The Coastal Resiliency Advisory Committee discussed the status of the town’s strategic retreat and relocation program, a multi-phase effort to plan longer-term responses to high-risk coastal properties. Leah told members the program scope is in the town’s OpenGov procurement system and is awaiting Finance Department review; that approval is a necessary step before procurement and consultant selection can proceed.

Why this matters: Retreat and relocation are policy- and resource-intensive efforts that involve zoning, planning, finance and public engagement. Committee members flagged procurement delays as a potential bottleneck to moving the program from concept to funded project and asked whether the Select Board could help by making the Finance Department aware of the committee’s priorities.

Key points from the meeting

- Procurement and OpenGov: Leah explained the procurement workflow: scopes must be entered correctly in OpenGov, Finance reviews scopes (Finance has a backlog), and once approved the project can be released for proposals or bids. She said that procurement is often slower than desired but that there is no straightforward way to force it to move faster: "Procurement takes just generally takes a while. There it there's no really way to speed it up. It just is what it is," Leah said.

- Committee response: Members expressed concern that the retreat/relocation effort is a high-priority item and asked whether CRAC could ask the Select Board to intervene or otherwise make the town aware that Finance review of the OpenGov scope is needed. Matt Fee, a Select Board member present, suggested CRAC could make a request to the board asking staff to prioritize the scope review; Leah and others acknowledged the committee can request—but not direct—town staff actions.

- Timing and dependencies: Leah said the OpenGov scope is under Finance review; depending on Finance’s timing, the procurement and consultant-selection steps could take months. Members emphasized that retreat and relocation will require multi-department coordination (planning, finance, legal) and substantial public engagement once scope and finance approvals are in place.

Next steps

- CRAC members agreed they could request that the Select Board communicate the committee’s priorities to the Finance Department to help move the OpenGov scope along, but acknowledged the board cannot compel Finance to a particular schedule.

- Leah will monitor the OpenGov status and report back. No formal motion was made at the meeting to direct the Select Board, but members discussed drafting a request for the Select Board to consider, if the committee chooses to pursue that path.