Council backs planning hires and boosts surf/beach resiliency funds ahead of capital review

Westerly — At the April 9 budget review the council took several votes and set priorities related to planning capacity, grant management and coastal resiliency funding.

Planning and grants: The manager described a fellowship (Diego) who is handling housing‑related planning work and proposed either hiring that individual into a new environmental coordinator position or contracting planning services. Councilors supported bolstering in‑house capacity and approved a placeholder motion to create an assistant grant‑writer position so the town can better manage a growing portfolio of grants and compliance obligations. The manager said an assistant grant writer would likely cost roughly $60,000 in salary and about $80,000 with benefits; council asked for a formal number for the next meeting before final appropriation.

Beach resiliency and SURF fund: Council debated adding funds to the SURF (environmental resiliency) account to cover dune fencing, seagrass restoration, parking and pavilion repairs and other storm‑related infrastructure — explicitly excluding sand‑replenishment projects, which councilors said do not belong in this line. After discussion the council approved increasing surf/beach improvements to a combined $50,000 to help build a reserve for repairs and resiliency measures.

Why it matters: additional planning and grant capacity aims to accelerate federal and state grant capture while reducing single‑person risk in grant compliance. SURF funding builds local resilience to storm damage and preserves town assets, and the council’s explicit exclusion of sand replenishment clarifies allowable uses of the fund.

Next steps: manager will return with formal job descriptions and a cost breakdown for the grant‑writer placeholder, and staff will annotate the restricted surf/beach account with permitted uses.