Laserfiche WebLink
Metadata
Document management portal powered by Laserfiche WebLink 9 © 1998-2015 Laserfiche. All rights reserved.
i <br /> li <br /> Explanation: The Board of Appeals heard 150 applications in the calendar year 1998; <br /> a 100% increase. The Board has received many complex permit requests that have <br /> required additional time in research or in issuing of Request for Proposals. There are <br /> two evening meetings per month, which total at least eight hours. The volume of work <br /> s <br /> requires more time than provided for in the current 19-hour-a-week budget. <br /> =" Recommendatioir. The Finance Committee recommends approval. <br /> ARTICLE 13 <br /> To see if the Town will vote to reclassify the position of Assistant Conservation Agent as <br /> a full-time position and raise and appropriate and/or transfer from available funds <br /> $24,678, with said funds to be distributed as follows: $18,888 to the Conservation <br /> Salary/Wage Account, $5,481 to the Medical Insurance Account, $274 to the Medicare <br /> Account and $35 to the Group Insurance Account, or take any other action relating <br /> thereto. <br /> Submitted by the Conservation Commission <br /> 1 Explanation: The actual salary of the Assistant Conservation Agent, should this article <br /> pass and the person currently in the position assume the full-time role, would be <br /> $35,977.44. Thus the differential between full-time and part-time would be $18,888. <br /> The need for establishing the Assistant Conservation Agent as a full-time position has <br /> i, existed for years, but has recently been exacerbated because of an unprecedented work <br /> level. Permitting and enforcement comprise the majority of the Commission's work. <br /> Permits issued and telephone calls were 8% and 5% (relatively) higher from 1997 to <br /> 1998. Hearings increased by 13% from 1997 to 1998. Even greater demands upon staff- <br /> time have emanated from the discovery of(and remediation analysis related to) the EDB <br /> contamination (from MMR) of the Town-owned Quashnet River Bogs. <br /> More staff is needed to do inspections of on-going projects and to clear our backlog of <br /> projects that have never had a final inspection. Inspecting on-going projects often <br /> reveals problems which can be solved before any serious wetlands damage is done. <br /> Additionally, 966 of 1731 (56%) major projects have never had a final (Certificate of <br /> Compliance) inspection. (When a project is completed, the permit-holder, by law, is <br /> supposed to request a final inspection; that request triggers said inspection. More than <br /> half of all permit-holders have never requested one.) Experience has been that these <br /> final (Certificate of Compliance) inspections often reveal unpermitted work, sometimes <br /> compromising wetland values. <br /> r Management of Town Conservation Lands and grant seeking are two other vital needs <br /> that are current) not being adequately met. With more staff-time we can Ian initiate <br /> Y 9 q Y p , <br /> ' and conclude projects of direct benefit to Mashpee: more protection of watershed <br /> resources and greater public enjoyment of our Conservation Lands. To sum up, with <br /> current staffing levels, the exigency of on-going permitting, enforcement and general <br /> public assistance precludes this Department from adequately meeting important needs <br /> that protect Mashpee's natural resources. We need the extra staff-hours for a full-time <br /> 14 <br /> I <br />