Travels with Charlie: Meet HCT’s Director of Operations

What can’t Charlie Sumner do? Maybe time travel or pole vaulting, but everything else seems right up his alley. As Director of Operations for the Harwich Conservation Trust (HCT), Sumner calls upon years of town government experience to help HCT navigate projects and provides seasoned advice when challenges arise.

He’s also pretty darn handy with tools and seems to know everyone on Cape Cod, invaluable assets that help keep HCT humming.

Sumner, who started with HCT earlier this year, is well-known and well-regarded for his municipal career, particularly as the longtime town administrator for the Town of Brewster from 1986 to 2015, and as an interim town administrator in several other Cape Cod towns. He has also served as the past Executive Director of Pleasant Bay Community Boating.

Not the retiring type

Along with his part-time HCT duties, Sumner is currently President of the Board of Trustees at the Brewster Conservation Trust, volunteer Facilities Manager at Pleasant Bay Community Boating, and in the bivalve department, he also works on his daughter’s oyster grant in Brewster.

Just listening to him talk about various endeavors makes a regular person want to lie down and take a nap. And Sumner shows no signs of slowing down. “I’m 70, and people ask me ‘when are you going to retire?'” Sumner said. “I tell them, ‘never.’ I like keeping busy.”

Sumner said his HCT adventure began when he bumped into HCT Executive Director Michael Lach at the Brewster Recycling Center. A casual conversation turned into a job offer. “I’ve known Mike forever, and we know that he is a wonderful person to work for,” said Sumner. “We know the Harwich Conservation Trust does incredible stuff. So right there, that was interesting.”

With his signature full steam ahead style, Sumner jumped into the HCT universe. “Most of my work is project based, so there are ebbs and flows to it, and it’s very flexible,” he said. “I like doing projects, and it allows Mike to stay focused on important things, like buying land, raising money, and our eco-restoration efforts.”

Sumner’s varied experience as a town administrator proved to be the perfect fit for his new project-oriented position. “As a town administrator, I was a generalist — I really wasn’t a specialist,” he said. “When I started in town administration, I was procurement, I was personnel, I was finance, I was bidding. I did everything. This job is kind of like that, too.”

Charlie’s ‘This Old House’ adventure

When we caught up with Sumner for the interview, he was putting the finishing touches on an exciting HCT project that has an interesting twist. As part of the 50-acre Cape Cod Rail Trail Land Preservation Project, HCT purchased a parcel of land on Main Street in Harwich that provides street access and room for a parking area.

That parcel also contained a small home that was in decent shape. Thus began the “This Old House” chapter of Sumner’s HCT career, with the goal of fixing up the home to create affordable rental housing.

The house was built in 1970, and “all the systems were dated,” said Sumner. “We needed a new septic system and we upgraded all the electrical stuff. We put in all-new mini-splits. We’ve reinsulated the home and upgraded the windows.”

While contractors were called in to do the big stuff, “there are a lot of little things I’m just doing myself, or I’m having friends help me,” said Sumner.

The home may eventually be used for HCT staff housing, but its next chapter will be providing affordable housing for a Harwich community member, who is set to move in next week. “”The greater community has huge housing needs,” said Sumner. “And so, while HCT isn’t a big player, we are helping out.”

A family affair on the flats

We asked Sumner about his other main occupation these days: oyster farmer. He works with his daughter Emily, owner of Emily’s Shellfish Company. They spend a lot of time together on the flats of Brewster. “I’m out there a lot, three or four times a week,” said Sumner. “There’s a seasonality to it, but the oyster business never stops. There’s always something to do.”

Best of all, he gets to spend time with his daughter. “It’s great, ” said Sumner. “We get along really well. Of course, I’m a little particular, that’s my nature. So, we’ve had to learn how to tolerate each other’s eccentricities.”

Not surprisingly, lots of folks want to hang out with Emily, Charlie and their oysters. “We have a lot of friends who help us with the grant,” said Sumner. “Oyster work is quintessential Cape Cod work, so people are fascinated. Every tide has different light and textures, different clouds and weather.”

We would have liked to chat more with Charlie, but of course, he had things to do. Heck, we were lucky to catch up with him while he was standing still!

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