Bourne Select Board Meeting: April 7, 2026 – Liquor Licenses, CPA Funding, and Town Meeting Article Recommendations
Bourne Select Board Meeting: April 7, 2026
The Bourne Select Board met on April 7, 2026, at 7:00 PM in open session. The meeting covered updates on special legislation liquor licenses, a citizen petition for a liquor license, a CPA funding request for shelter relocation, information requests to Upper Cape Tech, archive building repairs, and recommendations on numerous annual and special town meeting articles. Key votes included approval of CPA funding for Housing Assistance Corporation, a conservation restriction for the Bourne Conservation Trust, and donation of a fire station property to MassDOT.
Consent Calendar
- Approved consent agenda including a psychic fair fee waiver and a $25 donation to the Council on Aging (5-0).
Public Comments & Testimony
- Gignesh Kamapat, owner of a store in Pocasset, presented a citizen petition for a liquor license. He indicated ongoing interest in obtaining a license but was informed the current license is tied up in litigation and not available. Town Council representative Brian offered to explain licensing options offline. The board took no action on the petition, leaving the motion to the petitioner.
Discussion Items
- Catomet Fish Special Legislation Liquor License: Town Council representative Brian reported on discussions with the state delegation regarding transferability language. The draft legislation proposed options: non-transferable as to location, or non-transferable as to entity, person, or location. Board members (Amberia, MJ, Peter, Jean, Anne Marie) agreed the original town meeting intent was for the license to be non-transferable and to expire when the entity dissolves. They also discussed concerns about a provision allowing a new applicant at the same location. The board directed staff to seek input from the petitioner, Patrick Morris, before finalizing language, and to arrange a future meeting.
- CPA Funding for Housing Assistance Corporation Shelter Relocation (Article 17): Rob Brennan, Chief Legal Officer of Housing Assistance Corporation, presented a request for $100,000 in CPA funds to relocate the emergency shelter from 77 Winter Street to 460 West Main Street. He corrected a prior statement: 55 Bourne individuals used the shelter from 2022–2025, and Bourne ranks second among Cape towns for total assistance. The project will consolidate shelter beds onto one floor and expand day program space. Board members voiced strong support; the application includes a deep restriction ensuring perpetual use for community housing.
- Upper Cape Tech Information Requests: Town Council presented a draft letter requesting enrollment and financial data from Upper Cape Tech. MJ proposed amendments: specify residential physical addresses, include the January school attending report, request a line-item budget with funding sources, inquire about DOR data used for assessments, and ask for proof-of-residency policies. The board agreed to revise the letter accordingly and return for a vote.
- Archive Building Capital Repairs: Bill Produce, President of the Jonathan Bourne Historic Center Board of Governors, outlined a "Stop Leak Project" to repair the flat roof, parapet, chimney, and flashing to stop water infiltration. The project will be submitted for CPA funding in the next cycle. The town administrator will work with facilities to develop a scope of work for a fall town meeting design fund article. Peter asked about temporary patches; Produce noted patching has been tried and is insufficient.
- Annual Town Meeting Articles 2, 7, 8, 9, 10, 16, 20, 21, 22, 30: The board voted to recommend approval of the FY2027 operating budget, Enbridge gas relocation articles, acceptance of Spinnaker Lane and other ways as public, betterments for private ways, CPA reserves, stabilization fund, capital city stabilization fund, and special education reserve fund. All passed unanimously except Article 16 (conservation restriction for Bourne Conservation Trust), which passed 3-2. Anne Marie and Chair Melissa voted no, citing lack of prior board input and the loss of developable land. MJ noted the trust acted with community preservation committee knowledge; Jean and Peter supported the purchase. Later, Melissa expressed willingness to change her vote but did not formally rescind.
- Special Town Meeting Articles: Article 1 (unpaid bills, $13,334.18) and Article 2 (supplemental snow and ice budget, $470,000) were recommended for approval. Article 3 (liquor license petition) received no board motion; the board will make no recommendation at town meeting. Article 12 (donation of old Sagmore Fire Station property to MassDOT for bridge construction) was recommended for a fall town meeting with a 4-0-1 vote (MJ abstained).
- License Access Agreement at 4 Cape View Way: Approved with one abstention (Anne Marie) to allow HAC and POA to cross town property for remediation, protecting town interests.
Key Outcomes
- Catomet Fish License: Board instructed staff to seek petitioner input and refine non-transferable language; no vote taken.
- CPA Article 17 (HAC Shelter): Motion to recommend approval passed 5-0.
- CPA Article 16 (Conservation Restriction): Recommended for approval 3-2, with Anne Marie and Melissa opposed.
- Upper Cape Tech Letter: Board approved amendments and will vote on revised letter at a future meeting.
- Archive Building Repairs: Staff directed to develop scope and quote for CPA design funding at fall town meeting.
- Annual Town Meeting Articles: All recommended for approval except Article 16, which was recommended with a split vote.
- Special Town Meeting Articles: Article 1 and 2 recommended; Article 3 no recommendation; Article 12 recommended for fall town meeting.
- Town Administrator Report: Noted Icewim diverted 7.89 tons of food waste; dredge spoils removed; MassDOT pile driving begins April 20; fire station bid schedule; OPEB contributions discussed.
- Minutes of March 17 and 24 approved with one abstention (Jean).
- Future Agenda: Board agreed to pursue an MOU with MassDOT/USACE for mitigation and address Picasset fire station planning.
Meeting Transcript
Okay. Being finally 7 p.m., right? April 7, 2026. Note this meeting is being televised, streamed, or recorded by Born TV. If anyone in the audience is recording or videotaping, they need to acknowledge such at this time. We have Warren Enterprise, thank you. Please refrain from using flash photography. If anyone from the public wishes to access the meeting, they can do so by calling the following conference line. 1929 2056099, Zoom meeting ID 897, 1229, 3538, password born, all caps. The Zoom chat will not be monitored. Participants who wish to speak must raise the hand icon and to the chair, ask them to unmute all items within the agenda. The meeting agenda is subject to deliberation votes. Call the meeting to order an open session. First, we'll have a moment of silence for to recognize our public safety personnel. Salute to the flag. For which it stands. I'm going to go out. Okay. So public comments on non-agenda items. I'm not sure if anybody's here for public comment on non-agenda items. Anyone online? Seeing none, I will not do the spiel that. Next, we have an update from town council on Catomet Fish special legislation liquor license. Thank you. Good evening. So the last time we were here, we were just discussing the draft legislation that had come back from our legislative delegation. Since that time, you know, we had a well, we had a concern, I think, specifically about some of the transferability language that was in that draft legislation, and we really didn't know the origin of it. So since that time I've had an opportunity to talk with Representative Vieira and some folks who I just first off like to say thank you. They've been really helpful and really responsive to the town, and I think we should say that in public. They're just trying to standardize their language in the State House when they do these kind of special acts. Or we could um do something different which is not transferable as to the location. You know, or we could actually say to any other person, organization, corporation, or location. You know, basically saying as to the entity, individual, whatever you want to say, um, and the location. I think either one gets us where we want to go. Um the second version where you're saying person organization, corporation, or location is maybe a little more belt and suspenders, um, because it's pretty explicit. So you know, I think we can um you know go back to the delegation and say that's really what we want. Um you know, the other question is is that there was some other language then about granting a license to a new applicant in the same location. Um I did have a conversation today uh with counsel for the original petitioner who reached out to me, and I think they would be in favor of keeping that on the logic that it would it wouldn't be a transfer, but it would give the town discretion if in the future this business were to wind down and we still wanted to have a liquor license in that location. I think that's really up to the select board whether you want to keep something like that in or not, whether you think it's consistent with what was proposed to town meeting. Um that's really my entire update. I'm just I I think as to the transferability part, I'm really just looking for an instruction as to what language you prefer. And then um, given that I had that communication from the petitioner, I just you know wanted to present that to you so that you could consider it and give me my instruction on that as well. Okay, wonderful. All right I guess I'll start with my fellows look because I guess Amy here are you start with the last comments or thank you. It's been a while since I've done Zoom and had to raise my hand. Okay. Um the the non transfer transferable is uh an absolute for me regard you know we know um it should be non-transferable since I think that was the intent and um how we presented it to town meeting and how uh people um understood that vote I also do not think I think also that the um there was conversation and it was explanation that when did this when this individual or entity or corporation no longer exists that the license would no longer exist. So I don't think keeping that license at that location or or someone else coming in and being able to apply um for the a license at that location I don't think that that if I understood right Brian that that was some of the language um that the state wanted to have so almost like you know the sundown right when when um the the company no longer exists the license should no longer exist okay anyone else MJ um yeah um I'll say a couple things. Um I think um it would be helpful I don't know if the um representatives of catalog fish were notified of this meeting for them to have an opportunity to speak because it was their private petition um I so I would like that sort of before a decision is made um I did have a conversation with Jera and it was interesting because one of the things he talked about is if the manager so when you issue the license to the manager if the manager dies we often transfer a license you know we change a manager but it's not a transfer of a license and so um I thought you know they do a lot of these we don't do this but it's not like we do them all the time and we see what can happen. So um and then you spoke I don't know if you you did have a conversation with the proponents of the petition the petitioner but um the transfer of the license to a new manager under the same entity I mean I don't I'm just I'm just being cautious because if it's a special legislation license and to get a new one it would have to be to transfer it or do something you'd have to go through whole special legislation there m may be some situations where the wisdom of the legislature in terms of like the limits of the transfer.
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