Waterways Management Commission June 9, 2026

So, I'm going to go ahead and call the meeting to order and start off with a roll call. TJ present.

Andrea here.

Eli here.

Roger here.

Jamie here.

And Dan's here.

And um then we have Steve and Rachel from uh Budget Bay Coalition joining us.

So uh let's start off and do a quick um uh approval of last last month's meeting minutes or actually it's April's meeting minutes. Um and then we'll get straight to to Rachel.

Do I have is everybody take a look at the minutes that Andrea had sent out?

Yeah. Thank you, Andrea. I move that we accept the minutes of Andrea so lovingly typed up.

Thank you, Andrea.

Thank you. Do I have a second?

Second.

Thanks, TJ. All right. And we'll vote on that. So, TJ, yes.

And there's Andrea.

Yes.

Eli, yes.

Roger.

fluent Jamie.

Yep.

And Dan is a yes. Right. Thank you.

All right.

So, we have Rachel from the uh Budget Bay Coalition Science and Advocacy Center program um joining us today to talk about uh uh their Buttonwood to Tobay uh their five-year project there and then give us an update.

Yeah, thanks Dana. So, um, Andrea asked me to to just give a a brief update on the activities that we've been doing.

And so, just to sort of remind people of what this project is. So, we got funding from the EPA for um over the course of 5 years. So, it's a $150,000 a year in order to do a variety of things. So starting from doing gathering information in order to understand um you know what are the big drivers of nutrients coming into Buttonwood Brook and Aonagans at Bay and impacting water quality um and then starting to do

things about that. So a number of there are a number of things that are um in progress or planned um so with respect to our on the ground activities. So one of the So we've got sort of four big um projects either well I guess they're all underway really. So the first is our um connect to pro protect project. So when we started looking at what were the dominant sources of nutrients coming

into the system. One of the things we realized is um that even though there's a ton of sewering in this wershed, which is pretty unique to a lot of places around Buzzard's Bay and is a real advantage for um Aonigans at Bay, there were homes, you know, even on streets that were sewered, there were homes that were not connected to the sewer, that were still on septic systems, which

don't remove nitrogen um and so are and you know, in in most of our wersheds around Buzzard's Bay, they're the dominant um source of nitrogen pollution. to to the water. Uh so there are these sort of pockets where um there were homes that never hooked up to sewer and so we um with funding through this project um have been working with home those homeowners that haven't connected

in order to get the connections done. Um and that's partnering with the town of Dartmouth. So the town DPW is helping to actually do um the connections and uh so we have um right now like there's two connections that just recently went in.

So Mike Gier is helping us with this project. So we've had some turnover internally. So Dan Gulard was this project manager for this project. Um and then he when he left Corin Peterson um sort of took over and uh right now we're sort of in between. We have a new um person hired in Corin's position starting actually next week which is great. Um and she'll be taking over the project. Uh but in the in the interim

I'm juggling some of it, Mark's juggling some. we're all sort of trying to, you know, keep it moving along, but it's been added to a bunch of people's plates rather than having one dedicated person um focused on this project. So, like I said, we have about two um houses that were recently connected. There's a couple more in the pipeline. We have um for the whole project, we have $200,000

available to fund these connections. We were originally planning to offer just a straight $5,000 subsidy to homeowners to help them connect regard, you know, sort of just a flat fee for same thing for everyone. as we've been as Mike has been um talking with homeowners and doing outreach to try and sort of figure out how we can get more of these homes connected, one of the things he realized

is that, you know, in some cases if the $5,000 doesn't cover the cost of the installation or connection, um then it's, you know, there can still be a barrier there. So, um working with uh EPA, um we got permission to change that. So now there's going to be an incomebased subsidy of between sort of $3,000 and $8,000. So it'll no longer be a flat fee. And we're hoping that that will allow basically the entire, you

know, the $8,000 in most cases would um cover the entire cost of installation so we can get over that um that barrier. So for that project, uh it's still, you know, we're still looking for people to connect. So, if you in the community, you know, if you know anyone who is still on a septic system, um please connect them to us cuz we would love to get those homes all connected to sewer.

Um next up is the Kemp Street storm water project. Um and that one, so that project is almost complete. So, there's a lot of work has been done. There's I'm sure you guys have seen the construction. There's two new detention base storm water detention basins that are um being planted. Um there's also the all the new parking and new medians that's porous paving so to help filter the storm water that's running off

streets. Um one walkway is being raised because there was some issues with it getting soggy um with the with the water flow. But, you know, overall that project has um has been moving along and is and like I said is almost done. So, we're working on getting that project wrapped up.

The next um focus for implementation is um the zoo project. So, for the the Buttonwood Park Zoo, uh there we have a $500,000 project.

There's sort of a couple key pieces to that. One of those is a new um elaborate cover structure for their their manure management. So for a long time they had um you know open containers that the manure was being placed in. And so whenever it rained there would be leakage and you would get the nutrients um and bacteria you know running off of those manure piles and into the brook.

Um, so now there's going to be a a cover structure to keep the manure dry so that the um, you know, so that the the there isn't runoff during wet weather of nutrients and bacteria into the brook from the manure.

There's also for the bison deer enclosure. So there there's um going to be some swailes for and sort of storm water diversion to try and contain um water on site so it's not again washing right off um via surface flow into the brook there right where it exits the um the zoo. Uh, another thing that working with the town of New Bedford or the city of New Bedford is um they're working on

restoring or replacing sumps within the catchment basins in the zoo. So, there were a number of catchment basins basins that uh weren't functioning properly because they weren't being um pumped the way they should be. Um so, those are the big activities happening at the zoo. And then the next um the next sort of on the ground implementation thing that we're working towards is the two dams within

Buttonwood Books Brooks. So this the Strong and and um Dodge uh reserve dams.

Um and those so we have we currently have funding to support the design and permitting of those. So, we're working in partnership with DNRT, the Dartmouth National Resources Trust to um to go through that design and permitting, and we're sort of moving towards final designs on those two dam removal projects. We don't have um the funds raised yet for implementation. So that would be the next step would be to um

work on getting funding in order to uh take out those dams and restore the natural flow.

Um so those are the the restoration implementation actions that are you know and this the the projects that we've been working on um and where we are for for those implementation projects. And then for water quality monitoring. So we um this summer we'll be doing as part of our long-term water quality monitoring.

We have a number of stations um around Aponagans Bay and a couple in Buttonwood Brook where we do about weekly measurements of dissolved oxygen, temperature, salinity um and water clarity.

And then four times a summer in July and August we collect samples that go to um a professional lab for nutrient analysis. So this is you know provides data for our long-term record of how the of what the concentrations of nutrients and also algaal pigments are in the water and that helps us understand which parts of the harbor are more impaired than others.

Um we also have so we started um a number of years ago or a few years ago I guess I should say really to also use uh what we call our continuous water loggers. So these are instruments. So mo all the the the monitoring that I just spoke about was where someone goes and either physically grabs a parcel of water or puts in um a piece of equip equipment that reads you

know and reads number off a readout and then walks away. So, it's their point measurements um that happen at a single time point, but these continuous loggers, they take a reading every 10 minutes. And so, we put them um in the water. So, we strap them to milk crates that are weighted down and hang them off of docks. Generally, you can deploy them different ways. That's generally how we

do it. And they take a measurement every 10 minutes. And so, this gives us a lot more information about sort of how the water quality is changing. So both, you know, over the course of a day and over the course of the week when we only, you know, when our um volunteers or staff are only taking a single measurement once a week, then the this gets all a bunch of samples in the interim. And so

we have one of those um out at the New Bedford Harbor Yach Club where we've had it for uh several years now. Um and again those measure dissolved oxygen, temperature and salinity are the are the um parameters that we get from those.

And then um the other part of the overall buttonwood debate project is developing a nitrogen loading report for um for for Uponagans at Bay. So the Massachusetts estuaries project um was in place for a number of years to try and understand how much nitrogen different bodies of water could handle and stay healthy. And that um program is now defunct. And so what we are trying to do is to develop equivalent

information for that project. And so that involves a number of different pieces. So it's looking at again sort of a desktop analysis of nitrogen loading coming into uh aonagans atit bay. We also worked with a variety of scientists um in the area. So we worked with scientists at the marine biological lab who took sediment cores and were um measuring how much nitrogen was fluxing in or out of the sediments. So to

understand that as a source of loading in addition to the watershed modeling um the watershed modeling is uh performed by the buzzard by Joe Costa of the Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program. He's actually retired now. Um and then with pairing the information from the amount of nitrogen coming um from the sediments and coming from the land, uh we're working with uh the scientists at the Woods Hole

Oceanographic Institution to do the hydrodnamic modeling to understand how the nitrogen coming from these different sources moves around upon Bay and is flushed out by u Buzzard's Bay waters.

Um and so all that information paired together along with um information about the health of the water. So using again the data we have from dissolved oxygen levels from algae levels. Also looking at um where there may have been eel grass in the past from historic records um to understand what level of nitrogen is uh the the aonagans bay is capable of absorbing effectively um and remaining

healthy. So all that information gets piled together to understand you know how much nitrogen can upon it they handle and um and then we're compiling that into a report that we'll submit to mass DP that they can then use in order to develop a total maximum daily load for a gans at bay.

So that was a lot those a lot thrown at you though but those are the highlights. Yes Roger.

Yeah Rachel thank you very much. That's great. Now, this was a five-year grant.

We're we're rapidly coming to the end of this grant, aren't we? I mean, we are. So, it's supposed to end the the end of this federal fiscal year, so the end of September. We're actually in the process of getting a one-year nocost extension.

Okay.

So, because Yeah, I was going to say, should we all collectively be looking for another grant to get money to It's great to do it for no cost, but these things all do cost money. Should we be looking now for another grant for say another two years, three years to extend this and keep this going all this good information to help us make the bay a healthier place?

Yeah. Well, I mean I think that you know uh the sort of immediate need for fundraising is thinking about or that we have identified is thinking about the implementation for those the dam removal projects on Buttonwood Brook. So those are the kind of immediate things where we're going to be looking for grants and funding. Um and that so the um the new person who's coming in to replace Korin

is starting I believe next week. And so you know first on her task list will be figuring out where you know what are all the pieces that we need to that we need money for and where are the buckets to look for money and start start working on applying for those grants and raising money. So great.

Um great.

Yeah.

Well, thank you.

Yeah, thank you, Rachel. That's great information for us. Um, are you starting to see in your numbers any of results from all these projects or what's or is it I mean I well so I guess what I would tell you is yes there um with respect to thinking about kind of the major sources of nitrogen coming into Apagansa Bay. So here again we normally everywhere else it's usually wastewater but here it's

storm water is what's looking like the the dominant um the dominant contributor u because you guys have dealt with the wastewater which is fantastic. Um some of the other things is so uh the loading most of the loading coming into the harbor is coming through the Buttonwood Brookhed. It's a big watershed. Um but and it includes kind of you know a bunch of high density stuff around Buttonwood Brook. Um

what else can I tell you? I mean the the you know we see a concentration of also you know of the sort of nutrient impacts in the inner part of the harbor which makes sense. Um there is surprisingly good flushing of a panagans at Bay. So the salinity um I was sort of surprised at how high the salinity gets way up into inner Panagans at Bay um once we started really looking at that um

are you going to have any more YSI data loggers going up into the upper part of the bay? I know Dan had had one by the little river there and one up by the mud flats. I know you have one off the yach club but you know we Yeah, so we don't have any plans to do that. So we try So we have the the deployments that Dan did. One of the

It's deep.

Yeah. It's really hard to put instruments up there. We also we had one at um shoot what's the name of the marina. It starts with an M.

Marine.

Yeah. There you go. Up in the upper part. We had one there last year and we had some issues with it. And we in looking at the data between there and the New Bedford Harbor Yacht Club. It was very similar. So it didn't and we also had one um off near like the Gaffne Road boat ramp last summer.

And basically what we in having those multiple locations, we decided that really the New Bedford Harbor Yacht Club does a good job that the sensor there does a good job of sort of integrating what we're seeing across the harbor.

That's good. that that does imply that the flushing is uh getting everything in and out in a very efficient manner if they're getting similar data.

Yeah, that surprises me given how shallow it is up above. Um if I could ask a question. Um it I appreciate that the sewering is connect to protect program. It's a very unusual program.

seem seems like it'd be wonderful um to use elsewhere. I'm wondering um and I appreciate that you're increasing the funding because only two homeowners doesn't sound like a lot. Um but how many potential lots need to be need to be brought in um to have complete sewing? And this is just Dartmouth, right? This does not include this is a this is a this is a catchment area within Dartmouth that has sewering.

This doesn't include stuff in New Bedford.

Yes.

I thought Dan did have that number, didn't he? Dan, do you remember the number?

I want to say 47 off, but that's just off the top of my head and I could easily be wrong.

Something along that line. Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

And it's not so it's too recently, Andrea. It's not too total. I didn't look up the number total, but it's not a huge number. It, you know, it's less than a dozen.

Okay.

I wonder why they're not connecting if you're giving financial incentives and and I know the department of uh public works was helping. I I don't know why people aren't hooking up. um what's the what's the like I said I think part of the barrier was that you know even if um even if you're offering $5,000 if the total cost is $8,000 sometimes you know if you're on a fixed income $2 or $3,000

is not what you have um towards this so it's money okay and I'm not sure that a total cost of $8,000 is realistic for most people either from the numbers I'm hearing probably the 15 to 20 range yeah wow Oh yeah, it's it's expensive.

We also uh we connected to sewer when we bought our house and there's like an incurred cost of we had to rellandscape our entire backyard because there's a six foot ditch going 30 40 canal.

It also also costs money.

So it's that's prohibitive to some people obviously.

No, I would say more than some people.

I'd say a lot of people at that point.

Yeah, the qu the question is whether or not this this program this this um connect to protect program is voluntary these um and so I don't know um if the town has a requirement that bonail that something has to be done um well if the system it's title five right Andrea so if the septic system doesn't pass title five they have to and sewers available they have to right I'm I'm wondering um Rachel if

this is anything that the report might speak to in terms of um recommendations on on how to encourage them to hook up like is is local health regulations needed like are local health regulations needed?

I mean I think that's something uh you know certainly that's that's worth considering. I think that um especially at something like on sale or transfer, I think, you know, the outreach that Mike Gier has done um sort of, you know, indicates that they're that a lot of the homes that are not connected are relatively small homes on relatively small lots with, you know, people with fixed incomes that um that

cost is a real barrier. And so I think uh requiring sort of upon transfer or sale is probably the most you know if you're trying to get something passed through town is probably the most palatable way to move forward.

It's it's not uncommon to go by a setback from available sewer on some town. So, I don't know what our laws are, but usually like 100 to 200 feet within um I don't think you can I don't think you should push to require people more than 100 feet. That's a lot of s I mean the small ones that are right on the uh that are right on the street that's a different story. That's a stub and

basically a quick line that well those to protect is targeting.

It's t it's targeting the people who you know the sewer is literally going right in front of their house. Right. The line that's that's probably the best use of the money. Yeah. I I just want to do You think 8,000 covers the cost when it's because of the size of the lots and the 20,000 sounds to me like a septic system. I mean, you know, an individual private septic system. I'm surprised,

Eli, you had to pay that for a sewer.

I didn't pay 20. It cost me $3,500 to connect. However, um the previous owner had put a stub on her property and so we didn't have to dig up the street. If you dig up the street, it's instantly a lot of money, three times that.

But that's where the the town of Dartmouth has agreed to to have DPW do the work. And so it brings the so the $8,000 is was based on sort of you know with the with there being the sewer right there with the town of Dartmouth DPW doing some of the connection work um it was the way to to bring the cost down and that was the town of Dartmouth you know um agreeing to partner on this

interesting thanks just want to do kind of a time check here because we feel I know Rachel's time and we've got a number of things left on the agenda. Do we have any final questions?

I think the big question for me was whether or not the monitoring was going to be able to continue because um she's doing uh Rachel's preparing a an this nitrogen loading report based on data we got at the beginning of the study.

And so the fact that you're getting monitoring now, um are you going to be is is that going to change is that gonna are is the report going to reflect the um implementation measures that have already gone in um or is that a future or is additional monitoring needed in order to to get those full results? So there I mean you we're trying to avoid a nitrogen report that says we have to

bring the nitrogen down to a number we can't reach. So so we need the most real number we can get at the beginning of the project the beginning of Yeah. Understood. Understood. And so part of the like for instance for the Kemp Street project there's monitoring that's built into that that that SNEP is paying for actually separately not not as a part of our grant and that monitoring is being conducted by the

Horsesley Whitten Group. So they're looking at before and after sampling um to understand you know to hopefully measure the the good impact of the Kemp Street project.

um that kind of Sorry, go ahead.

Could I ask one silly question? Who certifies the results of all of this stuff if we're going to rely on it afterwards?

I mean, how do we know that the the data you're collecting isn't corrupted?

Uh well, so all of the the monitoring that happens has to be um pre-approved through a process um through EPA that's called they're called these things called quality assurance analysis plans.

or quaps for short. Um, and so before we can do any monitoring, we have to get uh, you know, we have to lay out all of our methods in detail. EPA then says, um, yes, this method is acceptable or not. Yes, this lab that you're using is acceptable or not. Um and then after you do the monitoring, you have to report on if there are any any ways that you differed from the the quality assurance

project plan. Um so that is the primary vehicle for that EPA uses for making sure that the information collected is sound.

So it's self-reported essentially.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

I mean, I'm happy to give you water samples if you want to go have them analyze somewhere else.

As long as I don't have to drink them.

I'm the I'm supposed to be the bay watcher for um Buzzards for Buttonwood Brook at Russell Mills. And when she when Rachel spoke of um the the projects in Dartmouth with the two removals, I think a more important although smaller piece is that at Russell Mills um right at Russell Mills Road, they're actually going to be modifying um the wing walls of the culvert, which sounds really

small, but um it's going to increase the amount of flow that's going under Russell Mills.

Um, and there's a lot of sediment there.

And I assume that, and I'll be watching this with DNRT, I assume that all that sediment that is in the culvert that's not being used, it's a double culvert. I assume that all the sediment that's blocking that other culvert will um be dredged out and not sent down into our very shallow bay.

I would think so. But yeah, I would think so. Yeah. All right. Thank you, Rachel. I appreciate you you joining us today and uh we're gonna close this one out and move on with the agenda.

All right. Nice to Thank you.

Bye.

Bye.

Bye.

That was great. Thank you, Andrea, for suggesting she come and talk to us.

Yeah, it's good. I was really pleased to see that they've got monitoring um going on.

Yep.

That wasn't part of the original project.

Yeah.

All right, Steve, we're going to turn things over to you. Talk to us about the marina status.

Well, I think we're almost done. And I say almost because last month I requested a update on our grant funding and unofficially unconfirmed we have an estimated $20,000 left available to use on that marina project um before whatever deadlines are looming. And the first and foremost thought in my mind is more security cameras. And after gone going through the security cam with Snafu

a few years back, I I I just I don't know that I have the time, energy, bandwidth to get those in, get them purchased, programmed, whatever needs to be done.

I'm thinking that we need off uh grid battery or solar because we do not have electrical power at the dock. But again, that's that's a an evaluation to be done by an expert on it. So that's where we are with Marina and I will check those deadlines. I think we might be running through community preservation funds grant funding that's left. So I'll check on those deadlines.

That pretty much takes care of the marina. We have published I think I sent it out uh a notice that we have space available and people are responding in essence we're advertising and getting some response to fill in those slips that have been added. Uh and also for the dinghy spots that are few very few that are still available. Any questions on that?

Steve I have a question. And if we have money left over, a very simple low tech thing that has come up many times in the past are benches for people to stop and look and smell the salt air.

Okay. I can ask uh Patrick about those. I know that as silly as it sounds, putting them on a pier, a dock or water dependent use can have some impact on the chapter 91 license. But on the shoreline, I think we'd be I was thinking on the shoreline. I I I I know what you're talking about. Yeah. I was just seeing people just I I I go down there and people are just sitting,

you know, leaning against the railing going, "Boy, it's so What a great job.

Everybody's very impressed. They they just like to hang out there.

I'm a big fan of benches at my age."

I'll I'll look into that and uh see what we can And if and if you need more help with the cameras, I I did send you a link. There's literally dozens of solar powered off-grid cameras that are Wi-Fi.

However, you would have to have a a what's called a hotspot or a Wi-Fi hub in order to get that data back. So, that's that's another thing, another bit of technology in the in the house.

Yeah. Right now, the pinnacle or the head of our IT department is out on a family leave for a short time. So, I I'll look more into that when he returns.

Um, next thing on our agenda is the dinghy rack replacements. And I have been notified that four of those are built and ready to be installed. I've submitted for reimbursement, and those are going in, I believe, at 5:00 tomorrow. They're going in the grounds.

So, they're going to replace one that's there. Oh.

And replace one dinghy rack that's there. So, we will have four new kayak trees. times eight kayaks per tree.

Um, we will increase capacity somewhat and replace the ugly uh donated one that is north of the pier with something more substantial.

And we plan on keep rolling these out as they can be built. So, okay.

you.

We next have on the agenda the comment period for new aquaculture license application.

The departments that are asked to comment are tasked with doing that by June 25th. The application was just received the end of May. There is a timeline that I've published uh publication in the legal posting notification of the neighbors by the applicant. Um that's all uh time sensitive but the important date is the public hearing by the select board will be July 13th at their regular July meeting and uh

we'll see what happens from there. It's very close to a site that was proposed Oh, five or six years ago, but uh it's going to be bottom attached to the sandbar. So, I think it might have a different outcome if it's on the sandbar.

See, that's determined by marine fishers, not by this office.

Okay.

Which waterway is this in?

It's the mouth of the little river.

um BB7 which is uh fairly west in our stretch of waters and a little bit more removed than the existing farm in Peyton Naram.

It's hoped that this will be beyond the reach of the combined sewer overflow closures. So, so that's where we're going to go with the person.

Okay. Is there um any question on the aquaculture?

Steve, is there anywhere we can see is there anywhere we could see where the location is?

want that.

Um I will send out a packet that I received and um you'll be able to see that and it's pretty good presentation. It's so I think you'll be able to since the application is in the water um which boards are you said you have interdep department um comments expecting from which departments are you looking waterways harbor master I take care of that the conservation commission so there's a new person in charge of

conservation and the health department.

So, those are the listed departments that weigh in to the select board and advise on this. When I prepare a response, I'll send that to the commission as well. It can be added to or amended. Um, but based on what the applicant has proposed and submitted, I'll make a recommendation.

And that's all it is is a recommendation.

So you guys will be able to weigh in as well and comment.

Typically I've done one response for both departments and that included waterways but waterways itself can submit if they wish separate recommendation.

Seems like one is fine. We have to send those comments individually to you, right? We can't send them to the whole board unless we have another meeting before Joel um Yeah. No, we won't before June 25th. Yeah. Individual comments or they can be submitted individually. They can be submitted to me to forward to the select board.

Either way,

nothing.

I'd love to hear what Jamie has to say.

That's a pretty impressive um PowerPoint presentation which I'm sure will be submitted to the select board for their meeting on July 13th. But um any event see how that goes. I think the major hurdle in this one is going to be marine fisheries. again they find existing stock if they find eel grass um there is only one of butter shoreline of butter to this proposed site and u I think that

that was a problem I think in the past but anyway that's all I've got on the aquaculture license case depending depending on where the area is that area can be challenging especially with uh um the density of cohawks which could be deemed uh commercially viable. So that that could be a hangup, but we'll see.

That's what marine fisheries found. And this is slightly west, maybe southwest of the prior proposed site, but um as you know, cohogs will move with the sandbar as it moves. And u so time will tell.

Steve, can you you will send that application over to us or I'll send that. She thought I had already, but I I can do that uh today.

Thank you.

So, if there's nothing else on the aquaculture, I survived town meeting last week. We had two issues on the agenda, if you will. Uh the new department truck capital request was approved. So, we have up to $90,000 to spend spend for an F250 with uh a work body and I'll be refining that in the near future.

Uh related to that, the deputy truck is no longer I I tried starting it yesterday. It completely drains the battery just short park probably based on how something was cut out of it from the fire department. But um the fire department is looking to trade in their current Explorer. It's a Ford Explorer four-door. Smaller version of the Tahoe, which we bought several years ago. The trade-in value of it is

roughly $3,700.

It's um in perfect shape. I'm going to propose that we purchase that interim for deputy use until our new truck can be delivered. Could take up to a year.

Steve, did you say $3,700?

3700.

$3,700.

It's a 20 and it might be a 14 or 15 floor.

Yeah, that's what I thought too. So that's what they would get. That's what they get in the tree.

Yeah, they'll buy it. That's a great idea. Great idea.

So, we would purchase it under 30B, department to department, and we have funds for that and then that could be auctioned off after the uh the new truck comes and we fix my truck and hand it down to the deputy because that was the plan the town manager sought to uh follow through with, right?

Um, so there was a wage classification change for assistance, seasonal assistance. I I don't know how this is going to work, but there is now a range in pay. Um, they changed bridge tenders from $20 an hour, which is what they've been getting and what my assistants have been getting. So now DPW bridge tenders are grouped with gate guards and concession servers at the bucket and their range of compensation

went down to $15 to $17 an hour.

Seasonal assistance went with beach supervisor to a range of 21 to $24 an hour up from 20. So, I'll be looking for instruction on that, how that gets implemented and who gets which end of what scale uh from the town manager.

Yeah.

Uh and our budget was accepted without questions or comment for fiscal year 27.

So, all in all, it was uneventful town meeting for us.

Others maybe.

Yeah.

at west part of town had its uh had its share of the fund.

Uh so that's it on town meeting.

I received an email regarding the Roger Street boat ramp from the provider contract provider is CI and they were asking if it could be extended.

Uh Rachel Daglio, who is working with me on this project for the town, looked into that and found that uh we've used up all of our continuences or postponements and I haven't heard back from CI, but I think the project needs to be done by the end of June and there really hasn't been much movement or traction on that uh Roger Street boat ramp feasibility study. So I don't know where that's going to go.

The other project that we've got lingering is the Apon Gansit Peninsula feasibility study following our joint meeting with parks. That same group presented to the select board and they're refining that project and expect to have it done before the June deadline. That'd be the end of June, which is the month we're now in.

I keep reminding myself What was the recommendation that came out of the meeting? I apologize. I wasn't there.

There were several I I should probably send it to you. It's more than I can explain, but there were several options for parking on the park side.

I I remember the options. I want to know which was sent which one which didn't they send just one proposal forward?

They brought all those proposals to the select board.

Oh. Oh, okay.

And then uh the wall um you know hardening the wall and filling short of filling the entire area and building it up. They were looking at some ways to create resilience on the western the eastern facing landing side. Park was still pretty adamant against BMS and pretty much many of the changes. So, and they have no money for it.

And and they want you to build the Taj Mahal. It's lovely, Steve. It'll be, you know, 40 feet tall and Yeah.

glorious views.

No, no elevator, but it'll be easy. I'll be able to float to the top floor. Um, so I I don't see that there'll be any great rush to put a harbor master office there. I'm not sure that is the right place anyway, but I wouldn't think so. It makes sense that while we're looking at it, we explore all the options. And that is one possibility that somebody in the future

might see a greater value than I do. So, or if nothing else, it was looked at, explored, and denied or not favored. So, no problem with that. Um, yeah, I agree with that. I mean, you're in a private you're in a private building now. So, I mean, all studies should be looking to get you into a public building.

Yep. And the other option has always been the maritime center and a second floor there and cost differential between that and building what Marian has on the wrong side of the bridge. But anyway, that's a project for another day, right? Don't worry about it.

Not something for this feasibility study other than that it was looked at. So, well, you're right in that everything should be looked at at some point, but you you come to the conclusion sometimes that what you have a way wire is probably better, right?

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, when you're studying the peninsula, you look at the possibility of putting it on the peninsula. When you're studying the village or anything else that may come along, you look at that possibility and at some point a clear obvious answer will show up and we'll stop paying rent. But see, that's all I've got on that. Um, and my last is the Shallop boat visit.

tenative schedule has that boat leaving uh Westport on August 16th in the afternoon and heading to Peyton Naram, spending some or all of the night at New Bedford Yach Club on the 16th, going through the bridge to the landing and the Hathaway Marina on August 17th, spending the night at the Maritime Center slash Armstrong dock, which is our new neighbor, Richard Armstrong. I believe

they'll be sleeping on his sardine boat, the Underwood, uh, and possibly plugging in the shallop at the maritime center to charge the batteries for its authentic electric engine.

Either way, it all seems to work. The town originally was looking at the possibility of fireworks and um an all monkey band or something like that, but they backed away from something that extravagant. But they are still looking to make it more than just a shallow visit. So more to come on that, but the dates are fairly firm. August 16th through August 18th.

And that's I think all I've got.

This sounds a little crazy and I don't we don't need to get into this now, but has anyone ever explored a floating office with a new marina expansion? And absolutely. Yep. We have we have plans for that at the marina. Um yeah, floating harbor master office makes more sense to me, but uh it it has its drawbacks, you know, hurricane, storm, that kind of thing. But uh we're not taking up real estate. And if we can

make it accessible to the public, it's a win-win. So, yeah, I think actually the last time we looked at that was just as we were designing the new halfway marina. So, yeah, they they do that in California a lot.

Yeah.

All right. Anybody have anything else? Steve, you whipped through that quickly. Thank you.

No problem.

All right.

Our next meeting would uh normally be on the 14th, I think, of July. Anybody issues with that?

Yeah, I'm not going to be here.

You want to go to August? Yeah, I I was going to say July for me is already filling up and uh in different parts of the world. Um how about August and end of August time?

Like August 25thish somewhere around there.

Oh, that'd be that'd be good for me. I don't know.

Well, the 18th is the Shalup, baby.

Oh We can talk about that.

Yeah. Is it possible to meet on the 11th so we know ahead of time what's happening with the shallop August 11th?

Yeah, works for me.

So far I'm that good for me. Yep.

Right.

I won't be around then fortunately.

Who's that? TJ.

No Jamie.

I'm around that. Jamie, I think.

Yeah, I won't be around date.

Jamie won't be around. Jimmy, you want us to look at another date or um if it works for everyone else, that's that's fine. I don't care for that.

I'll be available for that as well.

Is the fourth too early?

I am not going to be around on that.

Okay.

We okay with the 11th? Yeah, let's grab it and see what happens.

All right. Thank you.

At what time do I have a motion to to adjurnn?

At what time is the meeting? 12 or 1 o'clock.

One. Okay.

One o'clock on the 11th.

Thanks.

Now, excellent.

Motion to adjurnn.

Move to adjurnn. and a second.

Second from Eli. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

All in favor?

Thank you guys.

Great. Good to see everyone. Thank you.

Bye, everybody.