Winthrop Town Council approves $274,500 in budget actions, adopts stormwater ordinance

WINTHROP -- April 7, 2026, Winthrop Town Council approves marina float repairs, budget transfers, and stormwater ordinance while softball players raise Title IX concerns. The council voted 9-0 at its April 7 meeting to appropriate $40,000 from the Waterways Harbor Marina Enterprise Fund for marina float repairs and approved $234,500 in inter-budgetary FY26 general fund transfers, including the first payment on a new fire department pumper engine and repairs to a public area of the police station; both measures came out of Finance Committee with favorable recommendations. The council also unanimously added Chapter 8.37, Land Disturbance and Erosion Control, to town ordinances, a state-mandated measure applying to projects disturbing more than one acre. During public comment, Winthrop High School junior Brianna Rosado read a letter from the varsity girls softball team charging that an $81,500 Winthrop Foundation grant for an Ingleside Park softball field had been only partially used and that the field remained unplayable two weeks into the spring season, calling the situation "a Title IX violation in many people's eyes." Parks and Recreation Director Sean Driscoll said roughly $50,000 of the grant has been spent and that wet conditions have prevented the contractor from completing the work, with a return visit scheduled for April 9.