Board cites safety, liability concerns for Four Corners street fundraising; staff to rewrite event-permit language

The Acushnet Select Board discussed a request from the Lions Club to hold a roadside fundraising collection at the Four Corners intersection on Oct. 11 but raised safety and liability concerns that prevented immediate authorization.

Board members relayed that the Lions Club’s Doug Thomas had discussed the plan with the provisional police chief. Chief Gary Coppa and fire staff told the board they worried about people standing in the roadway, the possibility of children participating in similar future events, and the difficulty of denying one group while approving others. The chief said he was not a "hard no" but had trouble envisioning a safe way to hold the collection at that intersection without rewriting policy or ensuring consistent standards.

Members discussed alternatives: holding collections at town-owned parking lots or at town hall, designating safer locations for fundraising, or requiring liability insurance and police detail for road-side activities. The board asked town counsel and staff to revise the event-permit form to explicitly list private-property activities that do not require permits and to require permits for events on public land, and directed staff to propose safe alternative locations and clearer permit language that preserves constitutional free-speech rights while addressing public-safety risks.

No final authorization for the Four Corners fundraiser was granted at the meeting; staff will return with revised permit language and recommended locations.