BHMA Minutes Jan 20 2016Harbor Management Authority
Minutes of January 20, 2016 Meeting
CITY OF BEVERLY
PUBLIC MEETING MINUTES
Board:
Harbor Management Authority
Date:
January 20, 2016
Location:
Beverly Public Library -Fogg Room
Members Present:
Chair Paul Earl, David Suminsby, George Simon, Pat
McAleer, Scott Houseman, Emily Flaherty, Rinus Oosthoek
Members Absent:
Chris D'Alfonso, Paul Miedzionoski, Don Neuman, Estelle
Rand, Rob Dever (Marina Manager)
Others Present:
Beverly Director of Grants Priscilla Walsh, Greg Howard
Recorder:
Aileen O'Rourke
Earl called the meeting to order at 7:12pm.
Public input
None
Approval of Minutes
Oosthoek motions to approve the November 18, 2015 meeting minutes with minor edits.
Seconded by Simon. All approved, motion passes unanimously (7 -0).
Members officially welcome Emily Flaherty to the Harbor Management Authority.
Grants - Needs, Potential Sources, Next Steps
Priscilla Walsh, Beverly's new Grant Director is introduced and has come to talk about how she
can help the HMA secure grants in an organized way. Flaherty will work with Walsh as the point
person for the HMA. Oosthoek recommends Walsh contact Kathy Winn in Salem who works in
the City Planning Department and has been very successful in receiving grants. Walsh first
provides a brief background about herself: she recently moved here from Hawaii where she was
the Executive Director of a small arts and education organization and has experience in
foundation grant writing, though she has less experience with federal grants. Her job in Beverly
is to connect with all departments and help streamline the process. She can guide applicants
through the grant process by sourcing, editing, and keeping applicants on target with timelines
and deadlines. She can also spearhead all administrative functions including obtaining letters of
support and signatures, but the applicants will need to write the narratives. She is meeting with
all City Departments and Commissions. She has identified a few sources of funding but would
like the HMA to make a list of priority projects for funding. The HMA should keep her updated
of any grants they find. There is no one source of grant funding, the state has a listing of funding
sources, she also researches similar organizations and identifies their funding sources, and she
gets on the newsletters for foundations and other organizations. Grants.gov is where federal
grants are posted. Oosthoek notes the HMA has not made a list of priorities before but thinks
that making a master plan for public access should definitely be on it. Earl would like everyone
to make a wish list and send the email to Flaherty (copying other members if desired) for her to
compile. At the February meeting, members will discuss and prioritize the wish list and create a
Harbor Management Authority
Minutes of January 20, 2016 Meeting
matrix with a description, identify any known funding sources, estimate of cost if known and get
this to Walsh by the end of February. Earl would like the HMA to set realistic goals - perhaps
submit one grant per quarter and strive to receive at least 2 out of the 4 grants in the year. The
HMA could try to obtain grants in the range of $50 -100K. Houseman wonders if the HMA
should focus on the amount of the grant - such as go after small amounts if those are more
achievable? Walsh states to focus on the goals and prioritize by what the HMA wants to
accomplish. Walsh is happy to send over anything that might be of interest that she stumbles
upon even if it is not on the list. McAleer wonders if collaborating with other organizations
would help in the success of obtaining grants. Walsh states that might be helpful. Earl attended
the Ventron project meeting and someone asked about signage on the walkway - they are
required to do public access but not to make the public signage interesting; perhaps HMA could
partner with other organizations to make that happen, as an example. McAleer also would like to
identify low hanging fruit and maybe small grant amounts.
Bass River related
Oosthoek wonders if there was anything left from her predecessor in terms of records, such
as keeping track of when permits expire. Walsh knows there were some documents on the
Bass River dredging but will double check her files. Earl knows that Bourne has some
documents on when the permits are expiring. Earl would like to identify consultants who are
"wired" within the dredging world for help with obtaining federal grants.
The Seaport Economic Council (SEC) was reorganized and renamed. Houseman states the
Council made it known that big dredging budgets upwards of $1M won't be funded. They
have established 5 categories that have to do with Economic Development and any projects
that look for funding must relate specifically to economic development or they will not fund
and most grants given will be under $1M. There is no one body at the State level looking at
dredging, maybe get a line item in the budget, but it's very political. Plum Island formed a
multi -town collective to look for dredging funding but likely they would be a competing
organization. Earl wonders if the SEC would contribute to a dredging project if other sources
of funding are identified. Houseman thinks so as long as they can make the case that it is tied
to economic development. Bass River is in the process of being rezoned with an overlay
district and along River Street another rezoning effort will encourage breweries, artists'
lofts /apartments, build critical mass, and possibly get funding from a variety of sources
including SEC.
Houseman will check in with Congressman Moulton to inquire about federal funding. There
is a need to collect data on how dredging is related to economic development. Bass Haven
brings in business and people from out of town. McAleer wonders if there is an official
HMA policy goal that the Bass River should be dredged. Members will check with Don
Neuman. Flaherty wonders if HMA is locked in to work with Bourne for Bass River. He has
done all the permitting work so far. Oosthoek suggests bringing Bourne in to a meeting and
pay him for his time to explain where he is at in the process for Bass River. HMA will also
try to get Bourne at the HMA meeting for March or April.
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Minutes of January 20, 2016 Meeting
Flaherty would like to know if the HMA can identify the source of the sedimentation in the
Bass River and perhaps prevent having to dredge again in 50 years. Bourne may know more
but there hasn't been maintenance dredging in the last 50 years.
Earl proposes moving the February meeting up a week to February 10' so Aaron Clausen can
attend and go over the Bass River rezoning plan including any public comments that were
brought up at the public meeting scheduled for January 28 t ''. The meeting will be held at 6pm
instead of 7pm.
Facilities Committee Report
The Facilities Committee came up with a list of maintenance issues to bring up to Rob Dever.
Suminsby met with Dever at the Marina in December to go over those issues. Dever was aware
of some issues but not of others, Suminsby mentioned possibly hiring a person to come in to do
ad hoc maintenance but Dever was not sure Mike Collins would approve. Collins joined in on
the conversation and expressed concern since he is responsible for all city owned properties,
there could be a conflict. Earl also spoke with Mike Collins on the Brown Building but also had
a discussion about the maintenance concerns. He is willing to bring someone in for particular
projects, but would want to manage that person. Collins would like frequent updates from the
HMA on what needs to be done. Oosthoek recommends creating a `punch list' of "To Dos ", and
identify any problems and record what was done and when, never deleting any action items.
Suminsby, as Chair of the Facilities Committee, will regularly communicate this list to Dever
and Collins. There will then be a record of what has /hasn't been done, and how long it takes for
issues to be resolved. The Harbormaster will be on the distribution list. McAleer notes that a lot
of money spent has been on the marinas so the City needs to maintain them.
Collins sent an email update to Earl. He received a report back from GZA. The Recreational pier
movement issues are due to the sinker blocks not being secured to the chain, they are now next to
the anchor blocks. He will get pricing to get it secured again and hopes to provide a full report by
the next meeting.
Financial Update
Recreational marina - $54,583 has come in, around the same as last year (13 customers have paid
in full). There are at least 2 vacancies for the FY2016 season. HMA will advertise on the
building that slips are available, and perhaps write up a press release ( Oosthoek will head up).
Oosthoek asks a question regarding the last RFP which states 3 slips available for the property
owner - should be reviewed.
HMA members review the commercial rate. The Facilities Committee recommends leaving the
commercial rate unchanged for the next fiscal year. Houseman makes a motion to approve the
recommendation by the Facilities' Committee to leave the commercial rate unchanged.
Oosthoek seconds. All in favor, motion approved unanimous (7 -0).
The Facilities Committee will come up with options for the gangway and discuss at the March
meeting.
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Harbor Management Authority
Minutes of January 20, 2016 Meeting
Capital Fund is up to $278,585 from around $205,000 last year at this time. Algonquin reserve
is roughly $130,000. Bryant Ayles will attend the April meeting as HMA formulates its budget
for the year at that time. The top revenue sources are slip fees, half of excise tax of boats
registered in Beverly (part of the waterways fund which is independent of the budget), and
hopefully grants.
Active Projects
Brown Building
Collins reports that the bathrooms will be completed by the spring. They are pouring floors, 2
sections have been graded, installation and wiring are in, will get in radiant heating tubing in, the
walls will be next. Oosthoek wonders if all the phone /cable wiring is included. The upstairs will
be completed after the harbormaster moves into the new building - hopefully in by May. There
was a question regarding the Cygnet line item in the expenses applied to the Algonquin account.
This was a grant for the police to install security cameras for the waterfront around $30K it was
taken out of Algonquin money for now, but will be paid back.
Public Walkwa
There seems to be someone working on the walkway in Salem. Oosthoek has a call into them to
get a status. On the Beverly side, they did some work and left the fences up.
Cummings Project
Earl attended the meeting. There was a prepared presentation. It is now going to be 6 floors of
condos before it was supposed to be a hotel. For mitigation and public access, they will finish
the walkway around the pond, put in 2 public restrooms. Public comment period ends on
January 22
Ventron project
The proposal will have 3 rain gardens. The site will be less dense, there will now be 37 one -
bedroom apartments, 25 two - bedroom apartments and 77 parking spaces. This will mean less
traffic congestion and more open space. The public would like to see improved beach access
and boat ramp at Congress Street; the HMA could add kayak racks there.
Bass River rezoning project
The Bass River rezoning public meeting will be held on Jan 28 at City Hall. Earl urges
members to attend the meeting.
Adjournment
There being no further business before the Harbor Management Authority this evening,
Oosthoek makes a motion to adjourn. Suminsby seconds. Motion to adjourn approved
unanimously (7 -0).
The HMA Meeting was adjourned at 9:00 pm.
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