b'Chapter SevenS ometimes in the life of institutions, a threatening caller knocks on the door: his name is Change. That happened to Chatham in the mid-Nineties. A Home Rule Charter was adopted; selectmen, formerly full-time, turned into part- timers handling policy matters, but in principle no longer micro-managing the town. Day-to-day tasks fell to the communitys first manager, Tom Groux, who came aboard in January 1994. With government organization expanding to meet the times, municipal affairs got to be more complicated. Inevitably, that colored FCWs contacts with a new-fangled hierarchy of town employees.As it happened, the FCW of the mid-Nineties was changing, too; it was growing up. Directors hands showed seasoned sailors calluses. Chances are that helpingmaneuver the Stage Harbor Management Plan into port would do that for any committee.In his 1993 Presidents Report, Lew Kimball analyzed why FCW was undergoing a metamorphosis. Gradually it had turned into a year-round enterprise. He saw that the majority of the Board and the Executive Committee (were) Chatham residents, no longer only summer folk. Further, he noted, our growing partnership with the Towns water-related agencies demands that we be able to function on a year-round basis.The presidents conclusion:We have matured into an organization recognized and respected for its broad range of interests and its ability to take effective action when appropriate.Taking action: there, he drew directly on the Purpose in FCWs bylaws (as approved in 1984). Among the organizations responsibilities, the last sentence read,was initiating action on issues as determined and approved by the membership.By the 1990s, FCW had put its energies into a handful of initiatives, either building them from the foundation up, or putting its shoulders behind projects constructed by others. From 1994 on, still other concepts have come out of the FCW shop. Different as they have been, each has helped enhance the communitys quality of life. These were some of those projects:99'