How Low Can You Go?

Aquinnah's annual town meeting (ATM) typically includes some of the best theater on the Island—when it gets a quorum. Some years voters trudge to to the meeting several times before the 10 percent requisite number of voters is reached.

Beginning on Tuesday at 6:45 p.m. at the Old Town Hall, voters will be asked to lower the required quorum to six percent of registered voters, about two dozen folks. Aquinnah had 398 registered voters in  2009.

Many are feisty and independent souls who speak clearly and often at the ATM.

The 30-article warrant is devoid of high-profile, hot-button issues that have failed to pass in recent years, such as the proposed sale of landlocked, town-owned land or the epic town-sponsored energy and wind power proposal that consumed recent ATMs. Voters will be asked to condemn the federal wind power project planned for Nantucket Sound on the grounds that due process hasn't been observed.
 
Before being asked at the ATM to vote on a $3 million budget, up less than three percent from 2011, voters will first consider a nine-article special town meeting warrant proposing $64,000 in spending. Nearly half the funds would be used to gussy up town properties and beaches; the remainder would repair the fire department emergency vehicle.

Aquinnah will hold annual elections the following day, Wednesday, at town offices between noon and 7 p.m. The only contested race, a three-year selectman term, is between two-term incumbent Camille Rose and Beverly Wright, former town treasurer, tribal chairman and doyenne of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), the town's largest single constituency.

There are several interesting ATM land-use articles. One is designed to provide affordable housing to long-time residents by changing the town zoning bylaw to allow a one-acre "homestead" lot on a three-acre parcel. Aquinnah currently requires a minimum two-acre lot for home construction. Lots are a traditional Island method to provide residents with home-owning opportunities. 

Voter interest may be drawn to a related proposal that the homestead lots be turned over the Dukes County Regional Housing Authority or another town-stipulated entity. Under the proposed bylaw amendment, the land would be leased, rather than sold to homesteaders, in order to ensure that the property will remain under town control for use as affordable housing in the event of non-performance or foreclosure. Several affordable Island homes in recent years have been lost to mortgage foreclosure and left the affordable housing pool to return to the open market.  

Aquinnah has a tight building policy that limits both the size and number of houses built each year. Typically, only one or two homes a year are built.

Voters will be asked, however, to simplify the approval process for small home construction projects, such as outdoor showers, deck extensions or sheds, which are not publicly visible. The proposed change would remove the need for a public hearing and special permitting.

About half of the $3 million proposed budget is in four areas: education ($815,000), police ($426,000) and ambulance service costs ($160,000), conservation and preservation (CPA) spending  ($145,000).

The 54 percent proposed increase in ambulance fees caught the eye of the finance committee, which is recommending only $134,000 for the account. A review of the budget showed ambulance fees to be the only line item with which the finance committee took issue.