HARWICH – Setting a date for a fall special town meeting has been a difficult process. The date has been changed a couple of times, and a final decision has yet to be made.
Town Administrator Joseph Powers said officials are now looking at Tuesday, Oct 18. Selectmen are scheduled to make a final decision at their Tuesday, Sept. 6 meeting.
The special town meeting was initially planned for Sept. 26, but town officials realized it was within the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. So Powers recommended the special session be held on Tuesday, Sept. 27. But as September approaches there are financial considerations coming into play.
“This action is necessary to ensure that the finance director/town accountant and I have sufficient information to make informed recommendations to you and the finance committee on funding sources for the articles previously placed on the draft warrant,” Powers wrote in a memo to the board. “No additional articles are anticipated other than to ensure that there are separate articles for each of the two school finance related matters.”
Monday night, Powers offered up Tuesday, Oct, 18 as the proposed meeting date. Because the board’s agenda item relative to rescheduling the special town meeting carried a Oct. 24 date, the board could not act on the different date. They are now scheduled to confirm the Oct. 18 date in the Sept. 6 meeting.
Powers explained that the necessity for the change centers around closing the financial books for fiscal 2022. He said newly-hired Finance Director/Town Accountant Ann Marie Ellis was downstairs working with the town’s auditors as he spoke. It is necessary to have a clear understanding of what the financial resources are and for the finance committee to have a clear picture, he said.
Selectman Donald Howell said he had some concern about the Oct. 24 date and its impact on newly elected Town Clerk Emily Mitchell, who would also be dealing with early voting and other preparation for the state election on Nov. 8. Howell supported the Oct. 18 date.
Powers said Mitchell has the Oct. 18 date on her docket.
There will be one change to the warrant, Power said, related to the reallocation of more than $900,000 related to funds being returned to the town from two school budgets. The town will be receiving $739,747 from the Monomoy Regional School District’s 2023 budget based on a change to the regional agreement allowing Harwich and Chatham to each fund their own elementary school operations. The town will also be receiving $183,394 from the Cape Cod Regional Technical High School based on a favorable interest rate on the cost of the new school building project. The reallocation of those funds were both included in one article. A decision has been made to separate the reallocations into separate articles.
Other articles include funding for acquisition of property interests and easements for the Route 28 dry sewer project and the third phase of the East Harwich wastewater management plan for East Harwich; $250,000 to hire an owner’s project manager for renovation of Brooks Academy; $75,000 for a consultant to conduct a comprehensive review of the town charter, general and zoning bylaws; $65,000 for the hiring of the town surveyor; and additional funds to cover the cost of negotiated contracts with collective bargaining units.
Cafeteria staff at Chatham High School in 1967 - Gerry Custodie, David Eldridge, Jennie Cardoza Roderick and Mrs. Brooks. COURTESY OF JODI CARDOZA.
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