SWAMPSCOTT — Select Board member Doug Thompson announced that a plan is in the works to update the town’s coastal resiliency models to create more grant opportunities.

In 2016, the Climate Action Plan Committee received nine recommended actions to improve climate resiliency efforts from Kleinfelder, a Boston-based engineering-consulting company. Thompson, who serves as the committee’s vice chair and liaison for the Select Board, said updating the report could be integral to obtaining state funding for resiliency efforts.

“How do we actually move this forward?” Thompson asked rhetorically. “We’ve come to a strong consensus that we need to update our models.”

Thompson said that the 2016 model did not take certain aspects into consideration. He named state funding opportunities as very “competitive” because many coastal municipalities are dealing with resiliency challenges.

A proposal for a grant of more than $50,000 will be brought before the Select Board on May 1 to fund an investigation of all potential resiliency strategies.

“Everything from the living reef idea, to higher walls, to closeable gates, to raising roads, to managed retreat, all of these things will be on the table,” Thompson said.

He added that the state is asking communities to make “big, strategic, long-term moves.”

The announcement came on the heels of Thompson making a motion to fund $1.7 million in sewer repairs at Fisherman’s Beach through the sewer enterprise fund, after fellow Board member MaryEllen Fletcher’s motion to use American Rescue Plan Act funds failed by a vote of 3-2. However, Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald informed him that the Capital Improvement and Finance committees will include that in the town’s capital budget for Town Meeting now that the majority of the Select Board is in support of funding it via that channel.

In response to residents and other Select Board members who have advocated for the use of ARPA funds at Fisherman’s Beach, Thompson said he understands their urgency. However, he emphasized that unlike other challenges the town faces, the beach pollution issue has its own separate funding source.

“We are able to both address our sewer issues by using the sewer enterprise fund, which then frees up the ARPA funding to meet other important community needs,” Thompson said.

An additional $1.8 million in funding for King’s Beach is slated for the capital plan, bringing the total to $3.5 million for both Fisherman’s Beach and King’s Beach. Initially, Thompson said he was not in favor of that inclusion as he was under the impression that state revolving funds would be available by the time the funds were needed. However, he said the board recently learned those funds might not be accessible until the beginning of 2026. He said he now adamantly supports the $3.5 million allocation proposed in Fitzgerald’s capital plan.

According to Thompson, the current iteration of the Select Board has now put a total of $8.5 million into beach pollution mitigation.