Photo From FranklinCountyNOW
(Orange, MA) The town of Orange has announced their Request for Proposals to lease the Orange Boathouse for the operation of a Kayak and Canoe Rental Concession after impassioned discussion around the agreement between the current canoe and kayak rental business at the Orange Community Boathouse, Billy Goat Boats, and the town. Proposals are due by January 30th at 2 p.m. when they will be opened and entered into a Registry of Proposals.
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Staff Report
The Orange Boathouse issue is settled, for now. The selectboard voted unanimously to issue a new request for proposals and invited Billy Goat Boats to send a request to continue operating their business there. the business had not been paying rent for the last two years because they had been instructed not to. Former town administrator Gabrielle Voelker attended last night’s meeting of the Orange selectboard and explained that her verbal agreement with Billy Goat Boats to rent boats from the Orange Community Boathouse was never formally extended, and they paid based on a portion of their income, not a set rate. In the chaos of the pandemic and the massive mill building fire, and Voelker leaving her job, she said things fell through the cracks, and it looked like Billy Goat Boats was occupying the building illegally. She said it was her responsibility for not informing, but also emphasized that the current town administrator Matthew Fortier did not have to go to the extreme measure of sending an eviction notice to the business owners, Jeremy and Samantha Wayland. Members of the selectboard apologized to the business owners for the misunderstanding.