Essex Board of Selectmen Shifts Harbor Master Title to Police Chief, Advances Fuel Depot Design

ESSEX -- May 19, 2025, Essex Board of Selectmen elects new chair, shifts harbor master duties to police chief, and hears sobering aging data. The board unanimously chose Alva Donahue as chair and Peter Phippen as clerk Monday, replacing the outgoing leadership. In a 2-to-1 vote with Donahue abstaining, the board approved transferring the harbor master title from the current civilian harbor master to Police Chief Patrick Shamshak effective July 1, 2025, with no change in pay for the civilian, who becomes deputy harbor master. The board also authorized $14,000 in additional engineering from Webb Engineering for a long-planned municipal fuel depot. A UMass Boston researcher told the board that 34.5 percent of Essex's 3,573 residents are now 60 or older, well above regional averages, and projected that share could reach 40 percent by fiscal year 2029, with 82 percent of all survey respondents expressing concern about their ability to stay in their homes due to rising costs. Separately, a joint session with the Board of Public Works surfaced a roughly $6 million, 20-year liability tied to Gloucester's sewage treatment plant upgrade, with payments deferred until fiscal year 2028 and no funding mechanism yet decided.