b"C H A P T E R E I G H Tthan charge off in all directions, the pair decided that, as Step # 1, theyd better see what the Bylaw actually said. So, as Debby Ecker recalls, I remember volunteering to review the town Bylaw, and John agreed on doing it also. By FCWs board meeting of February 1999, Town Clerk Joanne Holdgate had already started pulling out for them Chathams Bylaws and regulations. Meanwhile,Kevin McDonald, directors were told, was very open to a review. As a result, one FCW project for '99 gained focus as a commitment to work with him on changes in ZB rules in line with concerns expressed in the 'QOL conference.From then until far along in 2002, virtually every FCW board meeting included talk, some of it heated, about the status of Bylaw revision. For those engaged, the effort was never less than demanding; at times, it had bright moments, but more often it was downright frustrating. To paraphrase lawyer Riley, pushing the rewrite in one direction only made it pop out in another. Sharpening the intensity as time went by, the warm relationship between players gradually chilled; we metamorphosed into we-they. Maybe thats not surprising: under Town Flails mantle, peoples livelihoods were involved. Further, defensiveness over turf prerogatives frosted the air even more.As winter 99 warmed into spring, Mrs. Ecker suddenly had to handle a family crisis: her husband, Hoyt, had triple bypass surgery while the Eckers were vacationing in Florida. Realizing she could no longer pull her usual weight on the rewrite, she proposed that FCW hire a consultant. The board gave the go-ahead, the Ecker/Geiger pair laid out a scope of work, and by November, Harwichs former Town Planner, Michael J. Pessolano, newly retired, was in the stirrups.Before he came on the scene, however, the question of Bylaw changes arose in two other contexts. At the 1999 Town Meeting, residents cast their votes against three modifications put forward by the Planning Board (all questioned or opposed by FCW). The moral of that, said Planning Board Chairman Skip Kendrick, was that from then on, the Board must work more closely with organizations like FCW The June issue of FCWs Member Newsletter concluded that, maybe reflectingKendricks view, Chatham officials are cooperating fully with FCW on the Bylaw revision project.But surprise lay ahead. At their meeting in October 99, Friends directors learned that Town Government intended to review the Bylaw on its own, a move sure to complicate FCWs start-up undertaking. The following month, Michael Pessolano was introduced to FCW board members. He felt it was only fair to tell them he had heard concerns that FCW was interfering in the doings of the Town. That theme recurred in months ahead, but, undeterred, consultant Pessolano moved ahead with his research. By Decembers board session, he presented his first-phase draft of a Model Zoning Bylaw Project.132"