SWAMPSCOTT — The Select Board will discuss and potentially vote on creating a Water and Sewer Infrastructure Committee at its Nov. 15 meeting.
The new committee, which was first proposed by Save King’s Beach activist Elizabeth Smith at the board’s last meeting two weeks ago, will specialize in the construction and maintenance of the town’s water and sewer systems toward the goal of pollution mitigation at King’s Beach and Fisherman’s Beach.
In response to Smith’s proposed Select Board members, Peter Spellios and Doug Thompson took on the task of outlining the exact purpose the committee would serve, along with the process for selecting future committee members.
At Wednesday night’s meeting, however, the board voted to table the in-depth discussion and vote until its next meeting, after Spellios and Thompson have had sufficient time to draft a detailed presentation.
“I appreciate the ‘let’s go ahead and do it here’ attitude, but I’m not looking to waste anyone’s time at all. I want the committee to be successful. I want to make sure we have a charge that is the correct charge,” Spellios said. “I also want to set the expectations correctly for the committee and what the committee and advisory committee’s role is and make sure staff sees it because staff is going to be involved.”
Select Board member MaryEllen Fletcher responded that she wanted to ensure the Board would allow residents interested in joining the committee at least 25-30 days prior to the official creation of a committee to learn about their future roles. She urged the board to make haste in its committee drafting process.
“I want to see a committee formed as soon as possible so they can inform the Select Board on a number of different things,” Fletcher said. “ I want to make sure that we have something going so we have a good understanding of all the ways in which we can turn around and get funding and put a little bit more pressure on, say, (Congressman Seth) Moulton and some of our other politicians out there on the federal side.”
The vote was preceded by a number of residents who advocated for greater funding allocation toward the beach cleanup effort during public comment.
Save King’s Beach activist Andrea Amour said she appreciated the town’s attention toward pollution mitigation, mentioning the proposed new committee specifically.
“I really appreciate the movement to create a committee for sewer infrastructure. I do think it’s desperately needed, and I think it’s going to add the voices that are missing from the table right now… (this is) going to help speed up the process and create the harmony that so many of us are looking for,” Amour said.
