Had a chance to think about the Sept. 10 Wellfleet special town meeting? Here's what's on tap

Denise Coffey, Cape Cod Times
·4 min read

WELLFLEET — When voters show up for the special town meeting on Sept. 10, the warrant will need to be modified.

The published version, which had to be printed a month before, has 20 articles, some reliant on free cash for funding. But free cash won’t be certified before town meeting, so those articles will have to be postponed indefinitely, Town Administrator Richard Waldo said.

Maurice's Campground at 80 Route 6 in South Wellfleet is being considered for purchase by Wellfleet voters at the Sept. 10 special town meeting. The Select Board signed a purchase and sale agreement in April for the 21-acre parcel.
Maurice's Campground at 80 Route 6 in South Wellfleet is being considered for purchase by Wellfleet voters at the Sept. 10 special town meeting. The Select Board signed a purchase and sale agreement in April for the 21-acre parcel.

Generally, free cash is a revenue source that results from the annual calculation — as of July 1 — of a community's remaining, unrestricted funds from its operations of the previous fiscal year, according to the state Department of Revenue.

Waldo expects free cash to be certified by the end of September or beginning of October. Because the Department of Revenue is getting ready to set the tax rate for the state's 351 towns, that takes precedent over free cash certification.

An article to transfer $639,200 in free cash to the town's stabilization fund will be postponed indefinitely. Also expected to be postponed is an article seeking $200,000 to fund the town’s capital spending plan for 2023 — including replacements for bulletproof vests for the police department, and buying a water refill station at the public works department and replacing a culvert on Briar Lane.

Wellfleet Town Administrator Richard Waldo
Wellfleet Town Administrator Richard Waldo

In the meantime, Wellfleet voters have big-ticket decisions to make.

$6.5 million is sought for the purchase of Maurice's Campground

The biggest is whether to approve the purchase of Maurice’s Campground for $6.5 million. The Select Board signed a purchase and sale agreement in April for the 21-acre site at 80 Route 6 in South Wellfleet, but the deal requires town meeting approval.

The deal also requires a waiver from the Board of Health because there are 35 cesspools at the location, every one of them considered a failure because of state definitions. Select Board member Michael DeVasto said state records dating back 20 years show no evidence of environmental impacts from the cesspools.

More: Ahead of buying Maurice's Campground, Wellfleet ponders how to deal with 35 cesspools

The Board of Health held a public hearing on the waiver request on Aug. 24, and the board is scheduled to make a decision on Sept. 7, three days before the town meeting.

Voters would have to approve a Proposition 2 ½ override at a Sept. 20 town election to buy the property.

In July, Maurice's Campground co-owner John Gauthier, left, and New Hampshire resident Melinda Brotherton, 85, right, pose in front of Brotherton's trailer. The campground, which opened in 1949, has attracted many loyal customers.
In July, Maurice's Campground co-owner John Gauthier, left, and New Hampshire resident Melinda Brotherton, 85, right, pose in front of Brotherton's trailer. The campground, which opened in 1949, has attracted many loyal customers.

A separate but related article seeks town meeting approval for using $1 million in Community Preservation Act funds to put a deed restriction for affordable housing on a 3-acre parcel of Maurice’s Campground, should the town buy it.

Also, Article 8 seeks $225,000 to pay for operational expenses to continue to operate Maurice’s Campground, should the town buy the property, through the end of the fiscal year. The funds would come from an increase in personal and real estate property, if approved by town meeting and at the Sept. 20 town election.

More: Have you stayed at Maurice's Campground in Wellfleet? It's been 73 years of friendships

Town meeting articles seek to fund a fire department pickup truck, and a human resources director

Plans to buy a pickup truck for the fire department will be funded by ambulance receipts, and stair improvements at Gull and Long Pond will be funded by beach funds, if approved by town meeting voters.

Article 4 seeks $115,000 to fund a human resources director to manage 116 full-time, and 100 seasonal employees. The position would be funded by an increase in real and personal property taxes, if approved by town meeting and at the Sept. 20 town election.

Article 5 would fund a $75,000 flora and fauna study in Wellfleet Harbor. The study was recommended in the 2021 Harbor Management Plan.

Bylaw amendments, an article approving a 10-year lease of town property at Newcomb Hollow to a cellular communication company, a plastic water bottle ban, and a bylaw that would prohibit the feeding of wildlife round out the warrant.

The warrant also has a nonbinding advisory vote to make LeCount Hollow/Maguires Landing a resident-only beach.

Contact Denise Coffey at dcoffey@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter:@DeniseCoffeyCCT. 

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WELLFLEET SPECIAL TOWN MEETING

WHEN: 10 a.m., Saturday, Sept. 10

WHERE: Wellfleet Elementary School 100 Lawrence Road

INFO: Visit the town website to see the town meeting warrant: https://www.wellfleet-ma.gov/home/news/2022-annual-town-meeting-warrant

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Campground purchase, free cash certification on Wellfleet warrant