Harbor Advisory Committee - June 23, 2026

Mhm.

Let me know.

Okay.

All right.

pledge of allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you for attending the meeting.

I hope everybody had a good Father's Day.

Not too stressful.

All my kids live a long way away.

Oh, and my my So are mine.

My kids were all over the place.

Um Mr. Chase.

Okay, Mr. Chair.

Oh, okay.

Oh, oh, wait, wait a minute.

Oh, you got to approve your Okay, I got to do the the minutes. Does anybody have any corrections or additions, omissions to the minutes?

No.

Um can I have a motion to approve them as I'll make a motion to accept them as written.

I'll second it.

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Thank you.

Um Now, Okay, so I'm the assistant chief.

Let's talk about dollars and cents.

Dollars and cents.

Um So, total revenues into this department as of uh 1500 this afternoon, $165,291.

Uh let me break that number down for you.

Okay, thank you.

Uh so, the vessel moorings, non-resident fees, all the things that we collect via the online platform $145,191.

So, that that includes like moorings?

That includes the private moorings, the non-resident, and the $6 per foot vessel fee.

Non-resident and and and the waterways fee.

Yep.

And the waterways fee.

So, what that consists what that $145,000 consists of is payment on 251 private moorings for a total of $12,550.

Uh, there were 120 non-resident fees at $100 a piece for a even total of $12,000.

And the remaining $120,641 is the per foot fee for 857 vessels.

That's what we've collected on.

So, what was that what was that number again?

120641.

So, if you divide that by the number of vessels, you get an average of 23 and 1/2 ft length overall.

Mhm. That.

And one interesting number I that I think is worth mentioning, the average fee uh, not including the non-resident fee, of course, is $140.77.

[snorts] So, anyone who says it's expensive to keep a boat in Westport, I beg to differ.

So, what was the total number of boats again? Five something?

857, Mel.

Getting there.

Mhm.

And the number of non-resident again, boats?

Um, non-resident uh, I just have it broken out by the fee, the non-resident fee.

Okay. Okay. All right. Okay.

So, you could say 120 of the boats are about a loan to non-residents. Yes.

What I did not bring for you, John, was the state ramp fee. I'm going to have to get back to you on that. I I I I because it's it's a lot of bookkeeping cuz it it's been paper work. So, hopefully next next time we meet I'll have a better accounting of Well, so we're ending the cash process, as you know, right? So, as of uh Sunday midnight, that's it with the cash. Um

No, 26. We get an accounting for the from the the town hall for the the season passes to that?

I don't get that, but I I can ask Eileen for it or ask one of them.

some point, so that we know how how many people That would be good for us to know, actually, as well. So.

Cuz I only realized that when you you had it to make the comments on Facebook on and and as the announcement to the harbormaster department's going to take effect at the state ramp.

So, and there was a lot of confusion. People didn't didn't understand you could get that or whatever the season passes.

Correct. Other towns do it where they have at the ramp, they have either they do it sometimes as a resident and non-resident. We just do it we we don't distinguish, right? We just one fee, right? So.

Simple.

Simple. That's it. Yeah. And it's for $70.

$70.

For uh you know, if you spend any time in your trailer or boat, that's So, it's it's $70 for the season.

For the season.

For the season.

For the for the whole year, right? And we have a couple people in particular uh there's a woman named Sheila. Her name of her boat is She Fly. And I think last year they did 81 81 days on the river.

And they They traveled from Medway every day. Jesus. Well, yeah.

But that works out to what?

That was a good deal.

70 cents for a ride a a launch it's pretty good.

Mhm.

Well, even if they launched it twice, I still think they'd get their money's worth.

Was [clears throat] there a hearing or whatever? We We had talked about the penalty fee for not July 1st.

So, you talking about the late fee?

Yeah.

Well, not not the the late fee for the penalty of not paying at the state ramp.

So, we had hoped that that could be made into a $200 fine.

Okay.

Uh there's a lot to that, I guess. We just can't say, "Hey, select board, can you grant us $200 fine?" It's got to go to town meeting.

We'd have to have a hearing, I would I would think.

Yeah.

So, we may be able to address that any adjustments in the fall.

Well, my understanding, John, is that that would have to go to town meeting for approval.

have to go to town meeting.

Yeah.

Go forward to one year, I think, on this, and that's kind of where we're probably going to be at.

Yeah.

The fee right now doesn't even justify I mean, half the people are just going to take the fine, right? at this point.

It's It's no money. It's It's $25, I mean.

I mean, it's like Yeah, so that would have to be Yes.

to be changed at town meeting. Okay.

Yep. And I think that's a goal, right? That's a That's a goal, and I think that will deter a lot of people that we have problems with, especially if you ask some of the beach owners uh down there that there's people that do frequent beaches by parking in an overflow parking lot or a state ramp and then walk down the street to the beach.

Right?

Yeah, we we've seen it live and in person. I mean, it it happens.

Yeah, cuz the state beach I sure is more to get into the state beach than Right.

Yeah, so I think it's 40 bucks at Horseneck for an out of state out of state, $20 I think in state. Um a lot of the time the people are walking down Bridge Street and going through straight down next to the Bakers, right?

Kind of just they end up in no man's land.

$200 would change that.

Yes, exactly.

Carl?

Well, you walk consistent, Mr. Tripp.

Well, I'm insistently late.

Good thanks.

Hey, somebody's got to work, you know.

So, it was it was suggested as $200 for the the penalty, so I'll bring that up again later in the fall.

Mhm.

But we can readdress that.

Okay.

Okay.

The town meeting.

Okay.

Yeah, cuz that's going to find its way back to you guys anyway before it goes.

Uh the town moorings, we have three three folks who have shown interest.

They've committed to them.

Uh we don't have any money for that yet, but that is still at $600 for the season. That has that did not get changed.

Just kind of missed that one.

That's out of six moorings total?

Uh there are eight on the surface right now Ed.

But I think we had five in use last year.

Same.

So, we have three boats ready. I mean, that have asked for that.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, so Rick is running the show on the town moorings. He's managing that. We just got some new top gear. Had to drive all the way to Defender down in Waterford to get uh four of those we've we've been waiting on top gear from uh Beckmann's for about 5 weeks now and enough is enough.

So, they happen to have four in stock down there, so I just drove down and grabbed them.

Chicago? All Chicago stuff or Uh this is TaylorMade.

Oh, it's not not the train though, just the just the ball.

Just the ball and the hardware and the shaft and yeah.

Yeah, the train you got to Pretty pricey. I'm sure I paid top dollar for it, but [snorts] we needed them, so.

Well, without it can't sell the mooring, so.

Pretty important.

So, on the state ramp, you you know what's going on over there? Um That's going to be So, once you put the signs up, no more cash at all?

No.

So, Signs signs are already up.

All right.

And they're covered, so no one actually So, if someone comes down and for some reason can't seem to didn't grow up with computers, can't work the the uh cell phone.

Mhm.

Do they go home?

Yeah, either that or it'll cost them 25 bucks and a ticket. Um Right.

You know, you know, Carl, we've talked about this ad nauseam.

Yeah.

And if you try to park at the Zeiterion Theatre, you have to have a smartphone.

If you take the MBTA, take the train to Boston, you've got to have a smartphone.

Yeah.

Uh if you park in the Bedford, you've got to have a smartphone.

Yeah.

Yeah, I think logic logic says, "Look, if you can afford a boat and you launch it there at the state boat ramp, you've probably got a smartphone."

Well, I mean, a lot of people have smartphones, but not necessarily how to use all the features on them. That's all I'm saying, you know, so.

Well, the QR codes are for dummies like me.

Well, yeah, I I mean, you know, I I've been forced to learn myself and I what not. So, it it just came up, you know, it conversation a couple times. You feel there's been enough transition?

You know.

I feel like we've been talking about this process forever.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's nice to get automated. I appreciate all that stuff but we have to make sure that the public is coming along with you, you know, cuz that's what it's all about, you know.

Well, we have posted it on the town website. We've posted it via our Facebook page. It's going to be in Shorelines, the next issue that comes out of I guess on Tuesday.

Um I don't know where else to go beyond that. We've talked about it at select board meetings, meetings like this. Um What's the probability at this point that it's more likely that somebody is not carrying a $5 bill on them?

Is it more that they don't have a $5 bill [snorts] or it's they don't have a smartphone, right?

Well, you're not you're not doing cash at all, though, right? There's no option for for cash anymore. So, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. So, Get rid of the cash.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, yeah, I'm just saying, you know, yeah. So, yeah just Yeah, I've just heard a few I've heard a few, you know, well, what if I, you know, I don't have my you know, my cell phone It's a It's a great point. You bring up a great point. The back end of it is you go retrieve an envelope.

you find somebody down there that can help you with it, I guess. If you want to go fishing, man.

an envelope, you got to bring them back to the office, you got to open them with somebody else's spit on them. There is dollar bills, there's nickels, dimes, quarters, right? And then you got to meticulously count it. Well, there you go. There's 2 hours of your day already there.

Then you got to take it, put it in a case, bring it up to the treasurer, watch while they count it rather than now just QR code. And you're right, there are going to be some that are going to be going Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I definitely appreciate the no cash stuff anymore. I just you know, it's just there'll be people who don't have that and there's no other options. That's what I'm saying, you know, so

Wait for somebody to drive in that can help you, I guess is it.

So, once you once you scan that QR code the first time, do you set up an account?

The first time you're going to have to put in your your vehicle tag, I don't know. So, after that it'll recognize it.

Yeah.

So, it should go pretty quick. Uh Rick's going to be there with uh one of the uh youngsters uh Monday morning at probably at about 06:00, maybe a little bit before 6:00 to catch everybody and kind of guide them through it just to keep the boats moving along.

Um Beyond that, I don't know what else [snorts] we could do for this transition. We have put it out there as best we can, whatever we can.

Yeah, we you know, we can't speak to everyone as [clears throat] as a group. I can communicate now with [snorts] all the boaters, that 857 boaters, we've got their email addresses, but they're not going to be using the boat ramp.

Yeah, right, right, yeah.

Um Yeah.

It doesn't make all that much sense there. But, I I think we've done as much outreach as we possibly could.

You know, it's a it's a change and you know, people just Change is hard.

It is. It is. It is. It is, so.

Just ask the uh kayakers.

All right. Late fee?

Goofed on that one. Uh the late fee will be uh July 1st.

So, the dog doesn't get to eat your homework after July 1st.

Um I have sent on three different occasions SMSs to everyone who's in this database.

Just a friendly reminder that uh the late fee will will be uh will be put in play on the 1st of July.

How many are in arrears right now? Do you know? Any idea?

How many more do we have to go?

You know, how many how many people currently in arrears right now that haven't paid their Well, I can't answer that, Colin. The reason I can't is we don't know what accuracy is yet. So, part of this process of the conversion over to the software is developing a reliable database, something we did not have.

So, when the dust settles come Halloween, Thanksgiving, we'll be able to look back and say this is what Westport really looks like.

You know, resident, non-resident, the type of boat, the length of the boat, all of that.

Right.

On top of that, we will get to communicate with No, what I'm asking is is right now, how many people have not paid their fees when you know?

It's What's the So, again, we don't know that. So, we don't Cuz we don't know what the total is. So, we can't we don't know what to subtract from the 857 that Okay. All right. I don't I don't think So, how are we going to hear How do we know who to charge late fees to then?

I mean Right. Right.

If we don't know So, we brought in Will that be done automatically or Yes. You were here for this. So, we brought in 163 now. Last all of last year Okay.

140 143.

143.

We're 20 K ahead of last year.

Yeah, so But You picked up some stragglers.

the old system, right? It's not automated right?

You can count how many boats are on the right page by page and page. And it's it is the number it is. But within that, you don't know how many people sold a boat, didn't sell a boat. Uh they didn't put it in the water this year, right?

So, there's the variables. So, as we build this system up it's hard to get that. So, in the years, but I can tell you what we're doing to guard against that and to keep it going is Captain had a bunch of kids go up and start pulling registrations and the numbers, okay? And cross-referencing with our system. If they're not in the system, we're adding to the system, okay? So, we're adding

them and I've been reaching out I reach out to about 30 people a day right now to try to stay ahead of it just to get people in the system. So, you go into the state database, you get their address, you try to find their phone number, you call them, you get their email, get them in the system.

Hey, are you at Tri-State this year or whatever? Yes, I am. Good. Okay.

Put the the boat in, right? Assign it.

And then I just say, "Do you want to pay over the phone and get it done right now?" Sure, let's do it. And it's right there. So, there's a lot of what you're saying. It's just hard to say what's in the rears.

Um I think it's going to be a great conversation for a year or two, just to see what we're really at.

Yeah. Yeah. So, we're a little premature on that because we don't have a full year Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Just All right.

Yeah.

I saw the cadets at Tri-State writing down, looking at different boats, and writing down the the registrations or the name, you know, cuz So, what So, I'm going to ask you this, John. What impression did they leave on you?

What?

What impression did they leave on you when you looked at them and watched them in action?

Mhm.

Very uh great manners.

Yes.

You know, they Good.

Jovial with a smile.

Well, I sent them over there to collect uh MS numbers for boats that don't have stickers, and to introduce themselves to anybody who would listen, and to be ambassadors, basically. And I think those two are just terrific together.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

That's the face we want to have.

Yeah, I saw them out there as well, too.

They seemed you know They were wonderful.

I mean, they were invisible, but they were there, you know, they They didn't make a big They didn't show.

make a Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

They were there, but invisible, but not a nuisance. Yeah. Anyway.

I met with uh Gary What's Gary the Commodore at West Bay Yacht Club? Is it Schwainer? Some of that. Yeah.

I apologize, Gary. Um I went over to uh visit with him just to say, "Hey, just a heads-up on the $100 late fee."

Um he was very gracious. We had a great conversation. His wife actually put that notice in their weekly newsletter. So, they've already all been notified over there. So, but I did say to him, "We're not going to send anyone down here without your permission."

You know, so but they were very gracious. We've spoken to Sal. We've spoken to Jay Williams at Prelude.

Um we haven't gotten around to Eddie Carey yet, but we'll get up to West Branch one of these days.

That elusive guy.

Yeah.

Frankie, right? Frankie, right?

Oh, Frankie. Yeah, I sent them over to meet that first day. I said, "Just take a ride over to Spin the Rock. Go meet Frankie Ray. He's He's going to meet you there."

So, Frankie gave them a nickel tour. So, he got to put the faces to these youngsters, you know.

Um but it it's been a so far, it's just been a week with these kids. They've been fantastic.

Absolutely fantastic.

We are by the way, Alex Rowe, um the Coast Guardsman that has been with us for for a week or so now.

Uh he's being deployed in July.

Yeah.

Uh so, he's heading down to Yorktown, Virginia to You know that, huh?

serve as an instructor for boat operators for I guess Customs and Border Patrol or something along those lines.

So, we're going to be losing him, but he he told us right from the beginning, "I'll be here as long as I can." So, They Coast Guard is the new Border Patrol guys. So, it's He was supposed to go deploy to potentially to Texas cuz that's border security. Now, Coast Guard is handling this now.

And because of his rank, he was able to He got an email that said, "Hey, what do you think about teaching this class to send people to Texas? And that's in Virginia."

Providence to Virginia. He's got two young kids at home. So, it's a direct flight. It's a lot easier. It was That was a no-brainer for him.

Yeah.

He didn't think it would come this soon, but it just, you know, it's Here it is.

[clears throat] Uh where did we leave off, Mr. Chair?

Uh maintenance, repairs, and staffing.

Now, I think we can check the staffing.

Okay, yep.

All right, yeah.

Uh maintenance and repairs, uh we are about to send M1 up to uh Westport Marine Center to get that 300 horse serviced. It's uh long overdue.

Um and we're also going to start rotating the other boats through through as well uh when we can. I think that's uh that's going to become routine.

Uh I'm going to get in touch with Josh tomorrow, see when we can get M1 over there to get the bottom. He did that for us last year right after the 4th.

Yeah.

Um It's slowing down a little bit now, so it'd be good timing.

Okay.

When are you going to get the the the upgrades to the the Harbor Master uh uh office?

Oh, to the shack. Okay, so that's going to wait till July 1.

Okay.

Um funds that Yes.

along with the boat and Well, the boat I let's let's talk about the boat. Uh that boy All right, so the boat is completed. It's been sea trialed. It's sitting on its trailer.

And I got the call uh yesterday, it's ready, come get it.

Um so, I had to meet with Chris Vitali to talk about the whole process here.

Um Rick Odette, who builds these boats, uh is on the GSA bid list. So, that saved us the trouble of putting all this out for bid and then losing all that time, blah blah blah.

Uh and on top of that, uh Chris also got uh the written contract from Cecil French, who is the uh CVA coordinator up at Gloucester. [cough and clears throat] That all came together yesterday at about 10 minutes after 1:00.

Uh so that guaranteed that uh we will have that vessel shortly after the 1st of July. If we can squeeze it in before that somehow, we will. But that boat's coming.

And that That's good news.

That is good news. Boy, we've been fighting for that since October.

You know, and I I could have written a book on all the steps that had to be taken. You know, I'm I'm not anyone well-versed in the municipal world and how things work here. Just trying to follow the right path and acquire the equipment that we need, you know.

Wheels turn slowly. Wheels turn slowly.

Yeah, too slow if you may call, but I mean that's that's the way it is, right?

It is. It is.

But I you know, Chris Vitalis was incredibly helpful yesterday not just uh in helping us to execute this, but to educate me in how all this stuff works.

So.

Yeah.

So anyway, that that boat is uh it'll be here shortly. I'm hoping, I think I mentioned at the last meeting, I'm hoping to get it into the 4th of July parade. Yeah, we'll see.

It might be a bridge too far, but if it doesn't make the 4th, it'll be shortly Will the bottom be painted and all prepped? Okay, great.

Yes. It is It is ready to splash. We're only going to pick it up in Warwick, drive it to the state ramp, and put it in the water.

Yeah.

That's going to be that quick.

All right.

Um callouts. Callouts. What are we talking about with the boat?

Oh, rescues, emergencies whatever.

We have Boy, what have we done here? Um we got a call out at 3:30 in the morning uh a few weeks back for a boat that was sinking off of Sakonnet Point.

Uh so Rick and I went uh out to the harbor entrance, get out there by the double, called the Coast Guard. They said, "No, we got it. Never mind."

So we went back to the dock and went back bed.

So Never mind.

So never mind, exactly.

There's not a little constant doesn't have any ability to go rescue.

They really don't. They've they've called us several times to assist boats off right off right off the kind of point light in one instance.

So Um we've had half a dozen small toes.

A couple of young ladies got stuck in the mud over by Great Island at one of the lowest tides of the year.

Um so Andrew and I pulled them off. We had one of the commercial fishermen get stuck on the sandbar there. We had number 14 was missing.

Uh so Kevin and I pushed and pulled and got it back in the channel. It took about 400 horsepower to do that.

Big boat.

Showing them the pictures of the of the boat.

Boat pump out boat.

Was that the guy that tried to go up the west branch?

When you pulled off or Uh that was Paul was Uh that was Paul E Louvelin.

Yeah, he he went straight through like by Charlton Wharf.

That's Yeah, yeah.

There it is.

No, there wasn't there a transient that tried to maybe get off by him by him by himself.

a minute. Yeah, you know what Carl? You Someone had called and left a voicemail on the terrestrial line.

And when I called him back he had refloated himself.

Okay, yeah yeah. I didn't I didn't I didn't know what the outcome was of that yeah.

He admitted that he went outside.

that west You got that west branch marked too well, I guess. He thought I think that's west is marked as well as we can get.

Yeah, I mean but he was too big to go up there anyway. So you know, he was Yeah.

I don't know what Free choice.

I I you know Right.

Good lord.

Don't even ask why anymore.

Um old business. You got the QR code. We spoke about that. Yeah.

Feasibility study.

What happened there?

was they had one more phase to do.

And that phase was to bore holes through the dock down into whatever's under it, whatever substrate is under it.

They had issues connecting with the subcontractor and scheduling the subcontractor.

Uh Alex Karp, who was the chief engineer on the project, asked for an extension.

Um that wasn't something we could grant.

They had to go to the Seaport Economic Council for approval, and they said, "No."

So, that study will end right there.

Um According to Alex, that does not preclude us for applying for a Seaport grant for whatever conclusions the study comes up with.

Um but if we were granted uh moneys for improvement there, we would have to go through that boring process before that.

So, they haven't done the boring yet, you say?

No, they're they're out of time. No they What do they look for down there?

Uh basically, it's just to determine, I guess, the density of the substrate, so that should they have to fill um they're they're looking for the answer as to how much of that fill can be handled. How much weight can you put down on the dock?

Cuz as he explained it to me, the more weight you press down, the more force you get pushing out outward.

Um so, that was the reason for the boring, just to see what the density is of It's like a bridge, basically. You're you're putting a footing in, and you want to know how much weight There you go.

There you go.

Yep.

Yeah.

The meantime, [clears throat] we're just plugging away with planks when we can, right? There were Yeah. 18 to 20 planks left.

And we're try to knock off three and four at a time.

So that these guys can keep on driving.

Those those On the planks, on the wood.

But we got some uh strapping young lads now that um she will be anxious.

Say yeah, get Get the get the kids on that. You could do maybe five instead of three, you know.

Yeah, right.

Um Hicks Bridge, boy, what have we done at Hicks Bridge? Not very much um since we helped uh put the floats back in them. We did send um a couple of the lads up to uh just with the weed whacker to just kind of cut the growth down as best we can.

Um we have not been that engaged in Hicks Bridge since then. Uh that's not by uh it's not intentional. It's just [snorts] There's no call.

There's no call for it yet.

I would I would say Incidents with the jet ski problems or Well, that I was just going to bring be coming.

That that's coming, yes. So so one of the um landowners on the west side by Lakes Island um suggested that perhaps we bring uh the environmental police up there on certain Saturdays, Sundays just to kind of send a message. Uh we can certainly arrange that and I know we will.

Um just the sight of uh you know, the EPOs uh should be enough for jet skiers to either say, "You know, I'm going to respect the law or I'm not."

So um there will be a focus up there this year. That's something that we really wanted to do last year, never really got to it. Uh we were too busy putting out fires, quite honestly, but we are well aware of the issues up there and we do intend to address them.

I can't imagine the scenario where jet skis and kayakers mix well.

Never.

Mhm.

Oh, damn it.

So, the pump out program, let me see if I can pull that up real quick.

I can give you a total number. It's probably about 50 boats that we pumped so far.

And including what we did today, we're at 55, let's call them visits.

And I think everyone has been satisfied.

We haven't had any complaints that I'm aware of.

Now, the It's the usual The gallons The gallons on the new boat What's the tank capacity?

capacity new boat is 400 gallons.

And it will have a a tank gauge. So, I mean, simple math.

Yeah.

3 quarters is 300. That's what goes in the big green tank, right?

Um We just had that emptied for the first time. Uh Baystate Sewage is the vendor on that one. So, they take 1,000 gallons at the time and they charge us about $350 if memory serves every visit.

But that those monies are covered by CVA reimbursements, so that's not off of our budget.

What's the CVA um all work? Is it still going to be good for [clears throat] next few years?

Yeah, so a calendar year contract um Ed, so as of January 1 through the Board of Health, the town of Westport has a $15,000 contract with the CBA folks where they will reimburse our pump out activities up to $15,000.

Okay.

So.

And we had to use some of that to get this temporary pump out boat that we've got going on swapped over cuz we needed some work done over at Drew's to pull off the old engine, put on the new one, so on and so forth. So that is all reimbursable money.

So that's pretty good pretty good program in my view.

Mooring regulations and inspections.

We were just over by the Prelude building this morning taking a look at a vessel on a mooring that someone stated wasn't permitted to be there.

So we took a spin over.

The 2026 sticker was on the vessel.

So between that number and between the MS number, we were able to identify who owned the vessel.

As it turned out, he had been there for at least a few years certainly before we got involved.

So [snorts] as far as I'm concerned, if he was permitted before we got here, he's permitted still today. We can't just turn around and say you know, Chris and Gary permitted me, well we're not going to. I mean, that just doesn't fly, right?

So my response to the the complainer was he's legally permitted to be there.

Was the complainer saying that that was they owned that mooring and that they shouldn't be using it?

No, he just said he's on an illegal mooring and he's in the way and What's that?

The mooring was claimed to be illegal.

Yes.

Not approved by the harbormaster.

Well, it it does not fit the bill as the waterway rules say it should. In other words, it doesn't have a white ball with a horizontal stripe around the middle with a number on it.

It's a couple of floats, you know.

Um so yeah, if we wanted to make that case, we certainly could.

Um but as far as I was concerned this morning that boat owner has been there for years and we're not going to we're not going to And he's also the original applicant of that mooring as well, too? Do you know?

Or Uh I don't know, Carl. All I can say is that he's been there for Yeah, there's been a mooring there for a long time, I you know.

So.

So those are the kind of things that we're dealing with. We get requests all the time for moorings. Um I'm just kind of taking them one at a time.

If it's a an obvious spot that they can place it, that's fine. Uh if it's in a congested area, that's another story.

Um and some folks we just had to say, "Look, we have a moratorium right now, so you're going to have to get back to us." But if we can solve the simple ones, the easy ones so be it.

Yeah.

Um at some point we we would like to I'd like to get some data from other towns on inspections on some kind of you know what they [clears throat] what the criteria would be or if they have a list of people or um I'm looking for the words. I mean if they do an inspection, I mean how do that sign off that it's been inspected and it meets standards or whatever it might be forms or whatever.

Is there some kind of an approved approved approval process, you know, But don't don't we have regulations already about the size of them? I mean, that's what you would go by.

We have regulations, but we don't have anything for personnel for approval.

Right. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

This is really a new realm.

Yeah.

You could do that. You could Could you do that background?

Yeah. That did I did it. This is the Oh, it's it's in this.

So what?

What town What town did you steal?

Um I can tell you exactly. I can I did Dartmouth. I looked at Dartmouth, Marion and It works for them, why not, you know?

I will give you guys a copy of this.

At some point, the idea is to update this into 2016 form rather than typewriter form.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Now, if you want to just get to the point, there is a part on moorings and what size moorings to use. And Johnny brought up a great point to So, this is This is an update to the It's It's I'll do something I'm working on, but what it will do is we'll start talking about moorings and [cough] [clears throat] how to app go through an application and a renewal.

Uh and then the size chain you need.

It's a good starter to get us all into one cohesive document.

But I like John, what you said about getting where we put the approval, right? And how do we go about doing that? It's a great thing to put in this document.

Yeah, we Which will eventually be in Lynx logs, right? So, it'll be I mean, if we uh want somebody to get certified as whatever reason as to inspect a moorings, he'd have to know a list of check-offs and how that would be done. Do they have to pull a mooring every so many years or there was there a diver? Those kind of things.

Exactly. [clears throat] Yes.

Right, you know? I would think you would need at least every, based on my experience, every 3 years to pull a mooring and at least look at it. Make Make sure it's not going to break when you pull it.

That's what he has on here, 3 years.

Yep.

This is really good. Well done.

I want What um It's a work This is not This is a work in progress, right? We're all Yeah.

It's a start. So, we It's a start. We got a starting point here.

Well, we've also got ASA plugged in Yes.

and that he's one of the administrators on Lynx Log, so he can go in and make whatever changes he needs to make.

That's not the final solution, obviously, but it's a good first step.

Does the town insur- insurer have any I mean, we Do they have any any criteria as to They ensure that, you know, the town liability-wise?

I don't think so.

I don't know if they cover more. I mean, yeah, well, you know, but I mean, that would be That's a good question.

Insurance would be a big thing. I mean, you know, if you you get somebody to certify the moorings, something happens to the moorings, well, I had it certified by the town and, you know, the thing went through someone's, you know, you get a couple of boats involved and liabilities, you can't you can't cover yourself enough with li- li- liability, so you know, you can see how that chain

could work back against you if you Sure.

So.

I think the idea when this is set up at some point, you, the owner of the mooring, you are going to be signing your life away saying it's been inspected. Anything happens, I take full responsibility and the town is not liable.

That's yeah.

Yeah. So, that will I wouldn't sign that.

Yeah, that Right, right, but that's will be written in, right? So, that will release liability.

Well, that yeah, it That's how all the towns do it.

Yeah, yep.

That's what I did through the research.

That's what they did. They just Yeah, they just say, "Okay, if you follow these steps, you should be good, right?

And now you are liable and the town is not liable.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

So, there's a way to get there. We still got it like, you know, we'll get there.

Yeah, there's a way to make everything safe, but also cover any any, you know, any any blowback on the town, you know, that could be It's a good point.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right.

Kevin, you're showing helix moorings on anything over 24 ft.

Is that the I'm just Is the town that you pulling this from?

Yeah, I I don't know if town that was from and some of this stuff I was using language that other towns were just using.

Right, right.

So, I mean, a lot of this stuff can be modified.

Yeah.

I think Marion added poison to this.

Right.

But, what we're dealing what we're working off of now is so it's just very um dated, Right.

I mean, it's got all the right information, but it looks like it was done on a typewriter, right? It's kind of Yeah.

This is a good We we had regulations for moorings in this booklet and it's it it just differs that it doesn't have helix. It basically says a cement block or equivalent, you know, like anywhere from just 33 to 50 per bolt.

It says 48 by 40 by 15.

And so, that you know, Yeah.

It's fine. Yeah, it's fine.

Yeah, I got you.

Yeah.

We can change the language around. Yeah.

Yeah.

Certain certain bottoms, I know I think on helix is for uh you know, for muddy ground, um because you get unsupported shank for quite a ways and you had real pull around on the bend and Okay.

I think either Marion added poison because of the bottom, they only use Helix dead down there.

Yeah, hard sand. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean I mean we know that our bottom there isn't one.

We know small blocks work pretty well.

too hard pan, you know, so You know, I I we kind of have to leave that open, I think, for Absolutely. Yeah.

Yes, this is a a working document for This could be a month, a year, 2 years down, but we're Just add Yeah. Work on the starting point.

starting point.

I think I have the original electronic version of this.

I can forward it to you if you wish.

[clears throat] Yeah.

You know, and I I used to be available on the webpage.

It's on the Harbor Master.

It is?

It is.

Yep, it is. Yeah.

Well, I mean, I I I had got some information um document and um on the mooring regulations and it it it basically it's just chain or or dead weights or it goes pyramid, mushroom, dead weight for different size vessel and it gives the a bottom chain, top chain pen and information, but that was about it.

But they don't have the current that we do either right?

I understand. Yeah, that's that's Yeah.

And it's not, you know, After Hurricane Bob, before that was just fill up the bathtub and throw it over a wall.

It worked good, right?

Well, yeah, until they had a You see all the mooring the mushroom ones all piled up together.

Okay.

Let's not even mention that word, hurricane.

It's good, though. I mean, it's it's a start.

This is a great start, yes.

Okay.

So, it's like 3 years is a pretty good number for inspection minimums.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

It'll be nice when it's when when it's there eventually, but there's a lot of to to get into that, you know.

E- even that is the form should be the certified that someone signs off that it's been done.

I mean, I've been doing it on my own and just telling F- F- trips to do it every 3 years.

Yeah.

And hopefully they can do it, you know.

But that's and then, you know, someone else would have to sign off uh um having an inspector uh hopefully have more than one or two.

And what criteria did do you use for inspectors?

Those are the kind of questions we got to ask for other towns.

Yeah.

And you start with just private moorings or do you do private and commercial or Whatever.

Commercial guys pay for their own inspection or private you know, so a lot to talk about.

Commercial moorings, I mean, like, you know, I think you would have to leave it up to the commercial mooring owner to certify that the moorings have been inspected or whatever. I think that would be for private moorings.

Right.

That may be a different path.

What do you think?

I mean, the time wise just time wise alone, you got what 189 Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Just the time that would take to do that.

a third of each year, you know, Yeah. I mean, we we rotate them anyway.

Yeah. Yeah.

a rotating basis is probably the best way we can do it.

Yeah, you know, exactly.

It'd be too much to tackle.

I mean, time wise and and you know, expense wise and everything it just makes is just they don't have the guys to Exactly, you know.

I just from a business point of view, you don't want [clears throat] to have 47 mooring inspectors in Westport.

No.

The pie is not that big.

No. I mean, it should be definitely something at least sanctioned by the harbormaster or overseen by the harbor so that at least there's you know, there's some control over it as well, you know.

Well, I think we've done that with ASA on the platform.

Yeah.

You know, it used to be where people would throw their own moorings in a lot too, but you know, more and more now with the people that are moving in, you know, they just put a mooring out there for me, you know, and so then you probably are going to get less and less of you know, some substandard moorings out there that you know, oh, it'll be fine for my 20-footer, you know, and it's a you

know, you know, tiny mooring out there.

So, if everybody took that approach, boy, what a mess we'd have, huh?

Well, for a long time, I mean, you know, people, you know, they they look at what you're going to charge, you know, you're going to bring your barge up there, you got all of you know, telling me you're going to charge 600 bucks. What? You know, so you know, but people now it's not it's a different clientele out there, so you know, they're What does a basic inspection now run?

Do we know?

What are the cost?

Does anybody ever know? I didn't I didn't even think to ask that. I don't even know.

It depends on what you're actually doing. If you're pulling the mooring up, um I mean, I charge 75 bucks for an inspection, but that's um that's only pulling the chain, the secondary chain. So, you get the you get your connection between [snorts] the primary and the secondary chain.

Um and then inspect everything there.

Um if you have to pull a mooring though, it's big difference.

You get double, triple it if you you know, Makes sense, right?

Yeah, but sometimes you can't, you know, especially can pull the mooring, yeah.

It's been a while. I mean, those things are buried.

The fee of trips is about 300 a year.

Yeah.

Just to take care of the mooring that they call Yeah, they call it commission decommission.

[clears throat] Yeah.

Okay, so that that would be a so another 150.

Gives you a gives you a a ballpark, right?

Okay.

So, you know, I was doing 75 decommissioning, 75 commissioning.

And then Yeah, 100.

Yeah.

Say 100 and a half.

But that's for the small ones, aren't they, right? You one you can kind of do by you know, not Not by hand. No. That's any any size mooring.

Any size mooring?

Yeah. But you know, time and materials.

Yeah. Yeah.

If anything has to be done to it.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, they yeah. Yeah.

And uh mooring owner come into the shack and say, "Uh I had somebody inspect my mooring and I asked them to pull it up.

When they pulled it up, they broke my chain.

So, I don't think I should have to pay."

That's a good one.

Sometimes you got to bite your tongue.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah. I mean, if it doesn't hold the anchor It's not a good thing.

Maybe you should Why don't you reward him for breaking your mooring before it broke itself.

Uh keep you going, don't they?

Any other business or do business Uh boy, what else is going on? All kinds of stuff going on. Um Oh, we're going to be at the uh first night with National First Night, I think it's called, with the police department, fire department. Uh where they meet the public. This is on the 4th of August.

Uh Special night out.

Special night out. Thank you, Val.

Night out.

So, we'll be in attendance there. We're going to be doing a joint drill with the Horseneck Beach lifeguards, Westport Fire, Westport Police.

That's going to be on July 15th.

Uh you know about the oil spill drill that we had.

God, it seems like years ago. Um That was May 3rd May 13th. Yeah.

So, we've been active there, but I think we spend a lot of our time now as customer service agents answering the phone, answering emails, answering every manner of communication uh to get people up to speed.

Um and we have been trying our darndest to keep people off of this $100 late fee.

I don't know what else we can do to put the word out that it's coming.

Um but it's coming. It's July 1st and that's the end of story.

Now, we can't drag this on forever. We drag it on any longer than it becomes insignificant. So, um So, what is the night out thing?

So, National Night Out is basically uh community outreach, if you will. It's where uh first responders, law enforcement, uh just have a uh an evening with the public. Just for them to come and ask questions, uh meet and greet, that kind of thing. It's uh And where is that?

It's going to be at the high school, the old high school, I do believe. Don't quote me on that one.

It was a quite a success last year and uh Chief Dunn called and said, "You guys have got to be there next year." So, uh he's already put us on notice.

We have the um shallop uh event going on. That's August 15th down at the point. Um we have pledged whatever help we can uh for them to help this to help it to be a a safe event.

Um you know, we've got communication with uh police and fire at all times. We've got three AEDs uh thanks to two very uh gracious donors.

Uh we've got two very um involved first aid kits and we've got eight staff members who know how to use it.

Uh I don't know how much more prepared we could be in that realm than we are right now.

What else have we got going on this summer?

Of course, 4th of July is Oh, it's 4th of July, so it's a Saturday as we all know.

I intend to be out there in the evening, probably sitting on one of your transient moorings, watching the festivities.

Um [snorts] Festivities of the festivities.

I wish we built that out.

The parade going back up one.

It's a parade.

Cap, our our extended dock.

Oh, yeah. So, thanks, Kevin. The The old Hicks Bridge docks that came out last summer were stacked up in the parking lot.

Uh Three of them were given away to the Russell family.

We took the rest.

And we towed them down the river into our little cove. And on Wednesday, Wayne Manchester and Andrew showed up and drove a piling in for us. So, now that short little section of floating dock is twice that now.

So, we we will have room literally for all of the boats.

It would have made a big difference.

Yeah. Big difference.

Oh, we were just cramped cramped in there. You know, it was it was It was like, you know, ping pong every time you come in and out.

this boat to move to get this boat.

Yeah.

But now we've got some room some room to move. So, uh so, we're hoping that the shack gets redone. It's going to go out for bid right after the 1st. Uh I still have to speak to Chris Vitale about the process there.

I don't think we want to be doing this in the middle [clears throat] of August when it's crazy busy. I think Off season.

October 1st might be a better time. Uh so, how we time all that and it's going to have to be done in phases because [clears throat] you've got a roofing contractor, you get siding, trim, windows, a door, insulation, and then you've got the HVAC folks coming in to do the uh heat pump. So, it's going to be uh it's going to be a time play right there.

Do we have to have the historical?

Already did it. Already did it. Yeah.

Yeah, it took three meetings to get That could have wild colors.

No, it is not. No. And we have uh two of the uh commission members who are going to serve as monitors to make sure it gets done right. And I'm absolutely on board with them. Why, you know, why wouldn't we be?

Good.

Did Bruce survive his relay comeback?

Yes. Yes, it sounds like that may start next week.

We've been relayless relayless so far this year cuz the one sole supplier in the state has been down.

Really?

Yeah.

Wow.

Yeah, so that that's going to So, that that puts a a pretty big load on us as far as uh time and effort commitment. So, that's probably starting up next week.

Um but I think we're in a good place now to start that.

All right.

Weren't you doing Weren't you doing something with the uh pump house as well too?

Yeah, that's uh boy, that building, as you know, was was a hatchery donated to the town by the Southeast Shellfish Association, I think they call themselves.

Um it's been cleaned out.

The deck, Kevin painted the deck. Kevin and Alex painted [clears throat] the deck.

Uh he also took care of the epoxy inside the tanks. And so, the tanks are all mounted inside the building now.

Um we haven't got to uh piping up uh the water yet, but that's all that remains right now.

So uh pretty proud of that. And uh we've also got ourselves a container. I don't know if I mentioned that last time. I probably did.

Uh everything that came out of the shack went into the hatchery. So, now we have to clear out the hatchery. Where are we going to put all this stuff? There was no place else to go. We were just checkmated. So, I called Sterling Container and they rented us a 40-ft container, which is just the other side of the berm over there.

So, that's our uh that's our shop.

That's our storage for tools and whatnot. So, we're expanding a little bit cuz we have to.

Um the uh the old pump-out boat and the old privateer are down in the back uh as well. So, if you want it, back call. I mean, just Nice work.

to the minute. I'll talk to the administrator about it, you know.

to Chris, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

And then, the privateer, I I don't know quite what to do with that. I think with the arrival of this new pump-out boat, which by the way will be a dual-purpose vessel. It's coming with a tow bit [cough] and a crash bar around the around the outboards. So, I don't see us needing the privateer.

Again, the deck is pretty wet. It's kind of spongy.

Yeah. Yeah.

20 gallons a day it was taking.

Yeah, it was taking on a lot of water.

So, Taking on a lot of water.

So, but I think generally speaking as far as vessels, equipment goes, we're making some pretty big strides to get ourselves up where we need to be.

Uh [snorts] so, uh I don't know what else we have uh on the agenda as far as upgrades. I think that is essentially where we are right now. So, a combination of technology, financial efficiency, um updating infrastructure, docks, buildings, I think we've touched on a little bit of everything.

So, but this this is great job, Kevin, by the way. This is this is a great place to start, right?

It's a good start. Take it. Yeah, just It kind of has a 2026 look to it. So, when we do it, we get around to doing something with it, we can 2026 look to it. I like that.

Yeah, it does. Yeah.

Next meeting, do you want to got a couple of medical issues in July. Do you want to meet like first week of August?

Let's see.

[clears throat] Yeah.

Can't do the fourth cuz that's National Night Out.

Um Or we'll go to the second week.

The 11th, the week from the August 10th through the 14th.

11th sounds good.

Okay. August 11th.

Everyone put that in?

Yeah.

Sure.

Same time?

Same time, 5:00 5:00 p.m., right?

5:15, right?

5:00 5:15. Do you want 5:15, Carl?

He's on his own time.

Well, then he will show up at 5:30.

Yeah, yeah.

It doesn't matter. Somebody will Somebody will walk in at 5:10, you know.

So, you know, August 11th.

Nickel for every time.

Unless unless uh uh Captain Shea says something an emergency again, we can uh adjust.

This is a possibility now, right? I mean, that's We all know that's that's in the air.

All right, gents.

Motion to adjourn.

Motion to adjourn Yeah.

Oh, one one comment. Ed, Carl, the commercial boring bills will be going out right after the first.

I I wrote that up.

good.

Yeah.

Any late Any late fees on the It's up to you.

For you, no.

We We write that check, don't worry about that.

Hey, want to switch bills this year?

Probably not.