Dartmouth tweaks the process for beach stickers this year. Here's what you need to know.

DARTMOUTH — Concerns about residents' sometimes aggressive behavior toward young high school- and college-aged town employees has prompted the Dartmouth Department of Parks and Recreation to discuss "some tweaks" in the town's beach sticker application processes, Parks Department Director Tim Lancaster said.

At their Monday, Feb. 5 meeting, Lancaster told members of the Select Board that the behavior of some residents who came into his department's office at Town Hall for in-person service last year relative to beach stickers led to discussions on how to best ensure the employees — often teenagers working there as a summer job — aren't stuck alone in a bad situation.

"We had citizens that smashed on our counter, smashed on the plexiglass, lost their cool inside the office during those in-person days," Lancaster said.

The minimum age for those seasonal Parks and Recreation Department employees who often do that work is 15, according to Dartmouth's Communications Coordinator Magnolia McComish.

Last year saw the introduction of an online application system for beach stickers and a reduction of in-person application help to certain select days. In making those changes, Lancaster said his department sought to free up Recreation Coordinator Rebecca Amaral to oversee programming going on throughout town.

While that "has helped dramatically in how those programs operate," Lancaster said "it left kind of a vacuum in the office."

Stay up-to-date: Former 'Codfather' boat catches fire while docked at Fairhaven Thursday

"We had some concern with having just the kids in there by themselves," Lancaster said. "Even through the online system, you may have heard that we had online threats that came in to the college kid that was doing the beach stickers and we just don't stand for that."

Lancaster also noted a mail system set up as an option to apply for beach stickers was a source of difficulties.

How will beach sticker applications work this year?

Lancaster said this year, in-person application help will return to being available Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Town Hall as in past years, starting May 13.

"You'll be able to come in, there will be a station set up where you'll be able to fill out your sticker application and drop your sticker application off if you feel like you want to come into the Town Hall to do that," Lancaster said. "If you have an issue with filling out your sticker application, the kids will be trained to assist you in doing that."

Take a look: Retired to renowned: Local embroidery artist opens first exhibit at New Bedford Art Museum

Lancaster said beach stickers — which are limited to Dartmouth residents and required to enter Round Hill Beach — will not be given out to in-person applicants on a same-day basis.

"...as long as we get it by Wednesday, it will be available for Friday pickup," Lancaster said, while applications dropped off on a Thursday or Friday should result in a sticker being available the following Friday.

Online applicants have a headstart

For those who'd rather not wait till May 13 for in-person service, online applications can be filled out starting May 1. Furthermore, online applicants who set up accounts in last year's application process will have less work to do, Lancaster said.

"As long as you've already created your Viewpoint account, you already have 50% done," he said.

Scheduling of young workers will lean on 'buddy system'

While Lancaster said there still may be times when Amaral can't be in the office to assist young seasonal employees with issues, he noted staff scheduling will be done in a way that ensures no individual is left working the office alone.

"We're going to do the buddy system to try to give some strength in numbers, so that when Becky goes out, we still have multiple kids in the office; that's our goal," he said.

Hungry? Check this out!: From lobster to bologna, the SouthCoast has some unique slices of pizza

Lancaster said physical logistics around how the application station at the office will be set up this beach season will also have workers' safety in mind.

"The way it will be set up is, there will actually be a counter at the doorway.... They don't physically enter the office," he said. "That's by design so that those kids can lock down that office if they feel they need to and that's our priority."

Select Board feedback

"That's a terrible state of affairs and that's appalling that our residents caused that level of grief to a department that's doing them a service," Selectwoman Heidi Silva Brooks said.

"To be honest though, as bad as we might think that is, it's 10 times worse out at the sites; it's much worse out there," Lancaster responded. He went on to note that the camera systems at town park sites like Round Hill Beach are in the process of receiving an upgrade.

"To me it appears that we're doing everything to accommodate everybody as much as possible; we know we're going to get that outlier that's just not going to be happy," said Select Board Chair Shawn McDonald, "but ... the behavior of individuals that take it out on our town employees is not going to be tolerated."

Round Hill Beach slammed by recent storms

While on the topic of Round Hill Beach, Silva Brooks asked Lancaster for an update on the impact recent storms had there, to which Lancaster noted there had been "a lot of erosion."

"The beach did widen up even more, so... if you want to look at it in a good way, we'll have more capacity going forward," Lancaster said, noting the impact of severe weather this time of year "usually corrects itself" in time for beach season.

"So while it doesn't look too great right now, by mid-May I think you'll see that the sand will start replenishing," he said.

Just last month: Storm damage to East Beach Road in Westport may affect some seasonal residents. Read more.

On Jan. 9 overnight into Jan. 10, a storm brought coastal flooding and damaging high-speed winds to SouthCoast communities. About a month earlier, a similar storm had ripped through the area, in December.

More information on Round Hill Beach and sticker applications can be found on the official Dartmouth town website, www.town.dartmouth.ma.us.

BY THE NUMBERS: According to Lancaster, the 2023 beach season saw the sale of about 4,400 beach stickers, of which 3,500 were done online. Another 600 applications were done in-person, and 300 were done by mail, he said.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Dartmouth returning to in-person beach sticker help five days a week