Life Guards at the Ashland Town Beach

The Select Board has yet to reach a decision about whether to continue hiring life guards at the town beach. Over the past four years the town has lost approximately $28,000 at the beach. Glen Dion supports a swim-at-your-own-risk policy, while Jeanette Stewart and Dan Golden want to do more research on the issue before making a final decision. There is certainly plenty of time to make a decision, but that decision should be made within a larger context - a review of the operation of the Parks and Recreation Department as a whole.

Last year the Select Board decided to consider Parks and recreation a social cost rather than a profit center; however, they did not define what the limits of that social cost are. The camp ground makes money, but the beach does not. I have asked for figures on the summer program and the after school program but have not gotten them yet. However, the numbers in those programs has been declining.

The programs that Parks and Recreation provides are important to the town, but we need to look at the costs as well as the quality of the programs to determine whether the social cost is worth what we pay, and whether the programs could be improved to make them financially viable.