ROCKPORT — On Dec. 13, members of the Rockport Select Board voted to table a motion asking that they approve the “mission” of the Town’s Parking Task Force, citing a lack of communication or progress reports from the task force. A new committee policy enacted last month requires that all committees and tasks force have their missions clearly outlined and approved by the Select Board. 

The meeting also heard an appeal from Select Board Vice Chair Mark Kelley that meeting minutes from all of the Town’s committee and task force meetings be made available to the public sooner, rather than appearing on the Town website months later in some cases.

Kelley asked Town Manager Jon Duke if, like Select Board meetings, other boards and committees could hold their meetings at the Rockport Opera House and those could be broadcasted on Livestream so that citizens could watch the proceedings live online.

Parking

Finding a parking space in downtown Rockport has always been hit or miss. But in anticipation of a new four-story hotel opening at 20 Central Street, and on the heels of a request by Library Director Ben Blackmon that seven additional parking spaces be added to the Rockport Public Library, the topic of parking in Rockport was on the minds of Select Board members Dec. 13 when asked to approve the “mission” of the current Parking Task Force.

“The [Parking Task Force] is an idea that a lot of work has gone into over the last 18 months or a year, and really hadn’t come back to the top of the list for this group, so I thought it was important that we make sure the mission of this group is where it should be, and where it’s headed, and then we’re off to the races,” said Duke.

Board member Denise Kennedy-Munger responded: “I think the reason and one of the concerns with the hotel from the get-go was the parking. If we want to have whatever kind of development we have in the downtown area, I think our residents need to feel like the Town is addressing parking in a sensible way in the Village, even just to start with this parking ordinance we already have, because it’s all two-hour parking. Well, nothing’s posted, so who knows who’s parking there for how long.”

Duke said he and Police Chief Randy Gagne planned to work on updating the Town’s parking ordinance over the winter.

Members of the board discussed the idea of placing parking meters throughout the downtown – either coin operated or using a credit card kiosk.

Selectman Kelley said he was cautious to spend money toward such an effort at this time in light of a proposed new West Rockport Fire Station being built.

Chair Michelle Hannan asked why some of information about parking in town – even how many parking spaces were available in downtown Rockport – hadn’t been presented to the board.

“Does Rockport have a parking problem? Yes. Has Rockport had a parking problem forever? Yes. Is it going to be worse of the next couple of years? Probably. But we’ve had this task force and no one here has heard anything at this point,” said Hannan, who asked whether it made sense to keep the task force in existence if participation or information were not going to improve.

Kennedy-Munger said: “I think it’s a critical need, and just because the people who were with it, I think it’s a combination of resignations, dropped the ball, too busy, then shouldn’t we look at some other people? I’m not saying we should build a Cadillac of a parking lot at all. I’ve heard that Cramer Park could be reconfigured, and just posting the parking.”

Hannan asked Duke if parking modifications could be made through the Planning Board or the Comprehensive Planning Committee, and what necessary role the Parking Task Force plays in making these changes in Rockport. 

“There’s also the optics that we might be doing the parking, for instance, for someone who’s in need of parking,” said Kelley. “I’m not going to mention the new hotel. So there’s some [impression] that that’s the reason we’re pursuing parking down there. And I just don’t think that with trying to get the [former Rockport Elementary School] property out from underneath us in some fashion potentially, putting in a new fire station and putting a new septic system across Route 90 potentially...we have a lot of other things in my mind that are a little more pressing.”

The board unanimously approved a motion by Hannan that they reconsider the mission of the Parking Task Force at their Jan. 10 meeting.

The board did unanimously approve the mission of the RES Task Force, which is responsible for findings potential developers and development options for the 7-acre town-owned parcel of land at the intersection of Routes 1 and 90 where the former Rockport Elementary School once stood.

Timeliness of meeting minutes, public access

At the end of the Dec. 13 meeting, Kelley shared concerns expressed to him by Rockport citizens about the current availability of information from municipal meetings on the Town website, and the time period in which meeting materials and minutes are shared with the public.

Select Board, Planning Board and Budget Committee meetings are typically streamed online via Livestream from the Rockport Opera House. Some committee meetings which are held at the Town Office are not broadcast.

“I know it’s an expense because you have to have people run the Livestream, but what can we do to help the public get the information sooner, rather than a month down the road,” said Kelley.

He added that if a meeting isn’t broadcast, citizens must wait at least another month until that committee or board meets again, so that minutes can then be approved and uploaded to the Town website.

“It’s a good question, and in some cases you’re lucky if it is a month,” said Duke. 

“What would it take to have the committees meet down here [at the Opera House] and have the meetings Livestreamed so people could watch them live or an hour after,” asked Kelley.

Kennedy-Munger said that in the winter months, and with a rise in COVD-19 cases, it was likely that more meetings would be held remotely, and would be attended by members via Zoom.

“I think the increase in incidents of Covid in our community and our region... at some point does it make more sense to say ‘this is an emergency and we should have as many of our committees as possible from here on to meet remotely,’” said Duke.

Kennedy-Munger suggested that citizens could sign-up to receive email reminders from the Town Office which would provide them with a link to view upcoming meetings online. Selectman Eric Boucher said he agreed with Kelley’s sentiment, adding that it is difficult to gauge public participation when few if any members of the public attend the meetings in person.

The next meeting of the Rockport Select Board will be held Monday, Jan. 10, at 6 p.m. at the Rockport Opera House.