Beach Barrels Trigger Voter Debate
Posted on: Friday, 9 May 2008, 18:00 CDT
By BARRY SMITH
HULL - YOUR TOWN YOUR VOTE 2008
Beach-protection activists like Rhoda Kanet learned the difference a day can make at a town meeting.
On Monday, a citizens' petition, advanced by Mimi Maloley-Leary as first signer, sought to require the town to maintain summertime trash barrels on Nantasket Beach from Malta Street to Y Street.
The proposal contradicted Town Manager Philip Lemnios' plan to stop the seasonal practice as an economy move and a way to extend the life of the landfill. He estimated that eliminating the barrels would save the town $10,000 to $15,000 per year - primarily the costs of having seasonal labor empty the barrels.
He said summer workers would continue to patrol the beach, looking for trash.
Making beach-goers responsible for taking their trash with them when they leave has been successful elsewhere, Lemnios said, but Maloley-Leary, a retired Hull teacher, sounded skeptical. She said eliminating the barrels would put the beach at further environmental risk.
Kanet rapped the economy move as "penny-wise and pound-foolish" and "probably one of the most ill-advised proposals I've heard."
"We have one asset in town and one asset only ... and that is our beach," Kanet told voters at town meeting's opening session Monday. Although she chairs the town's beach management committee, she was speaking as a citizen, since her committee had not taken a vote on the proposal.
A majority of voters tended to agree. Despite a good number of "no" votes, Moderator Michael Nuesse said, "I think the ayes have it."
But there was a hitch. By town meeting practice, proponents prevailing are supposed to identify a funding source.
On Tuesday, as parliamentary tactics and budget options for the barrels were discussed, Lemnios said, "Every one of these budgets is as tight as they can get," advising against reworking the budget already examined by the advisory board.
"We need to keep our heads about us," he said. Then he suggested that Kanet might try fundraising instead of using tax dollars.
Kanet's proposed intra-budget money transfers, first for $10,000 and then $5,000, were rejected.
The assembly did, however, back a resolution in favor of restoring beach-barrel service if the money is raised.
In an interview Wednesday, Kanet expressed confidence that the needed money can be raised. At least 10 people Tuesday night approached her with check offers, and others offered to help with fundraising, she said.
But she said she is undecided about waging such a campaign, because then an annual fundraising project then would be expected.
Barry Smith may be reached at bsmith@ledger.com.
Originally published by By BARRY SMITH, The Patriot Ledger.
(c) 2008 Patriot Ledger, The; Quincy, Mass.. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: Patriot Ledger, The; Quincy, Mass.
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds