ORLEANS — You don't see a bill for the water you use in July and August until the following February. A lot can happen in that time, including leaks that send water into the ground unused after the town has paid for pumping, treating, and distributing it. In some cases, surprised homeowners are faced with bills for thousands of dollars. They ask for abatements, and more revenue is forfeited. The board of water a...

ORLEANS — “Thank a veteran” has been a byword for many years. “Ask a veteran” is another step those who served wish people would consider. “Talk to a veteran sometime over coffee,” Selectmen Chair Jon Fuller, a retired senior chief petty officer, told his listeners at Veterans Square Saturday during the town's commemoration of Veterans Day. “Let them tell you of their experience.” In biting cold, the crow...

ORLEANS — With erosion eating away about 12 feet of Nauset Beach a year, next summer was to have been the last for Liam's restaurant on its familiar perch above the waves. The building, which is owned by the town, was to be torn down and Liam's relocated to a new structure farther back in the parking lot. But last week, the potential cost of that stopgap measure convinced the board of selectmen that Liam's s...

ORLEANS — Volunteers handy with a hammer and saw built a garage for the town's fire truck on Main Street back in 1925. H.K and Theresa Cummings donated the land and town meeting chipped in $7,000. The police department moved in in 1954, and both departments moved to their new building in 1967, at which point the recreation department started using what had become known as the Old Firehouse. After some period...

ORLEANS — In planning their budgets for the fiscal year that begins next July 1, department heads can propose up to a 4 percent expenditure increase over the current year. Selectmen set the standard, which applies to town and school budgets, last week. “Last year, I told the board we were at a crossroads,” Town Administrator John Kelly told selectmen Nov. 1. The standard 2.5 percent annual increase was becom...

ORLEANS — Nauset Public Schools students may travel in propane-fueled buses starting next September. At a meeting of the joint school committees Oct. 26, the Eastham, Orleans and Wellfleet boards and the regional school committee authorized Superintendent Tom Conrad to negotiate an agreement with the Cape Cod Collaborative to provide student transportation starting next fall. Brewster's committee did not have ...

ORLEANS – The 1850 Captain Linnell House is on track to change hands in October 2020 after owners Bill and Shelly Conway signed a purchase and sales agreement last month with the Orleans Historical Society. The Conways will continue to operate their restaurant and host special events until then. After that, OHS will welcome weddings and special civic and private events. In a joint news release with the Conways...

ORLEANS – Voters dug deep into their pockets Tuesday to fund the central core of a downtown sewer system and a new building for Cape Cod Regional Technical High School. They also backed spending $600,000 for HVAC upgrades at the town's elementary school. By a margin of 1,102 to 412, townspeople agreed to borrow $3.68 million to put in sewer pipes and connectors to property lines under Main Street between Acade...

ORLEANS — $29 million. $3.96 billion. Some pretty big numbers were discussed at last week's selectmen's meeting. The $29 million is the amount the town will borrow next month to pay for the new police and DPW/natural resources facilities and a slew of other projects ranging from the recently completed Rock Harbor bulkhead work to replacement of water mains on Beach Road. The $3.96 billion is the ass...

ORLEANS – Voters dug deep into their pockets Tuesday to fund the central core of a downtown sewer system and a new building for Cape Cod Regional Technical High School. They also backed spending $600,000 for HVAC upgrades at the town's elementary school. By a margin of 1,102 to 412, townspeople agreed to borrow $3.68 million to put in sewer pipes and connectors to property lines under Main Street between Acade...

ORLEANS — If voters approve at the ballot box Oct. 24, bidding for and construction of the central section of a downtown sewer collection system can begin within a few months. On Oct. 16, by a vote of 413 to 120 that comfortably exceeded the necessary two-thirds majority, town meeting approved spending $3.68 million to install a sewer system with connections to property lines under Main Street between the Ca...

ORLEANS — Police officers, the faith community, and human rights advocates – not mutually exclusive groups – are putting together a Cape-wide forum on community policing titled “Cape Cod: Making It the Best Place for All of Us!” “We can avoid some of the pitfalls,” said the Rev. Wesley Williams, one of the event's organizers, “by having a conversation with the police right now. We know that there are issues ...