Updated April 20 at 12:30 pm
Selectmen chairman Bill Rossi began Chilmark’s regular Tuesday board meeting with a moment of silence for maritime legend Gregory Mayhew, who died on April 11.
On the strength of a report by selectmen Jim Malkin, the board’s harbor liaison, the board opted to delay major electrical upgrades in Menemsha until after Labor Day. The work was budgeted at the Nov. 27 special town meeting. And while electrical engineer Vincent Di Lorio has begun to map out the upgrades, there remain “varying views” on the extent of the repairs needed, Malkin noted. He doubted work could be finished prior to the start of the season.
The harbor, as harbormaster Dennis Jason wrote in the 2017 annual town report, suffered from electric anomalies last year: “Our major issue was the result of electrical current leaking into the water and causing incidents of shock to a number of individuals.”
And as The Times reported extensively throughout last summer, Crab Corner, a popular children’s beach wedged between the town’s transient dock and the Menemsha Jetty, was closed as a result of the shocks. Efforts to identify the source of the waterborne electricity vexed town officials and their contractors for some time.
“Given the complexity of the situation and of the remedy,” Malkin put forth an interim solution suggested by local electrician Rob Young that includes inspection of electrical pedestals and Megger or Megohm testing — an evaluation of wire insulation integrity.
“If we did this testing, we’d be confident that there’s no stray current in the water at Crab Corner?” selectman Warren Doty asked.
“We would eliminate the need to replace that cabling, and we would know that that cabling would not be a source of any electrical current in the water,” Malkin said. “And we would also know that any pedestals and boxes from the gas station up are not the source of any electrical current in the water.”
Town administrator Tim Carroll said two electricians conducting approximately 10 hours of electrical diagnostics could conceivably save the town tens of thousands of dollars if lines were found to be sound. The work would temporarily shut down harbor electricity, he said.
The selectmen voted unanimously to approve pedestal and wire testing.
Despite the selectmen’s announcement last October that Crab Corner was reopened, the signs and the snow fence at the mouth of the minibeach never got taken away. Reached on Thursday, Malkin said the signs currently posted at Crab Corner will remain, but the snow fence will be removed. The highway department would have taken the fence away sooner, he said, but they have been busy with tree cleanup from the March nor’easters. Going forward, “we will have whatever signs are required by code put up,” he said. Presently, he said the signs were adequate. On Friday Malkin stated the board order opening Crab Corner last October still stands. Should testing of wires and pedestals uncover anything dangerous, Crab Corner may need to be temporarily closed. In that case electrical problems with wires and pedestals will be fixed “as fast as we possibly can,” he said.
In other business, the board authorized Carroll to secure designs for swales or culverts from West Tisbury civil engineer Kent Healy to address flooding issues across Menemsha Crossroad and on Middle Road near the intersection of Meeting House Road.
After a pessimistic report from selectman Warren Doty, who attended the most recent up-Island School Committee meeting, the selectmen also discussed strategies to combat what they saw as an intensifying West Tisbury campaign against the Chilmark School and the Up-Island Regional School District.
“I saw the tape of that meeting,” Malkin said. “I saw one of the West Tisbury School committee members say that in his opinion, the Up-Island Regional School District had outlived its usefulness.”
The selectmen resolved to continue fighting for the Chilmark School and the district.
It is fast approaching a year since Crab Corner was closed. Menemsha was a very different place last summer without our children having access to Crab Corner. Fewer families, fewer children, less laughter, less frolicking, less enjoyment of nature, less enjoyment of marine life, less crab catching which all resulted in fewer memories being made by our little ones. Chilmark voters approved a $350,000 expenditure for the upgrade of the electrical service in Menemsha at the November 2017 STM. You can clearly see on the Town website that plans and bids were submitted for the upgrade and conversations were had about having this all completed PRIOR to the 2018 summer season. Why is it now being postponed yet again? Who dropped the ball?
The odds of the ‘current’ leadership getting anything done about crab corner is not ‘shocking’.
No matter how inexcusable the situations are Rossi, Doty, Malkin and Jason seem to be ok with it. The only ‘power’ the people who want this fixed have is in voting. If I was a voter in Chilmark I would not re-elect any of them until they get a harbormaster that has safety as the first thing on his to do list.