The Capital Program Committee voted unanimously Friday, Jan. 17, to approve its final capital report for submission to the Select Board and asked town counsel to review an airport letter that says police and fire could be housed on airport land.

Committee Chair Jill Vieth said the committee will present the report to the Select Board at a joint meeting next Wednesday and encouraged members to attend or sign on to answer questions. "We had a letter from Noah this year, and he said that Nantucket Police and Fire can live on that property. I don't know if legally we can work that out, but it is in a letter from him," Vieth said during the committee discussion.

The vote came after members discussed final edits and thanked staff for the work of preparing the document. Committee member Howard Matts moved approval: "I make a motion that we approve the report as it's currently been drafted and reviewed for submission to hours that be." John Kitchener seconded the motion. The motion passed by unanimous voice vote; members recorded on the record as voting yes were Howard Matts, John Kitchener, Christy Kickham, Caroline Baltzer and Jill Vieth.

Committee members noted the airport letter is not included in the report appendix. Steven Hunter and Sue Carmel, both committee staff, confirmed they can circulate the letter and the meeting recording so committee members and other town bodies can review the original language. Sue Carmel specifically identified the warrant article numbers when asked how the report ties to the warrant: "Article 10 for general fund, article 22 for enterprise," she said.

Discussion focused on two follow-up items: asking town counsel to examine whether airport property can legally host police and fire housing consistent with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) limits; and improving the committee’s post-submission awareness by receiving updates when Select Board or Finance Committee actions change warrant content. Vieth recommended that town counsel review the airport letter in case Select Board members raise questions about the report during next week’s presentation.

Members also debated process changes for future cycles. Several members proposed a short onboarding or one-on-one briefing for newer members so they can better understand the capital process and be prepared for deliberations; the committee tentatively set a follow-up meeting for Feb. 12 at 10 a.m. to continue those conversations.

No formal decisions were made on enterprise-fund policy. Members raised the question of whether the committee should evaluate capital requests for enterprise funds (which are financed by user fees and, under state practice, generally cannot be swept into the general fund). One member said, "I don't understand why we can't use their money in the general fund personally, but they don't allow it in Massachusetts," and staff indicated that the committee will seek clarity on how enterprise-fund requests should be treated in future cycles.

The committee’s approved report will be presented at the joint Select Board/Finance Committee/Capital Program Committee session next Wednesday; staff will circulate the airport letter from the Nantucket Memorial Airport and a short memo of any changes made to the report after the committee’s submission so members can track how the committee’s recommendations are treated.

Votes at a glance: The committee moved and unanimously approved the final capital report for submission to the Select Board. The committee did not adopt any additional policy changes at the meeting.