ORLEANS – How do you measure a 26-year career? For Lynn Bruneau, chair emeritus of the finance committee, there are plenty of ways to gauge John Kelly's tenure as town administrator. Hired to the post in Nov. 1996, Kelly participated in his final select board meeting on Dec. 21. His last day in town hall before his retirement is Dec. 30. Speaking to the select board last week, Bruneau noted that when Kelly ...

ORLEANS – A recent study by the state Division of Marine Fisheries makes clear Rock Harbor's value as a commercial fishery. Local fishermen want to keep it that way, but they told the select board earlier this month that they need the town's help. Last summer, the state agency released "Port by Port: Profiles and Analysis of the Massachusetts Commercial Fishery" in cooperation with the Urban Harbors Institute ...

ORLEANS – Winter recreation programming is expected to resume next week, beginning with youth basketball. Brendan Guttmann, the town's former recreation director who led the department for almost 30 years before his retirement in 2018, will run the department in the absence of Alan Harrison, who was put on paid administrative leave earlier this month. "Brendan right now, at this point, is our guy," Tom Dale...

ORLEANS – Mark Mathison remembers the conversations that surrounded the development of the existing Nauset Regional High School campus in Eastham back in the 1960s. Orleans, the select board member recalled, initially voted against relocating the high school from the site of the regional middle school to Eastham. The move was eventually approved by the district towns the following year, he said. But the cost o...

ORLEANS – Cape Cod is in the grips of a critical housing shortage. But according to Alisa Magnotta, chief executive officer of the Housing Assistance Corporation, it’s an issue that’s particularly hurting residents further down Cape. “ It’s even more acute out here in the Outer and Lower Cape because of the price of real estate,” said Magnotta, who lives in Orleans. “There is a legitimate housing shortage...

Town Working To Staff, Resume Winter Programming ORLEANS – The town’s recreation director has been put on paid administrative leave, and winter recreation programming has been temporarily suspended as a result. Tracy Murphy, who chairs the recreation advisory committee, said she was informed by Town Administrator John Kelly by email last week that Alan Harrison was put on leave effective Dec. 6. ...

ORLEANS – It’s been quite a year for Kelly Darling and staff in the Orleans Town Clerk’s office, and their work isn’t quite done yet. On the heels of December’s special town election, the town’s fourth of the 2022 calendar year, Darling is preparing for yet another. This time, Orleans and the other Nauset Regional School District towns of Brewster, Eastham and Wellfleet are preparing for a Jan. 10 electi...

Cost, Location Of Concern To Orleans Select Board ORLEANS – An application is before the community preservation committee seeking funding to restore the town bandstand at Nauset Beach, but the select board wants more information before it votes on whether or not to support it. The board on Dec. 7 opted to hold off on voting on the application until more information is provided about the project’s co...

ORLEANS — Around 150 people joined special guest Santa Claus in the ceremonial opening of Lower Cape TV’s new studios last Thursday. The ribbon cutting marked the completion of the first phase of the nonprofit television station’s new community studios at 5 Namskaket Rd., in the rear of the building formerly occupied by the Cape Codder newspaper. The 7,500-square-foot space includes a new production studio, a ...

Winter is here, and public works departments across the Cape are busy preparing for whatever the weather might have in store. But department directors on the Lower Cape say they're struggling to find private plow drivers for the upcoming season. Across the region and the state, towns have been reporting difficulty hiring drivers this winter. In some cases, that includes long-time contractors that have worked w...

ORLEANS – The clock is ticking for approximately 600 property owners and businesses to replace their above-ground fuel tanks to be in compliance with a new regulation passed by the board of health. The board approved and adopted its above-ground fuel and storage tank regulation in June 2021, and the regulation went into effect in September of last year. Crafted through a collaboration between the town's hea...

ORLEANS – The town intends to apply for a watershed permit from the state Department of Environmental Protection in response to new Title 5 regulations being put forward by the agency. Mass DEP released the draft regulations at the end of October. They require that all existing Title 5 septic systems on properties in areas designated as "nitrogen sensitive" be replaced with more environmentally friendly altern...