Select Board’s future agenda topics include leases, railroad bed, capital planning goals
/By Carol Britton Meyer
Future agenda items proposed by select board members in a Zoom meeting Monday afternoon ranged from developing a consistent policy for leases of town property (such as Steamboat Wharf and Jake’s) and discussing next steps for resolving railroad bed issues to moving forward with appointing the town meeting-approved capital improvement planning committee and inviting new Assistant Town Manager Stacy Callahan to introduce herself to talk about her roles and responsibilities.
Neither Town Manager Jennifer Constable nor Callahan participated.
Hull’s SELECT BOARD, shown here at an earlier meeting, held two sessions this week — a regularly scheduled meeting on wednesday and a zoom on Monday to discuss future agenda topics.
Select Board Chair Irwin Nesoff explained at the beginning of the meeting that each member would have an opportunity to share his ideas for agenda items and then determine whether there was a consensus.
Board members supported the above items being put on a future agenda, along with a discussion of the role of the select board as the town’s traffic commissioners and when they board should get involved during various projects.
This issue came up most recently during meetings about the Nantasket Avenue seawall project’s temporary traffic plan and the planned one-way road in that area.
Another item recommended for a future agenda was the historical commission’s desire to create a townwide historic resource plan and to apply for Community Preservation Act funding for roughly half of the cost and for a state grant to pay for the rest. This agenda item was recommend by Jason McCann, the board’s liaison to the commission.
Review of policies and procedures
Still other recommended agenda items include reviewing select board policies and procedures after each town election to give new members an opportunity to participate, and inviting the Hull Nantasket Chamber of Commerce to provide an update on its activities and how the board can support its efforts.
Inviting the town’s state Representative and senator for a question-and-answer session in the fall and Tipsy Tuna owners to present the sound engineer’s report requested during a recent discussion in response to some neighbors’ complaints about the high noise level coming from the restaurant are other recommended agenda topics.
Board member Jerry Taverna suggested that the town support efforts in other coastal communities asking for a halt in further state and federal plans for offshore wind farms along the Northeast coast following a recent incident in Nantucket, where a large wind turbine blade broke off, resulting in widespread beach debris.
However, the consensus of the board was to work with state officials on this issue.
“This is an important topic because of the importance of the beach to the Hull community,” Taverna told The Hull Times in response to an inquiry following the meeting.
While Hull Wind I turbine at Pemberton Point was recently demolished, Hull Wind II at the landfill remains offline, awaiting repairs.
“I was disappointed that the board didn’t think this issue warranted immediate discussion,” Taverna said. “All I was asking was for the board to draft a resolution to the governor to halt these projects until it’s determined what caused the blade issue and to come up with a better mitigation plan.”
During the board’s earlier discussion, member Greg Grey pointed out that this is “a state and federal issue” that should be addressed at that level.
Board members also agreed that a possible joint meeting with the school committee to find ways to work more closely together would be a good idea.
Recycling program idea floated
Taverna’s recommendation to start a recycling program rather than integrating recyclables with regular trash (as is currently the case) was put off until an earlier solid waste committee’s report is forwarded to board members and until the board’s next goal-setting session.
“This has been such a great process,” McCann said at the end of the session.
“We work well together in the best interests of the town,” Nesoff agreed.
Board members expressed an interest in holding similar discussions – perhaps bi-monthly – to assess what has been accomplished thus far.
“This way we can keep our eyes on the prize of what we are discussing – to check off items [that have been accomplished] and to add more as necessary,” board member Brian McCarthy said.
Nesoff also noted that the board will soon need to develop a process for evaluating Requests for Information for recreational marijuana licenses.
He would also like to revive discussions with the Department of Conservation & Recreation about the possible transfer to the town of the long-empty DCR-owned former police station across from the beach.
“It’s a shame that we have a deteriorating building like that in the middle of beach property,” he said.
That, too, is an issue to be discussed with the town’s state representative and senator, he said.
Citizens can propose agenda items
While there was no public discussion during the Zoom meeting, Nesoff said “if folks have something of importance they want to see on an agenda, they can send [their suggestions] to me or another select board member to bring them forward.”
In response to an earlier inquiry from The Hull Times, Town Manager Jennifer Constable explained that the purpose of the meeting was to provide the select board chair with a list of potential agenda items that “will then be reviewed and discussed with the town manager. [Recommended] items [that become] agenda items will subsequently be scheduled at the appropriate time,” she said.
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