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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTown Managers Newsletter - 2012 03 13 From the Desk of Town Manager Libby Gibson MARCH 13, 21012 VOLUME 3, NUMBER 3 Town of Nantucket 16 Broad St. Nantucket, MA 02554 P: (508) 228-7255 F: (508) 228-7272 Contact Us! Town of Nantucket Website Newsletter Archives Subscribe to the Newsletter ANNOUNCEMENT: during March, a helicopter will be flying low over the Tom Nevers area in association with an Army Corps of Engineers project to identify unexploded ordnance in Formerly Used Defense Site (“FUDS”) areas. For more information, click here. Town Administration News and Updates 2012 Annual Town Meeting As you hopefully by now know, the 2012 Annual Town Meeting will be held on a Saturday this year (March 31). Months ago, the Board of Selectmen agreed to experiment with a Saturday Town Meeting in the interest of trying to make it easier for people to attend. Other Massachusetts towns that have a Saturday Town Meeting include Westborough, Plymouth, and Westford. The Finance Committee, Planning Board and Board of Selectmen have completed their Motions and Comments on the 98 articles in the 2012 Annual Town Meeting Warrant. The warrant is in the process of being printed and then mailed to Nantucket voters, in accordance with a requirement of the Town Charter that the warrant with motions be mailed to voters seven days prior to the Town Meeting. Despite the hours and hours of meetings and effort that is put into the development and completion of the warrant articles, motions and comments, there are inevitable changes that occur after the document has been sent to the printer. These are generally known as Technical Amendments and are taken up at the beginning of the Town Meeting. The Finance Committee will be meeting again on March 22 at 4:00 pm (Public Safety Facility Training Room) and March 27 at 10:00 am (Public Safety Facility Training Room) with the Moderator to review, among other Town Meeting issues, the Technical Amendments. Financial Issues One of the Board of Selectmen’s Goals for 2011-2012 related to achieving an unqualified audit opinion for the fiscal year 2011. On February 21, 2012, the Audit Committee met to review the draft audit and associated management letter with the Town’s auditor (Renee Davis of Powers & Sullivan). I am pleased to report that we did achieve an unqualified audit opinion for which the Town’s Finance Department deserves recognition. A lot of hard work and transitional issues have occurred over the past year in the Department and we are very pleased with their efforts and progress. The final audit and management letter may be found on the Town’s website by the end of this week. Also at the February 21 Audit Committee meeting, we reviewed a second interim report from Kathy Griffin and Mark Abrahams of the Abrahams Group which conducted an organizational review of the Finance Department in 2008. The report contained 36 recommendations, many of which relate to internal controls. An interim report was also conducted in 2009. This second interim report indicated progress toward completion of many of the remaining recommendations, most of which are those which require a longer-term effort to implement across departments. Marine Department Our Town Biologist, Tara Riley, recently returned from a 9 week trip to Zanzibar. The following is an account of her trip: On December 14, 2011, I travelled to the island of Zanzibar off of Tanzania to embark on a 9 week project to help train two Muslim students on shellfish hatchery techniques. The project is coordinated through Wood’s Hole Oceanographic Institute under Dr. Hauke Kite-Powell and began in 2009. It is funded by the Island Creek Oyster Foundation and the McKnight Foundation’s Africa Grants Program of Chicago, Illinois. The ultimate goal of the project is to enable 6 groups of women from remote villages in Zanzibar to develop shellfish husbandry skills for field grow-out of locally produced shellfish seed from a new hatchery in Stone Town. Currently the women are harvesting wild shellfish stocks that are becoming increasingly difficult to reach due to infrequent low tides and over-harvesting. The women need a reliable source of shellfish seed to plant in accessible areas. If successful, this model would more than double their annual income which is currently around $100 per year. The hatchery in Stone Town was started in 2010 and is the only shellfish hatchery in East Africa. My charge was to teach local students the “ins and outs” of shellfish culture. We concentrated on experimenting with the various algae diets that are required to “ripen” the gonads of the Blood Arks (clams) so that they could spawn on a reliable basis. We were successful in establishing an adequate routine to ripen and spawn the shellfish. We had three successful spawns where the clams did very well through their larval phase. Future challenges will include handling and treating bacterial loads associated with water quality to ensure healthy shellfish through their final grow-out stage. Although the island has many challenges and most people live on about $1 per day, the local people are among the happiest and most optimistic that I have ever encountered. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to participate in this project that turned out to be rewarding on so many levels. Spending that amount of time immersed in an unfamiliar culture really can put things into perspective and you really appreciate the things we take for granted in our every day life. I provided locals with skills that will hopefully in the end contribute to a reliable source of protein, and they were able to show me the beauty of their island through their kindness and welcoming culture. I learned that each day is a gift, and I plan to live my life that way. I am looking forward to applying my renewed energy and enthusiasm towards Nantucket’s shellfish program for a successful 2012! Nantucket Energy Office The Nantucket Energy Office, funded through a grant from ReMain, has been working on a variety of energy-related projects including wind, solar and energy conservation. Lauren Sinatra, Energy Coordinator, reports the following: As part of the Mass Save Initiative (www.masssave.com), several energy specialists will be on Nantucket from Monday 4/23/2012 thru Friday 4/27/2012 to perform up to 80 NO-COST residential energy audits. This is a service offered to us by National Grid and the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) to promote energy efficiency programs and to help residents and businesses better manage energy use. To sign up for a no-cost Home Energy Assessment: 1) Please call (866) 527-7283 2) OR, email Lauren Sinatra (lsinatra@nantucket-ma.gov): the name on your electric account (with National Grid account number), property address and phone number, year and style of home, and type of heating fuel Curious to know what to expect from the home energy assessment? Please read about one resident’s satisfactory experience below: “Our energy assessment from Mass Save took a little less than two hours. The consultant reviewed my electric utility bills and did a thorough analysis basement-to-attic. At the end of his review, he sat down with me to go over his recommendations for conserving energy in my home. He cited quick and easy upgrades I can make immediately, like air sealing, and actions I may want to take over time, like better insulating the attic. The air sealing process is offered at no cost and is worth $700 to $800… that’s right, free! The insulation would need to be assessed by another consultant with whom I arranged an appointment. If we do decide to move forward with that project, up to 75% of the cost can be subsidized by Mass Save and I can qualify for a 0% loan (max $10k) up to 7 years through the HEAT loan program. The incentives just seem too good to be true! My energy specialist also looked at signs of moisture and if there was any safety concerns. He even looked at my furnace and water heater, citing that there is more efficient equipment available today but the equipment I have doesn’t need to be immediately replaced. My Mass Save consultant offered me free goodies like compact fluorescent lights, low-flow shower heads, and programmable thermostats. On top of that, we talked about Energy Star appliances and how I could reduce my consumption by 20 to 30%.” For more information, please visit: www.MassSave.com. Community Service Visit I was invited, along with Wendy Hudson, Deborah Dilworth and Melissa Philbrick, to attend a meeting of Girl Scout Troup #80789 on Saturday, February 18 to speak about our experiences as women working on various fields. The girls asked many great questions, were very gracious and I think the speakers all learned some interesting things about each other! In Memoriam Our sincerest sympathies go to the family of Marina Finch who passed away on March 5. Marina served as an EMT, call firefighter and was a former member of the Town’s Harbor & Shellfish Advisory Board. MARCH TRIVIA QUESTION In what year was the “new” (current) Our Island Home, dedicated? ANSWER TO FEBRUARY TRIVIA QUESTION* Where is Rhoda Weinman’s dog, Frazier, going to be next week? Answer: Westminster Dog Show Answers submitted by: -- Erika Mooney -- Jim Lentowski (who was good enough to provide even more details: 136th Annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, at Madison Square Garden, New York, New York) -- Catherine Stover -- Diane Holdgate -- Leslie Forbes -- Kate Hamilton -- Penny Dey -- Penny Snow -- H. Flint Ranney *This was the most responded to Trivia Question, yet! As always, ideas for future e-newsletter topics are welcome!