As a retired chemistry teacher living at Higgins Beach I have found my niche in supporting public programs to improve the quality of Higgins Beach for everyone. I oversee the Maine Healthy Beach water quality testing program and work with IFW, Maine Audubon and the town on the piping plover monitoring program.

I write in support of Bill Donovan as a leader in promoting the public’s enjoyment of our beaches. Known to few, Bill participates in our water quality testing and beach monitoring programs. He has even volunteered to monitor at Pine Point to better understand our other beaches and regularly confers with the monitors at Ferry Beach. When Pine Point needed more beach cleaning assistance to eliminate a particularly smelly seaweed last summer, he championed their cause. He has been meeting with Pine Point residents and a landowner in recent months to promote protection of a public access path at Avenue 2. He fashioned a compromise on locating cell towers to protect our wonderful marsh and ocean vista views. His moral support for promoting access to parking spaces on Bayview has allowed over 14,000 people convenient access to Higgins this past summer,  and everyone considers that initiative a great success. I also served on the Ad Hoc Animal Advisory Committee with Bill, and he was the principal architect of the dogs/plovers compromise that the Council passed in 2014. The list goes on and on.

I can say unequivocally that Bill has the overwhelming support of the Higgins Beach community. He works to achieve compromise solutions, leaving only those extreme voices in our community dissatisfied.

Glennis Chabot

Scarborough