Harwich’s Revolving Door Continued In 2023

HARWICH – It was another revolving door year at town hall as the town lost several department heads to retirement, jobs in other towns and performance issues.

“It seems like the doors to town hall have an exit sign on them,” select board member Donald Howell said of the departure of staff.

The town lost Director of Planning and Community Development Paul Halkiotis at the end of June. A few weeks before his departure, health department director Katie O’Neill resigned to take a position in the Barnstable County Health Department. Longtime Natural Resources Director Heinz Proft retired in July, and in August Treasurer/TaxCollector Betty Clark MacLeay was terminated at the end of her six month probationary period.

In mid-February, Finance Director Anne Marie Ellis, who was in the job for only seven months, jumped ship, taking the position of town accountant in Yarmouth. Kathleen Barrette, a town accountant in the town of Sandwich, was hired to fill the position in late April. The town has had problems filling the department head positions in the finance division; at one point there were no department heads in the department. There has been no treasurer/tax collector since Clark MacLeay left in August.

The town had a difficult time filling the director of planning and community development position on a couple of occasions. When director Jon Idman left that position for a similar job in Brewster in May 2022 after serving for only one year, it remained vacant for seven months. Halkiotis was hired last December and served for six months before abruptly announcing his retirement in June. That position was filled with the hiring of Christine Flynn in November.

On the committee side, tensions began to escalate in town hall in mid January when, during an affordable housing trust meeting, Town Administrator Joseph Powers, chair of the trust, and member Judith Underwood went at each other.

The primary disagreement centered around workforce housing and the annual median income percentages under which the trust is directed to achieve its goal of creating and preserving low and moderate income housing. The disagreement resulted in gavel banging and a loud back and forth argument that led to an abrupt termination of the meeting.

“You will yield because the chair of this pubic body has told you to yield, and this is not going to be a back and forth between you and I,” Powers announced. “Heavy is the head that wields the gavel of a public body. The member has to yield.”

Powers later apologized for his action in the session.

“I regret the manner in which I comported myself and the manner for which the meeting was led,” he said. “For that I apologize, and I offer to you my solemn promise to do the thing I’ve always tried to do, and that is to do better.”

It was a tough first half of the year for the affordable housing trust, with considerable discussion about the dysfunction of the trust and its inability to generate housing in its first five years. There was a call for change in the committee’s membership, which also led to the replacement of the select board’s representative to the trust, Donald Howell. He initially refused to step down, but capitulated after a motion was made to remove him from the trust. Selectman Larry Ballantine was appointed as the board’s representative to the trust.

In May, Underwood stepped down from the trust.

“It has come to my attention by citizens of Harwich not the (board of selectmen) that I am to be put off the trust come July 1,” she wrote in her resignation. “This public disregard for a volunteer is unbecoming and inexcusable. Because of this egregious behavior of those elected to serve this town, I am not comfortable attending the next few meetings, and resigning.”

There were also conflicts between the select board and golf committee, an advisory group on matters relating to Cranberry Valley Golf Course. There was a hold placed on their meetings by the board until two members resigned or until their terms expire next June. Committee member Steven Bilotta stepped down in early December.

The select board had sought to rein in the activities of the committee. The board took issue with the committee for not following process and procedures, criticizing golf department employees, and seeking to micromanage the golf department. Efforts by the select board to craft a new charge for the committee have been contentious. One proposal was called “punitive, demeaning and contradictory.” There have been several resignations from the committee in recent months.

Harwich has been known for some very close elections in recent years, and 2023 was no different. A three-candidate race between select board incumbent Howell, former select board member Peter Piekarski and Jeffrey Handler went to Handler with 1,336 votes, but Howell squeaked by Piekarski for his fifth three-year term by only three votes. Piekarski chose not to request a recount.

This was also the year when voters agreed to change the home rule charter reference from “board of selectmen” and “chairman” to “select board” and “chair,” deleting the gender reference.

In May Massachusetts Cultural Council Deputy Director David Slatery was in town to participate in the dedication of two cultural districts. Harwich is one of just a few communities in the state with two cultural districts: Harwich Center and Harwich Port. The districts are expected to boost economic vitality in the community.

“We open the door to new possibilities as we say yes to arts and culture,” Director of Cultural Affairs Kara Mcwhinney said during the dedication.

There has been much talk about addressing affordable housing needs in the community, and while there have been proposals, and there are a number of concepts in the works, more units have not materialized. The proposed 96-unit housing development on Chloe’s Path off Sisson Road ran into opposition from some town officials and neighbors who protested the density, potential for adverse impacts on the environment, and traffic issues. The property owners have now decided to move forward with a seven-lot subdivision.

Preliminary discussions continue for Pine Oaks Village IV, a proposed 288-unit affordable and workforce housing development on more than 30 acres in North Harwich. There are three Pine Oaks Village housing complexes in town. Mid-Cape Church Homes, Inc., which operates the primarily senior housing complexes, has earned the respect of the community over the years, but is facing a backlash from residents in the area of the newly proposed development based on density and traffic concerns.

The affordable housing trust had a tough early half of the year, but progress is being made. The trust is seeking proposals to establish a 40- to 50-unit affordable housing complex on the trust-owned former Marcleine property off Pleasant Lake Avenue. The proposal calls for a maximum of 90 bedrooms on the three lots that make up the 11.6-acre property. The trust also approved an Affordable Housing Strategy Plan for fiscal 2024 to 2028 at its December meeting.

The Harwich Fire Association is lending a hand in addressing the affordable housing shortage in town, joining with the Harwich Conservation Trust in the reshaping of the 2.06-acre lot upon which the town’s first fire station sits on Bank Street. The association and the trust purchased the property from the town, and the fire association is restoring the historic structure. A portion of the bottom floor will be a museum that will feature the town’s first fire truck and other historic fire fighting equipment, while the second floor will include three affordable housing units for people associated with the town.

Harwich Conservation Trust will use a portion of the property for parking for the Robert F. Smith Cold Brook Preserve. The trust is working with the town on the eco-restoration project in the preserve. As part of the restoration, ponds will be established to filter nitrogen from the Saquatucket Harbor watershed. The expectation is that the project will reduce nitrogen impacts by 35 to 50 percent, saving the town major costs on installing sewers in the watershed.

On wastewater issues, Water/Wastewater Superintendent Dan Pelletier said in September that 190 homes are connected to the sewer system in East Harwich and are sending sewage to the Chatham wastewater treatment facilities. Another 60 homes were in the process of being connected, according to Pelletier.

In October, the recreation department came under fire from parents who were upset with the lack of programs available for kids. Recreation Director Eric Beebe said at the time that staffing programs and finding volunteers impacted the amount of programs the department could offer.

After meeting on the topic with the select board, and a couple of sessions with the recreation and youth commission, Beebe reported to the select board that several new winter programs were in place, and the discussions have rejuvenated volunteer interest in helping to run the programs.

The abrupt resignation of select board chair Mary Anderson in mid-October drew prolonged debate over whether a special election should be called to fill the vacancy. Select board member Donald Howell offered a motion to call the election in the board’s Oct. 30 meeting but did not receive a second. In the absence of the board calling for a special election, a petition was circulated by Patrick Otton and received more than the necessary 200 signatures from registered voters compelling the board to call the special election. The board this week called the election for April 9.