Our View: We’re Just Wondering…

We’re doing a lot of wondering this week, and not just at the hefty snowfall nature brought to the region.

 We’re wondering why four members of the Chatham Board of Health resigned rather than engage in a dialogue with the select board. Responding to a local business, the select board asked the health board to review its decision to enforce a long-standing regulation prohibiting commercial waste haulers from bringing trash from outside of town into the transfer station. The select board asked that Milley Trucking, which collects trash from all four Monomoy School District buildings — including the two in Harwich — and brings it to to the Chatham Transfer Station be allowed to continue to do that, even though other waste haulers had signed an affidavit acknowledging the regulation to renew annual permits. Select board members said they were trying to protect a long-standing local business, which indicated that paying the higher disposal fee in Harwich could endanger its existence. The four health board members felt disrespected and undercut by the select board. We understand that position, but this seems to us an issue that could have easily been resolved with better communication. Or, if they felt so strongly about it, the health board members could have stood their ground, since they have significant authority under state law. We’re sorry to see their collective experience of more than 40 years of town service be sacrificed.

 We’re also wondering why the Brewster Chamber of Commerce’s need to find new quarters was not announced sooner. The chamber was reportedly informed in October that the town needed the space it has occupied for some 30 years in the lower level of town hall to house staff members working in unsuitable spaces. That seems like a reasonable request, but it only became public recently, and now the chamber is scrambling to find new offices. That doesn’t seem like it would be a major problem, but if the chamber has to be out by spring, the difference between having six months to search for a new home and being up against a three-month deadline is significant. Again, it seems to us that communication was at the root of the problem here. Maybe the chamber was working behind the scenes and didn’t see the need to make the change public, but apparently that didn’t work out, and now they’re scrambling. Hopefully the publicity will result in a new home for the chamber in time for the busy summer season, but whether that will include a visitors center is uncertain at this time.

 OK, honestly, we’re also wondering if this coming weekend will bring another major snowstorm. Frankly, we had a run of several years without seeing more than a half dozen inches or so of the white stuff. Last weekend’s foot-plus total reminds us what New England winters used to be like. It was beautiful and fun for a short time, but it was all the reminder we needed. If we all think hard enough, maybe we can force the next system out to sea. We’re wondering if that will work…