Falmouth Beach Party Bingo Beach Permits

Falmouth Beach Party Bingo Beach Permits

Did Friends of Falmouth Wind Qualified For Free Beach Passes ?

Here is the story that appeared in the Cape Cod Times

By Sean F. Driscoll
sdriscoll@capecodonline.com

Posted Jul. 27, 2015 at 6:51 PM
Updated Jul 27, 2015 at 7:47 PM

FALMOUTH
Anonymous tip ends free pass to Falmouth beaches

Town manager says courtesy cards for parking violate town policy

FALMOUTH — As many as 100 people and organizations a year, including a summer science school run by a selectman, have been getting free parking passes at Falmouth town beaches for decades.
But the free ride is coming to an end after Town Manager Julian Suso got an anonymous letter about the practice.

Suso discovered a “significant amount” of Beach Committee “courtesy cards” have been issued each year, allowing free parking at Falmouth’s four beaches, according to a statement released by his office on Monday. An annual sticker for a resident costs $30 and $200 for a nonresident, and a daily pass costs between $10 and $20 depending on the beach.

The practice is a violation of town policy prohibiting municipal employees from using their official position to give an unwarranted privilege of “substantial value” to themselves or others, Suso wrote in the statement.

“Parking at Town of Falmouth beaches is a valuable privilege and such free parking may be an unwarranted privilege,” Suso wrote.

Selectman Doug Jones, chairman of the board, has been receiving the passes on behalf of the Children’s School of Science for about six or seven years. He volunteers as the administrative coordinator at the Woods Hole-based nonprofit that runs summer science classes, which include field trips to Wood Neck Beach. Jones said the parking passes would be used there for about an hour at a time.

Jones said a volunteer used to contact the beach superintendent for the pass each year. But when that person left, Jones said he took over the duty and asked Beach Superintendent Donald Hoffer for the pass, even after being elected a selectman in 2012.

He did not use the courtesy card for personal use, Jones said.

“I’ve been at this school 27 years and this was in place when I came,” Jones said about the free parking passes. “Whether or not I should have investigated them when I was elected, it would have taken a lot of steps to investigate each little thing. But as soon as I knew, we turned the passes in to Don Hoffer and we’ve been doing our best to still offer those field trips.”

Suso’s investigation of the practice was sparked by a July 6 letter in which an individual recounted overhearing a conversation at a Main Street restaurant in which people bragged that they had received a “blank pass” to the Falmouth beaches. They said they could use the pass at any time and at any beach without paying and did not live in town, according to the letter.

“This policy is very troubling and unfair,” the letter writer stated.

But Hoffer said he thought it was an approved town policy. When he was hired 15 years ago, Hoffer said he understood that handing out the courtesy cards was an accepted practice that dated back to the 1980s, although he said he was not following a written policy each year about the criteria for getting a free pass.

“Whether they deserved them or not, I don’t know, but what it amounted to was you’d get groups asking as a habit, if you will,” he said. “They’d come back year after year after year. There was precedent.”

Hoffer said he has 100 of the courtesy cards printed each year and that he typically does not give them all out. Unlike a traditional beach pass that is affixed to a car’s windshield, these laminated passes could, in theory, be passed around to any individual wishing to park for free.

According to a copy of a pass provided by Suso, it notes that additional information may be requested by an attendant before a vehicle enters the lot. The passes are not valid at the Old Silver Beach reserve lot, a portion of the beach that serves residents only.

Hoffer said community groups were the main recipients, including Joint Base Cape Cod, Fairwinds Clubhouse and Community Connections. But some individuals got the courtesy cards, including former Beach Committee members.

“I didn’t willy-nilly hand them out. They weren’t up for grabs,” Hoffer said. “Once upon a time, it was done more freely, but I’ve been trying to curtail them.”

Suso said he’s told Hoffer and Beach Committee Superintendent Jason Chorches to end the practice and track down any courtesy cards that have been issued this year.

“We’ll get them back as soon as possible,” Hoffer said.

Beach Committee member Dan Shearer said he didn’t know about the free passes, which would be an “absolute no-no” in his view. Even committee members don’t get a free parking sticker and the Beach Department rigorously inspects applications for parking passes.

“They’re really serious and a pain in the ass about it, which is good,” he said.

According to the most recent town report, 12,619 resident beach stickers were issued in the 2014 fiscal year, which ended June 30, 2014. Nonresident beach stickers and hotel/motel coupon sales totaled 2,359. The department’s total revenue was just over $900,000, including concession sales and swim lessons.

Jones said he didn’t think the Board of Selectmen will look at the issue this summer but may address it over the winter.

“If this is a policy we think is good, we ought to put our stamp on it,” he said. “If not, then we should say no. We want to make sure no one’s taking advantage of it.”

Credit — Follow Sean F. Driscoll on Twitter:@seanfdriscoll.

Source :http://www.capecodtimes.com/article/20150727/NEWS/150729420/0/SEARCH

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