Silver Lake Beach will be Grafton residents-only and include lifeguards
Silver Lake Beach will have lifeguards this summer — if the Recreation Department can find enough of them, and if they can all be re-certified for the season.
The Select Board on Tuesday agreed to a $5 per day fee for Grafton families only for a Summer 2021 season that will be limited by COVID-19. Swimming lessons and, likely, the docks will not be offered. Only eight families would be allowed on the beach at a time, spaced apart, during four time slots a day, and no one would be allowed to visit more than three times a week.
Town Administrator Evan Brassard reminded the Select Board that their only decision is in setting the fee, Grafton Recreation is responsible for administration at the beach — and that includes the possibility of hiring park rangers instead of lifeguards, as Recreation Director Jennifer Andersen proposed last week.
He even suggested that the town could go for the summer without a beach fee at all, something initially embraced by Select Board member Colleen Roy.
I think it’s going to be a pain in the neck for families to sign up and get their kids on the door and pay a fee,” Roy said, noting that any beach visit would be short due to Covid requirements.
“We want to give Grafton residents the best opportunity possible,” Select Board member Mathew Often said. But with last year’s override, he felt the need for the board to model fiscal prudence by charging the beach fee.
Andersen said the department is in the process of advertising for a beach director but has had no nibbles. That puts Grafton in the same boat as Westborough,
“She also hasn’t found anyone, and I learned she’s paying a bit more than us, I guess we have to step up our game,” Andersen joked.
The Recreation Department has reached out to past lifeguards, many of whom were hired in 2020, the summer the beach never opened. All are in need of re-certification, which may be difficult due to the pandemic.
Select Board Chair Peter Carlson was frustrated by the state’s beach mandate, requiring groups to be 12 feet apart outdoors. Meanwhile, he noted, restaurants are allowed to return to 100 percent capacity indoors.
“The way this is all structured, it’s confusing as hell,” he said,
Brassard, however, pointed out that the distance was required to allow people to walk through the beach while maintaining social distrancing.
“I’ve never had a beach before, so this is fun,” said Brassard, who started in Grafton earlier this month after a tenure as Monson’s town administrator.
