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Home My WebLink About2003-08-15 ADVISORY COMMITTEE OF NONVOTING TAXPAYERS Meeting at 9 A.M. held Friday, August 15, 2003, in the High School Conference Room. 1. Present: Lou Bassano, Howard Blitman, David Brown, Trig Cooley, Roger Ernst, Ellen Roman, Bill Sherman, Jay Strauss, Duncan (Terry) Sutphen, Jim Treanor, Joan Wofford, and Richard Wolfe, plus Don Harris. 2. Call to Order: The Chairman called the meeting to order at 9:03 a.m. with a quorum present. 3. The minutes of the previous meeting 8/1/03 were approved as distributed. 4. Roger Ernst reported that he had attended the Wednesday 8/13 meeting of the Board of Selectmen, encouraged by its Chairman Finn Murphy. Roger expressed surprise at the level of detail the Board took time to deal with; also he questioned whether another Town entity could serve in lieu of the selectmen in reviewing appeals from the HDC. [That would require a change in state enabling legislation for the HDC.] Assistant Town Administrator Nancy Oliver had kindly furnished the BOS agenda in advance to Roger. Roger also reported that the Comprehensive Wastewater Treatment Plan Phase II report from Earth Tech has been delayed by delay in the state DEP providing the town with a needed report on water quality. Trig noted the need for seasonal septic system owners to be alerted to activate their system at start of the season by use of a 'start- up kit'.A one-page notice from the Health Department (or Health Officer Richard Ray) with tax bills sent before start of the season was commended, also getting information out through Richard Ray presentations to Civic League area associations. A further recommendation was voiced: that seasonal residents schedule their septic system pump-out in the fall at the end of the season. 5. Howard Blitman with Jay Strauss and David Brown spoke of initial efforts to develop a list of funding ideas, not barred in Massachusetts as are "impact fees," tied to new construction. Jay is checking in Rhode Island, e.g., planning development approval fees; Howard in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, e.g., recreation fees - or the water fee linked to the Deer Island facility and charged by the Boston Metropolitan District Commission. Mentioned also were fire fees and trash permit fees. 6. Jim Treanor reported that both AT&T (Comcast) and Nantucket Electric have complied with the reporting requirement for undergrounding of utility wires, most recently in fall '02. Verizon has spent some $400 thousand more than it has collected from the 2% surcharge on phone bills. Collecting about $100 thousand per year, Verizon is reluctant to go forward with undergrounding until that shortfall has been recovered. The remaining utility - the town's Fire Department alarm system - lags in the effort and, according to Tim Soverino, remains in no hurry to go forward. Hope was expressed to Jim that undergrounding in the town core district would be completed in 2005 (or 2008?) and in 'Sconset by 2015. The town may seek a simple report from each utility by November 1st. Jim undertook to have his report ready for distribution by ACNVT's August 29th meeting. 7. Terry Sutphen reported on the Community Association's Vision 20/20 program with the five selectmen and Town Administrator Libby Gibson as panelists. Much enthusiasm was expressed and hope that the videotaping would have a wide showing, especially Finn Murphy's summation. Terry also called attention to the recently released indicators report of the Nantucket Sustainable Development Corporation. A suggestion - for NSDC Director Christine Silverstein - was that this valuable report be updated annually. 8. Lou Bassano listed appropriate indicators of Nantucket residency, including any of: town tax bill, real estate title, island electric, water, phone, or cable TV (CATV) bill, car registration or driver's license, or evidence of island employment. Unless residency is defined by law, Lou expressed hope that such a broad indicator of island residency might be adopted for all purposes. An ACNVT letter recommending that would be an appropriate end-product of Lou's efforts. Bill Sherman offered to seek a listing of existing town fees to show any differentials between fees for residents and non- residents. Lou also recounted his phone conversation with school Superintendent Alan Myers about an I&M report of a summer resident's complaint about her child's non-admission to a summer school program. He explained that such a special-ed student would not benefit from short-term immersion in an unfamiliar summer school setting. On the other hand, some 70% of Nantucket's summer school population was composed of summer resident children. As a result, the proposal was made that ACNVT send a letter to the I&M commending the school's open policy toward summer residents and their children. That could be a vehicle for urging that other island entities seek comparable parity between year-round and summer residents. 9. According to Howard Blitman, the Land Council is getting close to raising the targeted $6 million for the open-space easement the Bartletts are willing to have applied to half their farm (104 acres). It conforms with the interest of the multi-generation Bartlett family in continuing their vital farming operations on that acreage. Island-wide, open land now has reached about 46% of total area. 10. Stemming from Richard Wolfe's mention of his efforts to bring WWII bombers to Nantucket September 5 or 6, discussion ensued of Airport noise abatement efforts. [See http://www.nantucketairport.com/noise.htm] Jim added that the Steamship Authority Commission will be meeting on Nantucket on August 21st at 9:30 a.m. in the High School's LGIR. The annual meeting of NCA was also noted - Monday August 18th at 9:30 a.m. in the LGIR. Roger recalled the Civic League's annual meeting on August 11th with State Senator Robert O'Leary as speaker, which led to a discussion of island impact from sharply reduced state funding. Roger said that Maryland law allowed its counties to add a surcharge on state income tax at a selected level in increments of 10%, up to 50%. As Lou noted, such a county tax here would disproportionately impact local islanders taxed as year-round residents. To empower Nantucket to charge a tax on vehicles brought to the island would require state enabling legislation. According to Bill Sherman, the state legislature has not yet acted on the pending home rule petition voted by Town Meeting which, if enacted, would allow Nantucket to , limit the number of cars. Roger offered to distribute an article in the Economist (or cite the website) pertinent to this. In response to Roger's question about availability for September meetings, Jim said he would be away on 9/12 - when the meeting site might be shifted to the Town Annex (Building Dept. building) on Washington Street. 11. After a reminder that our next ACNVT meeting is set for 9 a.m. Friday, August 29th in the High School conference room, the current meeting was adjourned at 10:20. Respectfully submitted, Bill Sherman, Secretary DATES OF INTEREST: AUGUST 29 9 A.M. ACNVT MEETS AT TOWN ANNEX MEETING ROOM d \.N --4..."" -"",'., 1lUIIl''''\; . .-: .... .c: -. Z.:'~ C/? CB J, G r- rr, ,....,,~ -0 LU V1 o