Manchester Select Board Elects New Chair, Defers Drought Ban, Advances Fee Hikes

MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA — June 2, 2026 — Manchester-by-the-Sea Select Board reorganizes, elects John Round as Chair, and defers state drought restrictions. The board voted unanimously Monday to elect Round as Chair and Kathy Blotta as Vice Chair, replacing the outgoing Chair Anne, who was thanked for roughly three years of leadership. The board declined to implement a state-mandated Level 3 drought ban on all non-essential outdoor water use — a requirement triggered by a May 22 MassDEP declaration for the Northeast region — opting instead for informal conservation messaging, citing healthy local reservoir levels at 28 feet against a full range of 30 to 31 feet; the board will revisit the question July 7. The board advanced a proposal to raise building permit fees from $6 to $10 per thousand dollars of project value — still below the surveyed regional average of $11.07 — and to raise trash bag prices from $11 to $15 for a small roll and from $16.50 to $20 for a large roll, partially offsetting a 46 percent, approximately $280,000 increase in the town's sanitation contract; formal votes on both fee changes are expected at the board's first July meeting. The Harbor Planning Task Force presented a completed two-year Harbor Management Plan produced with the Urban Harbors Institute at UMass, organized around five goals including climate resilience, navigable waters, public access, water quality, and the marine economy; the board asked to review the document before any formal acceptance.