Voters Face Major Budget Issues at Annual Meetings in Three Towns

In Oak Bluffs, Expect the Unexpected

By CHRIS BURRELL

Voters in Oak Bluffs will be asked next week whether they want to
ban dogs from town beaches, declare their opposition to the war in Iraq
and borrow $750,000 to build an addition to the town hall on School
street.

Those are just three of the proposals on tap for back-to-back town
meetings that get under way Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Performing Arts
Center.

All told, only 31 articles face voters at both the special town
meeting and the annual town meeting that immediately follows it. By Oak
Bluffs standards, that's a lean warrant. Past years have seen
warrants nearly twice as long.

Town administrator Casey Sharpe credits the finance committee with
crafting a balanced budget of nearly $16.7 million that requires no
override of the Proposition 2 1/2 limits. Under pressure from the
finance committee, some departments did even better than level-funding,
she said.

"The police budget is cut by eight per cent. The highway
department cut by four per cent, and the Oak Bluffs School is cut by one
per cent," said Ms. Sharpe.

Asked if she expected any one item to generate heated discussion,
the town administrator pointed to the anti-dog and anti-war measures.
"I'm sure there will be some vigorous debate around
that," she said of the proposal to ban dogs from town beaches
between May 15 and Sept. 15.

Currently, dogs are banned from the public shoreline in the summer
months between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., but selectmen sponsored the article
after hearing complaints from summer residents, especially a dedicated
crew of people who swim every morning at Inkwell beach.

The proposal, on the special town meeting warrant, calls for a fine
of not more than $50 for a first offense and not more than $100 for each
subsequent violation.

As for the anti-war measure, it's the last proposal on the
annual town meeting warrant, and it calls for a proclamation by the
people of Oak Bluffs to oppose "preemptive military action against
Iraq by the United States."

The proposal was placed on the warrant by petition, but Ms. Sharpe
said town hall has already received telephone calls from people upset
about the proclamation now that America is fully engaged in warfare.

But while officials can try their best to predict what might spark
debate, half the fun of town meetings is waiting to see exactly what
raises the ire of voters. Two years ago, after a bruising annual town
meeting session, Ms. Sharpe told the Gazette, "There's no
amount of planning to help us expect the unexpected. That's
democracy and that's how it works."

It would be an understatement to say that town officials are hoping
voters back a plan to build an addition onto the town hall. Almost two
years ago, town crews used a backhoe and cables to pull down the old
school gym, demolished the ground floor locker rooms and old cafeteria
and then pretty much walked away.

What's left is a gaping hole on the Pacific avenue side of the
building and an office building on the other side that just
doesn't quite work. There is scant meeting space, and while a new
vault is being installed downstairs for the town clerk, the conservation
commission has lost its office space.

"It would be outrageous to have this continue to look like an
eyesore," said Ms. Sharpe. The plan is to spend $750,000 for an
addition over the structure that was torn down. The town would borrow
the money to pay for the project. "We want all the services on a
single floor," said Ms. Sharpe.

Meeting space downstairs would finally allow selectmen to begin
meeting in town hall. "We could easily hold 100 people down
there," she said.

Selectmen chairman Todd Rebello told the Gazette that the work would
coincide with the construction of a new library next door on town-owned
land along Pacific avenue.

The special town meeting warrant includes seven articles, most of
them money requests or money transfers from existing accounts. The town
is looking to spend $150,000 from a special fund to alter and upgrade
the solid waste transfer station used by the private trash hauler BFI.

Voters will also be asked to approve a transfer of $27,323 in the
police budget to help pay for a labor settlement reached earlier this
month with the police officers union.

New vehicles could also be coming to town departments if voters
support spending $55,000 for a pick-up truck for the highway crew, a
four-wheel-drive car for town hall employees and another
four-wheel-drive vehicle for the council on aging.

In the annual town meeting portion, spending articles also dominate.
Voters will be asked to approve $38,000 for the first phase of
restoration of the town dock along the harbor bulkhead. That's
where the harbor master office is located and where the Island Queen
ferry docks all summer long. A fast ferry from Rhode Island is also
expected to dock there beginning this summer.

Harbor management committee member Fred Sonnenberg told the Gazette
that a recent study of the dock structure showed that it is within a
year of needing significant repairs. But the $38,000 would pay only for
a planner to help the town design both structural improvements and a
better way to run the dock operation.

Officials are hoping to win grant money and also point out that an
improved dock could allow the town to reap even more revenues from the
cruise ship tenders which currently use the dock owned by Terry
McCarthy.

The board of health has come back to annual town meeting with
another plan that would enable some landowners to build on land that was
previously ruled unbuildable. The lots are located in an area designated
as Zone 2, close to one of the town wells.

In other town meeting action, voters will be asked to broaden the
income eligibility requirements that would offer tax breaks to some
senior citizens 65 and older. Voters will also be asked to approve
revamped zoning bylaws and updated personnel bylaws. Voters will also
decide whether to preserve the historic character of a large portion of
the town center, known as the Copeland District. The town historic
commission is proposing the creation of the Cottage City Historic
District, a 75-acre area that includes almost 400 houses and 12 parks.
Passage of the measure will require a two-thirds vote.