Capital Projects, Sea Camps And More Slated For Special Town Meeting

BREWSTER – Town Manager Peter Lombardi and Assistant Town Manager Donna Kalinick ran down the 15 articles on the Nov. 16 special town meeting warrant Monday in such a smooth and efficient manner that there was nary a single question when it was over.

The special town meeting begins at 5 p.m. (an hour earlier than usual) at the Stony Brook Elementary School. The first eight articles are financial and will be taken in order. The last seven fall into a lottery and arise by chance. Transportation and childcare are available provided the town is notified in advance, and food and snacks will be on sale courtesy of Ocean Edge and the Nauset Youth Alliance.

Article 1 covers unpaid bills of $6,387 left over from the last fiscal year that expired July 1, most of that due Nauset Disposal.

Article 2 seeks $68,000 to essentially pay rent to the state for the use of parking lots at the Crosby Mansion and for Crosby Beach overflow. The mansion is on state land, an extension of Nickerson State Park. That will come from free cash, $20,000 going to the state as rent and $48,000 into the Crosby Mansion Revolving Fund to help operate the lots.

“We have a new license agreement as of last year,” Lombardi noted.

Article 3 will fund the startup of the town’s short-term rental registration and inspection program. It will use $120,000 in free cash to pay for two new positions in the building department as hundreds of inspections will need to be done. It also repurposes a part-time health department position as well as covering equipment and supplies.

“The town approved the bylaw last spring and it launches in 2027,” Lombardi said. 

The town seeks to use $125,000 in PFAS funds to construct a new water main on Sea Meadow Lane in Article 4.

“We participated in a class action suit and got just under $400,000,” Lombardi said. “We have a resident on a private well who took advantage of the testing program from the county and PFAS were confirmed. Ten residents on Sea Meadow Lane petitioned to connect to public drinking water. The $125,000 will pay for the new main to connect.”

The Community Preservation Committee is asking for approval to spend $700,000 to construct four tennis courts at the Sea Camps Bay property. The town has since received a $140,000 grant from the U.S. Tennis Association, so the CPC will receive some money back once the bids are opened and the actual cost is known.

The eight tennis courts at the Stony Brook School will be converted to 12 pickle ball courts.

Brewster usually puts most of its capital projects on the fall town warrant and that is the case again. The town wants $2,980,500 for a long list of items; $1,185,000 of that will come from free cash, of which Brewster has about $3.5 available; $1.365 million is from golf retained earnings; and the rest from other sources. 

Kalinick highlighted several of the many capital projects: $240,000 to upgrade heating and air conditioning at the police station, $100,000 to improve communication for fire department emergency services, $20,000 to look at the roof of the Stony Brook School, $100,000 to continue the Nauset Elementary Schools efficiency and regionalization study, $65,000 to replace the community garden fence and $25,000 to fix the roof on the gazebo at Drummer Boy Park.

There is a separate Sea Camps capital article (Article 7) for $1,087,400 to cover three main items: $600,000 in free cash to demolish 16 to 21 buildings that are in bad shape, $462,000 using $332,400 in water department revenues and the rest in free cash to replace the water main that runs through a coastal dune, and $25,000 in free cash to design and permit a trail from Route 6A to the beach. The building demolition is still out to bid; the bids will be opened prior to town meeting.

“We will come to town meeting with a number in hand,” Kalinick said. “The public works department and water department are all assisting in getting smaller work done [in house]. The buildings are all in fair, poor and critical condition and need to be removed. The property has been closed since mid-October for major construction for infrastructure.”

Kalinick noted that the town also has grants to do fiber optic installation ($250,000) and to replace a cesspool (about $100,000).

Article 8 is the biggest expense, but it won’t come from taxes. It is an $11 million, 20-year bond to fund golf course work replacing two maintenance buildings that date from the 1980s. Golf receipts and retained funds will pay for the interest and principal on the bonds over the 20 years (about $850,000 a year).

“I have full confidence the golf course will be able to cover the full cost,” Lombardi said.

Article 9 accepts a state law that permits town employees serving in the military to receive full pay for 40 days and then their full salary net military pay for longer deployments. This would only affect a couple of employees.

Article 10 would create a disability commission replacing the all access committee. The commission would operate under state rules and include disabled members (see separate story).

Veterans would also benefit under Article 11, which increases the amount of tax exemption available to them under the Hero Act. The town will cover this increase with $25,000 from overlay funds.

Article 12 increases the spending limit for the short-term rental revolving fund to $400,000 as anticipated operational costs are higher than the $200,000 originally expected. This will be funded from revenues of the short-term rental registration fees of $300 per unit that are expected to bring in $350,000 a year. The expected expenses are now just over $300,000 a year.

Article 13 makes some technical changes in the stormwater bylaw. Article 14 is another technical one amending the way fines are handled under a state bylaw. The state law allows the town to impose fines under an administrative hearing process. There are no new fines.

Article 15 doesn’t ask voters to do anything at all. It is a joint report from the town administration and the school committee on progress with the elementary schools. The select board and the committee voted jointly in September to draft a statement of interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority to get in line for possibly getting 30 percent funding on any school consolidation, renovation or new building construction for the Brewster elementary schools. 

This doesn’t obligate the town to do anything. Getting accepted by the MSBA will take over a year and any project is at least five years away. But as Lombardi noted, the letter of interest is due this winter, otherwise there would be further delays.

“This is a competitive program and we believe we can make a good case,” he said. “If accepted, we will go back to town meeting to ask for funds to analyze and evaluate all options: renovation, an addition, new building, consolidation of the two schools. No decision has been made. It is still off in the future. It will take five-plus years to get all the way through the process.”