Minutes
Meeting Date:
January 23, 2019
Wellfleet Finance Committee
January 23,2019
Wellfleet Senior Center, 715 Old Kings Hwy
Present: Chair, Janet Loewenstein; Ira Wood, Kathy Granlund, Linda Pellegrino, Stephen Polowczyk, Jeff Tash, Fred Magee
Absent: Robert Wallace
Others Present: Town Administrator, Dan Hoort; Shellfish Constable, Nancy Civetta
Chair Loewenstein called the meeting to order at 7:01 P.M.
Budget Review
Shellfish Constable Nancy Civetta reviewed her budget for the Committee. The FY 2019 seasonal part-time position is proposed to be a seasonal full-time position in FY 2020. Additional funds were added for data entry for the shellfish permits on a new software and funds were added for restroom cleaning once per month.
Civetta explained the reasons for the increase in the budget and the department’s direction for the future. The Committee discussed the amount of propagation needed and asked if, at some point, we might reach a tipping point where the market drops because of over-propagation. Civetta explained she has flexibility in her budget where she can increase or decrease propagation. And in the summer and fall when propagation is taking place we don’t know if we’ll have a bad winter that wipes out the stock.
Civetta also explained her request for a revolving fund for propagation. Increases in revenue due to increases in fees would go into the revolving fund and eventually the revolving fund would pay for all propagation costs.
Civetta was asked if there was a limit to the number of permits that could be sold. Civetta responded that there is room for growth and the Town had several new commercial permit holders this year. Propagation is for will pickers and commercial wild purposes.
Civetta mentioned her CIP requests. One for engines on the new barge and one for a new pickup truck for the department. The Selectboard has approved both CIP requests and Town Administrator Hoort now supports the pickup truck.
Hoort provided the Committee with a brief overview of the revolving fund and how it would work. Eventually it is expected that the revolving fund would pay all costs of propagation. If/when fees are increased the expectation is that the additional revenue derived from the fee increases would be deposited into the revolving fund to reinvest in the shellfishing industry.
Minutes
Woods moved, Magee 2nd, to approve the minutes of January 16, 2019 as presented. Motion carried 6-0-1 (SP)
Liaison Reports
Magee mentioned that Wellfleet Elementary (WES) may be looking at a sprinkler system for the building. Discussion between WES and Fire Chief Pauley is ongoing. Both WES and the Nauset Regional School District (NRSD) budget are targeting and expecting to achieve a 2.5% increase in their budgets. The work on the NRSD budget is still ongoing.
Next Meeting
Next meeting will be January 30, 2019.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:18pm