1996-Annual Town Report - Laserfiche WebLink

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_ _E - 1 0 1 and the public and participation on a variety of Town your hopes for Mashpee and will provide a solid foot- and regional committees, including the Cemetery ing as we step into the 21st century, we urge you to Committee, High School Building Committee, Mash- take the time to read the Plan documents distributed by pee Commons Advisory Committee, Mashpee NWR the department and actively participate in the Planning Management Committee, APCC Cape Cod Business Board meetings and hearings that will be held Roundtable, Cape Cod Pathways Steering Committee throughout the spring and summer. and the statewide ad hoc Task Force for Decentralized Wastewater Management. As always, we sincerely appreciate your support and encouragement over the past year and look for. Among our special projects for the year was protec- ward to serving you professionally and conscientious- tion of the 327 acre "Bufflehead Bay" property in the ly during the next. National Wildlife Refuge. In order to qualify for state "Self-Help" program funding assistance, the depart- Respectfully submitted by, ment prepared an extensive Open Space Conservation F. Thomas Fudala & Recreation Plan on behalf of the Conservation Town Planner Commission, which was submitted to the state in June and approved in October.We also wrote the necessary Town Meeting articles,prepared a revised grant appli- Report of the cation in December,negotiated the To share of the Mashpee Public Library property with the U.S.Fish&Wildlife Service and pre- I'I ared an ADA/Section 504 Accessibility Report Self- Evaluation" regarding access by disabled persons to the Town's conservation areas and recreation facilities. To the Honorable Board of Selectmen and The latter, prepared by Ms Suchenicz, was so well the Citizens of the Town of Mashpee done that the state plans to use it as an example for Once again, the Mashpee Public Library had a other communities. All of the work paid off with the record setting year for circulation transactions and announcement by Sec. .of Environmental Affairs patron visits to the library.Circulation increased 7%to the town would Trudy Coxe on Christmas Eve that d out. There were 51 992 patron i Y 83,268 items checked II receive a$270,000 Self-Help grant toward the Buffle- visits during 1996. '1> head purchase. The plans prepared by the department have also qualified the Town for future Self-Help The library added a second Public Access Comput assistance until June, 2001. er(PAC)to cut patron waiting time to use the comput- enzed catalog. The CLAMS network also added an In addition to the Bufflehead purchase, the depart- online periodical database which patrons also access ment also facilitated the donations of five parcels of through a PAC. Selecting this option on the menu lets conservation land totaling 43.61 acres. The heirs of patrons search hundreds of periodical titles for very Elise Otis donated three parcels, which added 11.27 current information on a wide variety of topics.Many acres to the South Mashpee Pine Barrens Conservation of the articles are available in full-text and can be Area and 16.7 acres to the Noisy Hole Conservation printed by the patron. The library is also doing an I;I Area. Mr. Joseph Breen donated 12.64 acres to the increasing amount of inter-library loan requests for Conservation Commission between Route 28 and the articles which are not full-text,based on abstract of the Quashnet River. Mrs. Ruth Witkus donated a three information contained in these articles. acre island in Hamblin's Pond to The Nature Conser- vancy which will be transferred to the U.S. Fish & It is also possible to search the Massachusetts Wildlife Service. Library and Information Network (MLIN), a virtual state-wide electronic catalog of the holdings of hun- j"" Other special projects included site selection for the dreds of Massachusetts libraries. MLIN also includes proposed Boys & Girls Club, work on the Mashpee many large public libraries like Boston Public Library Industrial Park development agreement with the Cape as well as a number of university libraries. MLIN is Cod Commission, work for the Selectmen on their also the library's connection to the Internet, via the Mashpee Commons impact study consultant proposal PAC. and work with the Town of Sandwich on a feasibility study for a Sandy Neck to South Cape Beach "Cross The library has also made good progress on accom- Cape Trail". plishing the goals and objectives of the library's Long Range Plan. As part of that, the library has sought to The coming year promises to be a historic one for increase opportunities for children and young adults to planning in Mashpee. If all goes according to sched- use the library. The number of children's programs ule, we will adopt our first Comprehensive Plan. In was increased 31% over 1995 and the attendance order to make sure that the Plan accurately reflects i � 94 -