Beverly Council Unanimously Backs $143,800 Harbor Grants Match, Redistricting Plan

BEVERLY — October 18, 2021 — Beverly City Council unanimously approved a $143,800 city match to unlock two harbor infrastructure grants and advanced a census-driven redistricting plan at its October 18 remote meeting. Finance Director Brian Ayles explained the transfers — $71,900 from the harbor management fund and $71,900 from the reserve for unforeseen expenditures — cover the required 20 percent match for a commercial hoist and fishing pier replacement grant and a feasibility study for recreational and transit floats. Harbor authority representative Don Newman said the fishing pier is "sort of falling into the ocean" and called the investment straightforward. City auditor Jerry Perry told councilors, "We're basically going to put 20 down and get 100 back." The council also approved the city's modified re-precincting map under Order No. 188, which Mayor Cahill's chief of staff Jocelyn Rewell Kirsker said keeps lakeshore drive-area residents in Ward 4 and preserves the McKeon School as a Ward 3 polling site — changes from the state's initial population-only proposal — with no ward changes taking effect before December 31, 2021.