Revenue Needed To Fund Infrastructure Improvements CHATHAM – A proposed change in the way water use is billed will increase the cost of town water between 10 and 37 percent for most households and businesses. The rate changes eliminate the current allowance of 1,000 cubic feet of water use in the basic residential minimum charge, substituting a lower minimum charge that covers the operating costs of the wat...

Long-sought Revenue Source Likely To Go Into Effect In 2019 With the backing of both the state Senate and House, it appears as if the extension of the room occupancy excise tax to include short-term room and home rentals is a done deal. Both houses of the legislature have passed bills authorizing the short-term rental tax, which would apply to summer home rentals of less than 90 days, as well as Air BnB-typ...

CHATHAM – In 1968, two and a half years after Lady Bird Johnson initiated her national beautification program, the women of the newly-formed Chatham Garden Club began to beautify Chatham by planting flowers, ornamental grasses and flowering trees. Armed with trowels, gardening gloves and watering cans, the women tended plantings in traffic islands and window boxes. And half a century later, garden club members...

CHATHAM — If you take the time to separate out your plastics and tin cans before pitching out the trash, you might think you’re pretty well schooled in recycling. Turns out, most people need a periodic refresher about what and how to recycle. To that end, the town has received a state grant of up to $7,500 to improve the town’s “Recycling IQ.” “We were one of the first communities on the Cape to get this,” D...

CHATHAM — Summer visitors will be able to continue to park at the old Eldredge Garage property this summer, but it’ll cost them. In what will be the town’s first experiment with paid parking in downtown Chatham, selectmen this week endorsed a plan to charge visitors – but not Chatham residents or taxpayers – to park at the town-owned site this summer. The recommendation came from the Eldredge Garage prope...

CHATHAM – Boaters anticipating accessing waters along the town's eastern coast by the usual routes this summer may have to change their expectations. “Delete last year's GPS” settings, Coastal Resources Director Ted Keon recommended. Even though they haven't had a chance to explore inlets, navigation channels and popular boating spots in detail because of the weather, officials say that the storms that play...

CHATHAM – Lisa Franz, executive director of the town's chamber of commerce for nearly a decade, has stepped down. Franz's resignation was effective last Friday, March 30. “I just thought it was time to move on,” she said in a phone interview Tuesday. She said the decision was hers, and while there's “ever a good time,” with most of the work for the upcoming season – completion of the 2018 chamber guide book...

CHATHAM — Attempting to answer concerns that the project would cause prolonged disruption, MassDOT officials say the West Chatham Route 28 reconstruction project will be complete within two calendar years, even accounting for a work moratorium during the busiest summer months. Following up on a March 22 meeting with town officials, MassDOT sent a letter to Selectmen Chairman Cory Metters last Thursday clarif...

Lisa Genova of Chatham hopes her new novel, “Every Note Played,” about a concert pianist who has recently been diagnosed with ALS, will help people empathize with those suffering from the disease. “ Story is such a powerful vehicle for empathy,” Genova said in an email interview last week. ALS is short for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and is sometimes called Lou Gehrig’s Disease after the famous New Yor...

CHATHAM – Two last-minute candidates, one of whom is a former selectman, have transformed this year's annual town election from what was an uncontested yawner into a potentially hot race. Last Thursday, the final day to secure a place on the May 17 ballot, Seth Taylor turned in nomination papers to run for the two three-year terms on the board, while Jamie Bassett turned in papers for the one-year unexpired te...

CHATHAM — The board of selectmen Monday softened plans to increase a variety of fees at the transfer station after a private trash hauling company indicated it had started taking its business to Harwich. Faced with a $90 per ton increase to dispose of single-stream recyclables, and a large penalty if recyclables are mixed in with trash, Tim Milley said his company, Milley Trucking, has begun bringing its tra...

CHATHAM — On Monday, the April Fools of Chatham Fire Department and their legions of friends will be taking their annual frigid dip in Nantucket Sound for a worthy cause. The event, taking place on April 2 instead of April Fools Day to avoid conflicts with Easter, invites the public to get a serious jump on the 2018 swimming season by dashing into the icy waves for a quick swim. Participants and spectators a...