To the Editor:
Mark Rozum, SSA treasurer, presented the Board of Governors’ proposed 2025 budget to Islanders Tuesday evening. Most of the questions and comments from those attending concerned continued frustrations with operations and service, as well as costs, all of which were met with “I’ll bring it back” by Mr. Rozum. The meeting prompted my sending the following letter to Mr. Rozum, to be shared with Mr. Davis and the Board of Governors. Long-overdue changes must start with an open and transparent hiring process for Mr. Davis’ replacement, the most critical decision for the Steamship’s future, followed by a complete revisioning of the Steamship Authority and implementation of effective management. The Steamship is desperately in need of a Lifeline if it hopes to ever provide one for the Island.
Margaret Hannemann
Chilmark
Mark,
Thank you for coming to the Island last night to discuss the 2025 Steamship Authority budget. Mr. Davis was notably absent.
You kept repeating, “I understand,” during the meeting as people relayed frustrations, but quite clearly you do not understand:
The stress, pain, and financial impact to a store owner in Oak Bluffs dealing with loss of income from repeated diverted boats; the stress and loss of income and reputation for a business owner in Vineyard Haven who has had to move to Falmouth to afford housing, needing to stand in the rain and wind on winter mornings frantically calling morning clients to notify (!) and move around appointments that clients were depending on that day, due to canceled ferries; the stress and personal worry about rescheduling a critical medical appointment and test, postponed for weeks or even months; the continued stress from all corners of dealing with a broken reservation system; many, many more examples could be put here, of course.
As we were leaving the meeting, you said to me that you hoped I understood how much you tried. I replied to you that, as I would tell my engineers working on mission-critical products, it is not how much we try but what we positively accomplish to meet the commitments.
This week, the Steamship board met to set the contract for the CEO’s departure. Instead of meeting his contractual requirement of one year’s notice, the board saw fit to increase that to 150 percent, i.e., 18 months at his $215,000 salary. That — while negotiations for critical Steamship employees seemingly linger on.
Actions are louder than words.
We have a lot to do. Listening and working together.
