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Madison Beach & Rec Already Looking Ahead to Summer

Temperatures currently aren’t exactly balmy, but the Madison Beach & Recreation Commission, along with other town officials, is prepping for summer. At a Board of Selectmen (BOS) meeting on Jan. 14, board members and Beach and Recreation Director Scot Erskine discussed changes already made to the department and changes still to come.

This past fall, the department signed a security patrol contract with Port Security Services out of New Haven. At the meeting, selectman approved a line-item transfer of $24,200 for the service. The transfer is not an appropriation of new dollars and thus far Erskine said the security service is a good addition.

“We started with the security service in the fall, so it was a surprise to a lot of the residents at first who asked if there was something wrong,” he said. “The response was, ‘No, we are just here to watch over everything and protect the parks and protect the people.’ It has been well received by the public and the service is very professional and it seems to be a positive change. There hasn’t been any confrontation, because if residents are asked to do something, they are more apt to do it...”

Erskine said the service patrols East Wharf, West Wharf, Bauer Park, Salt Meadow Park, and the Surf Club, which suffered significant damage in 2018 when two vandals trashed the building. The only park the service doesn’t protect is Rockland Park and Erskine said that it because “they would be gone half the shift to get up there.”

“The fall was a good starting block because [the security service] had time to learn all our ordinances and regulations and we just have to be clear both on the BOS and the Beach & Rec Commission and with the staff what we want to hold the line on as far as enforcement,” he said. “They will hold it to the black and white if we want them to.”

First Selectman Tom Banisch said bringing the security service on board also helps set the town up for a larger conversation about how to better manage town parks during the peak summer season.

“This is going to be the baseline for where we go with Beach & Rec this year,” he said. “We are going to add them to part of our personnel for patrolling and stuff like that and we are still working on some of the details, but this is going to impact the parking situation and beach passes and all that kind of stuff, we hope. That will be the next thing that should come to us soon.”

During the summer, acquiring parking and beach passes often cause a headache for residents and staff, so Banisch said a few new ideas that are in the works should hopefully help.

“The purpose of the changes we want to make to the beach pass situation are mostly to make it easier and more accessible for residents to get their passes,” he said. “You will be able to buy them online now and it’s also to give us a way to extend our day at the beach. We usually check passes from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and with the new system, we are looking at [expanding hours]. I have gotten a lot of complaints from people over the years who say 5 p.m. hits and people from out of town [non-pass holders] come in and take over the Surf Club, so hopefully this can try to address that.

“I’m really excited because I think it will be a major positive change for the people of Madison and the way we deal with this,” Banisch concluded.