Sandown panel approves up to $500 to hire town engineer for Seeley Beach sand replacement permit

The Sandown Recreation Commission voted June 3 to spend up to $500 to pay the town engineer to prepare the permit application required to replace sand at Seeley Beach.

Chair (speaker 1) opened the Old Business discussion after the director's report, saying the commission needed to decide whether to have the town engineer prepare the application or complete the 8—10 page application in-house. Becky, the recreation director, told commissioners the engineer's estimate would be "no more than $500," and that the town's permit application fee had already been approved and was roughly $600.

When the Chair asked for a motion to spend up to $500, a motion was made and seconded and members answered in the affirmative by voice. The Chair said she would "get that put through" and that new sand samples would be obtained once the process moved forward.

The motion authorizes payment of the engineering time only; the commission discussed that the separate permit application fee is charged to the commission and that doing the full application in-house remained an option but would be more time-consuming. No deadline or timeline for the work was specified during the discussion.

Votes at a glance - Motion: "Spend up to $500 to pay the town engineer to prepare the permit for sand replacement at Seeley Beach." Outcome: approved by voice vote. Specific roll-call tallies were not recorded in the transcript.

Next steps: The Chair said she will arrange for the engineer to proceed and will report back to the commission when samples or further information are available.