1996-Annual Town Report - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Report of the require continuous scrutiny and action if we are to pre. Board of Selectmen serve our wonderful quality of life here in Mashpee. Aside from these key issues, numerous initiatives are moving forward and great progress is being made to make our Town the strong organization it needs to To the Citizens of Mashpee: be to move us forward. For these accomplishments, true credit is due to the employees of the Town of This has been an extremely busy year for the Board Mashpee who give to you their talented and dedicated of Selectmen,marked by the departure from the Board service day in and day out to make things happen.h in May of two very successful Selectmen, Judy Mills the Office of the Selectmen, special appreciation goes t and James Vaccaro, and the addition to the Board of to our Executive Secretary, Robert Whritenour, our two very talented new Selectmen, Curtis Frye and Assistant to the Executive Secretary,Joyce Mason,our J Kenneth Marsters. To Mrs. Mills and Mr. Vaccaro we Administrative Secretary, Brenda Achille and our offer our most heartfelt thanks for their dedication, Clerk,Jean Baggs who work so hard to keep us mov hard work and many accomplishments. This Town is ing forward. truly a better place to live because of your service. To Mr. Frye and Mr. Marsters we congratulate and wel- Some of the additional accomplishments of the come your joining our ranks, and we offer you our Board of Selectmen during the previous year are as unqualified support in working together to help follows: Mashpee grow even better. • Started Town Hall renovations to restore and As Mashpee continues to develop as a community, readapt the historic Samuel Davis School we have developed a stronger sense of pride in our tdr Town and a greater local capacity for addressing the Received funding approval for the acquisition of many issues.which face us.We have had a joyous year keyconservation " lands known as Bufflehead i' in the celebration of the opening of the Town's first Bay" high school,and we delighted in watching the children file in for classes in a truly first-class educational facil- Appointed a sign bylaw review committee to ity. The High School Building Committee and the update the Town's sign code many other volunteers and Town officials who have l made this happen are deserving of our gratitude. • Assisted Cape Cod Coffee in a business retention program to provide a low interest loan from grant However,with this joy comes the deep responsibil- funds for business expansion and working capital ity and concern of the fastest growing Town in the State with strategies for providing a first class educa- Received State Grant in the amount of$475,439 tional system and many other crucial Town services at for handicap improvements at Town Hall, the tax rates which are affordable for the residents of our installation of playground equipment and the pur- community. To this end, budget issues are an enor- chase of a van for senior citizen transportation mous priority of the Board, and we work hard to keep costs down to the greatest extent possible. Last year Moved forward a Department head training ini- the Town embarked on the first year of a three-year tiative property tax relief program which devoted nearly 1.8 million dollars of Town reserves to reduce the tax rate. Adopted an Affirmative Action program I Another key issue which faces our Town as we Adopted a Sexual Harassment Policy for Town move forward deals with the health of our environ- employees ment. While Mashpee has taken great strides in pro- tecting its environment, much work is needed. This • Completed engineering for dredging in Waquoit will continue to be our greatest challenge in the com- Bay and Popponesset Bay to preserve and ing century. In addition to the Mass. military improve navigation Reservation groundwater problems the Town is faced with other challenges which must be actively managed • Moved forward water extension to Town Hall if we are to preserve the environmental health and beauty of our Town. Water quality issues are also added by the pressures of growth, as the cumulative Conducted feasibility study for renovation of cen tral Fire Station impacts of many septic systems elevate the nitrogen levels in our sensitive waterways. All of these issues • Conducted feasibility study for renovation of Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Museum t 8 l