Minutes of July 24, 2004 Board Meeting
Wellfleet Non-Resident Taxpayers Association
Approved 8/14/04
Present. Dorothy Altman, Tom Baratz, Lila Croen, Aida Donald, Karen Holtkamp, Chick Holtkamp, Curt Lippincott, Bob Mangiaratti, Marian Palley, Ed Rullman, May Ruth Seidel, Marilyn Silver, Mary von Kaesborg and Jean Schaefer, Administrative Consultant. (Dave Garrison participated via the speakerphone.) Absent. Sam Frank, Marion Sanders.
The meeting was called to order at 9:00 AM by May Ruth Seidel, President. It was held in the conference room of the Wellfleet Senior Center. After introducing Jerry Sadow, an invited guest, she moved that the minutes of the July 12th meeting be approved. The motion was seconded and approved by the board.
Committee Reports
Jean Schaefer presented an analysis of the membership as of July 24, 2004. The total number of active members is 536, comprised of 216 family memberships and 104 individual memberships and representing 320 households. Dues for 2004-2005 have been received from 172 of these households (53.8%). This represents substantial growth since August 25, 2001, at which time we had 72 memberships and a total of 126 members. During our first two years the annual meetings in August were the most successful venues for recruiting new members. Currently, the random recruitment mailing has generated the greatest number of new members. In response to a question, Jean stated that there are approximately 2600 non-resident taxpayer households in the Town.
May Ruth reported that in her follow-up regarding participation of former non-residents in neighboring non-resident taxpayer organizations, she had only succeeded in speaking to Alan Frankel from Truro. He informed her that only non-resident taxpayers are members of their association. Mary von Kaesborg reported that she had spoken to Jeff Stewart, a former non-resident who now resides full time in Wellfleet, and that he will write a letter to our newsletter editor regarding this issue. Dave Garrison reminded the board that, according to our bylaws, non-residents who become full time residents may continue to be members of our association, but they may not serve on the board.
Karen Holtkamp submitted the report of the Nominating Committee. Renominated to serve two-year terms as a director are Dorothy Altman, Aida Donald, Sam Frank and Edwards Rullman. Nominees to serve two-year terms commencing August 22, 2004 are Tina Browne, Jim Hood, Elga Wassermann and Agnes Wolf. Aida Donald was nominated to be a Vice-President, succeeding Marion Saunders who is retiring from the board. The desirability of recruiting younger members to serve on the board was discussed. However, this year the nominating committee found that younger non-resident taxpayers were reluctant to make the commitment that board membership requires.
Mary von Kaesborg and Ed Rullman distributed a draft of the Report on the State of the Harbor that they have prepared for distribution at the August 1st meeting. They requested that members of the board review this document and provide them with feedback so that they can revise it prior to the meeting. Mary will send a copy of this draft electronically to board members who were not present. Chick Holtkamp and May Ruth reported that they have met with Doug Franklin to discuss this meeting and they expect him to raise interesting questions and believe that this should be an excellent meeting.
Old Business
May Ruth reported that she had spoken to Tim Smith regarding the personal property tax on non-resident taxpayers. His position was that this is a statutory tax that the Town has the right to impose and that the $130,000 collected was a small amount. While he acknowledged that Town personnel found it a nuisance, the inequality of the tax on non-resident taxpayers did not seem to concern him. In raising this issue with Ira Wood, chair of the selectmen, May Ruth reported that he is willing to discuss this matter with her and other board members, either in a public meeting or in an informal chat with other selectmen.
While several board members questioned our purpose in raising this matter at this time, since the tax is relatively small, others raised the question of inequities in levying taxes against non-resident taxpayers. Those who reside in the Seashore expressed the view that the substantial increase in assessment of properties in the Seashore, almost all of which are owned by non-resident taxpayers, was discriminatory. Jean stated that most towns in Massachusetts impose the personal property tax on non-resident taxpayers and she thought the Town would be very reluctant to eliminate it.
May Ruth suggested that these matters could be part of a study of Wellfleet finances, looking at where money comes from and where it goes. Ed thought that we might poll the membership to assess their feelings regarding the personal property tax but the consequences of raising expectations was also discussed. Chick suggested that we have permanent study group to review finances of the Town on an ongoing basis.
There was a strong consensus on the board that May Ruth should proceed with the meeting with Ira Wood as part of our process of gathering information about taxes and financing, and that she should select several members of the board to participate in this discussion.
May Ruth also reported that she had spoken to Becky Rosenberg, Director of Recreation, and that the Town does not discriminate against non-resident taxpayers in setting fees for programs offered by this department. However, there are differential fees for visitors and residents who participate in recreation programs, with the latter paying a lower fee. Beach sticker fees for all residents are also lower than the fee charged visitors.
May Ruth also reported that several Town organizations have expressed an interest in having opportunities to distribute information to our membership at public meetings. These include Friends of the Library, Outer Cape Health Services and the Fire Department. Criteria for participation were discussed at some length. Marian moved that, in addition to the criteria approved at the July 12th meeting, we permit organizations to provide information but that they cannot be involved in active solicitation of funds. This was seconded and approved by the board.
Jean suggested that we have tables at other organization s meetings and it was agreed that the membership committee would follow-up on this suggestion.
New Business
Jerry Sadow was introduced to the board. He thanked us for extending an invitation to him to attend our meeting and for the informative e-mails, reports and newsletters that we have sent to the membership. He also complimented the WNRTA on having come far and fast in a relatively short period of time. Describing himself as a political activist with a professional background in publications, politics, public service, and teaching at Boston University, he urged the organization to review its purpose and consider whether its primary thrust should be to provide information or whether it should attempt to have more influence. He advocated polling our membership and taking a position on issues in order to have more influence on matters efffecting taxes and zoning, the environment, recreation, etc.
He made several other suggestions for increasing our visibility and influence, including making better use of local publications to reflect the views of the organization and preparing a fact sheet for wide distribution that would state our mission, accomplishments, the number of non-resident households and the amount of taxes they paid, and the officers of the WNRTA and ways of contacting them. He also thought that we should be listed in the booklet prepared by the Wellfleet Chamber of Commerce.
Dave Garrison responded that under our current bylaws our purpose is to educate our members regarding specific issues and encourage them to express their individual views to Town officials. However, this does not preclude our soliciting the views of members regarding specific issues and conveying this information to the Town. He stated that if we were to advocate a position and attempt to influence legislation we would be in violation of our current status as a non-profit and non-political organization and that this would have tax implications. He also expressed the view, which is supported by research regarding non-resident taxpayers, that our membership is very varied and that our views are probably as diverse as are those of fulltime residents of the Town. He expressed concern that advocating a
position might result in the loss of members who did not support this view.
Jean stated that we may be losing members because we have failed to take positions on contentious issues before the Town.
Marian responded that education is a way of advocating and believes that if we become strident advocates we might lose influence in the Town. While supporting some of Jerry s suggestions, she felt that we shouldn t underestimate our current role and that by using the vehicles we have employed to date (e.g., newsletter, emails and public meetings) we are currently playing an important role in Town affairs.
Numerous members of the board expressed their views on these issues. While many thought that several of Jerry s suggestions had merit, there was a strong consensus against stridency in our interactions with the Town. However, Aida Donald cited the water issue as an instance in which we might have polled our members to see if there was a consensus on the propositions that were presented to voters this past spring. Although Selectmen had supported the proposal for a water tower, she felt that it was defeated because they had not been effective advocates for their position. By providing information to the decision makers in Town, Aida and others felt that we could have more influence on those who do make decisions.
Lila moved that the Water Committee prepare a brief outline for the board of current issues before the Town regarding water, presenting the facts and the pros and cons of the various options for resolving our current water quality problems. If this document is approved by the board, it should be distributed electronically to the membership and its views solicited on these matters. This motion was seconded and unanimously approved by the board.
The board agreed to move quickly on this matter and scheduled a meeting for Saturday, July 31st, at 9:00AM to review the document that will be prepared by the Water Committee.
May Ruth distributed a memo from Dan Silverman, Deputy Fire Chief, regarding a fire prevention grant from FEMA . He would like to discuss this at our annual meeting and a motion to approve this was made, seconded and approved. Aida expressed the view that the safety visits to be funded by this grant should also occur in the summer, since many non-resident taxpayers are not here at other times of the year.
Dorothy distributed information about the August 8th annual meeting of the Gull Pond Area conservation Association (GUPACA), at which John Portnoy will talk about water resource research in the park, and urged all to attend.
There was a brief discussion about the finding that the Outer Cape Health Services no longer does blood tests for non-resident taxpayers.
A motion to adjourn was made at 11:05 AM.
Respectfully submitted,
Lila G. Croen, Secretary
July 26, 2004
| 
