In-Car Town Meeting One of Several Options  ORLEANS - They're stopping short of bringing back Liam's for car hop service, but the option of an in-vehicle town meeting at Nauset Beach next month is on the select board's agenda for Sept. 9.   It's one of several pandemic-moment alternatives that include a back-to-school approach (indoors at Nauset Regional Middle School or outdoors inside the school's trac...

ORLEANS — With parts of Nauset Regional High School suffering air circulation problems, classes will be fully remote when instruction begins Sept. 16. That’s a switch from the original hybrid plan that called for split weeks of home and in-school learning. “We will… remain remote until the ventilation system is repaired and brought up to COVID standards,” Principal Chris Ellsasser wrote to teachers Tuesday m...

ORLEANS — With a million-dollar operating budget shortfall forecast for the fiscal year beginning July 2021, the select board and other officials are taking a hard look at expenses and revenues in a series of fiscal stability workshops. Last week, the focus was on fees the town charges for its services, and the potential for asking October’s special town meeting to make some changes that can take effect as early ...

ORLEANS — In an attempt to put the horse before the cart, the affordable housing trust hosted a virtual meeting Tuesday with owners of homes surrounding 107 Main St., the property it purchased this year for conversion to residences. Members heard the kinds of questions that often arise much later in the process, and promised to continue working on a plan that will satisfy the neighbors and the town’s housing ne...

Too Early To Return To The Classroom, They Say ORLEANS — Under drizzly skies last Wednesday, more than two dozen teachers from Monomoy, Nauset and other Lower Cape school districts staged a protest at the Orleans Rotary to express concerns about returning to the classroom during the pandemic. The teachers argue that they’re eager to see their students in person again, but not if doing so puts the school ...

For the past 18 years, the Homeless Prevention Council has sponsored the Backpack-to-School program, which provides school supplies and backpacks to students in the eight Lower Cape towns. The program's 19 th year, however, is unprecedented. “We're all in this unknown place, trying to work together to come up with a solution,” said HPC Chief Executive Officer Hadley Luddy. This year the agency is partnerin...

ORLEANS — Orleans will have to navigate the perilous passage to permitting for the Nauset Estuary dredging project without the financial support of Eastham. At the Aug. 20 meeting of the Nauset Estuary Stakeholders Group, Eastham Town Administrator Jacqui Beebe said her select board was “not willing to fund the continuation of the permitting process because they do believe the permitting issue was put to bed...

ORLEANS — When you were in grade school, did your teacher ever tell you to stop looking out the window? Next month, that childhood urge to be outdoors will be put to good use as Orleans Elementary School reopens during an ongoing pandemic. “We do anticipate even in the cooler weather we’ll have windows open,” Principal Elaine Pender told the elementary school committee Aug. 13. “We expect to have to adjust a...

ORLEANS — By a 3-2 margin last week, the select board approved a three-year contract for Town Administrator John Kelly. “I’ve served the town for nearly 24 years,” Kelly told the board, “and I remain committed to the town of Orleans… I expect this will be my final contract in Orleans and I want to see a smooth transition go forward.” That transition is something that board members Mark Mathison and Cecil ...

ORLEANS — There’s an old-timey feel about the town’s commercial wharf at Rock Harbor, but that’s not necessarily a good thing. Instead of enjoying end-in docking like the nearby area for charter boats, fishing vessels may have to tie up side to side. There are no floating docks for easy access; ladders are required to carry on equipment. The narrow channel between the Orleans and Eastham sides of the harbor ...

ORLEANS — F.W. Webb won’t build a 38,000-square-foot commercial building on the site of the old Underground Mall on Route 6A. Chief Operating Officer Bob Mucciarone confirmed Monday that the project will be withdrawn from review by the zoning board of appeals, and that last week’s denial by the Old King’s Highway Regional Historic District Committee will not be appealed. Asked if the company would try to fin...

Not only will the students at Cape Cod Regional Technical High School in Harwich have a new building to check out on their first day of school, but they’ll also have a new way of doing pretty much everything, as will students at Nauset Regional High School in Eastham. The new routines are part of the districts’ plans for the reopening of schools, which they must send to the state no later than Aug. 14. The ori...