SWAMPSCOTT — The Stand Up Paddle (SUP) summer program for 2022 has been canceled after a permit for a storage container provided by the town was not filed by the Town Administrator.
A total of 312 families in town are affected, and many say they were devastated to be blindsided by this cancellation a week before the program was supposed to start on June 27. A Select Board meeting was held Wednesday at Swampscott High School to further discuss the reasons for SUP’s cancellation.
Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald gave his side to the public and fellow Select Board members.
“Changes were abruptly made and we would’ve taken the steps to support the container, but unfortunately it was a matter of too little too late,” said Fitzgerald.
He admits to taking responsibility for the program’s cancellation, but blames the vendor with whom the town partnered last year.
Business owner Leah Goodman of SUP East Coast Style was selected as the vendor. Last November, a RFP was constructed and signed for a container to store the equipment provided by Goodman.
With discussion on this program still open, select board member and parent Katie Phelan strongly expressed her opinion.
“I’m furious, this is too important a program for such a short season to be mishandled like this,” she said. “I’m sad for the kids, for my kids and with that we must do better. I’m additionally furious that I have yet to receive my refund.”
Select Board member Peter Spellios also asked Fitzgerald for clarification.
“Help me understand how it is that something that was 100 percent your decision ended up being aborted altogether,” he said. “I’m curious what changed? Here we didn’t even file the application for the permit and 312 families were compromised.”
Board member Mary Ellen Fletcher spoke out in response to Spellios.
“It’s my understanding that Sean said to the vendors that everything was theirs, including the storage container, and the vendor decided to cancel it, and the town found out from Facebook,” said Fletcher.
The vendor said she was unaware she could no longer use the storage container provided by the town after ensuring that nothing was more important than making sure the program ran successfully.
In response, Fitzgerald said, “it was reported back to me that the vendor was going to work something out and I mistakenly thought that perhaps there is a compromise that something will work out with the vendor and the community.”
Spellious snapped back in frustration with Fitzgerald.
“You keep using the word compromise. What are you compromising if the program is paramount? You said there is nothing more important than the program happening. I just want to know what interest was so important to compromise that three days before starting the program after processing the RFB you couldn’t even say to the business owner; ‘hey we are running into roadblocks. Let me show you alternatives.’ So, why in three days did you think you could come up with an alternative and why assume that would be okay with the business owner?”
Fitzgerald responded quickly, and again put the responsibility with the vendor.
“I had staff working with the vendor that indicated to me that there was potential for it to work,” said Fitzgerald.
“So, staff is being led to believe that this is going to work and then there’s no indication to staff that this vendor just pulled the plug” said Fletcher.
Once the board opened the floor discussion to the public a few stood up to express their opinions on the SUP cancellation.
“Our kids have faced nothing but disruption and uncertainty since March 2020,” said parent and Town Meeting member Keiko Zoll. ” I’m tired of having to tell my child, ‘I’m sorry you won’t be able to go this year. It’s been canceled,’ when I’m just adding more disappointment to his childhood.”
Zoll brought her nine year old son, Judah Zoll with her to the meeting.
“I will not have as much time to play before camp and I’ll have close to no friends. Select Board please bring this program back,” he said.
Swampscott resident and parent, Deb Newman vocalized her counterpoint over Zoom about her thoughts on this cancellation.
“I understand and sympathize with the families who were disappointed and frustrated but also it’s not the end of the world that kids can’t paddle for an hour or so.”
Phelan said that while she is fortunate enough to have a parent stay home throughout the summer with her children, there were families who were counting on this program as a way of camp and child care throughout the season.
“I disagree with the characterization that it is not a big deal,” she said. “It is a big deal. It may not be a big deal for every single one of those 312 families, but if it is a big deal to one of those 312 then it’s a big deal to me.”
Newman said, “I was a single parent working 80 hours a week so I understand all about child care. I don’t think bringing up the child care card is the right way to address this.
“This is the summer, kids are going to a specific type of camp, there are plenty of other camps,” she said.
However, Phelan said this summer program wasn’t in the same financial category as other camps, and that there is little space available to attend other camps on such short notice.
“I just want to say that there are not other camps, when you find out the week before the camp was supposed to start there are not plenty of other camps of which you have the opportunity to be a part of and are not in the same financial category as this camp was. I want to make this distinction clear because it’s important,” said Phelan.
Town meeting member Cecilia Vasiliou said that she has yet to receive her refund. She has two daughters, paid for eight sessions that came to a total of $2,000.
“I’ve gotten half of that back in credit, I don’t know if the rest is still processing,” said Vasiliou.
Many others were disgruntled at the fact that other alternatives weren’t put in place as a solution to this new issue.
“We never wanted to see this program fail, if anything we wanted to see it get stronger and stronger,” said Fitzgerald.
