Swampscott Sewer Committee Chair Resigns, Citing 'Politics,' 'Lack Of Support'

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — A year after Swampscott's attempts to administer daily water tests at its beaches were held up as a potential model across the North Shore, the future of some of those efforts is at a crossroads following recent resignations among the Water & Sewer Advisory Committee charged with overseeing the ambitious project.

Committee Chair Liz Smith, who ran unsuccessfully for the Select Board this past spring, is the latest of those resignations. Smith told Patch that "the politics and the lack of support in Swampscott" became too much, as what she called "nasty" rhetoric from the election carried over to recent meetings and social media posts.

"Politics should not be getting in the way of what needs to be done," Smith said. "We had a good year and now we are in turmoil."

• Swampscott Summer Beach Water Testing Gets Off To Staggered Start

Smith told Patch she was proud of the testing last year that led to the targeted fitting of outfall pipes leading to Fisherman's Beach, which were causing some of the same contamination that has made King's Beach largely unswimmable in recent summers. But when this year's testing got off to a slow start because of staffing and equipment training issues, and she determined that a protocol of reporting data through the Board of Health had to be followed, the backlash she received became the tipping point for her.

"Even though the election was over, there were a lot of nasty things said," she told Patch. "I tried to stay above it, and learned my lesson, and didn't respond to it. But there are a handful of people in town who will say something, and it's wrong, and then when you refute it, they come back at you saying things are even more wrong."

She said much of the simmering issues came to a head at a recent meeting when it was suggested that Smith and other members were attempting to "hide" the data on the water collections from residents.

"We have an elected Board of Health," she said. "We can't tell them what to do. We can suggest. We can request. But we can't do anything ourselves without their approval."

She added that what began last year as testing for bacteria to determine contamination from storm runoff and sewer pipe leakage compounded as more and more testing was requested to further pinpoint the sources and conditions around the contamination.

"It kept adding on and I kept taking it on," she said. "It was all worthwhile. But I am a volunteer. ... It's monumental and we have been working so hard to do it the right way.

"It was too much."

Select Board member Doug Thompson addressed some of the pushback on the delayed results.

"It's really unfortunate with the amount of time and effort that people put in on committees, whether it's the Board of Health or Water & Sewer, that as soon as something doesn't happen immediately the way someone wants it to happen, it seems to be a conspiracy," he said. "People are trying. They have their jobs, they have their lives, and they are doing this on top of it. If you want to help, that's great. But we are all trying to move in a similar direction. And when people are kind of called out for hiding things, not sharing information — maybe that happens eventually, I'm not saying it never does — but I am just saying that I wish people would reach out directly instead of blasting people on social media.

"It just doesn't really help the tone of the town for that to be the go-to way to try to get things done."

But that stance also drew pushback during public comment from speakers who said posting on social media and community bulletin boards is one way for residents who have questions about public policy and the actions of public officials to air them and potentially get them answered.

Smith said she will continue to be a point person on the UV Light treatment pilot program at King's Beach, which got off to a delayed start this summer when a seaweed infestation was suctioned into the system and had to be cleaned out last week.

"Good things are happening," she said. "It's really a good time. We're making so much progress.

"So that's why to have the work of this committee be criticized, in any way, unfairly is just unconscionable."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)