After town meeting win, voters narrowly endorse $1.7M deal at ballot box
By Sam Pollak
WELLFLEET — Town meetings on the Outer Cape rarely happen in the summer, but Town Administrator Tom Guerino told Wellfleet’s assembled electorate on Monday that the matter at hand was “an opportunity that should not be passed by.”
The opportunity was a $1.7-million purchase of the Gestalt International Study Center
for office space and storage of records. And while town meeting voters largely favored the purchase, the 660 people who turned out the next day to cast ballots very nearly did pass the center by.
The June 17 town meeting approved the purchase by a vote of 180 to 54, well over the two-thirds majority required to authorize a debt exclusion under Proposition 2½.
At the election on Tuesday, however, the vote was 335 in favor of the purchase and 324 against, with one voter out of 660 having cast a blank ballot, according to a preliminary count provided by Town Clerk Jennifer Congel. Debt exclusions require a simple majority at the ballot box to pass.
That means the measure passed both its hurdles under Proposition 2½, and the town can issue bonds to fund the purchase and raise property taxes to pay them off.
Guerino told voters on June 17 that this particular debt exclusion would likely not lead to an increase in the town’s current tax rate. The bond payments will commence as previous debt exclusions come off the town’s debt schedule over the next five years, Guerino said, leading to relatively little net change.
The only other item on the special town meeting warrant was a nonbinding petition to authorize the nonprofit Wellfleet Food Pantry to explore using the South Wellfleet Fire Station as a future home when its tenancy at the Grace Chapel Assembly of God in Wellfleet ends in December. Voters approved that resolution by a clear majority.
Space for New Staff
The property owned by the Gestalt International Study Center at 1035 Cemetery Road in South Wellfleet spans 2.5 acres and includes a 4,400-square-foot office building. Guerino said that space would be filled by the town’s building and conservation depts. as well as its new planning dept. There would also be a space dedicated for public meetings, and the basem*nt would be used for storage of town records.
The property is being sold as-is, with everything but the artwork left behind.
Wellfleet also plans to add a wastewater superintendent and a finance director, and there is a need for more office space, Guerino said.
“We have people working over file cabinets,” he said. “It’s not conducive to getting a good day’s work done.”
The select board had unanimously endorsed the purchase, while the finance committee was split, with four in favor and two against. Dissenters Kathy Granlund and Fran Conroy cited the need to maintain properties already owned by the town as well as anticipated expenses down the road.
Those thoughts were echoed by voters Linda Shuster and Helen Miranda Wilson, who listed maintenance issues at town-owned buildings including the shellfish and harbormaster’s offices, the elementary school, and the transfer station.
Voters also worried that future projects will require the town to take on debt — and the town already has a lot of debt. According to Guerino, Wellfleet is just under its debt ceiling of 10 percent of the “equalized valuation” of taxable property in town.
Wilson and Conroy also cited a state mandate to implement the Cape Cod Commission’s “208 plan” to improve water quality in the town’s harbor: a $100-million undertaking that will bring sewer lines and a new generation of septic systems to many homeowners.
“What is looming before us is the 208 plan,” Wilson said. “That cost is going to be astronomical.”
Guerino said that 50 to 60 percent of the cost of that project could be covered by grants. While the town will need to borrow to address its wastewater issues, “it’s not going to be the numbers that are being discussed here,” Guerino said.
Select board members Ryan Curley and Michael DeVasto said the town can’t implement its myriad projects without staff. “The biggest mistake is that we do these expensive projects, and we don’t have the staff to support them,” Curley said.
Moving the Pantry
The second article on Monday’s warrant was a petition from the Wellfleet Food Pantry to relocate its operations to the South Wellfleet Fire Station at 1076 Route 6. Pantry director Cindy Batchelder told town meeting voters that the pantry served 165 families in 2020 and over 200 in 2023, and its current space at Grace Chapel could no longer support its growing operation.
Guerino said the fire station location would not be ideal for the town, as it is currently used by the DPW for storage. Guerino and Batchelder said they had agreed on a plan to build a new structure for the pantry outside the Adult Community Center.
The article would still allow for the fire station to be used as backup, however, if that plan did not work out, Batchelder said. All construction and relocation expenses would be borne by the pantry, she added.
DeVasto said that a vote in favor would be a symbolic one to support the food pantry’s work.
A majority approved, and the meeting adjourned after just over 90 minutes — just in time for voters both civic- and sports-minded to watch the Boston Celtics beat the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA finals, 106 to 88.
