Nahant adheres to new parking sticker system

NAHANT – “Did you get your beach pass yet?” Those words usher in a local rite of spring that Town Assistant Treasurer Collector Kathi Kougias is treading carefully on even as she seeks to modernize it.Applications to acquire one of the town’s 2,300 parking passes are now available online, and can be completed, Kougias said, in about 10 minutes. Although the passes allow residents owning a vehicle listed on a town excise tax bill to park in several locations around town, the square stickers are most frequently identified with summertime’s coveted beach parking spots.Kougias readily acknowledges fellow town residents enjoy going to Town Hall and obtaining one of the $5 passes. The application process in past years has started in March and gone through May, with some residents showing up in Town Hall wearing beachwear and applying for a pass.”They compete with their friends and it’s quite a common topic of conversation,” she said.The application process goes beyond applying for a pass into areas such as guessing the color choice for the summer ahead (purple for 2015) and trying to obtain a low-numbered pass.The town teamed up with Hopedale-based company City Hall Systems to allow residents to fill out online parking pass applications. The application can be accessed through the town website, nahant.org, by clicking on “town hall” then “treasurer” and then “parking stickers.””The application is quick,” Kougias said. “You don’t have to jump through hoops, and we want to train people to do it early.”Stickers are mailed to residents within two or three days, Kougias said. Residents without computer access can fill out a Town Hall application and town employees will send it to City Hall Systems for processing.She said online parking pass processing makes her job easier because applicants pay with a credit card and Kougias or other town workers do not have to run several different checks on town computers to ensure an applicant lives in Nahant and is current on all town bills and has a town census application on file.Kougias thinks convenience will divert residents away from tradition in favor of applying online for beach passes. Town Clerk Peggy Barile said some residents may find it difficult to break the ritual of applying for a pass in person.”People come in very anxious to get them. I’ve heard of people coming from the lawyer’s office after they just signed a deed and saying ?Can I get my beach sticker?'” she said.