Town wants bidders for a new town beach concessionaire

Dog Pound monopoly broken

By Will Collette

As we reported last November, Charlestown decided not to renew its contract with the Dog Pound, the hot dog stand owned by Deborah Dellolio, roommate of Council member Lisa DiBello. The town made this decision after a summer of trouble with Dellolio. The town’s decision broke Dellolio’s 11-year monopoly as beach concessionaire.

Now the town is looking for a new purveyor of fine tube steaks and other beach comestibles. The request for bids, due no later than 3 PM, February 17, is up on the town website. Click here for the specifications for Blue Shutters Beach and here for Charlestown Town Beach. 

The new bid specifications address most of the issues that arose in the town’s dealings with the Dog Pound last year leading to the town decision not to extend the Dog Pound's contract.. 

The end of the Pound's 11-year monopoly

For example, the new concessionaire must agree to sell only food and not jewelry or other non-food items. The new concessionaire must agree to stay open on a pre-specified schedule unless the Town closes the beach as it did last year for Hurricane Irene.

The new concessionaire must have a Department of Health inspection at the beginning of the year. The new concessionaire must carry Workers Compensation insurance. The town will not provide electricity or on-site storage space.

All of these issues came up as problems with the Dog Pound last year. 

The only deeply contentious issue that came up with the Dog Pound but is not addressed in the new concessionaire specifications is the issue of cars and parking. 

Dellolio demanded two free parking spaces at both beaches but refused the town’s request that she supply a list of the tag numbers of authorized users.

This issue was so hotly contested that it delayed the signing of the contract until it was too late for Dellolio to start service on Memorial Day. In the end, to get service started, the town agreed to drop the demand that Dellolio give the town the list of cars.

But just weeks into the contract, the parking issue came up at the June Town Council meeting. Town employees reported to the Council that Council member Lisa DiBello was using the assigned free parking and the Town Administrator raised the question of whether DiBello was working for her roommate’s beach concession. 

DiBello vigorously denied the charge, though through the course of the heated discussion, she changed her story several times. NOTE: It is a serious ethics breach for a Town Council member to work for a town contractor.

During the Dog Pound’s 11 years as a town contractor, the town received a lot less revenue than it did from other contractors providing similar services. Let’s hope that the town gets a nice set of competing bids from responsible contractors who will provide the town with the revenue we deserve.