Provincetown voters put priority on child care

April 03--PROVINCETOWN -- Voters at Monday night's annual town meeting approved spending $308,000 to provide universal pre-K, preschool, and wee care for infants.

The idea behind the warrant articles is to give children in town the benefits of early education and take away the expensive obstacles of child care, Selectman Erik Yingling said. There are currently 10 families in town with children enrolled in preschool and eight children born in Provincetown last year, he said.

"It's something to make it a little easier to raise a family here," he said.

One voter stood up and said she wouldn't be able to have children and continue living in town. Ngina Lythcott, the chairwoman of the School Committee, said she supported the article.

Voters gave the thumbs up to appropriating $120,000 for universal pre-K, $100,000 for preschool and $88,000 for wee care for infants. All three requests are contingent on the passage of a Proposition 2 1/2 override. The override would be on the overall operating budget, an issue the Finance Committee struggled with, said committee member Mark Hatch.

The annual cost of all three programs would be about $100 for a taxpayer who owns a median-value, single-family home, according to town documents. The children of town employees would also be allowed in the program.

Voting on the 2019 operating budget was sailing along smoothly until one audience member questioned the need for a new town engineer. Department of Public Works Director Richard Waldo said a new town engineer would help him facilitate all of the projects going on in town and save money by bringing the position in-house.

The Board of Selectmen voted in favor of paying $77,000 for a new engineer, but in a split 3-2 vote. Other voters questioned how one person could have the knowledge for all of the different types of projects being undertaken in town.

The position, which was wrapped in the $3.65 million public works operating budget -- a 4.8 percent increase over last year -- ended up passing easily, with only a handful of no votes. The entire $27 million FY19 operating budget was also passed.

Voters also approved $25,000 in funding for the Economic Development Committee, which several people stood up to support.

Dawn Walsh received a $500 grant from the committee last year for the Provincetown Day of the Dead Performing Arts Festival.

"It made a world of difference," she said.

Before the annual town meeting, voters made quick work of the special town meeting, approving all articles, including one that appropriates $1 million to replace two fire trucks that were damaged in the Jan. 4 storm. That appropriation still needs to be passed on a Proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion question.

The town's insurance company is still going over the trucks, but it is likely that they will be totaled, Town Manager David Panagore said. The $1 million will be the cost for two new trucks, but if either can be repaired, the town will take that route, he said. There was only one no vote against the fire truck article.

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After the Times deadline, voters approved several capital improvement programs and began to deal with the petition articles.

Capital improvement projects for the next year include: new vehicles for several departments, upgraded police and fire department radios, pier and sidewalk maintenance, a rehabilitation of Pilgrims' First Landing Park, beach nourishment and shoreline protection.

Twenty programs were in the article; the two that drew the biggest discussion were the rehabilitation of the park and funding for a new parking system equipment upgrade.

The current parking system current system is outdated and no longer supported by the manufacture, said Town Manager David Panagore. The new system could provide real-time data to help keep traffic flowing and update signs that would point motorists to open parking lots in town.

Shortly after 9 p.m., voters started taking up the nine petition articles on the warrant. The first passed was a neonicotinoids ban, prohibiting the sale and import of the pesticide in town. The proposed ban was a non-binding resolution and must be brought back to town meeting in the form of a bylaw.

Town counsel John Giorgio warned people from getting too excited, as any bylaw would need to be approved by the state Attorney General's office, which has been against similar regulations.

"Based upon current law I think it is questionable whether it would be approved," he said.

State Rep Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, stood to support the article and said there was a state bill that is seeking to take similar action. An affirmative vote would bolster her efforts at the state level, she said.

Residents approved a reduction in the time speakers get to make a point at town meeting. The article put forward by Jennifer Cabral, subtracted two minutes from the current five residents are allowed on town meeting floor, giving them three minutes instead.

Most speakers get to the point in 180 seconds; a reduction in the time would encourage a wider range of speakers, Cabral said.

The article passed easily, with only one person speaking against it.

Two non-binding resolutions on tiny houses were passed, setting the wheels in motion for the town to consider the feasibility of the homes in town. The first article, proposed by Stephan Cohen, asks the town to instruct the Planning Board and other committees to develop zoning and other bylaw changes and come back to the next town meeting with articles on "Tiny House Villages." The article classifies a village as a lot with multiple 500-square-foot or smaller dwellings on foundations with the homeowners signing a land lease.

The second resolution asked for the town to call on Gov. Charlie Baker to study the regulations and legislative action needed for tiny houses. This vote was closer than the first, with multiple people wondering if such a resolution was premature.

A third asks the town to temporary allow a $300 per month lease for tiny house lots on the Veterans of Foreign Wars property on Jerome Smith Road, was not taken up before town meeting was adjourned for the evening.

Town meeting took up 16 of the 46 articles on the warrant during the first night. Town meeting is expected to take up proposed bans on plastic straw and polystyrene and several zoning articles tonight.

-- Follow Ethan Genter on Twitter: @EthanGenterCCT

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