinating with the Assistant Town Manager, Town Clerk, MIS Analyst/GIS Specialist, and Assessor to develop standard procedures for numbering properties, buildings and units. 

Project Administration/Transportation

• Annual Traffic Hearing:  The Annual Traffic Hearing will be held on Monday, November 1, 2021 at 5pm. Proposal forms must be returned to the Select Board’s office by end of business day on Tuesday, September 28^th, and can be found on the Town of Provincetown’s Parking Department webpage at https://www.provincetown-ma.gov/81/Parking.
• Street Sweeping Reminder: Street Sweeping began on Tuesday, June 1^st.  Parking is prohibited in street sweeping zones from 9am until 11am.  For additional information, including the street sweeper schedule, please check the Town of Provincetown’s Parking Department Street Sweeping information page: https://www.provincetown-ma.gov/1022/Street-Sweeping.

Public Works

• Seasonal Routine: DPW enters a period of routine tasks associated with the peak season. Given the large influx of visitors, DPW crews are occupied cleaning the streets, picking up trash, fixing signs, maintaining buildings and responding to frequent calls for service from residents and business owners.  
• Ryder Street Outfall: The Town of Provincetown unfortunately was not selected for FEMA funding through the Building Resilient Infrastructure Communities (BRIC) grant program. Our application targeted relocating the outfall pipe and constructing a sand dune at Ryder Street Beach. The Town will now seek other grant opportunities now that matching funds were approved at Town Meeting.
• Wastewater Independence Day Flow:

School

• The school year came to a wonderful close with student talent performances, our International Baccalaureate World Showcase, Field Day with the Pamet Circus, an in-person promotion, participation at Juneteenth Provincetown and a fond farewell to Principal Tim Reynolds.  The staff performed above and beyond every step of the way this year and we are grateful to the community for their support during the difficult phases of the pandemic.  Special thanks to Morgan Clark for her guidance when Covid hit our classrooms, grant solicitation, and for launching pool testing. Also to Chief Jim Golden for his partnership in advocating and procuring resources for families and PPE for staff in the early days of the pandemic.  Provincetown showed its colors as a community during the remarkable challenge of COVID.
• While vaccinations are now available for our students 12 and over, we anxiously await the clearance for our younger students. In the meantime, we will adhere to State guidelines for our students in this age group.
• We honored  two staff members for 'Above and Beyond' with plaques.  Chef Andrew Bernard ensured that every child and family was fed throughout the pandemic including personal delivery to isolated families. Nurse Mary Beth Maloney worked seven days a week to communicate with families during classroom exposure and ran our weekly pool tests while administering rapid tests as needed.  Our School Committee also gets a shout-out for meeting almost weekly for a majority of the year to interpret state guidelines and policy.  
• The Toddler Room has re-opened and we have recently hired new staff after a long search.  We are running a summer program for our 3 year-olds and should explore funding year-round care for them in the year ahead.  In addition, our summer program for Pre-K through Grade 8 will be launched this week.  Thanks to grant funding we will be running a bus each day from Orleans to Provincetown to ensure all of our students have access to summer programming and our wonderful Recreation program.

Tourism

• New York Times:  To support filling open guest rooms during the summer months, ConranPR pitched a last-minute accommodations story to the New York Times. Provincetown received a mention “Check the websites of tourism and chamber of commerce offices in your target destination for local offers. The business association of Provincetown, Mass., at the tip of Cape Cod, for example, maintains a link with last-minute lodging deals, including some over the holiday.” https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/29/travel/Fourth-of-July-deals.html?referringSource=articleShare. 
• Municipal Equality Index: Each year the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) conducts a Municipal Equality Index (MEI) and the 2021 score card has been submitted to be reviewed and finalized by the HRC. The MEI examines how inclusive municipal laws, policies, and services are of LGBTQ people who live and work there. Selected cities, towns and states are rated based on non-discrimination laws, the municipality as an employer, municipal services, law enforcement and the city leadership's public position on equality, and since Provincetown has been so far ahead of the rest in these behaviors we did not have many of the policies required in place which resulted in scores as low as 59 out of 100. Nonetheless, the policies must be in place to receive a good score and receiving a low score makes Provincetown look bad in the eyes of the general public and our visitors. And to keep it current, each year the bar is raised and new policies are added to the MEI. The image of the Town is extremely important to tourism and following poor press about receiving the low scores, the Director of Tourism was made responsible for working closely with HRC on the MEI to improve the score. Since 2016 we have scored 100%.  A big thank you for setting and maintaining the policies needed goes to the Select Board, Town Administration, Police Department, Public Works, Public Library, Public Schools and Recreation.
• Visitor Services Board Openings: There have been two recent resignations from the VSB. The openings are at large seats and will be filled following the Select Board’s policy. All interested parties need to apply by completing and submitting an online application with the Town Clerk. 

Town Clerk 

• Board Vacancies: There are 24 current vacancies/expired seats and 4 seats whose appointments are expiring by the end of July 2021.  A list of current board vacancies can be found at https://www.provincetown-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/812/Board-Vacancy-Report-PDF. Current board members who wish to be reappointed to their expired seats need to submit a new board application online to be considered for reappointment.   Please fill out the simple application found here: https://provincetownma.viewpointcloud.com/categories/1074/record-types/1006552.   
• Services:  The Office of the Town Clerk continues to offer our services online including vital record requests (birth/death/marriage certificates), business certificates, dog licenses, public record requests, board & committee applications, and shellfish licenses.  The Office of the Town Clerk requires appointments to file marriage intentions. 
• Street Listing:  Be on the lookout for the second mailing of the annual street listing.   Folks who did not return their first copy should be on the lookout for the second mailing.  Please sign and return forms to the Office of the Town Clerk even if no changes are necessary.  If you wish to change your any aspects of your voter registration, please go to the Secretary of State’s website at https://www.sec.state.ma.us/ovr/ or come into the Office of the Town Clerk to fill out a form.