Happy New Year !! Look forward to a great 2009 boating season ...

For sale 1/3 intrest in 18' 1973 Herreshoff Catboat.
Please contact for additional info.

I totally agree that an enterprise fund for our waterways needs is the way to go and I plan to work actively to try to make that happen. However, it might take years to get an enterprise fund approved and something has to be done in the interim before the harbor falls into complete disarray. An override will provide a start for Sesuit and several other town needs. Personally I'd like to see a comprise 2 or 3 year override so the town officials and citizens wouldn't have to spend much of their time fighting over funding every year. This would free them to focus on problem solving and planning for our future.

Alan complains about the new fire, police and library buildings and he may be right. Dennis is not alone being caught in the aftermath of 9/11 wherein public safety officials get virtually everything they ask for in the name of safety. I'm afraid that's the world we live in. Almost noone wants to challenge those needs.

As far a people leaving Dennis is concerned, it cannot be because of taxes! We are one of the lowest in the state. Maybe it's because the docks need to be replaced and the bathrooms need painting.

In respone to Barnacle Bill's email to Keith on 03-05-08, you need to understand that even if they were to stock the bay this year with fish, he (Keith) still wouldn't catch any of them. The only way Keith can catch any fish is if his boat runs into one of them on the way out to the fishing grounds and it floats to the service so he can retrieve it with a net.

I am certainly not in favor of the $2.5m override proposal. The town should have thought about this before it built an unnecessary $10m police station. The Fire Station is too large also. No one uses the new library in Dennisport. These capital expenses could have been scaled back significantly realizing Dennis is losing year round population at an alarming rate, 2 percent in the last 4 years alone.

The town needs to control costs better, such as fire department overtime that is among the highest of any town int the state.

The waterways fees return a substantial profit to the town each year. Most towns plow those profits back into the operation that generated them via the establishment of enterprise funds. That is what we should be shooting for as a group of boatowners, not the backing of an override which involves the general tax paying public and which contains some "shut up" money for us boatowners which will only be a band aid, one year fix and not a permanent solution to our problem.

Edited by author 04-08-2008 08:19 AM
I am interested in knowing who supports the $2.5m override proposal which includes $142k for badly needed repairs in the harbor. There is a movement to make the override permanent because the capital needs in the town have become very severe in many departments. It is estimated that the override would cost approximately $170/year over a 10 year period.

This is also true regarding Sesuit Harbor because the town leaders have continually used large portions of our fee proceeds for other town needs. We as voters have a tough choice to make because the $142k will only begin to fix some of the items which need to be repaired. An override of some duration is needed and hopefully the Selectmen will give the voters a choice regarding the length of the override.

Bill... Bass or Blues ?

Keith See to it that they STOCK the bay this year,

Think Spring.. although it is snowing here at the cape tonight.. I am getting my reels and tackle ready .. SBOA is stuffing the 2008 newsletter tomorrow getting ready to mail.. looking forward to a great year......
Olivers should be opening soon after their new renovations.

I'm with John, Lets get this 2008 season going, I am planning on a lot of smooth days and good fishing this year. I know it's only February ..but come on summer..

Lets go 2008 season time to shake the winter blues.

Thank you for your site. I have found here much useful information.
Good site ! ;)

What is the name of the boat. not sure how to post pictures... Keith

how do i post a picture ???

:\image{boat}

I met a guy last year and I'm trying to find him this is him on his boat
any info would appreciated :)

Edited by author 02-22-2007 09:12 PM
I'm looking for a USCG-licensed w/Towing Assist Endorsement Captain for occasional on-call operations during this upcoming season. It may be a chance to make a few extra bucks and it's rarely dull. Should have radar experience and must be willing to enroll in a random drug-testing program.(I'll pay the fees) If you have good boating skills I can train you to do the rest. If you, or anyone you know, is interested email me at towboat@towboatcapecod.com

Edited by author 12-10-2006 10:13 PM
Selectman's meeting to raise fees

Letter to Selectmen ,,

As an attendee at last night's town meeting I was very
disappointed at your decision to increase the annual
slip fees for residents and non-residents ($5 and $10
respectively per foot, per year).

I believe several compelling arguments were put forth
from a number of competent local individuals against
such increases. I did not hear one such argument from
anyone on the floor agreeing with the proposal.

I did not hear a good answer to Mr. Crowell's question
at the beginning of the discussion looking for an
answer as to why the fees were being increased at all.
 There are significant and excess funds at the current
fee levels to dredge the harbor, which was the reason
given by the Harbormaster for the increase, and this
reason only accounted for $2 per foot of the increase.

According to the Town of Dennis annual report for 2005
approximately $187,000 was returned to the town
general fund after all revenues associated with
waterways activities were compared against expenses
incurred. This represents 36% of revenues.

To put this into a microeconomic context, consider
this. Of my approximate annual slip fee of $1400, 36%
represents over $500. What this means is that when I
go to the town hall to pay my bill in the spring, I
give $900 to the town to pay my share of the costs of
the harbor and $500 to the town for an unknown reason.
 I consider this to be an excess user fee and
unwarranted. I already pay $1,700 per year in real
estate taxes.

This is particularly troubling and unfair because it
would appear from looking again at the annual report
and specifically the section on golf operations, that
golf actually operated at a deficit last year.

So we have the slip fees producing excess fee income
to the town and there is a proposal to increase the
resident fee by 8.48%. We have the golf operation
operating at a deficit and if my memory serves me
correctly you approved that the resident golf fee
remain at $565 per year. What is particularly
frustrating to me is my excess fee contribution is
only $65 shy of the annual resident golf fee.
Something is not right here.

I do not have accurate numbers but I believe the slip
fees have increased each year for the past five years,
which is the same number of years I have had my slip.
I believe the annual increases have averaged anywhere
from 6 to 9 percent. This is against a backdrop of
retail inflation increasing between 2 to 3 percent
annually, and average wage growth around 3%.

As appropriately and adequately pointed out by Mr.
Bergeron, boaters have faced higher fuel costs, higher
insurance costs, some equipment failure due to the new
fuel additives, etc. in recent years. When you add in
the slip fee increases, it makes matters even worse.


I was sure this scenario would bring out the best in
all of you and that you would defer or postpone the
slip increases until next year. I thought you would
draw a conclusion from all the arguments made that it
would make logical sense to give us a rest for one
year (out of five). I was sadly mistaken.

I am a member of the Board of Directors of the Sesuit
Boat Owners Association. Our president spoke last
night and he too made very compelling arguments. As
he pointed out we have about 200 active memberships
(which are actually household memberships so we
represent about 400 individuals) and the slip fee
increase is a hot topic.

Being new to the association (my wife is also
Secretary and Treasurer) I am trying to propose new
ideas at our meetings for ways we can give back to the
community and the town. This past April, as an
example, we held our first annual Sesuit Harbor clean
up in conjunction with Earth Day.

On that Saturday several members of the association
joined together and went through all areas of the west
side, the east side, the Northside Marina, and as far
as we could go into the streets and parking lots of
both areas. The net result was that after 6 hours of
hard work, we carted in my truck 41 35-gallon bags of
trash to the Dennis landfill. If you are interested I
can send you digital images from our efforts.

Just this year we purchased a new picnic bench from
our funds for the west side, and perked up an area on
the east side with some new landscaping.

We would like to continue our efforts in these areas
and intend to do so in the future.

I'm hoping that you look at this situation again and
consider a more equitable approach to the slip fee
situation.

Thank you for your time.


Alan Collette
107 Ladyslipper Drive
Dennis, MA 02638

508 385-9571



 
________________________________________________________________ ___________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta.
http://new.mail.yahoo.com

Check out Boatersbuddy.com
Sell your boat for free.

I would advise any memeber about doing business with Karl's Boat Shop in Harwich. They over charge for jobs and wont call you back when you have a problem with their pricing of a job. I had a swing keel taken off my 22 Catalina but another person in NJ for $150.00 and Karl charged $575 to put it on .. 2 men 3 hours ? it took one person 1 hour to take it off.

To Whom it May Concern; We would like to take a moment to thank anyone involved in the fundraising event for Camp Dream Day, for terminally ill children. located in Brewster.
    We are the adoptive parents of two 5yo who live with HIV/AIDS. I can not tell you how complex their little live are. They are wise beyond their years due to their illness. We don't have much opportunity to experience such a fun, relaxing time away from the demands of their care. It is because of generous individuals like yourselves, that take time to reach out to those less fortunate, that we had this week to watch their precious little faces enjoying childhood, as any kid should. Please extent our gratitude to all those involved, because now we have memories of them laughing & enjoying life. THANK YOU!!!! :)
Sincerely, Ginny & Kevin

Posted as requested by Keith.

Thanks Alan. Can you post this on the sboacc.org web page on the
discussion board this is a great story. Thanks Keith
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld


-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Collette <aacollette@yahoo.com>
To: rcanevazzi@town.dennis.ma.us <rcanevazzi@town.dennis.ma.us>;
dtrepte@town.dennis.ma.us <dtrepte@town.dennis.ma.us>;
harbormaster@town.dennis.ma.us <harbormaster@town.dennis.ma.us>;
Gattozzi, Keith <Keith.Gattozzi@fmr.com>
Sent: Wed Jul 07 07:07:22 2004
Subject: Parking on July 2, 2004

Gentlemen, last year you might recall the horrid
parking situation at Sesuit the night of the
fireworks.

A number of us wrote letters and complained that we
were denied entry to our slips as early as 4:00 pm
that night. Some of us attended a waterways meeting
to voice our concerns.

It is refreshing and comforting that democracy works
and the concerns of the people are listened to and
addressed in the town of Dennis.

The nignt of July 2 2004 was a completely different
situation. Members of the beach and harbor staff
diligently and vigilantly stood by the gate and
through their hard efforts assured that those of us
with slips who wanted to be on the dock that night
were able to park vehicles successfully. In fact,
there was parking available right up until 9:00 P.M.

I certainly don't want to speak for anyone, but I can
assure you the efforts put forth that night were
recognized by some 100-150 or so people who were on
the dock. Truly, there were many accolades passed out
verbally that night recognizing what had been
accomplished. Many of us couldn't believe what had
taken place. We were quite astonished to say the
least.

I personnally would like to commend the efforts put
forth by Ray Lecke and Ed Tierney, and the two young
gentlemen whose names escape me who work the gate. It
is apparent these individuals recognize the need to
provide parking for slip lessees and are trying their
best to accomplish that task.

I would like to say that weekends continue to pose a
challenge to parking. This past weekend the lot was
virtually full by mid to late morning. There
continues to be heavy use which is barring on occasion
those of us with slips from parking. My wife had a
diffult time, but again with help from one of the
attendants she was able to get in, buy I know there
were significant problems that day.

I know the attendants try their hardest to detect who
is parking in the lot and for what purpose. There are
three surrounding entities with activities requiring
parking. Those would be the Town of Dennis with
Harbor Road beach, the Dennis Yacht Club, and
Northside Marina. I suspect that parking is tight in
those lots, and it only costs $10 to get a season pass
to the town lot.

I strongly recommend that a comprehensive review of
the parking situation at Sesuit be undertaken between
now and next season in order to provide for adequate
parking for slip lessees and in order to make it
easier for town personnel to manage a difficult
situation.

Thank you all for your time and efforts put forth.

A final thank you to the Northside Marina. Many of us
on the dock appreciate sincerely the selfless
generosity of an organization willing to undertake
this effort and on more than one occasion that night
it was mentioned we had just seen the best fireworks
show ever on Cape Cod.

Alan Collette
Slip 27 W




  
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
New and Improved

Please dont forget the Spring Fling Party this Saturday June 12th from 4-6 at Northside Marina.. Bring some Friends.. Keith

Help Pick the Dinner Party Theme, at the last board meeting it was suggested that we come up with a Theme for the August 21 st Dinner Party. You know, Gilligan's Island, Roaring Twenties, Mid Seventies, Toga, or maybe even a Boating theme. Got some ideas? Post them here and Help decide what type of fun we will be having this August.

I rack my boat and the bottom is full of scratches & gouges from handling, Can anyone tell me exactly what products I buy to patch it?
By the way, Nice Job Keith.

Members-we are currently soliciting ideas for our annual gift donation to the harbor. If you have sugggestions please postthem here for others to see and comment on. In the past we have given carts, flags, benches, etc.

Edited by author 03-30-2004 04:12 PM
Dale- I am interested but I don't know where we'll be in Sept. until later in the season.

Keith,Wow ,this is great! You got it up and running super quick,good job.

Edited by author 03-29-2004 04:43 PM
Dale .. I would like to .. Did you do it last year ? The earlier in Sept the better.. The winds kicks to the north right after labor day . Keith

Is anyone interested in fishing in the "Dilligaf" Shark Tournament out of PTown this year? I'm starting to think of possible dates (sept. 10th & 11th or 17th & 18th). Input ????

Edited by author 03-29-2004 01:16 PM
This is your opportunity to exchange views of interest to boaters.

This is our new SBOACC Discussion Board. Please feel free to post messages and they will be answered by members.