On Monday, 9/11/2017, the Board of Selectmen voted to execute the November Town Meeting warrant including Article 11, proposed by Howard Grosser, FHMNA President.
The intent of Article 11 is to begin a town-wide process of restoring civility on our beaches. The Selectmen added their own beach-related Article 12 to “adopt a bylaw granting the Board of Selectmen authority to promulgate rules, regulations and orders for conduct and activities at public beaches and parks”. See Warrant Articles 11 & 12, Nov 2017 TM.
On Monday, 9/25/2017, the Board of Selectmen will review all warrant articles and vote to recommend either in favor of, or for indefinite postponement of, each of the Articles. Town Meeting is scheduled for November 6-7, 2017. Both meetings begin at 7 PM and can be watched on FCTV, Channel 15 in Falmouth, or streaming live at http://www.fctv.org/v3/15live.
Below is the history, 2014 – present, of how we got to where we are now. This is somewhat lengthy. We encourage you to read it in its entirety to get a full picture.
2014 FHMNA received numerous comments, observations, and complaints from members regarding activities taking place on Falmouth Heights and Bristol beaches which affected their enjoyment of the beaches and raised safety concerns. These were all relayed in person to the Beach Committee by our FHMNA beach liaison.
Responses from the Beach Committee and Beach Department included:
* trash is a DPW issue;
* as rescue professionals, the primary purpose of the lifeguards is water safety; and,
* watching ball playing takes the lifeguards’ attention away from their primary responsibility.
2015 FHMNA continued to receive numerous comments, observations, and complaints from members regarding activities taking place on Falmouth Heights and Bristol beaches which affected their enjoyment of the beaches and raised safety concerns. These, again were relayed in person to the Beach Committee by the FHMNA beach liaison.
Same responses from the Beach Committee and Beach Department included:
* trash is a DPW issue;
* as rescue professionals, the primary purpose of the lifeguards is water safety; and,
* watching ball playing takes the lifeguards’ attention away from their primary responsibility.
2016 FHMNA continued to receive numerous comments, observations, and complaints from members regarding activities taking place on Falmouth Heights and Bristol beaches which affected their enjoyment of the beaches and raised safety concerns. These, again were relayed in person to the Beach Committee by the FHMNA beach liaison.
FHMNA suggested the addition of a “beach monitor” to regulate quality of life issues and violations of beach bylaws and rules. FHMNA offered to pay for a one-year trial.
Responses from the Beach Committee and Beach Department included:
* trash is a DPW issue;
* as rescue professionals, the primary purpose of the lifeguards is water safety;
* watching ball playing takes the lifeguards’ attention away from their primary responsibility;
* alcohol consumption is a police issue;
* if you see something, say something (implying that beach-goers should take responsibility for civility on the beaches by first approaching the head lifeguard and, if that doesn’t resolve the problem, then call the Surf Drive Bathhouse or the beach superintendent);
* we don’t need a beach monitor.
A police officer was assigned to patrol the Heights and Bristol beaches during the 2016 season, possibly discouraging some rowdy behavior. However, the officer told FHMNA members at our 2017 Annual Meeting that he can address only criminal behavior and not quality of life issues.
Jan & June 2017 FHMNA emailed a survey to our email members (93% of total) and distributed a different survey at our Spring Social (150+ attendees) asking for opinions about civility on our beaches. The majority, sometimes overwhelmingly, favored curtailing alcohol use on the beach, ball playing in close proximity to others, and tailgating.
May 2017 FHMNA continued to lobby for management and policy changes that will increase enjoyment and safety on the beaches. FHMNA again lobbied for a beach monitor.
Response from the Beach Committee and Beach Department: * Monitor denied.
May 2017 FHMNA suggested restricting ball playing to specific areas. That request was also denied because this would be micromanaging the beach.
Instead: Acting Beach Superintendent announced in May at a Beach Committee meeting that the beach signs which used to read “No ball playing, frisbee throwing, or kite flying during beach hours” will be replaced with signs that read “Limited ball playing, Frisbee throwing or beach games at Lifeguard’s discretion”.
FHMNA suggested that this new wording violates Falmouth’s existing Bylaws. Town management and a Beach Department employee replied that the new wording ‘clarifies’ the existing bylaw which only prohibits baseball and softballs.
FHMNA suggested that the new signs represent a policy change which is the exclusive right of the Selectmen. Acting Beach Superintendent disagreed and installed the new signs with the revised wording.
After 3 years of repeatedly being told of the limited role of the lifeguards, we find it curious that, suddenly, the lifeguards are now additionally responsible for breaking up ballgames while simultaneously concentrating on water safety.
July 2017 FHMNA surveyed Town Meeting members asking if they were open to having a discussion about a revised beach bylaw at the November Town Meeting. The vast majority of respondents indicated that they would like to discuss an update to the 1964 ball-playing bylaw at the November Town Meeting.
August 2017 With nothing but denials and refusals to date by beach officials, the consensus of the FHMNA members at our Annual Meeting was to seek relief from Town Meeting by proposing an update to the existing bylaw (see pages 3-4 of the 2017 Annual Meeting Minutes. A warrant article (Article 11 above) specifying rules and regulations (duplicated from bylaws of Dennis, MA and other towns) was submitted.
September 2017 The Selectmen have also proposed a beach-related warrant article (Article 12 above) to be considered by Town Meeting Members at November Town Meeting.