ORlEANS ANNUAl TOwN REPORt FOR YEAR ... - Town Of Orleans

ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW COMMITTEEThere were 17 meetings held in 2008:• 33 sign applications were reviewed• 12 exterior alteration applications were reviewed• 2 commercial additions were reviewed• Fees Collected: $545Respectfully submitted,John Kelsey, ChairpersonBARNSTABLE COUNTY ASSEMBLY OF DELEGATESThe Assembly of Delegates is the legislative branch of County Government. Each townthat is located within Barnstable County is duly represented on the Assembly ofDelegates with Delegates elected by the voters in each of the municipalities where theyreside.On Tuesday, November 7, 2006, fifteen Delegates were elected to serve during theAssembly of Delegates' tenth session for a two-year term. On January 3, 2007 thefifteen Delegates were sworn in by County Clerk, Scott Nickerson. Charlotte B. Striebel(Yarmouth) was elected Speaker and Raymond Gottwald (Harwich) was elected DeputySpeaker.The legislative powers of the County are vested in the Assembly of Delegates, andexcept as provided in the Barnstable County Home Rule Charter, the acts of theAssembly of Delegates are required to be by ordinance.The Assembly of Delegates holds regular meetings on the first and third Wednesday ofeach month at 4:00 p.m. in the Chamber of the Assembly of Delegates, First DistrictCourthouse, Barnstable, MA. A Delegate's vote is a weighted vote based on the 2000U. S. Decennial Census with Barnstable having the largest vote of 21.52% and Trurohaving the smallest vote of 0.94%.During 2008 the Assembly of Delegates reviewed and adopted the Board of CountyCommissioner's budget for fiscal year 2009. Prior to the end of fiscal year 2008, it wasprojected that the County would end its fiscal year balanced or that there would be asmall deficit. This was a result of the decrease in activity at the Registry of Deeds. Thefiscal year 2009 budget that was adopted was based on the continued projection thatrevenues at the Registry of Deeds would be at a similar decreased level because ofslow economic conditions in the real estate industry. The fiscal year 2009 budgetreflects reductions in the budgets of County departments and also reflects decreases orthe elimination of funding for grant programs based on the projection that the real estatemarket would remain flat.The County continued its funding of the Estuaries Program, which is in its sixth year.The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Policy is working with towns to125