FREEPORT – The town has put a request to fund a Freeport shellfish coordinator back in the lap of the Shellfish Conservation Commission.

The commission met last Thursday night in an attempt to justify the proposal. On May 6, the Town Council indicated it wants an explanation as to why the commission opted against the original plan for a regional coordinator. The commission has asked for $90,000 for a town shellfish conservation coordinator, a position that would include protection of clams from the green crabs that are devastating them.

“They’re generally not in favor of funding the entire position,” Town Manager Peter Joseph said prior to Thursday’s meeting.

Sara Randall, a consultant who has been working for the Maine Clammers Association, outlined a detailed job description for a regional shellfish coordinator to the commission months ago. But last month, the commission reversed itself and decided to ask the council for a town position, thinking that it would be a quicker process than getting other towns involved. The commission has contacted municipal officials in both Brunswick and Harpswell.

Randall said last Friday that she’s not sure what direction the commission might take.

“They might go back to a regional proposal,” Randall said. “I think it’s up in the air. Right now, they’re working to justify the request for a town coordinator.”

The council, meanwhile, already has begun work on its 2015 budget – a budget that does not include the commission’s $90,000 request.

Commission member Walter Coffin suggested the change from a regional approach during a meeting last month. Coffin said that a shellfish coordinator run by the town, rather than by a Casco Bay board, would give Freeport more control of the process.

“I’d rather see us spend a little more and get what we need,” Coffin said.

His cousin, Chad Coffin, president of the Maine Clammers Association, agreed during that meeting to change course. Chad Coffin said that by going it alone, Freeport could get a shellfish coordinator on the job a year earlier than if Brunswick and Harpswell were in the mix.

A CLOSER LOOK

The Freeport Town Council will continue deliberations on its 2015 budget at the Town Hall on the following dates: Wednesday, May 14, 5 p.m., department heads and public Q&A session; Thursday, May 17, 7:30 a.m., department heads and public Q&A session; Tuesday, May 20, 6:30 p.m., council workshop on operating, capital, and tax increment financing budgets; Tuesday, June 3, 6:30 p.m., public budget hearing; Tuesday, June 17, 6:30 p.m., target date to adopt budgets.