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Date: 8/18/2021
SOUTHWICK – The Select Board met Aug. 9 at Town Hall to appoint a permanent town planner and to discuss the lake agreement with Suffield.
The board voted without discussion to appoint interim Town Planner Jon Goddard to the permanent position. Goddard had been the interim planner since former Town Planner Alan Slessler left the position in June.
Goddard had been working part-time for the Department of Public Works before he was selected as interim planner. He had also worked for a local land surveying company that often dealt with Southwick’s Planning Board when applying for project permits. Planning Board Chair Michael Doherty had voiced his support for Goddard filling the role during the May 11 Planning Board meeting.
The Select Board’s discussion then moved to a presentation that was given to the Conservation Commission by Norm Cheever Aug. 2 about the large number of unregistered boats and docks on Congamond Lake on both the Massachusetts and Connecticut sides. Though much of the eastern shore of the lake is part of Suffield, CT, the town of Southwick has jurisdiction over entire water body, including boats and docks moored to the Connecticut side.
Select Board member Douglas Moglin said he would like to see what the compliance rate for boat registration was in the Suffield portion of the lake before Southwick and Suffield signed their lake agreement.
“Mr. Cheever spent a lot of time doing that work, it was much appreciated,” said Moglin.
Cheever had undertaken a survey of Congamond Lake and found that, of 933 private docks, boats, buoys and moorings, only 474 had the proper registration stickers, meaning that there were 429 violations across both communities.
Cheever shared that the violations resulted in an estimated loss of $6,162 in revenue to Southwick. The memorandum of agreement with Suffield expires in 2023. Moglin suggested that the subsequent agreement should be changed to account for a lack of compliance with boat registrations.