Provincetown Public Pier Corporation
Judge Welsh Hearing Room
November 16,
2006
4:00 p.m.
Members
attending: Kerry Adams, Lee Ash
(arr. 4:05 p.m.),
Leonard Clingham, George Hitchcock,
and Phil Tarvers.
Members
absent: none
Staff: Rex McKinsey
The
meeting was called to order promptly at 4:00 p.m.
Agenda:
Annual Hearing
for Public Comments:
No
one was in attendance for this portion of the meeting.
Special Agenda
Items
Discuss
upcoming items for Board of Selectmen (BoS) joint meeting.
December
11th will be the date of the joint meeting.
Rex
will present a recap of what has been done; a first quarter report and he may
have the audit of last year's book.
First quarter states what they did last summer. Rex said we also want to give them an idea
on where we think we are going.
Rex
continued, we also want to ask some questions on where they’d like us to go and
give them suggestions on where we’d like to go. He will also present information on the Estuary Grant. He will get the information on this grant on
November 30. Grants mean a revenue
stream to us. Rex has a question for
the BoS about boats on the beach and what the BoS wants to do about them. He also has thoughts about making the harbor
a no-drag area. Bay scallops are
starting to come back and if they get to a point where people come in and drag
for them, this will put an end to their come back. Rex would like to know what
kinds of questions any of you might have about the mooring regs and fees.
Lee
said that two things occurred to her.
There’s an opportunity to talk about the design flaws of the pier and to
continue the conversation that was started last time on the retail aspects of
the pier. Those are two prominent
things open for discussion.
Len
Clingham wondered how we can include the pier in the streetscape being planned
for Commercial Street and how we fit in with that. The secretary suggested any interested members in the streetscape
could attend a presentation planned for 6:30p on Tuesday, November 28th
at the FAWC.
Kerry
Adams suggest that another valid topic for the meeting would be to make
everyone aware of the things that are going on down at the pier, i.e., improved
lights, etc.
Rex will write something up for the group so that
they could look into the wastewater project. Len also wanted information on the wave attenuator and an
update on damage to the pier from the storm.
(Rex said the damage was minimal.)
He just lost a couple of pilings because of age. He’s making it into an emergency
request. When the floats from the
Whydah came up on our pier, they also broke two pilings. They were put in about 5 years ago. Rex is getting a grant to change the pilings
on the finger piers. The fixed finger
piers are old and we’re going after grants.
After the storm happened Rex found broken fender piles. They wear down at the bottom of the
pilings. They have since been cut up
and disposed of by the DPW. The damage
from bore worms is extensive and all the way through the core.
George H asked what criteria is needed to put these
in. He suggested asking David Guertin
to advise. There are between 150 and
200 of these pilings that are subject
to bore worms.
Phil
T. wants to see if this is a constant worry – and maybe when we install new
pilings they should have copper around the mud lines. Len wondered if we can salvage the pilings that are there? Lee asked if we can save the bottom
sections? Phil suggested that someone
should look at the contract and see just what it says. The former pier that this one replaced was
eaten away by worms and it was here for 30 years! The rest of the pilings under the pier are steel. George said, "Let’s see who is
responsible for it." Rex said
you’re looking at a lot of money per piling and it needs more
investigation. Phil says he thinks the
base should be put in concrete and because they are fender pilings, we are
limited in what we can do.
Phil
said, "We should be starting a testing program to see if this is what we
bought." This is a very important
issue. Lee says the BoS should be
notified. George would like someone
other than AGM to evaluate the problem since they were the company engaged to
do the work.
Rex
will try to get insurance coverage for the damage; he reported it to the
Whydah. Lee wants to know if Rex had
anything in writing regarding the gangway, etc.
Phil
said – obviously the concrete from our pier – gave way. Should there be some specs that we should
look at. What if a concrete gangway
gave way while people were going on a whale watch? George assured the group that people can’t sue a Town. Do we dictate to the float owners that these
gangways have to be secured in a way that we find acceptable? Lee said that we should have a set of
standards. Phil said if whale watch
trips start at 1:00 p.m., at 12:45p all the people are going down to the boats
at the same time and this would put a tremendous strain on any gangway.
Rex
felt that if the corporation specifies standards - then if anything fails - it
will be our fault. George suggested,
"Instead of that why don’t we get observations from the boat
owners?" Kerry said, "If you
do write a letter then you should suggest that they look into ways to secure
the entrances." Len doesn’t want
to make this our problem but he feels the safe way is to put the onus on the
boat owners.
Rex
suggested starting the letter by saying this has happened and we’d like to know
how your gangway is secured and how it is tested, etc.
Motion: Rex and John will collaborate and write a
letter to the boat owners.
Motion: Kerry Adams Seconded: Lee Ash
Vote: 5-0-0.
Discussion of Retail on the
Pier
George
said that in May they asked for an opinion of town counsel. George felt that this says we have to go
under the same Chapter 91 license. When Lee was chair there were subtenants who
had applied and we were trying to clarify to our tenants what people’s
responsibilities were. She doesn’t want
to recreate the wheel but just wants clarification. We’d get more information on a 10W but Phil thinks it’s 100
percent wrong.
Commercial
fishing has always been allowed. Len
wants this on the agenda for the next meeting and asked Rex to send out the
information as soon as he gets it
from the lawyer; Phil wants spec 5 and 6 attached as well.
George
would encourage us to start on a policy for businesses allowed on the
pier. Sandy Silva came in with a list
of things she might be interested in having for sale on the pier, i.e., ATM
machines, bottled water, theater tickets, etc.
We certainly have to have rules.
Kerry asked if there might be
something in chapter 91 to state what kinds of businesses can be allowed
on the pier? Chris Snow rattled Kerry’s
cage at the town meeting about shaved ice for sale on the pier. George said the whole thing started by
allowing people who had floats to sell related things on the pier i.e., caps,
shirts, etc.
Lee
asked, "Are we having a discussion on retail?" She continued stating that the other way to
think about retail and what’s allowed is in broader categories i.e., marine
related businesses which might be a place to start. She would argue that there would be quite a few marine related
services instead of us trying to
recreate Commercial St.
Len
said that if you start listing things you are always going to leave something
out. He’d rather listen to proposals
and make decisions on that. That’s his
way of looking at it…… he’d rather respond to each proposal. Phil asked, "How are we going to make
money?" We charge $500 a month if
anyone wants to go into a booth that’s already there. "Does anyone ever foresee that there may be a restaurant
down there?" "Can the
sewerage handle this? It would have to
be analyzed after a proposal is presented." Lee asked, "So how do we develop ways to make money,
especially if we give the booths over to our tenants." We can eliminate opportunities for the Pier
Corp to make money or could we bring in more revenue? Kerry said there should be a fee for those people who are
subletting. Kerry asked – as a
landlord do we want to make space for a restaurant or an art gallery - or
what? Do we become a landlord and put
up buildings and try to rent them? Phil
said - instead of having these booths – do we build the building and rent it –
or what – do we have room for it – and is it permitted? Phil says it doesn’t say anything about
commercial based on 1989.
George
wondered if we don’t have to discuss
the commercial? Phil said that if
someone wants to rent out their booth, we’ve almost set a precedent. Are we ceding control to the booth owners as
sub-renters? But the booth owners will
be here at our door in April and there were no objections before. George still
hammering away said, "When do we start working on our
policies
here?"
Lee
kept dwelling on fairness. Bring in booths
and rent tables on certain days from the pier for income. But something beyond that may be
flexible. People could rent them on
Saturdays; the proposal involved loads of conjecture. Len said one issue is that people have booths and what can they
do with it and do we get into encouraging proposals? - all these are separate issues. Len says they are related issues. There’s a lot more that can be done for the
pier than we are doing and we may be short changing ourselves.
Phil
said that one of the first areas of business would be in fish, lobsters,
etc. He was all for it and would love
to have fish that was brought in that very day. Not call it a fish market but a marketplace. Maybe we can entice someone else to do
it. You can make a lot of money just
filleting fish for an amount. Do we get
a dealer to make us an offer? We would
only need refrigeration and keep it out of the sun. George said it’s more than just a small booth and what about the
waste from cleaning the fish? Seagulls
were suggested as a means of handling the waste!
Len
suggested putting a notice in the paper asking for interested parties to
respond to the pier corp and then you’d get an idea of interest. If we just say marketplace – Len said we
have to make it more inclusive, i.e., seeking interesting ideas from
anyone. If we can establish that
there’s some interest then we can pursue licenses needed, etc. Phil cautioned that the fishermen are terrible
business people and for the good of the pier and the town, we should have a
meeting with them and encourage them.
We have a day boat fleet and that’s the best kind to have to deal
with.
A
fellow from the audience suggested a rotating marketplace and perhaps the
Banner could be talked into doing a bit of a story on this. Len's frustration is that we never do
anything and an article in the paper appears.
Phil suggested the possibility for a revenue stream from some kind of
promoter to hold concerts, dances, etc.
Would there be a place where the public can’t go beyond? Len said it’s a public space and we’re
looking for music for the pier. Is
anyone out there interested in this?
Our role is to look into possibilities…… Lee likes the word "rotating." Phil says we, as a board, have been charged
with getting income from the pier. Len
shares Phil’s frustration. George would
like to see it in a Boston paper and not only the local ones. There’s never a good proposal to encompass
income streams. Phil says that’s where
the money would be coming in. Kerry
needs to find out what it will take to put a building on the pier. George said that any proposal over $50K will
have to get to town meeting, so to build a building ourselves might be impossible.
Rex
said - regarding a restricted event - so if we can get a building out there and
then we can rent to a promoter. Rex
wants a rate structure for smaller events for weddings or reunions or
whatever. Doing something that would
include drinks, food, etc.; we just need to get people interested. Len says we have been discussing this since
he’s been on the board, harking back to his ad in the paper. Phil said, "We’re not fighting your
proposal, but if someone wanted to come in and have a lobster bake for ten
Saturdays how would we respond?"
There about seven or eight people on Cape Cod who would do this.
George
says he would like to have events but what does that get us? Rex said that we got a lot of good will from
allowing the pier to be used for charitable purposes. George said BUT how do we get paid? Kerry said why don’t we get an article in the paper like Len
suggested?
Motion: Instruct the staff to insert an ad in both
the Provincetown Banner and the Cape Cod Times soliciting proposals for
commercial ventures on MacMillan Pier, venues i.e., farmer's market, musicals,
clam bakes, and we'd like proposals submitted by ___________, 07.
Motion: Phil Tarvers Seconded: Kerry
Adams Vote: 5-0-0.
(Before
the ad is inserted, Rex will make a draft, send it out to everyone, and
encourage their feedback.)
Pier Manager
Report:
We
only have $300 from cruise ships. Len
wants to know why we don’t have more.
Rex said that he is working with the town and Bill Schneider and Rex
thinks it will be more valuable to pursue this avenue. Phil said he heard that the Town complained
to someone about sewerage dumping and then the cruise ships stopped
coming. Another "story" was
that restaurants refused to open early to accommodate them. Len said that people have to work
together. The Town is very deficient in
this area. Rex said he heard one of the
cruise ships went out of business. In
order to get them to come we have to give them free dockage and provide
entertainment, etc. Rex projected that
we need a 3 year relationship with cruise ships - and - after allowing them to
dock for free, then we can start charging them.
Lee
wanted to go over the budget and wants more detail about storm related
damages. Explanations on what is left
over from the last budget. M1 and M2
expenses – are these being reimbursed?
She felt that M2 is a high number.
She also wanted details on the pump out boat and the cost to have it
emptied. Eventually the amount is
refunded. Pier equipment purchases?
i.e., pressure washer, scaffold, etc.
Kerry asked – relative to vessels…..
some owed money and some were written off - the bad debts amounts and he
asked Rex, do you have a sense on what is outstanding in debts? Phil questioned transient non
commercial. Did we not project the 10W
to pay off the whole debt? There was a
lot of technical financial talk. Phil
then asked technical questions about the size of boats that the pier can
accommodate.
New Business:
Phil
wanted to know if there’s any way we can lighten Rex’s load so that he can
spend a lot more time on this pier. If
this pier is going to become financially viable to the Town – we need either a
marketing person – or facility event coordinator. Someone who would be sitting here along with Rex and we’d like to
think about it and Phil would like to see it on the agenda for the next meeting. Louise has been on for over 6 months and Rex
has had a lot taken off his plate. Phil
feels the pier needs a marketing director.
The group adjourned
gleefully at 6:05 p.m. by a motion that was made, seconded and voted on
unanimously.
Respectfully
submitted,
Evelyn Gaudiano
E. Rogers Gaudiano
Approved by _____________________________ on ____________, 2006.
Leonard Clingham, Chair