TOWN OF PROVINCETOWN - BOARD OF SELECTMEN

SPECIAL MEETING – PUBLIC HEARINGS– MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2008

JUDGE WELSH ROOM

Chairman Michele Couture convened the meeting at 6 PM noting the following Board of Selectmen attending: Michele Couture, Elaine Anderson, Austin Knight, David Bedard

Excused Absence: Mary-Jo Avellar

Other attendees: Town Manager Sharon Lynn, Assistant Town Manager David Gardner

Recorder: Vernon G. Porter

The following are meeting minutes, in brief:

1. PUBLIC HEARING

Curb Cut: Pilgrim Bark Park – Route 6 Shank Painter Road

Chairman Couture read the Public Hearing notice.

Public Comments in Favor

Kim Cromwell – in favor of the application.

Candace Nagle - representing the Board – it was unanimous to have the curb cut.

Public Comments in Opposition - None

Board of Selectmen Comments

Glen Cannon from the Cape Cod Commission did assessment – likes entrance/exit of Route 6.

MOTION: Move that the Board of Selectmen vote, pursuant to MGL C. 11, § 6-2, to approve the request of Felco, Inc. on behalf of the Provincetown Dog Park Association Inc., to establish an approximate 24-foot driveway for access to the proposed dog park at the property located at the Southwest corner of Route 6 and Shank Painter Road (Assessor’s Map 8-1), Provincetown, MA 02657 (Res 3 Zone); And further to request that a certified plot plan be provided showing the actual location of the proposed curb cut.

Motion by: Dave Bedard Seconded by: Elaine Anderson Yea 4 Nay 0

1B DOG PARK – SHANK PAINTER ROAD AND ROUTE 6

Pilgrim Bark Park Use Agreement

MOTION: Move that the Board of Selectmen vote to continue this item until Monday, July 14, 2008

Motion by: Austin Knight Seconded by: Elaine Anderson Yea 4 Nay 0

Chairman Couture confirmed that there will be trash pick-up.

Water – infrastructure cost will be paid by the Dog Park Association, and a water meter will be put in place. Administrative costs are to be determined.

Provincetown Dog Park Association will provide their own Liability Insurance.

License Agreement – is quickest way to get thing going. Things need to be spelled out with a little more clarity. The Town Manager and Dog Park Association will work the agreement out and move forward as soon as possible.

For the Board of Selectmen’s next meeting on July 14^th, we need to have the following: 1) use agreement, 2) site plan, 3) final cost from DPW, 4) point people in place.

2. PUBLIC HEARING

Use of Temporary Trailers – Jerome Smith Parking Lot.

Chairman Couture read the public hearing notice.

Public Comments in Favor

Barbara Rushmore - In favor of the trailor.

Mary DeRocco – Jerome Smith Neighborhood Association - Would like to see some mature planning as a buffer for the neighborhood.

George Bryant - Would avoid using the school property under all means. Consider approaching the Cape Cod National Seashore to build a building in the Highland area for less than $800K. We have to think regionally. Suggest using the old Fire Station for the Town Clerk and Assessors office.

Public Comments in Opposition

Steve Roderick - Explore all of the local taxpayer’s space first before going to trailers. Are there people who can work from home? Utilize regional services. If we are going to spend, then spend money on our own town buildings and rehab them so they can be used in the future by the town. Also too bad we cannot utilize the school. Doesn’t seem like there is a lot of support for trailers, as of yet, in the community.

Rhee Gold – Jerome Smith Road - We were promised that there would be a barrier between our property and the parking lot. This has not happened, and I feel completely frustrated. I’m nervous that it is going to be longer than two years. I don’t have the peace that I bought my home for.

Astrid Berg - Suggest that we use town owned buildings. This is not the time to be spending money on a temporary location.

Marcene Marcoux - Don’t agree with Chairman’s procedure on running this meeting. Does not agree with use of temporary trailers, and does not think it is the best option for town employees. Should be utilizing our town owned buildings, especially the Freeman Building; and what we do to the buildings would enhance them. We don’t need new furniture; you can use the old furniture. We have wonderful buildings and we should use them. I think the trailers will cost a lot more than predicted, and I think the use of the Rec. Department would cost a lot less than $400K. You also have wheelchair accessibility.

Clarence Walker - If you spend money on trailers, you will get absolutely no value added to the town. Spend the money on existing real estate, and add to the value of our town’s own property. I propose you rethink the analysis and come up with a compromise... don’t buy the trailer. buy the house.

Peter Grasso – School Committee Member and part of the Transition Committee - Point of clarification -- Using town buildings was the first thing we looked at. We toured all town owned buildings, and looked at the cost to rehab these buildings. If you want the numbers, see the Building Inspector. It will cost a lot more to rehab town owned buildings than it would be to use the trailers. Yes, it would be an asset to rehab town owned buildings, but it would end up being hundreds of thousands of dollars more … that was the first thing we thought of.

Michele Couture – Thank you for that clarification Mr. Grasso.

Board of Selectmen Comments

Michele Couture - The reason that we have Public Hearings is so that we can receive not only public comments, but it is also for the purpose of educating the public. More than anything this is an incredibly large project that is going to take a lot of time to develop in terms of the temporary space that we are going to need, and the offices have to be relocated someplace. We’re looking for the best possible ways, and this is the one we have decided is the best most cost effective, and that is what we are putting out to the public. So, the purpose of the public hearing obviously is to take in public comments. Public Hearings are set up in a certain procedure, and it is at the Chair’s discretion as to the order those public comments will be received. They are meant to be as fair as possible, whether from left to right or from right to left, it is at the Chair’s discretion.

Austin Knight

Thanks to everyone for coming. One thing that has been left of this out conversation tonight is the time frame that Town Hall is closing. Reality is that we have been told by the Engineers and Building Inspectors that we have to be out of town hall by November. As Mr. Grasso mentioned, it would cost thousands of dollars more to rehab town owned buildings. We are talking about approximately 8600 square feet of space to house everyone, plus parking, plus not taking away from parking revenues. We have talked with private people in town, and they want you to retrofit their building and it’s costly to the town. The bids are due to go out the 2^nd week of July so they can be returned in a timely manner. Cost of this project is funded through the 2005 Town Article.

Elaine Anderson

I was getting excited for awhile about the Freeman Building until I realized that there was no parking. I mentioned this before, several meetings ago; that the most efficient use of space for the continued business of the town seems to be to keep the 30 employees that presently work in three or four departments, in this building as close together as possible. I wish we could look toward our town owned buildings. I wish that it wouldn’t have a time line of four to six months, or a price tag rather extreme. The lease costs are doable. I think it makes sense to keep our town government together, along with parking and accessibility. There are a lot of reasons why I think that the modulars may be of more efficient use to continue town business, and we are not sure of the total bottom line. I’ve heard that from many of you, and I agree. I think we are still looking for those figures, and estimates are just that – estimates. I think we just need to progress and keep our business able to function as best we can.

David Bedard - I love the public hearing process, and thank you all for coming this evening and sharing your thoughts on this. There have been a lot of great ideas discussed. I’m not totally sure that I love the idea of temporary trailers yet. I’m not really on board with the whole idea yet. There are a lot of details to it that everyone seems to be in favor of it but I still have a lot of questions about it, which I am sure I am going to be having answered in the near future. Now we have less footage (7200 sq ft), with two less trailers for an estimated cost of $415,701. We are also taking our old furnishing with us. Also, I think the Jerome Smith Association should have a buffer plantings whether we do the transition or not.

Michele Couture - My first thought when this came before us, was Mary DeRocco and I can assure you that I will do whatever possible to make sure that you are impacted as little as possible. Also, we do need to have a proper buffer, and when we do make use of that particular parking lot, that the neighbors will be protected sound wise. If we can manage it, you will have more sound protection than you have had in the last couple of years.

I would like to see, from the staff as we move forward on this, is a fact sheet printed up and available in town hall, for all residents that explains everything. This should be made available as soon as possible and updated on a regular basis.

Dominic Rosati (Parking Administrator) – Alternative parking – The third lot at Grace Hall Parking lot is available for Motor Coaches. Third lot has 104 spaces. . So there would not be any loss of revenue during April, May, June, September and October. Also there is a lot that will accommodate the campers at the 4^th lot for the winter.

Michele Couture - School Superintendent Jessica Waugh is here this evening along with Mr. Grasso from the School Committee and they have done a wonderful job, they have been very helpful, and will be helping us by storing our town archives free of charge, which is immensely important.

Timeline - Architects will proceed with cost estimates, and construction documents, and the process will be put out to bid by October 1^st. They need a 3 month process for structural repairs.

Orleans, Eastham, and Truro have gone through this process. Trailers seem to be the way to go and the most cost effective.

David Bedard - Selectman Anderson and I took a tour of the School with Superintendent Waugh last Thursday. It was a very extensive tour, and we were there almost three hours. We had a lot of questions, and she gave us a lot of information. The cost of using the schools would be the same as using the trailers, and the disruption to the school system, which is struggling to increase enrollment, would be far more detrimental to the town than, to actually use the trailers.

Michele Couture

To Sharon Lynn – when we get estimates, would you have them include what the cost would be for the barrier for the Jerome Smith Lot, and have it as part of the plan.

Sharon Lynn - I would like to make a correction. I initially said I thought we needed to be out at the beginning of hurricane season. The hurricane season is obviously ending in November but the original letter from the structural engineering and architect was related to high winds and the end of the tourist season in 2008. So, we chose November before the holiday season and the winter set in.

Michele Couture – I would ask that in another five weeks that we have another Public Hearing, or as need, and I would look for you (Town Manager) to guide us in that direction. If we have better or newer information coming in, then maybe we can have another public hearing. I think we are going to have to do a lot of education and outreach for this project. We need to have as many Public Hearings leading up to this relocation as possible.

Austin Knight – Put a link on our town hall website just for the town hall project.

Sharon Lynn – I would like to comment, and Mr. Grasso has said it as well, but we have been looking at town owned buildings since our first meeting back in the early part of May, starting out with the tour of the school and the other town owned buildings. I did have an office in the Freeman Street Building as of a month ago on the first floor, but when we looked at estimates for changing and retrofitting the area, not to make it anything other than a viable alternative for the Town Manager, Assistant Town Manager, Clerks, Secretaries and part of the Finance Department, and then moving the Dept. of Community Development over to the Community Center, and also utilizing some of the offices on the 2^nd floor of the Community Center, they were all utilized and all planned. Then the cost estimate for retrofitting the building and actually looking into ailments of the buildings, and why they just can’t move in there in a weekend period or even a months time period, there are data and communication concerns. The Community Center needs a new furnace. Handicapped accessibility would need to be improved there; the regular entrance is not a viable option for the public to enter; we had issues with parking there, although there is some parking. Freeman Street does not have any parking.

The School came forward at the very beginning for the use of meeting space as, we did in April for Town Meeting, and continues to come forward with meeting space. Mr. Grosso and Ms. Waugh are at every meeting we have for the Transition Committee which meets every Monday, and have offered up, have transformed, and have gone back, and we’ve taken other tours there. Offered today enough space for all of our archival records (and not just some of them), and meetings. Grace Gouveia is tapped out. We don’t have any more room at Grace Gouveia. We can have meetings there in the evening hours. We decided that the Tourism Director would best be served in the first floor of Freeman Street. PTV was relocated to Freeman Street in order to save Provincetown $12,000 a year in rental at Whaler’s Wharf, and they made a great space for themselves and are very happy there. The School offered to house PTV, but it could not work because of public entrance, and the fact that the public enters PTV for media relations that they have and projects that they have there. Yet, it was offered by the School. All of these options were considered when it came down to an estimate of cost to retrofit the building, and the timeline that was needed to get into there by November. This is where we came to the realization that we have the Jerome Smith Lot, we could utilize that. Mr. Rosati and I went to different locations in Grace Hall, and figured out where the buses and campers could go, as you’ve heard. We did look at privately owned spaces that would need to be retrofitted, and the cost would need to be born by the town, and it was not sufficient space, and turned out to be less space than what we thought it would be in one particular space that we looked at. So, we have had different options available to us all through this time, and now we need to make a decision and move forward with that so the employees here can be safe, and we can have a plan to move by that timeline in November.

The artwork in town hall will be stored in the 2^nd floor of the Freeman Street Building. The Chairman of the Art Commission and the Art Commission itself (when I met them at their recent meeting) said that that’s a location that they were hoping to have several years ago, and they are very happy with that location. We need to work on a security system for that building, and do some minor retrofitting of the second floor to make that space secure because it is an open area. We will do some partition walls. it won’t take long, and it will not be costly.

Elaine Anderson - It is an extremely powerful process to have the public speak with us and give us ideas, and to have the opportunity to explain the amount of work that has gone into the analysis of each of these ideas. I also agree that the buffer at the Jerome Smith Lot would be an outstanding gesture in good faith on both sides.

Motion to adjourn by Austin Knight at 7:49 PM.

Minutes transcribed for approval by: Vernon G. Porter, Secretary to Board of Selectmen

July 3, 2008