School Roof Funding Approved

 HARWICH – Voters overwhelmingly approved $11,801,239 for the Monomoy Regional Middle School roof replacement project on the opening night of the annual town meeting Monday.

 Voters also approved town and school budgets, capital spending and several petition articles.

 Parents said the middle school, where siding and windows are currently being replaced, desperately needs a new roof. Leaking from the contributed to air quality problems in the classrooms, they said.

Parent Courtney Wittenstein said she had to pull her son out of school for a month last year when he suffered a respiratory reaction. Kids were often coughing while in the school but were OK outside, she said, and water leaked from the windows and poured through the ceiling and the light fixtures.

“It’s a $37 increase in taxes,” she said. “Why put siding up with a waterlogged ceiling?” 

 The select board had been hesitant to support a metal rather than an asphalt roof on the 60-year-old school building located in Chatham. A metal roof was projected to have a 50-year life span, and board members questioned spending more for a metal roof when the building is unlikely to last 110 years. An asphalt roof is projected to last 25 to 30 years. 

 The asphalt roof cost $315,000 less than the metal roof. The school building committee met last week and agreed to seek an asphalt roof in the base bid for the project with an alternate bid for a metal roof. The committee agreed to return to the Harwich and Chatham select boards with the bids before issuing a contract.

 That satisfied the Harwich board, which met just before the beginning of the annual town meeting and voted to support the roof funding article. Select Board Chair Donald Howell said the bid process will provide cost figures to evaluate, including the two roof options.

Voters approved the roof funding by a 396-40 vote. Approval of a debt exclusion vote on the May 19 annual election ballot will be necessary to authorize the district to borrow the money.

Monday marked the first time town meeting used electronic devices to tabulate votes. The process went smoothly, especially when counting three motions to terminate debate, which requires a four-fifths majority to pass.

The devices, referred to as “clickers,” came in handy when counting a capital outlay project seeking $1 million to fund architectural and engineering services to support the construction of a new department of public works facility and mechanical workshop. The article drew no debate, but a voice vote revealed no clear majority. The clickers were employed, and the article lost by a 159-172 vote.

Voters approved a town operating budget of $51,763,298 by an overwhelming majority, as well as OKing a Monomoy Regional School District budget of $33,104,137 and a Cape Cod Regional Technical budget of 1,828,391. A water department budget of $5,442,329 was approved along with a wastewater budget of $944,395. 

Voters approved three other articles in the capital plan requiring debt exclusions. The articles will fund $700,000 for the DPW’s road maintenance, reconstruction, resurfacing and drainage projects for the year. Town Administrator Jay McGrail said a major focus is on repairs to three miles of Great Western Road. Funds were approved to purchase and equip an ambulance at $577,500, and $425,000 to purchase and equip a new boat for the harbor department was also OK’d. The debt exclusions will need approval at the town election.

A few petition articles were also approved on Monday night. Voters approved an article that authorizes the select board or a designee to evaluate the possible acquisition of the 29-acre Marceline salvage yard property along Pleasant Lake Avenue at the Route 6 interchange. Petitioner Matt Sutphin said he understands the property may be under contract right now, but added that contracts do not always come to fruition.

Mike Abdow said his family owned a scrap and iron business in the Worcester area years ago and could not sell the property because of leaked antifreeze, oil and greases that permeated the soil. He said they had to dig out soil 10 feet deep and send it out to be refined. He said the Marceline property might be OK for a slab for a grocery store, but it might not be suitable for housing with foundations. Voters supported the article with a 283-120 vote. 

Patrick Otton has been a strong supporter of reduced fertilizer use, filing several articles in recent years seeking special legislation to allow the town to control fertilizer application. He did so again this year; the finance committee supported the article, but the select board recommended it be indefinitely postponed. 

Otton’s petition sought to authorize the select board to pursue special legislation prohibiting the application of fertilizer in the town, except for commercial agriculture and residential use of organic fertilizer with low nitrogen and phosphorus for growing fruits, vegetables and gardens based on USDA National Organic Program standards. 

 “Our estuaries, ponds and marine waters are in decline,” Otton said. “We have a loss of eelgrass, shellfish closures and cyanobacteria closing our beaches. Our blue economy is also losing. Water is our life blood. We have to take care of the place where we live and love.” 

He said Harwich will spend $450 million on sewers, but less fertilizer application means saving $67 million in sewer infrastructure.

Great Sand Lakes resident Ann Frechette said ponds there were closed for much of last year because of cyanobacteria caused by nitrogen. She added that Hinckley Pond had a cyanobacteria episode under the ice in the winter.

“We can do something to prevent closures of our ponds,” Frechette said.

“It’s about the amount you put onto the ground,” John Sarkis said of the use of fertilizer. He said a ban is not necessary and that the proposal will raise the cost of applicable fertilizers.

Voters approved the fertilizer article 173-130.

“We all don’t like rats and we want them to be gone,” said Janis Raffaele, whose

petition article sought to authorize the select board to seek special legislation restricting the application of second-generation anticoagulants rodenticides (SGAR), a rat poison. She said SGAR causes slow internal bleeding and that the poison remains in rat bodies for months. When other wildlife such as hawks, eagles, owls, coyotes, even pets, devour a dead or dying animal they can get poisoned and die. The poison can also remain in the soil and can put children at risk, she said.

More comprehensive and safer alternatives are needed, she said, instead of relying on dangerous poisons. She cited the use of live traps, Rat X,  a non-poison solution, and electric zappers. She urged people to remove outdoor pet food, dog waste and garbage from yards. Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet and Truro have petitioned the state for such special legislation, she added.

“We need to take baby steps now to get this harmful poison out of our environment,” Raffaele said.  

Rats can carry excrement-generated diseases that can seriously affect the lungs, said Sharon Plegler. “If you’re not using pesticides you need to think about what happens when you don’t get rid of rats.” She said the town uses SGAR on a limited basis at the town landfill, but not throughout the town.

“Rats are subsidized animals, they’re only here because of us, we bring them here, and unless we change our behavior, the rats will always be here,” said Herb Raffaele.

Voters approved the article 210-57.

A petition article seeking to regulate incentives to developers, including 40B developments, was defeated 112-211.

The town’s updated local comprehensive plan, a planning tool to guide future growth, was approved 304-29 vote