Controversial County Deal with Hospital for $50,000 Fee Raises Legal
Questions
By JULIA WELLS Gazette Senior Writer
An unusual county contract set up to funnel taxpayer money into the
Martha's Vineyard Hospital continued to cause shock waves this
week as local officials tried to sort out the origin of a deal to pay
the county a $50,000 fee to administer the contract.
Yesterday, West Tisbury town counsel Ronald H. Rappaport questioned
whether the county has the right to charge the fee.
Operating losses at the Windemere Nursing Home and Rehabilitation
Center spiraled to $567,000 last year, triggering poor marks from
auditors and raising hard new questions about whether the Island's
only nursing home can ever escape the destitute financial condition that
has plagued it since day one.
The surprise decision by the Steamship Authority governors last
month to buy the New Bedford passenger ferry Schamonchi was pitched as a
sound business decision for the public boat line, but an internal
financial analysis done by the SSA shows that in fact the ferry is
expected to lose large amounts of money.
The boat line board of governors voted last month to buy the
Schamonchi for $1.75 million.
Steamship Authority treasurer and acting general manager Wayne
Lamson said yesterday that a freshly minted plan for a high-speed ferry
project laid out last week by the city of New Bedford is now just one of
three new proposals.
"We got a proposal last Thursday night, there was the one that
New Bedford showed everybody on Saturday, and we got another one just
last night," Mr. Lamson said from his office in Woods Hole.
Boat Line Governors Hear Cold Truth About Money Squeeze in Years Ahead
By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer
NANTUCKET — After seven months of chasing a futuristic service model amid visions of multi-million-dollar high-speed ferries, Steamship Authority governors learned the cold truth yesterday: If replacing the ferry Islander is a top priority, there will be no more money for large capital projects in the next six years.
Steamship Authority governors voted without dissent last week to
deny a license application from a private freight hauler to run
year-round service between New Bedford and the two Islands.
"Our focus clearly needs to remain on providing for the
Islands," said SSA general counsel Steven Sayers. Mr. Sayers was
point man in the staff recommendation to deny the license application
from Seabulk International Inc.
Vineyard SSA Governor Loses Battle to Impose $7 Million Fee on
Nantucket
By JULIA WELLS Gazette Senior Writer
Vineyard Steamship Authority governor J.B. Riggs Parker lost a
skirmish yesterday in his battle against Nantucket when the Falmouth and
Nantucket boat line governors voted to eliminate a complicated cost
allocation policy that could have led to ruinous fare increases for
Nantucket in coming years.
"It's time to put this behind us, develop a new policy
and go forward," declared Falmouth boat line governor Galen M.
Robbins.
The people of Chappaquiddick may have declared an uneasy
truce in their recent war of words over whether to enact a
district of critical planning concern, but this week there was
an army on the move on the small island at the extreme eastern
end of Edgartown - and it had nothing to do with building
moratoriums or long-range planning.
It was an army of worms - in fact an army of army worms -
and at Pimpneymouse Farm they had just finished plundering a
large hayfield on the southwest corner of the farm.
For the Vineyard it means expanded ferry service using high speed
travel from the port of New Bedford and no new double-ended ferry to
replace the beloved Islander.
For Nantucket it means replacing three familiar old ferries with one
new multi-purpose high-speed ferry whose design has never before been
tested in this country.
A bitterly divided Dukes County Commission shuffled the power
structure of the Steamship Authority governing board this week in a
surprise vote to replace J.B. Riggs Parker, the embattled Vineyard boat
line governor. The majority of the commission turned instead to a
newcomer to the Vineyard political scene - Kathryn A. Roessel, a
Tisbury resident and retired attorney.
