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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-01-14Harbor and Shellfish Advisory Board Tuesday, April 1, 2014 at 5:00 p.m. Community Room, 4 Fairgrounds Road Members present: Bill Blount, Wendy McCrae, Peter Brace, Doug Smith, Dr. Peter Boyce Members Absent: Chuck Connors, Michael Glowacki Marine Dept: Sheila Lucey Natural Resources Dept. Jeff Carlson, Tara Riley Others: Neil Cocker, Emma Macaire, Michael Macinerney CALL TO ORDER APPROVAL OF AGENDA Unanimously approved APPROVAL OF MINUTES Minutes of March 18, 2014 unavailable for discussion and approval CHAIRMAN'S REPORT Appointed vs. elected board Mr. Brace briefed the board on how after the March 4 meeting Board of Selectmen Chairman Rick Atherton called him to say that the selectmen weren't going to press the need to make the HSAB an appointed board and that the HSAB could continue business as usual. Ms. McCrae said there were three issues before the board; three fishermen members fear voting on fishing- related issues would put them in danger of potential conflict of interest situations. She reminded the board that two selectmen (chairman Rick Atherton and Bobby DeCosta) and Town Manager Libby Gibson attended a previous meeting to tell the board that all fishermen members of HSAB face conflict of interest challenges if they vote on fishing matter and that this board needs to be converted to an appointed board. Mr. Brace noted that Atherton and DeCosta agreed that fishermen members could be appointed and non - fishermen members could be elected. Ms. McCrae confirmed that this did happen at the prior meeting. Mr. Brace noted that up until Atherton brought this issue to light, the HSAB was functioning without fear of conflict of interest challenges, but that since then, the three fishermen members have become skittish about even attending meetings. He added that he couldn't remember a conflict of interest issue coming up for HSAB as along Mr. Brace had reported on the HSAB up through joining the board and to present day, and said he was comfortable with the status quo, and that individual board members must decide to recuse themselves or not on each agenda item. Mr. Blount asked that if the voters chose him to be on HSAB and because it's only advisory board, why wouldn't he and the other fishermen members be OK. Mr. Brace said there is always the chance that someone would call out board members on issues, which they see as conflicts of interest related to HSAB members. Dr. Boyce said there would certainly be plenty of fishing matters that don't directly benefit fishing members of the board on which they could safely vote and he indicated that it sounds like they would be safe since the selectmen have since relaxed their stance on this issue. Ms. McCrae reminded the board that Mr. Carlson was supposed to use some his budget to pay for getting answers from town counsel on what the HSAB's options are. Mr. Carlson said although he's had several conversations with town counsel, he's yet to get a definitive answer from them. Ms. McCrae expressed her discomfort at having Atherton and DeCosta first tell the HSAB it had to become an appointed board and now it's no longer necessary. Mr. Blount asked whether he should recuse himself if a potential conflict of interest matter arises on a future agenda. Mr. Brace reiterated that each member of the HSAB needs to decide for themselves whether or not to recuse. Ms. McCrae reminded the board of the 2014 Town Election and noted that both Atherton and DeCosta's seats were open. She also recounted how she and Mr. Smith, who corroborated her account of this, were on docks one day around two weeks prior to the April 1, 2014 meeting and saw State Representative Tim Madden heading toward the fast ferry, and heard him shout out "Your issue passed in the House and it's at the Senate now," and we were told this was dead in the water. Mr. Brace said he thought maybe news might have made the selectmen back off a bit and then Ms. McCrae said she felt the HSAB should not push in the direction of Boston for a while. Mr. Smith said he felt that right now, he'd probably be more valuable recusing himself and then speaking as a citizen from the audience. He added that if this issue isn't resolved by the time his seat opens up again (in 2015), that he would not defend his seat and would instead regularly attend HSAB meetings to help out as much as he could. Mr. Brace said it didn't make sense to him that the state created a board on which the people who have the best knowledge of that board's mission can no longer vote on matter central to that mission, and that these experienced people have to be on this board for it to function. Mr. Smith said Mr. Brace needed to ask Mr. Madden whether the advisory nature of HSAB has any bearing on this situation. Dr. Boyce reminded the board that the previous town counsel had advised the board that it was exempt from conflict of interest laws because it's an advisory board. Mr. Blount noted that most of the decision related to fishing benefited all fishermen, not just the three on the HSAB. Mr. Cocker said what Mr. Smith said is correct; it's all in the board's mission statement, it advises the selectmen, so the selectmen are the ones who may need to recuse themselves because they're ruling on regulations. Ms. McRae reminded the board of Ms. Gibson's letter to the board when Ms. Lucey hired stating that she didn't need to seek the board's recommendation on the hiring of the harbormaster and this cleared up any doubt in her mind about whether the HSAB had conflict of interest issues. Mr. Brace asked if the board wanted him to contact Mr. Madden on this issue. Ms. McCrae said that since the board was told by the chairman of the Board of Selectmen this is no longer an issue, she didn't think it would be proper to go over their heads to the state level. Mr. Smith said that one selectmen who he wouldn't name told him that he feels the HSAB is an illegal board. Ms. McCrae reiterated her request of legal advice from town counsel through Mr. Carlson. Mr. Carlson said that regardless of whatever town counsel might advise, each member of the HSAB must decide whether they can vote on a given matter before the board. Mr. Brace noted that the potential for conflict of interest has been known by the board since 2008 or 2009 when the state tightened up its ethics laws and yet the HSAB functioned fine until Mr. Atherton asked the board if it wanted to again submit a home rule petition for Town Meeting to get state approval for immunity on fishing- related matters before the board. Dr. Boyce reminded the board that before the state's tightening of the ethics laws, fishermen could vote on fishing matter that affected the broader fishing industry. Mr. Smith also noted that fishermen could vote on all fishing- related matters up to a value of $10,000 and that beyond that, ethics issues would come into play. Mr. Carlson offered that there is a State Ethics Board hotline board members can call to speak with the "attorney of the day" if they think they might have a conflict of interest at an upcoming meeting. Mr. Brace advised board members to make use of this number and Ms. McCrae said the board should wait until after the April 15 town elections before making any decisions on this issue. The board agreed to wait until after the election before making any decision on to solve this issues and to have Mr. Brace generate possible courses of actions to be discussed at future meetings. MARINE DEPARTMENT REPORT: Harbors update — Sheila Lucey Ms. Lucey said she's getting ready for the season. The floating docks extensively damaged in the winter of 2012/2013 will not be repaired until next year, so Ms. Lucey said they'll "put Band -Aids on it for this season ". She reported that she is proposing changes to the slip lottery, a possible way to create stability for those fishermen who fish out of there regularly. She added that there's going to be a public hearing during the April 23 selectmen's meeting. The proposal is to keep the regulars out of the annual slip lottery and she's dividing them up into two categories: A. People operating year -round and drawing all of their income from working on the water and as long as they're paying their fees on time, they would not have to the lottery again and B. people who make some part of their income on the water during the year. The fees for the A. group would go up and the B group fees would remain the same. Ms. Lucey noted that Nantucket has the cheapest slip fees in the state by far. Ms. Lucey added that she is recommending that boaters with moorings be required to submit to mooring inspections by the Marine Department instead of as it is now with it being recommended. Ms. Lucey asked that whoever could make it to Town Meeting on April 5 be ready to support her CPC funding request for a rescue boat made by "Sealeggs" that can drive on the road and beach, and respond much quicker to near -shore boating accidents. The cost of this rescue vessel is $175,000. Mr. Brace said he would be ready to speak in support of this request should it be called at Town Meeting. She said she would haul it on a trailer to the beach launching spot. Mr. Blount said he's been rescued by an amphibious vehicle off the south shore and it took just 30 minutes from when he made the call to when he got back on shore. Ms. McCrae said that when it comes to on- the -water safety, Nantucket cannot have enough equipment. Mr. Blount said if the town has a serious incident in which someone loses their life, we'd never hear the end of it. Mr. Smith said the selectmen need to know about Ms. Lucey's training of Nantucket police officers under Coast Guard standards so if needed, she can get two or three of them to go on rescues with her. The board agreed to support Ms. Lucey's request and asked Mr. Brace to speak in support of her request on behalf of the HSAB. NATURAL RESOURCES REPORT Commercial scallop season update and end of the season numbers — Jeff Carlson Mr. Carlson reported that commercial scallopers harvested 14,500 bushels of scallops in the 2013/2014 commercial scallop season and hat this number would likely have been higher if fishermen had not lost 27 days to inclement weather. He told the board that his department was working on getting the boathouse opened up and going, and getting going the oyster shell recycling program going. He reiterated how important it was for Ms. Lucey to get her amphibious rescue boat. And Mr. Carlson reminded the board that the town biologist position was up for a Town Meeting vote. Ms. Riley reported to the board that Matt Liddle's eighth grade class from the Nantucket New School would be working on projects at the marine lab for two months on Thursdays and Friday. Mr. Brace moved up the discussion of the town biologist from New Business to the Natural Resources Report and asked Mr. Carlson if there would be any resistance to it. This would be in the general fund budget. Mr. Carlson said the funds would be available on July 1, but that he could put out ads for filling the town biologist's position. Ms. McCrae opined on the selectmen allowing commercial scallopers to take six bushels of scallops for the last three weeks of the season, saying that she didn't think they really got much out of it, that they didn't get back one quarter of what they lost. She recommended that in the early part of the 2014/2015, the board discuss how help fishermen recover lost days for those late season scallopers. She asked what did the board give these scallopers? Mr. Brace replied that the board and the selectmen gave the scallopers a better chance to get more scallops and that trying to retroactively compensate them for lost days during a new season could create a lot of new problems. Dr. Boyce said he thought that Ms. McCrae wanted to discuss options for later in the next season and she said he was correct. Mr. Brace reminded the board that the Shellfish Bylaw Review Workgroup has already discussed such options. Mr. Carlson confirmed this, saying that the proposed solution is that 15 days lost triggers the HSAB to discuss how to provide more fishing opportunities for scallopers. Mr. Cocker floated the idea of extending the season that just closed, acknowledging that this might be a challenge. Mr. Carlson said the state closes the season statewide on April 1 and Ms. McCrae said an emergency meeting would need to be called. Mr. Carlson said a variance might be possible and that he had been trying to reach the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries to see how the town might arrange for a season extension. Mr. Blount and Ms. McCrae said the season has been extended before. Mr. Brace asked what if the town can extend the season, but then the weather is too crappy to fish on those five days and then the scallopers come back and ask for another week? Mr. Cocker said most scallopers could find a part of the harbor to fish in when the wind is blowing hard. Mr. Blount noted that because the island is going into a cooling trend, maybe scallopers could go on Saturdays if they lose days in December. Ms. McCrae said she's sympathetic with both fishermen and Mr. Carlson's enforcement needs, and she asked Mr. Brace to request during the public comment portion of the April 2 selectmen's meeting that the selectmen hold an emergency meeting to pursue an extra week of scalloping. Mr. Brace said he would do this if the board asked him to. Mr. Brace asked Mr. Carlson how many more bushels were taken after the extra box was added. Mr. Carlson couldn't say. Mr. Cocker said they only had two days of fishing with six -box limit per license. Michael Macinerney, scalloper, said the six boxes more applied to Madaket fishermen and not him others who fish in town, so more days would've been better, and that most people didn't get that sixth box. Ms. McCrae said the pounds were no more with the sixth box than four or five at the beginning of the season. Ms. Riley noted that the scallopers who wanted more out the season came to the HSAB and asked for sixth box, not an extra week and that the scallopers who wanted an extra week should have come to that HSAB meeting and asked for it. She added that scallopers take their chances with the weather. Mr. Brace said he agreed with what Ms. Riley said. Mr. Macinerney reiterated his Madaket -Town complaint. Mr. Brace said the board responded to what the fishermen said they wanted. Dr. Boyce said this whole issue can be addressed next year, but extending the season doesn't look something that can happen. Mr. Brace said extending the season has a lot to do with a getting a variance from the state. Mr. Cocker said he spoke with Nantucket's environmental police officer Keith Robinson about extending the season and he didn't seem to be against it. Ms. Riley said going beyond the middle of April would impact the scallops' growth. Mr. Macinerney asked if this could be pushed quickly through DMF as the nub issue was, but Mr. Carlson said it's more complicated than that. Ms. McRae made a motion that Mr. Brace attend the April 2 selectmen's meeting and raise this issue in the public comment section of the meeting. Mr. Blount first said he would second it, but then decided not to because of potential conflict of interest issues. Mr. Brace then said he felt he had a sense of the board and would go to the selectmen's meeting. Dr. Boyce said he supported Mr. Brace going to the selectmen's meeting. PUBLIC COMMENT ON MARINE DEPARTMENT / NATURAL RESOURCES REPORT OLD BUSINESS Changing HSAB to a partially appointed board — update Discussed during the Chairman's report Update on SBRW — how close to being done — Jeff Carlson Mr. Brace said the Shellfish Bylaw Review Workgroup would be getting the final draft of revised shellfish regulations back from Mr. Carlson at the April 3 meeting and he expected that the workgroup would be approving this draft and passing it on to the HSAB. NEW BUSINESS Water Quality Funding talking points Update on town biologist going in town meeting and beyond Discussed during the Natural Resources Report PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND COMMENT No public comment RECAP and ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING ADJOURN Unanimously approved Future Meetings: April 15 and May 6 Respectfully Submitted, Peter B. Brace, Chairman