Meeting Thirteen Wednesday April 15th, 2015 8:30 AM – 11:30 AM Orleans Town Hall 19 School Road, Orleans, 02653

Revised Meeting Summary EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

At its April 15 meeting, the Orleans Water Quality Advisory Panel discussed outreach and public education, funding and financial activities, the Aquaculture Forum, the warrant articles for Town Meeting, and the 2016 fiscal year work plan. Outreach actions include display of the Conceptual Map at Snow Library, articles in the Times and the Cape Codder, informational flyers to be sent to Orleans residents, public forums on April 13th (through Orleans Citizens Forum) and May 4th (7:00 - 8:30 PM at the Council on Aging), and public service announcements on Channels 99 and 18 and WCAI and WOMR. The Panel provided input on the informational flyer for the public and encouraged members to include links to OWQAP events and information on their organizations’ websites.

Mr. Domenica provided an update on funding and financing activities, reviewing financial tasks and a short-term funding plan. Over the next year, the Town’s consultants and leadership will work to achieve an affordable level by adjusting different financial mechanisms and seeking State and Federal funding sources. Mr. Domenica reviewed an initial list of short-term grant funding opportunities for planning, design and monitoring tasks required for the demonstration projects and on-going MEP evaluations of Orleans’ Amended CWMP.

Ms. Karplus reviewed the Shellfish Forum agenda. The meeting will cover aquaculture and shellfish best practices from other Cape Cod and national sites, regulatory compliance, and Orleans specific issues, including the impact of site-specific factors on nitrogen uptake. The forum will culminate in development of a shellfish technical advisory group. The Panel provided input on the types of expertise needed at the forum.

Mr. Domenica provided an update on the warrant article tasks, and reviewed the work plan for the 2016 fiscal year, including Town Cove PRB site testing, disposal site identification, and geo-hydrologic studies. He also reviewed the draft FY16 Public Involvement and Communications Approach, listing the goals of the process and roles of the Board of Selectmen, OQWAP, and Technical Working Groups within the engagement plan. The panel agreed that the Technical Working Groups should serve as task-oriented teams to carry out specific tasks approved by the Board of Selectmen, consistent with the principles agreed on by the OWQAP, which will meet quarterly to review progress and provide on-going input.

Town of Orleans Water Quality Advisory Panel 1 Meeting thirteen (4/15/15): Revised Meeting Summary

ACTION ITEMS The following action items were captured during the meeting:

CBI /Water Resources Associates/Stantec • Draft meeting summary for April 15th meeting • Deliver Conceptual Map and informational flyers to Snow Library • Coordinate radio (WCAI and WOMR) and TV (Channels 99 and 18) public service announcements with OWQAP • Create OWQAP process public informational flyer, review with Panel and Mr. Ford for approval, and send to Orleans residents • Include the phrase ‘Sensitivity Analysis” in the title of the user rate cases spreadsheet • Send information about the goals, objectives, and desired outcomes of the Aquaculture Forum • Include a discussion on the effects volume exchange variability on shellfish effectiveness during the Aquaculture Forum • Send out pre-registration information to the OWQAP mailing list about the Aquaculture Forum • Set meeting dates for OWQAP quarterly meetings for FY16 • Develop protocols for Technical Working Groups • Adjust FY 2016 Public engagement plan goals to add: o “…Orleans and surrounding towns” in goal three o “…knowledge and perspectives developed together by the Panel” in goal two o That the mission of the Wastewater Advisory Committee (the OWQAP) is also to “provide advice and input” to the Board of Selectmen.

OWQAP • Send comments and suggestions on the April 15th draft meeting summary • Ask Sandy Marshal to moderate the OWQAP informational forum on May 4th • Review OWQAP process informational flyer • Send Ms. Smith additional details on the Warrant Articles and polling important for inclusion in the flyer • Share information and event notices through institutional social media accounts • Include links to OWQAP events and information on organization websites • Send additional advice or questions about the Aquaculture Forum to Ms. Karplus • Contact Mr. Domenica if interested in participating on a technical working group

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION OF PANEL

The following documents were distributed to participants:

Town of Orleans Water Quality Advisory Panel 2 Meeting thirteen (4/15/15): Revised Meeting Summary • Meeting Agenda for March 15 • Draft Meeting Agenda for Orleans Aquaculture Forum • Revised Meeting Summary from March 11 • Final OWQAP Consensus Statement • Short-Term Funding Opportunities Handout • Financing Tasks for Fiscal Year 2016 Handout • Draft Fiscal Year Public Engagement Plan • Final OWQAP Conceptual Map • Revised February 25 Meeting Summary

Please refer to meeting handouts for details of the presentations. All meeting documents and presentations for the Town of Orleans Water Quality Advisory Panel will be located here: http://www.town.orleans.ma.us/water-quality-advisory-panel/pages/workshop- materials

Dave Dunford, Orleans Selectman and acting meeting chairman, called the meeting to order. The OWQAP approved the February 25th and March 11th meeting minutes, allowing for small typographical corrections. Ms. Stacie Smith, facilitator from the Consensus Building Institute, will send out a summary from this meeting, upon which the Panel should comment. The minutes will be finalized at a future Orleans Board of Selectmen (BoS) meeting.

Ms. Smith outlined the ground rules for the meeting and reviewed the agenda, explaining that the meeting would focus on outreach and public education plans, financial and funding activities, the Town Warrant Articles (WAs), the 2016 project work plan, and the cumulative outputs of the process.

Ms. Smith reviewed the action items, noting the successful completion of most of the items. The Consensus Statement was finalized with input from Panel members, and approved by all the constituent organizations – the document includes the initial approval, text finalization, and formal approval dates on the agreement. The Conceptual Map was also revised for clarity and to correctly illustrate the scope of potential non- traditional technologies (NTs), and approved by all Panel members participating in the consensus.

OUTREACH AND PUBLIC EDUCATION UPDATE

The Panel provided updates on outreach and public education efforts. The Orleans Citizens Forum on April 13th attracted around 125 citizens, many of them new to the process, who asked thoughtful and factually-based questions. The Panel agreed to sponsor an additional forum from 7:00 to 8:30 PM at the Council on Aging on May 4th,

Town of Orleans Water Quality Advisory Panel 3 Meeting thirteen (4/15/15): Revised Meeting Summary with the same panelists - David Dunford, Alan McClennen, and Mike Domenica - who presented at the Orleans Citizens Forum. While Sims McGrath, Orleans Selectman, would be willing to serve as moderator, group members suggested first asking Sandy Marshall, a former professional conflict manager, to moderate.

Ms. Smith shared that the Cape Cod Times published a summary of the Consensus Statement the week of April 6th and The Cape Codder will publish a version on April 17th. The feedback about the Cape Cod Times article has been positive.

Mr. Griffin Smith, CBI Associate, reminded the Panel about radio outreach options: WCAI could air a 400-character announcement, which could be used to share a brief informational update and direct listeners to further online information, and WOMR could air a summary segment. Mr. Smith also noted the possibility of running a segment on Channels 99 and 18, if the Panel developed the content, or solicited student volunteers to help film and produce the session. The Panel agreed that it would be best to use the radio and TV opportunities to air public service announcements directing citizens to existing information online and at Snow Library, share the broadcasting times of OWQAP meetings, advertise the May 4th Forum, and announce any new process updates or forums. Members also noted the potential of airing a recording of the May 4th forum and recommended asking the radios’ websites to reference OWQAP events and websites.

Snow Library would display a large copy of the Conceptual Map along with informational handouts. The group suggested including a label or QR code on the map to direct viewers to the OWQAP website.

Ms. Smith asked the Panel for input on the informational flyer for the public. The OWQAP provided the following feedback about the flyer. • Ensure the flyer is visually appealing and light on text • Keep the information within the flyer to an introductory/newspaper level • Include no financial information • Add in the NT icons with accompanying explanations • Use the front and back sides of the flyer or a tri-fold to maximize the amount of information to be shared • Share key components and expected outcomes of the plan along with a list of informational action items related to Town Meeting and the polls

Ms. Smith agreed to develop a draft flyer and send it to the group and Orleans Town Counsel for review, to ensure it meets appropriate guidelines for use of municipal funds and information sharing. The flyers could be sent to all Orleans residents. Mr. McClennen, Orleans selectman, will send Ms. Smith additional details on the WAs and polling information for inclusion in the flyer. The Panel also suggested having copies of the flyer next to the Conceptual Map at Snow Library to provide further information.

Town of Orleans Water Quality Advisory Panel 4 Meeting thirteen (4/15/15): Revised Meeting Summary

In addition, the OWQAP provided the following further outreach ideas, questions, and comments. Bullets represent overall discussion topics, not views of the group as a whole. • Social media should be used to engage younger voters. While the town does not have a robust social media presence, Panel member organizations should use their social media networks to share information. • Panelists should also include links to OWQAP events and information on their organizations’ websites. • The consultant team should share the NT icon imagery for Panelists to use in their publications. • Public education should highlight Orleans’ unique approach to make the CWMP more affordable. • The Cape Cod Commission (CCC) has drafted a paragraph confirming the consistency of Orleans’ approach with the 208 Plan. The CCC would also include information about the OWQAP process in the headline of its newsletter. • The Orleans Chamber of Commerce final wrap-up meeting is postponed until May 7th. The Chamber will call the 80 most sensitive businesses in downtown Orleans to ask them to attend the meeting, with probably half of these locally owned.

FUNDING AND FINANCING ACTIVITIES UPDATE

Mr. Mike Domenica, town consultant and project manager, provided an update on funding and financing activities, reviewing the financial tasks and short-term funding plan. He emphasized the importance of the financial component of the process, noting that the 2001 CWMP, estimated at $2550 per resident, was unaffordable. To meet EPA’s affordability threshold, the plan would need to cost less than $1200 per resident. He then explained the intent of the user rate cases spreadsheet from the last meeting to illustrate the effects of different financial mechanisms and noted the importance of obtaining 0% loans, grants for individual projects, and state capital funding. Over the next year, the team will work to refine the program to achieve an affordable level by balancing these different financial components. The consultant team, working with town leadership, has meetings to define the 0% loan framework with the State Wastewater Management Trust and with the CCC and Cape Cod Water Protection Collaborative on debt forgiveness. Mr. Domenica then reviewed the short-term funding handout, which listed opportunities for short-term grant funding for the planning, design and monitoring tasks required for the demonstration projects and on-going MEP evaluations of Orleans’ Amended CWMP: EPA Healthy Communities Program, EPA & DEP Grants, Cape Cod Water Protection Collaborative Monitoring Funds, District Loan Technical Assistance Grant, CZM – Coastal Pollution Grants, and Mass Environmental Trust Funds.

Town of Orleans Water Quality Advisory Panel 5 Meeting thirteen (4/15/15): Revised Meeting Summary The OWQAP provided the following questions and comments about the financial activities. Bullets represent comments and questions of individual Panel members, not views of the group as a whole. Consultant responses are in italics. User Rate Cases Spreadsheet • Has the document been updated? Not yet. The next step is examining a special assessment on businesses. This could adjust the allocation of costs to those receiving the most benefit from the program. • Will the OWQAP see future versions of the spreadsheet? The group should receive summaries on the financial process and may be sent revised versions. Financial consultants will review updated versions with the BoS and appropriate town departments including the Finance Committee. Financial planning will continue under the principles agreed to by the Panel. • What will be the cost impact on taxpayers? At this point, there is only a range of projected costs, but the consultant team is starting to understand the sensitivity of the various financial variables. • Some citizens will keep their septage systems. This cost needs to be reflected to ensure financial equity. Yes, a variety of variables are not yet reflected in the spreadsheet, including the value of clean, productive estuaries to the town as a whole. • The cost projections should reflect the relatively higher costs of demonstration projects. The operational costs of subsequent NT projects should be lower. Yes, the cost projections are based on current costs and will change over time. • Given that the spreadsheet is a sensitivity analysis, it should include that phrase in the title. Short-Term Funding • Does EPA Grant 319 provide funding for freshwater ponds? Yes. • There is an amendment to the county budget to eliminate $200,000 of funds from the Cape Cod Water Protection Collaborative’s budget, which would eliminate its budget for supporting monitoring. Stakeholders should contact their delegates to support maintaining existing funding levels. Cape Cod National Seashore • How can the town engage the National Seashore? There may be joint funding opportunities. The Seashore is a key stakeholder for the Nauset system and will need to be involved in the bathometry of Nauset Inlet. • The National Seashore contracted the Center for Coastal Studies to conduct bathymetry of Nauset inlet in 2014, and the results will be published this year. SMAST previously conducted bathymetry in 2001, so changes in the inlet should be observable. • The National Seashore has previously supported towns in the monitoring of freshwater ponds and conducted analysis for the towns in its Truro laboratory. • Since the towns control the zoning of municipal lands within The National Seashore’s boundary, it will not have responsibility over nitrogen allocation, but

Town of Orleans Water Quality Advisory Panel 6 Meeting thirteen (4/15/15): Revised Meeting Summary it will help work towards reducing the nitrogen contribution from its visitor’s center.

SHELLFISH FORUM UPDATE

Ms. Karplus, Science Wares, reviewed the Shellfish Forum, tentatively scheduled for June 2nd. [Note: That date has since been changed to June 8.] She explained the purpose of the forum is to bring together Cape and national aquaculture experts to share their expertise to implement aquaculture demonstrations projects and to include regulators to discuss the regularity framework. The meeting will cover aquaculture best practices from other Cape Cod and national sites, regulatory compliance, and Orleans- specific issues, including the impact of site-specific factors on nitrogen uptake. The forum will also help determine who should sit on the aquaculture technical advisory group. Not all of the attendees listed on the handout will sit on the expert panel, with some serving as resources to the process. Ms. Karplus will send out pre-registration information to the OWQAP mailing list. Panelists should send additional advice or questions about the forum to Ms. Karplus.

The OWQAP provided the following general questions and comments about the aquaculture forum. Bullets represent aggregated comments and questions of Panel members, not views of the group as a whole. Consultant responses are in italics. • The expert panel should include experts who can address the aquaculture questions important to Orleans, know how to quantify shellfish nitrogen removal, bring expertise about shellfish contamination, and can speak to the results of past projects. Yes, there will be experts with experience in all of these areas. • The forum materials should be sent out in advance of the meeting. The forum could also be taped. • The purpose of the forum should be written out in advance, but the important issues should not be defined in advance to allow the conversation to remain flexible. The team will send out information about the objectives of the forum. Experts generated the list of topics included in the forum thus far, but there will be room for structured brainstorming. • The meeting should generate recommendations about what the most effective shellfish projects would be and provide information about the regulatory framework. Yes, the team will distribute information to the Panel about the desired outcomes of the meeting. • The experts should observe local conditions on the water. Most of the shellfish experts and Ms. Karplus have already gone out on local water bodies in Orleans or Wellfleet. Anna Maria toured Orleans’ sites as well. • The Dennis shellfish hatchery needs to be considered as it supplies 90% of the seed stock, and it would be problematic if it closed. The team has engaged with

Town of Orleans Water Quality Advisory Panel 7 Meeting thirteen (4/15/15): Revised Meeting Summary the owners of this operation and has a preference for obtaining stock from them, but there are other seed sources as well. • The meeting should include a discussion on the impacts and extent of inlet, tidal, and volume exchange variability on shellfish effectiveness. This will be added to the agenda. • The meeting should examine why many growers have abandoned their grants in Pleasant Bay. This is an important question, and one recommendation is to use the existing 27 acres of shellfish grants in Pleasant Bay. • The meeting should also consider the business side of shellfish marketing. • Will the OWQAP provide input on the recommendations developed during the forum for the hybrid plan? The OWQAP will provide further input based off of the results of the demonstration projects.

WARRANT ARTICLES TASK UPDATE AND WORK PLAN FOR FISCAL YEAR 2016

Mr. Domenica provided an update on the WA tasks. He reviewed the potential Town Cove PRB, which could entail significant cost savings and capture an increased nitrogen flux from the Town landfill, old septic lagoons, and a composting facility. Further analysis is needed to fully understand the nitrogen issues in the area and appropriately design a PRB. The BoS is still determining the scope of further site analysis, and the study may include evaluation of other contaminants along with nitrogen.

Mr. Domenica then reviewed the work plan for the 2016 fiscal year, explaining that he created a preliminary Gantt Chart for organizing the separate tasks. The primary priorities include the Town Cove PRB site testing, disposal site identification, and geo- hydrologic studies. Mr. Domenica then reviewed the FY 2016 Public Involvement and Communications Approach Handout, listing the five goals to: 1. Implement FY 2016 Warrant Tasks in accordance with the principles and understandings of the Consensus Statement OWQAP; 2. Retain knowledge and perspectives of OWQAP for continuity; 3. Keep residents and businesses of Orleans informed and engaged as the plan is confirmed and developed; 4. Maintain DEP and Cape Cod Commission involvement in FY 2016 planning tasks; and 5. Maintain Board of Selectmen leadership on program. He proceeded to elucidate the particular roles of the BoS, Wastewater Advisory Committee, and Technical Working Groups within the engagement plan.

The OWQAP provided the following questions and comments about the2016 fiscal year work plan. Bullets represent aggregated comments and questions of Panel members, not views of the group as a whole. Consultant responses are in italics. Public Engagement Goals • Add “…Orleans and surrounding towns” to goal three. • Add “…knowledge and perspectives developed together by the Panel” in goal two.

Town of Orleans Water Quality Advisory Panel 8 Meeting thirteen (4/15/15): Revised Meeting Summary BoS Reviewed • There will be summaries of the BoS meetings, and updates will be noted in the monthly reports. • The BoS should consider adding a feature to the video recordings of its meetings to allow viewers to skip directly to tagged sections of the discussion. Wastewater Advisory Committee (this is to be the OQWAP) • The OWQAP website should be continued with new information continually added. • The OWQAP mailing list should also be continued. • The quarterly meetings should include both OWQAP members and liaisons. • The meeting schedules should be determined in advance. • The handout should be adjusted to note that the mission of the Committee is also to “provide advice and input to the Board of Selectmen.” Technical Working Groups • The Technical Working Groups should serve as task-oriented teams to carry out specific work approved by the Board of Selectmen, consistent with the principles agreed on by the OWQAP. The groups should be called upon on an as-needed basis for certain tasks. The process should be similar to a staff-level efforts that focus on implementation, not decision-making. One-page protocols should define the mission, objective, and scope of these groups. They should involve technical advisors and interested local citizen-experts. The process could work similarly to Ms. Karplus’ leadership on aquaculture. • These groups should works towards a specific purpose and not focus on general education. Would the groups be open to the public? They would likely not be open due to logistical obstacles. They are also not decision-making bodies. People who want to sit on these groups should contact Mr. Domenica. • Some citizens may raise transparency concerns if these groups’ meetings are not public, but there is an efficiency tradeoff. There is a balance between transparency, effectiveness, and cost. • How will citizens be included on these groups without an appointment process? Citizens may be brought in on an as needed basis. • Local knowledge and expertise of engaged citizens should be drawn on by these groups. • There should also be a Waterways Technical Working Group. • The Monitoring group should also examine monitoring of embayments and pre/post structure monitoring. Yes. This group will also create explicit success metrics and interpretation standards to evaluate data from demonstration projects.

OWQAP SUMMARY, STATEMENT OF APPRECIATION & PANEL DISMISSAL

Ms. Smith explained that the project team would not produce a comprehensive final report on the OWQAP process since the process has been carefully documented

Town of Orleans Water Quality Advisory Panel 9 Meeting thirteen (4/15/15): Revised Meeting Summary throughout, and the costs of a preparing a final report are not justified. Mr. Domenica added that the project team will produce a report that incorporates technical information and analysis results in 2016, following the completion of key task in the process. The information from the process, including the financial models and Stantec data, will be compiled into a working database with all of the information accessible to future teams.

Ms. Smith thanked the Panel members for their participation and time spent in the process and willingness to unite together to works towards solving a single goal. The OWQAP will meet quarterly moving forward with no date yet set for the next meeting.

PUBLIC COMMENT

The public provided the following comments Bullets represent comments and questions of audience members. They do not reflect the view of the group as a whole.

• The group should spend the resources to bring in external experts. • The evaluation and verification of demonstration project results need to follow established methodologies. The watershed boundary datasets need to be modified, especially for Meetinghouse Pond, since the original CWMP was based on the MEP report, and there have been changes since then. In addition, the financial model needs to carefully spread costs across rate groups, particularly to ensure that the residents around the Meetinghouse Pond watershed, which requires 100% nitrogen removal, are not overburdened.

Town of Orleans Water Quality Advisory Panel 10 Meeting thirteen (4/15/15): Revised Meeting Summary Appendix A Attendance

Stakeholder Representatives and Alternates: Category Name Selectman Sims McGrath Selectman Alan McClennen Selectman David Dunford Former CWMP Committee Judith Bruce Orleans Chamber of Commerce Sid Snow Orleans Pond Coalition Jim Robertson Orleans Taxpayer Association Gordon Smith Orleans Water Alliance Jeff Eagles Orleans CAN Doug Fromm

Liaisons and Alternates: Category Name Cape Cod Commission Patty Daley DEP Brian Dudley Orleans Finance Committee Joshua Larson Orleans Shellfish and Waterways Suzanne Phillips Orleans Water Quality Task Force Judy Scanlon

Orleans Conservation Trust Kris Ramsay Brewster Conservation Commission Virginia (Ginny) Iannini Orleans Conservation Commission Steve Phillips Town of Eastham Representative Sandy Bayne

Alternates and Public: Lynn Bruneau Tom Bryan Dale Fuller Kevin Galligan Charles Harris

Town of Orleans Water Quality Advisory Panel 11 Meeting thirteen (4/15/15): Revised Meeting Summary Carolyn Kennedy Fran McClennen Jim McCauley Mark Owen Ginia Pati Thomas Porece

Town of Orleans Water Quality Advisory Panel 12 Meeting thirteen (4/15/15): Revised Meeting Summary