Provincetown Water and Sewer Board Special Meeting of November 1, 2001

The November 1, 2001 Special Meeting of The Provincetown Water and Sewer Board was called to order by Chairman Sosha Richter at 5:10 PM. Present were: Banner Reporter Marian Brag, Board Members Anne Lord, Jonathan Sinaiko, Lucille Plante, and Chairman Sosha Richter. Also present were: D.P.W. Director Dave Guerton, and Operations Director of The D.P.W. Sondra Turner.

Item 1 on the agenda was the approval of the minutes for the meeting of October 18, 2001. Lucille Plante told The Board that the minutes for the meeting of the 18^th of October would be available for the regularly scheduled meeting of November 15^th the regular third Thursday of the month.

The next item discussed on the agenda was item 3. D.P.W. Director Dave Guerton told The Board that The Town had contracted with Mr. Steve Olson a fully licensed Water Treatment and Transmission expert for two days a week and that he would be on call for the rest of the week as interim Water Superintendent. Mr. Guerton explained that approval from The Town Manager had been secured for Mr. Olson to become interim Water Superintendent who would be working under the auspices of D.P.W. Director of Operations Sandra Turner upon his return from Boston. He also told The Board that a letter was being sent to The Department of Environmental Protection on the 2^nd of November registering Mr. Olson in the interim and that The Town was advertising for a joint position of…. Mr. Guerton then told The Board that a luncheon/party was given to Mr. Craig Wiegand the outgoing Water Superintendent. Mr. Guerton then read a humorous piece about Mr. Wiegand’s job description.

The next item discussed on the agenda was item 4, which was the abatement appeals. Dave Guerton explained to The Board that they could vote on a policy that would not have to go before the public in a public hearing concerning the penalty or abating of customers of The Water Department under The Hardship Clause. He then gave several examples using several numbers in round figures to explain the 500% five hundred percent penalty for not repairing a leak in a timely and responsible manner. After a lengthy discussion about the rights of The Board to make policies dealing with abatements, adopting the 500% five-hundred percent penalty and the educating of The Townspeople on the new rules and regulations for receiving abatements, a motion was made by Lucille Plante to keep accounts 4212 and 6318 at the current 200% two-hundred percent for the current appeals. The motion was seconded by (Jonathan Sinaiko or Anne Lord, I’m not sure.) The motion was passed unanimously four to zero. Anne Lord then made a motion to adopt the 500% five hundred percent penalty to all future abatement requests. The motion was adopted with a unanimous four to zero vote.

The next item discussed was that of the absorption of The Citizen’s Advisory Committee by The Water and Sewer Board as a subcommittee. Several concerns were raised by The Board as to what role The C.A.C. would have in the workings of The Water and Sewer Board such as the gathering of necessary information which The Board could use to define it’s responsibilities rules and regulations, the possible conflicts of interests, and the joining of The C.A.C. and The Water and Sewer Board being brought before The Selectmen.

Among the other topics discussed were the scheduling of the next meeting of The Board, the addition of the fifth member of The Board as well as the filling of The Alternate position.

The next meeting of The Water and Sewer Board was scheduled for The 15^th of November 2001 at 5:00 PM. The meeting was adjourned at 6:23 PM.